We are gave up 76 anyway.
Might as well try and score then.
The two games Gavin was "benched" for his defense - we gave up 68 and 76 and lost.
So is the argument he needs to play even less minutes because of his defense?
Gavin needs more touches…
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We are gave up 76 anyway.
Might as well try and score then.
The two games Gavin was "benched" for his defense - we gave up 68 and 76 and lost.
So is the argument he needs to play even less minutes because of his defense?
It is hard to develop swagger when your teammates don't even look for you when you are on the floor. The team treats Gavin like a guy they are forced to play with to get to 5 players. Pike must address the mindset of what I see as the most selfish RU team I can remember. I know Pike doesn't see it that way since he seems to be a fan of don't pass, always shoot, Hyatt.
This is a me first team. We have a bunch of guards who never have assists.
JMike is a good passer and is looking for it. A couple nice plays with Gavin. Simpson not so much .
Yes. He isnt alone though.
Gavin needs to be evaluated by fans with the same lens as Oskar or JaMike. He is wearing a Rutgers uniform, forget his recruiting rankings.
Defense and rebounding. Even when we play decent d we don’t rebound.
So Gavin should be questions as to why he is covering Shannon who averages 19.5ppg where he is one of our laggards on Defense. Is that on him or on the coaching staff?
My biggest issue is with the coaching staff not the players. We have a bunch of ball hog, shoot first guards outside of Noah, who has his own issues. This is on the coaches.
We are making Cliff our #1 option on offense when that is NOT his strength. We have not changed that approach. This is on the coaches.
Who do you see on offense that can actually put the ball in the basket? GG and Hyatt are shooting over 30% from 3. If you are going to have them out on the court you need to create opportunities for them wit confidence. Hyatt has never seen a shot he doesn't like. GG on the other hand seems tentative--almost like a Schiano coached player who is afraid to lose the ball. This is on the coaches to make changes on offense and something that has been discussed for YEARS watching a Pike led offense is philosophy.
I would rather see us play a zone defense to protect against second chance opportunities and let a team try to beat us by shooting lights out. Again this is on coaching
The way our defense works you are guarding a certain player until there is a switch. So he can end up on Shannon. This play was early in the game in transition and quite frankly it was disgusting his effort and willingness to give up his body.
Agree 100% about the guards....they are the primary reason why our offense is ranked right now in the high 200s. They also a reason we actually are very high defensively through 7 games.
Cliff needs to be given the ball either way deep OR on the move. The cliff in his 2nd year who shot 65% or so from the field is a huge weapon.. The onus is on the guards , coaching staff and him to feed himself on the offensive glass.
Playing zone more than a few possessions is giving up on what the program was built on.
Right now Pike has put himself on the fence. He hasnt gone full Gavin mode. He isn't installing sets that features him. He hasnt rewired the team to make sure Gavin gets 12-15 shots up per 30 minutes.
Gavin has not passed the deep end test. Most players before him would never see the court with his defense. Ask Chol.
So now we have Gavin not featured and not doing enough offensively to warrant play over his really poor defense.
I don't blame Pike at all right now, this is a very difficult situation.
Gavin has not passed the deep end test. Most players before him would never see the court with his defense. Ask Chol.
So now we have Gavin not featured and not doing enough offensively to warrant play over his really poor defense.
I don't blame Pike at all right now, this is a very difficult situation.
It wasn't a switch on Shannon...go back and watch he was actually matched up against him from the onset. I do understand out switching on defense and yes that can create mismatches but again why a zone would prevent this. Illini made it a major point to isolate against the mismatch every time down the floor especially against Noah and #3 on their team. Very well coached.
Its the same mentality as our football team in sticking to "what the program was built on" rather than working with what you have and optimizing. We think we have the athletes to compete by doing the same thing over and over again hoping it changes...that the definition of insanity
Really concerned about what I saw yesterday from Gavin. He avoids contact on defense and when rebounding like the plague.
Illinois rebounded over 50% of their misses, I can't imagine what a zone would do.
If we are changing our base defense for one player........
It isn't like Gavin has been that good on offense. We all want him to be.
Watch him on defense next game. He struggles a lot. The wide open back to back 3s in the first half were his man. That's what some of you are not getting. If he's in and he allows double what he scores how the hell is that helpful?
I don't disagree with you about not completely blaming Pike as it's a difficult situation but please don't compare Gavin to Chol. That's simply ridiculous. Are they both a liability defensively ( though I would argue I've seen more Improvement from Gavin in a couple of games and we've seen from Chol in an entire season). Yes.
But offensively there is no way you can compare chols game to Gavin's game.
I don't disagree with you but this team is struggling defensively across the board. If we were a lockdown defensive team I would say you're correct. But there are many players who are not putting in the shift defensively...and if you're going to leave Gavin on the floor for that many minutes then what's the point of not even getting him any shots. It makes no sense. It's like intentionall abusing Plus / minus. You're allowing a kid to magnify all his minuses and not doing anything on the plus side. I am genuinely flabbergasted by how Pike is approaching his minutes and his utilization.
Chol takes bad defense to another level. Did Chol get a chance when Hyatt was benched last year. No it was Oskar. Is Chol better than Oskar offensively? I would hope so.
