GAME 1: So much work to be done

[bac2therac]

The positives

it's a win

it's game one

Mulcahy looked solid


okay moving along......

No sugarcoating, the performance across the board tonight in all facets was subpar and was a mess and sort of exposed the challenges and struggles Pikiell and his team will face this season in trying to reach any post season and doing so without Eugene. There was so much wrong with this game I do not even know where to start but because its game 1 it may be a case of a team just needing time to sort things out and find its way. It is clear that Pikiell is a bit challenged on lineup and distribution of minutes. . I mean the substitutions were ridiculous in this game. Waaaaaaaay too much for my liking and that led to virtually no flow or purpose in this game. I hated everything about this game even when we were up 10-12...I hated the constant substitutions, I hated the shot selection, I hate the lack of purpose on offense, I hated the poor perimeter defense. I hated the poor rebounding in the last 10 minutes of the game. I hated the lack of any killer instinct to knock out an inferior opponent on your home court. I hated the lack of leadership. The only thing I liked is it was a win

Truth be told, Bryant deserved the win. The comeback was a prototypical type time everything right comeback win. RU did everything they could to hand the game away. And because its game 1 yes I am going to say the loss of Eugene hurt tonight...no go to guy and no leadership in crunch time. Overall i was disappointed that this team showed very little toughness in this game and was shocked at how lackadaiscal they were throughout.

I thought Pikiell did one of his poorer coaching jobs tonight. I didn't think the team was mentally focused but beyond that I question what the heck had he been preparing with RU on offense leading up the opener. Absolutely NO purpose on offense and it just looked like a free for all where everyone has the green light to shoot no matter if its a good shot or bad one....and yes some were point black open misses....yet others were just inexplicable head scratchers at the wrong time. I saw no real intent to establish an identity. I did not think Myles was used effectively in this game and yes the zone was an issue but good lord its Bryant. Remember last year the top 2 options were Geo and Eugene. This year it seems like Harper has taken that role along with Montez and tonight showed that neither of them are ready for that yet. Geo was not good tonight, plain and simple. I defended his poor shooting last year but there is absolutely no good reason that your junior star is 3-12 vs Bryant. I did love the one Geo move his trademark step back shot that put RU up 5 and I thought okay we are alright Geo is going to take over only to see Harper suddenly chuck up a couple of bad shots..wtf.

So there really is so much to work on and I am not even going into the defense tonight because that speaks for itself. I think there giant questions facing the program....one: who will your offense run through, two: who is your go to guy in the last few minutes, three: who is your leader. To me there are much much much more questions than answers right now. I realize integrating a few new players and reposition the roles of most remaining players is going to take some time but it was an eye opener for me at least, how far behind that Pike is in trying to figure out. Just because guys like Harper and McConnell had some good shooting nights last year does not mean they are ready to deliver major offense that can carry the team.

3-22 is just atrocious from 3. Some of the more optimistic posters have called this a NCAA year but I cannot see it because this team simply doesnt have good consistent shooters and virtually little from 3 point land. Foul shooting is foul....18-32 is insanely embarrassing at this level. Harper's shot is a line drive...how is this even being allowed at this level. Was it just first game lack of focus. The fact is that this game could have been won by 20-25 points tonight if the team just made some more free throws or it a couple more threes or finished in the paint instead of shooting at the inside of the rim..wtf is up with that.

Okay deep breaths...this is a pretty negative opening game recap but geez we have heard so much hype about this team is going to do this and this player is doing incredible..blah blah blah, so you sort of get excited and then see this kind of stinker tonight. Still the best thing about tonight is that its game 1. Geo will hit some huge 3s to win the game, Harper will finish his and ones to lead big runs, Montez will electrify with his transition dunks, Myles will be a block king underneath to perserve a win. Paul Mulcahy will have ice in his veins and he drains free throws in crunch time. Steve Pikiell will coach the pants off his opposition. The RAC noise will be deafening to seal a win but it will not be Bryant this time. Things will get better.....I just think its going to take some time to get this team clicking where it is a cohesive unit and confident in knowing what it needs to do to win games. How long it takes is the difference between yet another sub 500 season and perhaps the first post season bid in 14 years.

