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Observations vs. Niagara

PhilaPhans

PhilaPhans

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Apr 23, 2005
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* Niagara is an absolutely awful team. We played an absolutely awful game. We are going to likely win by double digits, possibly 20+ after being down 5 minutes into the 2nd half. We should have won this game by 30-40.

* Mike Williams has been a bit of a godsend this year. So much hustle and heart. How does a 6'2 kid rebound with the intensity that he does? Crazy awesome to watch.

* Nigel Johnson finally starting to fill up the bucket with better shooting numbers. We'll need this at times this year between Nigel and Mike. Ask yourself, do we have anybody that can legitimately go for 25-30 points when they get hot to carry a team? That's one big thing this team is missing.

* I'm still 50/50 on just how valuable of a piece Shaq will be off the bench in the future. You can definitely tell the progress that he's making with the weight loss. I just hope it continues, even in spot minutes this year.

* We might have a crazy advantage in rebounding (~+15), but it definitely doesn't feel like it all the time today.

* Omoruyi has given some good, interesting minutes at the 4 today. He could be a nice bench piece for the future.

* I love the ball movement at times. We seriously need to start making more threes.

* Minus the second half run to pull away, I thought our defense was at times not up to par. I was actually disappointed in it today. During the second half run(s), though, our defense was everything I raved about from the first three games.

* This is absolutely terrible of me to say, but it is what it is. I wanted to punch their PF/C Robb in the face multiple times. He's got that Adam Morrison face that everybody hates and he tried all game to get into it with Gettys and Freeman.

* The most impressive thing about this team is the bench depth. Minutes are spread out nicely. Our top two scorers are actually coming off the bench. And best of all, there are 10 or 11 guys that I trust out there against whatever lineup. So much nicer than to beg that we have 7 healthy guys last year.

* I can't wait for Issa Thiam to break out. He's shown to be a very good shooter (three threes so far today). But what makes me anxious is how in the flow the kid is. He doesn't force things. He made some great entry passes into the post. He knows how to swing the ball. Etc. Very, very excited for his future once he gets that additional Corey Sanders killer instinct at times. This kid has guard skills at 6'9+ and for a few possessions even played some PG. Incredible.

* Three technical fouls? Two on Sanders means an ejection. And most if not all of these technicals were ticky tacky stupid things. Gotta be more mature and smarter than that. Continued thought ... I don't think there's a chance that Sanders should go pro any time soon, which is a positive for Rutgers nonetheless.

* CJ Gettys is what he is. A fan favorite. But god, I wish he had more than a 2" vertical. Haha. Getting blocked by Robb on that one play was pretty embarrassing, but he also did so many good things today. I love his court awareness and vision. I love his touch on his shots.

* Freeman didn't have his best game today.

* Nigel Johnson -- great dunk. Get back on D. Celebrate on D. Stop the stupidity, but great playing today, as mentioned earlier. 20+ points today. Needs to not get too excited and play in control though.

* I haven't even mentioned Sa yet. Perfect player for our depth. Defends. Puts in easy points in the paint. 4 blocks today. Nice to see. (3 blocks for Gettys too.)
 
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It probably would have been even more of a blowout if that lefty guard on Niagara didn't shoot lights out. Rutgers should have done a better job shutting him down on D.
 
sct1111 said:
It probably would have been even more of a blowout if that lefty guard on Niagara didn't shoot lights out. Rutgers should have done a better job shutting him down on D.
Click to expand...

Niagara made some ridiculous shots when they got hot for a while there. This game easily could have been a 25pt win.

Refs were absurd with the Ts. The first double T was stupid because the niagara player instigated.
 
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To your first point, refs made the game a lot closer. Your overall post feels pretty pessimistic, but I can agree I didn't feel as great watching the game today. But still I can't help but be impressed that with this many new guys the team is playing as well as they are early on
 
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Wow, this is like watching a basketball team. Shows what coaching can do. Refs needed to give it a rest & not become the game. It's not biddy-ball.
 
Rutgers Rah, the tone was definitely pessimistic. But the game was never in doubt for me. It was just one of those "we could have won by 40" games where we won by 13. I'm very excited for the foundation and the future going forward.
 
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Definitely not our best game, but the refs weren't kind to us at all. It really liked the flow of the game. I'll disagree that Niagara is an awful team. They had decent size and hit their shots for the most part. They had decent interior defense. Their lefty guard, Scott, can ball. I think this is a game we lose last year. As for Corey, the second T was ridiculous. All he did was say, "that was a bad call". 4-0. I'll take it.
 
