Thursday's game is HUGE
- Thread starter knight82
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Stop, it would be nice to win but our NCAA hopes do not ride of this game. We could win and then lose six straight. We could lose and then win six in a row.
Every game in the league is important. No bad teams top to bottom. Nebraska may be the least good, but every game is a grind.
I said it before the game. Today's win was huge because it allows us to go 6-4 to seal an NCAA bid. A loss and we would be 3-7, which would have been too big a hole to dig out of.
Hard to think 10-10 would "seal" a tournament bid (especially if a loss in the first round of the Big ten Tourney). Of course will depend on who the wins are against.
If they win 6 more games (Nebraska, NWx2, Minnesota x1, Maryland, and Indiana) we are a tourney team. Beat Iowa or Michigan we can remove any 2 of those wins minus Nebraska and we are in.
Every remaining game is important for a NCAA bid. after a five game losing streak.Baker and Harper must be consistent double digits scorers along with contributions from the remaining players.
Why not just win out? After today I can at least entertain the possibility.
I really hope we play Thursday ...don’t care that Sparti will not have played in 20 days...need a win and get that albatross off of us for good
one win does not mean everything is okay, it does mean we at least position ourselves that a run is realistic looking again but its one game at a time. I dont think MSU is a must win but I think its important to win if we want to move away from that poor stretch we just ended
10-10 in this league, with all of the ranked teams would guarantee a spot. 9-11 might still get us there, even without a win in league tournament, depending on who the wins were against..if the team continues to heal, improve at the line, play tight defense & diversify the offense, we should win most of the remaining games (& Maybe we get to play on Indiana’s floor again in March..)
Let's play one game at a time. MSU is as tough as it gets at the RAC. Expecting a much better showing by RU this time, and hope for a W, but realistically? Likely a 10-pt loss.
I really think we will play much looser (in a good way) next game. Sometimes when you lose, things tend to snowball and it's hard to break out of that funk. The win yesterday got the monkey off our backs. It also doesn't hurt that we'll play a likely rusty MSU coming off a 20 day hiatus.
The team is back. Not the same team that played MSU the first time. I disagree that they are a bad matchup for us, I actually think we matchup quite well, as times when they were much better and we were much worse, we’ve still played close games with them. I agree, it’s time
We keep seeing this every game and it doesn't exist for any team anywhere else in the B1G.
Ohio State loses at home to Purdue
Purdue after beating Ohio State, gets mauled at home by Michigan
Minnesota destroys Michigan at home, follows up with loss at home to Maryland.
Maryland has a home game postponed to covid19, turns around beats Minnesota, after also winning at Illinois and at Wisconsin.
Michigan State crushes RU, blows 14 point lead to Purdue, loses at home. Then has a covid19 pause.
Wisconsin big loss at Michigan, wins at Rutgers, handles Northwestern at home, loses to Ohio State at home.
Indiana loses 8 straight to Purdue, turns around with having to face Sparty, game gets postponed, then goes to Iowa and wins, then loses at home to RU.
There are endless roller coaster rides and we don't even know whether Sparty is out of covid19 protocol, practice etc.
We can beat Sparty and lose to Northwestern and nothing would be solved in either direction. It is literally a 1st half to 2nd half situation....every 4 minutes of every game. We already had 50 posters tell us all here that the season was over in Happy Valley, now Thursday is a must game, after the just completed must game at Indiana.
Let's just see what happens....if you read the Indiana boards, it's all types of nonsense with their fans about no momentum, poor coaching and other things. One could say Indiana dominated Iowa for the entire 2nd half....then I could go to the Iowa board and see why Iowa could go almost 9 minutes without a basket.
It's a long season....let's not get too overboard either way.
Ohio State loses at home to Purdue
Purdue after beating Ohio State, gets mauled at home by Michigan
Minnesota destroys Michigan at home, follows up with loss at home to Maryland.
Maryland has a home game postponed to covid19, turns around beats Minnesota, after also winning at Illinois and at Wisconsin.
Michigan State crushes RU, blows 14 point lead to Purdue, loses at home. Then has a covid19 pause.
Wisconsin big loss at Michigan, wins at Rutgers, handles Northwestern at home, loses to Ohio State at home.
Indiana loses 8 straight to Purdue, turns around with having to face Sparty, game gets postponed, then goes to Iowa and wins, then loses at home to RU.
There are endless roller coaster rides and we don't even know whether Sparty is out of covid19 protocol, practice etc.
