State of the program
- Thread starter Goku
- Start date
A Sweet Sixteen! But seriously, the fact that we're in the Dance, and we won our first game, I believe, means a lot. Rutgers is showing they not only belong in the B1G but this should help recruiting in the next few years.
Getting into the sweet 16 and having a WEEK of massive positive media coverage on this basketball Heading into the regional would be huge
And...suppose we get to the sweet 16...and the opponent is Syracuse
How would it be for us for the biggest basketball game played between two teams in this area in the last generation be that Rutgers is playing ...
The talk next week in the metro area would be off the roof would be huge
So yeah...getting a win is a big possible step for this program
For years, other coaches could negatively recruit against us with the argument that we hadn't been to the NCAAs since 1991 and hadn't won a game since 1983.
That argument no longer exists.
That argument no longer exists.
Planting seeds in the minds of future recruits
The state of the program is right on track.
Steve pikiell is a magician. Taking a ground up approach. The recruits he is bringing in is exactly the recruits we need. When pikiell first came to rutgers the only thing Rutgers had that was better than stony Brook(his former job) was conference affiliation. Stony Brook had better gym, better practice facility, better weight room, better academic center.... when building the foundation you need kids who want to be at your school and won’t leave at first sign of adveristy. Say what you want about geo, Myles, Ron, Montez, Caleb but that are all borderline big ten players who believe in themselves and think they can win any game and were willing to stay at Rutgers for all four years instead of jumping ship when playing time wasn’t there or they weren’t winning enough. After the foundation is built you can start bringing in the better recruits for a couple reasons one being the 5* recruits don’t play at schools like Rutgers 5 years ago and two the winning is here. There will be less adversity and an established culture. Pikiell makes decisions based on the culture of the program long term not short term. I think this is why Montez got more minutes than last year. Montez getting minutes keeps a happy locker room. We need Mathis playing well and having confidence. Pikiell showed him he needs him yesterday and supported him when things were not clicking. This is the stuff that no onetalks about that pikiell does. In fact he gets criticized for it.
Pikiell has just put on a clinic on how to build a program.
this is where Archie and Ricky went wrong. It seemed they had a revolving door. If I am mot mistaken but Eugene was the only guy we lost due to transfer.
Steve pikiell is a magician. Taking a ground up approach. The recruits he is bringing in is exactly the recruits we need. When pikiell first came to rutgers the only thing Rutgers had that was better than stony Brook(his former job) was conference affiliation. Stony Brook had better gym, better practice facility, better weight room, better academic center.... when building the foundation you need kids who want to be at your school and won’t leave at first sign of adveristy. Say what you want about geo, Myles, Ron, Montez, Caleb but that are all borderline big ten players who believe in themselves and think they can win any game and were willing to stay at Rutgers for all four years instead of jumping ship when playing time wasn’t there or they weren’t winning enough. After the foundation is built you can start bringing in the better recruits for a couple reasons one being the 5* recruits don’t play at schools like Rutgers 5 years ago and two the winning is here. There will be less adversity and an established culture. Pikiell makes decisions based on the culture of the program long term not short term. I think this is why Montez got more minutes than last year. Montez getting minutes keeps a happy locker room. We need Mathis playing well and having confidence. Pikiell showed him he needs him yesterday and supported him when things were not clicking. This is the stuff that no onetalks about that pikiell does. In fact he gets criticized for it.
Pikiell has just put on a clinic on how to build a program.
this is where Archie and Ricky went wrong. It seemed they had a revolving door. If I am mot mistaken but Eugene was the only guy we lost due to transfer.
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Basketball is In the best shape it has been since Mar ‘79. Just about when our Big East decision would set the program back decades.
Somebody said it on a podcast this week, I think it was Jerry Carino, and he nailed it:
a loss means that we didn’t get the job done... a win, just ONE win, means we got the job done and the program continues to move forward (or something very similar).
a loss means that we didn’t get the job done... a win, just ONE win, means we got the job done and the program continues to move forward (or something very similar).
