Loss on Pikell

[bac2therac]

Pike was responsible for at least these 3 losses in the past few weeks

Last night by once again not having the team ready to play the entire first half, with his crazy substitutions, and with playing Doucoure at all. We lost all momentum with Doucoure, and even though we made another run, it wasn't enough.

Sunday, by losing the game in the first 7 minutes by letting Reuvers absolutely abuse Carter. Reuvers scored more in the first 5 minutes of the game than he did in the entire first game at home. It set the tone for the game and we never really threatened after that.

The Michigan game at the garden by continually double-teaming Simpson resulting in wide open shooters or a wide open big man down-low. He stuck with that strategy even though it burned him the entire game.

spot on...we can love what Pike has done overall and pick out criticisms the past few weeks. What has hurt Pikiell is the lack of adjustments to opponents gameplans for RU. Its glaring. RU caught opponents by surprise and that is a credit to Pike. They counter, he has not adjusted. He usually win halftime within games but the poor starts are definitely on him in mentally preparing his players. These are not one offs, its every single game

yesterday sub pattern was fatal

 

[The RUT]

spot on...we can love what Pike has done overall and pick out criticisms the past few weeks. What has hurt Pikiell is the lack of adjustments to opponents gameplans for RU. Its glaring. RU caught opponents by surprise and that is a credit to Pike. They counter, he has not adjusted. He usually win halftime within games but the poor starts are definitely on him in mentally preparing his players. These are not one offs, its every single game

yesterday sub pattern was fatal

Bingo. We do the same thing over and over again and get the same result.

I just want to see Myles Johnson setting a pick under the basket for someone running baseline for an open mid range jumper.

I’m honestly about to draw up plays for Pikiell, it’s so pathetic.

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

The post game comments by Andy Katz after the game summed it up....it would have been a monumental epic collapse by PSU to have blown a 21 point lead at home, off a 2 game losing streak and with a trip to Iowa and Michigan State coming to PSU next week. The items are RU-centric, but if Pike had a 21 point lead, lost the lead and won on a 3 in the last 30 seconds, I don't think it would be anything other than what didn't the coach do to sustain the lead, they took their foot off the gas, all the BS cliche comments that have nothing to do with anything....sometimes it's just sports and college sports in general, this isn't the Pros....

I can also point out in the 2nd game with Maryland and Minny, how many quick shots Minnesota took, up by 10,up 12, up 14 in the 2nd half, wheeling and dealing with early shots in the shot clock and not feeding the ball to Oturu, knowing full well, Jalen Smith started the 2H with 3 fouls and had no chance to stop Oturu with 3 fouls...... So many things have to contribute fuel and gasoline to a fire, when a lead of 21 points and 17 points are blown in back to back games on TV the same night.

When fans refer to coaching,I can only ask when we can micro manage the mistakes Pike clearly made or could get 2nd guessed on, it's impossible to be hypercritical when the team rallied from that deficit....you still have to be coached well at some point, to make that type of adjustment or multiple adjustments, to rally....it takes great coaching to have teams build a lead and sustain it and adjust to maintain a lead....But I can clearly state that Minnesota has coughed up 3 straight home games, all with leads to Iowa, Indiana and Maryland, with a 1st team all B1G front court player and lead point guard who can get 20 points, if he's playing well.....usually, if you have a go-to post player and lead guard, you can control the tempo of the game and have no business blowing that type of lead, if you are coached well........if you give San Diego State a 10 to 15 point lead or you spot Texas Tech or other teams that type of lead, you're not coming back, unless the coach holding the lead, really helps you with bad strings of decisions. Chambers and Pitino Jr really did more than their share last night.....

Coaching is more about what teams do over an extended period of time, vs an isolated game. I am fully confident that despite fans believing RU has Top 5 B1G level talent, they do play that way in spurts, but it's not there yet with 4 sophs and a freshman making the bulk of your minutes for this season....... Maryland is by a wide margin, player for player, the most talented roster in this league and it's reflected in the standings. If anyone has a coaching bullseye on him, within the B1G, it's Mark Turgeon....this isn't their 1st game this year, where they've trailed by 10-15 points....Illinois home, Illinois away, Northwestern by a bundle in the 1st half, Indiana on the road and again last night, Minnesota on the road.

You have Top 10-15 talent at Maryland and it's the same pattern RU is showing, is also happening to Maryland. It doesn't mean neither coach is good or bad, it means that something isn't isolated to just being a Pike issue, it's the flow and momentum of sports in general, it's nothing more than that....

