This was a great win. Great defense even though there were people on the game thread who thought it was terrible. Minnesota is a tough team to defend and they did a great job tonight
**** all the people who think Pike can't coach
- Thread starter mugrat86
- Start date
Dumbest group on here.
Pike is a fantastic coach
Pike is a fantastic coach
Pretty sure Bac (the guy who thinks he invented bball) didn't have this effort on his bingo card
Just a shame that Pikiel wasted NIL on that short kid from NJIT, pure nepotism, Pikiel knows nothing about recruiting, or at least that’s what all Pikiel’s detractors said about his recruiting Tariq Francis. All Francis has done is lead the team in scoring all season and set the Rutgers record for most points in a Big Ten Tournament game. Kudos to Pikiel, Francis and the rest of the team for playing hard and not giving up. Hope Francis and a core group of players on this team return.
Pretty sure the mods on here were leading that myth
We really doing victory laps after that? Come on man.
Really good win for the team, yes.
Minnesota is not a good team, also yes.
Pike has had the best R hoops teams in the last 30+ years, also yes.
Program has also been trending in the wrong direction for the past 3 years, also yes.
Why can’t we just be honest around here?
Really good win for the team, yes.
Minnesota is not a good team, also yes.
Pike has had the best R hoops teams in the last 30+ years, also yes.
Program has also been trending in the wrong direction for the past 3 years, also yes.
Why can’t we just be honest around here?
Damn right I'm taking a victory lap! Having to listen to people like you who know nothing about basketball
I am going to be brutally honest. The Rut is a total *** hole also yes
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Probably the best coaching job of the season tonight — made great adjustments attacking the zone and adjusting on the defensive end to stop their three balls.
For me it’s always about giving credit where credit is due. Pike deserves kudos for a well-coached game and well executed gameplan tonight.
By the same token Pike has deserved all the criticism thrown at him these last 3 years.
He’s getting another year plus he’ll have a bigger budget and an AD and a GM this off-season. I’m rooting for him and the team to succeed next year.
By the same token Pike has deserved all the criticism thrown at him these last 3 years.
He’s getting another year plus he’ll have a bigger budget and an AD and a GM this off-season. I’m rooting for him and the team to succeed next year.
Testament to Pike and Staff for keeping team together!
Team has improved over past month and appears to be jelling !
Old time Pike style win tonight !
However let’s not go overboard!
We haven’t sniffed a post season bid in 3 years / Its do or die for pike next year / we were an awful 6-14 in conference and we haven’t defeated a good team this year.
That being said I’m quite curious and excited for tomorrows game vs UCLA !
Go RU !
Team has improved over past month and appears to be jelling !
Old time Pike style win tonight !
However let’s not go overboard!
We haven’t sniffed a post season bid in 3 years / Its do or die for pike next year / we were an awful 6-14 in conference and we haven’t defeated a good team this year.
That being said I’m quite curious and excited for tomorrows game vs UCLA !
Go RU !
Minny blew us out last month. Pike and Knight deserve props for the game plan. Our guys were patient moving the ball vs the zone. EO was the rim protector that we've been missing most of the season. Kudos to the coaches and team!
It is a shame that many have ripped Steve all year. We have 7 freshmen and only 3 million in NIL. We have improved a lot and hope we can keep many of our players and bring in a few guys who can help us next season in the upcoming portal. Hopefully next season is much better and we can move up a lot in the league standings.
This team has a shoestring budget and has improved dramatically over the course of the year. That is called good coaching that caused the improvement on this team with the worst talent in the conference.
Congrats to Pike, the staff, and team. That was a great program win.
Minnesota is well coached and a good team. Their issue was injuries and depth. Pike out coached Minnesota tonight and the players performed. Give credit when credit is due. Otherwise you lose credibility.
He can't lose any more credibility. He has zero
It’s hard to win a BTT game. In 11 tournaments since we joined, we’ve only won in 4 of them until tonight. Pike now has 6 BTT wins in 9 tournaments. The guy knows how to win in March period. We just need to have a team to get there
Francis and Buchanan were very complimentary of the staff post game and multiple times gave them credit for keeping the team close together.
Happy for them and hope we can pick another 1-2 teams off.
Happy for them and hope we can pick another 1-2 teams off.
Could not agree more. Pike did a great job, team played with great poise and execution. Team attacked the zone in 2nd half with confidence and purpose. Ogbole in the middle was like having Cliff around here again, dunks, an inside presence, blocks, key rebounds late. I, like many on here, give Ogbole a lot of grief but that was his best game at RU. He deserves a lot of credit for tonight, he was even in the right position for dishes underneath to him attack the zone, showed good hands and flushed the dunks.
But, let’s not act like we did this against Michigan and just won the conference tourney. Great win, lot of fun, great run in 2nd half, but let’s not act like everything is lollipops and rainbows with the program this year and the downward trajectory overall of last several years. Great win, but this type of win tonight and this level of play is what we need to consistently see next season in a very important season for Pike as far as his job is concerned. We see more of these outputs next season and Pike will have the success he so desperately needs to achieve next season.
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We had two lottery picks last year and barely made this tournament. Nice win, but the team still stinks.
Well, there is the story that Pike had to be convinced to take Francis and hadn't wanted him. Either way, Francis has proved most everyone, myself included, wrong.
Brandon Knight bullied him into taking Francis for 1m in nil money in order to funnel money into his family circle.
The guy was below .500 with two NBA lottery picks. He made what should’ve been a special season a complete embarrassment. He would be fired already if not for the contract his buddy Hobbs stupidly gave him.
He’s below .500 this year, not a good coach!
Idk how people keep bringing last season up in this way. That roster was terrible...this years roster is better than last years roster believe or not. Both terrible rosters but you see what this team looks like with a decent ogbole. If ogbole goes back to his old self tonight they will lose by alot. Last years team had 0 paint presence..Ace bailey was basically the center...just let people enjoy this tournament win you can go back to the woe is me theme of the board when the season is over omg
He or she is a complete embarrassment. They are not a Rutgers basketball fan. They must root for Seton Hall to post that
Did I not say it was a good win for the team?
Always in absolutes around this place.
Minnesota was under .500 this year, not a good team. You can say injuries, depth, NIL, team still gelling, etc etc. It doesn’t matter, they finished under .500 and were bottom half of the league.
If they beat UCLA tonight, THAT would be defeating a good team.
Great win. This is a very young team that has improved both its defense and offense over the last 6 weeks.
Rutgers has nothing to lose and will play risky basketball tonight to find a way to the Michigan State game!
Rutgers has nothing to lose and will play risky basketball tonight to find a way to the Michigan State game!
Why can’t we just collectively enjoy the win and stop posting threads attacking other people?
Everyone wants Rutgers to win
everyone who is critical of Rutgers losing or not having money or poor coaching aren’t necessarily wrong when they give those opinions but like me I want Rutgers to win every game in spite of that
yesterday was a great effort and the team has shown growth the last 10-12 games
you can call me a firm optimist for next season if we can close the year out beating an upper echelon team tonight like UCLA
The roster around Dylan and Ace was terrible because coach chose to spend it poorly on inefficient shooters rather than around defense and rebounding. But that’s in the past. Doesn’t mean we all don’t want them to get back to the NCAAs be it under Pike or someone else.
The roster was terrible because Pike had zero money to spend to get anyone good. If he had money he could have kept Cliff and he would have been your answer for defense and rebounding