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I’m very upbeat despite tough loss

mugrat86

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Dec 11, 2014
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The offense flowed a lot better tonight than at any time last year. Cliff improved a lot from year 1 to year 2 and he improved more from year 2-3. Caleb had a fantastic game despite just coming back from injury. As much as people kill Mag, he does so much on defensive end and rebounding and that’s severely under looked. They played a very good team on road without PG and fought till end. They easily win if Cam played like he is capable or if Paul played. If both happened, Rutgers wins by double digits
 
The offense flowed a lot better tonight than at any time last year. Cliff improved a lot from year 1 to year 2 and he improved more from year 2-3. Caleb had a fantastic game despite just coming back from injury. As much as people kill Mag, he does so much on defensive end and rebounding and that’s severely under looked. They played a very good team on road without PG and fought till end. They easily win if Cam played like he is capable or if Paul played
Stopped reading after that first sentence . You couldn’t be more wrong.
 
This might be Pike's toughest coaching job if he doesn't force feed Simpson and take our lumps in December. This is a slow footed, plodding roster that gets nothing off the dribble. Simpson is the only player who can make a play with the ball and doesn't have to back down his man with the ball one on one.

Mulcahy isn't going to save this roster and only adds to the very much of a pass and isolation offense. The Mag and Hyatt combo on the floor is a disaster waiting to happen, neither can be trusted to make a play or a pass and both require a guard to set them up for shots.

Anything short of Simpson playing 22 to 25 minutes a game is a NIT season on deck, at best.
 
I thought we played poorly. We didn't have Paul. We played a good team on the road and were tied with 2 minutes to play.

Sun will definitely come out tomorrow.

Is there a fan who doesn't think we win this game with Paul?
We definitely win this with Paul
 
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I thought we played poorly. We didn't have Paul. We played a good team on the road and were tied with 2 minutes to play.

Sun will definitely come out tomorrow.

Is there a fan who doesn't think we win this game with Paul?
There was more than one post in the game thread that said this team isn’t any better once Paul is back. The guy was second in the conference in assists per game last year and people said that with a straight face
 
This might be Pike's toughest coaching job if he doesn't force feed Simpson and take our lumps in December. This is a slow footed, plodding roster that gets nothing off the dribble. Simpson is the only player who can make a play with the ball and doesn't have to back down his man with the ball one on one.

Mulcahy isn't going to save this roster and only adds to the very much of a pass and isolation offense. The Mag and Hyatt combo on the floor is a disaster waiting to happen, neither can be trusted to make a play or a pass and both require a guard to set them up for shots.

Anything short of Simpson playing 22 to 25 minutes a game is a NIT season on deck, at best.
Agreed 100% and he has to stop playing Miller he brings nothing to the table. Why Simpson wasn’t in there more tonight is beyond me
 
Simpson needs to play. No one else on the roster like him. Geo and Ron could both take the ball and go last year. Jacob young before. Now we have no one besides him. And our 2 best guys are beat up.
 
Game was there for the taking if we finished better at the rim and made better decisions with the ball. Example, Caleb beat his man late, gets picked up by another defender, and goes to the corner instead of finding Cliff for what would've been an easy flush. Caleb was great tonight overall but there is room for improvement. I'm optimistic about the season he's going to have.
 
This might be Pike's toughest coaching job if he doesn't force feed Simpson and take our lumps in December. This is a slow footed, plodding roster that gets nothing off the dribble. Simpson is the only player who can make a play with the ball and doesn't have to back down his man with the ball one on one.

Mulcahy isn't going to save this roster and only adds to the very much of a pass and isolation offense. The Mag and Hyatt combo on the floor is a disaster waiting to happen, neither can be trusted to make a play or a pass and both require a guard to set them up for shots.

Anything short of Simpson playing 22 to 25 minutes a game is a NIT season on deck, at best.
It is crystal clear he isn't ready on offense with the ball in his hands facilitating offense.

