Nebraska played lights out offense BUT

[NewJerseyHawk]

The last 2 games have been eye opening.

A) Pike sped the game up and freed up Nebraska to take and make 3s.....a team with nothing to lose and playing an up tempo game, helped fuel this result.

B) Mulcahy has to be burned out. He's logged a lot of minutes and the fatigue is showing. He needs to recharge and I would cut his minutes down to around 18 to 22 minutes, if the Wisconsin game is another game where he refuses to attack and take the easy floaters or pull up shots. His defense is only decent when he's scoring.

C) Cam Spencer is probably better suited with a quicker guard to drive and kick to him.....the only option is Simpson at this stage.

D) Start Simpson vs Wisconsin. We are in for another low scoring game in the 50s and we really need something off the dribble, to match Hepburn and Essigian of Wisconsin.

E) Cliff is doing the best he can, but Mulcahy isn't the answer for Cliff on offense. Other than floating a couple of passes for dunks, Cliff is still a work in progress and would be better suited with another quick guards who just takes the pull up jumpers and hope Cliff cleans up the misses. There should be offensive rebounds, but Mulcahy hesitates and allows the defense to catch up and then box Cliff out. If Mulcahy attacked the basket and shoots the ball within the rhythm of the game, Cliff would have more rebounds and put backs.

Overall, I thought Nebraska was well prepared for the press, torched it and Pike stayed with it....and it was costly.

But the tempo of the next 2 games of Wisconsin and Michigan, will not look like both Iowa games or this Nebraska game.

The last summary of losing Mag is not solving the Cam Spencer refusal to draw contact or Paul Mulcahy refusing to shoot the ball. And if Mag actually played more, that would mean less Hyatt, since they occupy the same position. RU would have lost 72-62 with Mag playing tonight and played much stronger defense, but lost the 10 to 14 extra points Hyatt provided in his 30 minutes of play.

As fans, Mag is not coming back.....we need to move on, adjust, man up and ask our starting backcourt, to man up and take some time to get focused. If Mulcahy has another passive 1st half at Wisconsin, I'd sit him to start the 2nd half.

If Pike and Knight had the stones they had 3 years ago, they'd pull the plug on Mulcahy starting and elevate Simpson.....it was the same thing when we sent Mathis and Young to the bench and elevated Mulcahy and Caleb to the starting lineup, after losing 5 straight games before winning at Indiana. That turned that season around and salvaged things. It may be time to pull the same thing on Saturday at Wisconsin. Start Simpson, Hyatt, Cliff, Cam and Caleb and let Mulcahy come off the bench with Reiber, Woolfolk and Palmquist to lead the bench.

 

[SBP]

The last 2 games have been eye opening.

A) Pike sped the game up and freed up Nebraska to take and make 3s.....a team with nothing to lose and playing an up tempo game, helped fuel this result.

B) Mulcahy has to be burned out. He's logged a lot of minutes and the fatigue is showing. He needs to recharge and I would cut his minutes down to around 18 to 22 minutes, if the Wisconsin game is another game where he refuses to attack and take the easy floaters or pull up shots. His defense is only decent when he's scoring.

C) Cam Spencer is probably better suited with a quicker guard to drive and kick to him.....the only option is Simpson at this stage.

D) Start Simpson vs Wisconsin. We are in for another low scoring game in the 50s and we really need something off the dribble, to match Hepburn and Essigian of Wisconsin.

E) Cliff is doing the best he can, but Mulcahy isn't the answer for Cliff on offense. Other than floating a couple of passes for dunks, Cliff is still a work in progress and would be better suited with another quick guards who just takes the pull up jumpers and hope Cliff cleans up the misses. There should be offensive rebounds, but Mulcahy hesitates and allows the defense to catch up and then box Cliff out. If Mulcahy attacked the basket and shoots the ball within the rhythm of the game, Cliff would have more rebounds and put backs.

Overall, I thought Nebraska was well prepared for the press, torched it and Pike stayed with it....and it was costly.

But the tempo of the next 2 games of Wisconsin and Michigan, will not look like both Iowa games or this Nebraska game.

The last summary of losing Mag is not solving the Cam Spencer refusal to draw contact or Paul Mulcahy refusing to shoot the ball. And if Mag actually played more, that would mean less Hyatt, since they occupy the same position. RU would have lost 72-62 with Mag playing tonight and played much stronger defense, but lost the 10 to 14 extra points Hyatt provided in his 30 minutes of play.

