Fun Team To Watch

[satnom]

We don’t know how this team is going to translate as the competition ratchets up but damn this is a fun team to watch and root for so far. Love the usage of 11 players that each brings something to the table.

I‘m totally enjoying the type of basketball RU is playing this season moreso than last year’s team thus far.

Kudos to Coach Pike and staff for trying to prove the naysayers wrong.

GO RU

 

[JFK20]

I am sorry but is what is “fun” about watching 3 competitive nailbiters out of 4 games vs Q4 cupcakes the highest ranked being #282?

Pikiell hasn’t proved anybody wrong. All signs point to the team being just as bad as everything thought.

We don’t know how this team is going to translate as the competition ratchets up but damn this is a fun team to watch and root for so far. Love the usage of 11 players that each brings something to the table.

I‘m totally enjoying the type of basketball RU is playing this season moreso than last year’s team thus far.

Kudos to Coach Pike and staff for trying to prove the naysayers wrong.

GO RU

 

[satnom]

I am sorry but is what is “fun” about watching 3 competitive nailbiters out of 4 games vs Q4 cupcakes the highest ranked being #282?

Pikiell hasn’t proved anybody wrong. All signs point to the team being just as bad as everything thought.

Don’t know about you but it’s fun to watch five players playing for each other, unselfish play, facing adversity, making adjustments and giving their all Collectively. That’s team ball.

There were multiple agendas on the court at once last season. That’s not how you play the game of basketball.

Also, Pike and staff are coaching the hell out of these players without holding back.

That’s fun to me.

GO RU

 

[Sweet Pea's Corner]

Disagree. Must be a newbie.These are the same cupcake teams every year. It always starts out like this. Nothing fun about watching this team struggle against teams listed in the upper 200's. The only takeaway from this team is they bend but haven't broke yet.

 

[DHajekRC1984]

I am sorry but is what is “fun” about watching 3 competitive nailbiters out of 4 games vs Q4 cupcakes the highest ranked being #282?

Pikiell hasn’t proved anybody wrong. All signs point to the team being just as bad as everything thought.

yeah I wouldn't say "fun" myself but I do find them interesting. I am hoping Big O can hold his own come B1G play. I have always rooted for him and he has clearly put in the work to improve. Hopefully they can continue to gel and Pike shortens the bench. Grant is a player and Denis seems like a fairly heady guy out there even if so far not that "sniper" but fingers crossed there too. (he certainly doesn't stink).

 

[DHajekRC1984]

Don’t know about you but it’s fun to watch five players playing for each other, unselfish play, facing adversity, making adjustments and giving their all Collectively. That’s team ball.

There were multiple agendas on the court at once last season. That’s not how you play the game of basketball.

Also, Pike and staff are coaching the hell out of these players without holding back.

That’s fun to me.

GO RU

Unselfish play? They averaged 12.9 assist per game last year and thru 4 games it is 13.3. Did you see Buchanan pass the ball 1 time? These guys still play 1 on 1 for the most part but I will give you they do seem more "team" oriented and don't appear to have the me players (except #5 as noted above). But at least he does play hard.

 

[satnom]

Disagree. Must be a newbie.These are the same cupcake teams every year. It always starts out like this. Nothing fun about watching this team struggle against teams listed in the upper 200's. The only takeaway from this team is they bend but haven't broke yet.

Yeah. Watching since ‘92 (freshmen year).

Newbie? lol.

Quality of opponent is what it is. Team effort travels and translates.

GO RU

 

[RUfrom NJ]

The total lack of expectations has helped me enjoy this team more.

 

[Mr. Magoo1]

We just keep setting the bar lower. Loser mentality.

 

[JFK20]

Don’t know about you but it’s fun to watch five players playing for each other, unselfish play, facing adversity, making adjustments and giving their all Collectively. That’s team ball.

There were multiple agendas on the court at once last season. That’s not how you play the game of basketball.

