Our Passing is Horrendous

[The RUT]

Not a single pass today was in rhythm to the receiver being able to pull up and pop a shot.

It’s constantly forcing the man receiving the pass to make an adjustment to bring it in, then go up and shoot. How can you expect a clean flow to the game with that?

And I’m not saying Cliff played well (dude got bodied today), but how in the world can you expect any level of offensive success from the guy when our guards are throwing the ball at his feet?

 

[mikeyo]

Not a single pass today was in rhythm to the receiver being able to pull up and pop a shot.

It’s constantly forcing the man receiving the pass to make an adjustment to bring it in, then go up and shoot. How can you expect a clean flow to the game with that?

And I’m not saying Cliff played well (dude got bodied today), but how in the world can you expect any level of offensive success from the guy when our guards are throwing the ball at his feet?

We're playing without a point guard. Tough to win that way

 

[zappaa]

Said after we lost to WF….our passes place the receiver of the pass in a worse less advantageous position than from whence it came.

 

[richthedentist]

Said after we lost to WF….our passes place the receiver of the pass in a worse less advantageous position than from whence it came.

We still don’t run any off the ball plays no back screens etc
Our offense is predicated on our guard breaking down the defense and kicking the ball out but we still can’t shoot anyway so it doesn’t matter

 

[zebnatto]

Stop with the excuses for Cliff. He has zero offensive moves.

 

[Mr Magoo]

Not a single pass today was in rhythm to the receiver being able to pull up and pop a shot.

It’s constantly forcing the man receiving the pass to make an adjustment to bring it in, then go up and shoot. How can you expect a clean flow to the game with that?

And I’m not saying Cliff played well (dude got bodied today), but how in the world can you expect any level of offensive success from the guy when our guards are throwing the ball at his feet?

I’ve had this beef for at least 5 years. Passes are always off target so any potential shot opportunity is lost…not that we would make them anyway. The same is true of the lack of hard cuts and lack of boxing out. Not a lot of attention to detail or fundamentals.

 

[The RUT]

Stop with the excuses for Cliff. He has zero offensive moves.

We’re talking about two different things.

An offensive move would have Cliff with his back to the basket. That’s an area he does not thrive in, and it’s clear.

I’m talking about them running any kind of pick and roll situation, or drive and dish from our guards.

I watched Fernandes put it at his feet like 3-4 times….

 

[RUJMM78]

We still don’t run any off the ball plays no back screens etc
Our offense is predicated on our guard breaking down the defense and kicking the ball out but we still can’t shoot anyway so it doesn’t matter

I like your response because its focus is on the absence of a half court offense along with the lack of shooters .The end result long scoring droughts.

 

[Rhuarc]

Gavin is 100 times better as a player when he catches the ball in stride and pulls up for a short jumper. Why they don't do stuff like that for him, I don't know.

 

[The RUT]

Gavin is 100 times better as a player when he catches the ball in stride and pulls up for a short jumper. Why they don't do stuff like that for him, I don't know.

He needs to operate in space, but we don’t do anything to provide spacing.

Everything it’s all congested with bad passes and bad dribbling.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

I don’t have the same take on this one. I thought we had decent ball rotation. The score was 29-29 at half. Only 8 turnovers in the game. Had our chances forcing turnovers but didn’t convert. We didn’t shoot well from 3 but missed some good looks.

But the bottom line is we suck at rebounding. Like - we really suck. 47-26 tells it all. Cliff and Wolf combined for 3 boards. Terrible.

 

[Shelby65]

We're playing without a point guard. Tough to win that way

Not accurate. Pike’s offense, if you want to call it that, is fast break and street ball almost always resulting in 1 on 1 move. It’s been that way since Geo….he ‘lets the players play’. This is helpful for recruiting and when we have better athletes in a game but clearly we got schooled by real offense today.

Noah is a decent PG but there’s no half court motion or set plays for him to distribute. Today his shots were 1 on 1 too.