Hyatt and Mag won't be on the court together once Paul comes back.

Simpson will be better with Paul on the court.
 
This might be Pike's toughest coaching job if he doesn't force feed Simpson and take our lumps in December. This is a slow footed, plodding roster that gets nothing off the dribble. Simpson is the only player who can make a play with the ball and doesn't have to back down his man with the ball one on one.

Mulcahy isn't going to save this roster and only adds to the very much of a pass and isolation offense. The Mag and Hyatt combo on the floor is a disaster waiting to happen, neither can be trusted to make a play or a pass and both require a guard to set them up for shots.

Anything short of Simpson playing 22 to 25 minutes a game is a NIT season on deck, at best.
This this this!!!

Only guy who actually drives the to the basket properly. Cam needs to play off the ball as he is a spot shooter not a driver. Caleb and Simpson should be moving the ball up top and looking for pick and rolls with CO.

I also like woolfolk playing over Reiber when we need to give Cliff a break. More athletic.
 
I thought we played poorly. We didn't have Paul. We played a good team on the road and were tied with 2 minutes to play.

Sun will definitely come out tomorrow.

Is there a fan who doesn't think we win this game with Paul?

And is there a fan who doesn’t think we beat Temple by double figures with just Caleb playing (not even Paul)?

There were a lot of positives from this game despite blowing an 11 point lead. Excellent rebounding. Caleb seemed to find his flow on both ends outside of the 5 turnovers (and yes, even with those turnovers he’s still far and away the next best option after Paul to run the point against any team with a pulse).
 
And is there a fan who doesn’t think we beat Temple by double figures with just Caleb playing (not even Paul)?

There were a lot of positives from this game despite blowing an 11 point lead. Excellent rebounding. Caleb seemed to find his flow on both ends outside of the 5 turnovers (and yes, even with those turnovers he’s still far and away the next best option after Paul to run the point against any team with a pulse).
People need to deal with it. We lost.

When a bowler with a 190 average bowls a 162, 148, and 173, He had a bad day and his team probably lost. Next week he will probably be fine. The bowler doesn't suck and he doesn't need to figure it out.
 
This might be Pike's toughest coaching job if he doesn't force feed Simpson and take our lumps in December. This is a slow footed, plodding roster that gets nothing off the dribble. Simpson is the only player who can make a play with the ball and doesn't have to back down his man with the ball one on one.

Mulcahy isn't going to save this roster and only adds to the very much of a pass and isolation offense. The Mag and Hyatt combo on the floor is a disaster waiting to happen, neither can be trusted to make a play or a pass and both require a guard to set them up for shots.

Anything short of Simpson playing 22 to 25 minutes a game is a NIT season on deck, at best.


this is interesting come from you but I agree. Derek isnt ready for 22 minutes but damned if you do damned if you dont because the other options are what we saw tonight. Hyatt and Mag are not the answers in crunch time. Paul coming back helps but lets not go overboard, he isnt throwing the ball to Geo and Ron this year.,

you are so right though, its a slow plodding roster
 
This this this!!!

Only guy who actually drives the to the basket properly. Cam needs to play off the ball as he is a spot shooter not a driver. Caleb and Simpson should be moving the ball up top and looking for pick and rolls with CO.

I also like woolfolk playing over Reiber when we need to give Cliff a break. More athletic.
What happens when he beats people off the dribble?
What happens when he is the point guard and gets pressure? He doesn't initiate offense

Today he dribbles to the corner and just throws it across the court and we need a miracle catch to prevent a turnover.

He can be very good defensively. He can be very good in transition with someone else with the ball looking for him.

I like Simpson on the court using his feet and not his dribble to make plays.
 
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It is crystal clear he isn't ready on offense with the ball in his hands facilitating offense.

Hyatt and Mag won't be on the court together once Paul comes back.

Simpson will be better with Paul on the court.