 

[RU-ROCS]

Can’t argue with any of that. Anyone who thought we wouldn’t miss Eugene or Jay Young was proved wrong tonight! Defense was bad and we had no go to guy when the going got tough. Mulcahy and Mathis were two positives tonight.

 

[BigEastPhil]

Observations from my end:

- Jay Young is greatly missed.

- Eugene is greatly missed defensively. We cannot compensate for his rebounding prowess and toughness.

- Rebounding was atrocious and if its' atrocius against Bryant - we're in for some deep trouble when the the teams get better and bigger.

- Granted Pike was experimenting with lineups etc - but stay with a lineup a bit longer if the effort and producitivity is there.

- Harper seemed to be playing in a daze...hit his first 2 free throws and then was an enigma the entire game.

- I thought Montez played a solid game with the exception of his typical ill advised 3's.

- Mulcahy was quite impressive and I would expect him to be our starting PG heading into conference play..

- Jacob Young. Granted it's his first game in 2 years but he seemed selfish rushing shots; not passing etc. Didn;t like the look and I thought he got too much playing time.

- Geo made up for his poor offense by playing tough defensively.

- Thought Shaq Carter should have played more as he was effective.

- Myles did not demand the ball.

- Not a good look for Peter Kiss not playing. Wojld have liked to seen him get a few minutes.

- Thought there was to much hero ball out there...would have liked to have seen Pike control the reins more.

Hopefully, this game is a big wake up call for the team. Forget Rothstein's tweet; the whispers in the ears about the Dance and get back to basics etc.

 

[RUonBrain]

How can Harper be so bad at FTs, and have such bad shooting form from deep?

Did his dad have the same issues?
If not, what was he teaching him growing up?

 

[toby83]

How can this team have so many guys with terrible three point shots. Yeboah has a push shot from down low. Montez shooting knuckleballs, and Jacob Young should not shoot threes ever again.

 

[willisneverrana43]

I expect that many of the many problems seen last night will be ironed out. But the biggest concerns that remain will be: can the team make up for losing its best player, and can anybody shoot, be it from the line, from 3, from anywhere.

 

[mikefla]

1st game jitters

Bryant was still smarting from a loss to Brown

we got up by 16 & relaxed

we were LUCKY to win(thank you GEO !!)

anyone notice Kiss didnt get in the game?

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

The recap highlights leave out a couple of items.

A) RU got points in transition or layup attempts....I don't think that's how RU will play, but without those layups during the parts of the game when RU was ahead comfortably, this game would have been closer, much earlier.

B) if the team shoots 3-21 from 3, they're going to lose??.....they survived this, and 18-32 from FT line and 6 turnovers in 20 minutes by Jacob Young. Do I anticipate 14% from 3 and Young having 6 turns each night?? Not really.

C) If you are aware, you cannot flop on defense anymore, it eventually is a technical foul on the defensive player who flops....while I would suspect the lazy take would be this team misses Eugene, there were plenty of games in last year's OOC (Boston University, Columbia, Fordham and SHU), that looked choppy and scattershot like last night. Eugene not playing had no impact whatsoever.

D) the valid point about "where do you go in crunch time was answered not once but twice in the final 4 minutes.....an isolated Harper for a spin and-1 basket and the one guard most fans have to feel comfortable with under 10 seconds on the shot clock, an organized and under control 2 by Baker....I believe both Harper and Baker are better offensive options to go to, vs Eugene's offensive game, if you need points. Harper and Baker both have jump shots that Eugene doesn't have.

E) I have no idea what Niagara looks like, but fans that were asking for a tougher schedule early, clearly were incorrect....this roster is still a very young one and the next 2 games, allow this sorting out to happen now, without it being costly.

There are going to be games where RU shoots poorly but when they shoot a normal percentage, RU can play with pretty much everyone on its schedule.

 

[kcg88]

E) I have no idea what Niagara looks like, but fans that were asking for a tougher schedule early, clearly were incorrect....this roster is still a very young one and the next 2 games, allow this sorting out to happen now, without it being costly.

I beat up the schedule as much as anyone but even I'm okay with Bryant in game 1. But I also think playing teams like Bryant and Niagara is a partial cause of the team looking sloppy and unfocused.