Also, Pike and staff are coaching the hell out of these players without holding back.

That’s fun to me.

GO RU

These are all narratives and mental gymnastics made up by fans who look for any and all excuses to be “positive” for the sake of “just being positive”.

Just like the “this is a scrappy defense first Pikiell roster now!” narrative. Funny…I watched American get uncontested open shots at will in the first half last night.

Bottom line is….its year 10. The team can’t handily beat teams ranked 300 in Kenpom at home. All objective signs point to it being very difficult to get to a 500 record. In year 10.

Yeah, not fun.

 

[Perricone7]

I'm with you, OP. Last years team had a really strange vibe to them, a "sum is worse than the whole of its parts" energy. This team at least seems cohesive and I think they will get better as the season progresses. Also, I know it's college basketball in 2025, but I do love the fact that Grant, Badalou, J-Mike, Buchanan, and Francis can all come back next year.

I'm not usually a "win is a win" guy, but I remember Ron and Geo having multiple WTF losses/near losses throughout their careers. It's not like these have been 1 point games with 30 seconds left. I'm not sure what fans are expecting at this point. College basketball was flipped upside down and all coaches/programs have had to adjust accordingly. If Pike figures it out, that's great. If not, he will be gone in 2 years. Might as well enjoy the ride.

 

[biochemist001]

These are all narratives and mental gymnastics made up by fans who look for any and all excuses to be “positive” for the sake of “just being positive”.

Just like the “this is a scrappy defense first Pikiell roster now!” narrative. Funny…I watched American get uncontested open shots at will in the first half last night.

Bottom line is….its year 10. The team can’t handily beat teams ranked 300 in Kenpom at home. All objective signs point to it being very difficult to get to a 500 record. In year 10.

Yeah, not fun.

This is the ultimate problem. Before last night's game Pikiell had a 150-140 record in his 10th season to date. Obviously this season isn't over but that averages out to 15-14 every season. There have been 4 winning seasons and 5 losing seasons to date. There have been 2 trips to the NCAAs (1-1 and 0-1) and 1 trip to the NIT (0-1). We have had a winning conference record 2 times and a .500 conference record 2 times. I think that we can all agree that the past 3 seasons have been major disappointments. The team has regressed in the NIL age.

 

[Mholinko]

I'm with you, OP. Last years team had a really strange vibe to them, a "sum is worse than the whole of its parts" energy. This team at least seems cohesive and I think they will get better as the season progresses. Also, I know it's college basketball in 2025, but I do love the fact that Grant, Badalou, J-Mike, Buchanan, and Francis can all come back next year.

I'm not usually a "win is a win" guy, but I remember Ron and Geo having multiple WTF losses/near losses throughout their careers. It's not like these have been 1 point games with 30 seconds left. I'm not sure what fans are expecting at this point. College basketball was flipped upside down and all coaches/programs have had to adjust accordingly. If Pike figures it out, that's great. If not, he will be gone in 2 years. Might as well enjoy the ride.

It’s hard to enjoy in year 10 when the peak was now 5 years ago and there’s no reason to think the program internally or athletic department will change anything … or fan base

I remember cheering and feeling optimistic as a student when CJ Gettys and co were playing hard and scrappy that’s great coming off a 6 win season and empty arenas

pike created hope and expectations and if we as fans allow the bar to be lowered back to 2016-2017 then it’ll never go up again

 

[Sweet Pea's Corner]

I'm with you, OP. Last years team had a really strange vibe to them, a "sum is worse than the whole of its parts" energy. This team at least seems cohesive and I think they will get better as the season progresses. Also, I know it's college basketball in 2025, but I do love the fact that Grant, Badalou, J-Mike, Buchanan, and Francis can all come back next year.

