Biggest Problem....

[RUdepressed]

Interior defense is atrocious. Blow by after blow by. Did the 7 foot guy even play? Also slender bodies are gonna get moved easilty by Big 10 beef.

 

[RUJMM78]

Like in previous seasons long scoring droughts will be the biggest problem.The second biggest problem would be a injury to Francis or Gurdak without adequate backups.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

The interior defense looked better than it’s looked in years. Much better. It was only an exhibition but this is far from our biggest issue.

Scoring droughts and strings of bad iso decisions will probably hurt us the most.

But if we rebound, we’ll find a way to compete. If we suck on the glass, we’ll keep losing.

 

[GM]

Somehow our interior D, perimeter D, and offense sucks yet we lost to two of the top 3 projected in the Big East by a combined 7 points, 2 points in regulation.

 

[seansherm]

TBD, two different games, one we outscored the other team in the paint by 12, one we were outscored by 18. St. Johns isn't a great team yet, but they are bigger and physical.
We still haven't see one big and for some reason only played Ware four minutes so everyone was tired.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

TBD, two different games, one we outscored the other team in the paint by 12, one we were outscored by 18. St. Johns isn't a great team yet, but they are bigger and physical.
We still haven't see one big and for some reason only played Ware four minutes so everyone was tired.

The second one was also a game and a half, keep in mind. Playing 47 minutes against bigger, physical guys in the paint is a lot to ask.

 

[RUChet]

Appreciating myles Johnson more every year. We have not had a good post defender since. Cliff blocked shots but was below average as a defender. Myles was elite.

I remember one color analyst saying Myles was the key to our elite D (was in 2019 or 2020). It’s true. He was that good.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

Appreciating myles Johnson more every year. We have not had a good post defender since. Cliff blocked shots but was below average as a defender. Myles was elite.

I remember one color analyst saying Myles was the key to our elite D (was in 2019 or 2020). It’s true. He was that good.

Cliff was decent - not as good as MJ but not below average. We were top 30 or so Ken Pom D every season he was on the team.

 

[seansherm]

Cliff was decent - not as good as MJ but not below average. We were top 30 or so Ken Pom D every season he was on the team.

Caleb helped

 

[RU Jeep]

Interior defense is atrocious. Blow by after blow by. Did the 7 foot guy even play? Also slender bodies are gonna get moved easilty by Big 10 beef.

After the last 2 years, hard to make this complaint right now. We have improved inside. How much is the question and relatedly, will the return of Sydnor help.

 

[RUChet]

Cliff was decent - not as good as MJ but not below average. We were top 30 or so Ken Pom D every season he was on the team.

You do know he played with Caleb who was arguably the best defender in the country? Cliff often got abused by smaller , skilled centers and by large bulky guys. I think at best he was an average defender except he was a very good shot blocker. He wasn’t even a great rebounder for a guy listed 6-11 (yes we know he was 6-9.5 measured by nba) with elite athleticism.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

You do know he played with Caleb who was arguably the best defender in the country? Cliff often got abused by smaller , skilled centers and by large bulky guys. I think at best he was an average defender except he was a very good shot blocker. He wasn’t even a great rebounder for a guy listed 6-11 (yes we know he was 6-9.5 measured by nba) with elite athleticism.

I don’t know. When the following year we put forth the Lathan / Martini combo with a side of an injured and ineffective Ogbole, I came to appreciate Cliff more.

 

[RUfan1977]

I don’t know. When the following year we put forth the Lathan / Martini combo with a side of an injured and ineffective Ogbole, I came to appreciate Cliff more.

Hopefully, this year we will have reason to appreciate Gurdak. So far I really like what I see with Gurdak. Plays positionally sound defense without fouling, rebounds well, adds a new dimension to the offense, has very good post moves, hits his free throws at a very respectable rate and played 47 minutes against St. John’s without losing his effectiveness. In the two exhibition games he outplayed two centers who probably cost significantly more than him. If this year’s team is going to exceed expectations, Gurdak is likely to be one of the reasons why.

 

[satnom]

You do know he played with Caleb who was arguably the best defender in the country? Cliff often got abused by smaller , skilled centers and by large bulky guys. I think at best he was an average defender except he was a very good shot blocker. He wasn’t even a great rebounder for a guy listed 6-11 (yes we know he was 6-9.5 measured by nba) with elite athleticism.