 

[RUHouston]

From Pike’s presser:

On expecting rust in first game: "You always do. You want better for your team, but if we were great today, I would be a little bit nervous too. We got a lot to work on. I'll get their attention now. Our defense will be better, it was good when it needed to be. Our offense — we gotta take care of the ball a little bit more. We gotta make some free throws too, gotta make some threes. We'll watch shot selection, we'll talk to them about it. I thought we had way too many careless turnovers, but in the first game of the season, those kinds of things happen."

The line about getting their attention is EXACTLY what they, and we, need to hear!

 

[RUonBrain]

Think how close we were to losing this game.

Not only the last missed 3, but also:

1) what if we didn’t get the flop calls and made technicals (did we make 2 of them?)

2) what if we didn’t get the huge break when Geo kicked the inbound pass, then stepped OB, then passed down court which led to a fast break 2?

Sure there are always 1 or 2 plays in a close game that could have swung the result, but those 2 were definitely breaks for us.

 

[kcg88]

With our crappy non-conference schedule there was always a good chance of a game or two when the team just wasn't that interested.

Last year Columbia took us to overtime and Boston U was down a point with like eight minutes left. Year before had Stony Brook and Hartford.

I just didn't think it would happen in game #1 this year.

 

[bac2therac]

Attendance was 5692... maybe a tad inflated by a 300 or so but thats a solid number for a rainy night against a no name school.

 

[KnightTerrors]

@bac2therac fair analysis though there is part of me that is happy game one was challenging. The hype surrounding the team is as elevated as it’s been in over a decade and maybe that was creeping into the locker room as well. We escape with a win and you know damn well practice is going to have a different tone. Proof is the tweet from Harper being in the gym after the game.

Hard to see now but I think that game may have been a blessing in disguise. The fire has to be lit now.

 

[Roy_Faulker]

A win is a win...would rather they win a squeaker against a poor opponent that serves as a wake up call early than run through the weak part of the schedule and get overconfident when the real games start...see last year.

 

[bac2therac]

Full disclosure that was not one of my better recaps. I was just a little stunned by the play i saw last night and pretty confused on how to judge the team at this point

I think 5 areas need work fast

1. Offensive identity
2. Toughness
3. Leadership
4. Go to scorer
5. Free throw shooting

I thought in the last 10 minutes the deficiencies in these areas were enormous and allowed Bryant to incredulously make this a game that came down to the last shot.

You almost wonder if Mulcahy could have been challenged to be in more late game. We shall see in the games ahead

 

[kcg88]

I'd like to see Mulcahy bring the ball up the floor and initiate the offense more. Bryant adjusted to him at the free throw line and started making him catch the ball out at the 3-point line.

 

[willisneverrana43]

. . . Do I anticipate 14% from 3 and Young having 6 turns each night?? Not really. . . .

Do you anticipate playing an 8th place NEC team that was 10-20 last year and just lost at home to Brown each game?

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

Do you anticipate playing an 8th place NEC team that was 10-20 last year and just lost at home to Brown each game?

It's a result oriented business...I don't think Bryant played badly and I dont think RU struggled to get shots and the items are correctable.

Do I think the hype of a tournament team is warranted?? Somewhat but it's a group of talented sophs and 2 good juniors. I view this as a 2 year window, not 1.

 

[rufeelinit]

I think the recap is a little harsh. There was a lot to be concerned with and we came pretty close to blowing the game but you have to assume the staff and team will address some of the glaring issues.

I thought they looked gassed at times and no one played a ton of minutes. I think this contributed to poor defensive effort particularly in the second half. Too many uncontested 3's for Bryant.

It would be nice if Montez could hit a 3 to keep the defense honest but he clearly thrives in transition and slashing to the basket. He also appears to continue to be our best defender.

Most surprising minutes allocation was McConnell only getting 12. Didn't understand why his length on the defensive end was not valued more down the stretch.

Young showed flashes but will need to value the ball more or get less minutes. Its that simple. He was out of control too often.

Mulcahey looked good with the ball at the foul line against the zone. I think him getting 20 minutes seems about right. I do think he struggled as well on the defensive end in the second half.

Last year Myles was also effective at the foul line against zones but that was not utilized last night.