I'm not usually a "win is a win" guy, but I remember Ron and Geo having multiple WTF losses/near losses throughout their careers. It's not like these have been 1 point games with 30 seconds left. I'm not sure what fans are expecting at this point. College basketball was flipped upside down and all coaches/programs have had to adjust accordingly. If Pike figures it out, that's great. If not, he will be gone in 2 years. Might as well enjoy the ride

Enjoy the win Friday ( hopefully ). Because after Friday we may be looking at a 7 game losing streak. The next win may come on Dec 29 vs Delaware St.

 

[bac2therac]

These are all narratives and mental gymnastics made up by fans who look for any and all excuses to be “positive” for the sake of “just being positive”.

Just like the “this is a scrappy defense first Pikiell roster now!” narrative. Funny…I watched American get uncontested open shots at will in the first half last night.

Bottom line is….its year 10. The team can’t handily beat teams ranked 300 in Kenpom at home. All objective signs point to it being very difficult to get to a 500 record. In year 10.

Yeah, not fun.

There is nothing fun about trying to rationalize and normalize a 14-17 type season. College hoops is a big business. Coaches and players are getting millions. Universities are raking in enormous revenue and spending frivously while draining their fanbase of funds. Yet some Rutgers fans feel 14-17 will be a solid season given our circumstance while creating an impossible scenario that next season will he some giant leap forward given very limited talent

Team is 4-0 that is great but the performance on the court reminds me of mid 90s Atlantic 10 Rutgers

 

[Bob Chaewsky_rivals]

I am sorry but is what is “fun” about watching 3 competitive nailbiters out of 4 games vs Q4 cupcakes the highest ranked being #282?

Pikiell hasn’t proved anybody wrong. All signs point to the team being just as bad as everything thought.

Kudos for trying to make them better? I should hope so.

 

[RU_DIO]

We don’t know how this team is going to translate as the competition ratchets up but damn this is a fun team to watch and root for so far. Love the usage of 11 players that each brings something to the table.

I‘m totally enjoying the type of basketball RU is playing this season moreso than last year’s team thus far.

Kudos to Coach Pike and staff for trying to prove the naysayers wrong.

GO RU

Let me know how you feel after watching us play in Vegas.

 

[satnom]

Let me know how you feel after watching us play in Vegas.

Sure will.

GO RU

 

[RUDiddy777]

This is the ultimate problem. Before last night's game Pikiell had a 150-140 record in his 10th season to date. Obviously this season isn't over but that averages out to 15-14 every season. There have been 4 winning seasons and 5 losing seasons to date. There have been 2 trips to the NCAAs (1-1 and 0-1) and 1 trip to the NIT (0-1). We have had a winning conference record 2 times and a .500 conference record 2 times. I think that we can all agree that the past 3 seasons have been major disappointments. The team has regressed in the NIL age.

It’s not really fair to include his first 3 seasons in that metric.

But he does need to get better, quickly.

 

[RUDiddy777]

It’s hard to enjoy in year 10 when the peak was now 5 years ago and there’s no reason to think the program internally or athletic department will change anything … or fan base

I remember cheering and feeling optimistic as a student when CJ Gettys and co were playing hard and scrappy that’s great coming off a 6 win season and empty arenas

pike created hope and expectations and if we as fans allow the bar to be lowered back to 2016-2017 then it’ll never go up again

I think the peak may have been 3 years ago before the Mawot injury. That team was headed to 13 or 14 B1G wins.

 

[LeapinLou]

I think the peak may have been 3 years ago before the Mawot injury. That team was headed to 13 or 14 B1G wins.

It's crazy the way our season started and then just fell off a cliff. After that win at Perdue, we were thinking about where we would be seeded. In the end, we didn't even make it. That was a tough pill to swallow.

 

[bac2therac]

I think the peak may have been 3 years ago before the Mawot injury. That team was headed to 13 or 14 B1G wins.

Fair but it was a 7 man rotation. Thats on Pike that the team completely fell apart without Mag and offensively was putrid

Roster and recruiting

 

[RUbyRED]

I think for some folks, branding this team “fun” and “cohesive” are just euphemisms for “low expectations” and “lack of individual talent”.

