RAPID REACTION - Indiana

[Degaz-RU]

1. I’m not saying anything you all don't already know, but this is just a bad, bad team. Every flaw was exposed tonight, from poor 3-pt defense to poor rebounding to just utter disarray and terrible shooting on offense. Other than Francis, there is no other offensive threat on this team, and with the defense being soft, we only win if we thread a needle.

2. We got nothing from Dylan Grant, Harun Zrno, Lino Mark, JMike, and Bryce Dortch, and Buchanan had a quiet night. It was basically Francis against the World.

3. It seems like every other team has multiple shooters who fill it up. Tonight, Indiana had three players who were all lights out all over the court — Nick Dorn (23 points), Lamar Wilkerson (27 points), and Tucker DeVries (22 points), and they were a combined 15-33 from 3-pt range. Even when we played good defense, they managed to hit tough shots. It’s so damn frustrating watching this happen game in and game out.

4. In contrast, we had another terrible shooting night, going just 5-19 from deep. YOU’RE NOT WINNING COLLEGE BASKETBALL GAMES WHEN YOU HIT 5 THREES.

5. Why the heck was Badalau in the game in the middle of the 2nd half? We cut the lead to 12, and the IU coach calls a timeout and clearly tells his guys to go right at Badalau. They proceed to score two buckets by targeting Badalau, and we miss a couple of wiiiide open threes, and the lead balloons back up to 18 and it was all she wrote.

6. This was our best chance for a win in the 7-game gauntlet, and we got run out of the building. It’s only going to get worse.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

Good summary. Hits all the key points.

Considering Francis is our only real offensive threat, why doesn’t Pike ever try putting our best defensive line up out there with him? I don’t understand - if nobody scores anyway just put Dortch at the 4 with Ogbole at the 5. Buchanan is best when he’s able to play his natural position at 3. Try playing one of the 2 PGs, Tariq and these 3. Buchanan is our next best offensive player after Francis and he’d be on the floor with this line up. We don’t get enough from the others to make it worth their horrible D.

 

[RUskoolie]

Bad matchup. We were out talented from start to finish. They put Badalu in to slow down 12, which actually was working but then Indiana switched up and Denis let up 2-3 easy buckets on blow bys.

I kept looking over the roster and they need to get rid of at least 5 guys next. year. We are playing like 7-8 first and second year players right now and it shows.

 

[Kbe4]

Just awful performance tonight. I can't recall ever seeing a team with so many guys that can't put the friggin ball in the basket.

 

[Shelby65]

Bad matchup. We were out talented from start to finish. They put Badalu in to slow down 12, which actually was working but then Indiana switched up and Denis let up 2-3 easy buckets on blow bys.

I kept looking over the roster and they need to get rid of at least 5 guys next. year. We are playing like 7-8 first and second year players right now and it shows.

Nope, it has nothing to do with being first or second year players. The issue is they are bad players. They will be bad in 3 years too.

Last year all the transfers were very experienced and they were awful too.

 

[FAT MOON]

it's really, really hard to score 59 points in a division 1 basketball game when you have a guy who gets you 28...kudos to francis he is so smooth out there...and really should've had more than 3 assists he hit a few guys in the hands with balls who couldn't even catch them.

please no more euros...i do not understand how they see the floor with their defense...they can't stay in front of guys.

 

[RUskoolie]

Nope, it has nothing to do with being first or second year players. The issue is they are bad players. They will be bad in 3 years too.

Last year all the transfers were very experienced and they were awful too.

This is a pretty stupid take but you talk in the third person so it's expected.

 

[Shelby65]

This is a pretty stupid take but you talk in the third person so it's expected.

Nothing stupid about it. Most other teams have 7-8 players better than everyone on our roster with the exception of Francis.

Davis and Ogbole arent any good as third and fourth year players. They didn’t get better. Dortch, Grant, Mark, Nwuli and the Euros won’t be good when they are upperclassmen either. bad players don’t become good players.

Powers has potential. That’s it.

The roster plain sucks and not due to inexperience. It’s due to lack of talent.

 

[RUSCFORMERLYRULOU]

pike. must. go. He’ll waste all the NIL money. Watch the press conference. Hes lost the team.

 

[goru7]

1. I’m not saying anything you all don't already know, but this is just a bad, bad team. Every flaw was exposed tonight, from poor 3-pt defense to poor rebounding to just utter disarray and terrible shooting on offense. Other than Francis, there is no other offensive threat on this team, and with the defense being soft, we only win if we thread a needle.

