If Dylan gives us the news we all hope and most expect, does it make the Wake Forest game easier to take if we play like we did against Illinois? Think about it, no one on this year's team (except possibly Gavin) is going to be the "go to" guy going forward. It's going to be the Dylan and Ace show, and everyone else will be role players. Anything this year's team does is gravy. Even the best programs have down years. This is probably ours. After tomorrow, the public perception of RU basketball changes drastically regardless of the outcome vs Wake Forest.
Dylan/ Wake Forest game
- Thread starter knight82
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I was thinking the same thing. A loss tomorrow night would still hurt but tough to be in a bad mood if we get a Dylan commitment. Also, if this team can go on any sort of run and stack a few quality wins, we combine a good team this year with the anticipation of next year and the hype will be off the charts. Could be a fun next few months
We're pretty much out of the tournament picture with a loss tomorrow (obviously barring a crazy Big Ten run) so I think all eyes would turn to November 2024 at that point.
have you ever followed a rutgers basketball season before. What a crazy statement
Some of the defeatist stuff I read here, geez.
We were way out of the tournament picture after Lafayette/UMass. Possible to play our way back in but very unlikely. We'd need to beat SHU and Miss St and then go 12-8 in the conference. Does that strike you as a likely outcome if we lose tomorrow?
Never going to count out a Pike coached team until they are completely dead. Plus we had horrible losses the last few years to make up that we donāt have on our resume to this point
It's just reality. Our OOC resume would be losses to Princeton and Wake and wins over a bunch of cupcakes.
The problem with the idea that this team might figure it out eventually is that after this week our tournament fate will be sealed if we don't find a way to win at least 1 of WF and SHU. We really need both to be in good shape. 1 is absolutely the minimum or it's over in terms of the dance
Yes, a split is necessary this week. Are our NCAA hopes over with a loss tomorrow? No, theyāre not. That was my original point.
Plus Princeton is a Q1 loss and Wake would be a Q2 loss. Nothing catastrophic. Plenty of teams already have a disaster loss (or two) on their resume.
The problem isn't one individual loss and how good or bad of a loss it is. The problem is the OOC resume as a whole
Our only "real" opponents are Princeton WF SHU and Miss St. The SOS for our OOC schedule will not be good. We need to go 2-2 absolute minimum in these games.
A loss tomorrow puts the margin of error at 0. It also doesn't inspire hope that the team will be ready to beat SHU on Saturday. This team needs a solid win away from the RAC. We lose out this week and it's overrrr. We simply cannot recover from that OOC schedule performance. The committee will leave us out
The importance of these next two games are absolutely enormous. Crucial. It's everything if we want a shot at the tournament. Time for the team to pull it together with a bounce back statement win. Dig deep. Find a way
I think it's somewhat a distraction right before an important game. Why not wait till after the game?
Because the coaches arenāt distracted ā they already know. The players likely do too or simply donāt care.
We already have a great incoming class without Dylan. If he does decide on RU, my guess is that we will see a side door open up to the transfer portal for some of the current players. If so, it would be in their best interest to try and up their chances of landing someplace decent by playing as hard/well as possible this season.
Losing to an 8-0 Princeton and an Illinois team who just beat FAU and has 1 loss puts nobody in any serious danger.
And yet losing to WF and SHU puts us in the coffin. These next two games are as critical as it gets
There's no way Princeton will remain a Q1 loss, but I feel better that it won't slip to Q3 (a NET ranking of 100 or higher).
I think we need to go 2-1 against Wake/SHU/Miss St
The question OP asked was what the outlook is like if we lose to Wake Forest in a similar way that we lost to Illinois. Being 0-3 against our three top-100 opponents with two of those losses being big ones would be a pretty clear sign.
Agreed. We can go 1-1 this week against WF and SHU but then we need that Miss St. win
Iāve seen SHU play 5 games now. They are slow starters (like us) but they always play tough in the second half. We also have no one to guard Richmond, which is a major problem if he decides he wants to play.
