Pirate Men's Basketball is having a good fall semester

This is their second big win against a higher-ranked opponent this season. Nice home win to help the kids be all distracted from studying for finals. ;-)

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/game/_/gameId/401372024

Rutgers just had a crazy finish to knock off No.1 Purdue. Three lead changes in the final 20 seconds with Harper hitting a half-court buzzer-beater for the win.

RU vs Seton Hall this Sunday....Yikes!

Seton Hall is one buzzer-beater loss to Ohio St. away from a so-far undefeated season with three wins against the Top 25.  I like that this team is tough defensively, and rebounds well.  Those are things that are there every game if they give the effort.  I just wish they shot better from outside.  Because if they could hit 3s, they'd be a top five team.

Yeah, the OSU game was especially disappointing. Ohio State is my second favorite team and I love to see them lose.

RU got heavily outrebounded by Perdue.   So, if Seton Hall has good rebounding, that will be a big advantage.  RU does play tough defense.  

RobertRoe said:

RU got heavily outrebounded by Perdue.   So, if Seton Hall has good rebounding, that will be a big advantage.  RU does play tough defense.  

the Purdue game was also at the RAC.  Willard calls it the toughest place he's ever played.  Two years ago Rutgers was 18-1 at home and 2-8 on the road.  I haven't been there in years, but it's one of the loudest arenas in college basketball.

Seton Hall is fortunate this year the game is in Newark.  That doesn't mean it will be easy though.  With these two teams, it won't be surprising if the final score is in the 60s.  Or even the 50s.

and I will probably regret this -- but -- this year's team is reminding me of the '89 SHU team.  Big, strong, veteran players (some in their 5th or even 6th year) who play shut down man-to-man.  The hallmark of the '89 team was that they wore teams down in the 2nd half with relentless D.  And that's what we're seeing this year.  Texas didn't score for more than 8 minutes in the 2nd half.  They also erased pretty big 2nd half deficits against Michigan and Ohio State through their defense.  If they can find enough ways to score, they are going to be tough for any team in the country.

Does anyone know if the national rankings get updated prior to Sunday's game?

Would love to see them both ranked going in!

rcarter31 said:

Does anyone know if the national rankings get updated prior to Sunday's game?

The AP releases its rankings on Mondays.

DaveSchmidt said:

The AP releases its rankings on Mondays.

Bumner!

rcarter31 said:

Bumner!

Seems weird to say wish it could be postponed until Tuesday!

Despite RU’s win over Purdue, they are far from the top 25. They have 3 non-conference losses including a horrible loss to Lafayette who they should have beaten by 30.

Now that RU is in the Big Ten, I have learned a few Big Ten cheering rules.   Since Michigan and Ohio State seem to win all the time, (well way too much), you always root for the team that is playing against Michigan or Ohio State.   The exception to this is when OSU plays Michigan; then you root for the team that has the least wins.  You can only root for OSU or Michigan when they are playing in Bowl games or national championship games.  An added rule is that I root for Seton Hall except when they play RU.  

The Big East has a great basketball history in its relatively short conference year span.  You may recall the year when three Big East teams were in the final four.    So, I look forward to a good game.   I hope both RU and Seton have really good basketball years.  

RobertRoe said:

Now that RU is in the Big Ten, I have learned a few Big Ten cheering rules.   Since Michigan and Ohio State seem to win all the time, (well way too much), you always root for the team that is playing against Michigan or Ohio State.   The exception to this is when OSU plays Michigan; then you root for the team that has the least wins.  You can only root for OSU or Michigan when they are playing in Bowl games or national championship games.  An added rule is that I root for Seton Hall except when they play RU.  

The Big East has a great basketball history in its relatively short conference year span.  You may recall the year when three Big East teams were in the final four.    So, I look forward to a good game.   I hope both RU and Seton have really good basketball years.  

and I root for Rutgers except when they play Seton Hall

That was a great game. Solid defense down the stretch and hitting those free throws. Good to see Seton Hall having a strong pre-conference run.

Congrats to SHU.  I hope they come out on top of the Big East,   The one player, Aiken?, really did well and sealed the game for SHU in the final few minutes with a bunch of baskets.   He may have been the shortest player on the court, which is an inspiration to us all.  

RobertRoe said:

Now that RU is in the Big Ten, I have learned a few Big Ten cheering rules.   Since Michigan and Ohio State seem to win all the time, (well way too much), you always root for the team that is playing against Michigan or Ohio State.   The exception to this is when OSU plays Michigan; then you root for the team that has the least wins.  You can only root for OSU or Michigan when they are playing in Bowl games or national championship games.  An added rule is that I root for Seton Hall except when they play RU.  

The Big East has a great basketball history in its relatively short conference year span.  You may recall the year when three Big East teams were in the final four.    So, I look forward to a good game.   I hope both RU and Seton have really good basketball years.  

This is accurate, though in the old Bobby Knight days, Indiana Basketball was in the never-root-for position. If they get really good again, they and their fans who can't go five minutes without mentioning their "five banners" (the last was won during the Reagan Administration) might resume that role.

Watching the Rutgers-Purdue classic the other night, there was a fairly large contingent of Boilermaker fans in Piscataway. True to their form, they continuously screamed for calls to go their way, which reminds of how at Mackey Arena their fans howl for a traveling call whenever the opposing ball handler doesn't bounce the ball up to his eyeballs on a dribble.

Iona will not be a cakewalk.  Pitino is their coach, and they've already beaten Alabama this year.  But like RU, they seem to be a different team at home than on the road.

ml1 said:

RobertRoe said:

RU got heavily outrebounded by Perdue.   So, if Seton Hall has good rebounding, that will be a big advantage.  RU does play tough defense.  

the Purdue game was also at the RAC.  Willard calls it the toughest place he's ever played.  Two years ago Rutgers was 18-1 at home and 2-8 on the road.  I haven't been there in years, but it's one of the loudest arenas in college basketball.

Seton Hall is fortunate this year the game is in Newark.  That doesn't mean it will be easy though.  With these two teams, it won't be surprising if the final score is in the 60s.  Or even the 50s.

I was right that one team was in the 60s