Welcome to episode No. 59 of The Scarlet Faithful podcast. This episode focuses on Rutgers men’s basketball being left outof the NCAA Tournament on Selection Sunday.
Obviously, Rutgers had some positives and negatives in regard to its resume. There were several big wins including a road victory at Purdue. The Scarlet Knights had a KenPom ranking of No. 35 and NET ranking of No. 40. There were very positive predictive metrics. And yet, RU ultimately fell short for a few reasons that kept them from dancing.
The NCAA Tournament Selection Committee stated that a poor non-conference schedule, no notable out of conference wins and the absence of Mawot Mag as the big reasons why the Scarlet Knights were left out of the field.
I’ll have plenty more to discuss on what this all means, but I did my best to process as much as possible and record my thoughts here.
This episode breaks down those reasons, compares resumes with some bubble teams that were selected, reviewing all the things that Rutgers could have done to prevent being in the position to be left out, how this impacts the big picture, Tuesday’s NIT game against Hofstra and much more.
Thanks for listening to The Scarlet Faithful podcast once again!
Audio
Video
Thanks for reading the The Scarlet Faithful. For more Rutgers Athletics content from The Scarlet Faithful, follow us on Twitterand Instagram. You can also subscribe to our YouTube Channel. You can subscribe to The Scarlet Faithful podcast on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts and anywhere else you listen to podcasts. For advertising inquiries or to reach out directly, email at breitmanaaron@gmail.com
First, very disappointed that we didn’t get in the NCCAs. Anyway, I really think this is about the non-con schedule.
Last year our KenPom and NET were both in the high 70s (if I remember correctly), the committee ignored that and put us in the tournament anyway because we won vs four ranked teams in a row.
This year both KenPom and NET clearly have us as tournament bound, but the committee ignored that and again went with the narrative around what a tourny team should look like. But they also said out loud what they didn’t last year: the non-con schedule matters.
I don’t think we need big changes there. Just stop with Coppin St, Rider, etc. and get a non-con schedule ranking closer to 200 than 300.
Awesome podcast as always and a nice way to ease my commute. I agree that Pikiell has to more effectively address depth. There were simply too many scholarship players that brought almost nothing to the table. It’s okay to have a guy like Chol on the roster purely as a developmental player, but when you do that you can’t also have Miller, Palmquist for over a full month, and Reiber for very long stretches being essentially complete non-factors (I’ll be nice and not include Terry who is also under scholarship). You can’t have a “next man up” philosophy if the next man is not capable. As for the future, I am worried that if Cliff leaves that it will mean that Pikiell will need to really hit a home run in the portal and find a starting caliber center. Like many, I like Wolf’s potential but at 6’9″ I see him more as an athletic 4 than a 5 and relying on a 3 star freshman to replace Cliff, if he leaves, is too risky. Let Ndongo come off of the bench. My hope is that the starting 5 for next season is Simpson, Spencer, Griffiths, Woolfork/Mag, and Cliff. Time will tell.
I would personally like to thank the players, coaches, and staff for a great season of tremendous accomplishments. The team played hard and with determination all season. Unfortunately the season did not end as we all had hoped for, but it was still a successful season. I wish everyone a hard earned relaxing and refreshing off season. These players, coaches, and staff have rewritten Rutgers basketball history. The future is very bright built on the foundation of their accomplishments over the past 4 years.
RU Serious
March 13, 2023 at 4:22 pm
Is there a connection / overlap between the NCAA basketball committee and the baseball committee
Seems to me that a trend is developing.
Biochemist01
March 16, 2023 at 1:35 am
Umm, no.
MDHCO
March 13, 2023 at 6:22 pm
First, very disappointed that we didn’t get in the NCCAs. Anyway, I really think this is about the non-con schedule.
Last year our KenPom and NET were both in the high 70s (if I remember correctly), the committee ignored that and put us in the tournament anyway because we won vs four ranked teams in a row.
This year both KenPom and NET clearly have us as tournament bound, but the committee ignored that and again went with the narrative around what a tourny team should look like. But they also said out loud what they didn’t last year: the non-con schedule matters.
I don’t think we need big changes there. Just stop with Coppin St, Rider, etc. and get a non-con schedule ranking closer to 200 than 300.
BataliBoli98
March 13, 2023 at 11:47 pm
Awesome podcast as always and a nice way to ease my commute. I agree that Pikiell has to more effectively address depth. There were simply too many scholarship players that brought almost nothing to the table. It’s okay to have a guy like Chol on the roster purely as a developmental player, but when you do that you can’t also have Miller, Palmquist for over a full month, and Reiber for very long stretches being essentially complete non-factors (I’ll be nice and not include Terry who is also under scholarship). You can’t have a “next man up” philosophy if the next man is not capable. As for the future, I am worried that if Cliff leaves that it will mean that Pikiell will need to really hit a home run in the portal and find a starting caliber center. Like many, I like Wolf’s potential but at 6’9″ I see him more as an athletic 4 than a 5 and relying on a 3 star freshman to replace Cliff, if he leaves, is too risky. Let Ndongo come off of the bench. My hope is that the starting 5 for next season is Simpson, Spencer, Griffiths, Woolfork/Mag, and Cliff. Time will tell.
Biochemist01
March 16, 2023 at 1:36 am
I would personally like to thank the players, coaches, and staff for a great season of tremendous accomplishments. The team played hard and with determination all season. Unfortunately the season did not end as we all had hoped for, but it was still a successful season. I wish everyone a hard earned relaxing and refreshing off season. These players, coaches, and staff have rewritten Rutgers basketball history. The future is very bright built on the foundation of their accomplishments over the past 4 years.