We are not a great three point shooting team but its the foul shooting issues that just kill me.

I guess when I think about turnover and FT issues, if Young and Harper do better it probably doesn't look so bad. We also won the turnover battle.

I don't think we can play more than nine guys in close games unless we get into foul trouble. May actually need to get to a core of 8. Therefore Kiss and Mamadou maybe the casualties. I was surprised Shaq Carter was passed over for MD in the second half. Perhaps that is not settled in Pike's mind.

 

[RUJMM78]

The positives

it's a win

it's game one

Mulcahy looked solid


okay moving along......

No sugarcoating, the performance across the board tonight in all facets was subpar and was a mess and sort of exposed the challenges and struggles Pikiell and his team will face this season in trying to reach any post season and doing so without Eugene. There was so much wrong with this game I do not even know where to start but because its game 1 it may be a case of a team just needing time to sort things out and find its way. It is clear that Pikiell is a bit challenged on lineup and distribution of minutes. . I mean the substitutions were ridiculous in this game. Waaaaaaaay too much for my liking and that led to virtually no flow or purpose in this game. I hated everything about this game even when we were up 10-12...I hated the constant substitutions, I hated the shot selection, I hate the lack of purpose on offense, I hated the poor perimeter defense. I hated the poor rebounding in the last 10 minutes of the game. I hated the lack of any killer instinct to knock out an inferior opponent on your home court. I hated the lack of leadership. The only thing I liked is it was a win

Truth be told, Bryant deserved the win. The comeback was a prototypical type time everything right comeback win. RU did everything they could to hand the game away. And because its game 1 yes I am going to say the loss of Eugene hurt tonight...no go to guy and no leadership in crunch time. Overall i was disappointed that this team showed very little toughness in this game and was shocked at how lackadaiscal they were throughout.

I thought Pikiell did one of his poorer coaching jobs tonight. I didn't think the team was mentally focused but beyond that I question what the heck had he been preparing with RU on offense leading up the opener. Absolutely NO purpose on offense and it just looked like a free for all where everyone has the green light to shoot no matter if its a good shot or bad one....and yes some were point black open misses....yet others were just inexplicable head scratchers at the wrong time. I saw no real intent to establish an identity. I did not think Myles was used effectively in this game and yes the zone was an issue but good lord its Bryant. Remember last year the top 2 options were Geo and Eugene. This year it seems like Harper has taken that role along with Montez and tonight showed that neither of them are ready for that yet. Geo was not good tonight, plain and simple. I defended his poor shooting last year but there is absolutely no good reason that your junior star is 3-12 vs Bryant. I did love the one Geo move his trademark step back shot that put RU up 5 and I thought okay we are alright Geo is going to take over only to see Harper suddenly chuck up a couple of bad shots..wtf.

So there really is so much to work on and I am not even going into the defense tonight because that speaks for itself. I think there giant questions facing the program....one: who will your offense run through, two: who is your go to guy in the last few minutes, three: who is your leader. To me there are much much much more questions than answers right now. I realize integrating a few new players and reposition the roles of most remaining players is going to take some time but it was an eye opener for me at least, how far behind that Pike is in trying to figure out. Just because guys like Harper and McConnell had some good shooting nights last year does not mean they are ready to deliver major offense that can carry the team.

3-22 is just atrocious from 3. Some of the more optimistic posters have called this a NCAA year but I cannot see it because this team simply doesnt have good consistent shooters and virtually little from 3 point land. Foul shooting is foul....18-32 is insanely embarrassing at this level. Harper's shot is a line drive...how is this even being allowed at this level. Was it just first game lack of focus. The fact is that this game could have been won by 20-25 points tonight if the team just made some more free throws or it a couple more threes or finished in the paint instead of shooting at the inside of the rim..wtf is up with that.

Okay deep breaths...this is a pretty negative opening game recap but geez we have heard so much hype about this team is going to do this and this player is doing incredible..blah blah blah, so you sort of get excited and then see this kind of stinker tonight. Still the best thing about tonight is that its game 1. Geo will hit some huge 3s to win the game, Harper will finish his and ones to lead big runs, Montez will electrify with his transition dunks, Myles will be a block king underneath to perserve a win. Paul Mulcahy will have ice in his veins and he drains free throws in crunch time. Steve Pikiell will coach the pants off his opposition. The RAC noise will be deafening to seal a win but it will not be Bryant this time. Things will get better.....I just think its going to take some time to get this team clicking where it is a cohesive unit and confident in knowing what it needs to do to win games. How long it takes is the difference between yet another sub 500 season and perhaps the first post season bid in 14 years.

