Someone share this video with Pike.
- Thread starter kupuna133
- Start date
Pike recruits and likes to play that way (defensive focused teams) becuase he’s always had an underdog mindset.
then he tried to switch his style and get “shooters “. But that’s been a massive whiff.
then he tried to switch his style and get “shooters “. But that’s been a massive whiff.
Two guys who pick and choose from the cream of the crop every season.
Means nothing to me as a Rutgers fan.
Means nothing to me as a Rutgers fan.
You can recruit that type of player if you have money. We don’t have UConn money, and will struggle to keep our returning roster intact.
He did get Spencer but underutilized him. We hardly had set plays to maximize his shooting. He could have averaged 5ppg more.
Hurley is a hot head but he is a fantastic coach. He’s won everywhere he’s been so it’s not just because he’s at UConn.
It was tongue in cheek Al. But since you went there. Pike is on record saying he recruits D first even prior to NIL. You have 2 of the most successful coaches in history saying they don’t recruit to that side of the court. They teach successful scorers how to defend versus teaching hustlers and defenders how to score. Did Danny have money at Wagner? How about at URI? No.
I have less of an issue with the players Pike recruits than the fact he still doesn’t have an offensive minded coach on his staff.
Last edited:
Tongue in cheek doesn’t always translate on the messageboard.
Dan Hurley chose to stay at URI, then assume the head coach position at Rutgers. Former Rutgers assistant Dan Hurley. That speaks volumes about our perception.
Priority #1 is to improve the talent base. Need a Center and more shooters.
Danny knew there would be better options available to him. He also turned down Seton Hall and St Joes earlier. It’s not just an RU thing. He didn’t want to have to rebuild again. Wanted ready made.
Meanwhile - he scored only one more PPG at UConn on similar usage rate, making higher percentage of his FTs (nothing to do with the offense), playing an extra minute plus a game, having an extra year of collegiate experience AND having more surrounding talent to take the focus off him. He did fine at Rutgers.
Thats because most of the "shooters" he brought in can't shoot.
Uh you missed the point that at UConn he played with multiple nba players including Castle. At RU there was very little around him so he should have scored way more if they used him right
People really don't think Pike would like to recruit like UCONN? Dylan or Ace didn't defend a lick in HS...wonder why he took them both?
Real world s*it...There are the type of kids that Hurley wants. Offensive studs who show flashes that they are willing defenders. Every coach in the country wants these kids including Pike. They tend to go to a blue blood who is also the highest bidder.
So now you get into the next tier of players that schools like Rutgers at least have a shot with. Ones who have more flaws in their games.
1) studs on offense but have no real interest in defending
2) less polished offensively but willing defenders
3) holes in game on offense but dawgs on defense.
i do think Pike has historically liked guys in #3 but has seems to go away from it in the last two cycles. not sure if that's a change in philosophies or he can't even really get enough of these guys and has to move down even further into tiers like "holes in game on offense but willing defender" because of lack of money.
but to me bottom line it's not like Pike doesn't want the exact same type of kids that hurley does, it's that he can't get them. and when he was actually able to get two of them...he did it in about the worst possible year to do so. we had two 18 year olds playing against kids who were 5, 6, even 7 years older than them. combo'd with no money for a supporting cast and it didn't matter if we had Pike, Geno or Hurley coaching these teams they weren't going to ever really be ablet to compete...
No not really. There was nothing elite about his ability to put the ball on the floor. He’s better today than he used to be, but his differentiating skill was the 3 ball and opponents were overly focused on that. At UConn, they also had to focus on many other guys so it should’ve been way easier for Cam to get open. The point is he got plenty of run at RU considering. The issue was more lack of efficiency from other players around him and Cliff. Our current offense has better metrics than that team oddly enough…
It's easier to teach good shooters and scorers defense than it is to turn bad shooters and poor scorers into serviceable offensive players. We've seen that dynamic at RU for decades.
Actually - we have 5 players shooting over 32.6% from deep. The issue has been getting those guys open perimeter looks
People really don't think Pike would like to recruit like UCONN? Dylan or Ace didn't defend a lick in HS...wonder why he took them both?
Real world s*it...There are the type of kids that Hurley wants. Offensive studs who show flashes that they are willing defenders. Every coach in the country wants these kids including Pike. They tend to go to a blue blood who is also the highest bidder.
So now you get into the next tier of players that schools like Rutgers at least have a shot with. Ones who have more flaws in their games.
1) studs on offense but have no real interest in defending
2) less polished offensively but willing defenders
3) holes in game on offense but dawgs on defense.
i do think Pike has historically liked guys in #3 but has seems to go away from it in the last two cycles. not sure if that's a change in philosophies or he can't even really get enough of these guys and has to move down even further into tiers like "holes in game on offense but willing defender" because of lack of money.
but to me bottom line it's not like Pike doesn't want the exact same type of kids that hurley does, it's that he can't get them. and when he was actually able to get two of them...he did it in about the worst possible year to do so. we had two 18 year olds playing against kids who were 5, 6, even 7 years older than them. combo'd with no money for a supporting cast and it didn't matter if we had Pike, Geno or Hurley coaching these teams they weren't going to ever really be ablet to compete...
Great post. I actually think the issue the past 2 years was Pike thinking he needed to focus on offense for different reasons. We’ve talked about the Ace / Dylan team. Pike prioritized making sure the two of them would do well individually in his program. He did that by bringing in guys who would be able to score easily if left open to prevent his NBA stars from getting doubled. Lots of good shooters and scorers. Not a lot of defense. A mistake. This season, pike started with nothing so he didn’t have the luxury of taking a D first focus. To be fair, I don’t think the guys we brought in are really the problem. If Buchanan and Grant were splitting time at the 3 and we had a real 4 who played D and an experienced center we wouldn’t be in this situation. Francis isn’t great at D, but he’s “fine”. None of the guards are that bad except when Pike puts them out of position at the 3 but that’s not their fault. The issue is the lack of help D from the frontcourt. Buchanan is better at it than Grant. Nwuli has been disappointing in my opinion. Denis is not playable.
He had four very good offensive players on the court starting with him at UConn. They could all score, and they won because they were unselfish and shared the ball.
Pikes largest issue = doesn't have a dominant rim protector on defense. Look at every team he has had success with here and they all point to one common thing--Johnson and Cliff. It completely changes his defense around and gets what he wants on that side of the ball.
Yes he needs to change philosophies on offense rather than the street ball ISO game but if he had a guy like Cliff last year its a totally different team
Another issue is just age/experience in terms of players. NIL changed the game with getting experienced older players and they will dominate a young team like we have now.
Yes - my point is, opponent defenses left Caleb and Mag open and covered Cam tightly. I was replying to the post saying if Pike knew what he was doing Cam would have had more points at rutgers. No - he wouldn’t. Cam was a one dimensional scorer who is an amazing asset to have on a team of very good players, but he’s not the type of player who can be a difference maker on a team with limited offensive threats (who the coach is doesn’t matter).
I used to think it was only that, but it’s not. Ogbole doesn’t score and that’s a problem on offense, but he doesn’t hurt us that much on D where this should be Pike’s worst defense yet. Worse than team one. No it’s not Gettys D over Ogbole. It’s that 4 spot and the 8 rpg that Freeman grabbed. That position on D is a huge hole. Grant just hasn’t been good enough there.
If UConn had less offensive talent, he could have easily scored another 5-7 points a game in their system if it was needed. He is scoring 12 points a game in 24 minutes against vastly better talent in the NBA right now.
Your missing my point. If he was playing on a team where’s there’s nobody else who can score, it would make getting open looks much harder. He only faced that limitation at Rutgers.