Thinking positive by looking ahead

[RUich]

Admittedly, I'm giddy about last night's win. With us doing this with a big man hurt fills me with even more hope.
We have gone through a brutal league start with three of our four games against ranked teams and the other with a team that will probably be ranked.
With some tough injuries to work around, we are looking at a 5 game respite of teams in the lower half of the league like ourselves. I really think we are entering a period of positive possibility. Hopefully, this makes it easier for Pike to manipulate the players and win some more games. Meanwhile, some time for these injured players to heal and get back on the court.
This is about the most hopeful I have been for some time.

 

[ru66]

and if we lose a game or two in a row let's not overact--fans blow with the wind

 

[kcg88]

I'd like to see us at least split the home-and-homes with Northwestern and Penn State. Minnesota, Iowa, Indiana, and Nebraska are winnable home games... Michigan less so. Take one of those plus the 2-2 split against NW/PSU and that gets us to 4 wins. Throw in another random one (at Illinois, Minnesota, or Iowa, perhaps, or maybe we go 3-1 against NW/PSU) and that gets us to 5, which is right in line with my (and many others') predictions.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Fans need to stop gauging team and player performances on a game by game basis. I realize I am a wee bit (only a wee bit!) hypocritical saying this because I was starting to have doubts about certain players.

Bart has us as #90 and kenpom at #107. We are expected to win 5/6 games and being only mild favorites in only 2 so upsets like last night are going to happen and they often happen when you don't expect.

We will probably end the year where we are which will be a season where we can say there was progress. We return everyone and expectations can be 25-30 spots higher.

If you watched our 4 best games and our 4 worst games on tape alternated I think this outcome would not be eye popping. Watch the Miami game and this game was just a mild surprise.

 

[Wolv RU]

Admittedly, I'm giddy about last night's win. With us doing this with a big man hurt fills me with even more hope.
We have gone through a brutal league start with three of our four games against ranked teams and the other with a team that will probably be ranked.
With some tough injuries to work around, we are looking at a 5 game respite of teams in the lower half of the league like ourselves. I really think we are entering a period of positive possibility. Hopefully, this makes it easier for Pike to manipulate the players and win some more games. Meanwhile, some time for these injured players to heal and get back on the court.
This is about the most hopeful I have been for some time.

Great win last night, but there will continue to be ups and downs. And there are no easy wins in this league for Rutgers, especially not on the road. Every win will be a good one. To me, the goal is still the same -- finish above 14th. Do that, win one game in the Big Ten Tournament (again) and there's continued progress to show.

 

[bac2therac]

the next two road games will be tough...Minnesota and Purdue are both bubble teams. We beat Minny last year in the Big 10 but they are better and have way more experience. Purdue is way down this year but still could scrape the bubble. I think they miss out on the tourney but I like Minny to go. I would say a Purdue victory is the more possible of the two but I fear without Eugene I think we do not win either.

 

[BillyC80]

The only reason I would not pick us to win both games is because we’re on the road. If we were at a neutral court or at home I would like our chances against both. That said I believe we’ll get one out of two.

 

[higgins3]

All about matchups.

 

[Degaz-RU]

You often see teams rise to the occasion DURING the game when a star goes down with injury, but then struggle mightily without their star in subsequent games.

Hopefully Carter is up to the task of being Eugene's replacement going forward, but now he will be on opposing teams' scouting reports, so things will be tougher for him.

And hopefully Eugene bounces back from this injury like he did last year.

 

[YoucancallmeRay]

First, fantastic win against ODU. With no EO, that's incredible. RU played great O and D against OSU and that will be hard to duplicate on the road, especially adjusting to no EO. However, Pike emphasized going inside on O and that created a very balanced offense, with RU taking 5 fewer threes than against Maryland. RU hit their shots and their FTs. Minny seems to have a short bench and with RU's frontcourt it could create foul problems for Minny. Control Coffey and RU has a chance. It would be at least as good a win as against OSU.

 

[ScarletDave]

Amazing that the Big Ten started us with Michigan State, Wisconsin, Maryland, and Ohio State. Are you kidding me. Glad we stole one. Really should have been 2 (Wisc). Could have even been 3. One thing at a time though. Next test a good Minnesota team. But a shot for a road win if we play like we did last night.

 

[Scarlet Shack]

Sign me up for a split of the next 2....right now

2-4/9-7 with home games versus northwestern and Nebraska

 

[needmorecowbell]

A big win for this team would be to not finish in the basement. Get to 5-7 wins in conference and next year make a push for the middle of the pack.