Enough of playing 13 guys ….enough

[EddieWilsonLives]

Because there were academic concerns. He had two offers, one from the Hall and the other from NC State for next year per Richie in another thread.

"academic concerns"

How is this a thing? paid professionals. we can have a team of mongoloids who barely speak English, who the **** cares as long as they can hoop. if we want true student athletes get the **** out of the big ten, this is professional sports.

 

[MCKnight]

For those wanting more Mark, he hasn’t made a 3 pointer in 11 games now. We can not rely on Mark as our lead guard this year or next. He’s shooting 27 percent and has not made a 3 pointer. Sure he’s fast and hustles but thats what we said about J Mike 3 years ago

 

[NickRU714]

For those wanting more Mark, he hasn’t made a 3 pointer in 11 games now. We can not rely on Mark as our lead guard this year or next. He’s shooting 27 percent and has not made a 3 pointer. Sure he’s fast and hustles but thats what we said about J Mike 3 years ago

Umm that sounds exactly like a lead guard to us.

- Pike and Knight

 

[Loyal-Son]

Now that we are 11 games in, there are some obvious truths . We have the worst guards not just in the big 10 but maybe the country. The start of the game with Francis was embarrassing . Subbing JMike was more embarrassing. 5 and 4 turnovers . Jmike might never hit a shot again. Except for 1 game a year where Jmike decides to shoot and make threes the other 10 games are just lousy. Francis kept on being trotted out there by Pike which makes you question his sanity. Not sure what was worse, his ball handling , his shooting , or his defense . Pretty clear that Mark and Powers are better now as freshman but they are freshman and do freshmen things. So hard to compete without guards with a pulse.

Not sure what or where Nwuili was yesterday but I am starting to wonder if Pike is tanking. Then I remember there is no first round draft choice and this is not the NbA. How in the world does he have both Zrno and Badalau starting and worst yet how is Francis starting over JMike ? Badalau has to be the player who plays the most minutes and never scores , zeros in the Boxscore. Francis ‘s time has to be reduced and reduced. Dylan Grant gets relegated to the bench too often and for long stretches and for some reason he seems to have become neutered by Pike into deferring instead of getting to and taking his shots. He is our best shooter and along with Zrno and his 3 point ability gives you a semblance of scoring. Buchanan and Nwuili have to be on the floor. No more Fall , it should be obvious to anyone and no Ware , he is not ready. So immediately no Fall, no Ware , no Badalau and less Francis. That leaves a rotation of 9 guys . Pike seems to be personally sabotaging any attempt to win or even compete by screwing up these rotations thru 11 games. No one knows why they play , how long , in what role ? You cut the lead to 18-17 and then you sub Fall in the game ? Seriously ? Pike is making this worse.. Know he has limited talent but he is not even putting limited talent in a position to succeed. Puzzling and really frustrating to see from our coach in his 10th year here.

Grant is a nice kid who too easily defers to others to take charge. So you are totally wrong in blaming Pike for making him that way. Pike is trying to figure out how to motivate him, coax him, or whatever to get out there and assert himself. Not saying Pike is handling this whole thing well, but am saying you are reading the whole situation WRONG! Grant has a world of potential, but he is mentally not built to be Option Number 1 - yet!

I 100% agree that Francis is a disaster, costing us both at the beginning and the end of the game. The freshmen show real promise, but there is literally no upperclassmen to provide stability and provide leadership. We are looking at a long season, but the freshmen and sophomores show real potential. Unfortunately, the B1G is not a league where you can "develop" a team of young players without taking serious abuse.

 

[-RUFAN4LIFE-]

"academic concerns"

How is this a thing? paid professionals. we can have a team of mongoloids who barely speak English, who the **** cares as long as they can hoop. if we want true student athletes get the **** out of the big ten, this is professional sports.

Because the names on the jerseys still belong to higher education institutions. They are not professionals no matter how many times you mongoloids claim otherwise...lol.

 

[bac2therac]

Because the names on the jerseys still belong to higher education institutions. They are not professionals no matter how many times you mongoloids claim otherwise...lol.

