I think your forgetting how much of a brick Gavin was at the beginning when he tried running some plays for him. Kid couldn’t buy a basket. There’s a delicate balance and it’s not as simple as getting the other guys on the court to buy into plays running through a kid who can’t hit a shot to save his life. At a certain point Pike couldn’t do that anymore. But he also couldn’t just sit Gavin because he thought the kid was here for the long haul and he didn’t want it to seem like he gives up easily on recruits who don’t perform. So he had to at least check him into games. But they were token appearances. Gavin would miss a couple shots and then get pulled.
Not that it matters....
- Thread starter ru66
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I think your forgetting how much of a brick Gavin was at the beginning when he tried running some plays for him. Kid couldn’t buy a basket. There’s a delicate balance and it’s not as simple as getting the other guys on the court to buy into plays running through a kid who can’t hit a shot to save his life. At a certain point Pike couldn’t do that anymore. But he also couldn’t just sit Gavin because he thought the kid was here for the long haul and he didn’t want it to seem like he gives up easily on recruits who don’t perform. So he had to at least check him into games. But they were token appearances. Gavin would miss a couple shots and then get pulled.
Also known as, I believe in my own speculation so you're not going to change my opinion. 🤣 🤣 🤣
I guess this is it…..but wasnt he set up for failure.
2 things i don’t understand…….
1. How could any player who has played basketball as much and as long as Gavin not know how to play man D and not be able to track his man and the ball. That is 101 stuff
2. With that in mind how could Pike start him Day 1 against Princeton.
1. Big difference between HS in a weak conference and high major college
2. Gavin lost his confidence once shots started not falling. He started rushing wide open shots, missing wide open threes and generally making bad decisions by pressing too much trying to live up to the ranking. How could you not see this?
Definitely the least fundamental understanding I’ve ever seen on D from a college player when he arrived. My response to 2 is unclear, but my thinking is that Pike knew we would have a pretty good D overall and he was used to guys like Caleb being able to bail out guys like Paul who were a liability on D so he thought it would come together and the other guys would compensate. It might’ve worked out okay with GG learning D on the go if Gavin came in and had the kind of year that a guy like Geo Baker had shooting the ball on offense as a frosh or heck even Caleb. Gavin wasn’t just mediocre - he was a complete brick.
I think this is a complicated story that we probably will not much more than we do now.
The entire team was not ready to start the season, it wasn’t just Gavin. Mitch Henderson badly outcoached Pike to start the season, and Princeton literally beat us by crashing the boards and out hustling us. Things actually got worse from there, the effort against Stonehill, who showed up with six scholarship players and took us to the final possession and probably should have won, blowing a layup in the last 40 seconds that could have put the game out of reach. The team was not ready to play to start the season and players didn’t know their roles.
That said, Gavin certainly look lost, and some of that falls on him.
He just had surgery, and the press reports that he was hurt in November (we have no way to know if this timing is true). Who knows how much this affected his play or shooting? If he had shot better, everyone would have looked past struggling on D, given that no one was playing particularly well. If he was in fact hurt in November, did he even tell the staff, or did he try to play through it?
We don’t know what Pike told Gavin and his family about how they would use him. The refrains that Pike runs no offense are not true, but he hasn’t run a particularly sophisticated offense. Did we not use him the way we told him we would, or was are offense a poor fit for the type of player that he is?
I was personally very high on Gavin and expected a lot more from him last year, and it just didn’t work out. Will be interesting to see how he does at Nebraska, but given everything that happened it is probably best for all parties that he moved on.
What does this have to do with the post you responded to? Green was talking about Gavin’s defense. His lack of understanding had nothing whatsoever to do with his shooting on the other end or confidence. It was very obvious that he had no idea how to play help D in a man scheme when he entered college. Thats what Green was asking about.
Gavin was in the lineup for his offense not his defense. People need to stop thinking every single guy on the roster has to be great defensively to see time.
