Does 1 Simpson plus 1 Wolf = 1 Mag

[RURahh]

I was one of those who left us for dead after the Mag injury but mostly because we had no depth. While it's clear that Oskar, Dean and (somewhat) Hyatt aren't the answer, the combination of Simpson and Wolf gives us the length, rebounding and defensive presence that Mag was giving us.

The fact that these guys are playing their best ball on pretty fresh legs, could be a factor next week, they are both pretty fearless. Regardless, these last 2 days has been a lot of fun and as @RuBird said in another thread, how bad is our offense when our collective fan base is going nuts on a 5 for 16 shooting performance 🙂

 

[Scangg]

The team looks to finally be reborn in the post Mag era

The real question is just how good could this team be with Mag taking Hyatt/Oskar minutes and still playing more Simpson along with Wolf stepping up as Cliff's backup

They could have had a deep deep run in them. I think sweet 16 is back on the table though and you never know with matchups and getting lucky playing a lower seed upset etc

 

[Shelby65]

does a pet plus a grape equal a lawnmower ? the skills sets of all three are different. please rephrase. I will say, I think the team needs Hyatt more than people realize. Three pointers are vital to the game, and after from Cam, Hyatt is second best, better than Oskar and Paul and also a better defender than both.

I hope he doesn't leave because I don't see Griffiths starting next year.

 

[Scangg]

does a pet plus a grape equal a lawnmower ? the skills sets of all three are different. please rephrase. I will say, I think the team needs Hyatt more than people realize. Three pointers are vital to the game, and after from Cam, Hyatt is second best, better than Oskar and Paul and also a better defender than both.

I hope he doesn't leave because I don't see Griffiths starting next year.

Hyatt is not a good 3 point shooter. He is not even close to the second best. Oskar and Paul are significantly better

Hyatt is a career 28% 3 point shooter and 30% this season

Paul is a career 36% 3 point shooter. His worst season from 3 is significantly higher than Hyatt's best season

Oskar is a career 38% and over 40% this season and last

 

[Shelby65]

Oskar's sample size ? And Paul benefitted from open looks due to having both Geo and Ron. This year, only Cam. Plus, while Hyatt isn't a top defender he is better than the two of them.

 

[RUChoppin]

No, it's not that they're combining to replace Mag - it's that we've reconfigured our approach to leverage the remaining skillsets much better, after trying to find something that would work over the last 8 games.

Trying to do what we did before, but without a key cog in that wheel, wasn't working. The Mag/Hyatt combo at PF just didn't work with Hyatt/Palmquist and a slight bump in Simpson minutes.

The last two games we went away from that - going instead to a penetrating guard as the primary on-ball player, Spencer at shooting guard, Mulcahy at point-forward, and McConnell at the four... and it was much better at playing to the strengths of the available resources.

Woolf has provided solid minutes at the center spot in reserve for Omoruyi, making the dropoff when he leaves the floor a bit less steep.

And there have been some other changes. Spencer has been fighting much harder defensively in the post, getting position on bigger players when switching down to the 4 (and even the 5 fronting Edey). Palmquist is earning his minutes through fight and heart outside the stat sheet. Mulcahy's been better defensively not having to cover faster point guards with Simpson on the floor.

It's a shift in approach both offensively and defensively - and it is getting traction and building confidence.

Now if we could find a place for Hyatt to slot in and find success again as a spark off the bench, that would be fantastic - not sure what's going on with him, but I'm hoping he snaps out of it.

 

[Scangg]

Oskar's sample size ? And Paul benefitted from open looks due to having both Geo and Ron. This year, only Cam. Plus, while Hyatt isn't a top defender he is better than the two of them.

Increase Oskar's sample size and he will never be anywhere near a 28% shooter. Stop it

Hyatt was on the team with Paul last year and Hyatt shot 27% to Paul's 35%

Hyatt got benched for Oskar's defense last two games. Let that sink in

 

[Knight Shift]

Oskar's sample size ? And Paul benefitted from open looks due to having both Geo and Ron. This year, only Cam. Plus, while Hyatt isn't a top defender he is better than the two of them.

Hyatt:

79-276

28.6

Oskar:

19-50

38.0

 

[Scangg]

Bottom line is Hyatt has played 4 years of college basketball and is a career 28.6% shooter from 3.

