The Opener

RUBigFrank

All-Conference
Jun 9, 2003
2,861
1,779
113
Local teams with minimal travel.
My guess they are part of the early season tourney we host each year that teams play each other - so local makes sense.
 

kcg88

Heisman
Aug 11, 2017
10,862
17,230
0
Local teams with minimal travel.
My guess they are part of the early season tourney we host each year that teams play each other - so local makes sense.
Plenty of local teams aren't some of the 30 worst in the sport.

Wagner #149
Drexel #153
Monmouth #158
St. Joe's #163
Fordham #173
Niagara #190
Cornell #193
Dartmouth #199
Marist #207

etc etc
 

chrebet80

Junior
Jan 22, 2022
226
328
0
Every power conference school in the country plays ****** teams so I have no problem with that but we def need to add more good teams to the OOC schedule to balance it out. I’ll make my judgment when our final schedule is released but I’m guessing some of you are new to cbb with all the complaining about playing bad teams. Do you think Illinois just plays top 150 teams all non conference?
 
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MLBash93

All-Conference
Jan 23, 2012
1,507
2,175
113
Not if you’re a ticket and parking tag buyer.
My god, some of you guys are the cheapest people I have ever seen. I have season tickets and I know that a handful of the games are going to be ****** but I also know that some of the games are going to be absolutely worth the price of admission x2 (aka seton hall/purdue/illinois etc).

stop complaining
 

Scarlet Blind_rivals

All-Conference
Aug 5, 2001
4,615
4,671
62
I think its more lifelines to coaches he wants to see succeed, both around the same age as Pike, little younger. Bucknell(Nathan Davis, 15-16-present) and Columbia(Jim Engles, 16-17-present), young teams that have only lost one player each to the portal, the Ivy(forced, 4 years, played 3). Can't schedule too many of these again.
 

BlockR

Heisman
Dec 28, 2015
22,107
20,888
113
Pike and Hobbs didnt learn from last years nail bitting on selection Sunday about how bad scheduling hurts rankings I guess.
 
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S.W.A.I.N

All-Conference
Nov 23, 2004
4,579
4,863
81
Pike and Hobbs didnt learn from last years nail bitting on selection Sunday about how bad scheduling hurts rankings I guess.
Quite the declarative statement based off one game - especially when OP has stated the remaining announcements will be a tougher schedule than last year. Literally every B1G team plays a Columbia.
 

RU72

All-American
Jul 25, 2001
8,240
5,638
0
Quite the declarative statement based off one game - especially when OP has stated the remaining announcements will be a tougher schedule than last year. Literally every B1G team plays a Columbia.
Let's punctuate this by saying that I would rather play Princeton than any OOC team,but that will never happen. Columbia was awful last year,but has their best recruiting class in a decade coming in, as Tobe Carberry is an ace recruiter and someone who would someday be great at Rutgers.I hope Providence home and home happens,but no guarantee.I believe that an additional Ivy could happen as well.
 

Mr_Twister

All-American
Apr 1, 2004
15,684
5,819
0
My god, some of you guys are the cheapest people I have ever seen. I have season tickets and I know that a handful of the games are going to be ****** but I also know that some of the games are going to be absolutely worth the price of admission x2 (aka seton hall/purdue/illinois etc).

stop complaining
Small point … I am a Rutgers football and hoops season ticket holder and parking tag buyer for at least 30 years. A stinker game is a stinker game. Has nothing to do with spending money. Football has outdone itself with Wagner.
 
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SirScarlet

Heisman
Jun 27, 2001
27,299
44,390
113
Pike and Hobbs didnt learn from last years nail bitting on selection Sunday about how bad scheduling hurts rankings I guess.
yep...its a reasonable concern IF we didnt get in

i get it, I get it...people want harder games.

but its not an absurd position to keep things as is, given it HAS WORKED

I just want people to acknowledge that neither position is a slam dunk (which you seem to be fixated on despite the positive success on selection sunday 3 years in a row*)
 
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RUDiddy777

Heisman
Feb 26, 2015
33,685
38,154
113
My god, some of you guys are the cheapest people I have ever seen. I have season tickets and I know that a handful of the games are going to be ****** but I also know that some of the games are going to be absolutely worth the price of admission x2 (aka seton hall/purdue/illinois etc).

stop complaining

I nearly paid for my season tickets by selling tickets for one game that I couldn’t attend.
 
