Uh, Rutger, you had but one job...
Up 9 with less than five minutes left, give up 14-2 run, losing the ball on their penultimate possession, and bricking a potentially game tying three at the buzzer.
B1G basketball, it's fantastic!
March 21st, 2021 at 10:02 PM ^
That was a slow motion train wreck that reminds me of watching Michigan football collapse in a big game. Offense went anemic, couldn’t get a rebound, and the refs were completely one sided. Tough night for the very few Rutger basketball fans
March 21st, 2021 at 10:02 PM ^
I don't care much to see a B1G national champ unless it's Michigan.
I'll go out on a limb and say that if M does somehow make a title run, they won't collect many fans from Illinois, sparty, OSU or Maryland pulling for them just to wave that B1G flag.
March 21st, 2021 at 11:06 PM ^
Michigan made the last two National Championship games from the Big Ten. Most conference school fans I saw were actively rooting against us in 2013 and 2018.
March 21st, 2021 at 10:03 PM ^
That really hurts. The players must feel absolutely terrible. I remember losing a youth hockey game tournament and feeling awful. Kids are crying. Looking back it didn’t mean anything and I hardly remember it but this is a bigger deal.
March 21st, 2021 at 10:05 PM ^
Pretty sure “2 seed needs a crazy 14-2 run to barely survive against 10 seed” does not reflect all that badly on the 10 seed
March 21st, 2021 at 10:12 PM ^
Yeah, it obviously sucks for Rutgers that they couldn't finish it out but if Houston needed such a run to pull off the comeback, and that include a bunch of dumb mistakes by Rutgers to do so, I wouldn't focus too much on how Rutgers was the disappointment.
March 21st, 2021 at 10:25 PM ^
You’re wrong
March 21st, 2021 at 10:37 PM ^
If Michigan won under similar circumstances, would you be crowing about it? Doubtful. I'm sure you would be highly concerned about the next round.
March 21st, 2021 at 10:08 PM ^
Myles Johnson was soooo bad down the stretch. Missed a wide open oop. Missed several putbacks. Got outmuscled for many rebounds. Went for blocks that had no chance. Couldn’t corral the rebounds he did get. Just a brutal performance when literally 1 of these mistakes not happening means they likely win the game
March 21st, 2021 at 10:17 PM ^
tough loss... i was really hoping they could hang on for the win.
poor defensive rebounding in those last 3 minutes killed them...Houston, in spite of the comeback had a ton of second or third opportunities - its not like they were shooting the lights out...
Things like the missed alley op immediately followed by a 3 pointer, missed put back off of a Baker drive, having Houston miss 2 FT but getting the rebound and dropping in a long 3 ball...Johnson flubbing a OREB out of bounds...Baker dribbling it off his leg down 1 but with the last possession...
Just a litany of errors...its too bad, as I like Pikell and what he's done at Rutgers, so it would have been cool to see them advance.
March 21st, 2021 at 10:19 PM ^
Conference of losers.
March 21st, 2021 at 10:23 PM ^
The PAC-10 is better than the B10, as it turns out. Feels like football season.
March 21st, 2021 at 11:10 PM ^
Uh... I don't that's true in either case - basketball or football.
March 21st, 2021 at 10:32 PM ^
The issue for me was not so much running down the clock, my issue was not having anything better drawn up than an ISO every time. You have to have a set with some movement and more than one scoring option. 1-4 low is good for a possession, but not for every possession under 4 minutes. Without creating any movement you let the defense rest/get set with little to no opportunity for an OR/putback.
March 22nd, 2021 at 12:47 AM ^
First they diluted our Big Ten shares now this? Ugh.
make a fuckin' basket....... they needed to make one for every three they gave up.... and couldn't do it....
Rutger got their S back and lost it the next day
In a very, very strange way this reminded me of Michigan when they finally returned to the tourney. Knocked off Clemson, lost to Oklahoma.
Yeah, Oklahoma had the Griffin bros and were a lot more talented than Houston. It was almost like a rite of passage for Michigan to lose that bad before they understood what it took to win in the big stage.
Make fun of them all you want, but it looks like they actually have some decent building blocks in a program that's been non-existent.
In 2009 we lost to Oklahoma by 10 points. It wasn't an embarrassment. We were within striking distance nearly the whole game. They were just the better team.
Bad collapse, but beating a 2 seed was a big ask for Rutgers. They still ended up representing themselves better than a lot of their fellow conference schools.
It's on to the Michigan/Iowa/Maryland trio to salvage something for the Big Ten.
March 22nd, 2021 at 11:06 AM ^
Such a bully. Picking on Joe and now you’re picking on Rutger.