I thought he was selfish earlier in the year but I think he’s improved and what you might call selfish moments are way down to where it’s hardly noticeable imo. Also agree although he’s small his defense has improved and he’s doing a decent job. Hes definitely grown on me.
I've never
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People gushed over Grant on this board much like they are gushing over a bunch of lessers coming back next year and fantasies of all we need is a center and a stopper
I agree. I believe if he stays and we bring in more talented players around him, he’ll be less selfish, his assist totals will improve, and he will at least split time at the PG position.
In an ideal world, we’d find 3 new veteran guys to start alongside Francis and possibly Buchanan, and our backups, 1 through 5, would be Lino, Powers, Zrno, Nwulli, and Manny. The question becomes, can we afford that scenario?
If Lino leaves, as some are saying, then it would be great to find a big PG (a Paul Mulcahy type) to start, move Tariq to the 2-spot, have Buchanan at the 3, and new veteran starters at the 4 and 5.
Either way, we’re looking at 3 new impact starters to be competitive.
Sure 7 th or 8th man definitely would have been a big help on that team but you’re proving my point.
He is a 3rd option off the bench player.
Not a frontline starter!
His last 5 games bringing him back to a level
If I’m interpretting the podcast correctly we might be approaching an all time low. There is in fact, no conceivably worse outcome for us than the one shaping up behind the scenes where Pitt “might” come up with enough funds to replace their coach and if they do, it’ll be after a certain date where the buy out goes down with Knight on the short list. I can see it happening before my eyes where Pike is stuck in no man’s land for the kick start of portal season waiting on Knight and in turn waiting on Tariq. And then - when fate hits, and Knight moves on, we not only lose our one “go to” player, but since we had so much fun navigating the football portal cycle without a DC we’ll get to balance the ticket on offense for the basketball side. Perfect timing to hunt for a replacement amidst a mass exodus with a lame duck head coach in tow. There have been many lows in RU basketball history but this I’m picturing as a true rock bottom ala Ash’ final season.
He would’ve
He would not have been 7th or 8th “option”on that team. Not even close. He’d be the lead scoring guard. More points than both Caleb and Paul. Probably Geo too. Geo was far less efficient than Tariq is to get to his 12 ppg that season and it was his highest point production year.
We will have much more money this cycle. It won’t be tops in the B1G but it won’t be the least either. How Pile builds the roster with funding will be interesting to see. He can recruit. Give him some ammo and see what he can do. This current roster is deficient in many ways. Oddly, this may be his best coaching job. The roster is not B1G level or even close to it. I’m shocked he beat anyone in conference.
The two lottery picks is misleading. Neither one of those guys came in ready to win Big Ten college games. They played like freshmen much of the year. We had no money for anyone else and were fortunate Pike was able to cut deals to get those two. Good to have them but it was very obvious very early the growing pains were going to come. The expectations didn’t come close to what they were prepared to deliver.
I don’t know. I don’t like the way things behind the scenes are lining up. If Pitt is up in the air about firing their coach, will Knight be stringing Pike along until he finds out? That would not be good for us because we need to take action early in the portal cycle. If we’re waiting to find out about TF that’s a disaster.
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If you’re asking where the money came from, Nike had direct NIL deals with both. Pike did not raise the money through the Rutgers NIL collective.
So Nike would have paid them regardless of which school they chose. It was not a donation to Rutgers specifically.
Beyond the money, Pike gets credit for successfully recruiting them.
My point was that Pike wasn’t able to raise the money to pay a legit veteran center to play with those guys.
I understand Pitt giving Knight a courtesy interview but it seems crazy to me that they’d hire him with no head coaching experience. And maybe I’m naive but I don’t think he’d string Pikiell along if they do.
Richie made it sound like he’s on the short list. I agree it would be incredibly dumb considering how bad our offense has been historically under his watch including the epic failure with Ace and Dylan. I don’t think recruiting them to Rutgers would be much of a selling point. But he has deep Pitt roots so who knows. It’s not a good thing for us that this story line is lurking in the background. Even if it doesn’t happen it will create uncertainty narrative to start the portal season. New kids considering us would be right to worry about what they are signing up for if there is a possibility we’re waiting on this. Awful news IMO.
