At what point do you become full-fledged worried?

[PiscatawayMike]

I'm a bit concerned right now (news flash! LOL) with the way the team is playing, but I can't really say I'm worried about the season. I've watched college basketball way too long to go crazy about the way a club is playing in November. Slow starts are the norm for many teams that end of up being quite good at the end of a season.

However, I've pointed to Jan. 4 as the night I become full-fledged worried if RU has less than nine wins after playing Michigan that evening. I expect to be 8-3 OOC and 1-2 vs. Illinois/Purdue/Michigan at that point. A 9-5 record after 14 games and I think we'll be on our way to the type of season I expected (8-3 OOC, 11-9 B1G).

 

[RU82]

If we don’t start playing a whole lot better, I’d not only say that the NCAA tournament is well out of reach, but that a winning season is probably not in the cards either.

We don’t defend or rebound well enough to compensate for our dismal offense.

 

[jordkap]

I'm a bit concerned right now (news flash! LOL) with the way the team is playing, but I can't really say I'm worried about the season. I've watched college basketball way too long to go crazy about the way a club is playing in November. Slow starts are the norm for many teams that end of up being quite good at the end of a season.

However, I've pointed to Jan. 4 as the night I become full-fledged worried if RU has less than nine wins after playing Michigan that evening. I expect to be 8-3 OOC and 1-2 vs. Illinois/Purdue/Michigan at that point. A 9-5 record after 14 games and I think we'll be on our way to the type of season I expected (8-3 OOC, 11-9 B1G).

It depends on if you expect to make the dance or not. If the answer is yes, I would say if we lose to UMass you should be extremely worried.

If we beat UMass and split with Clemson/Seton Hall then you can stay the course.

If you think the dance isn’t necessary to have a successful year, then frankly just watch it like we watch football and root for the team with realistically much lower expectations.

 

[PiscatawayMike]

It depends on if you expect to make the dance or not. If the answer is yes, I would say if we lose to UMass you should be extremely worried.

If we beat UMass and split with Clemson/Seton Hall then you can stay the course.

If you think the dance isn’t necessary to have a successful year, then frankly just watch it like we watch football and root for the team with realistically much lower expectations.

I expect Rutgers to play in the Big Dance. Anything less than a 9-5 record on Jan. 4 and I fear RU may have dug itself a hole too deep to climb out of. Hence, that is the reason I have chosen that day as my "oh boy, things don't look good right now" date if we are not at least 9-5.

 

[jerzeyguy]

Not worried at all. Never thought we'd be that good this yr and now I see why I thought that. Nothing to worry about. Team is weak in the talent department and shouldn't be expected to win alot of games anyway

 

[FrankZ_RU93]

Just thankful for the NCAA Tournament appearance last year at this point. Not expecting much right now.

 

[richthedentist]

Not worried at all. Never thought we'd be that good this yr and now I see why I thought that. Nothing to worry about. Team is weak in the talent department and shouldn't be expected to win alot of games anyway

If we are not going to be that good this year then we are going to be horrible next year!!

 

[rubigtimenow]

9-5 record after 14 games is the lowest bar possible in my mind. We still have 4 games left in those first 14 where we should be favored by 15+. So if we start 7-0 against cream puffs and 2-5 vs everybody else you won’t be worried? (Good for you!).
I’m not worried yet but I will start to be really worried/concerned if either of these happen:
- If we lose vs Lafayette or at Umass.
- Start 5-1, lose next 4 even by just 1 point each
- If we start 6-1 but then lose the next 3 convincingly.
With the above said, once we get past Michigan, I think overall our remaining big ten schedule pretty favorable except mid Feb back to back at Purdue and Michigan.

 

[Mr. Magoo1]

It’s early but one big problem is people expected everyone to improve and perhaps other than Cliff, no one has. In fact, remarkably, some have regressed. Harper, Baker, Mulcahy, McConnell are all the same or worse. Shooting is worse than I could have even imagined and the offense is abysmal. I know I also expected Agee to be an adequate backup center and he’s far from it. Additionally, there is nothing to indicate that Reiber, Mag, and Palmquist aren’t going to be busts at the B1G level. Lots to fix here.

 

[GORU2014]

After December barring a total meltdown OOC

 

[Knight Ed_rivals]

Should have started worrying when Myles and Jacob transferred out.