It’s Pike’s scheme, if you will.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

Not accurate. Pike’s offense, if you want to call it that, is fast break and street ball almost always resulting in 1 on 1 move. It’s been that way since Geo….he ‘lets the players play’. This is helpful for recruiting and when we have better athletes in a game but clearly we got schooled by real offense today.

Noah is a decent PG but there’s no half court motion or set plays for him to distribute. Today his shots were 1 on 1 too.

It’s Pike’s scheme, if you will.

Ball handling was fine and not the reason we lost. Assist to turnover ration was 10 to 8. We missed a lot of open looks.

We’re not going to win many games with Cliff grabbing zero rebounds. He was dreadful.

 

[RAC93]

Not accurate. Pike’s offense, if you want to call it that, is fast break and street ball almost always resulting in 1 on 1 move. It’s been that way since Geo….he ‘lets the players play’. This is helpful for recruiting and when we have better athletes in a game but clearly we got schooled by real offense today.

Noah is a decent PG but there’s no half court motion or set plays for him to distribute. Today his shots were 1 on 1 too.

It’s Pike’s scheme, if you will.

Decent is being very generous……he’s small, he’s not aggressive in seeking out his own shot (this team lacks scoring and needs it from him) doesn’t drive the lane, constantly dribbles from side to side, dribbles too much, doesn’t really set anyone up with passes, and he’s really been subpar for us this year. Don’t think he’s playing to the level anyone thought or hoped he would be.

 

[mugrat86]

Ball handling was fine and not the reason we lost. Assist to turnover ration was 10 to 8. We missed a lot of open looks.

We’re not going to win many games with Cliff grabbing zero rebounds. He was dreadful.

Totally correct. We lost this game because Cliff was horrendous today. The opposing center absolutely destroyed him. It’s hard to pass the ball into post with Cliff as his hands are just terrible and even if he does catch the pass the chances of him getting a good shot are not good at all as mentioned his low post moves are predictable and not good

 

[JavaDunk18]

The best 2 passes were in the last minute of the game with Mag's - "pass to the basket and not the man" lead for a Simpson Dunk. & Simpson's setup for Gavin dunk..

 

[REDRICH65]

We need a REAL 5 Cliff isn’t it Just a shot blocker and dunk specialist

 

[Shelby65]

Totally correct. We lost this game because Cliff was horrendous today. The opposing center absolutely destroyed him. It’s hard to pass the ball into post with Cliff as his hands are just terrible and even if he does catch the pass the chances of him getting a good shot are not good at all as mentioned his low post moves are predictable and not good

Ball handling was fine and not the reason we lost. Assist to turnover ration was 10 to 8. We missed a lot of open looks.

We’re not going to win many games with Cliff grabbing zero rebounds. He was dreadful.

Wasn’t referring to ball handling or Cliff. Said we don’t have an organized half court offense, by design. It’s not what Pike does with the players he recruits. It’s street ball, relying on better athletes. Doesn’t always work, even against teams with lesser athletes (eg Princeton). It does work more often than not, however.

 

[Shelby65]

Decent is being very generous……he’s small, he’s not aggressive in seeking out his own shot (this team lacks scoring and needs it from him) doesn’t drive the lane, constantly dribbles from side to side, dribbles too much, doesn’t really set anyone up with passes, and he’s really been subpar for us this year. Don’t think he’s playing to the level anyone thought or hoped he would be.

As a PG, the team shouldn’t need it from him. Not his job. Look at our 5 star, Cliff, Simpson, Davis and Mag. We have 1 scorer on the team, and even he’s inconsistent. Hyatt.

 

[mugrat86]

Wasn’t referring to ball handling or Cliff. Said we don’t have an organized half court offense, by design. It’s not what Pike does with the players he recruits. It’s street ball, relying on better athletes. Doesn’t always work, even against teams with lesser athletes (eg Princeton). It does work more often than not, however.