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REDRICH65

All-Conference
Aug 9, 2010
2,773
2,186
113
So what. I’m gonna love seeing Cliff score 30 on flushes. Gets you pumped up for the coming season
 
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cyrock3

All-Conference
Dec 19, 2006
38,183
2,064
103
As I’ve said before, Pike is who he is and he’s not going to change.

Keep your expectations in mind that what you see is what you get. He’s loyal, rather unbendable, and values high character.

It’s a blessing and a curse.
 

Scangg

Heisman
Mar 19, 2016
25,448
49,369
113
Pike and Hobbs didnt learn from last years nail bitting on selection Sunday about how bad scheduling hurts rankings I guess.
Or they learned that essentially a worst case scenario with their OOC schedule still didn't keep them out of the tournament and if they scheduled any harder we might have lost a couple more games and not got in.

We were playing terrible early and could have lost to anyone
 

RUTrack94

All-American
Nov 15, 2008
11,414
5,216
113
Historically RU normally handles the cup cakes … even in the Jordan years … should be blow outs that get the team used to playing together. No issues when they have blow out wins.
 

chrebet80

Junior
Jan 22, 2022
226
328
0
Or they learned that essentially a worst case scenario with their OOC schedule still didn't keep them out of the tournament and if they scheduled any harder we might have lost a couple more games and not got in.

We were playing terrible early and could have lost to anyone
It wasn’t a worst case scenario. Worst case scenario would have been finishing 8th in the big ten and not getting in to the tourney because of our OOC schedule. If we had lost to average teams instead of horrible teams in the OOC we would have been an 9-10 seed and missed the opening round entirely this year.
 
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Scangg

Heisman
Mar 19, 2016
25,448
49,369
113
It wasn’t a worst case scenario. Worst case scenario would have been finishing 8th in the big ten and not getting in to the tourney because of our OOC schedule. If we had lost to average teams instead of horrible teams in the OOC we would have been an 9-10 seed and missed the opening round entirely this year.
Clearly said worst case scenario in terms of OOC schedule. Not talking about B1G schedule
 

RUPete

Heisman
Feb 5, 2003
26,841
16,113
0
So much drama over nothing. Many teams open against bad teams and there are already reports about schedule upgrades for us next year.

I guess the constant complaining means that we have a solid program and people care about it. Better than the indifference we’ve had in the past.
 

chrebet80

Junior
Jan 22, 2022
226
328
0
Clearly said worst case scenario in terms of OOC schedule. Not talking about B1G schedule
Yes it didn’t keep them out of the ncaa tournament during a year they had a historically great big ten run. The point is that it would have kept them out of the ncaa tournament if they had anything short of that run and it prevent them from even getting to the first round of the ncaa tournament. Pike and Hobbs know this and that’s why they’re actively trying to improve their ooc schedule.
 
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Scangg

Heisman
Mar 19, 2016
25,448
49,369
113
Yes it didn’t keep them out of the ncaa tournament during a year they had a historically great big ten run. The point is that it would have kept them out of the ncaa tournament if they had anything short of that run and it prevent them from even getting to the first round of the ncaa tournament. Pike and Hobbs know this and that’s why they’re actively trying to improve their ooc schedule.
Or it is the only reason they were still alive. If the OOC schedule was any harder and we took a couple extra losses we would have been out
 

Scangg

Heisman
Mar 19, 2016
25,448
49,369
113
The fallacy here is everyone assumes you replace the bad losses with better losses.