 

[LeapinLou]

I had high hopes but I did raise my eyebrow at Pike saying this was his best team. I wanted to believe but didn't see this team being better than last year's team or even the Yeboah team. Myles Johnson was a huge loss and it really shows when Cliff is on the bench.

Mentally, I can tolerate a disappointment this year because last year we got an NCAA tournament win which I had never experienced as an RU fan. The RAC is going to be packed all season so I'm going to focus on the journey and not the destination. I think you're on the same page.

 

[hinson32]

I am very worried about this team, and beyond worried about the future. I just don’t think Pike is recruiting well enough to win in the BIG.

 

[Yeah Baby]

It’s early but one big problem is people expected everyone to improve and perhaps other than Cliff, no one has. In fact, remarkably, some have regressed. Harper, Baker, Mulcahy, McConnell are all the same or worse. Shooting is worse than I could have even imagined and the offense is abysmal. I know I also expected Agee to be an adequate backup center and he’s far from it. Additionally, there is nothing to indicate that Reiber, Mag, and Palmquist aren’t going to be busts at the B1G level. Lots to fix here.

Shooting has been bad but from what i saw yesterday; RHJ is better. He was always great but probably does not get enough credit. In the first half he out rebounded and outplayed Johnson. In the second half he shut down Freeman when he was covering him. Geo shot well but I expect more from him. He played okay but I think he’s better than he showed last night. Paul was very good last night. Caleb is in a funk. Hoping he snaps out because he came up big in the tournament last year. Hyatt can score and rebound and can cover 2-4 which is nice. I need to see some more from the other guys. I can’t judge Agee, Mag or Jones on such limited minutes. Cliff is much better and I think will do more. Frankly, he has to do more.

 

[superfan01]

Anyone with a brain knew this was a likilihood based on the off season.
the thought that Cliff would emerge as a star is laughable based on what he showed last year.

 

[bac2therac]

i had RU starting 0-3 in the Big 10 anyhow and finishing 10-10 in Big 10 play but I also had them 10-1 OOC. I would revise that to say 8-3 and so I think after that Michigan game we sit at 8-6, anything worse than that and its apparent where the season is headed

 

[ColonelRutgers]

I'm way beyond full-fledged worried. Our performance in the first four games (have not led at the half in any game against weak competition), actually losing a game to a weak Power 6 team in DePaul, a center position that does not appear capable of holding up against the type of bodies the Big Ten throws out at you, UMass, Clemson, Seton Hall, Purdue, and Illinois (all lose-able games) in the next month, the Big Ten pooping the bed so far this year as well as last year in the NCAAs all adds up to suddenly very difficult path to an NCAA berth much less a decent seed. We've still only lost one game but Jerry Carino who had predicted us to go 22-9 referred to it as a "sledgehammer" to our prospects and it seems much more dire.

 

[mildone_rivals]

Worried? Never. It’s a game in which I am not playing. I just have to watch and hopefully be entertained. How does worrying help, as a fan?

 

[zazoo2002]

I am very worried about this team, and beyond worried about the future. I just don’t think Pike is recruiting well enough to win in the BIG.

Ding Ding. Just for reference, bottomed feeder Northwestern is consistently recruiting top-150 talent. Most of our recent recruits don't even have other P5 offers.

 

[PiscatawayMike]

Ding Ding. Just for reference, bottomed feeder Northwestern is consistently recruiting top-150 talent. Most of our recent recruits don't even have other P5 offers.

Pike subscribes to the Beilein philosophy. He doesn't care about offers and stars...

Pikiell has long been thankful to Beilein. When Pikiell arrived at Rutgers, he said "when I came into the league as a new coach, he accepted me and said, 'Do things your way. Do things the right way. I never changed. I recruited kids I believed in. I didn’t always get the sexiest (recruits).'

"He greeted me with that message, and I kind of took pride in doing it that way anyways, but it was nice to hear it from him," said Pikiell.

 

[Mr. Magoo1]

Pike subscribes to the Beilein philosophy. He doesn't care about offers and stars...

Pikiell has long been thankful to Beilein. When Pikiell arrived at Rutgers, he said "when I came into the league as a new coach, he accepted me and said, 'Do things your way. Do things the right way. I never changed. I recruited kids I believed in. I didn’t always get the sexiest (recruits).'

"He greeted me with that message, and I kind of took pride in doing it that way anyways, but it was nice to hear it from him," said Pikiell.