As fans, Mag is not coming back.....we need to move on, adjust, man up and ask our starting backcourt, to man up and take some time to get focused. If Mulcahy has another passive 1st half at Wisconsin, I'd sit him to start the 2nd half.

If Pike and Knight had the stones they had 3 years ago, they'd pull the plug on Mulcahy starting and elevate Simpson.....it was the same thing when we sent Mathis and Young to the bench and elevated Mulcahy and Caleb to the starting lineup, after losing 5 straight games before winning at Indiana. That turned that season around and salvaged things. It may be time to pull the same thing on Saturday at Wisconsin. Start Simpson, Hyatt, Cliff, Cam and Caleb and let Mulcahy come off the bench with Reiber, Woolfolk and Palmquist to lead the bench.

Curious, why not sit Caleb ? His D is not that great as it was and not much offense at all. Seems rather sloppy and lackadaisical past few games. Thoughts?

 

[Scangg]

Even if you play Simpson more, 18-22 is too little for Paul

 

[RUChoppin]

RU would have lost 72-62 with Mag playing tonight and played much stronger defense, but lost the 10 to 14 extra points Hyatt provided in his 30 minutes of play.

As fans, Mag is not coming back.....we need to move on, adjust, man up and ask our starting backcourt, to man up and take some time to get focused. If Mulcahy has another passive 1st half at Wisconsin, I'd sit him to start the 2nd half.

Hyatt played 30 minutes tonight. He had been averaging about 23.5.... so in about 20% fewer minutes, he'd have scored maybe 5 fewer points. But Mag's 25 minutes would also have meant 18+ fewer minutes for the other starters and improved defense overall.

Mag isn't coming back... but the "connectedness" of the defense may not be coming back either. I don't know if we have the horses to make up for that deficit on the offensive side of the ball - at least not consistently.

 

[Scangg]

Curious, why not sit Caleb ? His D is not that great as it was and not much offense at all. Seems rather sloppy and lackadaisical past few games. Thoughts?

After that defensive performance, the solution is to sit Caleb!?!

 

[Scangg]

Hyatt played 30 minutes tonight. He had been averaging about 23.5.... so in about 20% fewer minutes, he'd have scored maybe 5 fewer points. But Mag's 25 minutes would also have meant 18+ fewer minutes for the other starters and improved defense overall.

Mag isn't coming back... but the "connectedness" of the defense may not be coming back either. I don't know if we have the horses to make up for that deficit on the offensive side of the ball - at least not consistently.

Hawk is in fantasy land when it comes to Mag. He just doesn't get it

 

[ImBadRU]

Mag out three games we lose three games. Do the math. No one has his grit. Hyatt scored tonight but played weak d and doesn't even know how to grab a board.

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

Hawk is in fantasy land when it comes to Mag. He just doesn't get it

Watch the game sir....

Watch Tominaga from mid court with the dribble in the late 1st half, go right by Cam Spencer, who casually drifted out of the way to allow a layup......didn't step in front of the guy, didn't try and draw a charge....didn't even reach in and foul him, when I don't even think anyone was in foul trouble. The defense had 3 total fouls late in the 1st half.....the entire defense was not good. You guys are In fantasy land if you think your entitled to hold every team entering the RAC to somewhere in the 50s....when do we stop making excuses for Spencer and Mulcahy individual defense??

Watch the game again, it's literally in right now on BTN. After sitting in the RAC, watching the crying by Mulcahy, asking for others to help on defense is horrific....when is it ever his fault??

You have to be able to play more than one style of basketball in order to win games. This entitlement attitude by the fans, whining about defense that was #2 in all of CBB a couple of weeks ago, suddenly falls apart because one player exits the lineup??

At some point, Mulcahy has to come off the floor....

his defense isnt good....

His offense is non existent

His hesitation to shoot the ball, completely disrupts the flow of the game and the chemistry and lack of accountability is startling.

We have to have Mulcahy and Spencer play both ends of the court with maximum effort...whining about Mag is not solving anything, he is injured and out. When does that register that all 5 players are connected on the court and the starting guards aren't producing on either end??