Please lol let's learn from the past and not take everything in the media as gospel. Let's cross the bridges once we get to them. And honestly, If Tariq and Brandin went to pitt because he's the new head coach we wish them well and are happy for B.Knight, but is it that big of a loss for Rutgers? Hopefully they will be bringing in a lot of new talent next year and you find a new assistant..simple
Exactly, needed to retain mag and cliff or replace them with comparable players and they needed to sign matt alocco to run that team..none of that happened so I had low expectations going into that season. I knew they didn't have funds after seeing how they constructed a roster around two of the top 3 recruits in the nation. Smh They have been bringing in below average recruits and transfers for pikes entire tenure, hit the lottery with baker, rhj, McConnell but that is hard to recreate especially in the current climate. Let's see if the new administration can help him build better rosters. If he's still putting teams out there that look like this with access to cash his time may be up..
I’m with you on hoping for the best, and make no mistake, I wouldn’t blame Knight one bit for taking that type of opportunity if it came.
But let’s be clear, circumstantially, Knight walking out the door this particular offseason would be a disaster for Rutgers. It almost certainly would create an anticipatory offseason for Pike resembling Ash’s final year. I generally try to look at things from an optimistic view, but come on. If this is how it goes down, think about the reality of what we’d be trying to sell to portal kids. Pike trying to find a replacement to run the offense while being on the “hot seat” and managing portal season at the same time. No proven offensive weapons returning on offense. Grant potentially our best piece and uncertainty around who the coaches are. Needing to desperately recruit D but having to overpay to bring in offense from the low level and hope it translates. We’d be destined for yet another pile of random “mish mosh”. There’s really no other way to look at it. If we’re going to do a clean sweep, the time to do it is when getting rid of Pike. He can’t rebuild everything in one off season.
If I made 4mil a year I would have used my own money to buy a center and another vet.
I want Pike to have a chance w actual $, but not sure he'll get real $ to compete. In that case, it may be better for the program for Knight to finally leave and have a staff shake up. Even with TF this offense is awful. Yes, he's our best offensive player, but could his points be made up if gone? IDK, maybe. We get a real center and forward like we want, then a few guys get more shots than they do now. A Buchannon, Zrno, even Davis all take 6-7 shots less per 32 minutes than Francis. I think DB could up his output w more shots. Zrno and Powers w more experience and better bigs should up their efficiency in year 2.
I think it dragging out, as you say, could be more damaging than losing Knight and Francis. But no one is actually giving Knight a P6 job, so it's probably moot..
Funny you should say that. When I originally composed my post, I wrote the same thing, but deleted that sentence before posting, because I assumed there would either be rules against it, or Pike would have opened a can of worms among college coaches.
i suppose he could have given the money to someone else to donate, and for all we know some other wealthy coach or coaches may have thought of that and have done it already, but oh well.
But yeah, it could have been a career booster for him and a huge boost for RU if he somehow managed to bring in a big time center.
Agree. When last years RU team got handled early in the season at Kennesaw State it was clear that 2 freshmen were not leading the team to the tournament.
Misplaced expectations from RU fans on 2 great but inexperienced college players.
He would not have seen starter court time on that team because of his defense he would not have fit that scheme at all defensively
It was a real wake up call. Neither had any idea how to play defense. AAU does not teach fundamentals. They are both great talents but their draft projections were both purely potential. Ace more than Dylan. Both got better at it as the year went on but man it was bad. Ace didnt have even break down properly much less understand team concepts.
Pike needs to bring in someone young and new. Someone who is willing to work countless hours scouring over game films and doing research and compiling a list 20X bigger of potential adds. Once that list is found relentless recruiting of those names.
This is NOT happening. The season ends and it is a major chore filing a roster. Pike and most other coaches don't want to be dealing in this environment. I wouldn't want to. We need others to do this work and have Pike the closer.
I can't vouch to what is on the floor this year because i have seen ZERO minutes. I watched almost every minute of games before. Most of the transfers he has brought in have been head scratchers from a defensive perspective. How much due diligence was needed to know that Jordan Dercack can't play man to man defense. PJ Hayes? Tyson Acuff?
Smells like a I can get the season finished and relax for 3 months once I get this roster filled.
This is NOT happening. The season ends and it is a major chore filing a roster. Pike and most other coaches don't want to be dealing in this environment. I wouldn't want to. We need others to do this work and have Pike the closer.
I can't vouch to what is on the floor this year because i have seen ZERO minutes. I watched almost every minute of games before. Most of the transfers he has brought in have been head scratchers from a defensive perspective. How much due diligence was needed to know that Jordan Dercack can't play man to man defense. PJ Hayes? Tyson Acuff?
Smells like a I can get the season finished and relax for 3 months once I get this roster filled.