2. We got nothing from Dylan Grant, Harun Zrno, Lino Mark, JMike, and Bryce Dortch, and Buchanan had a quiet night. It was basically Francis against the World.

3. It seems like every other team has multiple shooters who fill it up. Tonight, Indiana had three players who were all lights out all over the court — Nick Dorn (23 points), Lamar Wilkerson (27 points), and Tucker DeVries (22 points), and they were a combined 15-33 from 3-pt range. Even when we played good defense, they managed to hit tough shots. It’s so damn frustrating watching this happen game in and game out.

4. In contrast, we had another terrible shooting night, going just 5-19 from deep. YOU’RE NOT WINNING COLLEGE BASKETBALL GAMES WHEN YOU HIT 5 THREES.

5. Why the heck was Badalau in the game in the middle of the 2nd half? We cut the lead to 12, and the IU coach calls a timeout and clearly tells his guys to go right at Badalau. They proceed to score two buckets by targeting Badalau, and we miss a couple of wiiiide open threes, and the lead balloons back up to 18 and it was all she wrote.

6. This was our best chance for a win in the 7-game gauntlet, and we got run out of the building. It’s only going to get worse.

It was unlikely RU was winning with Indiana hitting 15 threes regardless of our showing up. But the lack of showing up, the failure to get a rebound, a 50/50 ball was startling. It was a complete failure of the whole team as not one player hustled tonight.
Pike knew they hit threes and still didn’t try to have our guys up on them. They hit some long ones but our contest was non existent. He could have played Nwuili and Buchanan on Wilkerson and Devries and have them stick on them and forget about help defense. But then he had Dorn go off with 6 threes mostly from the corner and I guess the rest of the roster thought it was okay to let him shoot. Wilkerson scored 44 points earlier in the year and mostly from deep. Pike didn’t emphasize guarding the 3 enough knowing they are almost entirely a 3 point shooting team. Hard to wrap my head around that. Granted, some of those 3’s were tough makes but a ton more were taken without a hand there to contest.
The other issue as the game continued into the second half was Indiana was hitting threes and after we hit 3 to start the half with Grant and Powers hitting 2 , for the last 12 minutes we were trying to match 3’s with 2’s. Even if they went in and Francis hit a few and Buchanan but we missed a ton but still the math would not add up. Math suggested you were not catching up. Why he didn’t just set up 1 screen and instruct our players to shoot 3’s and crash the boards.The last 5 minutes as mark or Francis got blocked at the rim or driving was deflating and plain stupid. So even if the shots go in , which they weren’t , you still lose by 12-15 instead of 23. Being outscored 45-15 from 3 is impossible to overcome. But that thought never entered Pike’s mind. . I do not care f the 3’s missed , because 3’s carom weird and rebounds and second chances are created. When you shoot 2’s and they get blocked , there is no rebound just Indiana going the other way to hit another 3 .

Rotations are still a problem and might not have mattered but still head scratching .Very little done right tonight. 20 games in. Yes talent is subpar but there are ways to make it look better and tonight looked like a dumpster fire. Surrender with letting Francis shoot every shot whether he hit it or got it blocked. No other action on the offensive end. Couldn’t believe my eyes. Just a surrender

 

[PhillyRU]

A good chunk of the Indiana 3-pointers came from RU guys getting caught under flare screens, which is a really scoutable part of Indiana’s offense. Super frustrating

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

It was unlikely RU was winning with Indiana hitting 15 threes regardless of our showing up. But the lack of showing up, the failure to get a rebound, a 50/50 ball was startling. It was a complete failure of the whole team as not one player hustled tonight.
Pike knew they hit threes and still didn’t try to have our guys up on them. They hit some long ones but our contest was non existent. He could have played Nwuili and Buchanan on Wilkerson and Devries and have them stick on them and forget about help defense. But then he had Dorn go off with 6 threes mostly from the corner and I guess the rest of the roster thought it was okay to let him shoot. Wilkerson scored 44 points earlier in the year and mostly from deep. Pike didn’t emphasize guarding the 3 enough knowing they are almost entirely a 3 point shooting team. Hard to wrap my head around that. Granted, some of those 3’s were tough makes but a ton more were taken without a hand there to contest.
The other issue as the game continued into the second half was Indiana was hitting threes and after we hit 3 to start the half with Grant and Powers hitting 2 , for the last 12 minutes we were trying to match 3’s with 2’s. Even if they went in and Francis hit a few and Buchanan but we missed a ton but still the math would not add up. Math suggested you were not catching up. Why he didn’t just set up 1 screen and instruct our players to shoot 3’s and crash the boards.The last 5 minutes as mark or Francis got blocked at the rim or driving was deflating and plain stupid. So even if the shots go in , which they weren’t , you still lose by 12-15 instead of 23. Being outscored 45-15 from 3 is impossible to overcome. But that thought never entered Pike’s mind. . I do not care f the 3’s missed , because 3’s carom weird and rebounds and second chances are created. When you shoot 2’s and they get blocked , there is no rebound just Indiana going the other way to hit another 3 .