 

[RU84]

The problem is our overall offense is average at best. If we don’t play lights out D, it’s tough to win games. Paul and Cam are not the top 1 or 2 scoring options on a ranked team. As a matter of fact, none of our players are. We need to keep playing Hyatt, up Simpson’s minutes and maybe sprinkle in more Palmquist and hope for the best before the wheels completely fall off.

 

[ancienthooper]

Shaving a few minutes is not a terrible idea if you believe there’s a fatigue factor. I’m more inclined to believe it’s a long season and the peaks and valleys are inevitable. But there’s a way to lighten Paul’s minutes without the obvious nut-shot of not starting him. And he’s far from the only guy struggling.

 

[RUSCFORMERLYRULOU]

So on E - you are implicitly stating that we should abandon the Cliff post up game. I actually don’t have an issue with that.

 

[Degaz-RU]

Three games without Mag, three losses.

Sometimes the answer is staring at you right in the face.

 

[RUChoppin]

Team with thin bench and small margin for error loses starter.... This isn't rocket science.

 

[rufeelinit]

While it may be unrealistic to expect to hold teams in the 50's we just do not have enough offensive talent to play games in the 70's and win many of them. Like some of keep saying our margin for error is small on both ends and we need to keep games in the 60's to have a good shot. When we try to go up and down the court like in the first half tonight and the first half of the Illinois game it is fools gold and our defense suffers. We cannot sustain that type of offensive production.

You can single out Paul and Cam and yes Paul has looked lost since the second half in MSG but that first half last night was a total sleepwalker on defense. Cliff is bad on both ends now and while he gets his double doubles if you watch the game you can clearly see his struggles. Caleb was chasing #30 around but was losing him too regularly. You could have given Derick a shot there but he seemed to be matched with Wilcher, who is just too big for the slender Simpson and was just knocking down jumpers all game.

Until recently Pike has done a very good job of making the sum more than the parts but when you lose a key part like Mag, evidently the impact is more significant (primarily on the defensive end) that some might think.

We don't have enough guys who can play straight up man to man defense. Teams have figured out how to beat our help situations. And Nebraska made a lot of shots.

That was just an awful loss and yet with Illinois and Michigan losing it was also an significant opportunity lost although the impact of our positioning in the standing did not suffer as much as it could have. Yet I am now concerned about how these last five games are going to go. This was a must win in my opinion.

 

[RUbacker]

Hawk is in fantasy land when it comes to Mag. He just doesn't get it

He is still in denial about Mag and doubling down on it .

 

[RW90]

Simpson and Caleb are blackholes on offense and will not free up Cam. Caleb only passes last minute when the defense collapses on him giving his receiver no reaction time.

 

[S_Janowski]

11 paragraphs from OP and he failed to admit he was completely wrong about Mags value to this team.

You would think after his first sentence “The last two games have been eye opening” would have been a perfect spot to insert his terrible take on Mag, but he doubles down!

 

[RUskoolie]

They need to shake up the lineup and fast. Bring someone off the bench and get the damn ball to Cliff in the post and everyone else drive to the hoop. Where are the points in the paint and Caleb should not be allowed to shoot 3s he is just as bad as Cliff from 3.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Not going to agree with everything NJH says, but agree with most.

All year I have harped on 2 things in wins and losses

1. We have no bench
2. Our starters are playing so hard, but are playing too many minutes

 

[bac2therac]

Watch the game sir....

Watch Tominaga from mid court with the dribble in the late 1st half, go right by Cam Spencer, who casually drifted out of the way to allow a layup......didn't step in front of the guy, didn't try and draw a charge....didn't even reach in and foul him, when I don't even think anyone was in foul trouble. The defense had 3 total fouls late in the 1st half.....the entire defense was not good. You guys are In fantasy land if you think your entitled to hold every team entering the RAC to somewhere in the 50s....when do we stop making excuses for Spencer and Mulcahy individual defense??

Watch the game again, it's literally in right now on BTN. After sitting in the RAC, watching the crying by Mulcahy, asking for others to help on defense is horrific....when is it ever his fault??

You have to be able to play more than one style of basketball in order to win games. This entitlement attitude by the fans, whining about defense that was #2 in all of CBB a couple of weeks ago, suddenly falls apart because one player exits the lineup??

At some point, Mulcahy has to come off the floor....

his defense isnt good....