What are people going to say this year when Ace or Lathan are subpar on defense? They are going to play regardless.
Green knows he was playing for offense. His question is asking something different.
Gavin wasn’t your typical weak defender. It wasn’t that Gavin was an unwilling defender (he hustled) or too slow (he had the physical agility to be servicable at minimum) - he had no idea what to do, and Green is still scratching his head about how that could be.
It’s like this (Green feel free to correct me - just recounting what I’ve observed with my boys in club ball). In second grade club ball, coaches often just tell kids - “guard number X and don’t leave his side. Stick to that guy like glue”. It’s a simple introduction to the game with instructions that an 8 year old can easily follow- but in many ways creates bad habits because by grade 4 man D coaching stresses the opposite. Don’t just follow your man blindly. “see ball and man - position your body in between them to facilitate” - above all else - never turn your back to the ball or lose sight of where it is - if you do, you become a useless defender. The transition is a challenge for most kids but the ones who are serious about basketball eventually get it to some degree with enough reps. Some better than others - but all of them learn by middle school that losing sight of the ball is the worst thing they can do. Some coaches even instruct kids if they ever do lose their man to drop coverage immediately, find the guy with the ball and double team him. There is no point guarding someone off ball if you don’t know where the ball is because if your guy does receive the ball you won’t see it coming and will get beat every time (once you get to a level where everyone can dribble). Thats why Green found it so fascinating that Gavin came in focused on following around his guy blindly like a very young or inexperienced novice. He had no concept of help or switches because he very often had no idea where the ball was (that’s different from the Jaden Jones, Paul, PJ types). It wasn’t a matter of being up against more athletic guys or getting used to a faster pace or laziness. He inexplicably didn’t even understand the objective it seemed. But how could it be that he was never taught in all the years?
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I agree with all of this. It still doesn’t explain Green’s observation though. Gavin would’ve looked lost in man coverage last November in a MEAC game. It had nothing to do with talent - his D is vastly improved from his starting point simply because his starting point was ground zero. He had no clue.
Yes. I coached both of my kids rec basketball teams. My players knew the ball you man triangle. Every practice for 5 minutes. Rec basketball was all the kids who didnt play travel or had other primary sports.
I got your point. Even at the most basic level the concepts are taught so it was really bizarre seeing a collegiate player (never mind a 4 star recruit in the BIG) not trying to position his body to be able to see both his man and the ball. Rec coaching is a crap shoot. In our town, they have to beg enough dads to do it so you don’t always end up with a coach who knows much about basketball.
But I agree with you. In competitive basketball, even coaches that focus on offense still teach D fundamentals in terms of how to do it / what the objective is. I don’t recall seeing that before in a college game or even a high school one. It was so strange. The only thing I can think of is that his HS team must’ve played zone. By HS AAU ball is all iso stuff and little coaching / schemes. When he was younger - perhaps he was always assigned to defend the weakest player on the court who didn’t get many touches so it wasn’t that noticeable? Only thing I can think of.
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I know we are beating a dead horse, here ... and I am adding to it.
So ... Griffiths and his defense:
1) After he committed and signed to go to RU, he specifically said the primary motivation was because he knew Pikiell could teach him how to play defense - which he stated he wished to do.
2) On Griffiths and his defense: Sigh ... until the last 4-6 games, not only was he completely lost on help defense (and I mean COMPLETELY lost), but he could not even play on-ball defense, getting beaten by the guy he was defending one on one almost every play. That is a very bad combination, that really stressed the team's defense as well as the rotation and help defense from other teammates. He literally could not be played without really hurting the team in those few minutes of play.
The ONLY way to justify getting more playing time given just how bad his defense was, would have been to hit 40% plus of his 3-point shots ... which he did not come close to doing. To offset his horrible, hurtful defensive play he needed to be a near star on offense ... which he was not.
