Maine Post Game Thoughts

[anon_0k9zlfz6lz9oy]

1) For the 2nd straight game Caleb was our best guard. Great shot selection, great passes, great on ball defense, great foul shooting, really cant ask for more from him. I suspect him and Geo will be our leaders in minutes for guards for the rest of the year.

2) Issa is being worked out of the rotation due to mcconnells performance of late. Mcconnell plays just as good D, shoots with more confidence and can make things happen with the ball. I expect Issa to play sparingly the remainder of his career here.

3) Kiss once again showed when hes not hitting 3’s he doesnt bring much to the table. He rode the pine alot today and that was in part due to Caleb taking alot of those minutes. Ironically I would say that weve kind of solved our back court with Caleb and Geo being the best options there however, whos gonna play on the wing? I think its gonna be a big mix of harper, issa, kiss, montez and we’ll ride the hot hand.

4) Myles FINALLY asserted himself and played like the big monster wing span of a man he is. It was really nice to see him go up strong with some powerful dunks. But our bigs have gottttta be more aggressive and quicker on D. They allow too many easy layups and are often too slow to rotate. Maryland has a great Big who gonna really wake them up.

5) montez finally slashed today. If he can keep embracing his role as a slasher, he will be a plus player. You can tell he doesnt have a nice stroke so id like to see him leave the 3’s to other guys and he just becomes a slasher.

All in all, entering big ten play, i dont expect is to win more than 3 big ten games. Were just too sluggish, cant shoot consistently and not nearly athletic enough to run with most teams. My goal for the 2nd half of this season would be to

A) get Caleb to continue his progress and be a legitimate option at Guard/SF next year.

B) work on getting myles johnson to become more assertive and use his length to his advantage.

C) work endlessly with ron harper until he finds his shot.

If the above 3 can be accomplished it’ll go a long way to having a better 2019-2020

 

[S.W.A.I.N]

I think we will wind up seeing more Thiam in conference play...I still question if Caleb can handle any real ball pressure. He looked like a baby deer on ice early on. Maine backcourt aren’t world beaters.

 

[BillyC80]

Good recap. I believe we’ll win more than 3 B1G games because:
1) We’ll be sharper with less rest between games
2) We get up for better competition
3) The home crowds will be bigger and louder
4) The emergence of McConnell will make others better, especially Geo
5) Carter gives us another scoring option inside
6) Harper, Mathis and Johnson are also emerging
7) We have talented depth

 

[Dpgru]

Looks to me like the talent is in the youth. However, we are so inconsistent on offense that whoever gets hot in a game has to play. So the lineups and rotations are going to be different all the time until some guys step up and get more consistent.

 

[higgins3]

Average, or even mediocre teams play to the level of competition. Rutgers has to stop working that trend. Happy the program got the win today. Many of us predicted as the season went on that Thiam would lose minutes. I see it continuing.

 

[The Evil Empire 88]

Great thoughts. Would like to see the guards try to get the ball to the BIGS in the Half court.

 

[Unionst]

I think we will wind up seeing more Thiam in conference play...I still question if Caleb can handle any real ball pressure. He looked like a baby deer on ice early on. Maine backcourt aren’t world beaters.

The physical strength of Big 10 guards may be a problem for Caleb this year.

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

Have to be somewhat aware that the tempo or speed of the last 2 games, allows for McConnell and Baker to have assists and shot attempts. McConnell plays with good tempo and pace and looks a little uncertain but keep in mind he's not a true PG, he's more of a combo.

As the speed of the games picks up in these 18 B1G games and B1G tournament, Mathis is by far the most likely player to step up and play athletically with the opponents we have. He will be given open looks because he's not looking to shoot and hasn't gotten on track from 3.

2nd is Harper, who has taken 5 more 3s today, but I didn't feel like any of them were bad shots....he probably passed up 3 more and stepped inside to create a passing lane. He game will unlock quickly once a couple in a row go down, but the speed and quickness of the defensive intensity and "close outs", will force Harper to shoot quickly....i am fine with him taking 3s, despite folks stating otherwise.

McConnell is going to save Bakers legs and ultimately force teams to decide on whether they want to shade coverage on Baker to make him give up the ball.....If McConnell takes the top of the key 3s that defenses will give us, RU quickly becomes capable of getting blown out by 20, if we are off or staying with everyone on the schedule if we hit shots.