His offense is non existent

His hesitation to shoot the ball, completely disrupts the flow of the game and the chemistry and lack of accountability is startling.

We have to have Mulcahy and Spencer play both ends of the court with maximum effort...whining about Mag is not solving anything, he is injured and out. When does that register that all 5 players are connected on the court and the starting guards aren't producing on either end??

I agree with this. Where is the toughness? To allow Nebraska to come into the RAc and simply punk us up the court time and again without givinf sacrificing the body and giving a hard foul. I grew up watching hoops where sometines hard fouls sent a message. Where is our enforcer?

Mag was that guy. Here is where you are wrong. It's a gigantic loss and the remaining players are at a loss to find their way

 

[S_Janowski]

They need to shake up the lineup and fast. Bring someone off the bench and get the damn ball to Cliff in the post and everyone else drive to the hoop. Where are the points in the paint and Caleb should not be allowed to shoot 3s he is just as bad as Cliff from 3.

Agree about shaking the lineup up.

Disagree about getting the damn ball to Cliff in the post.

We’re actually doing too much of that right now - he keeps getting double teamed in the post and is not finding the open man/forcing up terrible shots/hooks.

 

[RUSCFORMERLYRULOU]

Not going to agree with everything NJH says, but agree with most.

All year I have harped on 2 things in wins and losses

1. We have no bench
2. Our starters are playing so hard, but are playing too many minutes

He is not right when it comes to Cliff. Overall, Myles was the better player. Fact.

 

[MiloTalon13]

Agree about shaking the lineup up.

Disagree about getting the damn ball to Cliff in the post.

We’re actually doing too much of that right now - he keeps getting double teamed in the post and is not finding the open man/forcing up terrible shots/hooks.

Not to mention the turnovers we have trying to get it to him.
He's at his best offensively in PnR and moving around so he can catch lobs and chase offensive rebounds.
4 out 1 in trying to get him the ball in the post has been really bad for us

I feel like some of the issues with the team are Pike keeping promises - to get Caleb and Cliff to come back it seems like he told Caleb he could shoot more and Cliff that he'd get him the ball in the post more. Neither has worked out well but they seem committed to it. If that's the price for getting both of those guys back, maybe it was worth it though.

 

[richthedentist]

So on E - you are implicitly stating that we should abandon the Cliff post up game. I actually don’t have an issue with that.

Let’s face it as you know Cliff unfortunately doesn’t have a post up game he can’t establish position gets the ball too far out if he doesn’t lose the ball before he gets it, has no moves and ends up taking a 12 fine line drive hook shot or gets the ball stolen in the double team
His defense awful how many times do guys just go right by him and last night in the first half he didn’t even box his man out at least 4 times he thinks he can just get a rebound because of his athleticism
He is a major disappointment and I still firmly believe he will not even be good enough to play in the G league

 

[SBP]

Watch the game sir....

Watch Tominaga from mid court with the dribble in the late 1st half, go right by Cam Spencer, who casually drifted out of the way to allow a layup......didn't step in front of the guy, didn't try and draw a charge....didn't even reach in and foul him, when I don't even think anyone was in foul trouble. The defense had 3 total fouls late in the 1st half.....the entire defense was not good. You guys are In fantasy land if you think your entitled to hold every team entering the RAC to somewhere in the 50s....when do we stop making excuses for Spencer and Mulcahy individual defense??

Watch the game again, it's literally in right now on BTN. After sitting in the RAC, watching the crying by Mulcahy, asking for others to help on defense is horrific....when is it ever his fault??

You have to be able to play more than one style of basketball in order to win games. This entitlement attitude by the fans, whining about defense that was #2 in all of CBB a couple of weeks ago, suddenly falls apart because one player exits the lineup??

At some point, Mulcahy has to come off the floor....

his defense isnt good....

His offense is non existent

His hesitation to shoot the ball, completely disrupts the flow of the game and the chemistry and lack of accountability is startling.

We have to have Mulcahy and Spencer play both ends of the court with maximum effort...whining about Mag is not solving anything, he is injured and out. When does that register that all 5 players are connected on the court and the starting guards aren't producing on either end??

Paul is a headcase, truly. Slow footed in D. Thing is , last year his play down the stretch got us into the tourney. Where’s THAT Paul?

