Posted:
#1
Posted win percentages by year:
2014: 48%
2015: 70%
2016: 0-1
It's one of our favorite capping angles: Lebron is out and the public pounds the other side and we confidently take the Cavs vs. whatever light line the books offer and win.
Why? Because the other players who fill Lebron's role play with such fire for that one night, they are almost more productive than LBJ himself. And to top it off we get a great line.
Folks, you can throw the baby out with the bathwater when it comes to applying that theory to Rutgers in this spot.
Corey Sanders has been suspended for two weeks tonight. He is, in three words, their entire team.
His stats the past several games?
20 pts @ OSU
23 pts Vs. Purdue
12 Pts vs. Iowa
15 pts @ Michigan
39 vs. Illinois
28 @ Nebraska
23 Vs. OSU
Those teams are not chopped liver folks. That is the cream of the crop of the Big Ten.
Rutgers is so decimated by injuries they are down to 7 scholarship players and a 7 man rotation. That rotation will now be 6 with players off a scrap heap now that Sanders has been suspended.
Despite his sensational play, how has Rutgers done in all the above games?
26 pt loss to OSU
FIFTY pt loss to Purdue (a record-setting loss at home)
14 pt loss to Iowa
34 pt loss to MSU
9 pt loss to Illinois
24 pt loss @ Nebraska
10 pt loss vs. OSU
Rutgers is on a 12 game losing streak and has won all of 6 games on the year.
Here are the teams they've beaten: Howard, Central Arkansas,
Central Connecticut State, Fairleigh Dickenson, Umass Lowell (and they actually have a win against "Rutgers Newark" which I won't bother explaining).
Nice list huh?
Nice list huh?
This team doesn't beat Big Ten Teams and it doesn't beat anyone of note. They are a hot mess of epic proportions.
Eddie Jordan, their head coach and ex-head coach of the Wizards has been a disaster. Granted there's not much to work with here.
The tallest player on Rutgers is Greg Lewis and he is 6-9 and averages 4 pts and 5 rebounds. They routinely get KILLED on the boards for this very reason and, this is key, they are one of the WORST 3 pt defense teams in the nation ranking in the high 300's out of 335 teams.
Can Illinois shoot 3's? They're not great. But I watched them from Northwestern and they drained 10 and have average 8 threes over their past several games. They'll do more damage than that against Rutgers getting us over this number.
In a word, Rutgers has nothing to offer now that Sanders is out.
And the late announcement tonight makes it worse as it was probably stated while the team was on the plane to Illinois.
Now, truthfully, I was going to play Rutgers + a lot of points in this spot because their game against Illinois was their best of the season outside of the putrid list of winners above.
Now that Sanders is out, I am going Illinois without hesitation.
0
makes sense but it's still sports
(...the alabama sharp!)
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