Bitter loss not because we blew a 11 point lead and totally fell apart down the stretch but bitter to me because it confirmed most of my fears I had about this team. For one RU is playing without Paul. He is the floor general and our offense runs through him and his court vision and toughness. I do not know if RU wins this game with Paul. Miami is still a good team (our best OOC opponent) that will likely be a NCAA team. What is bitter for me is the realization of what this team is without Paul. No one is going to feel sorry for RU that they are playing without Paul especially if it goes more games, you either adapt and survive or fall by the wayside. Unfortunately I think without Paul this team is simply not good enough. Big 10 play starts this weekend and we have major issues. Last year the issue turned out to be the uneven interest and play from senior players who we knew were capable and they showed it as the season wore on. This years bunch does not have two stars to fall back on and it really showed tonight.
In the Temple game, this team played some horrible basketball on both ends. While this game RU started out calm and in control, the second part of the second half was almost a repeat of the Temple game. RU had that one point lead but alot of sloppy play on offense missing chippies and relaying on perhaps some fools gold 3 point shooting from Hyatt. The defense was good at causing some steals but at other times was completely porous inside as Cliff was a non entity with just 1 rebound. Offensively Cliff just 2-3 as Miami was going to focus on denying the entry pass to him putting two guys on him while hounding Cam pretty close. Credit the old Geezer Larannaga. His game plan really worked. Try to control RUs top 2 scoring threats and you have a good shot at winning. Why is that? Well I have talked about Hyatt and Mag and Reiber and Miller and Simpson. We are in a situation where we are putting role players in spots where they simply cannot step up and be "the guy" who calms the teams and makes the shot. I am going to hit recruiting hard in this recap because this is why we are where we are right now not being able to overcome the Paul injury. Derek is not ready yet, not even close. Game just too fast for him. He can make a couple of great plays but he is really a 10 minute type guy as a frosh. Miller isnt the answer. Reiber is going to be a non factor in this league. Palm and Chol will never get off the bench. That does not leave much does it? Cam Spencer was brought in to replace Geo/Ron scoring and he did...against sisters of the poor, but in the two games vs Temple and today vs Miami, Cam was totally ineffective, neutralized, shy, whatever you want to call it. His blunder on that possession with the game tied with 1:45 is just inexcusable. Now its a small sample size but I really fear Cam not being able to play against the meat of the Big 10. What is going to happen vs any quick guard ( and someone actually tried telling me that there are no quick guards in the Big 10..rolls eyes). With Paul I think there can be something there with Cam but without him, he is slow, cannot create his own shot, and played timid against the Miami guards.
Back to Hyatt, for every good thing that Hyatt does there is still a bad thing and half that he does. Travels, turnovers, bad shot selection and of course the kicker, missing a point blank layup that could have tied the game at 63 with 51 seconds left late. He is what he is. I do not think its going to change. He provides some energy, plays pretty good defense and can rebound but asking him to pick up the slack for the loss for Ron...no good. And thats why the lack of recruiting factors in here. I can excuse Derek because his a frosh. Woofolk will have his moments but again he is a freshmen. We lost Geo and Ron and brought in an underrecruited point guard who needs another year and a transfer from the MAAC. Because of this we are severely limited. Yes it will get better once Paul comes back but I am not so sure we have enough anyway, certainly the team will have to be in prove it to me mode.
I said at half that Cliff needed to step up period and that he did for the first 5 minutes of the 2nd half grabbing boards and points...10 points in the first 4 minutes of the 2nd half and 7 rebounds in the first 6 minutes or so and then inexplicably was yanked by Pike and that was the turning point. Cliff went from dominant in a zone to a disappearing act the last 10 minutes. Credit Larranaga for getting his team back focused on preventing the pass to Cliff. It worked. Cliff would make only one and take only 2 the rest of the way. INEXCUSABLE THAT CLIFF DID NOT TAKE ONE SHOT IN THE FINAL 9:13 IN THE GAME.....THAT IS ON PIKIELL. I AM SORRY. HE WAS OUTCOACHED BY THE 73 YEAR OLD WHO HAS OVER 700 VICTORIES. In fact, RU made only 2 of its final 14 fg attempts and just two fgs in the last 8 minutes. In that stretch RU was outscored 19-5 and in the last 16:46 this really wasnt a game....RU was outscored 33-15...thoroughly dominated at both ends. Despite that they still had a shot to pull out the victory but reality was you cannot play that poorly for almost the entire half and pull out the win. Caleb had 5 turnovers including a major blunder late but did hit a tying 3. I know he is trying to do too much at times, he had a tendency in other years to do stuff like that as well but Caleb couldnt gather to the team and calm them at the end and it was sad to watch the team just feebly go down by 7 by games end. There were several opportunities for RU to wrest control of this game and they blew each and every one of them. In the end, Miami perhaps buoyed by their elite 8 run last year were the ones to step up and take the game. They deserved it. They kept coming and then closed it out.
Can I say I HATE HATE HATE that creampuff schedule that featured only one real challenge. Great to blow these teams out and look like we have a polished offense but the two game vs Temple and Miami scream otherwise. Those little mistakes that RU can easily overcome like scoring droughts vs Columbia and letting a 11-2 CCSU run to open the 2nd half turn into much bigger problems in a game like tonight. Miami had a great coach, lots of options on offense, good shooters and a quickness and athleticism that makes RU look slow. Nothing screams my frustration about the schedule more than not even being able to come up with a recap for Central Connecticut State because why..because why are we even playing them after playing 4 other cupcakes. So thrown to the wolves now in two games against an okay but not ncaa bound Temple, RU really does not show moxy or polish and the hunger I talked about from earlier recaps is only there in a couple minute spurts. When they are bad they get really bad....and now Indiana comes in and yes they have been RU's bitch for a while now. But Indiana is better than they have been and there is no Ron or Geo to hit daggers like in previous years. The RAC is a big advantage and Indiana coming in ripe for a letdown after playing UNC gives us some hope. The fear is can we elevate our game and match Indiana for a full 40 minutes. We can do it in spurts but without Paul all our flaws are shining. If you have NCAA aspirations, a loss to Indiana puts enormous pressure for RU to take 2 of its next 3 of its tougher 5 game stretch. Saying look what happened last year is avoiding the elephant in the room. Until Paul comes back I will continue to have my fears. Things can unravel pretty quickly with the opponents to come and RU yet to show they can beat anyone with a pulse
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