 

[RUfubar]

Watch Tominaga from mid court with the dribble in the late 1st half, go right by Cam Spencer, who casually drifted out of the way to allow a layup......didn't step in front of the guy, didn't try and draw a charge....didn't even reach in and foul him, when I don't even think anyone was in foul trouble. The defense had 3 total fouls late in the 1st half.....the entire defense was not good. You guys are In fantasy land if you think your entitled to hold every team entering the RAC to somewhere in the 50s....when do we stop making excuses for Spencer and Mulcahy individual defense??

So Spot on

 

[motorb54]

They need to shake up the lineup and fast. Bring someone off the bench and get the damn ball to Cliff in the post and everyone else drive to the hoop. Where are the points in the paint and Caleb should not be allowed to shoot 3s he is just as bad as Cliff from 3.

Trying to get the ball to Cliff in the paint was a big part of why we lost.
How many times was a pass forced that was picked off?
How many times did we get it to Cliff then turned it over when he was doubled?

A soft press would give Nebraska less time to run their offense but our hard press was beaten too often for open looks. And they took advantage by making so many.

Add the usual we don't finish enough when we get a breakaway. How many times do our guys get blocked from the back when it looks like it should be a layup?

Oskar had two wide open looks and did not connect.

So many things contributed to this loss.

 

[DennisHajekRC84]

Not going to agree with everything NJH says, but agree with most.

All year I have harped on 2 things in wins and losses

1. We have no bench
2. Our starters are playing so hard, but are playing too many minutes

Ditto

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

Three games without Mag, three losses.

Sometimes the answer is staring at you right in the face.

If we lost to Michigan State, didn't play determined defense at MSG, you would be correct. What is the excuse for winning the 2H clearly vs MSU and playing pretty well for the last 25 minutes at Indiana.....and a relatively clean 1H vs Illinois??

The lack of respect for Indiana and Illinois on the road is absurd. They have better rosters top to bottom, player to player. To suggest Mag added to the RU lineup is better than both Indiana and Illinois on the road is silly.

I know it's tough to digest that RU was in Nebraskas situation when RHJ, Mathis were freshman, Geo and Myles were sophomores and RU went from 3 B1G wins to 7-10 in the B1G....it took a banked 3 point attempt off the side of the backboard vs Iowa that was a gut punch during the rebuild....that RU team never recovered and lost the last 3 regular season games, including a missed Myles Johnson dunk vs PSU at the RAC.

Nebraska is playing better basketball and the results show that. Maybe RU came in looking ahead or past Nebraska and didn't have the intensity needed. But I keep seeing Mag is the factor, but no one wants to tell me who is actually going to shoot the ball and score, if Mag was playing 32 to 34 minutes a game??

Are you saying Mag and Hyatt were both going to play 30 minutes each and you're taking Cam Spencer, Caleb or Paul out of the lineup?? LMAO

Mag was a very good defender, but our offense was struggling to reach 60 to 65 points, with Mulcahy playing well and shooting the ball.

What you and other lazy takes by fans fail to realize is Paul's play has fallen off a cliff since MSG, which we won when Mag went out. If Paul was playing well, scoring 10 to 12 PPG and Cam was scoring 10 to 12 and Hyatt, Caleb, Cliff, then YES, then I would say Mag is the only variable.

Paul and Cam Spencer are FAR more critical to this 3 game streak than Mag....but if you and other fans want to ignore the obvious, knock yourself out.

Hyatt rang up 24 points. He would not have 18 shot attempts if Mag was healthy and playing. Let's assume he has 10 shot attempts and Mag took 8.

You would not have 5 3s made from Mag, so RU might have allowed 10 less points if Mag played, but we would have scored 10 fewer points, if Hyatt doesn't play 30 minutes.

The final score would have been 72-62 Nebraska if Mag and Hyatt played and you still get the same 10 points from Paul and Cam. It's insanity to say there's a 15 to 20 point swing on the scoreboard from a 10 point loss to a 5 or 10 point win......and attempt to place that 15 to 20 point swing on the scoreboard, at the feet of Mag not playing.

 

[DennisHajekRC84]

If we lost to Michigan State, didn't play determined defense at MSG, you would be correct. What is the excuse for winning the 2H clearly vs MSU and playing pretty well for the last 25 minutes at Indiana.....and a relatively clean 1H vs Illinois??

