THE OFFICIAL RUTGERS-ALABAMA PREDICTION THREAD

[RUtix4me]

Bama 84 RU 71

 

[rob kight]

Dylan has another good night.
RU loses
Dylan gets drafted right after the game and leaves for NBA (Right now, he is the best freshman in the country)

 

[fluoxetine]

Explain what Ace does to have a big night against the Bama Defense?
I wanna make sure I’m watching the same guy.
All I see is low percentage off balance jump shots.
What will his big night look like?

Taking better shots and/or making the bad ones.

 

[BillyC80]

Could get blown out but also could be closer than we think. Alabama plays to the level of their competition :

- beat Arkansas State by 9
- beat McNeese by 8 (Bama scored only 72 points)
- lost to Purdue by 9
- beat Illinois by 13
- beat Houston by 5

With both teams fighting muscle fatigue from OT games the night before, in the second half I see some extra fouling, poor outside shooting and a winning score in the high 70s/low 80s.

Bama wins, 81-74.

 

[BigEastPhil]

Alabama is a much bigger and more athletic team than Notre Dame.

I’m sure Cliff will have extra motivation as well.

Unlike last nights’ game for which the positives were minimal from our big guys , we will need tangible positive contributions from Somerville / Ogolbe / Martini !

Hopefully they’re up to the task !

Need to defend well against Sears. I guess JWill gets the assignment.

Also need to defend Nelson who is a sneaky good athletic player



On the Houston - Notre Dame game , I will be very curious to see how Allocco shoots / plays. My gut says he ll have an average game given how crazy he was against us.

Go RU!

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Alabama is a much bigger and more athletic team than Notre Dame.

I’m sure Cliff will have extra motivation as well.

Unlike last nights’ game for which the positives were minimal from our big guys , we will need tangible positive contributions from Somerville / Ogolbe / Martini !

Hopefully they’re up to the task !

Need to defend well against Sears. I guess JWill gets the assignment.

Also need to defend Nelson who is a sneaky good athletic player



On the Houston - Notre Dame game , I will be very curious to see how Allocco shoots / plays. My gut says he ll have an average game given how crazy he was against us.

Go RU!

What is the over/under for Somerville + Ogbole + Martini minutes?

I am going 34 1/2

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

This season there will be a lot of chess played in our games....every game different matchups, different coaches and different lineups and looks.

Harper is going to see a lot of pesky guards denying him the ball all 94 feet. He is about to get swarmed.

 

[Kbee3]

Nelson should have a field day with our big men.

 

[Rutgers56_rivals]

Alabama 80
Rutgers 63

The question is not who, but by how much.

 

[RAC93]

Bama - 86
Harper - 68

 

[RUDiddy777]

Alabama 81 RUTGERS 66

Any ETA on the recap @bac2therac?

 

[RUDiddy777]

RU gets into an up and down slugfest, runs out of gas. I think Ace has a big night but rebounding and the inability to get a stop kill us in the end. Bama 105 RU 92

An 8-12 point L sounds about right. Bama is a finished product and we’ll be a much better team in March.

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

Move Dylan off the ball tonight and let JMike, Derkack and JWill handle the ball....place him on the wings and provide driving lanes for the guards to score.

Once Harper has the ball, he has free reign to drive and score, take 3s and pass skip passes to shooting threats.

Your 1st clean look is probably your best opportunity to score.

On defense, pack the paint and make Alabama shoot 3s. Because Bama has to respect RU running in transition, it is questionable that they will crash or aggressively try to grab offensive rebounds....

If RU rebounds the ball and pushes it to take the 1st available look, they will hit 3s and stick around most of the night.

Bama advantage is actually counterproductive to what they do best....Run and find Cliff or Grant Nelson, who might score 30, if he hits shots.

Probably has the likelihood to be the most entertaining game of the day.....

RU 85 Bama 81

 

[FIJI'83]

Potential bloodbath tonight, but I'll be kind and say 'Bama 92-70.

What he said. Bama is a potential FINAL 4 team.

 

[lion1983]

Explain what Ace does to have a big night against the Bama Defense?
I wanna make sure I’m watching the same guy.
All I see is low percentage off balance jump shots.
What will his big night look like?