Rotations are still a problem and might not have mattered but still head scratching .Very little done right tonight. 20 games in. Yes talent is subpar but there are ways to make it look better and tonight looked like a dumpster fire. Surrender with letting Francis shoot every shot whether he hit it or got it blocked. No other action on the offensive end. Couldn’t believe my eyes. Just a surrender

That last part is something your going to mention dude - really? Francis’ inefficiency at the end of the game when he finally checked back in but it was nearly mathematically impossible for us to come back anyway? Your unbelievable.

Francis played nearly the best floor game humanly possible on both ends until that last time Pike checked him back in. Every time he came out the team couldn’t score OR defend. Thats the bottom line. He was a very clear plus on both ends. On top of this, Buchanan doesn’t seem comfortable being a number one go to - and Grant is still trying to be a go-to so the combo of the 2 of them trying to play this role on the game without Tariq is a disaster. Another topic entirely but Buchanan cannot only play like 10 minutes with Tariq. Since he’s limited as a weak side threat, he needs to be on the court with someone else whose an offensive threat to be able to have more openings to leverage his strong side. We really only have Tariq who fits that bill. Even if Zrno or Powers are lighting it up from the outside - they need to be set up and aren’t going to require the kind of coverage that will open up Buchanan’s game. Outside of getting fouled on the early 3, he was useless on offense without Francis on the floor.

In the final few minute when Pike brought Francis back in the game was clearly over and, yeah at that point, he forced a bunch. Big deal man. For the rest of the game (when it mattered) he was shooting over 50% from the field and drawing fouls at will. As said - we had no chance of winning in those last few minutes so I’m not sure why you would highlight that as anything. If fact - it does the opposite of stat padding. The kid had played his heart out for 24-5 minutes and was clearly frustrated when he finally went back in at the end and we were down 15 or so with the clock winding down.

Before those last handful of shots in the waning minutes, I’m not sure he took a single bad shot. He led the team in assists. Was dishing just fine. Was also the only guard who played a lick of help D and hustled on perimeter close outs. Enough already.

 

[Scarlet Blind_rivals]

Indiana has 1 6th yr Senior, 2 5th yr seniors, 3 4th yr seniors, and 2 3rd yr Jrs. This is what happen when a bunch of mature 21/2-24/5 yr old bodies play a bunch of 18/9-21/2 yr old bodies. End of story.

Indiana is 17th in Offensive Efficiency with their top 8 players experience.

Not saying we need to move on from Pikiell but if we move in a different direction, Josh Schertz from St Louis is the guy I want before others get him.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

Bad matchup. We were out talented from start to finish. They put Badalu in to slow down 12, which actually was working but then Indiana switched up and Denis let up 2-3 easy buckets on blow bys.

I kept looking over the roster and they need to get rid of at least 5 guys next. year. We are playing like 7-8 first and second year players right now and it shows.

Yes - replacing 5, possibly 6 guys seems like the right target number to me.

No matter how bad things look though, Pike will still be in a much better spot to start the portal cycle this off season than last one if he’s still here. The silver lining in reflection is that the first two traditional transfers that Pike brought in (Buchanan and Francis) turned out to be our 2 best players. I think there’s reason to be hopeful that the parts of their games that need the most work are coachable things for an offseason.

If Pike can repeat this trend and bring in two impact transfers to pair with them at different positions (preferably at least one who is an elite defender), and maybe have some luck with the other 3-4 pick ups we take chances on, we truly will be much better.