What if we replaced Leigh and NJIT with 2 good teams and lost both. We would have had zero shot at the tournament
 

RUPete

Heisman
Feb 5, 2003
26,841
16,113
0
Or it is the only reason they were still alive. If the OOC schedule was any harder and we took a couple extra losses we would have been out
Not necessarily. If you replace two losses against crappy teams vs. teams with higher rankings you wouldn’t have been on such thin ice.
 

RUPete

Heisman
Feb 5, 2003
26,841
16,113
0
The fallacy here is everyone assumes you replace the bad losses with better losses.

What if we replaced Leigh and NJIT with 2 good teams and lost both. We would have had zero shot at the tournament
???? You’re cherry picking the schedule. The whole thing is a what if argument and it’s pointless. The overall point is that we need to do better and it seems that we are.
 

Scangg

Heisman
Mar 19, 2016
25,448
49,369
113
Not necessarily. If you replace two losses against crappy teams vs. teams with higher rankings you wouldn’t have been on such thin ice.

???? You’re cherry picking the schedule. The whole thing is a what if argument and it’s pointless. The overall point is that we need to do better and it seems that we are.
🤣🤣🤣

That's exactly the point. You cherry picked the schedule in the first post. EVERYONE thinks of it the way you posted.

My point is you CANNOT cherry pick the schedule bc you could just as easily have replaced a couple wins against bad teams as the Lafayette and UMASS losses that EVERYONE seems to assume would be replaced.

You proved my point for me without even realizing it
 

RUPete

Heisman
Feb 5, 2003
26,841
16,113
0
🤣🤣🤣

That's exactly the point. You cherry picked the schedule in the first post. EVERYONE thinks of it the way you posted.

My point is you CANNOT cherry pick the schedule bc you could just as easily have replaced a couple wins against bad teams as the Lafayette and UMASS losses that EVERYONE seems to assume would be replaced.

You proved my point for me without even realizing it
We both are doing the same thing and it’s pointless. Are you arguing that we can’t do even just a little better with the schedule? And I should add that we needed to thread a needle last year with a veteran team in order to make the tournament. I would rather not rely on that formula each year.
 
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hinson32

All-American
Jul 29, 2005
7,758
5,912
57
Every power conference school in the country plays ****** teams so I have no problem with that but we def need to add more good teams to the OOC schedule to balance it out. I’ll make my judgment when our final schedule is released but I’m guessing some of you are new to cbb with all the complaining about playing bad teams. Do you think Illinois just plays top 150 teams all non conference?
Not really. We need to be playing ****** teams in the 150-225 range and not the 325-350 range.
 

BigEastPhil

Heisman
Nov 25, 2007
19,163
13,362
66
I thought Mohegan Sun game was going to be season opener?

Am I correct in assuming Mohegan Sun will be our 2nd game - presumably on the weekend - as Columbia will probably be a mid weeknight game?
 

Scangg

Heisman
Mar 19, 2016
25,448
49,369
113
We both are doing the same thing and it’s pointless. Are you arguing that we can’t do even just a little better with the schedule? And I should add that we needed to thread a needle last year with a veteran team in order to make the tournament. I would rather not rely on that formula each year.
You still don't get it. EVERYONE is using the logic you are and cherry picking. I'm doing the opposite to point out the fact that you can't just assume you trade out the bad losses... bc that's what everyone constantly says every single time this topic comes up
 

chrebet80

Junior
Jan 22, 2022
226
328
0
🤣🤣🤣

That's exactly the point. You cherry picked the schedule in the first post. EVERYONE thinks of it the way you posted.

My point is you CANNOT cherry pick the schedule bc you could just as easily have replaced a couple wins against bad teams as the Lafayette and UMASS losses that EVERYONE seems to assume would be replaced.

You proved my point for me without even realizing it
Replacing a win vs njit with a loss to a decent team would not have hurt us at all. You don’t get rewarded for being the njits of the world and you don’t get punished for losing to decent teams. Pike knows this and he’s trying to do better.