Never! We are the only school!
Zero idea how Pike is still allowed on campus
And we wonder why....
- Thread starter RC1978
- Start date
Zero idea how Pike is still allowed on campus
We had more money on the floor than 99 % of all D1 schools.
The argument is Pike needs NIL to pay players to be competitive,
He had that last year. Yes fanatics and Nike paid the lion share of it but that is no different then a Mark Cuban or another billionare donor paying . Elite schools leverage corporate money all the time.
Pike then had another large portion he wasted on bringing in poor talent.
After assembling a poor roster he then coached one of the worst X n O seasons I have ever watched on any level.
Talent construction miss
Player accountability miss
Offensive mind completely awful miss
Defense really missed
There is no logical if emotional reason that Pike is still here
Yeah this is the stand out issue which doesn’t happen without losses to both Princeton and Kennesaw which cannot be attributed to anything other than coaching failures. There’s no other fitting excuse for those losses. Some of the others, ok, you recognize Dylan getting hurt costs us a couple wins and so on. But there’s nothing reasonable that could be said to justify two losses to midmajor teams with a fraction of our NIL budget not even including 2 NBA lottery picks.
I think some of what I’ve said about this season has been misinterpreted as a glowing expectation of a good season. I’ve just been pointing out that this year might well turn like any other rebuilding year vs. a historically bad disaster. The jury on that is still out IMO but right now it doesn’t much matter. As BAC said - the next two games are a crossword of sorts for Pike. If we play like we did in the second half of ND and UNLV in both of them we’ll have a good chance to go 2-0. A repeat of CC will be a loss in either or both games. 0-2 and Pike risks losing the team entirely for the season IMO.
This is how I see it as well. And a very fair take. And since fanatics and Nike did the heavy lifting, let me ask this...How the flaming heck was Pike not able to find others to help with the rest of the roster? Seems like a fairly easy sell if Ace/Dylan were coming...Hit our other donors with "We have the chance of a lifetime and if you all give this much, I can put together the rest of the roster to get to a final 4 and from there, the future is going to be very bright"
And with his failure to do that - he seemed to have no clue what he had in these 2 players and even without cash- go out to find a complimentary cast that didn't cost much? And then- Coach his *** off.
He didn't do anything - and now the MBB team is on the edge of being Eddie Jordan level.
If I am Keli- I am looking hard and even going as far as telling perspective coaches, that Ace/Dylan proved that we can attract top players, regardless if it was outside money. When winning- the crowd at tge RAC is like no other. So many people think Rutgers has nothing to attract a top coach- I don’t believe it. We can…if we pay them.
Huge Pike Homer, but also an honest one. He whiffed last year and that absolutely has to be part of the story. Sure, not having NIL didn’t help, but as PSAL has pointed out, he needed to complement Dylan and Ace with defensive minutes and we got PJ Hayes and Acuff.
give him grace this year because I think we would have massive roster turnover even if we won the natty. But he’s got this and next to get back.
That’s frightening. I don’t want to sit through another 23-24 season where you just want to be put out of your misery.
here is the deal, yes RU didnt pay the $3 million plus for Dylan and Ace but you cant just eliminate and say oh rutgers had no money....RU was gifted two players of $3 million plus value...they still had another 1.5 million to pay others...give or take..plus there was money going to come in from Vegas. Pike assembled players with offensive skills which was a failing strategy given that the entire offense was going to center around Ace and Dylan auditioning for the NBA. There was no way in hell that Pike was going to discipline these 2 players like he would normally discipline a team. They were given carte blanche and Pike is responsible for taking the shot and selling his soul. The monday morning quarterbacking of some now saying it was because we didnt have nil to support them is bull. Sure it wasnt a huge amount but its Pikes job to indentify servicable plug ins for the team. It also didnt help that Pike prior recruiting was atrocious with Jones and Griffiths whiffing. J Will not really being that good plus misses like Reiber and Wolfolk and Simpson and J Mike not being good enough and taking an overmatched center in Ogbole plus being scared of Lathan and not recruiting a center and playing lathan way more than he was worth. This is all on Pike.
agree, I also like Pike and wish him well
but he is way below the mendoza line with his swings and misses over the past 4 years.
he also needs a major staff shakeup, the buck stops with Pike, however these assistants aren't recruiting well either
but he is way below the mendoza line with his swings and misses over the past 4 years.
he also needs a major staff shakeup, the buck stops with Pike, however these assistants aren't recruiting well either
It’s still TBD in my opinion how bad we will be and whether the team will show development signs of putting things together as the season progresses. Right now things look bad but if he were to not lose to Penn and things start to click later on and somehow go 8-10 the rest of the way in league play - there’s at least a real possibility he’d be able to retain the kids he wants to keep and recruit 2-3 established portal kids who specifically complement the returners. If that were to happen, he’d be in a much better place than he is right now looking forward. I admit, it’s a long shot. We have 2 Michigan State games and Illinois. We’re not winning those. Can we go 8-7 in the other ones (8 of them being at home)? As I said, it’s a long shot but at the same time, I don’t think ND is materially worse than the teams in that group.
I have us at like 12 competitive games (maybe winning half) and potentially snagging a surprise home win against OSU or IU. 5-7 conference wins feels about right - a down year, but not a calamity like pre-Pike or a 1 win conference schedule as doomsayers repeatedly say (they could still be right).
But yeah, writing off the MSU and Illinois games.
0% chance of 5-7 conference wins. We'll be lucky to win 2.
Guards-0 Big Ten Caliber Guards
Centers-0 Big Ten Caliber Centers
Forwards- 1 Big Ten Caliber Forward and that's Grant.. He's decent, but obviously wouldn't necessarily be a starter on a lot of Big Ten teams.
We legitimately have 1 player on the roster that would be a contributor on pretty much any other Big Ten team. This is a Stony Brook roster.
I mean - there’s a chance we don’t win 5 conference games, but come on. There’s not a zero percent chance that we do.
Honestly I just don’t see it. Going to the RAC this year feels like going to a funeral every game. It’s ******* sad.
It’s rarely packed for early OOC games - but agreed, there’s not much enthusiasm (I missed the first 2 myself).
How are any of these players receiving NIL? Thats roster construction. Seton Hall found diamonds in the rough with a similar not much higher payroll to work with. Sha said he just wanted players that played a lot, with age and experience. A couple of their players in Scarlet this team would look a lot better. Talent evaluation has been lacking for awhile now
I mean look - ND would probably finish middle of the pack in the BIG this year. Or at least, it’s safe to say there are 7 or more conference games on the schedule with teams worse than them. Certainly doesn’t mean we will win all of those games but as RUDiddy said - 12 or so could reasonably be expected to be competitive. Let’s put it this way - the chance of us going 7-5 in those games is far better than the chance of us knocking off OSU in football any time in the next 3 years regardless of who our coach is. We’ll have around 30% chance of winning a good number of our games.
Last edited:
I'm pretty sure Seton Hall spent 2-3 million more this season than we did.