They are professionals..especially if they get the 5th year

 

[NickRU714]

Because the names on the jerseys still belong to higher education institutions. They are not professionals no matter how many times you mongoloids claim otherwise...lol.

Technically they have always been professionals. No matter how many times anyone claims.

If a professional “gets paid to play a sport” then college athletes have been professionals for as long as they have been given scholarships (payment in kind) to play.
The only difference now is the type and level of compensation.

 

[goru7]

Grant is a nice kid who too easily defers to others to take charge. So you are totally wrong in blaming Pike for making him that way. Pike is trying to figure out how to motivate him, coax him, or whatever to get out there and assert himself. Not saying Pike is handling this whole thing well, but am saying you are reading the whole situation WRONG! Grant has a world of potential, but he is mentally not built to be Option Number 1 - yet!

I 100% agree that Francis is a disaster, costing us both at the beginning and the end of the game. The freshmen show real promise, but there is literally no upperclassmen to provide stability and provide leadership. We are looking at a long season, but the freshmen and sophomores show real potential. Unfortunately, the B1G is not a league where you can "develop" a team of young players without taking serious abuse.

This is where I disagree with you. Dylan started out this year as an alpha dog. Then one game where he did not rebound Pike sat him for long stretches harming his team more than teaching Dylan any lessons. It is obvious to everyone Dylan is the most likely player that is going to be a successful scorer on this roster . Pike is having him defer to the guards on the side screens and he never gets the ball back. Pike has to put him at the foul line extended and let him go downhill. If he runs 5 out then the ball has to find Dylan or Zrno to take as many threes as any players on the team. You might be right that Dylan is not that player but Pike is not even hiding that he is not making him first option . That is why I say he has neutered him. Basketball is a game of confidence. If Dylan gets on an early roll that will carry through the game . Pike must prioritize this now.

 

[BigEastPhil]

For those wanting more Mark, he hasn’t made a 3 pointer in 11 games now. We can not rely on Mark as our lead guard this year or next. He’s shooting 27 percent and has not made a 3 pointer. Sure he’s fast and hustles but thats what we said about J Mike 3 years ago

Respectfully disagree.

JMike is not good. Sure he ll have a good game every month or so but his ceiling is very low and
limited.

Lino on the other hand is quick and drives to the basket very well. He’s the future and needs to get the majority of minutes.

Lino is light years ahead of where JMike was as freshmen.

 

[-RUFAN4LIFE-]

Technically they have always been professionals. No matter how many times anyone claims.

If a professional “gets paid to play a sport” then college athletes have been professionals for as long as they have been given scholarships (payment in kind) to play.
The only difference now is the type and level of compensation.

Agreed, I've made that argument many times before that they've always been paid but people still insisted they were not.

 

[lloyde dobler]

Zrno is definitely a good shooter, but he played 35 minutes on Saturday (next highest was 28) and he finished with no rebounds and no assists. Can you afford to give that much PT to someone that one dimensional?

 

[EddieWilsonLives]

Because the names on the jerseys still belong to higher education institutions. They are not professionals no matter how many times you mongoloids claim otherwise...lol.

well played lol

 

[EddieWilsonLives]

Respectfully disagree.

JMike is not good. Sure he ll have a good game every month or so but his ceiling is very low and
limited.

Lino on the other hand is quick and drives to the basket very well. He’s the future and needs to get the majority of minutes.

Lino is light years ahead of where JMike was as freshmen.

You can take a lot of A10 and even Horizon league guys and throw them in at this level and they will have a decent game every five games or so

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

Mark and Zrno will be taking alot more minutes than the fading never weres who started earlier this year

Seems that way. I want Dortch to play more.