 

[richthedentist]

The post game comments by Andy Katz after the game summed it up....it would have been a monumental epic collapse by PSU to have blown a 21 point lead at home, off a 2 game losing streak and with a trip to Iowa and Michigan State coming to PSU next week. The items are RU-centric, but if Pike had a 21 point lead, lost the lead and won on a 3 in the last 30 seconds, I don't think it would be anything other than what didn't the coach do to sustain the lead, they took their foot off the gas, all the BS cliche comments that have nothing to do with anything....sometimes it's just sports and college sports in general, this isn't the Pros....

I can also point out in the 2nd game with Maryland and Minny, how many quick shots Minnesota took, up by 10,up 12, up 14 in the 2nd half, wheeling and dealing with early shots in the shot clock and not feeding the ball to Oturu, knowing full well, Jalen Smith started the 2H with 3 fouls and had no chance to stop Oturu with 3 fouls...... So many things have to contribute fuel and gasoline to a fire, when a lead of 21 points and 17 points are blown in back to back games on TV the same night.

When fans refer to coaching,I can only ask when we can micro manage the mistakes Pike clearly made or could get 2nd guessed on, it's impossible to be hypercritical when the team rallied from that deficit....you still have to be coached well at some point, to make that type of adjustment or multiple adjustments, to rally....it takes great coaching to have teams build a lead and sustain it and adjust to maintain a lead....But I can clearly state that Minnesota has coughed up 3 straight home games, all with leads to Iowa, Indiana and Maryland, with a 1st team all B1G front court player and lead point guard who can get 20 points, if he's playing well.....usually, if you have a go-to post player and lead guard, you can control the tempo of the game and have no business blowing that type of lead, if you are coached well........if you give San Diego State a 10 to 15 point lead or you spot Texas Tech or other teams that type of lead, you're not coming back, unless the coach holding the lead, really helps you with bad strings of decisions. Chambers and Pitino Jr really did more than their share last night.....

Coaching is more about what teams do over an extended period of time, vs an isolated game. I am fully confident that despite fans believing RU has Top 5 B1G level talent, they do play that way in spurts, but it's not there yet with 4 sophs and a freshman making the bulk of your minutes for this season....... Maryland is by a wide margin, player for player, the most talented roster in this league and it's reflected in the standings. If anyone has a coaching bullseye on him, within the B1G, it's Mark Turgeon....this isn't their 1st game this year, where they've trailed by 10-15 points....Illinois home, Illinois away, Northwestern by a bundle in the 1st half, Indiana on the road and again last night, Minnesota on the road.

You have Top 10-15 talent at Maryland and it's the same pattern RU is showing, is also happening to Maryland. It doesn't mean neither coach is good or bad, it means that something isn't isolated to just being a Pike issue, it's the flow and momentum of sports in general, it's nothing more than that....

Yes but when you play the same way for 7 straight games than that is the coach not preparing or having the team ready; Why do we defend the 3 good in the second half but not in the first its because in the first the guys are leaving there men and hedging too far off their men and leaving them wide open in the first half yet in the second half we play much tighter and are for the most part not leaving our men like in the first half; So why don't we start that way from the outset??? Isn't that coaching?

Our second glaring error is the hedging 20-25 feet out from the basket by Myles Johnson which in every game costs us at least 6-10 points by the other team either getting easy pick and rolls or where guys are force to come in the lane to cover for him thereby leaving there men wide open for threes!! Or Myles will pick up a stupid foul 25 feet away from the basket forcing him to sit; Again
this is coaching; Myles Johnson is very intelligent as we know so if you sit there in practice and don't correct this than it's not going to be corrected in games and this may work in practice against our guys because they can't make a 3 pointer of course

 

[bethlehemfan]

Yes but when you play the same way for 7 straight games than that is the coach not preparing or having the team ready; Why do we defend the 3 good in the second half but not in the first its because in the first the guys are leaving there men and hedging too far off their men and leaving them wide open in the first half yet in the second half we play much tighter and are for the most part not leaving our men like in the first half; So why don't we start that way from the outset??? Isn't that coaching?

Our second glaring error is the hedging 20-25 feet out from the basket by Myles Johnson which in every game costs us at least 6-10 points by the other team either getting easy pick and rolls or where guys are force to come in the lane to cover for him thereby leaving there men wide open for threes!! Or Myles will pick up a stupid foul 25 feet away from the basket forcing him to sit; Again
this is coaching; Myles Johnson is very intelligent as we know so if you sit there in practice and don't correct this than it's not going to be corrected in games and this may work in practice against our guys because they can't make a 3 pointer of course

And yet somehow with these glaring errors we are 19th in defensive efficiency. If only you were on the sideline helping out.

 

[RuBird]

RU started a graduate senior, a senior and a junior last night. Not that young.

Shaq Carter starting over Myles Johnson is all about early fouls not because he is better. I really hope people can see that

 

[BillyC80]

The armchair coaches on here (myself included) really crack me up sometimes.

