The Good
The good, you ask? The good news is that the Big Ten opener against Purdue at home and the Michigan game on the road are over. With upcoming games against Seton Hall, Penn, and Delaware State, Rutgers
has three weeks to figure out a starting rotation and improve.
The Bad
It can be argued that Rutgers punched above its weight against Purdue, posting respectable stat lines across all major categories against far superior talent. Rutgers, despite being the home team, only got to the free-throw line 11 times, to Purdue’s 20. That obviously won’t cut it in Big Ten play. Add in that RU took 56 shots, but only 17 were from deep, and it’s another head-scratching offensive approach doomed for failure.
Against Michigan on Saturday, Rutgers was outclassed from the tip, never having a realistic chance to compete. Outscored 52-26 in the paint and 15-0 in fast break points is not only alarming, it’s Defcon 1. You can’t be taken seriously as a program in your conference with those types of stats.
Why was Rutgers taking so many mid-range jumpers against Purdue when they’ve proven they can shoot the three-ball? Against Michigan, they seemed to adjust, hoisting 23 shots but only making six. Dylan Grant made one of his two attempts. He needs to shoot more because, quite honestly, he’s the only player on this roster that belongs on the court against top competition.
Kaden Powers, the true freshman, appears to be the only other reliable deep threat, along with Harun Zrno, who himself needs to keep shooting.
The Odd
One would think, 10 seasons into helming a Scarlet Knights program he resurrected from the dead, Pikiell would have the chops to adapt to NIL and the portal and field a gritty, defense-and-rebounding-first team that can hang with the upper echelon of the conference.
Nobody expected the Knights to defeat the Wolverines, but is it too much to ask at this point in the season to roll with a starting five and top two or three off the bench instead of mixing and matching 13 players every game?
After the embarrassing performances by the men’s and women’s basketball teams on Saturday, one has to wonder how long before AD Keli Zinn makes her first big move. Pikiell has offset language in his contract, mitigating a buyout once he takes his next coaching position.
Don’t be surprised if, like Fran McCaffrey (Iowa), Pikiell hangs up his hat at Rutgers and seeks to coach at an Ivy League-level school where players stay for four seasons, and he has the chance to coach and develop them. Unfortunately, in the age of NIL, the opportunity to build a roster of program-grown players in the Big 10 is unattainable, as Purdue coach Matt Painter noted during last week’s postgame press conference.
Yes, former AD Hobbs was unsupportive and useless when it came to NIL, but with a new regime comes changes, and for all that head coach Pikiell has done to lift a program from the dead that was a laughingstock before his arrival, it may be time for all parties to move in a fresh direction.