You are the one who told me Francis needs to play over Zrno. I told you then that Francis shoots too much , doesn’t pass to the bigs or Dylan and plays lousy defense. Let me add terrible ball handling to his resume. Not starting JMike and starting Badalau and playing Fall at all will be Pike’s demise. Granted he has a team with little talent but he has done a ton to sabotage putting a competitive product on the court. His cluelessness on who his best players are and why they have to play more , shoot more , and not be subbed out because he wants to randomly give playing time to Fall or Ware is beyond comprehension .
Did not know Nwuili was ill. But JMike and Mark , despite JMike being terrible but less terrible than Francis , are your guards. Zrno is the 2 guard / wing and Powers comes in for him. Buchanan and Nwuili are your wings with Nwuili playing the other team’s best wing , Dylan is your 4 and plays a lot like 32-36 minutes. Manny and Dorsch are your 5. You run with that and play them for longer stretches and stop making random subs. Give your team a fighting chance.

Well recently, yeah, for sure. When Francis and Davis aren’t shooting well they stop hustling on the other end too. Lino has been trending up but SHU was also a good match up for him where he could use his speed to do a lot of things. There are goin to be games where that might not be the case as the speed just yields out of control results. But if J Mike and Francis keep looking this way it’s hard to be worse. J Mike was just as bad as Francis. He was 0-5 from the floor with 5 turnovers. They both stunk. Francis clearly could not play PG in that game and allowing him to do so for 4 straight possessions with no other ball handling guard in the line up was head scratching. He didn’t turn it over after that but his confidence was just completely shot when he checked back in. He’s an 80% FT shooter and went 1-4 from the line. He was slow on D too - just seemed totally disoriented - focused on not “making a mistake”.

Zrno is shooting well and has earned his spot in the starting line up. Denis on the other hand is trending the complete opposite. Playing both of them together isn’t likely to translate into improved defense so Pike might want to start thinking about a regular replacement in the starting line up at the 4. Either Bryce or Buchanan the likely candidates.

 

[RUChet]

Denis Badalau started then played only 3 minutes.

Baye Fall played 3 minutes for no reason.

None of it makes sense.

Keli and Tate must be asking themselves, this guy has been a head coach for decades, WTF is he doing and why is he still here at Rutgers?

Badalou shooting awfully all season except
One game and he can’t defend

 

[goru7]

Badalou shooting awfully all season except
One game and he can’t defend

On top of that look at all the games where he played too many minutes and with zero points. You cannot be on the court 15-20 minutes and contribute nothing. No rebounds , assists. Pike had no business starting him against Seton Hall. If he sees any action , it should be sparingly and to give Zrno a breather .Pike has to get this rotation set and stop thinking it is a participation trophy affair where everyone plays. His rotations have made this team which is already short of talent worse. 9 man rotation and play Grant , Zrno and Ogbole as many minutes as possible and have Nwuili be your defensive wing stopper and Buchanan more of an offensive role.

 

[RUChet]

For those wanting more Mark, he hasn’t made a 3 pointer in 11 games now. We can not rely on Mark as our lead guard this year or next. He’s shooting 27 percent and has not made a 3 pointer. Sure he’s fast and hustles but thats what we said about J Mike 3 years ago

But Mark can pass and pass well. Davis is just average at best. And Mark is faster than Davis. His shot will come

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

For those wanting more Mark, he hasn’t made a 3 pointer in 11 games now. We can not rely on Mark as our lead guard this year or next. He’s shooting 27 percent and has not made a 3 pointer. Sure he’s fast and hustles but thats what we said about J Mike 3 years ago

He turned out to be the best option at point n SHU. It was a good match up for him but the jury is still out on whether he can be consistently effective. He deserved to play more though in the second half of the SHU game.

I don’t blame Pike for not starting him. Nobody really should. Tariq might have been the best of the 3 of the PGs (J Mike, Lino and Francis) which doesn’t say much, in the previous Michigan game. The biggest problem with him is he’s not really a natural PG and he’s undersized at the 2. But whatever - the bigger issue for me is when you know your playing a team that plays intense on ball pressure and your rolling with only him, a converted PG, and actually reinserting a complete non ball handler in Badalau in the line up for Buchanan. So he takes J Mike and Buchanan out and throws Francis in there to bring the ball up with Ogbole, Badalau and Grant and Zrno who aren’t good ball handlers either. Why not just keep JMike and Francis in there and swap Francis in for Buchanan? Or let Buchanan help Francis bring up the ball. Putting Denis back in the starting rotation made no sense.