Outstanding recap of a disappointing Rutgers performance but still a win as compared to past seasons where this game would be recorded as a embarrassing loss.The absence of consistent shooters/scorers was the downfall of last years team and it will be the telling factor in having a winning season.Poor shooting leaves very little margin for error even against teams where you are a 20 point favorite.

 

[jonS]

In a way I was glad Rutgers played so poorly and nearly lost the game. That way hopefully the team will forget all the pre-season hype and realize they have much work to do. If they had blown Bryant off the floor you can bet that the Niagara game would have looked like this game...... For me , I thought shot selection , especially in the first half was quite poor. They seemed in a great hurry to chuck up shots , perhaps it was first game excitement. Couple things stood out greatly to me--Harper's foul shot was so flat and lacked any fluidity and stroke ; McConnell needs to play more --when he was in he made some key rebounds and played very well; Carter needs more minutes . He scores and can rebound; Mathis will thrive in this fast offense but needs a better outside shot; Baker is Baker --I like his game even when his shot is off. He contributes in many ways; Young's outside shot was off and he made too many turnovers; Yboah is a player and love his toughness; Myles Johnson played well but needs to be in the offensive flow more . He also needs more toughness on his shots but I liked his rebounding ....... Yes there were too many substitutions which hurt the offensive flow but it's the first game and Pike needs to mix and match his players . It may be the third or fourth game before we have a more predictable and settled lineup.

 

[kcg88]

I think the recap is a little harsh. There was a lot to be concerned with and we came pretty close to blowing the game but you have to assume the staff and team will address some of the glaring issues.

I thought they looked gassed at times and no one played a ton of minutes. I think this contributed to poor defensive effort particularly in the second half. Too many uncontested 3's for Bryant.

It would be nice if Montez could hit a 3 to keep the defense honest but he clearly thrives in transition and slashing to the basket. He also appears to continue to be our best defender.

Most surprising minutes allocation was McConnell only getting 12. Didn't understand why his length on the defensive end was not valued more down the stretch.

Young showed flashes but will need to value the ball more or get less minutes. Its that simple. He was out of control too often.

Mulcahey looked good with the ball at the foul line against the zone. I think him getting 20 minutes seems about right. I do think he struggled as well on the defensive end in the second half.

Last year Myles was also effective at the foul line against zones but that was not utilized last night.

We are not a great three point shooting team but its the foul shooting issues that just kill me.

I guess when I think about turnover and FT issues, if Young and Harper do better it probably doesn't look so bad. We also won the turnover battle.

I don't think we can play more than nine guys in close games unless we get into foul trouble. May actually need to get to a core of 8. Therefore Kiss and Mamadou maybe the casualties. I was surprised Shaq Carter was passed over for MD in the second half. Perhaps that is not settled in Pike's mind.

The Doucoure moment that stood out to me is when he got a tough rebound (great) but instead of backing it out to reset he tried to go up with three defenders on him.

And that's always been my issue with him. He gets the ball and always seems to think it's his turn to shoot.

 

[RURM85]

Agree with the premise of the OP. However, holistically almost every game I've watched is a mess. Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan State all could not reach 70 points and shooting across the board was dismal. Duke won shooting under 40%. Kansas turned the ball over 30 times. Michigan State looked like a mess. Long droughts of no offensive production. In other action 1st halfs of Ohio State - Cincy and FSU - Pitt were so low scoring it would put anyone to sleep. Purdue looked lost without Carson Edwards for most of their game against Green Bay. Good thing I didn't watch the Nebraska, Illinois games and Michigan almost blowing a 30 points lead.

Although prior NIT stats show almost no difference in 3 point shooting percentages with the extended distance, I'm really curious to compare 3 point shooting after 1 week compared to the same time last year. I've seen so many missed 3 pointers across the board and these attempts look like bombs compared to last year's 3 point line.