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Story of two half's ............ for the Ref's! The first half, was like they forgot their whistles in the car. Then, something happened at halftime, a phone call from the head of their respective league, whatever, but they called everything, I mean everything in the second half. That last technical was atrocious. It was like he wanted to call another Tech. foul.
Anyway, the team played to the competition in this game. It was more of a school yard game, trash talking, elbows, and showboating. At least in the first half. I guess the ref's realized it was getting out of hand. But, still no way to control a game.
 
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I guess I watched a different game than the OP. I thought Niagara played pretty well particularly in the first half making shots. We wore them down as the game went on. This was the first time I saw the team play this year and I thought there were alot of positives. Many interchangeable parts and nice size. If we can shoot this well in most games then we have a chance to stay competitive. They certainly can handle success a little better but I like the enthusiasm and thought for the most part the ball moved well on offense and intensity on D was pretty consistent. I now know why people think of Bill Paultz when looking at CJ Gettys.
 
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John Otterstedt said:
I had a lot of fun watching this game. That's what it is about for me, fun. It hasn't been fun for a while, not only because of the results but because of the school's
investment in the program. I'm bullish on the future, and that is fun.
Click to expand...
John hopefully we can start getting some more Basketball coverage on the recruiting side of things now that they're doing better.
 
If it wasn't for the refs we win this game by 25-30 just atrocious calls and technical by them that made the game this close
 
PhilaPhans said:
* Niagara is an absolutely awful team. We played an absolutely awful game. We are going to likely win by double digits, possibly 20+ after being down 5 minutes into the 2nd half. We should have won this game by 30-40.

* Mike Williams has been a bit of a godsend this year. So much hustle and heart. How does a 6'2 kid rebound with the intensity that he does? Crazy awesome to watch.

* Nigel Johnson finally starting to fill up the bucket with better shooting numbers. We'll need this at times this year between Nigel and Mike. Ask yourself, do we have anybody that can legitimately go for 25-30 points when they get hot to carry a team? That's one big thing this team is missing.

* I'm still 50/50 on just how valuable of a piece Shaq will be off the bench in the future. You can definitely tell the progress that he's making with the weight loss. I just hope it continues, even in spot minutes this year.

* We might have a crazy advantage in rebounding (~+15), but it definitely doesn't feel like it all the time today.

* Omoruyi has given some good, interesting minutes at the 4 today. He could be a nice bench piece for the future.

* I love the ball movement at times. We seriously need to start making more threes.

* Minus the second half run to pull away, I thought our defense was at times not up to par. I was actually disappointed in it today. During the second half run(s), though, our defense was everything I raved about from the first three games.

* This is absolutely terrible of me to say, but it is what it is. I wanted to punch their PF/C Robb in the face multiple times. He's got that Adam Morrison face that everybody hates and he tried all game to get into it with Gettys and Freeman.

* The most impressive thing about this team is the bench depth. Minutes are spread out nicely. Our top two scorers are actually coming off the bench. And best of all, there are 10 or 11 guys that I trust out there against whatever lineup. So much nicer than to beg that we have 7 healthy guys last year.

* I can't wait for Issa Thiam to break out. He's shown to be a very good shooter (three threes so far today). But what makes me anxious is how in the flow the kid is. He doesn't force things. He made some great entry passes into the post. He knows how to swing the ball. Etc. Very, very excited for his future once he gets that additional Corey Sanders killer instinct at times. This kid has guard skills at 6'9+ and for a few possessions even played some PG. Incredible.

* Three technical fouls? Two on Sanders means an ejection. And most if not all of these technicals were ticky tacky stupid things. Gotta be more mature and smarter than that. Continued thought ... I don't think there's a chance that Sanders should go pro any time soon, which is a positive for Rutgers nonetheless.

* CJ Gettys is what he is. A fan favorite. But god, I wish he had more than a 2" vertical. Haha. Getting blocked by Robb on that one play was pretty embarrassing, but he also did so many good things today. I love his court awareness and vision. I love his touch on his shots.

* Freeman didn't have his best game today.

* Nigel Johnson -- great dunk. Get back on D. Celebrate on D. Stop the stupidity, but great playing today, as mentioned earlier. 20+ points today. Needs to not get too excited and play in control though.

* I haven't even mentioned Sa yet. Perfect player for our depth. Defends. Puts in easy points in the paint. 4 blocks today. Nice to see. (3 blocks for Gettys too.)
Click to expand...
I think you're being overly critical in your first paragraph. Yes, Niagra is not a very good team, but Scott went off and had the game of his life scoring thirty points, with major assists by the officials, who were calling every ticky-tacky foul known to man. Yes, the NCAA has cracked down on hand-touching, but today's game was absurd in the number of calls on that going against us. In addition, those technicals on Corey and Freeman were beyond ridiculous. I don't know what Corey said the second time, but he only got out three words before getting his second technical. That official with the dark hair needs to show more restraint.