 

[goru7]

Francis had no business being in the starting lineup nor playing the minutes Pike played him. Pike literally sabotaged the beginning of the Seton hall game. Badalau had no business starting or playing except for giving Zrno a breather. Our guards are limited like no other guards in the country but JMike despite probably having the worse game of his year, and there has been quite a few, was not going to have trouble bringing the ball upcourt . The players almost couldn’t play worse but Pike did everything to sabotage them. The players somehow recovered from 11-0 to get it to 18-17 and then he puts in Fall, another participation trophy sub. Are you kidding me ? Enough already with his 13 man mindless rotations . Time to coach this limited talent team without counterintuitive coaching.

 

[Loyal-Son]

This is where I disagree with you. Dylan started out this year as an alpha dog. Then one game where he did not rebound Pike sat him for long stretches harming his team more than teaching Dylan any lessons. It is obvious to everyone Dylan is the most likely player that is going to be a successful scorer on this roster . Pike is having him defer to the guards on the side screens and he never gets the ball back. Pike has to put him at the foul line extended and let him go downhill. If he runs 5 out then the ball has to find Dylan or Zrno to take as many threes as any players on the team. You might be right that Dylan is not that player but Pike is not even hiding that he is not making him first option . That is why I say he has neutered him. Basketball is a game of confidence. If Dylan gets on an early roll that will carry through the game . Pike must prioritize this now.

I completely disagree with your assessment, but that does not mean I don't respect your thoughts.

I am just sharing my coaching instincts, but that certainly does not mean I am always right.

 

[NewHondo77]

Francis had no business being in the starting lineup nor playing the minutes Pike played him. Pike literally sabotaged the beginning of the Seton hall game. Badalau had no business starting or playing except for giving Zrno a breather. Our guards are limited like no other guards in the country but JMike despite probably having the worse game of his year, and there has been quite a few, was not going to have trouble bringing the ball upcourt . The players almost couldn’t play worse but Pike did everything to sabotage them. The players somehow recovered from 11-0 to get it to 18-17 and then he puts in Fall, another participation trophy sub. Are you kidding me ? Enough already with his 13 man mindless rotations . Time to coach this limited talent team without counterintuitive coaching.

He has no business being on a P4 team.

 

[-RUFAN4LIFE-]

But Mark can pass and pass well. Davis is just average at best. And Mark is faster than Davis. His shot will come

May be it will or like Derek Simpson may it won't get much better. Hard to tell right now.

 

[RUfan1977]

May be it will or like Derek Simpson may it won't get much better. Hard to tell right now.

Mark shot 40% from 3 in high school so there is hope that his shooting will improve as he gets used to the college game.

 

[NJ-Hoops17]

Mark shot 40% from 3 in high school so there is hope that his shooting will improve as he gets used to the college game.

Agreed. 3PT% can take time to translate (different distance, speed on closeouts from defenders, etc.)

I like that despite being a bit undersized he can get downhill effectively for good looks near the rim (just has to improve finishing at a higher percentage) and also has solid potential defensively

 

[seansherm]

Mark shot 40% from 3 in high school so there is hope that his shooting will improve as he gets used to the college game.

JMikes stats in high school, offensively across the board were better, so you never know

 

[NJ-Hoops17]

Seems that way. I want Dortch to play more.


Well recently, yeah, for sure. When Francis and Davis aren’t shooting well they stop hustling on the other end too. Lino has been trending up but SHU was also a good match up for him where he could use his speed to do a lot of things. There are goin to be games where that might not be the case as the speed just yields out of control results. But if J Mike and Francis keep looking this way it’s hard to be worse. J Mike was just as bad as Francis. He was 0-5 from the floor with 5 turnovers. They both stunk. Francis clearly could not play PG in that game and allowing him to do so for 4 straight possessions with no other ball handling guard in the line up was head scratching. He didn’t turn it over after that but his confidence was just completely shot when he checked back in. He’s an 80% FT shooter and went 1-4 from the line. He was slow on D too - just seemed totally disoriented - focused on not “making a mistake”.

