Thursday's game is HUGE

[bac2therac]

losing to Michigan State at this time would go down as a Q3 loss...thats a bad loss by the metrics. Its a game we need to win. RU's schedule is not as tough down the stretch and the Q1 opportunities are less than they were the first 10 games

also its a bit early to get specific about NCAA tournament because most schools still have more than half their conference games to play. You can take a peak and see the general climate right now but alot to shake out in the final 6 weeks

I am more concerned RU accumulates its needed wins rather than what everyone else is doing

 

[yellowlot]

Be careful with Northwestern, they have a young team, but if they shoot it well on game night it will be not be easy. To be fair they outplayed us at the RAC last year, and it took a great rally and some GEO to win.

 

[scarletrat]

no guarantee we'll play all 20...just beat who is front of you when the game is played.
want to beat MSU finally and climb back to 5-6...
they are going to muck up the game again, and we have to punch them harder this time around.

 

[Local Shill]

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

It makes the job that much tougher but to declare RU out is preposterous.

 

[shields]

Just want to finally beat that team.

 

[zappaa]

MSU basketball has taken on the life of it’s coach.
You lose to Izzo, not MSU.
Just like when our football team gets going opposing fan bases will be saying we can’t beat Schiano.
We’ve got to beat Izzo Thursday

 

[GoodOl'Rutgers]

MSU basketball has taken on the life of it’s coach.
You lose to Izzo, not MSU.
Just like when our football team gets going opposing fan bases will be saying we can’t beat Schiano.
We’ve got to beat Izzo Thursday

Agreed.. we have to show that we LEARNED from the first game. Izzo has nothing new to adjust to.. he will try throwing the same tactics and strategy at us. Defeat that on paper and in practice and we should have a leg-up on them. But Izzo is very capable of switching things up mid-game.

 

[srru86]

Next game on schedule, next win.

Yes

 

[RU848789]

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.

Good post. Also, to your point about COVID, if OSU was sent to the college football playoffs with only half a season's worth of games played, I'm pretty sure simlar allowances will be made for teams missing games in hoops - the evaluation will be on the games played vs. the level of competition, not how many games played. If we play all of our games, I think we're in at 9-11, period, and in if we go 8-12 with at least one tourney win (and on the bubble if no tourney win).

 

[Pancho1939_rivals]

this is a huge game because they kicked the ever living crap out of us and really changed the trajectory of our season. before MSU we were an NCAA lock. After we are NIT lock. This game is all about confidence. Need to prove we can beet these guys....

 

[Kbee3]

this is a huge game because they kicked the ever living crap out of us and really changed the trajectory of our season. before MSU we were an NCAA lock. After we are NIT lock. This game is all about confidence. Need to prove we can beet these guys....

After the MSU game I don't think we were really an NIT lock.

 

[rufeelinit]

If MSU is still having kids test positive I don't understand how the state DOH is allowing them to play given the recent shutdown of the entire winter athletic program at UM. My understanding is that mens and women's basketball had no positive tests at UM. I realize MSU has been sitting it out for awhile but unless they have a core group that now has herd immunity I am unclear about the distinction.

 

[jersey07080]

well we should know by this afternoon if we have a game assuming their flight leaves late afternoon.

 

[Mr_Twister]

Rutgers fans are ledge jumpers. Losing to an Izzo-coached team is not the end of the world. Our chances are excellent for a win here. What is the betting line?

 

[AreYouNUTS]

"Look at his head...IT'S HUGE...it's like an orange on top of a toothpick!"