That’s fine if you can coach them up and in some instances (Eugene, Johnson, Baker), he has. However, many of the latest (Reiber, Mag, Palmquist), and Agee as a transfer, appear to be
big misses. Miller can’t even crack the rotation on a very flawed team, and next year’s class is beyond disappointing. Add in the fact, that often his successes (Eugene, Johnson), bolt for greener pastures, and he had a lot of trouble getting transfers to come here from the portal, although Hyatt did fall into our lap from his prior recruitment.

Now, more than ever, his philosophy of recruiting almost exclusively diamonds in the rough (Cliff and hopefully Jones being exceptions), looks less likely to succeed. We won’t be able to continue to compete with his record of bringing in one legitimate B1G recruit each season.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

That’s fine if you can coach them up and in some instances (Eugene, Johnson, Baker), he has. However, many of the latest (Reiber, Mag, Palmquist), and Agee as a transfer, appear to be
big misses. Miller can’t even crack the rotation on a very flawed team, and next year’s class is beyond disappointing. Add in the fact, that often his successes (Eugene, Johnson), bolt for greener pastures, and he had a lot of trouble getting transfers to come here from the portal, although Hyatt did fall into our lap from his prior recruitment.

Now, more than ever, his philosophy of recruiting almost exclusively diamonds in the rough (Cliff and hopefully Jones being exceptions), looks less likely to succeed. We won’t be able to continue to compete with his record of bringing in one legitimate B1G recruit each season.

Name the big "recruits" Pike has gotten

 

[Mr. Magoo1]

Name the big "recruits" Pike has gotten

Since the 2020 class and including next year’s class at this point (3 classes), it looks like Cliff and Jones, with the jury out on Miller and Simpson, IMO.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Since the 2020 class and including next year’s class at this point (3 classes), it looks like Cliff and Jones, with the jury out on Miller and Simpson, IMO.

Since the inception of the Pike era

 

[RW90]

Concerned but not entirely surprised given our roster turnover. I'm much more concerned about our recruiting not trending up as much as I'd expect after the past two seasons.

 

[Mr. Magoo1]

Since the inception of the Pike era

My whole point was about his recent recruiting.

 

[RUJMM78]

If we are not going to be that good this year then we are going to be horrible next year!!

Unless there is a surprise recruiting bonanza in the transfer portal next season could be the least talented team with Pikiell as head coach.Playing in a power conference down years in recruiting will quickly move teams to the bottom of league rankings.

 

[RUJMM78]

That’s fine if you can coach them up and in some instances (Eugene, Johnson, Baker), he has. However, many of the latest (Reiber, Mag, Palmquist), and Agee as a transfer, appear to be
big misses. Miller can’t even crack the rotation on a very flawed team, and next year’s class is beyond disappointing. Add in the fact, that often his successes (Eugene, Johnson), bolt for greener pastures, and he had a lot of trouble getting transfers to come here from the portal, although Hyatt did fall into our lap from his prior recruitment.

Now, more than ever, his philosophy of recruiting almost exclusively diamonds in the rough (Cliff and hopefully Jones being exceptions), looks less likely to succeed. We won’t be able to continue to compete with his record of bringing in one legitimate B1G recruit each season.

Beilein had elite talent in his last years at Michigan.,Pikiell should follow the Calhoun model at Uconn starting with strong defense/rebounding and then becoming a elite program by attracting top tier shooting guards.

 

[ClassOf02v.2]

I'm worried for this season but will pray the pieces start to come together. There's a chance that could happen.

I'm VERY worried for next season and the overall trajectory of the program. We got the 25,000 pound gorilla off our back by getting into the NCAA tournament and a stone's throw away from the Sweet 16. On top of that, for the first time ever at Rutgers, we have dedicated basketball facilities that are more than competitive. The fact that those two things are not yet leading to consistently improved recruiting is a big red flag in my mind. We're not even plateauing; it's entirely likely the 2020 frosh class (Palmquist, Rieber, Mag) is a complete bust.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

My whole point was about his recent recruiting.

My whole point is that he has never had good “recruits”.

 

[Scarlet Blind_rivals]

I'll start worrying if the 5 starters are announced for Lafayette on Social media, and it's still Geo, Caleb, Paul, RHJ, and Cliff, because changes need to be made and implemented for that game going into @ UMass, Clemson,@ Illinois, Purdue, @ SHU 5 game stretch. They have the talent, just need to use them better. It starts with Jaden, Hyatt and finding out if Jalen Miller can provide true point guard skills for 10-15 minutes a game.