This. Cliff was a great athlete and shot blocker. Good rebounder but was eatin’ up by skilled centers. Great presence in the paint though. His springiness diminished as time passed perhaps because of injury.

Great dunker but had no shot or offensive moves to speak of. That being said, if Cliff stays last year at RU to play with Ace and Dylan, RU makes the Sweet 16.

GO RU

 

[seansherm]

I don’t know. When the following year we put forth the Lathan / Martini combo with a side of an injured and ineffective Ogbole, I came to appreciate Cliff more.

Hard to have a similar defense when you lose a Mag, lose a Caleb, even Hyatt, Simpson were better defenders than anything brought to the Martini and freshman team.

 

[seansherm]

This. Cliff was a great athlete and shot blocker. Good rebounder but was eatin’ up by skilled centers. Great presence in the paint though. His springiness diminished as time passed perhaps because of injury.

Great dunker but had no shot or offensive moves to speak of. That being said, if Cliff stays last year at RU to play with Ace and Dylan, RU makes the Sweet 16.

GO RU

God he would have helped that team immensely.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

Hard to have a similar defense when you lose a Mag, lose a Caleb, even Hyatt, Simpson were better defenders than anything brought to the Martini and freshman team.

I’m calling your bluff here. Caleb did not play for us Cliff’s last season at RU in 2023-24. Somehow we fielded a top 10 defense.

Mawot Mag logged only 455 minutes that 2023-24 season. GG logged 571 minutes and nobody was worse than him on D as a frosh. Literally nobody. Noah F was dreadful at D - another 630 minutes. And Hyatt was far from a defensive stopper himself. Derek was a pretty good defender but your not giving Cliff enough credit. He played a big part on that defense.

Swapping Lathan and Martini for him crippled us. The D would’ve been much better if he stayed. No question. The rest of the surrounding pieces weren’t materially worse than the prior year on D.

 

[seansherm]

I’m calling your bluff here. Caleb did not play for us Cliff’s last season at RU in 2023-24. Somehow we fielded a top 10 defense.

Mawot Mag logged only 455 minutes that 2023-24 season. GG logged 571 minutes and nobody was worse than him on D as a frosh. Literally nobody. Noah F was dreadful at D - another 630 minutes. And Hyatt was far from a defensive stopper himself. Derek was a pretty good defender but your not giving Cliff enough credit. He played a big part on that defense.

Swapping Lathan and Martini for him crippled us. The D would’ve been much better if he stayed. No question. The rest of the surrounding pieces weren’t materially worse than the prior year on D.

No bluff, of course Cliff was a big loss, but we lost at basically every position. That was a dreadful defensive team.

 

[RUDiddy777]

Appreciating myles Johnson more every year. We have not had a good post defender since. Cliff blocked shots but was below average as a defender. Myles was elite.

I remember one color analyst saying Myles was the key to our elite D (was in 2019 or 2020). It’s true. He was that good.

Not sure it’s possible to stay out of foul trouble the way he played, but the team would fall apart without him on the court for long stretches like the Ohio State game in 2020 (blew a 16 pt lead).

 

[RUDiddy777]

I’m calling your bluff here. Caleb did not play for us Cliff’s last season at RU in 2023-24. Somehow we fielded a top 10 defense.

Mawot Mag logged only 455 minutes that 2023-24 season. GG logged 571 minutes and nobody was worse than him on D as a frosh. Literally nobody. Noah F was dreadful at D - another 630 minutes. And Hyatt was far from a defensive stopper himself. Derek was a pretty good defender but your not giving Cliff enough credit. He played a big part on that defense.

Swapping Lathan and Martini for him crippled us. The D would’ve been much better if he stayed. No question. The rest of the surrounding pieces weren’t materially worse than the prior year on D.

Cliff was the difference between a Sweet Sixteen birth and not dancing at all.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

No bluff, of course Cliff was a big loss, but we lost at basically every position. That was a dreadful defensive team.

It wasn’t as bad as your making it out other than the 5. Derek/J Mike was solid at the 1 and the drop to Dylan / J Mike was next biggest. it still wasn’t as big as the 5. Ace arguably did many things on D better than Hyatt who was far from a plus defender at the 4. Mag dropped off hurt and whoever he was replaced with generally stunk at the 3. J Will was squarely average. He wasn’t awful. Tyson or Dercack at the 2 was not worse that GG or Noah. Again - if you go spot by spot - it was clearly the 5 that was the relative YoY disaster.