Our fans lose site of the fact that only 5 guys are on the court at a time in basketball. If we have the money to bring in 2 proven guys to go with Francis and Buchanan plus Pike hand picks the roll players / rotation guys from the current team to develop over the offseason we’ll be in a much better place.

I go back to 2018-19. 14 win team lost its best player in Eugene.

Brought in JY, Shaq Carter and Yeboah. We need to have success in the portal similar to that. We don’t need to turn the entire roster over no matter how bad things look right now. Of course, money is a factor. Not so much for Francis and Buchanan (we need to pay them what they ask up front because it’s much easier to secure incumbents that way and we’re not winning more than 3 bidding wars for guys that have produced at the major conference level). It’s the other guys - how much is too much to retain them?

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

it's really, really hard to score 59 points in a division 1 basketball game when you have a guy who gets you 28...kudos to francis he is so smooth out there...and really should've had more than 3 assists he hit a few guys in the hands with balls who couldn't even catch them.

please no more euros...i do not understand how they see the floor with their defense...they can't stay in front of guys.

Well Goru will tell you the problem is forcing it too much to Francis. Lol.

 

[seansherm]

Yes - replacing 5, possibly 6 guys seems like the right target number to me.

No matter how bad things look though, Pike will still be in a much better spot to start the portal cycle this off season than last one if he’s still here. The silver lining in reflection is that the first two traditional transfers that Pike brought in (Buchanan and Francis) turned out to be our 2 best players. I think there’s reason to be hopeful that the parts of their games that need the most work are coachable things for an offseason.

If Pike can repeat this trend and bring in two impact transfers to pair with them at different positions (preferably at least one who is an elite defender), and maybe have some luck with the other 3-4 pick ups we take chances on, we truly will be much better.

Our fans lose site of the fact that only 5 guys are on the court at a time in basketball. If we have the money to bring in 2 proven guys to go with Francis and Buchanan plus Pike hand picks the roll players / rotation guys from the current team to develop over the offseason we’ll be in a much better place.

I go back to 2018-19. 14 win team lost its best player in Eugene.

Brought in JY, Shaq Carter and Yeboah. We need to have success in the portal similar to that. We don’t need to turn the entire roster over no matter how bad things look right now. Of course, money is a factor. Not so much for Francis and Buchanan (we need to pay them what they ask up front because it’s much easier to secure incumbents that way and we’re not winning more than 3 bidding wars for guys that have produced at the major conference level). It’s the other guys - how much is too much to retain them?

With the chatter that this is the year Knight moves on, is it possible Francis leaves and goes with him? That would change everything about the off season.
Guys like Yeboah are key nowadays. Men that contribute at both ends. Your wings and frontcourt need to be littered with them.

 

[seansherm]

Tough to come back in the second half, needing to shoot threes with Mark playing 12 minutes and he won't take them, can't make them. Nwuli doesn't shoot. EO isn't going to shoot. Dortch isn't going to. Buchannon prefers midrange and inside. Grant doesn't get many shots w Francis, ect

 

[bac2therac]

Yes - replacing 5, possibly 6 guys seems like the right target number to me.

No matter how bad things look though, Pike will still be in a much better spot to start the portal cycle this off season than last one if he’s still here. The silver lining in reflection is that the first two traditional transfers that Pike brought in (Buchanan and Francis) turned out to be our 2 best players. I think there’s reason to be hopeful that the parts of their games that need the most work are coachable things for an offseason.

If Pike can repeat this trend and bring in two impact transfers to pair with them at different positions (preferably at least one who is an elite defender), and maybe have some luck with the other 3-4 pick ups we take chances on, we truly will be much better.

Our fans lose site of the fact that only 5 guys are on the court at a time in basketball. If we have the money to bring in 2 proven guys to go with Francis and Buchanan plus Pike hand picks the roll players / rotation guys from the current team to develop over the offseason we’ll be in a much better place.

I go back to 2018-19. 14 win team lost its best player in Eugene.

Brought in JY, Shaq Carter and Yeboah. We need to have success in the portal similar to that. We don’t need to turn the entire roster over no matter how bad things look right now. Of course, money is a factor. Not so much for Francis and Buchanan (we need to pay them what they ask up front because it’s much easier to secure incumbents that way and we’re not winning more than 3 bidding wars for guys that have produced at the major conference level). It’s the other guys - how much is too much to retain them?