Zrno is shooting well and has earned his spot in the starting line up. Denis on the other hand is trending the complete opposite. Playing both of them together isn’t likely to translate into improved defense so Pike might want to start thinking about a regular replacement in the starting line up at the 4. Either Bryce or Buchanan the likely candidates.

Yeah it will probably become more clear which players should be back next year. Assuming Pike is coaching next year, if I had to guess I would retain a core of . . .

Grant
Zrno
Ogbole
Powers
Mark
Dortch
Nwuli

That leaves room for the addition of 3 freshmen and (given NIL improvements) 2-3 significant transfer additions that are capable B1G starters to hopefully field a 17+ win team

 

[-RUFAN4LIFE-]

Mark shot 40% from 3 in high school so there is hope that his shooting will improve as he gets used to the college game.

Isn’t the HS line a little closer than in college?

 

[needmorecowbell]

Not much. But Hines from Plainfield was a miss.

That was not a miss.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

Yeah it will probably become more clear which players should be back next year. Assuming Pike is coaching next year, if I had to guess I would retain a core of . . .

Grant
Zrno
Ogbole
Powers
Mark
Dortch
Nwuli

That leaves room for the addition of 3 freshmen and (given NIL improvements) 2-3 significant transfer additions that are capable B1G starters to hopefully field a 17+ win team

I doubt it. GG played plenty of minutes until the very end. Nothing will be clear.

 

[RUDiddy777]

That was not a miss.

Lightly offered kid 20 mins away from campus? You have to admit he’d give us more than Fall.

 

[RUDivision]

Seems that way. I want Dortch to play more.


Well recently, yeah, for sure. When Francis and Davis aren’t shooting well they stop hustling on the other end too. Lino has been trending up but SHU was also a good match up for him where he could use his speed to do a lot of things. There are goin to be games where that might not be the case as the speed just yields out of control results. But if J Mike and Francis keep looking this way it’s hard to be worse. J Mike was just as bad as Francis. He was 0-5 from the floor with 5 turnovers. They both stunk. Francis clearly could not play PG in that game and allowing him to do so for 4 straight possessions with no other ball handling guard in the line up was head scratching. He didn’t turn it over after that but his confidence was just completely shot when he checked back in. He’s an 80% FT shooter and went 1-4 from the line. He was slow on D too - just seemed totally disoriented - focused on not “making a mistake”.

Zrno is shooting well and has earned his spot in the starting line up. Denis on the other hand is trending the complete opposite. Playing both of them together isn’t likely to translate into improved defense so Pike might want to start thinking about a regular replacement in the starting line up at the 4. Either Bryce or Buchanan the likely candidates.

Francis and JMike are not and never have or will be Power 4 players. Never have been good defenders and are way too small.

Play the freshman and use Francis and JMike in slot minutes 8-12 a game if that.

Fall who was paid 750k should never touch the floor ever again. If you could cut a player he should be cut. He plays so someone can try and justify paying him that much money.

Pike has plenty of NIL to build a competitive team he just does not know what he is doing.

 

[RUDivision]

Yeah it will probably become more clear which players should be back next year. Assuming Pike is coaching next year, if I had to guess I would retain a core of . . .

Grant
Zrno
Ogbole
Powers
Mark
Dortch
Nwuli

That leaves room for the addition of 3 freshmen and (given NIL improvements) 2-3 significant transfer additions that are capable B1G starters to hopefully field a 17+ win team

Retain ??

You can possibly keep 2 of those guys for off the bench! You cannot pay them all and hope to be competitive. It’s a complete tear down if you expect to win.
See Seton hall last year vs this year!

Maybe keep 2 maybe 3 of them at best if they develop more over the year. At current state there is not 1 power 4 starter or contributor on the roster.

 

[RUDivision]

That was not a miss.

Huge miss he wanted to come here

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

Francis and JMike are not and never have or will be Power 4 players. Never have been good defenders and are way too small.

Play the freshman and use Francis and JMike in slot minutes 8-12 a game if that.