In summary, more so this year, a lot of teams look like they have a lot to work on after game 1.

 

[willisneverrana43]

. . . . I view this as a 2 year window, not 1. . . .

Boy I hope the window for RU's BB rise is bigger than that.

 

[toby83]

Liked Mulcahy getting lot of touches also, Cple times he had some space he should look at basket also.

Also liked the "Pittsburgh" play they ran a few times where two guys on bottom block (was Harper and Myles) both flash up to elbows at same time. Ball goes to one of them, then options to post other guy up as he drops back down or cuts from baseline with the space around basket after they flash up.

 

[RU-ROCS]

How can Harper be so bad at FTs, and have such bad shooting form from deep?

Did his dad have the same issues?
If not, what was he teaching him growing up?

FWIW, Harper did not have good form from deep either last night. His shot was very flat with no arc. Lot of front rims.

 

[kcg88]

The substitution patterns really confused me last night. I get wanting to try different lineup combinations but how do you get a good read when guys are together for like 90 seconds at a time at most?

 

[winfield102]

I wasn't thrilled with the shot selection, Mathis and Geo being the biggest offenders. Mathis just throws shit at the hoop. Mathis shooting 3's? Can't happen unless there's 2 seconds left on the shot clock.

Looks like we'll have 9 guys in the rotation, which allows Pike to pull a guy or 2 if it isn't their night.

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

Boy I hope the window for RU's BB rise is bigger than that.

All depends on player development and recruiting in the next 2 years to know if there's a chance to be in NCAA contention for a window to extend to when the current sophs are about to graduate.

 

[RUChoppin]

I wasn't thrilled with the shot selection, Mathis and Geo being the biggest offenders. Mathis just throws shit at the hoop. Mathis shooting 3's? Can't happen unless there's 2 seconds left on the shot clock.

Looks like we'll have 9 guys in the rotation, which allows Pike to pull a guy or 2 if it isn't their night.

Agree with Mathis and threes. He should not have a green light unless it's under 5 seconds on the shot clock or he's wide open with us up by at least 15.

 

[Plum Street]

Team stunk. But a win is a win in the record books. Hopefully the team stops stinking.

 

[Good-Knight]

I think the game plan was to speed up the offense. That looked good at times but over all was not something the team looked especially used to and it detracted from the defense. The constant substituions were part of the effort to keep the guys running. If we can be a fast team it would make us more of a threat in the B1G, but I'm not sure that the team is skilled enough to pull it off.
Only thing I learned last night is that Mulcahy can play at this level this year.

 

[richthedentist]

The positives

it's a win

it's game one

Mulcahy looked solid


okay moving along......

No sugarcoating, the performance across the board tonight in all facets was subpar and was a mess and sort of exposed the challenges and struggles Pikiell and his team will face this season in trying to reach any post season and doing so without Eugene. There was so much wrong with this game I do not even know where to start but because its game 1 it may be a case of a team just needing time to sort things out and find its way. It is clear that Pikiell is a bit challenged on lineup and distribution of minutes. . I mean the substitutions were ridiculous in this game. Waaaaaaaay too much for my liking and that led to virtually no flow or purpose in this game. I hated everything about this game even when we were up 10-12...I hated the constant substitutions, I hated the shot selection, I hate the lack of purpose on offense, I hated the poor perimeter defense. I hated the poor rebounding in the last 10 minutes of the game. I hated the lack of any killer instinct to knock out an inferior opponent on your home court. I hated the lack of leadership. The only thing I liked is it was a win

Truth be told, Bryant deserved the win. The comeback was a prototypical type time everything right comeback win. RU did everything they could to hand the game away. And because its game 1 yes I am going to say the loss of Eugene hurt tonight...no go to guy and no leadership in crunch time. Overall i was disappointed that this team showed very little toughness in this game and was shocked at how lackadaiscal they were throughout.