I hope he does well at Nebraska, except against RU, but when Pikiell told him his likely role at RU (presumably this year and in future years), Griffiths and his "crew" decided another place would be better. Which is his right, and fine by me. If a player does not want to be a part of the team, and does not accept the role set out for them, they SHOULD go elsewhere. It would not be good for the team to have players who do not want to be there.
Ironically, I think earlier in this thread, I went through the Nebraska roster, and it sure looks like Griffiths not only won't start, but will have to fight 2 or 3 other players for maybe 25 total minutes per game between those 3-4 players (including Griffiths).
So ... Griffiths and his defense:
1) After he committed and signed to go to RU, he specifically said the primary motivation was because he knew Pikiell could teach him how to play defense - which he stated he wished to do.
2) On Griffiths and his defense: Sigh ... until the last 4-6 games, not only was he completely lost on help defense (and I mean COMPLETELY lost), but he could not even play on-ball defense, getting beaten by the guy he was defending one on one almost every play. That is a very bad combination, that really stressed the team's defense as well as the rotation and help defense from other teammates. He literally could not be played without really hurting the team in those few minutes of play.
The ONLY way to justify getting more playing time given just how bad his defense was, would have been to hit 40% plus of his 3-point shots ... which he did not come close to doing. To offset his horrible, hurtful defensive play he needed to be a near star on offense ... which he was not.
I hope he does well at Nebraska, except against RU, but when Pikiell told him his likely role at RU (presumably this year and in future years), Griffiths and his "crew" decided another place would be better. Which is his right, and fine by me. If a player does not want to be a part of the team, and does not accept the role set out for them, they SHOULD go elsewhere. It would not be good for the team to have players who do not want to be there.
Ironically, I think earlier in this thread, I went through the Nebraska roster, and it sure looks like Griffiths not only won't start, but will have to fight 2 or 3 other players for maybe 25 total minutes per game between those 3-4 players (including Griffiths).
I don’t disagree with what your saying Lion, but with the on-ball D - I don’t think it was a typical footwork / mechanics thing as much as it was that he was a step slow in coverage because he was generally just confused about where he needed to be / go. In the limited possessions where we played zone, his on ball coverage seemed ok. Honestly - when he left RU I thought he’d end up transferring to a system like Syracuse where he’d go back to zone. It would have been one less thing for him to focus on.
We're doing this again?
Don't waste your words.
Apparently we outscored our opponents by 35pts every game.
But then Gavin played 15 minutes and we ended up losing the game by 15pts.
There are 200 playable minutes in a game.
Gavin's 15 minutes outweighed the entire rest of the teams 185 minutes.
Without Gavin pretty sure we win the Big Ten easily. Giving those precious minutes to Oskar, AWill and Noah instead.
Same here. A parks and rec employee had to ref a team one year.
It is real simple...defensive team had to point to their man (in practice) with 1 hand and the ball with the other. It become natural after a few practices.
Funny story....they have an evaluation day to try and make the teams fair. The evaluation day was my son's travel baseball practice. The town put all the kids who didn't evaluate all on the same team. My team was basically the baseball travel team. The season became not fun as we blew everyone out. 1 day I had the bright idea of telling the team they could only take 3 pointers in order to keep the game close at half. Of course we made a bunch of them and it wasn't close.
Settle down Keith van Horn!We're doing this again?
Don't waste your words.
Apparently we outscored our opponents by 35pts every game.
But then Gavin played 15 minutes and we ended up losing the game by 15pts.
There are 200 playable minutes in a game.
Gavin's 15 minutes outweighed the entire rest of the teams 185 minutes.
Without Gavin pretty sure we win the Big Ten easily. Giving those precious minutes to Oskar, AWill and Noah instead.