We need to really turn the roster over. PERIOD

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

We need to really turn the roster over. PERIOD

No we don’t. That’s simply not true. We’re bad because we’re playing a minimum of 3 role players at one time going up against 5 starter caliber guys. We have guys eligible to return (assuming Ogbole gets clearance) who are suitable role players to back up all 5 positions. We have Tariq and Buchanan who are good enough to be starters (Buchanan could be a lot better if used properly and with the right combos - he’s playing out of position a ton out of need due to glaring defensive holes - and he has limitations that hold him back from being a go to feature guy - he’s much better when Francis is on the court and he’s not the main focus). Offseason development could be huge though potentially for both of them.

So ideally - we really need 3 starter caliber transfers to fill the holes - but we can probably get by with 2. Can overcome playing one role player at a time who is a good match up with an opponent. And some guys would also improve over the offseason. Caleb got way better at D from frosh to sophomore season. Maybe we’d see that with Nwuli?

I’ll add though that the cost of keeping players for back up duties I’m not at all factoring into this assessment as we have no transparency and I really have no clue what the numbers are. So there’s that.

I’ll say one thing though - it may have been time for J Will to move on and Jordan didn’t want to be here, but if the cost was the same, we’d have been better off keeping both of them instead of bringing in Fall and Zrno, as neither have helped us win a single game so far. I’m guessing you end up paying more in the open market than for retention on average. I certainly could be wrong.

 

[Virginiarufan]

Game after game we keep getting torched by 3 pointers even by players who haven’t hit them all year. I agree with the age and maturity issue but it also seems like teams play us with momentum on their side as though they know we’re an easy win.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

With the chatter that this is the year Knight moves on, is it possible Francis leaves and goes with him? That would change everything about the off season.
Guys like Yeboah are key nowadays. Men that contribute at both ends. Your wings and frontcourt need to be littered with them.

There’s been chatter about him moving on or that he should move on for years. I bet Knight stays to see it through with Francis. I could be wrong. Pike is toast if Francis leaves IMO. Hes not cut out to buy a brand new look roster and turn the program around entirely in a season. I’ll feel about next season like I did with Ash’s return in 2019 if we lose Tariq. That’s the bottom line. Building around Tariq is his only path to saving his tenure at RU.

 

[LeapinLou]

Before those last handful of shots in the waning minutes, I’m not sure he took a single bad shot. He led the team in assists. Was dishing just fine. Was also the only guard who played a lick of help D and hustled on perimeter close outs. Enough already.

Agreed. @goru7 is a valuable contributor to this board. But ever since he declared Francis a bad player early in the season, he can't let it go. Last night, he was the only player remotely resembling a Big 10 talent. Now, as Pike pointed out in the postgame interview, he had 0 rebounds, so that's a problem. But geez, stop bashing the only guy that shows up every single night.

PS - Another stat Pike pointed out is that the starting lineup committed 0 personal fouls and only 5 team fouls by the entire team for the game. A double edged sword because while you're not giving away points at the charity stripe, it also says you're not playing nearly physical enough.

PPS - I share Pike's dismay. It looked like this team was coming together and becoming greater than the sum of it's parts. But last night was a gigantic step backwards.

 

[RUDivision]

Yes - replacing 5, possibly 6 guys seems like the right target number to me.

No matter how bad things look though, Pike will still be in a much better spot to start the portal cycle this off season than last one if he’s still here. The silver lining in reflection is that the first two traditional transfers that Pike brought in (Buchanan and Francis) turned out to be our 2 best players. I think there’s reason to be hopeful that the parts of their games that need the most work are coachable things for an offseason.

If Pike can repeat this trend and bring in two impact transfers to pair with them at different positions (preferably at least one who is an elite defender), and maybe have some luck with the other 3-4 pick ups we take chances on, we truly will be much better.

Our fans lose site of the fact that only 5 guys are on the court at a time in basketball. If we have the money to bring in 2 proven guys to go with Francis and Buchanan plus Pike hand picks the roll players / rotation guys from the current team to develop over the offseason we’ll be in a much better place.

I go back to 2018-19. 14 win team lost its best player in Eugene.

Brought in JY, Shaq Carter and Yeboah. We need to have success in the portal similar to that. We don’t need to turn the entire roster over no matter how bad things look right now. Of course, money is a factor. Not so much for Francis and Buchanan (we need to pay them what they ask up front because it’s much easier to secure incumbents that way and we’re not winning more than 3 bidding wars for guys that have produced at the major conference level). It’s the other guys - how much is too much to retain them?