The lack of respect for Indiana and Illinois on the road is absurd. They have better rosters top to bottom, player to player. To suggest Mag added to the RU lineup is better than both Indiana and Illinois on the road is silly.

I know it's tough to digest that RU was in Nebraskas situation when RHJ, Mathis were freshman, Geo and Myles were sophomores and RU went from 3 B1G wins to 7-10 in the B1G....it took a banked 3 point attempt off the side of the backboard vs Iowa that was a gut punch during the rebuild....that RU team never recovered and lost the last 3 regular season games, including a missed Myles Johnson dunk vs PSU at the RAC.

Nebraska is playing better basketball and the results show that. Maybe RU came in looking ahead or past Nebraska and didn't have the intensity needed. But I keep seeing Mag is the factor, but no one wants to tell me who is actually going to shoot the ball and score, if Mag was playing 32 to 34 minutes a game??

Are you saying Mag and Hyatt were both going to play 30 minutes each and you're taking Cam Spencer, Caleb or Paul out of the lineup?? LMAO

Mag was a very good defender, but our offense was struggling to reach 60 to 65 points, with Mulcahy playing well and shooting the ball.

What you and other lazy takes by fans fail to realize is Paul's play has fallen off a cliff since MSG, which we won when Mag went out. If Paul was playing well, scoring 10 to 12 PPG and Cam was scoring 10 to 12 and Hyatt, Caleb, Cliff, then YES, then I would say Mag is the only variable.

Paul and Cam Spencer are FAR more critical to this 3 game streak than Mag....but if you and other fans want to ignore the obvious, knock yourself out.

Hyatt rang up 24 points. He would not have 18 shot attempts if Mag was healthy and playing. Let's assume he has 10 shot attempts and Mag took 8.

You would not have 5 3s made from Mag, so RU might have allowed 10 less points if Mag played, but we would have scored 10 fewer points, if Hyatt doesn't play 30 minutes.

The final score would have been 72-62 Nebraska if Mag and Hyatt played and you still get the same 10 points from Paul and Cam. It's insanity to say there's a 15 to 20 point swing on the scoreboard from a 10 point loss to a 5 or 10 point win......and attempt to place that 15 to 20 point swing on the scoreboard, at the feet of Mag not playing.

you seem to be giving Cliff's play of late a free pass. You're not concerned with the silly fouls in key moments, the lack of on ball defense, the turnovers, or his shot selection/execution on non-dunks?

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

A
Mag was a very good defender, but our offense was struggling to reach 60 to 65 points, with Mulcahy playing well and shooting the ball.


B
The final score would have been 72-62 Nebraska if Mag and Hyatt played and you still get the same 10 points from Paul and Cam. It's insanity to say there's a 15 to 20 point swing on the scoreboard from a 10 point loss to a 5 or 10 point win......and attempt to place that 15 to 20 point swing on the scoreboard, at the feet of Mag not playing.

A. We were winning scoring 63-69 points and with everyone healthy a Top 10 team (from a metrics standpoint) and a Top 15 team to my eyeballs.

B. I reject this completely. Half court offenses were completely disrupted by our starting 5. We pushed offense back a few feet and got in lanes.

Your valid question...does 1 guy (mag) make that much of a difference? I think so. The majority of the board is saying Pike stayed in the press too long. What does the game look like with Mag instead of Mulcahy or Spencer leading it.

How many minutes does mag take away from Spencer and even Mulcahy last night? Does Pike have to get so desperate he puts Simpson and Miller out hoping to get stops?

 

[fluoxetine]

I know it's tough to digest that RU was in Nebraskas situation when RHJ, Mathis were freshman, Geo and Myles were sophomores and RU went from 3 B1G wins to 7-10 in the B1G....it took a banked 3 point attempt off the side of the backboard vs Iowa that was a gut punch during the rebuild....that RU team never recovered and lost the last 3 regular season games, including a missed Myles Johnson dunk vs PSU at the RAC.

This is not correct.. that Iowa game was earlier in the season. We won games after that, including blowing out Iowa on the road.

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

you seem to be giving Cliff's play of late a free pass. You're not concerned with the silly fouls in key moments, the lack of on ball defense, the turnovers, or his shot selection/execution on non-dunks?