Answer me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
1. Was chemistry bad?
2. Did some players flat out refuse to pass to Gavin when he was open?
3. Do we win Game 1 vs Princeton if Gavin doesn't play?
There are 2 issues
1. Gavin's actual play
2. The effect on the team when a guy plays that doesn't deserve to play
Do we win the B1G if Gavin wasn't on the team? Of course not
Is it a stretch to think we pick up 3-4 more wins if Gavin isn't there? I don't think so.
just a little post from game 8 vs Wake Forest. When I say it might not be a stretch we win 3-4 games...this could be 1 of them.
You are signaling the 8th player in MPG.
The contention is that this such han overwhelming impact that he outweighed the 7 players ahead of him.
That's quite the impact.
What's your opinion of HC Pike then?
Sounds like if your premise is accurate, he completely threw away a potentially very successful season.
Does Gavin also get credit for the 4 game win streak? Clearly JWill wasn't the key since he (in more minutes) can't even overcome Gavins impact.
Had no idea how ineffective JWill, JMike and and Clif were. They played over 3x more minutes than Gavin (77mpg to 18mpg) and couldn't adequately compensate.
Guess their defense (and HC Pike's coaching) wasn't actually that good?
If the 8th player in playing time can take a season.
Guess their defense (and HC Pike's coaching) wasn't actually that good?
If the 8th player in playing time can take a season.
Sorry, Gavin did not affect wins and losses last year, as I pointed out above, the entire team played poorly pretty much all year, but was especially bad in the first half. If Rutgers had played Cooper Flagg’s Monteverde high school team, and displayed the lack of effort, poor play and poor shooting of the Stonehill game, we would have lost to them by 20 points.
He did play like 44% of available minutes. Blast me if it is a bad analogy...what happens to an offensive line if 1 lineman does a terrible job at pass blocking. Gavin was that bad on defense.
I have a VERY high opinion of Pike. In his years I think he got 2 things wrong....Gavin and D Freeman.
However piggybacking on PSAL hoops and others have said. Not easy to get a Top 20 recruit and ghost him once the season starts.
Don't underestimate the impact on chemistry....3 dynamics that were obvious. 1. Team didn't respect Derek Simpson 2. Multiple players refused to pass to Gavin 3. Mag disaster
Is this just Greene being a contrarian?
Here - Criticize pike for playing him too much ?
But then doesn’t he also criticize pike for not setting things up more for him?
Maybe the kid just didn’t perform?!!!!!!
That’s what I saw.
IMHO pike handled him appropriately:
- gave a chance early.
- Pulled him quickly in the meat of the season (when GG was clearly not getting it done)
- then gave him AMPLE opportunity once the season was lost (and still hardly lit the world on fire)
The kid under performed. By a wide margin compared to expectations.
Greene just seems to like to argue and from what I see talks out of both sides of his mouth in doing so
Maybe Gavin didn't buy into doing other things, like rebounding, knowing the scouting reports of your opponents, finding the weight room and actually putting the work in.
I was 100% convinced that at 6'8", the kid would get stronger and find minutes at multiple spots, which would require him actually getting bodied and playing through contact.....and even with Mag sulking and not playing early, Gavin never seized the opportunity to present himself as a starter at multiple positions, which he easily could have, if he bought in...... He was a priority recruit for Iowa and Michigan under Juwan Howard and both programs are offense-first and carry the label of being "soft" programs....
At the end of the day, Griffiths is going to either develop the toughness needed to be a starter at this level that matters beyond his 3 point shooting, or he's not.
In terms of 2024-25 for RU, it takes 15 to 20 minutes of practice this summer, to see PJ Hayes and Derkack are better players, better rebounders and playmakers, if you combine what Hayes and Derkack bring to the table.
That means that Hayes is simply a better 3 point shooter than Gavin ever could hope to be in 2024-25.....and in those games where Hayes isn't a good matchup for defense or isnt making shots, we have Derkack to mix in and be a better defender.
Griffiths was never going to be anywhere close to Derkack as a playmaking wing and not near Hayes as a shooter over 30+ games. So the games where Gavin doesn't hit shots, he becomes a double-negative......no 3 point offense, and an unwilling defender/rebounder.