Just review all the guys Pike has brought in and not cherry pick the good ones.

Not to mention he didn’t want Tariq.

The team is not good. Watched the Tariq documentary on Big ten network. Absolutely routing for the young man. If he was 6 foot 7 he’s a first round lottery pick.

But he’s not! He is tremendous against bottom feeding teams limited against top end teams.

If the goal is to make a run in the tournament Tariq is a bench role player.

if the goal is to win 6 to 7 games in the Big ten regular season, then build around him

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

Agreed. @goru7 is a valuable contributor to this board. But ever since he declared Francis a bad player early in the season, he can't let it go. Last night, he was the only player remotely resembling a Big 10 talent. Now, as Pike pointed out in the postgame interview, he had 0 rebounds, so that's a problem. But geez, stop bashing the only guy that shows up every single night.

PS - Another stat Pike pointed out is that the starting lineup committed 0 personal fouls and only 5 team fouls by the entire team for the game. A double edged sword because while you're not giving away points at the charity stripe, it also says you're not playing nearly physical enough.

PPS - I share Pike's dismay. It looked like this team was coming together and becoming greater than the sum of it's parts. But last night was a gigantic step backwards.

The rebound thing is kind of overblown. I’d rather Tariq play D the way he did yesterday than expand more energy going after the loose balls and grab a few rebounds. He needs that energy on offense. Same right now for Buchanan. We just don’t have the horses - especially in the post so those guys have to generate offense. One post scoring threat who wasn’t a liability on D would go a long way with this team. If we’re not getting sharp shooting on the perimeter (which is going to be hot and cold) we really have no other offense other than this pair generating it in iso. We’re much better when both of them are on the court together. I think Buchanan played every minute that Francis sat and he was not effective during that time at all.

 

[FAT MOON]

Well Goru will tell you the problem is forcing it too much to Francis. Lol.

need to get more shots for the slow guys who can't defend and also can't hit these open shots when they do get them

 

[RUDivision]

No we don’t. That’s simply not true. We’re bad because we’re playing a minimum of 3 role players at one time going up against 5 starter caliber guys. We have guys eligible to return (assuming Ogbole gets clearance) who are suitable role players to back up all 5 positions. We have Tariq and Buchanan who are good enough to be starters (Buchanan could be a lot better if used properly and with the right combos - he’s playing out of position a ton out of need due to glaring defensive holes - and he has limitations that hold him back from being a go to feature guy - he’s much better when Francis is on the court and he’s not the main focus). Offseason development could be huge though potentially for both of them.

So ideally - we really need 3 starter caliber transfers to fill the holes - but we can probably get by with 2. Can overcome playing one role player at a time who is a good match up with an opponent. And some guys would also improve over the offseason. Caleb got way better at D from frosh to sophomore season. Maybe we’d see that with Nwuli?

I’ll add though that the cost of keeping players for back up duties I’m not at all factoring into this assessment as we have no transparency and I really have no clue what the numbers are. So there’s that.

I’ll say one thing though - it may have been time for J Will to move on and Jordan didn’t want to be here, but if the cost was the same, we’d have been better off keeping both of them instead of bringing in Fall and Zrno, as neither have helped us win a single game so far. I’m guessing you end up paying more in the open market than for retention on average. I certainly could be wrong.

Tariq and Buchanan are not starters., I’ll give you Tariq on a bad Big ten team. Buchanon is a nice role player off the bench. 12-15 min a game.

Nwulli is gone his relationship with the staff is not good!

Jwill is an absolute disaster! Please stop !

 

[LeapinLou]

The rebound thing is kind of overblown. I’d rather Tariq play D the way he did yesterday than expand more energy going after the loose balls and grab a few rebounds. He needs that energy on offense. Same right now for Buchanan.

That's fair, but you can't have zero.
Sucks that Dylan Grant has been sick. We really needed him to be the guy we saw at the beginning of the season. He has to start contributing more.

 

[RUChet]

Let's sum it up

- we have no plan on offense (that's coaching)
- we can't shoot from deep, midrange or near the basket (that's talent and recruiting)
- we can't stop anybody on defense (coaching, talent, recruiting)
- we are worse in the B1G in average assists per game (coaching)

But, we have one very good 1-1 scorer - Francis. Credit to him as he can flat out score and has to create his own shots most of the time.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

Just review all the guys Pike has brought in and not cherry pick the good ones.