Cliff, despite his hands not being ideal, had a double double in 6 out of his last 7 games on offense. His defense, while not perfect, falls off to a non factor, since Reiber and Woolfolk are so green or not ready for major minutes.

If we can show an equation of RU getting to 65 to 70 points with Mulcahy taking 3 or 4 total shot attempts and Spencer not getting to the FT line, to take advantage of what he does best, I'd love to see the numbers.

Mulcahy (if he doesn't shoot at least 10 shots per game, is going to score 4 to 6PPG if he only takes 3 to 4 shots. Let's give Paul 5 PTS, in your scenario.

If Spencer isn't left wide open, let's give him 8 to 10PTS

Caleb, is probably good for 8 to 12 PTS.

In a BEST case scenario, I'm giving you 12 points from Caleb and 10 with Spencer, unless a team falls asleep and allows him 5 or 6 open 3s....let's assume he makes 2 and a couple of 2 pointers.

If Paul doesn't score, that's 3 players totaling 27 points. If you add Mag to the lineup and he's averaging 8PPG, let's assume I even give Mag another 2PPG and give him 10PPG. Thats 37 points.

That leaves Cliff, Hyatt (off the bench with 20 minutes or less if Mag is playing. I can give Hyatt more than 10PPG in less than 20 minutes, but let's assume we give him 8PPG.

We are now totaling 45 points, before factoring in Cliff. If Cliff scores 15, we are still at 60, which is where we have landed in MOST B1G games.

60 PTS without a variable bench contribution of Simpson or Reiber/Woolfork is not a lock for an additional 10PPG, there's not enough minutes spread around to ask for that.

This is simple math. The starting back court HAS to score....they have to get to the FT line. And they are playing 30 to 35 minutes a game.

How this gets lost and assigned to Mag, is flat out wrong. If you look at the numbers, Mag is not responsible for dropping Nebraska from 82 points into the low 60s.....and that's with Hyatt scoring 24, which is a huge outlier.

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

This is not correct.. that Iowa game was earlier in the season. We won games after that, including blowing out Iowa on the road.

You are correct we had the rematch and Thiam hit like 3 or 4 3s, winning at Iowa. It might have been the PSU missed dunk that would have put us at 8-10 in the B1G and we lost the final 2 games and then the B1G tournament game to Nebraska.

 

[goru7]

Hawk, I am with you with the failure of Paul and Cam and I would add Cliff to the list as to why we are not winning .
However, totally against your take on the impact of Mag . He impacted the offensive and defensive end along with intangibles you are ignoring

. First, he is at the head of the press and his speed , intensity, length. , his 1 man press label causing deflections and steals , is no longer there and made us the best most elite defense in the country.

Second , his offensive game , especially his post game and his drives ( 2 against MSU) gave us a second Lowe post scorer besides Cliff. He averaged over 10 points a game in the last 7 before he got hurt and was about to score a layup to be 9 points when he tore his ACL . He likely scores 15-20 and a career high. Teams now had to account for another offensive threat and that alone should free up Cam for kick outs and Mag was a willing passer.
Third , his rebounding on both ends is missed as Cliff refuses to box out to get rebounds and we are getting torched on the glass defensively. Mag also was our best offensive rebounder. Mag’s loss directly affected our loss at Illinois In that 19-0 run as Rogers dominated the glass with his offensive and defensive rebounding that likely doesn’t happen that way with Mag nor are we held scoreless

Fourth , Mag gave Cliff help in the post and doubled like against TJD to mask what we are seeing defensively from Cliff which is embarrassingly bad, where he refuses to deny the post , refuses to front his man , allowing deep touches and not being able to block the soft hooks over him.

Fifth , all the intangibles that do not show up on the stat sheet , the deflections , the energy he brings , the hockey assists he makes , the toughness on the boards and defending 1- 5. , all of which are not on any stat sheet.

Sixth, Caleb and Mag are 2 of the best defenders in our league if not the country , especially since Aundre is not , so our overall defense is weaker.

Finally , with Cam in a funk , Pike should have but probably would not have subbed Andre for Cam and play him at the 3 more of Cam ‘s minutes then Aundre gets his 7-14 shots per game.

 

[S_Janowski]

If we lost to Michigan State, didn't play determined defense at MSG, you would be correct. What is the excuse for winning the 2H clearly vs MSU and playing pretty well for the last 25 minutes at Indiana.....and a relatively clean 1H vs Illinois??