Fall who was paid 750k should never touch the floor ever again. If you could cut a player he should be cut. He plays so someone can try and justify paying him that much money.

Pike has plenty of NIL to build a competitive team he just does not know what he is doing.

I don’t know if you can do the first thing in all games. Mark had a good game but he’s struggled badly with decision making in other games. Pike should still try to get some Ws. There’s no playing for the future in the NIL era. Based on where things stood pregame and the scouting report on SHU, he should’ve started 2 of J Mike, Francis and Mark. We don’t have anyone else with ball handling skills. Call me crazy - Bryce Dortch might have the next best handle on the team.
Zrno earned a starting role and should’ve moved to the 3 to open the game with Grant and Ogbole. Maybe that line up would’ve proven too small, but then you adjust. SHU’s staple is ball pressure. Yu cant go into the game with only a converted PG on the floor and you certainly can't stick with that through 4 straight turnovers. Actually when he subbed J Mike for Francis he looked just as bad. Neither of them was fast enough to go one and one. Lino was a better match up to play without another ball handler in this game because of his speed. That will not be the case in all games. He’s the best of the 3 at beating a guy in one on one coverage. He’s still a frosh and when trapped on double teams may be more prone to poor decisions than the others. Still TBD.

putting Denis back in the starting line up made no sense at all.

 

[RUDivision]

I don’t know if you can do the first thing in all games. Mark had a good game but he’s struggled badly with decision making in other games. Pike should still try to get some Ws. There’s no playing for the future in the NIL era. Based on where things stood pregame and the scouting report on SHU, he should’ve started 2 of J Mike, Francis and Mark. We don’t have anyone else with ball handling skills. Call me crazy - Bryce Dortch might have the next best handle on the team.
Zrno earned a starting role and should’ve moved to the 3 to open the game with Grant and Ogbole. Maybe that line up would’ve proven too small, but then you adjust. SHU’s staple is ball pressure. Yu cant go into the game with only a converted PG on the floor and you certainly can't stick with that through 4 straight turnovers.

putting Denis back in the starting line up made no sense at all.

So we agree no playing for the future but we hopefully agree we’re not winning with JMike and Francis this year. So fair to say we are not winning with them next year either.

Pike may be back he may not but try and develop the freshman so you have someone who can help you next year if your here.

We both agree not many good options but I know the upper class man aren’t going to help this or next year.

 

[-RUFAN4LIFE-]

Francis and JMike are not and never have or will be Power 4 players. Never have been good defenders and are way too small.

Play the freshman and use Francis and JMike in slot minutes 8-12 a game if that.

Fall who was paid 750k should never touch the floor ever again. If you could cut a player he should be cut. He plays so someone can try and justify paying him that much money.

Pike has plenty of NIL to build a competitive team he just does not know what he is doing.

Fall was not paid $750K...lol. That's near what Lathan Sommerville got to go to Washington and they are not in the same tier as far as bigs are concerned.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

So we agree no playing for the future but we hopefully agree we’re not winning with JMike and Francis this year. So fair to say we are not winning with them next year either.

Pike may be back he may not but try and develop the freshman so you have someone who can help you next year if your here.

We both agree not many good options but I know the upper class man aren’t going to help this or next year.

I’m just saying that there will be games where this season in isolation we will have a better chance of winning with the upper class players. Not that many - but some games provided Pike doesn’t keep coaching the way he did last game. To have a chance of keeping his job, Pike needs to lay whoever gives him the best chance on a particular day and sometimes it will be those guys. It doesn’t say much since we stink no matter who plays but it’s still true.

 

[needmorecowbell]

Huge miss he wanted to come here

Where are you getting that info? Never heard that.

 

[needmorecowbell]

Lightly offered kid 20 mins away from campus? You have to admit he’d give us more than Fall.

Of course he would. There’s a reason he wasn’t offered by many schools.

 

[LotusAggressor_rivals]

Because there were academic concerns. He had two offers, one from the Hall and the other from NC State for next year per Richie in another thread.

Academics are still a thing?