A certain type of fan hated that we played so much iso ball last season. News flash — the numbers don’t show that this team shares the ball exceptionally better than last year’s. All we’ve done is replace Dylan iso with Tariq Francis iso (lol). And while all our guys are supposedly defense-oriented…again, neither the numbers or the eye test have showed that this is a particularly good defensive bunch

I guess we’ve upgraded on “vibes”, but I think that’s more attributable to not having to live up to high expectations…which overall I think is a negative for the program

 

[RUfan1977]

There is nothing fun about trying to rationalize and normalize a 14-17 type season. College hoops is a big business. Coaches and players are getting millions. Universities are raking in enormous revenue and spending frivously while draining their fanbase of funds. Yet some Rutgers fans feel 14-17 will be a solid season given our circumstance while creating an impossible scenario that next season will he some giant leap forward given very limited talent

Team is 4-0 that is great but the performance on the court reminds me of mid 90s Atlantic 10 Rutgers

This team would remind me of a 90s Atlantic 10 Rutgers team if you took away Grant, Buchanan, Ogbole, Nwuli and Mark. Then we would have an undersized center, good guards, decent but not overly sought after freshmen.

 

[RUfrom NJ]

This is the ultimate problem. Before last night's game Pikiell had a 150-140 record in his 10th season to date. Obviously this season isn't over but that averages out to 15-14 every season. There have been 4 winning seasons and 5 losing seasons to date. There have been 2 trips to the NCAAs (1-1 and 0-1) and 1 trip to the NIT (0-1). We have had a winning conference record 2 times and a .500 conference record 2 times. I think that we can all agree that the past 3 seasons have been major disappointments. The team has regressed in the NIL age.

I'd also mention the horrid record away from the RAC in years 4 through 9. 40 games under .500 with several bad losses to mid-majors.

 

[DC8690]

These are all narratives and mental gymnastics made up by fans who look for any and all excuses to be “positive” for the sake of “just being positive”.

Just like the “this is a scrappy defense first Pikiell roster now!” narrative. Funny…I watched American get uncontested open shots at will in the first half last night.

Bottom line is….its year 10. The team can’t handily beat teams ranked 300 in Kenpom at home. All objective signs point to it being very difficult to get to a 500 record. In year 10.

Yeah, not fun.

https://give.rutgersfoundation.org/athletic-excellence-fund/15320.html

 

[Atlasxal]

I am sorry but is what is “fun” about watching 3 competitive nailbiters out of 4 games vs Q4 cupcakes the highest ranked being #282?

Pikiell hasn’t proved anybody wrong. All signs point to the team being just as bad as everything thought.

Haha. None of these games were “nailbiters”.
After four games, RU is averaging 79.3 points per game with its opposition 64.0 points per game - a differential of 15.3 points.
We sit lower level and in no game did any of us feel the game was in jeopardy going down the stretch.

 

[BillyC80]

There is increasingly more parity in college basketball, and the chasm between the #100 rated school and the #300 school may not be as wide as we expect.

You might anticipate a 20-point win in that matchup, but if the lower ranked team is knocking down threes at a much higher rate than normal, it could turn out to be a 10-point game instead, with the winning team’s fans feeling disappointed.

I think that’s happening here, when some of our fans are disappointed with each and every win we’ve gotten so far this year.

 

[FIJI'83]

OP has every right to enjoy what he is seeing. Winning is better than losing no matter who you are playing. No crime in being optimistic. Indeed, if I am not mistaken in an earlier year when we eventually went to the Dance, Geo Baker had to hit a last second shot early in the season to beat Leigh. However, when we step up in competition this year I am afraid the OP's optimism will dampen and his joy disappear. But until then, ENJOY!

 

[RUDiddy777]

Let me know how you feel after watching us play in Vegas.