I thought Pikiell did one of his poorer coaching jobs tonight. I didn't think the team was mentally focused but beyond that I question what the heck had he been preparing with RU on offense leading up the opener. Absolutely NO purpose on offense and it just looked like a free for all where everyone has the green light to shoot no matter if its a good shot or bad one....and yes some were point black open misses....yet others were just inexplicable head scratchers at the wrong time. I saw no real intent to establish an identity. I did not think Myles was used effectively in this game and yes the zone was an issue but good lord its Bryant. Remember last year the top 2 options were Geo and Eugene. This year it seems like Harper has taken that role along with Montez and tonight showed that neither of them are ready for that yet. Geo was not good tonight, plain and simple. I defended his poor shooting last year but there is absolutely no good reason that your junior star is 3-12 vs Bryant. I did love the one Geo move his trademark step back shot that put RU up 5 and I thought okay we are alright Geo is going to take over only to see Harper suddenly chuck up a couple of bad shots..wtf.

So there really is so much to work on and I am not even going into the defense tonight because that speaks for itself. I think there giant questions facing the program....one: who will your offense run through, two: who is your go to guy in the last few minutes, three: who is your leader. To me there are much much much more questions than answers right now. I realize integrating a few new players and reposition the roles of most remaining players is going to take some time but it was an eye opener for me at least, how far behind that Pike is in trying to figure out. Just because guys like Harper and McConnell had some good shooting nights last year does not mean they are ready to deliver major offense that can carry the team.

3-22 is just atrocious from 3. Some of the more optimistic posters have called this a NCAA year but I cannot see it because this team simply doesnt have good consistent shooters and virtually little from 3 point land. Foul shooting is foul....18-32 is insanely embarrassing at this level. Harper's shot is a line drive...how is this even being allowed at this level. Was it just first game lack of focus. The fact is that this game could have been won by 20-25 points tonight if the team just made some more free throws or it a couple more threes or finished in the paint instead of shooting at the inside of the rim..wtf is up with that.

Okay deep breaths...this is a pretty negative opening game recap but geez we have heard so much hype about this team is going to do this and this player is doing incredible..blah blah blah, so you sort of get excited and then see this kind of stinker tonight. Still the best thing about tonight is that its game 1. Geo will hit some huge 3s to win the game, Harper will finish his and ones to lead big runs, Montez will electrify with his transition dunks, Myles will be a block king underneath to perserve a win. Paul Mulcahy will have ice in his veins and he drains free throws in crunch time. Steve Pikiell will coach the pants off his opposition. The RAC noise will be deafening to seal a win but it will not be Bryant this time. Things will get better.....I just think its going to take some time to get this team clicking where it is a cohesive unit and confident in knowing what it needs to do to win games. How long it takes is the difference between yet another sub 500 season and perhaps the first post season bid in 14 years.

I agree with you on so many levels let’s start with our 3 point defense it’s not just last night but I have been harping on this for the past 3 years. Last night we are playing a team that lives and dies with the three and I will give an example Mulcahy is standing in the middle of the 20 feet from his man there is no way you can rotate that quick and it’s not just him but all our perimeter guys when you are playing a 3 point shooting team defend the 3!!!
As for our 3 point shooting I still can’t figure out how so many inferior teams have guys that can knock down 3 pointers and we cannot recruit anyone who can knock down a 3. Mulcahy is going to be good but again doesn’t have a good shot you can see that in his form.
On the shooting front all you heard was these guys worked on their shooting and foul shooting where and with who I saw no changes in form or results!!
Like Bac said the substitution patterns last night OMG horrible every 30 seconds someone in and out there was no way the team could get in a rhythm.
Some guys barely played in the second half not sure why.
Jacob Young not sure how this guy was a 5 star another one with no outside shot and terrible form .
That’s enough for now getting ready to go watch the women’s soccer team win a game!!

 

[willisneverrana43]

All depends on player development and recruiting in the next 2 years to know if there's a chance to be in NCAA contention for a window to extend to when the current sophs are about to graduate.

I don't think you base it on current sophomores or any class. It's becoming clear that Pike is a coach who will building the program slowly, if he does at all (I think he will). He will coach well, maximize player performance, slowly improve things and grow his reputation as someone to play for. Over time, that will help recruiting and he will win the bigger recruiting battles that he's not yet winning, including battles for kids who have "excellent shooter" in their skill sets. He's not a guy who sets the recruiting trail on fire and gets top kids quickly. That's not to say that he can't recruit but he's not the big splash guy. His coaching will build the recruiting. For now, he has to just coach the hell out of this team, even though it will never be a great shooting team, and get them as far as he can.

