we needed STARTERS in the portal...is Pike going to relay that message to Caleb and perhaps Paul
Minnesota
- Thread starter MCKnight
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a transition season with your entire starting roster having NCAA experience including two guys who were getting NBA attention (warranted or not) shouldnt be a 10-21 type season
I think fans could accept a step down and not making the NCAA tourney if the talent level on the bench was not so abysmal and the strategy to force two starters to do something they are not capable of wasnt responsible for a complete breakdown of watchable basketball plus a couple of your returning players drift in and out of whether they want to show up for a game
That is why we will be better next year and why I was concerned about this year. If you watched the last 1/3 of the season last year what we are seeing shouldn’t surprise.
The history with Geo is long and favorable, and it also shows that he can be streaky. I don't see giving up on him suddenly because of a bad start.
Because he was backfilling those spots with better talent. Harper was better than anyone in the Eddie era. Yeboah was an improvement over Eugene. Johnson was an improvement over Doorson, That's not happening anymore.
We will not be better with the big men we have other than Cliff.
What do you see happening since we know Agee, Reiber and Palm can not compete in the B1G?
No he wasn't. The players fit the system and defended and rebounded.
Yeboah wasn't a great basketball player. He had a defined role and played it and was very effective.
Sanders and Freeman were both enormously talented. Caleb and Paul were very important pieces to the NCAA run. There obviously isn't even worth a discussion comparing those two.
The current leaders off the program are too comfortable and don't fit with the program's identity. The biggest fault I find with Pike, and maybe it is a strength in other ways, is his loyalty to his upperclassmen.
Yeboah had the luxury of a defined role because of the players around him. DeShawn Freeman did not. (Whether he would have played within that role anyway is another debate).
Guards a dime a dozen.....big guys are not. I defintely share your concern here. We were looking at guys like pauli Paulicap (or whatever his name was) and he is barely getting minutes and he was lost to WVU.
BAC - we will maybe have Jones and Cliff. If we fall off the rails this year - as many of us expect- they could be gone too. And if that’s the case Pike will have to be let go.
Agree that guards are a dime a dozen but I have no confidence in Pike hitting the portal hard. Also, just because Paulicap is not getting time at WVU, doesn’t mean he wouldn’t be part of the rotation here. Agee is part of our rotation. He almost has to be better than him.
That does concern me. I don't want to be controversial, but this program may get hit twice with the COVID extra year thing.
It isn't as much Pike telling these players they don't have starter minutes wrapped up it is players in the portal picking other schools out of fear Pike will stick with those players.
In a perfect world Caleb and Paul play 15 MPG. We all know the world isn't perfect.
I posted this on TOS as well but here it's the truth:
We just built a BRAND NEW, STATE-OF-THE-ART facility for Pikes and No-Show, and neither of them have been able to take advantage. It's mind-boggling.
We just built a BRAND NEW, STATE-OF-THE-ART facility for Pikes and No-Show, and neither of them have been able to take advantage. It's mind-boggling.
You are just proving the points everyone js making. No big man development sans Cliff. No one on the horizon. Guards a dime a dozen but we’ve missed every one that can shoot.
1. Where is the money to buyout Pike
2. Where is the money to pay the new coach
3. What new coach would EVER come to RU if we fire coaches for one bad year?
The even notion of firing is just stupid and a complete lack of understanding that there is any type of big picture.
Go root for Duke or Kentucky. You picked the wrong team to root for.
Northwestern's amazing football facility got them a 1-8 season after one of their best seasons ever. For programs like that (and us) it's cyclical.
My sticking point is whether Pikiell can get back there (Pat Fitzgerald has proven he can for NU football, for example). I think not. But he clearly deserves the chance to show he can.
Caleb and Paul are pieces, agree, but if you have nothing else around them, they are nothing more than MAAC level
we are following the Northwestern path under Collins, great run then big drop, now Collins may or may not be showing signs of coming back, but if NW isnt progressing upwards next year then I dont think they get out of the abyss..ditto for Rutgers
I will just say they shouldn't be playing 35 MPG. You can have 1 of them on the court at all times, not 2
do you know these are the same arguments about not firing Fred Hill and Eddie Jordan
Im not saying fire Pike, he will get this year, next year and yes he will get 2023 but after that he is fair game
guards are a dime a dozen yet we only have 2 right now and one wasnt recruited by anyone else and was going to redshirt
If you are looking at things from a far with no emotions. The Northwestern program and Rutgers programs are great parallels. You might also conclude they need to do things differently than other programs higher up in the hierarchy.
The argument can always be there are programs that catapulted themselves up the chain, Gonzaga obviously an example. A school like PITT back in the 90s is also another example.
I am not knowledgable and have ZERO interest in understanding what happens in recruiting. Everyone is free to think they want. I don't want a program breaking the rules.
or Geo's hamstring or the covid rule allowing players to have a 5th year.
Pike is down 4-0 in the 2nd inning of the Andre Hyatt game. That has really hurt. Yes, that is on Pike.