“Start Shaq!”
“Why are we still starting Shaq — start Myles!”
“Jacob needs to sit!”
“Start Jacob!”
“Pike makes too many lineup changes!”

I could go on, but you get the idea. Fact is, Pike is not perfect and our players are not perfect, and guess what? We La-z-boy hoop wizards aren’t perfect either.

Pike and the team are doing everything they can to win and to make us fans happy and proud. Our guys are still in control of their own destiny, for getting RU invited to the big dance. Let’s see how it plays out, and yell like hell at the RAC on Tuesday.

 

[Hope4RU]

Bottom line : We had a miserable start (again). A super 2nd half. Even got the lead. And we lost the lead on a long 3-point "prayer shot" with just a few seconds left, had no time-outs and the kids couldn't
put together a decent last second play to get a winning score. Eh. No one more upset than I. But on Pike ? Gimme a break. We came within a hair of beating the #11 rated team in the country (or whatever the hell they were) on their home court ! Not too shabby although a terribly disappointing result.

 

[DHajekRC84]

Sorry. They are inexperienced young whatever. I get no one likes excuses but it is what it is. No reason to be stupid about it.

Anybody that thinks they are so almighty and right and other folks thoughts are "dumb" and "stupid" show their own intelligence level.
Just ignore me. I have no time for folks who converse like this.

 

[DHajekRC84]

stop. Shaq is a senior but should not be starting. Unsure why pikiell does it but he doesnt move the needle. We all know johnson is the most talented big man on the team. a sophmore. and Aquasi is a grad transfer with no big game experience.

I never said Shaq should be the starter. #Fake news.

And you're ..scoring 21pts and getting 6 bounds vs. Us isn't much. Nobody else wanted him. My bad. Lol.

Way to pick and choose and make stuff up.
You're entitled to your opinion.

 

[DHajekRC84]

stop. Shaq is a senior but should not be starting. Unsure why pikiell does it but he doesnt move the needle. We all know johnson is the most talented big man on the team. a sophmore. and Aquasi is a grad transfer with no big game experience.

I never said Shaq should be the

I hate to break the news to fans, but frankly, PSU contributed as much, if not more to the 2nd half comeback with bad coaching, bad sub patterns and allowing players to get into foul trouble late in the 1st half. I know common sense would indicate that it was poor coaching by RU that contributed to being down 21....but fans are entitled to opinions, even if they are cliche and sound like soundbites.

RU doesn't have front end Top half of the B1G talent....they've improving and getting better through player development. You really cannot crush coaching, unless fans believe we have better players vs our opponents night in and out vs our B1G competitors....especially on the road, which most nights as of now, isn't the case

I believe RU has B1G mid-level talent, Top 8th to 10th ranked type, but not in the realm of Ohio State, MSU, Michigan, Indiana, Maryland. Penn State is in a position where they have a dominant senior in Stevens, who helps bring their mid-level talent, up a level or two. The ultimate goal is RU to get there in a next year or two, with the current improvement of the core group and potentially supplemented by some transfers or other players in the next 2 offseasons.

Hey Hawk. I personally get that and don't disagree about the talent. But 1) we're talking about just winning a 2nd road game when we've been there. Good enough to be there but not able to steal just 1 more is a concern. 2) so if he is furnishing low middle of the pack with middle or low middle of the pack talent then where's the "coach of the year" thing? That's saying he did avg. With what he had to work with.

Bottom line have we over performed? Of course! 100% but my God..we just needed to finish 1 of these. And 3) I won't revisit our debates end of last season about Geo being that guy.

I know I know...maybe Purdue and in the B1G. I root for that but well see.

 

[Pancho1939_rivals]

I never said Shaq should be the starter. #Fake news.

And you're ..scoring 21pts and getting 6 bounds vs. Us isn't much. Nobody else wanted him. My bad. Lol.

Way to pick and choose and make stuff up.
You're entitled to your opinion.

You said we start two seniors and a junior. I am simply explaining that your statement is extremely misleading.

Akwasi- love him. Happy he is here. That being said any team who needs to lean on a grad transfer from a low major with zero ncaa tournament games has leadership issues. Now if jameel warney came here as a grad transfer it would be completely different. Jameel was the best player the America East has seen in 20 years and is a top 10 players all time.

Shaq starts but averages 12 minutes per game.

simply put your statement that we start two seniors and a junior is very misleading

 

[bethlehemfan]

Anybody that thinks they are so almighty and right and other folks thoughts are "dumb" and "stupid" show their own intelligence level.
Just ignore me. I have no time for folks who converse like this.

I didn’t say you were stupid. I don’t think you are. Otherwise you would be on ignore. I should have said bad take or something similar perhaps. No offense meant.

