GAME 18 IOWA: Better team won

[zappaa]

In a way, Iowa winning really doesn't solve anything for them....they didn't necessarily defend well despite what the announcers were saying and the pace of the game was dictated by the refs.

I don't see Weiskamp consistently shooting as well as he did vs RU and we did a pretty reasonable job on Garza (8-20 is more than fine).

I don't quite understand the Mathis criticism.....he actually decided to get into the jersey of Weiskamp and took some pride in trying to stop him. The refs can easily determine how a game is going to be called and why should the refs not understand they're going to try and be closer to Weiskamp?? So.....a player has a 16 point 1st half, do the refs think we should allow him to get 35 points by not guarding him??

Weiskamp shook loose of everyone, Caleb did well and while RHJ tried, he looks completely gassed. If RHJ or Mathis actually fouled Weiskamp shooting a 3, I would probably be fine with it, because they would be in the kids face.....make him actually dribble and then shoot....he just rose up and shot the ball.....which if you take pride in your dedication to defend, you foul him shooting a 3 before giving him airspace.

Onto NW and with Mathis seemingly not passing to Caleb or Cliff and running over Garza for 1 play, I don't know how you solve Mathis unless you start him. He is a 25 to 27 minute a game player, 15 minutes is not enough time for him to have any impact on defense or offense.

If your response is "Mathis isn't playing well", I understand and can't disagree.....but with Harper and Mathis not reaching double figures, it's difficult to see RU getting to 8,9,10 3s made per game unless....

A) Caleb gets to take 6 to 8 3s per game (7 tonight is fine by me, I will take my chances there).

B) We find minutes for Palmquist/Mag/Jones (teams aren't going to guard them based on the scouting reports of games played so far, they (like Mulcahy) will get wide open looks.

C) Mulcahy takes 5 3s a game....I will live with that too.

It's just clear (to me) based on what I have heard on Harper and Baker that neither probably should have been back playing as early as they did. Baker just now looks around 80-85% (vs last year's Baker dunking on Indiana and being explosive) but that's almost 2 months post injury....& Harper is probably at best 65 to 70% of himself post injury, he probably may not be approach or get near 80 to 85% the rest of the season.

Maybe a minute reduction vs Northwestern is in store to let some fresh legs play against NW, for Mag, Palmquist or Jones. Get Harper down to about 16 to 18 minutes to not have him front and center and play a healthier Mag and Mathis (or Jones/Palmquist). Something to lighten the workload for RHJ...

RHJ not tired, he’s a load.

 

[RUChoppin]

What exactly is the injury Harper is trying to play through?

Sprained ankle in practice that caused him to miss a game. He really has been a different player since, which is partly due to a step up in competition, but also possibly because he rushed back before he was ready and didn't give the ankle the time it needed to heal up.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

they need to be soft when they jack up those silky smooth 3s from the corner time and time again

Let’s see how far they go in the tournament. I am not a car person......mustang with a 4 cylinder engine

 

[rufeelinit]

The timing of fouls and missed/made shots in a game do matter. Clearly Myles picking up two quick ones was a factor but when looking at the entire game, it was only one of many factors that contributed to the loss.

Iowa was ice cold early yet we could do nothing down the other end. We struggled to figure out how to attack their zone and as a result, we could not capitalize on their cold start. Why teams don't play more zone against us is a mystery to me.

We were just too offensively inept most of the night to compete with a team with the offensive prowess of Iowa. Weiskamp looked like a pro last night. I am not sure if he is a system guy or if his game translates well to the NBA, but I was thinking how the Knicks could really use him.

Harper might be offended by this, but he should look at Weiskamp and learn a couple of things about what is needed to be an elite and consistent college scorer. Maybe Pike could learn some things from watching Fran's offense as well. If Ron believes he is truly working hard out there, he only needs to look at #10 and some of the other Iowa perimeter players to see a stark contrast. I wasn't sure if Pike was sending Ron a message buy inserting Oskar for a few minutes in the second half

I had no issue with the defensive effort of several guys including JY, Caleb, Paul and MM. I thought Cliff battled as well and that is most encouraging. People were wondering where Myles was down the stretch but I think Pike felt like we were playing better with Cliff at that point. While I think he has done well a couple of times playing with fouls, he generally does not handle those situations well and winds up being shell of himself. Not sure what the box score said about rebounding but it felt like again we were on the short end.

We need to comeback with a strong effort against NW, who we should be able to beat at home even if we don't shoot it well. If Ron is hurt then let him sit. He looks like he has put on weight and is not really getting after it on the court. With regard to NW, having been forced to watch the end of their game with IU last night, I can only say that any concerns we have with Pike pale in comparison with Chris Collins. That game was there for the taking a couple of times and they just went into a "trying not to lose" posture rather than winning the game. As big a blunder as Pitino's end game tactics against us.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

I do think it is time for Pike to treat Harper like everyone else. Needs to sit when he doesn’t defend and doesn’t rebound and takes bad shots. Can’t sit Young and Mathis and let Harper slide. That is a way to lose the team.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

I think the uniforms are not flattering. A few guys at first glance looked overweight to me.

 

[RUChoppin]

Harper might be offended by this but he should look at Weiskamp and learn a couple of things about what is needed to be an elite and consistent college scorer.

Wieskamp also had a career night, above his usual production. The only game he's played better than last night was vs. Nebraska last year, when he scored 30 pts in 28 min with 7 rbs, 3 ast, 2 stl, 0 tov, and 1 blk. His 10 defensive boards last night tied his career high, too.

He's a very good player - but last night was exceptional.

 

[richthedentist]

RHJ not tired, he’s a load.

Then why can't he use that big body to box out time and time again he gets beat on free throws which is inexcusable may have cost us in the first Iowa game at the end and how about last night not that it mattered but near the end of the game Iowa only had one guy on the free throw line and he got the rebound another inexcusable play

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

why do you think they are giving us those looks

Because they aren’t a good defensive team. Not because they think RU is a bad shooting team

 

[bac2therac]

maybe they were concentrating on rebounding the expected miss and running transition. They housed on the boards and clogged the paint for the most part.

we had a similar discussion vs Wisconsin when RU shot 2-150 from 3, that is more to their average than hitting 15-30. I remember people saying well we are not going to shoot that poorly again from 3...yes we are going to shoot that poorly from 3 again.

 

[RUJMM78]

Comes down to offense and we don’t seems to care very much about generating it as a coaching staff.

Offense is more impacted by recruiting than defense which can be taught through player development.Recruits can be star players in high school because they are taller and or more athletic but still a mediocre shooter which has been the case with many Rutgers players.