Come on man. Going against two top 20 teams in games 6 and 7 (lol) isn’t going to tell us what this team will be in January or March.

 

[Knight Shift]

There is nothing fun about trying to rationalize and normalize a 14-17 type season. College hoops is a big business. Coaches and players are getting millions. Universities are raking in enormous revenue and spending frivously while draining their fanbase of funds. Yet some Rutgers fans feel 14-17 will be a solid season given our circumstance while creating an impossible scenario that next season will he some giant leap forward given very limited talent

Team is 4-0 that is great but the performance on the court reminds me of mid 90s Atlantic 10 Rutgers

Are RU players "getting millions?"
Don't see the OP and others as "rationalizing" as much as realizing Pikiell is the coach at least for this year, and probably longer because of the ridiculous extension Hobbs gifted to him, and enjoying whatever moments there are to enjoy instead of pissing and moaning over the state of the team. Think you are projecting that some Rutgers fans feel 14-17 will be a solid season.

 

[RUDiddy777]

It's crazy the way our season started and then just fell off a cliff. After that win at Perdue, we were thinking about where we would be seeded. In the end, we didn't even make it. That was a tough pill to swallow.

Yeah. And I think there’s a valid criticism of Pike that we lacked the depth that season and the year before (with the core 5 playing 35 mins +). Mawot was playing his way to DPOY consideration and giving us 10 ppg - but there was nothing behind him when he went down.

Bottom line - it has to get better and we have to consistently be in the top 8.

 

[RUDiddy777]

Fair but it was a 7 man rotation. Thats on Pike that the team completely fell apart without Mag and offensively was putrid

Roster and recruiting

missed this but I agree - depth has been lacking since 2021. He’s got 2 seasons now. The team will likely miss the post season - but I hope by March we look at where the team is and think if that’s the team that started the season, we’d be dancing.

 

[RUDiddy777]

I think for some folks, branding this team “fun” and “cohesive” are just euphemisms for “low expectations” and “lack of individual talent”.

A certain type of fan hated that we played so much iso ball last season. News flash — the numbers don’t show that this team shares the ball exceptionally better than last year’s. All we’ve done is replace Dylan iso with Tariq Francis iso (lol). And while all our guys are supposedly defense-oriented…again, neither the numbers or the eye test have showed that this is a particularly good defensive bunch

I guess we’ve upgraded on “vibes”, but I think that’s more attributable to not having to live up to high expectations…which overall I think is a negative for the program

I think if you just look at the build of the team - we’re not sending boys against men. Buchanan is a truck. Ogbole looks a little leaner - but still jacked. Dortch is more of a stick than a twig this year.

I don’t think anyone has high expectations - unless thinking they have a shot to work their way to 8 wins in conference is lofty. But this was always going to be a rebuilding year - even if Cliff and Mawot had stayed.

 

[RUDiddy777]

There is increasingly more parity in college basketball, and the chasm between the #100 rated school and the #300 school may not be as wide as we expect.

You might anticipate a 20-point win in that matchup, but if the lower ranked team is knocking down threes at a much higher rate than normal, it could turn out to be a 10-point game instead, with the winning team’s fans feeling disappointed.

I think that’s happening here, when some of our fans are disappointed with each and every win we’ve gotten so far this year.

And totally ignore the fact that this is the only time Pike will go 11 deep in the rotation and get guys some playing time.

 

[BillyC80]

I think if you just look at the build of the team - we’re not sending boys against men. Buchanan is a truck. Ogbole looks a little leaner - but still jacked. Dortch is more of a stick than a twig this year.

I don’t think anyone has high expectations - unless thinking they have a shot to work their way to 8 wins in conference is lofty. But this was always going to be a rebuilding year - even if Cliff and Mawot had stayed.

Plus Badalau and Grant have good size as well, and both have shown ability to score in different ways.

Worth mentioning too, that while shorter in stature, Davis is tough as nails and Francis is a sneaky good rebounder, so they compensate for their lack of size in other ways.