We can beat Sparty and lose to Northwestern and nothing would be solved in either direction. It is literally a 1st half to 2nd half situation....every 4 minutes of every game. We already had 50 posters tell us all here that the season was over in Happy Valley, now Thursday is a must game, after the just completed must game at Indiana.
Let's just see what happens....if you read the Indiana boards, it's all types of nonsense with their fans about no momentum, poor coaching and other things. One could say Indiana dominated Iowa for the entire 2nd half....then I could go to the Iowa board and see why Iowa could go almost 9 minutes without a basket.
It's a long season....let's not get too overboard either way.
Next game on schedule, next win.
I don’t even contemplate beyond MSU.
As always I take the opposing team view point on how I want us to play.
In the first five minutes, I want all 5 MSU starters saying to themselves....”this ain’t the same team we beat a few weeks ago fellas”
“We better play, or we’re going to get our asses kicked”
I don’t even contemplate beyond MSU.
As always I take the opposing team view point on how I want us to play.
In the first five minutes, I want all 5 MSU starters saying to themselves....”this ain’t the same team we beat a few weeks ago fellas”
“We better play, or we’re going to get our asses kicked”
We just need to play well and see where that leaves us. We certainly did not play well in East Lansing. I think it will be a very good test for us.
I would guess athletes at the highest level try to stay focused on the moment at hand as much as possible.
Its down to Michigan and Michigan State as teams Rutgers hasn't defeated in league competition.
“The zone” is a completely thought free, confident, unconcerned with results place to be.
Players spend their whole career there, others get a glimpse of it every now and then.
I think “you can’t hit and think at the same time” sums it up pretty good.
As far as mind set, wanting the ball in your hands, or wanting the ball hit to you, and truly feel that way is a cool place to reside.
It’s an incredibly confident place based solely on prior success
You think we can lose this one but beat Iowa at Iowa and Michigan at Michigan.
Yes our chances get a little better if we beat MSU, but it still won't be good. Lose and our chances to make the tournament drop to the single digits.
Losing to MSU may or may not cause our tailspin to continue. But what it does is give us 7 losses, which would be tied for the most in the conference. And it would make our margin for error in getting to 10-10 that much more daunting, as we would then be 4-7, and we would have to go 6-3 the close out the year, which will be a difficult task in this league.
So MSU might not be a "must win," but it is certainly a win that we need very much.
So MSU might not be a "must win," but it is certainly a win that we need very much.
According to an SI article, Joshua Langford won't be available, 17 day positive rule from Jan 13, scored 11 pts 2 asts in 1st game. Langford missed one other game this year, they struggled at home to beat NET 226 4-8 Detroit Mercy 83-76, 1 win over 1-9 WMU, 1-3 vs 6-13 Oakland, and 2 wins vs 5-11 UW-Green Bay.
Michigan St(8-4) is 2-2 on the road, Wins 159 @ 4-8 Nebraska by 7, 96 @ 5-5 Duke by 6, losses 76 @ 6-8 NW by 14 and 36 @ 11-5 Minnesota by 25. They have had small group and individual workouts, but haven't practiced for 10 days. 6 tested positive, 4 players(Langford, Mady Sissoko, Walkons Steven Izzo and Davis Smith), 2 staffers. They might start to practice either today or tomorrow. We just have to defend AJ Hoggard and Aaron Henry better, RHJ is healthy, and rebound better, keep Hauser and other forwards off the boards.
Michigan St(8-4) is 2-2 on the road, Wins 159 @ 4-8 Nebraska by 7, 96 @ 5-5 Duke by 6, losses 76 @ 6-8 NW by 14 and 36 @ 11-5 Minnesota by 25. They have had small group and individual workouts, but haven't practiced for 10 days. 6 tested positive, 4 players(Langford, Mady Sissoko, Walkons Steven Izzo and Davis Smith), 2 staffers. They might start to practice either today or tomorrow. We just have to defend AJ Hoggard and Aaron Henry better, RHJ is healthy, and rebound better, keep Hauser and other forwards off the boards.
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Good post . If no Langford that’s a big deal
If the Spartans travel to New Jersey and face the Scarlet Knights, they will do so without Langford, who must sit out 17 days after testing positive on Jan. 13, per conference protocols.
However, Sissoko, a freshman forward beginning to make an impact, should be available.
Says "should", he had 2 games of 6 rebounds and one game of 4 pts scored, 11 total, in 56 total minutes in 10 games played.
