In sports there always seems to be a time when a team plays it's worst. In baseball it's the June Swoon or the Dog Days of August. For my NY Jets it's anytime between Labor Day and Christmas. For RU basketball it's a two week period in February. For the past four years we have had a NCAA caliber team. All of them have had similar records in mid February:
2023: 1-4
2022: 0-3
2021: 2-4
2020: 1-4
In each of these prior years we've come back to play some pretty good basketball down the stretch and beyond. I still have faith in this team despite some of the problems we've shown. Among them:
Paul dribbles too much for no apparent reason
Cliff has to play a minimum of 35 minutes a game
Dean can not play against a legitimate Power 5 center. He just can't handle it.
Wolf needs to get Dean's minutes
Simpson can not be trusted with the basketball in a big moment.
Hyatt maybe the biggest Jekyll and Hyde player RU has ever had. Some days he looks like an NBA player and others, he's terrible.
For a guy who has played P5 basketball for 5 years Caleb makes some of the worst in game decisions I've seen.
Please remember that due to the time difference I can rarely watch a complete game so these observations are based on an incomplete sample size. I still have confidence in Pike (despite some of his mind numbing decisions today) and this team to finish strong. What better place to start the turn around than State College.
2023: 1-4
2022: 0-3
2021: 2-4
2020: 1-4
In each of these prior years we've come back to play some pretty good basketball down the stretch and beyond. I still have faith in this team despite some of the problems we've shown. Among them:
Paul dribbles too much for no apparent reason
Cliff has to play a minimum of 35 minutes a game
Dean can not play against a legitimate Power 5 center. He just can't handle it.
Wolf needs to get Dean's minutes
Simpson can not be trusted with the basketball in a big moment.
Hyatt maybe the biggest Jekyll and Hyde player RU has ever had. Some days he looks like an NBA player and others, he's terrible.
For a guy who has played P5 basketball for 5 years Caleb makes some of the worst in game decisions I've seen.
Please remember that due to the time difference I can rarely watch a complete game so these observations are based on an incomplete sample size. I still have confidence in Pike (despite some of his mind numbing decisions today) and this team to finish strong. What better place to start the turn around than State College.