 

[seansherm]

It wasn’t as bad as your making it out other than the 5. Derek/J Mike was solid at the 1 and the drop to Dylan / J Mike was next biggest. it still wasn’t as big as the 5. Ace arguably did many things on D better than Hyatt who was far from a plus defender at the 4. Mag dropped off hurt and whoever he was replaced with generally stunk at the 3. J Will was squarely average. He wasn’t awful. Tyson or Dercack at the 2 was not worse that GG or Noah. Again - if you go spot by spot - it was clearly the 5 that was the relative YoY disaster.

Ace was the teams best defender by year end. If you think one position, which was definitely a disaster that we knew was coming the minute Martini was our pick up, was the only drop and full reason we went from a top 30ish defense to top 320ish I can't help you. It was more than one spot. The entire team was built differently than any other Pike team prior.

 

[RUChet]

I don’t know. When the following year we put forth the Lathan / Martini combo with a side of an injured and ineffective Ogbole, I came to appreciate Cliff more.

Ogbole is not a high major player. Cliff is a solid P4 starter but I don’t put him any higher

 

[Pils86]

Our biggest problem may be coaching. Lot of new players, some pretty good. We need good rotations and matchups and proper use of personnel. Pike has shown some questionable subs and now on medical leave, not sure if his fill in is ready. Unfortunately I don't think we get the most out of this team, hope I am wrong.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

Ogbole is not a high major player. Cliff is a solid P4 starter but I don’t put him any higher

Well yes - and neither Lathan or Martini were that. It was a huge drop off. Ogbole was worse then than he was last year. Lathan was just awful on D.

 

[RUChet]

Well yes - and neither Lathan or Martini were that. It was a huge drop off. Ogbole was worse then than he was last year. Lathan was just awful on D.

Lathan clearly overrated as a recruit as he was pretty high up the charts.

Martini not a high major guy and too small to be a center in the B1G

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

Ace was the teams best defender by year end. If you think one position, which was definitely a disaster that we knew was coming the minute Martini was our pick up, was the only drop and full reason we went from a top 30ish defense to top 320ish I can't help you. It was more than one spot. The entire team was built differently than any other Pike team prior.

We were a top 5 or 6 defense actually I believe, and yes, not picking up a real center to replace Cliff was actually the biggest reason for such a nose dive. That’s not to say the D didn’t have other issues but it would’ve been A LOT better with Cliff. That’s the difference really. There’s no other player on the 2023-24 roster who would’ve single-handedly had that much of an impact on defense overall by sticking around. Only Cliff. That’s the perspective I’m basing my position on. The D still stinks if you swap Dereck in for Dercack. We make the tourney if you swap Lathan and Cliff. The D still isn’t top 10 but it’d probably have been top 75ish.

 

[RUfan1977]

Our biggest problem may be coaching. Lot of new players, some pretty good. We need good rotations and matchups and proper use of personnel. Pike has shown some questionable subs and now on medical leave, not sure if his fill in is ready. Unfortunately I don't think we get the most out of this team, hope I am wrong.

How good Knight will be this season as a coach is still unknown, but seeing his coaching during these two exhibition games suggests to me that he will do fine.

As for rotations, the play of Gurdak, Buchanan, Smith, Francis and Mark suggests pretty strongly who the starters will be, with Jones the 6th man. Miteo, Ware or Buca can share backing up Gurdak and JMike can backup the point. Hopefully Sydnor will get healthy and ready to play and contribute, at least initially by backing up the 4, even better if he works his way back to starting.

The key with Pikiel’s successful teams is that they make up for the talent gap with team chemistry, toughness and tenacity. Even Pikiel’s Rutgers tough initiative to fight cancer encourages the toughness that Pikiel wants to see in his team. I think this will be the toughest team Rutgers has had in years.

 

[BigEastPhil]

I also think interior defense and defensive rebounding will be an area of concern for the team !

As far as the exhibition games went - it was very encouraging and I am quite optimistic and looking forward to the season !

However I’ve learned not to put much stock in these type of games !

I remember leaving Carnessecca Arena a few years ago after an exhibition vs St John’s thinking Gavin Griffiths was going to be a star ! lol.

When real play starts - the better coaches and teams improve / mesh throughout the year !

Hopefully the same will occur with our team and Coach Knight !

 

[RU82]

The only reason Brandin is still coaching at RU is because the HC opportunities that he’s been approached about haven’t been particularly desirable ones. He could change that if he manages to get this team to overachieve this year. It’s a big year for him.