 

[DC8690]

There is nothing fun about trying to rationalize and normalize a 14-17 type season. College hoops is a big business. Coaches and players are getting millions. Universities are raking in enormous revenue and spending frivously while draining their fanbase of funds. Yet some Rutgers fans feel 14-17 will be a solid season given our circumstance while creating an impossible scenario that next season will he some giant leap forward given very limited talent

Team is 4-0 that is great but the performance on the court reminds me of mid 90s Atlantic 10 Rutgers

https://give.rutgersfoundation.org/athletic-excellence-fund/15320.html

 

[RUfan1977]

And totally ignore the fact that this is the only time Pike will go 11 deep in the rotation and get guys some playing time.

Pikiel will probably go deep against Central Connecticut State, Penn and Delaware State and possibly in blowout wins or losses, but the likelihood is that for every other game he is going to greatly shorten the rotation to improve both offensive and defensive efficiency. He needs to give the bench players as much playing time as he can afford without losing a game while he can to develop a bench. If he went with more transfers with experience, they probably wouldn’t need as much playing time to contribute when they come off the bench, but Rutgers apparently was limited in how much it could spend on transfers.

 

[lion1983]

It is ALWAYS fun to watch RU win, unless the team is really, really miserable to watch. They have not been really miserable to watch this season so far. So .. 4 fun games to date!

And frankly, other than the American game, none of the games were ever really in doubt, just the margin of victory. And even the American game, after RU tied them at the end of the 1st half, I was pretty confident - and when RU went up 45-35 to start the 2nd half (a 15-2 run), RU was never really horribly threatened. Yeah, American got to within 5 towards the end - but never had the ball with a chance to make it a one-possession game, and RU hit their FT's to put it away.

I cannot remember if it was in this thread, or another, but one poster was complaining that it too a strong FT shooting game to beat a low level team ... like they were complaining a=that RU shot FT's in quantity and well in this game! And if RU had shot FT's poorly, they would have said "See, I told you RU sucked" - even if RU had win the game but with poor FT shooting!

Look, RU has a ton of question marks still, looks like they are short talent relative to mist of the other Big Ten teams, and do look like they could get blown out a few times, and struggle in the Big Ten. But ... stranger things have happened. I still see a path to 14-16 overall wins. I admit that 12 wins seems more likely a downside than even 16 wins as an upside. But until they play the games? Who knows?

For example .. here are some "What If's":

1) What if ... Grant is actually a true break-out player, like the 2 Murray brothers were, or a number of other players were for other pas Big Ten teams ... and he can actually average 16 ppg, 7 rpg, with a good efficiency?

2) What if ... Davis can average 9-10 ppg, 4-5 apg, 42%+ FG, 35%+ 3-point shooting, and solid on-ball defense?

3) What if ... Francis can be acceptable defensively, even with his 6'0" or shorter height (like Jameer Young of Maryland, let's say) and average 12-14 ppg with an reaosnable offensive efficiency?

4) What if ... ONE of Badalau or Bichanan can be a reliable #3 scorer behind Grant and Francis? Or between them ONE is a #3 scorer in most games, alternating, ;et's say?

5) What if ... Nwuli gradually develops into an effective reserve, even if only defensively and rebounding? He showed much better, less lost, versus American than in the prior 3 games.

6) What if ... Fall and Dortch, combined, can deliver 15-18 mpg and provide 6-7 reb/g and solid help defense (both likely are too skinny to be too effective in solo post defense - i.e. without help - against any teams with decent post players)?

 

[Sweet Pea's Corner]

Haha. None of these games were “nailbiters”.
After four games, RU is averaging 79.3 points per game with its opposition 64.0 points per game - a differential of 15.3 points.
We sit lower level and in no game did any of us feel the game was in jeopardy going down the stretch.

I was concerned up 6 with minutes to do, A 3 and its a 1 possession game. Surely it had to come across your thinking.