Nah - he would’ve been fine. Paul really wasn’t good at defense. Geo was decent but nothing special either. It wouldn’t have been that big a drop off especially when you factor in that guys like RHJ and Geo had to play tired over 34 mpg. Paul played over 32 mpg.
Caleb’s help D hid a lot. It’s easier to mask shortcomings of perimeter defenders if you have strong wing / front court defenders. Tariq would’ve played at least 25 mpg. He would’ve made it possible to play Mag and Caleb together to give RHJ a rest. We couldn’t afford to lose the offense. There’s no way that team loses those early cup cakes with Tariq on the roster.
I posted this idea 10X + times. All you have to do is get Jersey Mike's to restructure their naming rights down and have them put a couple of players in an ad for 5 seconds and pay them NIL. You replace what you lost from JM with tax deductible general donations to Rutgers Basketball. (or something halfway creative as that). There are PLAENTY of options if the folks in charge had ANY ability to think outside the box and take any chances in this wild west environment.
e..i. Isn't Buchanan getting paid for his Venmo spot? Rutgers paying that? (not) "Venmo launched specialized debit cards for Big 12 and Big Ten conference fans for the 2025-2026 season, allowing users to show team pride while earning 15% cash back on select brands and special perks. The cards feature custom college designs and are part of a broader NIL and conference partnership" initiative.
That is truly one of my biggest issues with Pike and his staff. Guard experienced and guard focused. He wants to play a guard game in the B1G and that isn't going to work!
I'm with you Billy but at least they tried something and took risks. Now they are shutting it down but they got some cash in the meantime, right?
Yes, it worked for a short time. I read that the IRS was already cracking down on this in 2023, in which case it wouldn’t have helped us last year anyway.
He and his wife could each legally gift a tad under $19k each to a number of people and organizations..and what they did with it is their business lol. But that would never happen nor would I think it so wise per se.
Or just keep Cliff and Mowat and some of the other role players that have grown into serviceable players elsewhere.
Being realistic, regardless of the legalities (might have been a legal path, maybe not) it would have raised a lot of eyebrows and unwanted attention.
Looking at this year I don't think people realize how bare the cupboard was talent-wise. Evaluating Pike as a coach (not program manager) needs to be looked at through that lens and graded on a curve. The team has exceeded the truly godawful expectations.
But the talent level is also on Pike. But the reason for hope is that Zinn and co are now there to carry that side of the operation, allowing Pike to just focus on coaching. Better management and recruiting/player management remains to be seen. But there is at least a new approach, new capacity, new people that MIGHT change the situation. A year ago we couldn't say that. A year ago there was nothing new to suggest we might be able to break out of the trajectory we were on.
The new NIL/portal player management team may or may not pan out. But at least it's a ray of hope to look at.
That's why, for Pike in particular, I want to see that the team, as bad as the talent is, is growing as a team and the individual players are growing. If Pike wasn't able to do that, then there would be no reason to keep him.
The real test for me will be if Pike and RU can keep the best players. Pike's system on D needs stability and learning over time. Even with better players, Pike needs player stability to have the whole be more than the sum of the parts. The turnover has been killing us.
But the talent level is also on Pike. But the reason for hope is that Zinn and co are now there to carry that side of the operation, allowing Pike to just focus on coaching. Better management and recruiting/player management remains to be seen. But there is at least a new approach, new capacity, new people that MIGHT change the situation. A year ago we couldn't say that. A year ago there was nothing new to suggest we might be able to break out of the trajectory we were on.
The new NIL/portal player management team may or may not pan out. But at least it's a ray of hope to look at.
That's why, for Pike in particular, I want to see that the team, as bad as the talent is, is growing as a team and the individual players are growing. If Pike wasn't able to do that, then there would be no reason to keep him.
The real test for me will be if Pike and RU can keep the best players. Pike's system on D needs stability and learning over time. Even with better players, Pike needs player stability to have the whole be more than the sum of the parts. The turnover has been killing us.
Agree. Especially since there were other options vs. A coach actually doing such.
I don’t believe this team is exceeding expectations, it’s coming in around where many were predicting, and we have benefited from the fact that there are a couple of other very bad teams in conference, and we were able to pick up a couple of wins against teams decimated by injuries. This team is terrible both offensively and defensively, there is not much to feel positive about this team and roster.
Stability is a thing of the past, most programs are dealing with massive turnover, and coaches are required to to adjust and adapt to the environment. Other schools have been trying to bring in NBA assistants, who are more used to managing through a lot roster turnover, and also run more flexible systems that adapt to the talent they are able to acquire vs trying to force players to adapt to rigid systems.