Not to mention he didn’t want Tariq.

The team is not good. Watched the Tariq documentary on Big ten network. Absolutely routing for the young man. If he was 6 foot 7 he’s a first round lottery pick.

But he’s not! He is tremendous against bottom feeding teams limited against top end teams.

If the goal is to make a run in the tournament Tariq is a bench role player.

if the goal is to win 6 to 7 games in the Big ten regular season, then build around him

That’s not fair. Not at all. We have zero interior scoring options and our hot and cold 3 point shooting game is rarely effective in volume because of how few offensive weapons the team has besides Tariq or Buchanan in iso (and it wasnt even until recently due to Grant getting sick that Buchanan and Francis were on the court together much). Of course Francis is going to be less efficient against teams who defend better - there’s nobody to dish to…. He distributed plenty vs. Indiana and deserved way more than 3 assists. We don’t have guys who are consistent scorers and certainly nobody to take the attention off of Tariq. How could you possibly know that he wouldn’t / couldn’t excel in a hypothetical offense with Cliff, Yeboah and Geo added to what we have now? The short answer is you don’t, or can’t know this because he’s never in his career been surrounded by decent scorers.

 

[Simce91]

Nwulli is gone his relationship with the staff is not good!

This is disappointing to read

Can you elaborate?

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

That's fair, but you can't have zero.
Sucks that Dylan Grant has been sick. We really needed him to be the guy we saw at the beginning of the season. He has to start contributing more.

If Pike raised this (I didn’t listen) then shame on him honestly. Buchanan had 1 rebound. Nwuli and Grant each had 1. These are much bigger guys than Tariq. Don think his rebounding should be singled out

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

Tariq and Buchanan are not starters., I’ll give you Tariq on a bad Big ten team. Buchanon is a nice role player off the bench. 12-15 min a game.

Nwulli is gone his relationship with the staff is not good!

Jwill is an absolute disaster! Please stop !

Oh I don’t think J Will is “good”. He’s significantly better at D though than the Euros, Powers, etc. he’d help more in my opinion than those guys for this reason. Which doesn’t say much.

You don’t know that about Francis or Buchanan - you cant possibly. Nobody would look much better than them under the circumstances outside of your Dylan Harper types maybe. What else could you say about Tariq other than his height? Kid is a baller plain and simple. Buchanan has potential. Both are also juniors playing for Pike for the first time. We’re talking about next season. Both are good enough to be expected to start if you were to succeed in landing 3 at the level I said - Cliff, Yeboah, Geo. Easier said than done of course.

 

[wheezer]

it's really, really hard to score 59 points in a division 1 basketball game when you have a guy who gets you 28...kudos to francis he is so smooth out there...and really should've had more than 3 assists he hit a few guys in the hands with balls who couldn't even catch them.

please no more euros...i do not understand how they see the floor with their defense...they can't stay in front of guys.

We went through a time when some said Francis is bad
Then, it was he can play against bad teams, but not against big ten teams

Yesterday, you could see the Indiana players talking and pointing at Francis when he would come,in, discussing how to handle him
And he still got 28
No one should say much negative anymore

 

[seansherm]

There’s been chatter about him moving on or that he should move on for years. I bet Knight stays to see it through with Francis. I could be wrong. Pike is toast if Francis leaves IMO. Hes not cut out to buy a brand new look roster and turn the program around entirely in a season. I’ll feel about next season like I did with Ash’s return in 2019 if we lose Tariq. That’s the bottom line. Building around Tariq is his only path to saving his tenure at RU.

Im not even sure it would be Knights choice. If I'm the AD and giving Pike another year with actual support from the AD, Im also mandating some staff changes. The staff is stale and Knight supposedly is in charge of the worst part of the program, offense.

 

[wheezer]

Just review all the guys Pike has brought in and not cherry pick the good ones.

Not to mention he didn’t want Tariq.

The team is not good. Watched the Tariq documentary on Big ten network. Absolutely routing for the young man. If he was 6 foot 7 he’s a first round lottery pick.

But he’s not! He is tremendous against bottom feeding teams limited against top end teams.

If the goal is to make a run in the tournament Tariq is a bench role player.

if the goal is to win 6 to 7 games in the Big ten regular season, then build around him

Depends on how,you view Indiana
28 points for Francis against them, in all kinds of ways and moves
Sure, some very good big teams will overload against him, he is still
that very good player with no help

 

[wheezer]

Tariq and Buchanan are not starters., I’ll give you Tariq on a bad Big ten team. Buchanon is a nice role player off the bench. 12-15 min a game.

