Game 7: Florida State thoughts

[higgins3]

Williams will take the minutes before Dadika.

If I am Pikiell and I think there is a confidence element to mensah's struggles ....provided he is working hard in practice I insert him in the starting lineup vs. FDU and NJIT and give him a solid 15 minutes in those games.

I recently saw videoe of Mensah shooting free throws. It looks like he is just learning to shoot the ball. I am just stating an observation, not ripping the kid.

If his defense is average, he can stay on the court. If it is not, Dadika should get a look as well. Talking about primary ball handlers who can find people, and be selfless. Also, if fouled, make at least 1 of 2 free throws. You know Dadika would be out there giving great effort. The kid would love an opportunity to get on the floor.

What is the best reasoning for Mensah over Dadika?Given what I observed.

 

[GoodOl'Rutgers]

Good thoughts.,. for you TL;DNR people here is the short version of Bac's post

First of I will start by saying, welcome back real college basketball and a real college atmosphere to Piscataway.
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RU is probably two players away, one being a legit 3 pt threat from being able to be expected to pull games like this out
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Corey had 20, Freeman and 15 pts and 16 boards, its just that the margin of error is so slim for this team right now.
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Eugene's game tonight, he was pretty unstoppable in the second half...9-11 for 22 points, 4-5 ft..we have seen glimpses of it this season but tonight...this was against Florida State, that is what makes his game so monumental for him. He brought it to the next level and took the next step against a very good team with a bunch of gazelles.
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For the record I was impressed by FSU...better than I thought they would be. I see this team being like a 5th place type team in the Big 10 so I expect RU to be able to compete with most of its league schedule save for Minn, MSU, and Purdue.

 

[RU-ROCS]

One stray thought on Freeman: He was AMAZING in the 1st half - his best half of basketball this season, and vintage Freeman. Even before his cramps, though, he missed a LOT of chippies in the 2nd half, and was just 1-9 FG in the 2nd half, plus was slwo with his help defense on Walker off screens. He still had a good game, but what looked like it might be a great game turned into merely a good game. Omoruyi really picked up the interior offensive slack for Freeman in the FSU game.

I agree about Freeman. His defense in the second half was really poor. Maybe it was the lingering effects of the cramp, because he was especially bad in after he came back from his injury in the second half.

 

[PatrickRU92]

I agree.

I will say that RU does have 3 players, at least, who could, in any given game, get hot from 3, and turn the game for RU: Williams, Baker and Thiam. With a little luck (and RU will need some), 1 or 2 of those will be hot in a game RU has a better chance of winning, and help carry RU to a victory. We have all seen players - for RU and on other teams - get hot in a game where the team falls short, making what might have been a 20 point loss a 4-5 point loss (See: Johnson, Nigel, in at least 2 games in 2016-2017 season). What RU will need is for 1 or 2 of those 3 shooters to get hot while other aspects of the RU team are working well, in a game that is the difference between a 5-8 point loss, and a 5-8 point win ... like FSU. For example, had Williams been hotter - and hit his 2 wide open 3's in the 2nd half (which he HAS done in some games), RU has a great chance to win the FSU game. You need a little luck sometimes, when your talent is not terribly consistent.

yup. on the nights where the shots fall, we're going to look very good. on the nights where they don't we'll lose. Sadly due to our physical limitations the latter will outnumber the former. And we just have to live with it, there isn't much we can do.

 

[GoodOl'Rutgers]

One stray thought on Freeman: He was AMAZING in the 1st half - his best half of basketball this season, and vintage Freeman.

Freeman = Ducket + Salvi

 

[vascosg]

He entered the game and immediately got the ball taken from him, completely unaware of the FSU player behind him. Then he compounded that with a foul four seconds later. He also missed the front end of a 1-and-1 later in the game when he got fouled. His passes didn't seem to be in great spots where a player could catch it and go immediately (Corey also has this problem).

The "he needs time" argument seems wrong. How much is a 23-year-old JUCO transfer going to improve during the season? It's really hard to see him being a positive on-court contributor here. Maybe he's such a leader off the court that the coaching staff thinks he's a net positive, but I kind of lump him in with Bullock where I'll be a little disappointed if we can't get more contributions from that scholarship next season.

I'm glad you're not the coach of me......

 

[Ruthinking]

A few FSU players were smart enough to take a dive on some really soft RU fouls. It pissed me off that the refs called the Souf foul on the three point attempt by Walker. Walker took a dive and the refs called it. Of course he made the three FTs...this was during their 11-0 run I think. Maybe this is just good coaching because FSU “acted” well enough to get some calls.

Late in the game, Walker repeatedly drove the lane around a screen. He was smart enough to see this opening and it lead to a few uncontested layups when we needed a stop. If we had some timeouts I think Coach Pike would have figured out how to defend this better.

 

[Degaz-RU]

Good thread here. I don't have much to add other than this -- I think we should all be heartened by our performance last night against a clear NCAA tourney team that was just OOZING with talent from 1 to 5. Do we have limitations? Yes. Did we falter in the 2nd half? Yes.

But this was a well played game against a really good team.

 

[JavaDunk18]

FSU has votes for top 25, and will go back to the tourney this year..that bad stretch and some questionable calls cost us the game..many more positives should be taken from this game than negatives. We finally have an inside game, with our share of garbage buckets..another big man next year and we will be in the tourney..Eugene had some ball fakes we haven't seen since Sellers..