What does Bailey have to do? Make those shots. He can elevate and step-back to get his turnaround shot off against almost any defender. I posted this in another thread - and repeatedly pre-season: RU (coaches, teammates and fans) are going to have to get used to Bailey being a high volume shooter. There will be games where he hits just 3-14, or 5-16 or 5 or 6 for 18 ... and scores just 10-14 points. BUT ... taking the SAME shots, there will be games when he HITS those shots, and goes 10-14, 12-18 or 19, and scores 25-30 points. He is a shot-maker - and has an enormous confidence in his ability to hit those shots. Some days he won't. In 4 games so far, he has made his shots in 2 games and NOT made them in 2 games - way too early and small a sample size.

I am mor concerned about Alabama causing Bailey to turn the ball over, than forcing Bailey to miss shots ... and more worried about Bailey not being able to help RUI rebounding.

FYI: to the poster in re Davis's role to cover Sears: Yes, when Davis is in he probably will defend against Sears. But I expect Derkack and Williams to spend more time on the 6'1" Sears than Davis - they will get more minutes, therefore get the responsibility. Derkack can use his 6'6" height to help offset Sears' quickness advantage - and Williams can use his 6'4" height and his physicality to try to do the same.

 

[Rufans]

BAMA 86
RU. 72

 

[scarletpumpernickl]

Two possibilities:
1. Alabama 82, Rutgers 64 with a 50-16 rebounding edge to Alabama

2. Rutgers plays great, has a 1 point lead with 2 seconds left on the clock, and Alabama has a one-and-one foul shot. The Alabama player misses the first free throw and RU rebounds. As we celebrate, the ref blows the whistle because coach Pike called a TO just before the foul shot was released to ice the shooter. After the time out, the Alabama player calmly sinks 2 free throws for an Alabama win.

 

[RAC93]

What does Bailey have to do? Make those shots. He can elevate and step-back to get his turnaround shot off against almost any defender. I posted this in another thread - and repeatedly pre-season: RU (coaches, teammates and fans) are going to have to get used to Bailey being a high volume shooter. There will be games where he hits just 3-14, or 5-16 or 5 or 6 for 18 ... and scores just 10-14 points. BUT ... taking the SAME shots, there will be games when he HITS those shots, and goes 10-14, 12-18 or 19, and scores 25-30 points. He is a shot-maker - and has an enormous confidence in his ability to hit those shots. Some days he won't. In 4 games so far, he has made his shots in 2 games and NOT made them in 2 games - way too early and small a sample size.

I am mor concerned about Alabama causing Bailey to turn the ball over, than forcing Bailey to miss shots ... and more worried about Bailey not being able to help RUI rebounding.

FYI: to the poster in re Davis's role to cover Sears: Yes, when Davis is in he probably will defend against Sears. But I expect Derkack and Williams to spend more time on the 6'1" Sears than Davis - they will get more minutes, therefore get the responsibility. Derkack can use his 6'6" height to help offset Sears' quickness advantage - and Williams can use his 6'4" height and his physicality to try to do the same.

JMike defensive narrative is highly overrated, need to diminish his minutes as much as possible moving forward. He has odd man out in the rotation written all over him.

 

[Loyal_2RU]

Explain what Ace does to have a big night against the Bama Defense?
I wanna make sure I’m watching the same guy.
All I see is low percentage off balance jump shots.
What will his big night look like?

Zappaa, light will go on or it won't. But the talent is there. He's learning how to play in college at 18 without the benefit of an nba dad and a coach mom.

Harper is a unicorn in how put together he is this early, with his talent.

Ace may end up the best player on this team or the second best or an unrealized talent. It is his story to write.
L

 

[seansherm]

What is the over/under for Somerville + Ogbole + Martini minutes?

I am going 34 1/2

The three combined? 40+
The three on the court at once? 0

 

[seansherm]

Ace leads team in scoring tonight

 

[Nycrusupporter]

90-86. Alabama forced Houston, probably the best defensive team in the country, which likes to play in the 50s, to play into the high 70s during regulation. They will play fast and force us to play fast. But don’t let the Houston game fool you, they are not a great defensive team and are happy to trade baskets as long as the game is being played at their tempo.

 

[RuSnp]

Unless we flipped a switch somehow the metrics suggest at the very least a lot of points by Bama. Until we show the ability to defend the 3, and with how weak the 5 spot looks, hard to imagine any situation where Bama is not getting ~80+.

All that said, I think we've underperformed offensively (I think we are better than ~39% from the field which is where we're at right now, as an example).

So to me this has the feel of an entertaining game at half (42-40 ish). And then at some point they have more weapons and we fizzle at the end losing by ~8. So I'll make a thoroughly worthless prediction of 85-77 Bama. But win the weekend game and it's still a successful tourney as we build.

 

[Waldo73]

Bama 84 RU 70