Thatās sort of my way of saying we better get this one tonight.
Thatās sort of my way of saying we better get this one tonight.
Dawes will 100% go off from 3 against us too. I feel like this game is a much bigger deal to Seton Hall than us these days, I don't think I'd be sad if it ended.
Shooting ability is a very important skillset that many Rutgers players lack.The long scoring droughts are a telling indicator to prove that point.Nobody knows what will happen in future games but there should be concerns based on what has happened so far.The Rutgers half court offense needs a major improvement in style of play.Watching Illinois play, fans saw a system where players moved in a weave pattern with options to drive to the basket for a layup ,stop for a short jump shot or pass to the corners for open 3 point shots.Such a system maximizes the skillset of the players on the court.Rutgers needs to follow the Illinois or UConn script in running a half court offense to give the players a better chance of being successful.The status quo is unacceptable for competing in a power conference.
I have to be honest, with what our team will look like next year its really hard to get too upset with this seasons results. Just taking every L in stride and thinking what the future looks like.
Idc if Dylan commits, Cooper Flagg - flipped to us, and Cameron Boozer schedules a visit. I'll still be mad if we lose to Wake tonight
This is like Al's "The next two years are free because we're building towards a better team" thread.
With all the time he's had to commit, it's just not the right time, and the players coming back do care.
If you were a GM would you spend your money on 1 year contracts to 18 year olds coming out of HS OR 1 year contracts to 23 year olds that have been playing in college for 4 years.
Saw on another thread an Illinois fan saying team is better now than last year because last year Illinois relied on too many freshman.
I am officially on the fence if I want harper here so obviously a win over Wake Forest trumps any decision made before the game.
Saw on another thread an Illinois fan saying team is better now than last year because last year Illinois relied on too many freshman.
I am officially on the fence if I want harper here so obviously a win over Wake Forest trumps any decision made before the game.
Only two reasons here - either we have no interest as you say to run an offense that "maximizes the skill set of the players ( ie. Cam Spencer) on the court," or we have no one capable of teaching such an offense.
Not saying itās gonna happen because we kinda stink but if we lose today but beat seton hall and Mississippi state then weāre very much alive for a tournament bid if we do well in conference play.
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I'm on the fence with you - just comes across to me as a little selfish and not Pike's type of player.
Dawes is not a great player. Don't expect him to do much against us, but it does seem like he is about 30 years old. Richmond will do what he wants unless we have Mag back.
We are plagued by the same problems for years. We never have anyone who can hit a mid range jumper consistently and we can't finish around the basket. Add in poor free throw shooting and you wind up with long scoring droughts. In years past we compensated with rebounding and D. Remains to be seen if this year we can improve in either area.
Richmond is a problem for our small guards. Williams has some more beef. Maybe he can matchup a bit better but can he move well enough? Lets hope Richmond doesn't bring it. He's a beast when he is on his game. I'd just sag wayyy off and make him shoot
Agreed, 1 -1 out of these next 2 is OK if we beat Miss St which is why I said we need at least one of these next two. Win both and we are in good shape. Lose both and it's RIP
This whole thread reminds of Jim Mora/Playoffs!?? ...No one has any.clue what this team is. Let's try to win a game before we remotely set our sights on March. We have a big hill to climb..
You're missing the point. If we don't win one of the next two games, it won't matter what this team is in March
I don't think any of us really knows how all this works.
There is a part of me that wonders if we sacrificed this year so we can pay Ace and potentially Dylan next year.
I have to think we could have had Paul and Cam if right after the season we made it clear we wanted both and we had the cash to pay them.
Again I don't know how it works, where the money is coming from, if any money is exclusive for certain players. I assume the money is finite.
Not sure if it is 19-12 or 20-11 that is required with our schedule. Losing this week doesn't eliminate us, but the path to 19 or would really really hard.
Your exact comment was that we are out of the tournament picture with a loss tomorrow (against Wake). That is what most people are reacting to....not the quality of the loss that you are now referencing from a different poster.