I agree with you he is bad defensively. But you are comparing him to Gavin and all I'm trying to say is that Gavin brings a completely different level of depth to our offense which is why you cannot make the comparison of the two guys. And he's being completely underutilized. Trust me I am not going to sit here and defend Gavin's defense though I do think he looks to have improved a little bit. But there is a long way to go
I understand that you like to be the contrarian on this board but I think you are being a bit obtuse if I can say that respectfully.
are you saying that a player's offensive skill set does not come into play as to how many minutes they see on the court?
And you did compare him to Chol which is what prompted my response to you.
I'm simply pointing out to you that you have to also look at the offensive capability of a player if you're going to make a comparison for why one is being treated differently than the other
Answer is somewhere in between.
There obviously is leeway given to a player that helps offensively.
I just think there is a standard that Pike has set for defense required to play. He gave Jaden more rope then Chol. He is certainly given a ton of rope to Gavin.
I am not saying as a contrarian....I believe that both Pike and I thought that during the Princeton and Illinois games our best lineups did not include gavin.
I have ZERO beef with Gavin not getting minutes. Me BEEF is when he is out there not being featured offensively.
Which leads to the question WHY.........
Is it
A. Pike being dumb
B. Pike thinking Gavin is best as just a spot up shooter
The sample size is small....gavin has turned it over a ton and is shooting 31% from 3.
I think and hope the answer is A
It doesn't matter if we play a slightly better defensively lineup if we start every game scoring 6 points in the first 10 minutes
Pike needs to solve the slow offensive starts immediately. We simply cannot afford it against Wake and SHU. It's now or never and something needs to change
Pike needs to solve the slow offensive starts immediately. We simply cannot afford it against Wake and SHU. It's now or never and something needs to change
I hope it's A also.
It just makes no sense to keep him on the floor that much if you're not going to find opportunities for him to score.
The 2 things I think I know.......
1. Cliff needs the ball in motion closer to the basket
2. Gavin was a 4/5 star recruit because of his offense. He appears to have a loaded offensive tool box
Shouldn't be hard to get 2 birds with 1 stone.
You know he was 0-5 last night, right? In what world should a guy with his shooting numbers get the last shot?
4-5 star? I'm just not seeing it with him. Maybe in time I will change my mind. If he leads me to.
So what? He’s a shooter. He needs to get his shot going and he can’t do that if is getting yanked too soon. Need to get him strategically involved. Run off screens like Cam.
A lot of receipts out there on Gavin. For a true freshman there sure are a bunch of fans who have already written him off.
1. I'm 100% still on board and would nearly double Gavins minutes to near 30mpg. What do we have to lose? He's playing minimal minutes and we are playing terrible.
2. There are a lot of receipts the other way too. Many "board experts" said he would be one of the best freshman in the Big Ten and immediate impact player.
I don't really watch other teams but I'll guess he's not a Big Ten Freshman Of the year or all-freshman team contender thus far.
To be fair, "board experts" had a lot of lofty expectations about the impact of A. Williams, Fernandes and Chol for this year as well.
This is why I don't follow recruiting.
We were awful against a 3-2 zone.
The weak spot in that defense is in the lane near the foul line.
But we never sent anyone there and instead just kept chucking up threes.
Gavin is a good passer; he should be the one to hit in that spot.
He then shoots if unchallenged or passes to Cliff or Hyatt/Mag if a baseline defender challenges.
If an outside defender covers him a pass to a wide open three is available.
Is there something I am missing with my middle school and high school offense plan?
The weak spot in that defense is in the lane near the foul line.
But we never sent anyone there and instead just kept chucking up threes.
Gavin is a good passer; he should be the one to hit in that spot.
He then shoots if unchallenged or passes to Cliff or Hyatt/Mag if a baseline defender challenges.
If an outside defender covers him a pass to a wide open three is available.
Is there something I am missing with my middle school and high school offense plan?
Not sure I recall anyone naming themself a board expert but maybe I missed it. This place is pretty much opinions and observations....both hopeful and pessimistic.
ps....we all have our "thing". For instance some follow & put forth information regarding recruits / transfers while others profess superior knowledge of the NBA draft prospectus. End of the day its mostly all of us posting our opinions regarding published information that we gained from other sources.
We are offensively challenged
Gavin has not shot it well but he still looks like the most talented offensive player we have.
His defense is getting better each game
I have seen some good help D moments from him.
Maybe go big to start with
Cliff 5, Mag 4, Aundrey 3 and Gavin 2
I know , i know , Gavin can't guard a 2
Maybe mag guards 2
If you give Gavin space at the top on O,
I think he will score more
If he is running off the screen then the hedge will have to be hard , maybe that opens up more for cliff on the roll
Gavin has not shot it well but he still looks like the most talented offensive player we have.
His defense is getting better each game
I have seen some good help D moments from him.
Maybe go big to start with
Cliff 5, Mag 4, Aundrey 3 and Gavin 2
I know , i know , Gavin can't guard a 2
Maybe mag guards 2
If you give Gavin space at the top on O,
I think he will score more
If he is running off the screen then the hedge will have to be hard , maybe that opens up more for cliff on the roll
"Most players before him would never see the court with his defense. Ask Chol." Gavins offense, albeit not consistent yet, is heads and shoulders above Chol, and defense not withstanding. If you watch, and I know you do, putting Gavin in any comparison/equivalence to Chol is just silly.