I agree with all of this. In fairness though, even if Paul isn’t back for a few weeks or his minutes are limited at first, there’s probably reason to be hopeful that things can improve with Caleb running the ball rotations. I know he had 5 turnovers and only 4 assists (not a good ratio) but it was his second game back from injury and he was asked to run the point, which isn’t a position he’s played that much since he’s a frosh. Now that Pike sees that Caleb is probably going to slide to point to spell Paul, he will get more reps there. I imagine he will get better at running the offense too which would be good for Cam and Simpson. Paul can’t play 40 minutes.
 
Possible RU would lose to them if they played them tonight.

Siena beat Florida St by 17
Florida State is awful. Miami is better than Temple. Do you honestly think we would’ve lost to Temple tonight? There’s no way the first half goes anything like what happened at Mohegan Sun with Caleb playing. We’d have won that game by double digits.
 
Pikiell was badly outcoached tonight, agree or disagree
i thought Larranaga could have won this game going away. One thing he could have done and didnt. He allowed Rutgers to come on his court without ball handlers and didnt put his defenders in the face of Caleb and Cam. Shocking
 
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i thought Larranaga could have won this game going away. One thing he could have done and didnt. He allowed Rutgers to come on his court without ball handlers and didnt put his defenders in the face of Caleb and Cam. Shocking
Eh - I don’t know. I disagree here. With Caleb back, the issue wasn’t really straight up ball handling like vs. Temple. Cam and Caleb looked fine in that sense. The team just didn’t have good ball movement.

His strategy was to shut down Cliff in the half court game. I think it was a good plan considering the few times they did pressure us on the perimeter were when we finally got the ball inside.
 
Simpson needs to play. No one else on the roster like him. Geo and Ron could both take the ball and go last year. Jacob young before. Now we have no one besides him. And our 2 best guys are beat up.


it may be true he needs to play but then we also need to lower expectations, he isnt ready and is still trying to dunk from 10 feet out once a game and we are in game 7
 
This notion that Mulcahy is going to magically increase the movement of the ball, has not happened in 3 years. Paul is best suited off the ball and spotted up in the corners where he can shoot OR then when he can maneuver from the wing against a smaller guard to drive/dish or create a lob or play inside.

Playing Mulcahy up top and asking him to generate plays off the dribble and to get into offense, with a stationary shooter is going to be very, very difficult. The defense with Mulcahy and Spencer is also going to be woefully shaky as a starting backcourt.

The formula to hide slower footed half court players is to play like Wisconsin and hope/pray that Pike force feeds Simpson, exactly the way Greg Gard at Wisconsin, force-fed, Chuck Hepburn. Hepburn was the 5th scoring option with Davidson, Wahl, Johnny Davis etc. Hepburn is the only facilitator Wisconsin had last year, mixed with Johnny Davis being able to just isolate.

You are better suited with Simpson on the ball generating play up top and Mulcahy and McConnell are much better wing players who can score and make entry passes. Mag and Hyatt are best suited splitting minutes at the 4, asking them to handle the ball and make entry passes, is insanity.....Hyatt and Mag cannot generate any offense off the dribble from the wing.....Caleb and Paul at least give Cliff any chance to be successful.

Pike has his toughest job at hand, trying to find shots for Spencer, unless Simpson is given the ball. I don't see any other options on the roster with his skill set.
 
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Why isn't Simpson an option from the wing? He actually has taken his man off the dribble there many times this year.

If Paul is in the game he understands his role is to get the ball to Cliff. There is a 3 man game a triangle with Paul, Cliff and Cam. Simpson isn't comfortable doing anything right now except playing defense and taking the ball to the hoop.
 
Florida State is awful. Miami is better than Temple. Do you honestly think we would’ve lost to Temple tonight? There’s no way the first half goes anything like what happened at Mohegan Sun with Caleb playing. We’d have won that game by double digits.

Every game takes a different turn.
Bottom line is they have to start winning games against decent/good teams
 
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