Nwulli is gone his relationship with the staff is not good!

Jwill is an absolute disaster! Please stop !

You constantly under sell Tariq and you are a bit wrong here

 

[bac2therac]

No we don’t. That’s simply not true. We’re bad because we’re playing a minimum of 3 role players at one time going up against 5 starter caliber guys. We have guys eligible to return (assuming Ogbole gets clearance) who are suitable role players to back up all 5 positions. We have Tariq and Buchanan who are good enough to be starters (Buchanan could be a lot better if used properly and with the right combos - he’s playing out of position a ton out of need due to glaring defensive holes - and he has limitations that hold him back from being a go to feature guy - he’s much better when Francis is on the court and he’s not the main focus). Offseason development could be huge though potentially for both of them.

So ideally - we really need 3 starter caliber transfers to fill the holes - but we can probably get by with 2. Can overcome playing one role player at a time who is a good match up with an opponent. And some guys would also improve over the offseason. Caleb got way better at D from frosh to sophomore season. Maybe we’d see that with Nwuli?

I’ll add though that the cost of keeping players for back up duties I’m not at all factoring into this assessment as we have no transparency and I really have no clue what the numbers are. So there’s that.

I’ll say one thing though - it may have been time for J Will to move on and Jordan didn’t want to be here, but if the cost was the same, we’d have been better off keeping both of them instead of bringing in Fall and Zrno, as neither have helped us win a single game so far. I’m guessing you end up paying more in the open market than for retention on average. I certainly could be wrong.

They arent good enough. Every other school will reload. People actually taking moral victories from that Wisconsin game is psthetic. The reality is tge tslent us low

Pike has no time to develop Powers or Nwuli for 4 years

We have 2 legit B10 players. Francis and Buchanan. Grant possibly. Thats it. Thats reality. You cant keep j mike lino and powers. You need a shooting guard way better than Powers. Nwuli and Dortsch simply dont provide ENOUGH especially if Grant and Buch are back. We need a legit offensive minded forward. We desperately need a center

The goal is the ncaa not to be competitive and be fun to root for. Rutgers has to close the gap with the top 6 and it cant with the current talent...not to mention staff

 

[BigEastPhil]

Indiana has 1 6th yr Senior, 2 5th yr seniors, 3 4th yr seniors, and 2 3rd yr Jrs. This is what happen when a bunch of mature 21/2-24/5 yr old bodies play a bunch of 18/9-21/2 yr old bodies. End of story.

Indiana is 17th in Offensive Efficiency with their top 8 players experience.

Not saying we need to move on from Pikiell but if we move in a different direction, Josh Schertz from St Louis is the guy I want before others get him.

Schertz will be a hot commodity and will be on the short list for any school looking for a new HC.

Would be a terrific hire for RU but I think Pike gets another year

Hopefully Schertz’ departure coincides when RU is looking for a new HC.

 

[BigEastPhil]

With the chatter that this is the year Knight moves on, is it possible Francis leaves and goes with him? That would change everything about the off season.
Guys like Yeboah are key nowadays. Men that contribute at both ends. Your wings and frontcourt need to be littered with them.

IF Knight becomes a a HC - it ll be to become a HC at a small school.

If so doubtful Francis follows him.

Should Knight leave to become a top assistant at another P5 school - then it’s possible Francis goes with him

BTW most importantly I saw on another thread thar You were undergoing chemo treatments.

I hope and pray that everything is ok !

 

[JonathanAlan]

We need to really turn the roster over. PERIOD

I couldn't agree more. With the exception of Francis and maybe Kaden Powers, I'd dump the entire roster. I can't recall any Rutgers team having " big men" at the center and forward positions possessing less talent. They can't shoot , score , rebound or defend.
I heard former Auburn coach Bruce Pearl interviewed on Ted Cruz's podcast " The Verdict". It was a fascinating interview with his insights on what makes a great and successful head basketball coach. Not surprisingly , Pearl downplayed the importance of a defensive-minded coach and said a great and successful coach had to be offensive minded. I was reminded of this when I watched last night's game with no offense other than pass the ball around the perimeter and then go one-on-one . If you're not free , then chuck it up from outside and hope for the best. Just awful.