That's a pretty large sample size. There is no coherent argument to make that says a sub 30% 3 point shooter is a good 3 point shooter

 

[RURahh]

Hyatt has descent athleticism and size but poor basketball IQ. Very weak on the defensive end - which is a function of his IQ

 

[Shelby65]

Increase Oskar's sample size and he will never be anywhere near a 28% shooter. Stop it

Hyatt was on the team with Paul last year and Hyatt shot 27% to Paul's 35%

Hyatt got benched for Oskar's defense last two games. Let that sink in

Could be. Am not sure that's the reason. Neither is a good defender, but I think Hyatt plays better D especially a better rebounder. I think Pike was rolling the dice with the PT hoping Oskar would hit a couple. Today he did not, and his D ain't there.

Based on what you see, if we had to keep one....you'd keep Oskar ? Not me.

 

[GRU23]

does a pet plus a grape equal a lawnmower ? the skills sets of all three are different. please rephrase. I will say, I think the team needs Hyatt more than people realize. Three pointers are vital to the game, and after from Cam, Hyatt is second best, better than Oskar and Paul and also a better defender than both.

I hope he doesn't leave because I don't see Griffiths starting next year.

Paul is a better defender than Hyatt, and Palm has stepped up on that end while Hyatt has been poor.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Teams should always be viewed in at least 5 game segments.

We are what we are over the past 5 games and not 2

 

[RUChoppin]

Teams should always be viewed in at least 5 game segments.

We are what we are over the past 5 games and not 2

That's fair, and a conservative way to look at it. However, we did make a significant shift in approach over the past two games, so it's hard to judge how effective this new look will be in Game 3. But also hard for whoever we play next to get a lot of tape on our current configuration to devise a gameplan.

Rotation the last 5 games of the regular season:
35.0 - Spencer
33.8 - Mulcahy
33.6 - Omoruyi
32.5 - McConnell (in 4 games)
26.2 - Hyatt
19.2 - Simpson
16.6 - Palmquist
8.0 - Reiber (in 3 games)
4.4 - Woolfolk

Rotation the past 2 games:
36.5 min - McConnell (+4.0)
33.0 min - Mulcahy (-0.8)
32.5 min - Spencer (-2.5)
31.5 min - Simpson (+12.3)
31.0 min - Omoruyi (-2.6)
15.5 min - Palmquist (-1.1)
9.0 min - Woolfolk (+4.6)
7.5 min - Hyatt (-18.7)
0.0 min - Reiber (-8.0)

We essentially dropped Hyatt/Reiber from the rotation and replaced their minutes with Simpson/Woolfolk and more of McConnell.

If you compare to the 5 full games prior to Mag's injury, Hyatt/Mag were combining for 49.6 minutes at the 3/4 spots.... and now we're going with a more guard-heavy set with Hyatt only getting 7.5 min.

 

[Scangg]

That's fair, and a conservative way to look at it. However, we did make a significant shift in approach over the past two games, so it's hard to judge how effective this new look will be in Game 3. But also hard for whoever we play next to get a lot of tape on our current configuration to devise a gameplan.

Rotation the last 5 games of the regular season:
35.0 - Spencer
33.8 - Mulcahy
33.6 - Omoruyi
32.5 - McConnell (in 4 games)
26.2 - Hyatt
19.2 - Simpson
16.6 - Palmquist
8.0 - Reiber (in 3 games)
4.4 - Woolfolk

Rotation the past 2 games:
36.5 min - McConnell (+4.0)
33.0 min - Mulcahy (-0.8)
32.5 min - Spencer (-2.5)
31.5 min - Simpson (+12.3)
31.0 min - Omoruyi (-2.6)
15.5 min - Palmquist (-1.1)
9.0 min - Woolfolk (+4.6)
7.5 min - Hyatt (-18.7)
0.0 min - Reiber (-8.0)

We essentially dropped Hyatt/Reiber from the rotation and replaced their minutes with Simpson/Woolfolk and more of McConnell.

The past 2 games are much more relevant since that will be closer to what the rotation will look like moving forward

Hard to imagine Pike decides to go back to benching Simpson after the way the team has played the last 2 games

 

[RUChoppin]

For comparison's sake, the rotation in the 5 full games before Mag's injury:

36.0 - Mulcahy
33.0 - McConnell
30.2 - Mag
29.4 - Spencer
27.8 - Omoruyi
19.4 - Hyatt
11.0 - Simpson
7.8 - Reiber (4 games)
5.5 - Woolf (4 games)
*Palmquist had 16 min in one game

 

[RURahh]

That's fair, and a conservative way to look at it. However, we did make a significant shift in approach over the past two games, so it's hard to judge how effective this new look will be in Game 3. But also hard for whoever we play next to get a lot of tape on our current configuration to devise a gameplan.

