Press looking good without Mag...

[Jerseylegends]

Last year when the team began to lose games after mag got hurt, I felt like it was because the team depended on the press to make up for bad shooting and no creation off the dribble.
Once mag got hurt it seemed like Rutgers couldn't press anymore. I'm assuming it was because of the lack of foot speed in the back court. The press looked good yesterday, albeit against Georgetown, but hey, coming into the game I was worried. With Fernandes, Simpson, jmike at the top of the press, they swarm to the ball, not as good at it as mag but I like it. This is a good sign for when mag comes back and also maybe a reason the coaches feel they are better off without mulcahy and Spencer. For all their veteran experience, RU could not press without Mag and their offensive production wasn't enough to offset the loss of the press as a weapon for RU.

Also it looks like Fernandes is rounding into form and getting into better playing shape. He will be an asset later in the year as he gets more and more comfortable..

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

We are deeper and more talented 1 to 10 this year. There's never a mention about how upgrades from last years bench to this year, would have helped continue to press

But it keeps getting mentioned as if Mag was an offensive player and we lost his scoring and defense. RU failed down the stretch last year because we didn't have sufficient depth.

JaMicheal Davis is an upgrade over Jalen Miller who couldn't earn minutes

Woolfolk is 20 to 25 lbs lighter and more mobile this year vs last year. He's also showing flashes on both ends of the court. If we had this year's version of Woolfolk, Mags injury and impact on the press would have been muted.

Simpson, Davis and Fernandes are better on the ball defenders than Paul and Cam last year. Just having Davis last year, mixed with Simpson would have overcome the missing press items and offset Mulcahy's struggles when Mag went down.

This is a team sport folks, we have too many quick takes without facts supporting actual game evidence on the court.

After 4 games this year, RU is 3-1...last year after 4 games, RU was 3-1. If fans want to equate losing to Temple at Mohegan as the same as losing to Princeton in Trenton, no one is going to say it's outlandish or not similar.

Georgetown is in a full rebuild, but they have some pieces. It's a good win against a quality coach in Ed Cooley.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

I thought the press looked solid in the backcourt but Georgetown also did not have the explosive players to capitalize the way Princeton did once they got the ball over. The right lane still looked to be wide open for a quick guard who could blow by one defender. Georgetown didn’t even attempt to drive on us and instead slowed things down into the halfcourt sets.

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

I thought the press looked solid in the backcourt but Georgetown also did not have the explosive players to capitalize the way Princeton did once they got the ball over. The right lane still looked to be wide open for a quick guard who could blow by one defender. Georgetown didn’t even attempt to drive on us and instead slowed things down into the halfcourt sets.

You may be correct, but RU could have also adjusted and put on a more relaxed press which would have just prevented the guards from getting past us. In either case, the press is only effective because we are attacking the basket and getting to the FT line.

The same fans complaining about missing FTs.....sure that's obvious but can be improved upon. You still have to have guards drawing fouls, which stops play and allows the press to be set up. You can't set up a press and do that, just by shooting 3 pointers. Even if the guard takes and makes a 3, it's still harder to set the press up, because the guard has to run in from the 3 Point line and scramble.

When you have your guards or Gavin, Hyatt, Mag at the FT line, Cliff or Woolfolk are resting at half court or on the other end of the floor, letting the guards pressure.

Everything is connected much better this year. We have wing players (Hyatt and Gavin) shooting the most 3s.....neither is then asked to stop the ball and defend for 35 minutes a game. If GTown can't break the pressure, that's on them.

If Illinois comes in and breaks the press for 2 or 3 layups, then we can see what happens. Right now, this style of play can win 10 out of any 10 road games....it won't be like last year, hoping we hit 3s to win on the road and praying the home team misses from 3......this style of defense and ability to score off the dribble, travels and can win anytime, anywhere.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

The 3 guards won us the game with their D.

 

[RUBigFrank]

Interesting that in the last two games FT shooting improved late in the game as our guards drew fouls driving to the basket (namely Simson),

 

[jakeknight]

Jmike and Derrick were outstanding on the press and were great in the half court as well, did a super job on the screens, hedges and switches.
Jmike is the real deal, his offense was decent/good, but his defensive play was outstanding.

 

[RU82]

Jmike and Derrick were outstanding on the press and were great in the half court as well, did a super job on the screens, hedges and switches.
Jmike is the real deal, his offense was decent/good, but his defensive play was outstanding.

JMike is a good defender right out of the box. The young man knows what he’s doing on that side of the ball for sure.

 

[RUChoppin]

One interesting thing I noticed is that we had two guards lining up closest to the basket on free throws by bigs. We were pretty much giving up the opportunity to rebound in order to set up our press immediately after a made or missed free throw.

 

[bitnez]

One interesting thing I noticed is that we had two guards lining up closest to the basket on free throws by bigs. We were pretty much giving up the opportunity to rebound in order to set up our press immediately after a made or missed free throw.

It's tough to get offensive rebounds off of missed FTs. More than that, as you note, while the press always works better after a make, we can't press (miss or make) if our guards are at midcourt and the bigs need to hustle back to get into position.