The issue is we need to win as many games as possible earlier rather than later. We won one game after a 5 game skid. It would behoove this team to win on Thursday
There is no..500 B1G or conference record required to make the NCAA tournament, it is based on quality wins and strength of schedule.
Teams who have covid19 pauses will not be excluded from the committee. Teams who may lose scheduled games because their opponents have covid19, will not be excluded from the NCAA selection committee.
Michigan is on a 14 day pause and highly unlikely to make up the postponed games. Do they lose the ability to be a top seed because of the pause?? Not likely.
If Nebraska doesn't restart soon and you have a game scheduled with them, you'll have an odd number of B1G games.....maybe it's 19, 17 or possibly just 15...if you are 7 wins -8 losses in the B1G or 8-9 or 9-10, you are not going to be excluded or out. Same thing if you are 8 wins 10 losses with 2 games potentially lost due to covid19 or 9-11 in B1G etc
The quality win or Quad 1 wins and number of Quad 1 games will determine how strong the seed is...it has nothing to do with being at .500 in the B1G. Right now, RUs resume is as strong as anyone else's and is likely a 8 seed as of today.
What you want to RU are to see as many B1G games played by the teams we have already played and to see all of those teams perform. It is unlikely that Ohio State, Illinois, Purdue, Iowa, Syracuse have extended losing streaks. As those teams win, RU wins.
What you want to avoid is having a game vs a team like Nebraska at home and lose that game.....since we don't host Nebraska this year, the only other game that would be considered a "bad loss", would be if Northwestern didn't win more than 2 more B1G games and then they wind up winning at the RAC. Even at Penn State, isn't a bad loss, PSU even still has a shot at making the dance if they can get to 8-12 in the B1G.
Teams who have covid19 pauses will not be excluded from the committee. Teams who may lose scheduled games because their opponents have covid19, will not be excluded from the NCAA selection committee.
Michigan is on a 14 day pause and highly unlikely to make up the postponed games. Do they lose the ability to be a top seed because of the pause?? Not likely.
If Nebraska doesn't restart soon and you have a game scheduled with them, you'll have an odd number of B1G games.....maybe it's 19, 17 or possibly just 15...if you are 7 wins -8 losses in the B1G or 8-9 or 9-10, you are not going to be excluded or out. Same thing if you are 8 wins 10 losses with 2 games potentially lost due to covid19 or 9-11 in B1G etc
The quality win or Quad 1 wins and number of Quad 1 games will determine how strong the seed is...it has nothing to do with being at .500 in the B1G. Right now, RUs resume is as strong as anyone else's and is likely a 8 seed as of today.
What you want to RU are to see as many B1G games played by the teams we have already played and to see all of those teams perform. It is unlikely that Ohio State, Illinois, Purdue, Iowa, Syracuse have extended losing streaks. As those teams win, RU wins.
What you want to avoid is having a game vs a team like Nebraska at home and lose that game.....since we don't host Nebraska this year, the only other game that would be considered a "bad loss", would be if Northwestern didn't win more than 2 more B1G games and then they wind up winning at the RAC. Even at Penn State, isn't a bad loss, PSU even still has a shot at making the dance if they can get to 8-12 in the B1G.
10 BIG Games left before the BIG tourney.
Magic number is 5. If RU goes 5-5, they're in the NCAA Tournament. Need to find 5 more regular season wins.
Magic number is 5. If RU goes 5-5, they're in the NCAA Tournament. Need to find 5 more regular season wins.
A five game losing streak in the B1G is hard to recover from because the competition is so tough and Rutgers doesn't have the consistent scoring at home or away.There are only 10 games remaining including road games at a Michigan and Iowa.The team must look at the reality that reaching 6 league wins will be a difficult achievement because there is very little margin for error.Defeating Michigan State and Northwestern are must wins to get back in the middle of league rankings.Every loss really matters especially having to play at Iowa and Michigan where Rutgers will be a decided underdog.Failure to receive a NCAA bid will be hard to accept after the early 6-1 record.
Not true at all. We can beat Maryland, Nwestwern twice, Nebraska, Minnesota and Indiana again. That gets us to 10-10. We cruise in at 10-10.
It's the quality of the losses. You can say what you want about Mich St but this year they are a buttom feeder these next 2 games are must wins especially seeing as Mich St is at home. Regardless if fans are there or not it will be a bad loss and couple that with scoring 44 or 45 in there house. We lose we are out