Enough with the Overreactions

[RUby RED]

Look, we got thoroughly dominated tonight, no ones denying that. We looked completely disjointed and seemed to lack the requisite passion/energy required to win a tough Big Ten game.

That said, one bad loss doesn’t suddenly mean that we’re “grossly overrated” or “a bubble team.” We’ll fall in the rankings, as we should, but unless you thought we were a bonafide top 10 team or favorites to win the league, I don’t see why this game alone changes anything.

We still have the same pieces we’ve all previously raved about, Cliff’s still out, Caleb’s still getting up to speed...everyone needs to chill out.

Of course if today’s type of play becomes a normal thing, then by all means sound the alarm. But one bad road game — against a coach/team we’ve historically struggled with — shouldn’t trigger all this bashing and despondent reactions.

Let’s see how we come out against OSU before we start giving up hope on the team that seemingly has the most potential in decades

 

[Sweet Pea's Corner]

I'll give you that. That's why Tuesday is telling.

 

[SleepingGiantIsAwake]

Agree. Reading through some of the other threads, lots of drama queens on the board.

We played like sh$t tonight.It happens. Nobody could hit a shot, stupid turnovers, FTs pathetic (and not just Johnson!....Tez, Harper, etc). Tez forcing too much in 1st half, Young forcing too much when cold.

Move on and stop whining.

 

[Scarlet Blind_rivals]

I though Mathis (1-4, 1-1 3) didn't force it enough compared to others, JY 5-18(0-1), RHJ 5-12(1-4), Geo 2-7(1-4), Paul 2-8(0-1), McConnell 0-4(0-1), Myles 1-3. 16-56(3-12) of 18-59. Myles 7 Reb, no one else had more than 3. Definite coaching lesson tonight by Pike, listen to me about getting back to Rebounding and Defense again, stop believing the hype.

 

[RUissy1]

We are known as a tough, gritty team and we looked anything but tough last night. That's my biggest issue. Every team has off nights, I get that but our body language from all the players was very disappointing.

 

[Woody522]

My issue was this. Teams have bad games and get blown out all the time. No matter if you're a top 5 team or the worst team in the country. But last night was 40 minutes of incompetence. We couldn't get a single open shot. Like I can't recall one play where we had a drive and kick or moved the ball around to the open shooter. Not one. We couldn't execute a pick and roll, couldn't get anything going in transition. It was like a jv team at a public school of predominantly undersized white kids going up against a non public power house varsity team. Completely overmatched

 

[biazza38]

I think we have every right to overreact. We’re in a tough conference and gave away a game last night. Pike got totally out coached by Izzo. MSU is a mediocre team on offense and we quit. We had a really really poor attitude. We should have beat Iowa, but we were awful on D at the end of that game. They better wake up fast or this can spiral. Get the train back on the tracks, and everything will be okay. But they showed us nothing last night. There’s a difference between a bad game and looking the way we did last night. Totally unacceptable from the coaches on down.

 

[Plum Street]

I think we have every right to overreact. We’re in a tough conference and gave away a game last night. Pike got totally out coached by Izzo. MSU is a mediocre team on offense and we quit. We had a really really poor attitude. We should have beat Iowa, but we were awful on D at the end of that game. They better wake up fast or this can spiral. Get the train back on the tracks, and everything will be okay. But they showed us nothing last night. There’s a difference between a bad game and looking the way we did last night. Totally unacceptable from the coaches on down.

This . Every win counts in this league because they are so tough to get . If you don’t get enough wins , we are sitting home again at tournament time . 1991 was a long time ago . The good thing is there are still many games to play snd we can get our act together . Let’s hope when we look back on last night it was just a blip on the radar and not a sign of bad things coming.

 

[ScarletDave]

Remember how we would beat Wisconsin even when they were really good and we were really bad? Sometimes there’s just a team you don’t matchup well against. Well for us, that’s MSU. Even in their “down” years they will still be tough because we have lots of small guards and soft big men, and all 5 of their players at any time are like 6,9-6,10. Same thing with Iowa, just tall everywhere including guards. Any team like that is a bad matchup for us. Need coaches to make adjustments to beat that, but got out coached. Keep going

 

[dconifer0]

Agree with thread title. Still a very good team that will win some NCAAT games. Enjoy...

 

[fluoxetine]

I haven't read the game thread (or a bunch of threads really) so I'm not sure what is being considered an overreaction, but I do think that the conclusion at this point has to be that our preseason ranking was about right and that we had a hot start and then a bad stretch.

 

[RUby RED]

I agree that the body language/attitude appeared to be a concern last night, but until that becomes a pattern I’m not willing to “sound the alarm.” The toughness/energy that Pike and this group have shown the last few years warrants me giving them the benefit of the doubt, one pitiful performance aside

 

[MCKnight]

Keep in mind our second half big ten schedule is much more manageable. Yes, we want to beat the name and ranked teams. but when we beat Indiana, Penn St, Nebraska, they all count the same as Ws. A record of 14-6 or 13-7 will likely be a top 5 Big Ten Team

 

[Scangg]

We laid an a absolute stinker on offense. It happens. Everyone calm down.

Team looks out of sync offensively with no rhythm... that can happen when people are in and out of the lineup with injuries.... Caleb Geo Cliff Harper Mag Young... lot of constant changes... wait til they are all healthy and we find our groove again... this team is good dont get it twisted

 

[fluoxetine]

Re: body language, there is no team on earth that's not going to be pretty frustrated and pissed off at the end of the game like that. I wouldn't read too much into it. If I were 1-11 from the FT line in two games (Myles) I'd be visibly pissed too, it doesn't mean he's not going to play hard the next game.

You can say that how you react in situations like that is a sign of character, and sure it's true to some degree, but what you do at the end of a 20 point blowout is not actually important. I'd rather he mope a bit than tweet out **** about the refs, that's for sure.

 

[fluoxetine]

Also I think a lot of people are overreacting in the sense that their opinions have changed too much from one game but I kind of agree with people's current opinions.. like, we are a ~25th best team, we aren't 100% a lock for the tourney. People took a stretch of games where Ron Harper was shooting like 65% from 3 and extrapolated that performance out to the whole season. If you really thought we were a top 10 team you probably should have a big come-down.

 

[Scarlet Blind_rivals]

Rutgers 6-0

Our starting center and consensus top 50 recruit in 2020 goes down with a knee sprain, Mag out a few games with a couple injuries, our size, rebounding, defense and toughness isn't as strong. JY hurt, RHJ misses a game, Myles FT struggles, Reiber learning and moving ahead of Duke at 5, McConnell back, etc.

Rutgers 1-3

Are there are concerns or major issues after this one, No, but the team needs to forget this one quick and get back to D and Rebounding. We haven't had a clunker like this since 2018-19 in about 40-50 games. Just too many things happening in a short time frame during a tough stretch of games with multiple players missing 1,2,3 or all 4 games. Pike needs to figure it out all the moving, healthy, not healthy pieces and make a full 200 minutes puzzle to win games. Cliff will be back soon and adding a very underrated 6'8 Jaden Jones from the 2021 class early. Rutgers will be a very dangerous Offensive and Defensive team when all the pieces are healthy and roles defined by Pike, Time for Pike to earn his Money starting Saturday, he can't stick to 4 Guards/Wings starting lineup against OSU, outrebounded 45-25 1st game, and MSU 45-25 last night.