As stated on BTN last night, and I'm paraphrasing slightly, "this is the greatest rebuilding job in NCAA history".
The key will be to capitalize on this immediately and I think we have the staff to do that. I will never forget how, after our final 4 season, with all of the positive publicity that generated, instead of capitalizing on that and sealing the deal with our top targets - JoJo Hunter and Bill Bailey (correct me if I have the names incorrect), RU went off for a basketball tour of Italy leaving time for slick, sleazy Lefty Driesell to lure them both to UMd.
Of course, it might have helped had the RAC opened one year earlier than it did. It wasn't the great recruiting tool that it could have been that year. Instead, we slid back into the pack of decent but not outstanding northeastern teams still playing a bandbox gymnasium.
Of course, it might have helped had the RAC opened one year earlier than it did. It wasn't the great recruiting tool that it could have been that year. Instead, we slid back into the pack of decent but not outstanding northeastern teams still playing a bandbox gymnasium.
Bingo. Biggest media market in the country with a team in the Sweet 16. This is exactly what Jim Delany envisioned when he added Rutgers to the Big Ten.
Random thoughts on our fan base, for debate and criticism (as usual) - on this nice Sunday; 1) very loyal - season ticket holders, financial supporters, life blood of program (definitely not me). 2) loyal - watches all games, goes to a few every year, down with the loses, elated with the wins (me). 3) occasional - watches the important games, goes sometimes, but definitely cares. 4) Hey - did you see our team is winning - maybe we should go to a game; got to find my RU shirt somewhere in the closet. I highly respect those of you supporting our teams thru the very lean years. And Welcome those jumping back in (most of whom are not on this site). Go RU.
The state of the program is great and top kids in NJ will strongly consider rutgers as a destination.
Maybe not the top top kids like Wagner (or Lewis and Antonio and towns of years past) but like the kids who are ranked outside top 25 nationally but are one of the top nj kids.
Maybe not the top top kids like Wagner (or Lewis and Antonio and towns of years past) but like the kids who are ranked outside top 25 nationally but are one of the top nj kids.
The progression- last year, winning at home and would have made NCAA
This year- big wins, winning some games on the road, .500 in the toughest conference, players getting recognition, Making NCAA, winning first game...
This helps our perception and recruiting. We now get some good players to seriously consider us...but, not getting the elite 1 & Done type guy.
get to the sweet 16...all of a sudden, we are talked about nationwide.
im sure we have F-Ed up some brackets of people not from this area and we get even more legit.
I think we already made huge strides but this next game could put us a year or two ahead of schedule.
This year- big wins, winning some games on the road, .500 in the toughest conference, players getting recognition, Making NCAA, winning first game...
This helps our perception and recruiting. We now get some good players to seriously consider us...but, not getting the elite 1 & Done type guy.
get to the sweet 16...all of a sudden, we are talked about nationwide.
im sure we have F-Ed up some brackets of people not from this area and we get even more legit.
I think we already made huge strides but this next game could put us a year or two ahead of schedule.
True. It's a lot like Schiano's first stint at RU. Other coaches used to say that if you went to RU, you'd never play in a bowl game and you'd never get to the NFL. That strain of negative recruiting became less effective in 2005. It became a non existent argument after 2006.
yes these guys were basically told that they were not going to play and made the decision to leave. When I say transfers I mean transfer of a core player. Like a geo or Ron....
I just hope people realize that pikiell still has a lot of work to do to bring in great players. The job is mot done. The ncaa tournement doesnt mean the flood gates are open. Drew at Baylor took 5 years to get to NCAA then went back words to NIT then NCAA since... it won’t happen at Rutgers over night and we may take a small step back next year due to graduation but we are exactly where we need to be.
Kids in jersey do not grow up wanting to play for Rutgers. Paul is that type of kid. We need multiple NCAAs to make this happen.