That's a combination that is unplayable in major college basketball, if you are trying to actually win games......you have to have ONE distinctive strength to your game....right now, until Gavin hits 3s and decides to play at 6'8, closer to the basket, where he rebounds, he's unplayable at this B1G level.
I was 100% convinced that at 6'8", the kid would get stronger and find minutes at multiple spots, which would require him actually getting bodied and playing through contact.....and even with Mag sulking and not playing early, Gavin never seized the opportunity to present himself as a starter at multiple positions, which he easily could have, if he bought in...... He was a priority recruit for Iowa and Michigan under Juwan Howard and both programs are offense-first and carry the label of being "soft" programs....
At the end of the day, Griffiths is going to either develop the toughness needed to be a starter at this level that matters beyond his 3 point shooting, or he's not.
In terms of 2024-25 for RU, it takes 15 to 20 minutes of practice this summer, to see PJ Hayes and Derkack are better players, better rebounders and playmakers, if you combine what Hayes and Derkack bring to the table.
That means that Hayes is simply a better 3 point shooter than Gavin ever could hope to be in 2024-25.....and in those games where Hayes isn't a good matchup for defense or isnt making shots, we have Derkack to mix in and be a better defender.
Griffiths was never going to be anywhere close to Derkack as a playmaking wing and not near Hayes as a shooter over 30+ games. So the games where Gavin doesn't hit shots, he becomes a double-negative......no 3 point offense, and an unwilling defender/rebounder.
That's a combination that is unplayable in major college basketball, if you are trying to actually win games......you have to have ONE distinctive strength to your game....right now, until Gavin hits 3s and decides to play at 6'8, closer to the basket, where he rebounds, he's unplayable at this B1G level.
What do you think Pike did wrong with Freeman? That was just a tough year talent wise I think.
I agree with you about the Princeton game. It seemed like every time we would find our groove and get some stops on D Gavin would sub in and it was a back door clinic on his man over and over again because he didn’t see the ball. It wasn’t so much the number of minutes he played as situationally how he’d come in and the D would fall apart. And we’re a D first team so it felt devastating at the time. The WF game kind of felt like that too where we would put together some stops to cut the deficit and he’d come back in and their lead would balloon. I’m not sure we were winning that one anyway though.
The game that stands out to me as the biggest morale killer with Gavin was the first OSU game because that was a game we could’ve and should’ve won. Not only was his D bad in that game, but his usage was off the charts (a shot every 2 minutes) and he only made 1 of 8. Forget Oskar or the rest of the bench - there was no reason for Hyatt with 9 points and 10 rebounds to only play 23 minutes in that game. And if Gavin was going to play to give others a rest why did he have to take so many shots? Derek any Noah were scoring that day. The loss carried over to the Iowa game where Gavin once again struggled (I’d pull short of blaming the loss on him but there were certainly better options with the 9 minutes he played. And there was a reason his time was scaled back. I’d guess that time period between Ohio State and Iowa was where Pike was feeling the brunt of his dilemma. Gavin stood out as awful and at that point his paper stats spoke for themselves. Yet again - he goes 0-5 in 9 minutes in the small amount of time he’s given.
Can't speak for the OSU game but I specifically did a detailed breakdown of GG in the Princeton game.
He gave up 2 baskets. Not repeated backcuts.
As a reminder, he played the least minutes on the team - 13min.
There was an entire 27min of gametime that didn't include him.
https://rutgers.forums.rivals.com/t...-specifically-watched-gavin-griffiths.269178/
One OL who is on the field for 1.5 quarters.
There is still 2.5 quarters where that OL is on the bench.
Just being on the field is causing the OT of the other side to give up a sack?
Even from the bench, his presence is causing the OL to miss blocks and give up points (JMike driving 3 guys and trying to score).
Quite impressive that the one OL not only drags down the other 4 Lineman while on the field, but even impacts the team so significantly from the bench.