I think 30 3s is fine and I anticipate teams interior defense to provide tougher defense...Bruno Fernando of Maryland is a terror inside, so we need to be decisive and draw fouls and contact, whenever we get looks inside. But our interior offense isn't quite strong enough to be a focus of the offense, we will live and die with taking 25 to 30 3-pointers all year.

Get ready for a roller coaster of peaks and valleys, but McConnell unlocks a lot of restrictions we have on offense, just got to live with the underclassmen mistakes that most of the roster is made up of right now.

 

[kcg88]

The physical strength of Big 10 guards may be a problem for Caleb this year.

Some of them. But Michigan State's backup Foster Loyer isn't any stronger than McConnell. Davison on Wisconsin is more crafty than strong.

 

[RUinOhio]

thought Harper's shot looked good today, unlike some other games, as well as shot selection. just didn't go down.

2nd is Harper, who has taken 5 more 3s today, but I didn't feel like any of them were bad shots....he probably passed up 3 more and stepped inside to create a passing lane. He game will unlock quickly once a couple in a row go down, but the speed and quickness of the defensive intensity and "close outs", will force Harper to shoot quickly....i am fine with him taking 3s, despite folks stating otherwise.

 

[bac2therac]

1) For the 2nd straight game Caleb was our best guard. Great shot selection, great passes, great on ball defense, great foul shooting, really cant ask for more from him. I suspect him and Geo will be our leaders in minutes for guards for the rest of the year.

2) Issa is being worked out of the rotation due to mcconnells performance of late. Mcconnell plays just as good D, shoots with more confidence and can make things happen with the ball. I expect Issa to play sparingly the remainder of his career here.

3) Kiss once again showed when hes not hitting 3’s he doesnt bring much to the table. He rode the pine alot today and that was in part due to Caleb taking alot of those minutes. Ironically I would say that weve kind of solved our back court with Caleb and Geo being the best options there however, whos gonna play on the wing? I think its gonna be a big mix of harper, issa, kiss, montez and we’ll ride the hot hand.

4) Myles FINALLY asserted himself and played like the big monster wing span of a man he is. It was really nice to see him go up strong with some powerful dunks. But our bigs have gottttta be more aggressive and quicker on D. They allow too many easy layups and are often too slow to rotate. Maryland has a great Big who gonna really wake them up.

5) montez finally slashed today. If he can keep embracing his role as a slasher, he will be a plus player. You can tell he doesnt have a nice stroke so id like to see him leave the 3’s to other guys and he just becomes a slasher.

All in all, entering big ten play, i dont expect is to win more than 3 big ten games. Were just too sluggish, cant shoot consistently and not nearly athletic enough to run with most teams. My goal for the 2nd half of this season would be to

A) get Caleb to continue his progress and be a legitimate option at Guard/SF next year.

B) work on getting myles johnson to become more assertive and use his length to his advantage.

C) work endlessly with ron harper until he finds his shot.

If the above 3 can be accomplished it’ll go a long way to having a better 2019-2020

1. today yes but I would be careful putting too much expectations on him as the competition level ramps up bigly

2. its just a WTF at this point with Issa

3. agree...its troublesome and was not expected

4. agree, its a start and nice to see today but a whole new ball of wax vs the Big 10

5. Montez is progressing nicely

still think we get 5 Big 10 wins and first one could come against Maryland 50/50. I would say I think the range of wins is somewhere between 3 and 6. I do think there is a chance even as little as 2 if they struggle vs Mary/OSU at home

 

[RUChow]

Same as before. More Johnson and Harper, much more, and less Doorson and Thiam, much less.

 

[zebnatto]

I thought we played a pretty good second half. Given it was Maine.

Defensively we had better focus (I think both of Maine’s banked 3s came in the second half) and worked in some zonewhich I think we’re going to need going forward.

Offensively, we worked the ball better against the zone, getting interior shots, put backs, and open 3s.

Our best player yesterday may have been Caleb, but I’m not sure that’s something to crow about.

 

[Degaz-RU]

There HAS to be something physically wrong with Thiam. The kid went from a 10 ppg guy who hit 3-pointers to being a ghost. Just completely fell off the face of the earth.

It has to be the effects of a bad flu.