 

[Mr. Magoo1]

My whole point is that he has never had good “recruits”.

“Good” is relative and Harper and Mulcahy were considered good recruits. Recruiting is worse then ever now. It was evident from day 1 that Baker, Harper, and Mulcahy could play in the B1G….two of them started as freshman or sophomores and Mulcahy is starting as a junior. That’s not the case with Reiber, Mag, and Palmquist. The kids coming in next year appear to be more of the same.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

all 3 werent good recruits when they signed

 

[SHUSource]

Unless there is a surprise recruiting bonanza in the transfer portal next season could be the least talented team with Pikiell as head coach.Playing in a power conference down years in recruiting will quickly move teams to the bottom of league rankings.

The bottom of the league is where Rutgers was entrenched when Pikiell was hired. It was the worst major conference program in America. And in what — five years? — he got you to the NCAAs. With his his guys, too. God knows they weren’t Jordan’s.

Have a little faith. The guy can coach. Look, I hope Rutgers loses every game it plays, but that’s not going to happen with Pikiell there. I’m kind of shocked to read the opinions of this guy here.

 

[cm_13]

“Good” is relative and Harper and Mulcahy were considered good recruits. Recruiting is worse then ever now. It was evident from day 1 that Baker, Harper, and Mulcahy could play in the B1G….two of them started as freshman or sophomores and Mulcahy is starting as a junior. That’s not the case with Reiber, Mag, and Palmquist. The kids coming in next year appear to be more of the same.

You’ve made mention that Pike has had trouble bringing guys in via the portal, but I think that’s an area where Pike has actually been pretty successful (Young, Yeboah, hopefully Hyatt).

I think he’s going to need to snag a couple of good ones to fill out the 2022 class for next year’s team to be successful, but it’s something he’s proven he’s capable of doing before.

 

[RU848789]

I expect Rutgers to play in the Big Dance. Anything less than a 9-5 record on Jan. 4 and I fear RU may have dug itself a hole too deep to climb out of. Hence, that is the reason I have chosen that day as my "oh boy, things don't look good right now" date if we are not at least 9-5.

I expected RU to be a bubble team with at least a 50-50 shot at making the Dance (i.e., 9-10 B1G wins and 10-1/9-2 OOC) before the season, based on Pike calling this his best team, which I knew was a bit of coachspeak, but I also believed it meant that the new guys were coming along well and we'd be at least close to as good as we were the last 2 years.

I know that's still possible, but, so far, we simply haven't played good basketball, except in spurts, against 3 scrub teams and a weak "major" team, which makes me more than a little worried that this team is more likely to have only 6-7 B1G wins and 8 OOC wins than to be a bubble team. That would be very disappointing after the last 2 years and would confirm that we lost more via transfers (with JY and Myles really being missed) than we brought in and/or saw improvement in the guys who were here last year.

I think we're still capable of playing much better, but we have to keep Cliff on the floor and absolutely have to get more minutes for Hyatt, Jones, and Mag and less for Caleb and Paul, as well as see both of them playing better (like Paul did last night), plus we have to see the Harper and Geo of last night consistently - only Harper has been consistently good in every game. We also have to see better intensity, as sustained intensity, especially on defense, was a major key to the success of the last 2 years, and we simply haven't seen enough of it.

 

[RutgersRaRa]

Worried? Never. It’s a game in which I am not playing. I just have to watch and hopefully be entertained. How does worrying help, as a fan?

By the same token it doesn't hurt to worry.

 

[RutgersRaRa]

Given that we've been behind at the end of the first half in all four games, I am worried.

 

[mildone_rivals]

By the same token it doesn't hurt to worry.

Just as long as it doesn't grow into stress, then I guess it doesn't. But some of the folks here seem seriously stressed to the point where they can't be doing their bodies any good.

 

[ScarletDave]

Don’t look at the name on the front of the Jersey. DePaul will be a top-half Big East team this year in a year where the Big East will be up. Rutgers isn’t getting ranked in the top 10 or finishing top-4 in the B1G. We played a close game. We’re not playing our best potential yet. It will be a sweating match to make the tourney, we’re going to have to win some games we don’t expect to down the stretch to do it.