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GAME 6 MASSACHUSETTS: Turn out the lights, the party is over

His opinion has changed dramatically after watching the first six games.


thats true, he went from brightsiding to eye opening. I think he believed that guys like Jones and Hyatt and Miller would have been integrated into the rotation at as difference makers not as afterthoughts
 
The guys that got you to that 72-57 lead was Cliff, Gonzales-Agee, and Jaden Jones, with Caleb/Paul playing dual PG, mysteriously gave Palmquist a 7 minute run in the 2nd half twice called for fouls on 3 point shooters, that is FIVE the last TWO games, while losing track of playing Hyatt. It frustrates me when Pike has a habit of pulling guys over a mistake defensively, doesn't matter how hot a hand they are offensively. Just ride the hot hands. He left in the 2 guys with the most TOs at the end, RHJ, struggled to finish the game, with 4 TOs and Mawot with 3 TOs out of 10 total. Mag did hit the big shot, but the substitution patterns were horrendous last 8 minutes and they still have no clue how to handle the zone, that's where we miss Myles, because he and Paul always handled zone busting at the top of the key. Honestly, Jones or Hyatt, athleticism, or Reiber, stretch 4 skills, could be ways to break that zone defense going forward. Paul seems to be the only guy who knows exactly what to do against the zone, everyone else looked so robotic and unprepared against zone.
 
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I didn't watch the game (because I have a couple hundred better things to do), but I see from the box score that we shot 20% from 3-point range (again). I have to admit, continuing to force them up is a f---ing brilliant offensive strategy when literally everyone on the team is shooting 50% from inside the 3-point line.

EDIT: Could it be possible for maybe someone from the Math faculty to come over to the RAC and explain to Pike that if you take 10 shots and 50% of the time they go in, that will result in 10 points; but if you take 10 shots from 3 and 20% of the time they go, that's only 6 points.
 
and playing two players 71 minutes on a team that is screaming for a shakeup and others to receive opportunity is right????
I saw a shakeup. Hyatt being a DNP

we can’t have it both ways. The coach isn’t just sitting back doing nothing. He is benching people. Making Hyatt a 2nd half DNP is sending a message.

is it possible Paul and Caleb were most engaged? Maybe our best chance to win was playing them and not Jones and Hyatt. Coach wants to win bad. Yes he is too loyal, but I don’t think he has options right now.

some people are going to have to realize it is possible right now, not necessarily in a month, Hyatt and Jones are bad. More importantly they aren’t working hard enough defensively. Pikes actions make this crystal clear in conjunction with what I see on the court

people should take the star rankings and flush them in the the toilet
 
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We are played 2 teams with a pulse and both have crushed us defensively. If we don’t learn to play defense we are in deep sh!t. Jones and Hyatt need to be programmed to play hard on D.

the last 2 years Pike hasn’t played guys who don’t defend enough. With the exception of a player or 2.
I saw a shakeup. Hyatt being a DNP

we can’t have it both ways. The coach isn’t just sitting back doing nothing. He is benching people. Making Hyatt a 2nd half DNP is sending a message.

is it possible Paul and Caleb were most engaged? Maybe our best chance to win was playing them and not Jones and Hyatt. Coach wants to win bad. Yes he is too loyal, but I don’t think he has options right now.

some people are going to have to realize it is possible right now, not necessarily in a month, Hyatt and Jones are bad. More importantly they aren’t working hard enough defensively. Pikes actions make this crystal clear in conjunction with what I see on the court

people should take the star rankings and flush them in the the toilet
We are all beyond frustrated with this early disastrous start, but there was some positives to take going forward. It is hard to tell because UMASS was and will be the worst defensive team we play all year because for like 32-35 minutes they were invisible and we did whatever we wanted . However , Caleb did a good job feeding the post and being a stat stuffer, 9 assists , 6 rebounds and 6 steals and 6 points. Bad free throw miss at 36 seconds but otherwise if we can get that out of him we will be good. Paul also had a better game distributing and made the big bucket with 4.6 seconds and did not air ball it . Both of them stopped doing what worked the last 5 minutes and playing high lo at the foul line but they were solid yesterday. .

Agee actually was efficient and got a couple of offensive rebounds , had 1 block, and we got 13 points from the backup center , which is real good . Again he played against almost invisible defense but nevertheless an encouraging sign.
Mag was really solid , offensively , defensively , on the boards and passing. He will be the best player after Cliff in that recruiting class and will help us in every game going forward.
We also got to see enough of Oscar to realize he needs to move down a level as he isn’t a catch and shoot guy and takes too long to get his shot off and is otherwise unproductive even against UMASS level defense , which was like playing against air.

Other than blowing a 15 point lead with 8 minutes to go (72-57) and leading by anywhere from 9-15 most of the game , yes a terrific collapse and horrible 3 point defense and their making like 3-4 from 30 feet , there is still a trickle of positives from yesterday.
 