I was actually responding to the OP’s remarks. This is a game we win last year with Caleb

 

[Shelby65]

I was actually responding to the OP’s remarks. This is a game we win last year with Caleb

Doubt it. Caleb wouldn’t defend their big guy and maybe the rebounding diff would only have been 15. Plus he wasn’t a reliable scorer.

 

[mugrat86]

Doubt it. Caleb wouldn’t defend their big guy and maybe the rebounding diff would only have been 15. Plus he wasn’t a reliable scorer.

Caleb was great at doubling big man and also was a great rebounder

 

[willisneverrana43]

Fortunately we have our shooting to fall back on.

 

[RutgersChow]

We’re talking about two different things.

An offensive move would have Cliff with his back to the basket. That’s an area he does not thrive in, and it’s clear.

I’m talking about them running any kind of pick and roll situation, or drive and dish from our guards.

I watched Fernandes put it at his feet like 3-4 times….

Better offensive moves result for your 5 man when he catches and faces the basket and not with his back to the basket.

 

[rufeelinit]

This always becomes magnified when we play to team that actually has a clue about moving the ball with a purpose and winding up with quality shots as a result, when compared to whatever it is we are trying to accomplish on our end.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

Caleb was great at doubling big man and also was a great rebounder

Having Caleb and Mag at the 3-4 together changed the game entirely for Cliff. Cliff unfortunately is not the kind of player who can make an impact on his own. Mag sat at some critical times when the Miss State lead ballooned. The 13 minutes when he was on the bench hurt us. He was questionable for the game so it’s obvious he’s still not 100%. There’s a drop off when he sits for sure.

But Mag also is not at Caleb’s level in halfcourt D unfortunately. He’s good - but I don’t think some of our fans understand the extent that with Caleb it was almost like having a 6th defender. In halfcourt sets his assignment routinely was to cover a guard and also double the best front court player.

 

[zebnatto]

We’re talking about two different things.

An offensive move would have Cliff with his back to the basket. That’s an area he does not thrive in, and it’s clear.

I’m talking about them running any kind of pick and roll situation, or drive and dish from our guards.

I watched Fernandes put it at his feet like 3-4 times….

An offensive move doesn’t necessarily mean back to the basket. I’m referring to anything that requires footwork or putting the ball on the floor. And There are sometimes passes at his feet (I don’t remember 3-4) but there are plenty of times the ball hits him in the hands and he bobbles it. He also has a problem anticipating any pass but a scripted one.

 

[Jerseylegends]

Mulcahy spoiled us. He was actually a bigger loss than Spencer for this particular team. Pm is an excellent pg and ball distributor, miscalculation on taking him off the ball in favor of Fernandes.

 

[Shelby65]

Better offensive moves result for your 5 man when he catches and faces the basket and not with his back to the basket.

No, it depends on the abilities of your big man. All of the best NBA centers of all time were post up 5s. You don’t see that anymore because the 5 has mostly disappeared from the the pros because they can all dribble and shoot when they can face the basket. There are 5s in college. Cliff is a 5. Why do you think he’s not in the NBA already ? He can’t dribble or shoot so he needs to either post up or dunk lobs.

Contrast to Myles Johnson who couldn’t dribble or shoot OR post up. All he could do was set screens at the top of the key. He had no offensive ability at all. At least Cliff has potential to score on lobs and putbacks.

Basketball players develop very little by the time they get to college. Athletic ability and coordination are fixed by then. Coaches can’t fix that.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

Mulcahy spoiled us. He was actually a bigger loss than Spencer for this particular team. Pm is an excellent pg and ball distributor, miscalculation on taking him off the ball in favor of Fernandes.

The only positive is Pike is moving away from having Noah bring up the ball. Davis is running the point more and more. Davis is good friends with Ace and therefore an unlikely candidate to hit the portal next year. I expect him to stay and be a very good complement to Harper and Ace. If Paul were here, Davis wouldn’t be getting as much PT. That could help us next year.

There are no other positives. We clearly miss Paul a lot.