This! Greene, IMO you should read this a couple of times and really take a moment and let it sink in.
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Two Duke insiders put in a CB for Dylan to RU
- Thread starter RutgersNo1
- Start date
As a kid, Jason was playing pick-up games at Rutgers.. played with him at Werblin and had no idea who this annoying teen was (annoying because he'd just repeatedly get in my way coming back up the court.. without the ball. I asked him why.. he said to force the big guy to take more steps... made sense.. really bugged me). When he left for Duke, he left "home".
I've counted him as part of the recruiting class for months now. The announcement won't excite me, but the attention will get, will be pretty cool
It’s certainly not a given. SHU had the top recruiting class in the country with Eddie Griffin, Andre Barrett, and Marcus Toney-El. That team didn’t make the tournament after getting to the sweet 16 the year before with less heralded players.
only reason why it was built on defense, it's because we weren't able to recruit 4*-5* guys. They usually come with offensive skills. Now Pike is starting to get players he wants. The offense will open up big when these players arrive.
If ace and Dylan does make it to campus, i will bet any $$$$ that we make it to NCAA Tournament.
Yea I think Pike is much better than coach Tommy Amaker
We have fans who are deeply troubled if they can’t get excited over this and feel optimistic about how they will perform. The hand wringing about how we might not make the Tournament or make a run is ridiculous. Sure anything can happen, someone can get hurt, but other than that everyone should be overjoyed to watch the most elite talent in the country playing on our court, and regardless of how well we do, the free publicity we get from this is priceless. And if you watch how Duke and Kentucky utilize their star NBA players to help their recruiting by making calls, going to visit recruits, and inviting them to camps, these one and done players can potentially have a much greater impact on our future success than anyone who has come before them.
Irregardless of the on court results. This will change the national perception of RU basketball
Absolutely. We have huge momentum in recruiting right now. This is going to make it easier for guys like Darius Adams to choose Rutgers too. And on and on. The only thing that worries me is that I have to believe they’ll be big big opportunities opening up for Brandon Knight now.
I am not sure. I know he can get under the radar guys too. Shaka Smart was a great coach until he had to coach 4 and 5 star guys.
Is it an odd take to say sensabugh didn’t help the OSU program? How about the many Duke guys this year?
The commitment might be the easy part. Pike’s Job gets harder after that.
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Would be ideal if Pike was 65.
He's only 55, so Knight's definitely a goner sometime in the next three years.
Nope but from someone that really does know something by being close
Dukes freshman took them to the final fours in 2022. Weird how you’d don’t mention that.
So are your views on college bball.
I'm willing to bet Knight will be on the staff during the 2024-25 season.
How so. You may disagree with my thought that one and dones are "overrated" and the concept that there could be a huge difference in a coach working with NBA talent vs non NBA talent.
I think if you go back in to archives you will find I get more things right than wrong. My record also isnt too bad when having non consensus views.
To get a flavor of what our program is about you only need to watch 1 defensive possession from the 2021-22 Oregon season (provided Jacob was in the game). Jacob didn't have to fight through screens on the high side at Oregon. He wasn't asked to.
I doubt any coach has ever asked Dylan Harper to fight on the high side of the screen. Most programs don't demand it because it is really hard.
Is Pikiell going to lower his defensive standards?
Maybe the NBA guys buy in....maybe they don't. The concept of us all of a sudden being a program that outscores teams and doesn't outwork opponents defensively with the same coaching staff, many returning players and current offesive and defensive philosophies is something I think is not an easy transition. This isn't playing Xbox
I doubt any coach has ever asked Dylan Harper to fight on the high side of the screen. Most programs don't demand it because it is really hard.
Is Pikiell going to lower his defensive standards?
Maybe the NBA guys buy in....maybe they don't. The concept of us all of a sudden being a program that outscores teams and doesn't outwork opponents defensively with the same coaching staff, many returning players and current offesive and defensive philosophies is something I think is not an easy transition. This isn't playing Xbox
Have you watched film of Dylan and Ace? They are willing defenders. I watched Peach Jam, and Dylan was fighting to go OVER screens.
And if you have ever watched Ace film, he’s a MONSTER shot blocker.
RUHouston said it best when explaining why some Rutgers fans always expect the worse. It's called "the battered fan syndrome," which keeps fans from enjoying the moment regardless of the success of our teams.
Ok, it is individuals supporting the schools, but the coaches are the ones letting the money guys know who they want. It does not change my point.
He will get over it, looks like Cooper Flagg is reclassing and expect to go to Duke, so Duke will have the #1 player, and is expected to get the #4 (who will become #5) player.
Yup. And IMO, these “battered” fans need to suck it up, stop being so sensitive and put their big boy pants on.
The battered fans are the same ones who complained about our recruiting earlier in Pike’s tenure. They complain about our uniforms, the paint on the RAC, the bathrooms, the msg games, refurbing the RAC. They must be delightful friends. Let them be miserable. I’ll just enjoy the ride.
A few hours ago, I got the spam email from TOS that there's a big hoops crystal ball pick for Rutgers. I guess someone woke them up over there about Dylan? It's funny how wrong they were about this from the beginning.
I don’t like the constant carping on the boards about “TOS”. Both sites bring valuable information, and yes, TKR was ahead of the curve on Dylan. But I could also say that TKR oversold a Caden Brown commitment on July 29, whereas TOS was saying for months that Caden is not a take right now (but could be if things happen off the field).
I’m not criticizing here, but just pointing out that recruiting is fluid, and nobody has 100% accurate information.
Obviously something changed this week for everyone. Rivals only put a CB in, what yesterday? TOS was just a little more conservative…..which for the #1 recruit who was playing things very close to the vest, is probably a good idea.
To be honest I am not completely sure how it works. I am waiting for the Saudis to pick a few colleges and try to buy a winnner. Not sure how all of that works
This is normally my MO as well, and over the years I feel like I've written your post a hundred times or more.
But I have to say their position on NIL and in partucular their National Analyst's take on our AD was so beyond the pale that I felt that I needed to call out the clear agenda there (on that particular topic).
I understand the point your making here and our fan base should not expect that a tournament birth let alone a run is a slam dunk based on a highly rated recruiting class.
That said - Shaka didn’t just coach defense first. I can see how the constant full court pressure deployed by his teams might clash with the aspirations of virtually locked in future draft picks. This is not a style deployed much in the NBA. Huggs is a better example to look to when thinking about how Pike will fare because he (like Pike) demonstrated more of an ability to adapt his defensive style to his players throughout his career while at all times maintaining a defense first culture. But I don’t ever recall him having 2 lottery pick one and done types to work with. He recruited Michael Beasley’s class but left KState for WVU before ever coaching those kids.
Michael Beasley committed to Kansas State because of Dalonte Hill not Huggins.
Hill was an assistant coach at Charlotte, where Beasley originally committed. Hill then left Charlotte for K-State. Beasley reopened his recruitment and committed to K-State.
Beasley's commitment had little to nothing to do with Huggins. Beasley would have committed to the University of Idaho if that's where Dalonte Hill went.
That's why he didn't reopen his recruitment when Huggins left for WVU.