 

[jvgrad02]

The main reason why we are mediocre is that we don't have consistent shooters. Last night was a perfect example of nobody wanting the ball. We lose because we suck at the line and beyond 15 ft.

 

[RUJMM78]

The main reason why we are mediocre is that we don't have consistent shooters. Last night was a perfect example of nobody wanting the ball. We lose because we suck at the line and beyond 15 ft.

After reading every thread regarding specific games it always comes back to making shots.

 

[DHajekRC84]

You said we start two seniors and a junior. I am simply explaining that your statement is extremely misleading.

Akwasi- love him. Happy he is here. That being said any team who needs to lean on a grad transfer from a low major with zero ncaa tournament games has leadership issues. Now if jameel warney came here as a grad transfer it would be completely different. Jameel was the best player the America East has seen in 20 years and is a top 10 players all time.

Shaq starts but averages 12 minutes per game.

simply put your statement that we start two seniors and a junior is very misleading

cept that I didn't make that post...my comment was regarding us not being that young. Both you and the guy from Eastern PA jumped on my for something I didn't even say. Look above and copied below.
However like it or not his comment is a FACT. I still hold that this team is not as young as everyone wants to believe. But whatever. Right now all I care about is Rutgers getting a win and the severe over-reaction by folks holding equities stops!

Local Shill said: ↑
RU started a graduate senior, a senior and a junior last night. Not that young.

 

[anon_0k9zlfz6lz9oy]

cept that I didn't make that post...my comment was regarding us not being that young. Both you and the guy from Eastern PA jumped on my for something I didn't even say. Look above and copied below.
However like it or not his comment is a FACT. I still hold that this team is not as young as everyone wants to believe. But whatever. Right now all I care about is Rutgers getting a win and the severe over-reaction by folks holding equities stops!

Local Shill said: ↑
RU started a graduate senior, a senior and a junior last night. Not that young.

Just speaking from a factual perspective, we are the 7th most experienced team in the B1G according to Kenpom. And Illinois who is the 5th most experience team in the B1G is only ahead of us by a very very very very slight margin. The narrative that we're just sooo young, in reality is just ********.

Not year, we're going to be top 3 most experienced teams in the B1G with a good chance of being #1.

 

[DHajekRC84]

Just speaking from a factual perspective, we are the 7th most experienced team in the B1G according to Kenpom. And Illinois who is the 5th most experience team in the B1G is only ahead of us by a very very very very slight margin. The narrative that we're just sooo young, in reality is just ********.

Not year, we're going to be top 3 most experienced teams in the B1G with a good chance of being #1.

interesting you found that. I was wondering if that existed. I was actually thinking doing my own work-up on that because everybody uses the National info. which includes all these lower schools where kids don't leave early or transfer in.

So If we have Avg. Talent per some. We have avg. experience per KP. Finishing 8-9 is just where we belong and I am ok with that.
We over achieved early-under achieved away/late and may finish right in place.

OK. Fine. Got the BIG tease again. #usedto it. And overall I am very OK with Pike even though I have a few concerns.
But anybody ok with this scenerio should ALSO not be claiming Pike is the COY. We're right where we should be (which is also a nice improvement and a good thing).
Now getting the players needed to get to the top? TBD'd. But I am rooting for him. and as I said another post. He wins one of the next 2 and gets us in the tourney I'm making a donation to Rutgers Basketball like I did for getting Schiano.

 

[bethlehemfan]

interesting you found that. I was wondering if that existed. I was actually thinking doing my own work-up on that because everybody uses the National info. which includes all these lower schools where kids don't leave early or transfer in.

So If we have Avg. Talent per some. We have avg. experience per KP. Finishing 8-9 is just where we belong and I am ok with that.
We over achieved early-under achieved away/late and may finish right in place.

OK. Fine. Got the BIG tease again. #usedto it. And overall I am very OK with Pike even though I have a few concerns.
But anybody ok with this scenerio should ALSO not be claiming Pike is the COY. We're right where we should be (which is also a nice improvement and a good thing).
Now getting the players needed to get to the top? TBD'd. But I am rooting for him. and as I said another post. He wins one of the next 2 and gets us in the tourney I'm making a donation to Rutgers Basketball like I did for getting Schiano.

We do not have average experience at least in terms of who plays. If you look at the rosters in terms of each teams top 7 in minutes Rutgers is tied for 3rd youngest with Neb. NW and MD are slightly younger. The top 7 are wisc, Iowa, psu, Mi, Pur, OSU and Ind. We are close to MN, IL and MSU. You need to remember as well that the traditional powers that recruit more highly rated players do not rely on development as much so RU being young is obviously different than MD being young. To get to average btw we would need 3 guys with one more year of experience.