This team absolutely stinks and it’s on Pike for his terrible recruiting and lack of offense.
 
Let’s hold off our team evaluations until after the Clemson game at the RAC on Tuesday where RU fans get an up close team observation.

Nick Honor plays guard for Clemson. Remember how he lit us up as a freshman at Fordham a few years back?
 
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So is Miller a good defender or not?

I really can’t believe he is trying to redshirt Miller.
Does anyone redshirt their players these days other than big men?
I think he’s just really bad. Personally, I would have taken someone off the street and replaced McConnell with him at times, so I can’t think Miller could be worse. McConnell is Mathis-bad a lot.
 
Best game they have played so far this season.

Not saying much, but maybe the team will not be last in the big ten. 13?Lol.
 
I didn't watch the game (because I have a couple hundred better things to do), but I see from the box score that we shot 20% from 3-point range (again). I have to admit, continuing to force them up is a f---ing brilliant offensive strategy when literally everyone on the team is shooting 50% from inside the 3-point line.

EDIT: Could it be possible for maybe someone from the Math faculty to come over to the RAC and explain to Pike that if you take 10 shots and 50% of the time they go in, that will result in 10 points; but if you take 10 shots from 3 and 20% of the time they go, that's only 6 points.
It’s not possible to win at college basketball without shooting threes.
 
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I saw a shakeup. Hyatt being a DNP

we can’t have it both ways. The coach isn’t just sitting back doing nothing. He is benching people. Making Hyatt a 2nd half DNP is sending a message.

is it possible Paul and Caleb were most engaged? Maybe our best chance to win was playing them and not Jones and Hyatt. Coach wants to win bad. Yes he is too loyal, but I don’t think he has options right now.

some people are going to have to realize it is possible right now, not necessarily in a month, Hyatt and Jones are bad. More importantly they aren’t working hard enough defensively. Pikes actions make this crystal clear in conjunction with what I see on the court

people should take the star rankings and flush them in the the toilet


Jones was not bad shooting the ball and going to the hoop for putbacks...you are being ridiculous, he is a freshmen and now being judged harder than Caleb who by the way is 0-10 from 3, overplayed on D all day yesterday, is 4-10 at the line including missing the one and one which basically sealed the loss, but why he was out there in crunch time instead of Jones, well I guess the explanation is Jones is bad

and quite frankly the program should not be in such disarray that we are even criticizing Jones for missed defensive assignments
 
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McConnell had a good game yesterday.


compared to what...the bar is really low

bottom line is he wasnt even close on a free throw with 35 seconds left which could have put RU up 3.

and its funny people are talking about the poor perimeter defense and somehow Jones is blamed even though most of UMass flurries came when he wasnt in...just who is responsible....

who wants Caleb in a late end game situation its playing 5 on 4.
 
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So is Miller a good defender or not?

I really can’t believe he is trying to redshirt Miller.
Does anyone redshirt their players these days other than big men?
FWIW Seton Hall is redshirting PG Ryan Conway. Of course, they have Kadary Richmond, Bryce Aiken, and Jared Rhoden on the roster.
 
Jones was not bad shooting the ball and going to the hoop for putbacks...you are being ridiculous, he is a freshmen and now being judged harder than Caleb who by the way is 0-10 from 3, overplayed on D all day yesterday, is 4-10 at the line including missing the one and one which basically sealed the loss, but why he was out there in crunch time instead of Jones, well I guess the explanation is Jones is bad

and quite frankly the program should not be in such disarray that we are even criticizing Jones for missed defensive assignments
Agree with most of this
 
compared to what...the bar is really low

bottom line is he wasnt even close on a free throw with 35 seconds left which could have put RU up 3.

and its funny people are talking about the poor perimeter defense and somehow Jones is blamed even though most of UMass flurries came when he wasnt in...just who is responsible....

who wants Caleb in a late end game situation its playing 5 on 4.
Compared to anything. Nobody would be giving McConnell any shit for his performance yesterday if not for the other games this season. He was arguably our best player yesterday.
 
Compared to anything. Nobody would be giving McConnell any shit for his performance yesterday if not for the other games this season. He was arguably our best player yesterday.


Thats pretty sad..did he do anything in the last 10 minutes of play...ooooh he made a baskets..break out the ice cream
 
Thats pretty sad..did he do anything in the last 10 minutes of play...ooooh he made a baskets..break out the ice cream
The game is 40 minutes. You’re cherry picking to make him look bad.

He had 9 assists, 6 steals, 6 rebounds, and only 1 turnover. It’s absolutely ridiculous that you won’t admit he played well.
 