If many of those calls weren't called and should NOT have been called, we win this going away by 25 plus points. All I care about is we got the win. We're 4-0 and Pikiell is doing a great job teaching these kids how to play defense and rebounding while building depth towards B1G play. One last thing: Pikiell and staff are making watching Rutgers BB fun again.
 
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Seemed like when we got up by 15 or so, refs would put Niagara on foul line for 4 free throws plus the ball back. Seemed at some point in the second half, refs started calling game differently. Good to see RU adjust to that quickly.
 
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On point #2, see last year. He was forced to play the 3 and 4 last year.
 
rubaseball78 said:
Seemed like when we got up by 15 or so, refs would put Niagara on foul line for 4 free throws plus the ball back. Seemed at some point in the second half, refs started calling game differently. Good to see RU adjust to that quickly.
Click to expand...
Exactly. From my vantage point, it was the officials who helped keep this potential blowout from happening. I thought the officials were terrible for this game.
 
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We would have lost this game in many of the previous seasons. I'm very happy with the 4-0 start.
 
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Congrats to our guys. Halfway there to best last seasons win total.
 
The TV announcers (Wenzel did color) thought the refs were letting them play in the first half and were loving that aspect. There was a lot of jawing between certain guys and perhaps the refs felt they were in danger of losing control. They were also marveling about Mike Williams toughness and his ability to get rebounds. I am thinking yeah that's because he was guarding forwards last year given our roster situation. Tough kid.
 
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I was disappointed that we couldn't more easily put N away but I would not say we played awfully. We're so much improved over previous years where (with a shooter as hot as N had) this one would have gone down to the wire. Disappointed that we couldn't shut him down but in my opinion the one ref was ridiculous. Corey was out of control at time--still has to get a feel for pace.

I think we're gonna improve a lot as the season progresses. We are at least playing with "intention." I think we'll win a few BIG games.
 
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It was a joy to be there today. I haven't said that in a long time. I saw a deep team a young team a coach who makes adjustments and a crowd that was into it. Maybe we get the students back at some point?
 
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Niagara was chippy from the very beginning of the game. One guy kept complaining to the refs and their center was laughing at Geddys after blocking one of his shots. The one guy grabbed Corey's arm and the refs called a double technical. Corey only had time to say a few words while standing when a Niagara kid was ready to take a free throw. Hopefully he learns from this. Freeman just hit the ball out of a guys hand after a play and got hit with a T. From what I saw Niagara was talking junk all game. they seemed to instigate things and got away with it. They came with a real attitude but we must give them props as they did well because #13 was hitting many shots and seemed like he was living on the foul line. They actually had 26 foul shots and we only had 14. It just seemed as if they were getting the majority of the calls.
 
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John Otterstedt said:
I had a lot of fun watching this game. That's what it is about for me, fun. It hasn't been fun for a while, not only because of the results but because of the school's investment in the program. I'm bullish on the future, and that is fun.
Click to expand...

Yep, at the end of the day it's about enjoying the games and seeing the team play well at least sometimes. The last 10 years, really, haven't been that much fun. I used to go to all the games and we had 4 tix. Now I go to half the games and we're down to 2 tix (shared by 5 of us - I was the only one willing to take even half the games, as the others have 1-2 games each). I'm hoping the guys become more interested now and want to up our tix again, as I'd rather be able to go to most/all of the games.
 
This was the first game this year that I felt RU didn't play intensely from start to finish. Individuals did, but as a team it wasn't consistent. MUCH improved from last year. If this is the basement, I'll take it and run. The offense seemed to stand still in the second half (not counting the clock killing possessions) and the players were waiting for something to happen. Again, a nice job of closing out, but the team needs to learn to be consistent from start to finish.
 
My early thoughts are that we're better than I expected, and that there's a lot of versatility among our new players. With only one senior on the team, I'm beginning to think it's not impossible that we can be competitive with most B1G teams by Pikiell year two, which would be a thoroughly amazing turnaround.
 
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The "awful" comment is an example of the much too common hyperbole found on this board and others. Niagara, like all teams we will play, has some talent.
 
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Great post Phila. As to your third point, I don't think we are missing a 30 point guy, we just don't need someone to be a 30 point guy. The scoring is so balanced with this team, that everyone pitches in. It's fantastic to see balance.
 
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ScarletLI, here's a thought. Gimmee a Douby on this team and we could really make some noise. Or a Bobby Lloyd. Or a Phil Sellars.
 
are we forgetting the last x years. heck--this game was night and day from most last year.
 
OP, We finally have a ray of hope and you crush it like ground pepper.I have no issue with pragmatism but can we who have suffered so mightily and for so long have a few minutes without agony? Thanks bud. :sunglasses:
 
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