Rotation the last 5 games of the regular season:
35.0 - Spencer
33.8 - Mulcahy
33.6 - Omoruyi
32.5 - McConnell (in 4 games)
26.2 - Hyatt
19.2 - Simpson
16.6 - Palmquist
8.0 - Reiber (in 3 games)
4.4 - Woolfolk

Rotation the past 2 games:
36.5 min - McConnell (+4.0)
33.0 min - Mulcahy (-0.8)
32.5 min - Spencer (-2.5)
31.5 min - Simpson (+12.3)
31.0 min - Omoruyi (-2.6)
15.5 min - Palmquist (-1.1)
9.0 min - Woolfolk (+4.6)
7.5 min - Hyatt (-18.7)
0.0 min - Reiber (-8.0)

We essentially dropped Hyatt/Reiber from the rotation and replaced their minutes with Simpson/Woolfolk and more of McConnell.

If you compare to the 5 full games prior to Mag's injury, Hyatt/Mag were combining for 49.6 minutes at the 3/4 spots.... and now we're going with a more guard-heavy set with Hyatt only getting 7.5 min.

Ironic that our most injured players are getting the most minutes. Caleb and Paul should hopefully benefit from the week off

 

[RUChoppin]

Ironic that our most injured players are getting the most minutes. Caleb and Paul should hopefully benefit from the week off

Really hoping we can avoid Dayton to get that 1-3 extra days rest. If we can avoid Dayton and get our first game on Friday, all the better. Hoping the trainers are pulling out all the stops to get McConnell/Mulcahy's backs in as best shape as possible - and a full week off could do wonders.

 

[RURahh]

Really hoping we can avoid Dayton to get that 1-3 extra days rest. If we can avoid Dayton and get our first game on Friday, all the better. Hoping the trainers are pulling out all the stops to get McConnell/Mulcahy's backs in as best shape as possible - and a full week off could do wonders.

Totally agreed and from everything I have heard, Van Dyke and his staff are tremendous. The fact that Caleb was able to play 2 full games ( without practicing) is a testament to them

 

[RutgersMO]

does a pet plus a grape equal a lawnmower ? the skills sets of all three are different. please rephrase. I will say, I think the team needs Hyatt more than people realize. Three pointers are vital to the game, and after from Cam, Hyatt is second best, better than Oskar and Paul and also a better defender than both.

I hope he doesn't leave because I don't see Griffiths starting next year.

I agree and hope Hyatt stays.

I'm peering into the future too ... and I see Griffiths starting . IMO you don't recruit top 25 five star players to have them ride the bench.

Mo

 

[Scarlet Shack]

Teams should always be viewed in at least 5 game segments.

We are what we are over the past 5 games and not 2

I hear you ….but the rotation change really started two games

If it gets to five….you know the answer

 

[RURahh]

Dereck is a natural defender -he might be our best defender not named Caleb right now, strength and size are gonna make him and Mawot an elite defensive team next year

 

[Rokodesh]

No, it's not that they're combining to replace Mag - it's that we've reconfigured our approach to leverage the remaining skillsets much better, after trying to find something that would work over the last 8 games.

Trying to do what we did before, but without a key cog in that wheel, wasn't working. The Mag/Hyatt combo at PF just didn't work with Hyatt/Palmquist and a slight bump in Simpson minutes.

The last two games we went away from that - going instead to a penetrating guard as the primary on-ball player, Spencer at shooting guard, Mulcahy at point-forward, and McConnell at the four... and it was much better at playing to the strengths of the available resources.

Woolf has provided solid minutes at the center spot in reserve for Omoruyi, making the dropoff when he leaves the floor a bit less steep.

And there have been some other changes. Spencer has been fighting much harder defensively in the post, getting position on bigger players when switching down to the 4 (and even the 5 fronting Edey). Palmquist is earning his minutes through fight and heart outside the stat sheet. Mulcahy's been better defensively not having to cover faster point guards with Simpson on the floor.

It's a shift in approach both offensively and defensively - and it is getting traction and building confidence.

Now if we could find a place for Hyatt to slot in and find success again as a spark off the bench, that would be fantastic - not sure what's going on with him, but I'm hoping he snaps out of it.

Well said. Can't sub Aundre in for Mag and expect the same results. Glad Pike finally saw it and made the change.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

I hear you ….but the rotation change really started two games

If it gets to five….you know the answer

8! Or 9 if they screw us

 

[robjknight]

Also looking forward to Derek and Wolf being reunited with an even better version of Mag- the magnificent next year.

 

[robjknight]

And BTW, Mag is my front runner to be DPOY next year.