Man. Stock down on Rutgers. What happened to you, Pikiell?
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They stopped making three-pointers at the clearly unsustainable rate they were early on in the season. Guys like Harper, Mathis, and Young were shooting way better than their career averages. That reversion to the mean has been unkind.
Also in this game, McConnell made two threes and then took a terrible heat check that he unsurprisingly bricked.
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Not sure I agree that Brown is one of their best 5. In three years he has never expanded his game beyond spot-up 3s â at which he is very good, to be fair
The trouble with Brown is what you say @BigBoutros, heâs entirely a spot up player and he makes more defensive mistakes than Langford.
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Paul Mulcahy is the new Brad Davison
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Zed Key definitely threw an elbow but Mulcahy is such a flopper. Cannot stand guys like that.
Easily one of the Big Tenâs First Team All-Annoying players.
With Jacob Youngâs on-ball pressure and talking and Mulcahyâs schtick⌠playing Rutgers will test anyoneâs mental discipline.
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LOL at no flagrant foul. DJ Carstensen not buying it. Love to see it.
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Thatâs a great topic for a future post/podcast. Mulcahy and Davison are easy adds, wonder who else would be there. I could see other teams advocating for Franz
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Anywho, Rutgers looks toast as a formidable opponent in this league. Their offense is hot garbage and suddenly their defense is pretty crappy, too.
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I know Rutgers fans are probably happy as their team is in good shape overall, but I just donât think I can watch their offense when theyâre not playing Michigan anymore. Just so hard to watch.
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Rutgersâ problem right now is its defense, not its offense.
Mention of Jacob Youngâs family tree. Shotgun a six pack!
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Yeah I said I would be selling my RU stock if they lost this game, but even if they come back to win it, I might still be selling after giving up 42 first half points to OSU without their starting PG.
From star to fallen star. Pikiell is going to coach himself into a job on the shipping docks.
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This is shocking!
Totally agree that Rutgers forgetting their defensive roots is the biggest issue. I am not sure what happened there because it is the same players. MSU can point to losing its best defenderâŚwhatâs Rutgers excuse?
Their offensive mirage being exposed isnât a surprise. They are bad shooters who were making shots early and have no idea how to get guys open.
Rutgers has been so weird this season. Seemingly out of nowhere their offense became downright good. They were putrid on that end last season. Almost the same roster and all of a sudden Ron Harper Jr turned into one of the most efficient players in the country and almost every guy on the roster got about a 15% bump in 3 point shooting. I found it shockingly weird. Pikiell has never been a good offensive coach. Even at Stony Brook his teams won with defense. So I assumed their offense was due for a regression of shooting at some point.
But then, with the same roster how has their defense suddenly become so mediocre? Pikiell is a good defensive coach. They have nearly the same roster. Last season they finished #6 on KenPom in D which was the best in the Big Ten. This year they are down to #31 overall on defense and OSU is roasting them today.
The combination of improved offense and worse defense has them almost identical overall on KenPom. They finished #28 last season with a +17.7 adjusted efficiency margin. This season they are #29 overall with a +18.1 adjusted efficiency margin on the season so far.
edit: and to put more numbers to it last season they ranked #295 nationally in 3 point shooting. This year they are #29.
Robbie Hummel is a good analyst. His observations are so much better than most of the BTN guys.
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