The way they were playing prior to the Mag injury, and with Caleb not having back issues and Paul not worried about his shoulder, this team could have made some noise. All of the top seeds were vulnerable this year.
I wonder how far a healthy Rutgers team could have gone in this tournament
- Thread starter knight82
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All the way. I am a pretty negative guy and I was thinking we were playing at a level where we could beat any team
I thought the same, while also realizing we lost to SHU and twice to Iowa with everyone healthy.
Mag got hurt MSU right? Already a bit hazy. But if so:
The last 9 games before Mag got hurt we went 6-3. The wins included:
1 possession win
14 point win
1 possession win
OT win
20 pt win
35pt win
The losses included:
11 point loss
13 point loss
11 point loss
Against tournament teams that’s 4-3.
Maybe we could’ve made a run depending on matchups and 3pt but I think it’s just as up in the air too.
The last 9 games before Mag got hurt we went 6-3. The wins included:
1 possession win
14 point win
1 possession win
OT win
20 pt win
35pt win
The losses included:
11 point loss
13 point loss
11 point loss
Against tournament teams that’s 4-3.
Maybe we could’ve made a run depending on matchups and 3pt but I think it’s just as up in the air too.
Our team would have been able to beat most teams, but we could have also been a 6 seed that lost round 1. There’s no way to tell
It’s an interesting question but at the end of the day what did us in was the lack of quality depth.
I mean think about it - mag is a good piece but he’s no all-American. And he’s only 1 guy. So a player like mag getting injured shouldnt devastate a team like it did to us.
But what his injury did was expose how we were kinda on a razors edge when it came to depth.
In order to survive a full season AND make a deep run in the tourney you need to have quality depth (so you can overcome inevitable injuries) .
At the end of the day we just weren’t built for that
I mean think about it - mag is a good piece but he’s no all-American. And he’s only 1 guy. So a player like mag getting injured shouldnt devastate a team like it did to us.
But what his injury did was expose how we were kinda on a razors edge when it came to depth.
In order to survive a full season AND make a deep run in the tourney you need to have quality depth (so you can overcome inevitable injuries) .
At the end of the day we just weren’t built for that
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Say Mag stayed healthy and we stayed on track and finished 2nd in the B1G to Purdue. 2nd ended up being Indiana, 3rd was Northwestern. Both lost before the Elite 8. All about the matchups but if we were say a 4 or 5 and ended up against UCLA or Creighton or something I still think the buck would have stopped before the Final Four.
We were 9-5 as a healthy team this year, shoukd have been 10-4 with the OSU and only two of those games were cuocakes
The answer was an injury free team probably beats temple and goes 13-7 in the league, instead of 10-10…as that’s 22-9 and a 5 or 6 seed
And capable of making a run
This is the entire premise on my post on why I would prefer to bring the team as close to intact as oossibke
The answer was an injury free team probably beats temple and goes 13-7 in the league, instead of 10-10…as that’s 22-9 and a 5 or 6 seed
And capable of making a run
This is the entire premise on my post on why I would prefer to bring the team as close to intact as oossibke
The tournament is so matchup driven. If we played FAU’s path (Memphis / FDU / Tennessee / K State), we’d stand a more than fair chance of making a final 4. We’d be harder pressed to make such a run against Alabama / Creighton (like SDSU) or Houston / Texas (like Miami) though
Team doesn’t benefit by staying pat so a change at the bottom and sometimes at the top is actually what good clubs do. I would like Paul, Mag, Cliff , Derek, Spencer, Woolfolk , Chol back. The 3 new frosh and then several portal transfers . Our lack of depth played out after injuries especially to Mag.
I suspect that this "what if we were healthy" argument is being discussed by a lot of other teams's fans, all of whom are sure their teams would have made it deep into the tournament.
6-0 vs 6-1 Ohio st …Early second half @ Ohio st ….. up 15 and before phantom calls on Myles Johnson I thought we could be easily be a Final four team . We were beating Ohio st’s a$$ playing fast and hitting shots
We will never know but this team when healthy and playing well could beat anyone. If we got hot during the tournament and had favorable matchups we really could have made a deep run, especially in a year without really dominate teams at the top
What could have been *sigh*
What could have been *sigh*