This is why I keep mentioning the loss of Omo. This was going to be the first year under Pike that RU would have young players coming back and who may improve along with incoming players who might help--but, just as important, no loss of a major contributor. It was all upside. But then that didn't happen. So it'll be another year where he coaches well and his reputation will build a bit more. Eventually, I'd hope, it reaches a tipping point and we get in, and suddenly (though not at all suddenly) we have ourselves a top coach, with a history, reputation and respect. I mean, that could happen this year (hard) or next (maybe). But it doesn't have to. It could be longer.

 

[Mr Magoo]

The Doucoure moment that stood out to me is when he got a tough rebound (great) but instead of backing it out to reset he tried to go up with three defenders on him.

And that's always been my issue with him. He gets the ball and always seems to think it's his turn to shoot.

I saw zero improvement in Doucoure. He reacts way too slowly and almost looks like he zones out at times. There's a reason he was the last guy off the bench. It's just so discouraging not to see improvement in one single player last night, and that includes Young from 2 seasons ago, but it's only one game.

 

[G- RUnit]

Agree with the premise of the OP. However, holistically almost every game I've watched is a mess. Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan State all could not reach 70 points and shooting across the board was dismal. Duke won shooting under 40%. Kansas turned the ball over 30 times. Michigan State looked like a mess. Long droughts of no offensive production. In other action 1st halfs of Ohio State - Cincy and FSU - Pitt were so low scoring it would put anyone to sleep. Purdue looked lost without Carson Edwards for most of their game against Green Bay. Good thing I didn't watch the Nebraska, Illinois games and Michigan almost blowing a 30 points lead.

Although prior NIT stats show almost no difference in 3 point shooting percentages with the extended distance, I'm really curious to compare 3 point shooting after 1 week compared to the same time last year. I've seen so many missed 3 pointers across the board and these attempts look like bombs compared to last year's 3 point line.

In summary, more so this year, a lot of teams look like they have a lot to work on after game 1.

Syracuse v UVA!

 

[RURM85]

Syracuse v UVA!

A juggernaut of an offensive game! I know Virginia defense is as good as it gets, but wow. Syracuse shooting numbers:
FG% - 23.6%
3P% - 17.2%
FT% - 42.9%

Glad I didn't catch this game. i would have ripped my eyes out.

 

[zebnatto]

After last night, I’m concerned about the interior both offensively and defensively.

 

[goru7]

Initially , very pissed leaving the arena but after a day of thinking not as concerned as some of the alarmists on this thread. Major areas of concern defensive rebounding and not enough guarding of the 3 point line that will determine how far we go.
Like a number of posters have said, the early shooting numbers around the country from Duke, Kansas , Michigan State, Virginia, Syracuse, etc has been dismal. Can we shoot 3-26 from three again and 50% from the foul line? Yes, but I doubt it. Their form and stepping into their shots were missing last night, from Ron and Jacob and even Yeboah was not right. Geo just missed 3 wide open threes as were most of our threes last night. The bad shooting got in their heads at the foul line, especially Ron . Doubt it happens more times this year.
Their was a lot of positives last night for about 28-30 minutes . Most guys did some things, Myles with the alley oops and rebounding, Yeboah immediately getting into a flow, Montez running the floor and some great defense and steals. Paul looked comfortable and will be our point guard down the road. Disappointing games from Jacob, Ron, and Geo in that order, especially with the hype of the first 2 and how our junior leader was so passive all night. Coach punishing Caleb, for something I did not see was terrible by Coach as he buried Caleb on the bench for 13 minutes, when he will be one of our key players .

For 10 minutes of the second half , the offense was absolutely horrendous with turnovers, bad shots, no screens or no passing through the zone and the inside out passing from the foul line vanished. The score was stuck at 61-48 for 3-4 minutes when we could have extended the lead to 20 but played so so poorly and not very smart.
Hopefully they stop reading the early hype press clippings and play like they are capable . In a weird way, this early scare will have Pike getting their attention and will help more than a blowout. He sounded too optimistic and matter of fact in the post game presser about this is what first games are all about, and we got the win. But he knows he will have a lot to teach and will have their full intention.