It really hurt having no open spots at the guard position for the portal.guards are a dime a dozen yet we only have 2 right now and one wasnt recruited by anyone else and was going to redshirt
That is a very reasonable time frame......and so the discussion at this point is silly. Let's open up the discussion February 2023 as a possibility.
yeah the extra year thing is kind of lame, however every school got it, some just shuffled the rosters better, meanwhile we were left in the dark if two players were staying or leaving
I think Minnesota lost 11 kids from the roster last year.....it was impossible to have no impact from the portal, they started over......
make no mistake if this year is 11-20 and next is similar, in Feb of 2023 this board will be all over getting rid of him, I think based on recruiting we will have a good read on trajectory. It is too soon now, I think Pike deserves criticism but the firing threads are way over the top, Ive generally avoided commenting in them but I will now become more vocal calling out those posters about firing him. As negative and down as I am now, you dont fire a coach that got you basically two ncaa season off of one bad year and we are actually just 8 games into this season
Many of these posters are in the anger phase. I am in the acceptance phase, my thoughts now are on what goals does Pike want to acheive for this season
the NIL is real problem, I am very against it, I was surprised by how so many of here loved the idea. Its not something that helps Rutgers at all in either sport quite frankly although Schiano is much more equipped than Pikiell to adjust to it. Honestly Fred Hill would be more equipped than Pikiell to adjust to it...or even Eddie
Yes. "Is Pikiell doing a good job?" and "Should we fire Pikiell?" are two very different questions and as of right now have very little to do with each other. Circling back in 2023 is appropriate.
I can only repeat this 1000x.....none of these items on facilities impacts Top 100-125 recruits.....every program vying for those kids, has great facilities.....do you have "the bag"......?? Do you have a NIL program in place??? Do you have an AD paying attention and ensuring the programs have the proper support??
And this discussion about RU failing is all about guard play.....you have essentially removed Geo Baker, Jacob Young, Montez Mathis and replaced the guards with Paul Mulcahy and Caleb McConnell (who are really wings) and Jalen Miller, who has less than 20 minutes played on the season??
You don't recruit overlap and have 9 guards on your roster like some fans believe you should, but even if Geo departed after last season and Jacob Young was out of eligibility......you would have Mathis and ??
RU needs 2 guards either in 2022, with some prospects left OR 2 legitimate guards in the portal.
Paul Mulcahy is not a guard at this level of play.....at best he is hybrid wing.....Jalen Miller is a guard. But probably should be a 4th or 5th guard on a NCAA caliber program.
Simpson is 1 guard....You need 2 Legitimate game ready guards for next year......it forces Jaden Jones back into his ideal role as a wing/scorer, Mulcahy is better suited off the bench in a 20-22 minutes a game role....he is not good enough of a scorer or defender to play more than that.
RU with normal guards in this season (Baker plus another guard who can defend and score) is a NCAA team...
I would like to see if Jaden could develop into one of those guards, that ultimately should be the primary goal of this season, if Baker misses an extended period of games....
Okay have no idea why you needed to type everything else after the initial paragraph, HOWEVER, we lost to Lafayette. We should've been able to beat them with our bench. Does Lafayette have a "bag man?" NO. NIL deals in place? NO. And now you're going to tell me that Hobbs is the problem? Stop. WE NEED TO RECRUIT BETTER. PERIOD. How can you possibly argue this FACT my friend?
BTW - we are at 217 in the NET rankings. That's disgraceful and THAT, my friend, is on the coaching staff. Period. I'm gonna ask a question I've asked a couple of times: what does Steve Hayn actually do? What has he added to this stafff?
Is Pikiell doing a good job is a loaded question too.
We definitely need some time before forming any conclusions. There was literally a switch that was turned on Jacob at the dopey Rutgers-Newark game that arguably changed the direction of the program. My eyes say Hyatt is no good. My eyes said Young was a waste. If Hyatt became serviceable, Geo got healthy and Jaden (who I thought showed some signs in the terrible Illnois game) gets better things aren't as bad as they look.
If Cliff stays, Jones lives up to potential, Hyatt is serviceable then the math starts to look a heck of a lot better for 2022-23.
1- OPEN, Miller
2- OPEN
3- Jones
4-Mulcahy, Hyatt
5- Cliff, OPEN
Cliff and Paul are your captains and the culture improves 100% and "chemistry"........
Pike is able to get a 2 way lead guard that knows he has minutes and player and plays for a player's coach. The 2 way 2 guard will be easier to find than the PG.
Defense won't be an issue next year.
I'd be screwed if my job was evaluated in such short time increments, especailly if they were impacted by things not completely in my control....(ie injuries and players status up in the air prior to seasons)
He's been an assistant coach for over 2 years now. Maybe it's from being in sales forever, where you can get canned after 3-months for not performing to expected levels, so I ask again: WHAT has this guy brought to the table thus far? Maybe I'm off base, I don't know, which is why I'm asking. Thank you.
I'm as disappointed as anyone about the start to this season and don't have much hope that things will get much better in the B1G conference schedule. But talk of firing Pike is insane. He finally broke the NCAA drought (and would have broken it in 2020 if not for Covid). RU came very close to an epic upset and a spot in the Sweet 16 last March. That buys job security. Sure, March 2023, if we are not competitive in league, let's talk about it. But let things play out. Harper is clearly dealing with a back issue. Geo out. Team wide shooting slump.