 

[RUBigFrank]

Stats do tell the story - we were pretty even on rebounds (I will say FSU got a lot of long bounds on offense). Steals were disproportionate in favor of FSU.

Our defense was good - as we only gave up 4 second chance points (from the box score on SK.COM).

Most telling - and this was down the stretch:

• FSU was 20 f 32 from the charity stripe, however (and again down the stretch as FSU pulled away),
• Walker alone was 10 of 11.

 

[Scarlet Shack]

Patrick says it right and I'll add another

Because we don't have great shooters, We just don't have, as bill raftery would say, "spurtabilty"....really hard to go on these 13-2 runs in 3 minutes without

It's hard to play nose to nose for 40 minutes and make every possession like it's your last because you know that you can make up points in a hurry if you get cold. More self pressure

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

+10000000

everything is a grind. Let up for 45 seconds and you lose by 5.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

We were a -10 in the 4 minutes Sanders sat out.....and it wasn't a coincidence.

 

[RUBigFrank]

There were some odd lineups on the floor where we had only one guard at times (Sanders).

Interesting stat above -10 without Sanders on the floor. Two quick early fouls on Geo changed the guard substitution tempo.

 

[bac2therac]

Florida State will be playing Florida this weekend...going to be a measuring stick to see how good they really are

 

[knightfan7]

Florida State will be playing Florida this weekend...going to be a measuring stick to see how good they really are

All the other nonsense aside I have long enjoyed reading your basketball thoughts. Keep it up.

 

[RU-ROCS]

Florida State will be playing Florida this weekend...going to be a measuring stick to see how good they really are

Based on what I saw in their game against Duke, Florida has Final Four-type potential. They looked really good except for the last 2 minutes of that game. I love their PG.

 

[goru7]

Florida State will be playing Florida this weekend...going to be a measuring stick to see how good they really are

Measuring stick maybe but Florida was up 16 on Duke clearly the Number 1 team in the country. So Florida in my opinion is top 5 in my opinion. Florida State is good, very athletic, very long, very deep , and some shooters hit some shots yesterday. They are borderline Top 25 or just outside. So if they lose by 10 to Florida in a rivalry game will you discount our team or are you saying we will be good this year.

 

[zebnatto]

Not much new to add but that never stopped me before:

1) Mensah and Bullock aren't gonna add anything. Pike's two mistakes. Bullock is understandable, Mensah a complete head scratcher. Honestly would rather see Dadika on floor than Souf.

2) It's a problem that guys he's four inches smaller can close out on Issa. It's a bigger problem that he hasn't learned how to use teir bullrush to draw contact and get to the line.

3) Love Shaq but anytime a guy with footwork attacks the paint Shaq will put him on the line.

4) Among the numerous plusses out of Eugene is his decision-making when he get's the ball at foul line vs zone.

5) Mamadou and Geo are gonna be just fine.

6) It's tough on Mike when he's forced to be a ballhandler. Not his strength.

7) Deshawn=warrior.

8) Really nice game from Corey.

9) Assuming we're redshirting Myles, when we get back against the soft teams later in the month, I'd like to see Luke Nathan get a few minutes on the floor other than end-game.If he can do one thing "well enough" this semester, it's a plus.

 

[bac2therac]

Measuring stick maybe but Florida was up 16 on Duke clearly the Number 1 team in the country. So Florida in my opinion is top 5 in my opinion. Florida State is good, very athletic, very long, very deep , and some shooters hit some shots yesterday. They are borderline Top 25 or just outside. So if they lose by 10 to Florida in a rivalry game will you discount our team or are you saying we will be good this year.

am I seeing snark in this post...not sure why..yes its a measuring stick for FSU to see if they play with a top 10 team. FSU while talented is still on the young side. I am interested in seeing how they fare.

 

[Goku]

Pike went after a top-notch PG in Alvarado. When he just missed out on him, he took Souf....this is what happens when you miss out on blue chips and have to go to plan B.

I'm fine with Thiam's performance. You aren't going to get an A game out of every player for every game. Some guys will rise up in certain games. Last night was Omoruyi's night...and he'll have many more since it is becoming more and more clear that his development curve is not a slow or shallow one. Thiam had some good games for us last year...he'll have them for us this year as well. He will not be consistent, but he is just a sophomore and needs work and development as well.

 

[goru7]

am I seeing snark in this post...not sure why..yes its a measuring stick for FSU to see if they play with a top 10 team. FSU while talented is still on the young side. I am interested in seeing how they fare.

No snark at all. Trying to find out if you saying Florida State might not be that good if they cannot beat Florida, who I think most people are predicting are Final Four good?

 

[RUChow]

We were at home with an amped crowd and lost to a middle of the road P5 school with guys out.

Go ahead and take some positives. In the end I don't know how this game gives you any confidence against the top 9 schools in the B1G.

This game showed the warts.

The biggest wart is the lack of depth. There is a gaping hole of 30 minutes that no one is capable of filing. Our backup point guard play was atrocious and our starting 3 played 35 minutes and got 2 shots off despite facing a ton of zone.

It's not like the Big 10 has been that impressive so far. FSU was no worse than a middle of the pack Big 10 team, and maybe, just maybe, better than every team but the top 3 or 4.

 

[bac2therac]

No snark at all. Trying to find out if you saying Florida State might not be that good if they cannot beat Florida, who I think most people are predicting are Final Four good?

not at all, I am seeing how they measure up to a top 10 team. I expect a close loss.