The lack of respect for Indiana and Illinois on the road is absurd. They have better rosters top to bottom, player to player. To suggest Mag added to the RU lineup is better than both Indiana and Illinois on the road is silly.

I know it's tough to digest that RU was in Nebraskas situation when RHJ, Mathis were freshman, Geo and Myles were sophomores and RU went from 3 B1G wins to 7-10 in the B1G....it took a banked 3 point attempt off the side of the backboard vs Iowa that was a gut punch during the rebuild....that RU team never recovered and lost the last 3 regular season games, including a missed Myles Johnson dunk vs PSU at the RAC.

Nebraska is playing better basketball and the results show that. Maybe RU came in looking ahead or past Nebraska and didn't have the intensity needed. But I keep seeing Mag is the factor, but no one wants to tell me who is actually going to shoot the ball and score, if Mag was playing 32 to 34 minutes a game??

Are you saying Mag and Hyatt were both going to play 30 minutes each and you're taking Cam Spencer, Caleb or Paul out of the lineup?? LMAO

Mag was a very good defender, but our offense was struggling to reach 60 to 65 points, with Mulcahy playing well and shooting the ball.

What you and other lazy takes by fans fail to realize is Paul's play has fallen off a cliff since MSG, which we won when Mag went out. If Paul was playing well, scoring 10 to 12 PPG and Cam was scoring 10 to 12 and Hyatt, Caleb, Cliff, then YES, then I would say Mag is the only variable.

Paul and Cam Spencer are FAR more critical to this 3 game streak than Mag....but if you and other fans want to ignore the obvious, knock yourself out.

Hyatt rang up 24 points. He would not have 18 shot attempts if Mag was healthy and playing. Let's assume he has 10 shot attempts and Mag took 8.

You would not have 5 3s made from Mag, so RU might have allowed 10 less points if Mag played, but we would have scored 10 fewer points, if Hyatt doesn't play 30 minutes.

The final score would have been 72-62 Nebraska if Mag and Hyatt played and you still get the same 10 points from Paul and Cam. It's insanity to say there's a 15 to 20 point swing on the scoreboard from a 10 point loss to a 5 or 10 point win......and attempt to place that 15 to 20 point swing on the scoreboard, at the feet of Mag not playing.

Hyatts 24 points are meaningless when we give up 82 points.

We lost and we will pretty much lose all games when we give up more than 65 points.

I’m not blaming Hyatt for the loss/82 points but your takes on anything related to Mags loss are crap.

 

[Mr Magoo]

Let’s face it as you know Cliff unfortunately doesn’t have a post up game he can’t establish position gets the ball too far out if he doesn’t lose the ball before he gets it, has no moves and ends up taking a 12 fine line drive hook shot or gets the ball stolen in the double team
His defense awful how many times do guys just go right by him and last night in the first half he didn’t even box his man out at least 4 times he thinks he can just get a rebound because of his athleticism
He is a major disappointment and I still firmly believe he will not even be good enough to play in the G league

His athleticism might get him in the G league and he can probably play in Europe (though the European game does not help him). It’s disappointing that he has not progressed and I can’t imagine how an extra year here will help him either. Incredibly athletic, but no offense, no hands, and horrible defense. Basically, what he was two years ago albeit a little stronger and we go to him more often.

 

[MiloTalon13]

We lost and we will pretty much lose all games when we give up more than 65 points.

This 100%
If we press and a team breaks it by attaching and speeds up the game, and we keep pressing, we're going to lose. We have to keep the game at our pace and keep our opponents in the low 60's or lower.

 

[MiloTalon13]

His athleticism might get him in the G league and he can probably play in Europe (though the European game does not help him). It’s disappointing that he has not progressed and I can’t imagine how an extra year here will help him either. Incredibly athletic, but no offense, no hands, and horrible defense. Basically, what he was two years ago albeit a little stronger and we go to him more often.

Is it just me, or do we get him far fewer lob passes this year? He's an elite lob-catcher/finisher and we seem to have gone away from that.

 

[Mr Magoo]

Is it just me, or do we get him far fewer lob passes this year? He's an elite lob-catcher/finisher and we seem to have gone away from that.

Teams have been doing a better job taking that away. Basically whenever Mulcahy gets near the paint, teams know he wants do do it.