Funny how nobody seems to have ant accountability for any losses or the teams failures except GG.
There is plenty of stuff from the archives. I was pretty consistent and crystal clear.
i was saying early and often that he should have been out of the rotation. I did say if you are going to play him use the offensive sets and plays that benefit him.
The way you outlined it for Pike i respect and understand, just don't agree with it. This wasn't an easy situation to deal with. I think the argument against me is that i make it too simplistic. Not playing means the probability of him staying decline considerably and it could have impacting recruting going forward,
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Enagage more and i will tell you there was much much more than just Gavin. He might have been 4 or 5 on the list.
Mr. NJH,
What is your prediction on how GG will perform in his career at Nebraska.
To say PJ Hayes is a better player.....you may be right, but I strongly doubt it.,
I am bullish on GG for the rest of his career. This was the wrong program and definitely wrong personnel. Topping all of that is what mostly you saw...he didn't come in prepared to know how to play D, rebound, play through contact. I hope he got the memo. Maybe this time he earns the minutes which earns him respect from teammates which allievates the pressure of performing each offensive possession.
Hyatt never was able to close well on 3-point attempts ... particularly hurtful against a team like Princeton. Plus he was 0-5 FG, a complete minus.
There were so many problems in that Princeton game ... in many ways a microcosm of the year.
1) Princeton OUTREBOUNDED Rutgers ... zero excuse. Omoruyi was okay: 12 points and 7 rebounds ... but Martini held his own with 10 points, 3 rebounds, and Omoruyi was 6-12 from the field ... against a team that played just 1 player taller than 6'7" (and him a frosh, for just 9 minutes), and just 3 players even 6'7" (Caden Pierce, Martini and the frosh Huggins). Jeez, the 6'7" Pierce got 15 rebounds ... 15!!!! And Allocco at 6'4" got 9 rebounds. Jeez ... Pierce got more rebounds than any TWO RU players that game!
2) RU couldn't shoot ... 28% from 3
3) Could not DEFEND the 3, either.
FYI, you cannot blame last season on Griffiths ... though if he had performed as a freshman, like let's say Connor Essegian had [performed in HIS freshman year for Wisconsin 2 years ago, RU might have won several additional games.
What some said, but I admit I did not see right away, was that the loss of Spencer late in the portal process doomed the team (RU not only lost HIS scoring abilities, but the inability to replace him so late in the process - in May). Mulcahy leaving in Jene did not help, but I do not think he was as big a problem to replace.
Added to that I knew we had an issue when Pikiell mentioned in the Summer and Fall that Hyatt was the "leader." I knew Hyatt was what he always was: A useful 6th man offensive spark off the bench, but very inconsistent and only OK defensively. And then, Simpson made no improvement offensively (and in fact regressed), not carrying forward the promise he showed inj the last 6 games of the prior year into last year (he was an improved defensive player, but a huge detriment on offense: Was able to get open, but not hit his shots).
Finally, though it would not surprise me if Omoruyi is great for Alabama this year, there is no doubt his inconsistent and regressed offensive performance was a huge problem for RU last year. RU played 32 games last year. Omoruyi scored in double digits in just 16 of them. He had double digit rebounds in just 10 games. I would point out Omoruyi had NINE (9) double double games (double digit points and rebounds) and Rutgers was ... UNDEFEATED, 9-0, in those games. Think about that ... when Omoruyi went double-double in points in rebounds, RU won, period. [I think I tallied those double-doubles and the results properly - apologies if I screwed it up]
And as I have pointed out previously, Omoruyi was outplayed by almost every decent post player RU faced last season: Against Wake Forest, Mississippi St, Iowa, Indiana, Purdue (no shame, but Omoruyi did better vs Edey 2 years ago), Penn St (Wahab, for goodness sakes!), Maryland (outplayed by Reese 3 times), Ohio St (outplayed by Okpara once, even once). THAT is the major reason, with all of RU's other flaws, the season was so disappointing.