 

[GRU23]

Jmike and Derrick were outstanding on the press and were great in the half court as well, did a super job on the screens, hedges and switches.
Jmike is the real deal, his offense was decent/good, but his defensive play was outstanding.

Noah in the halfcourt was great too. He’s not as explosive as those two but he guards his guy well

 

[rudad02]

We are deeper and more talented 1 to 10 this year. There's never a mention about how upgrades from last years bench to this year, would have helped continue to press

But it keeps getting mentioned as if Mag was an offensive player and we lost his scoring and defense. RU failed down the stretch last year because we didn't have sufficient depth.

JaMicheal Davis is an upgrade over Jalen Miller who couldn't earn minutes

Woolfolk is 20 to 25 lbs lighter and more mobile this year vs last year. He's also showing flashes on both ends of the court. If we had this year's version of Woolfolk, Mags injury and impact on the press would have been muted.

Simpson, Davis and Fernandes are better on the ball defenders than Paul and Cam last year. Just having Davis last year, mixed with Simpson would have overcome the missing press items and offset Mulcahy's struggles when Mag went down.

This is a team sport folks, we have too many quick takes without facts supporting actual game evidence on the court.

After 4 games this year, RU is 3-1...last year after 4 games, RU was 3-1. If fans want to equate losing to Temple at Mohegan as the same as losing to Princeton in Trenton, no one is going to say it's outlandish or not similar.

Georgetown is in a full rebuild, but they have some pieces. It's a good win against a quality coach in Ed Cooley.

Mag had become a very good offensive player.

 

[Nycrusupporter]

I don’t like teams that get too dependent on the press to play defense. It works well against weak guards, but when you try to press good guards they can run you off the court. If you happened to watch the St John’s Michigan game, that was exactly what happened, Michigan’s guards blew up St. John’s press which led to lots of easy Michigan layups. It may work well against the generally lumbering, slow BIG, but if you want to have success in March, this is unlikely to work.

 

[RuSnp]

We are deeper and more talented 1 to 10 this year. There's never a mention about how upgrades from last years bench to this year, would have helped continue to press

But it keeps getting mentioned as if Mag was an offensive player and we lost his scoring and defense. RU failed down the stretch last year because we didn't have sufficient depth.

JaMicheal Davis is an upgrade over Jalen Miller who couldn't earn minutes

Woolfolk is 20 to 25 lbs lighter and more mobile this year vs last year. He's also showing flashes on both ends of the court. If we had this year's version of Woolfolk, Mags injury and impact on the press would have been muted.

Simpson, Davis and Fernandes are better on the ball defenders than Paul and Cam last year. Just having Davis last year, mixed with Simpson would have overcome the missing press items and offset Mulcahy's struggles when Mag went down.

This is a team sport folks, we have too many quick takes without facts supporting actual game evidence on the court.

After 4 games this year, RU is 3-1...last year after 4 games, RU was 3-1. If fans want to equate losing to Temple at Mohegan as the same as losing to Princeton in Trenton, no one is going to say it's outlandish or not similar.

Georgetown is in a full rebuild, but they have some pieces. It's a good win against a quality coach in Ed Cooley.

If we are comparing this team to last year's the elephant in the room is cliff. 4 games true but he has not been good. And you can say on ball re Cam and Paul if you like but the collective 5 last year was way, way better defensively than any 5 we've put out this year. Again 4 games so we will see if improvement happens.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

I don’t like teams that get too dependent on the press to play defense. It works well against weak guards, but when you try to press good guards they can run you off the court. If you happened to watch the St John’s Michigan game, that was exactly what happened, Michigan’s guards blew up St. John’s press which led to lots of easy Michigan layups. It may work well against the generally lumbering, slow BIG, but if you want to have success in March, this is unlikely to work.

Eh that’s not always true. It depends. Bob Huggins would tell you otherwise. He had some dang good Press VA teams. VCU also. Mag was awesome last year in the press. Right now our press has some holes but that doesn’t mean they can’t be cleaned up - especially when we add Mag.

 

[Mr_Twister]

Jalen Miller’s Missouri State plays local school here (in southwest Florida) FGCU tomorrow (November 17) at the U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam on ESPN+ (8 PM).

 

[Scangg]

JMike is a good defender right out of the box. The young man knows what he’s doing on that side of the ball for sure.

Already a very good defender. The type you really don't want guarding you. He might be 1st team All B1G defense for multiple years here

 

[RUInsanity]

Eh that’s not always true. It depends. Bob Huggins would tell you otherwise. He had some dang good Press VA teams. VCU also. Mag was awesome last year in the press. Right now our press has some holes but that doesn’t mean they can’t be cleaned up - especially when we add Mag.

Last season Mag brought to the press dimensions of lateral quickness, intensity and wingspan. If he can maintain that quickness coming off of an ACL tear, the press is going to be deadly this year combined with the speed of pairings between JMike, Fernandes and Simpson. If Pike also goes with Williams and add in Cliff, might be one of the quickest 5 in College basketball.

 

[Scarlet Shack]

The press is so valuable not only to gernate turnovers and make the other team expend mental energy to not make a mistake …but knocking off 5-7 off the shot clock …is HUGE

 

[robjknight]

OThe 3 guards won us the game with their D.

And 34 points