I am posting now, because I was too upset about last night's loss, and needed a day to collect my thoughts. I've read many of your posts here and agree and disagree (mainly agree) with much that has been written about.
So here's my take: Losing Mag WAS a big deal. Not so much for his offense, but for all of the intangibles he brought to the team. The first one IMO, is chemistry. The chemistry was working beautifully for the most part on D. Yes, Mag only scored about 8 points a game on average, but what he brought on the defensive side was a big deal. That's especially true around the basket. In addition, Mag was the glue in our press and the changing of the defenses. Without Mag, Paul and Cam have been exposed. Those two need to pick up their game and I think Simpson needs to play more especially if Paul continues to slog his way through.
Now, for the game last night. I thought Pike should have stopped the press after we nearly tied the game at 42-41. We allowed their team to speed us up, and they were not only breaking the press, but getting open looks in the process. I also thought we should have mixed up our defenses more and cut off all of the 3 point shots by playing more 2-3, 1-3-1 and match zone and not man-to-man. They were killing us on ball screens at the top and were knocking down 3 point shots with reckless abandon.
Nebraska averages 6 made threes a game. Last night they made 12. We gave them too many opportunities and Wilcher and Tominaga just killed us throughout the game. One would hope the law of averages would even out, but last night they stayed hot, and I believe we opened that door by pressing too much. If Nebraska had held to its average, we would have won this game, 72-64. But for argument sake, let's say they shot the ball better and hit 8 3 point shots, still above their average. We still win the game in a squeaker 72-70. But obviously that didn't happen. Based on the way we have played this season, 72 points should have been more than enough to win, excluding our play against Iowa.
Where Mag is missed the most, Paul and Cam and others have not picked up the slack. That IMO, is one of the main reasons, of our 3 game losing streak. I don't want to blame all or even a fair amount of this on Paul, be he has regressed and lost confidence. Pike needs to get him mentally back. He needs to make more shots, while Caleb needs to make less shots. Caleb, btw, is effective from 15 feet in. Period. I don't want to see him take more than 1 3 point shot a game, and preferably zero. Hyatt needs to keep shooting and so does Cam.
The other concern I have, is Pike not creating plays for Cam. Cam, IMO, started to come out of his slump last night. Not lights out like in the beginning of B1G play, but enough to see a glimmer of what can happen when he's knocking down more shots. I would also like to see him drive more to the basket as should Paul and Caleb and get to the charity stripe.
As to Cliff, Pike and the coaches need for him to understand that when he receives the ball he needs to turn and go right to the basket and not allow the double team to bottle him up. He should never put the ball on the floor unless he's isolated. I also think Pike needs to spread the floor more and allow for more isolations for Cliff as well as Cliff being able to kick the ball out and not allow two or more guys to surround him. And I would like to see him receive the ball closer to the basket and not fifteen feet away.
Lastly, I was so down after last night's loss, I don't know if we can get back the juice to squeeze out 3 more wins. Are we capable? Of course. But these last 3 games have been a debacle. Pike, Hobbs and Knight, need to figure this whole thing out fast or forget 5 and 6 seeds in the NCAA tourney, we won't be in the Tourney if we keep playing like this.