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It’s not possible to win at college basketball without shooting threes.
That is becoming more true. But the game we played in the paint would have been won by 15 or more if we played any 3 point defense and they did not hit a ridiculous %. If he misses, we win being outscored 45-9 from 3. So it is very possible to win without hitting a lot of 3’s but you better defend the 3. They shot abnormally well , and a normal night if they hit 7-8 we win by 20-25. Nothing wrong with the offensive game plan yesterday
 
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Thats pretty sad..did he do anything in the last 10 minutes of play...ooooh he made a baskets..break out the ice cream
Bac, I understand your frustration , we all are at how this season has started for Caleb but yesterday with his stat stuffing game was exactly how we want him to play except for the missed free throw. He was decisive with his passes for most of the game and rebounded like our guards should be rebounding. Your anger at Caleb is totally misplaced.
 
McConnell had 7 Ast/5 Stl/4 Reb/0 TO in the first half, and 2 Ast/0 Stl/2 Reb/1 TO in the second.

dont let one good half cloud your judgment while Umass rained down open 3s
 
McConnell had 7 Ast/5 Stl/4 Reb/0 TO in the first half, and 2 Ast/0 Stl/2 Reb/1 TO in the second.

dont let one good half cloud your judgment while Umass rained down open 3s
He had 1 turnover in 35 minutes and did not chunk up 3’s and got the ball upcourt and quickly passed to our pain t guys. You were not saying when we were up 72-57 with 8 minutes left, Caleb was having a bad game or a bad half. Common now.
 
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He had 1 turnover in 35 minutes and did not chunk up 3’s and got the ball upcourt and quickly passed to our pain t guys. You were not saying when we were up 72-57 with 8 minutes left, Caleb was having a bad game or a bad half. Common now.
All in all, he’s a net negative.
Defensive reserve specialist is what he should be limited to right now.
 
McConnell had 7 Ast/5 Stl/4 Reb/0 TO in the first half, and 2 Ast/0 Stl/2 Reb/1 TO in the second.

dont let one good half cloud your judgment while Umass rained down open 3s
Of all his good stats most of them were in the first half and therefore don’t count? Wut?
 
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Football is abysmal and unwatchable on offense....improved is based on how terrible Temple Syracuse and Indiana played....we played one solid 4 quarters of football at Illinois and 2 quarters at Michigan down 20-3 @ half......Illinois was flat and off a letdown because they played 9 OTs in a war against PSU.....and Delaware counts because of what exactly??

I am saying in a large or general sense, Schiano is sitting on kids who should be playing and rolling out Noah Vedral who is no better than any of the QBs we have.....and now I have Pike playing Mulcahy, 36 minutes back to back games and Caleb 35 and I am supposed to think RU is all-in towards winning games??

There is an allegiance towards the program and school and players who play here work hard.....but don't insult me at the same time and tell me that's the best we can do at QB or other positions in football and then when other kids get a chance, they perform at a similar or better level.....

In hoops, it is just remedial coaching and recruiting.....if you played the best players, and have a plan towards winning, RU hoops is sitting at 6-0, has an appropriate game plan for Jaden Jones to take over as a starting guard and Aundre Hyatt is helping by playing (if RHJ isn't healthy).

If you are recruiting or watching recruiting across all of college basketball, it is and has been clear to me for the better part of 2 decades or more, that RU rarely gets involved to compete for the players (not 1 and done players), that are necessary to improve and win.

The floor for RU hoops should be. 500 overall, in an absolute worse case or injury riddled scenario. There is no justification at any level, to think you could replace the shot attempts departed by Jacob Young and Montez Mathis, by NOT playing Aundre Hyatt and Jaden Jones. There's lack of recruiting and then there's malpractice......

I am not advocating that Caleb and Paul are not B1G caliber players or anything like that. But you can't ask them to be front line guards against a zone defense or any reasonable defense at the level.

My question is, if Schiano trots out Vedral on scholarship next year and doesn't actually bring in a legitimate QB to be a backup, are we just coasting along.....??

If we aren't going to play Jaden Jones, Hyatt the appropriate minutes (let alone somehow playing Oskar Palmquist) and not play Jalen Miller 1 minute??

UMass has 2 guards who if you leave open or don't make them work hard on defense, will have fresh legs to shoot 3s.....Jalen Miller (with Geo Baker out) can't harass Noah Fernandes or Rich Kelly..????......this isn't exactly the guards of the B1G we are talking about.....
There’s got to be some back story as to why Jalen Miller isn’t playing. A 6’3 3 star guard with 17 offers who is supposed to be a good defender with a handle can’t find minutes on a team that’s reeling?
 
Oh the game was on the line with 36 seconds

One and one..thats 2 points...did you watch the game?

But actually thats on Pikiell and his teammates in that situation for giving him the ball
He missed one free throw. I watched the game. It was an important free throw.

(1) If more people had played as well as McConnell that game he wouldn't have needed to make that FT
(2) We still should have won the game after that missed FT

You want to throw away his entire performance because he missed a FT with 36 seconds left? Come on.
 
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