I'm going to predict that Gavin will be significantly better at Nebraska. His problem last season (at least IMO) was confidence which often can be overcome with experience and maturity.
My 2nd prediction is that some posters here will go nuts and focus on Gavin's improvement as an indictment of Pike rather than an indictment of Gavin's relative lack of preparation & readiness when coming to RU as a freshman.
I liked Gavin and hoped it would work out for him at RU coming into this season. That being said, I think the team is pretty well positioned and may be better without Gavin within the current team construct. Rutgers already will have 3 high usage players (Dylan, Ace and JWill) on the floor at the same time. Gavin may turn out better than the players that transferred in and replaced him, but IMO those complimentary players will serve this Rutgers roster better in terms of defense, grit, rebounding and (hopefully) 3 and D types.
My 2nd prediction is that some posters here will go nuts and focus on Gavin's improvement as an indictment of Pike rather than an indictment of Gavin's relative lack of preparation & readiness when coming to RU as a freshman.
I liked Gavin and hoped it would work out for him at RU coming into this season. That being said, I think the team is pretty well positioned and may be better without Gavin within the current team construct. Rutgers already will have 3 high usage players (Dylan, Ace and JWill) on the floor at the same time. Gavin may turn out better than the players that transferred in and replaced him, but IMO those complimentary players will serve this Rutgers roster better in terms of defense, grit, rebounding and (hopefully) 3 and D types.
I think your using the wrong word in blaming him. Even the best players will have bad games where you could look back and say we’d have had a better chance to win that game on that day if someone else took the minutes. There are a good number of games where you could say that about Gavin. The thing with Gavin was - there weren’t days where you’d say in reflection that he made a difference the other way in helping us get the win (like - without him on that day we likely would’ve lost). Georgetown, maybe? No other games. That’s the difference between him and the others like Hyatt and Noah. There were quite a few games we won that almost certainly would’ve been losses without those guys stepping up big time. That never happened with Gavin except in one game against a cupcake. I forgot which team.
In regards to they Princeton game, didn't Princeton entire starting lineup play more minutes than anyone on RU? Easier to put up counting #'s that way. Can't really put Cliffs numbers there without including Wolf's too. He played well that night. Martini had 2 rebounds, not three, I believe. Oskar went for 8 and 2 that game. Three point shooting is why we lost that game, not the four extra rebounds PU had. Think RU committed less turnovers, had more assists, shot better from the FT line, ect.
There were a number of things that went wrong in that game. Not one specific thing. Green’s point on Gavin is not inaccurate though. The easy baskets we gave up on broken coverage back door cuts because he lost sight of the ball came at noticeably bad points in the game on multiple occasions where Gavin had just checked back in after we had finally gotten a few stops on D. It stood out badly. There’s a difference between Hyatt failing to close out in time on perimeter D and what was observable with Gavin. Gavin clearly had no idea how to maintain sight of where the ball was, and was absolutely clueless on when a switch was required due to screen or otherwise. I agree with Green - had never seen anything quite like it before in a televised BB game.
Paragraph 1 - won’t be totally shocked if he blows up in a year or two but also won’t be shocked if he’s a total bust. And that’s the interesting (and frustrating) thing with this kid!
But if he does blow up - you’re spot on in paragraph 2. However - The amount of talk will depend on how we are doing though. If RU is really good then few will care how GG is doing but if RU sucks then they people will be lamenting (he could be doing that here)
Also fully agree with paragraph 3 . While I was as high on Gavin as anyone. At this point I’m truly glad he’s gone. This team seems pretty well constructed with lots of complimentary parts. I don’t see how Gavin would have fit on this team (at all). And yes I know that they may have built the team a little differently had he stayed - that even proves the point more.
In hind sight - RU was just not a good fit for the kid. He can go be soft and shoot 3s at Nebraska.
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