I would start Reiber and Cliff side by side. It gives us more length and interior D. We are not going to outscore teams. I think its worth a shot and will change up the current dynamic. Bring Hyatt back to bench as 6th man. He will still get his minutes. We definitely need something to offset the current dynamic.
Pike needs to tinker with the starting lineup
- Thread starter RUisB1Gtime
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How tall is Reiber? 6'10? The defensive length with him cliff Caleb Paul and Cam could be very effective...its worth a shot. If not dean start Wolfolk....Hyatt should go back to 6th man..
Right but Reiber almost never plays with Cliff. Same can be said for Wolfolk. The combination I think could benefit the team defensively.....
Reibs at the 4 with Cliff is something we haven’t really tried yet with any real minutes.
You could try Hyatt in that lineup taking some minutes from Spencer as well.
You could try Hyatt in that lineup taking some minutes from Spencer as well.
If i were Pike I'd start Simpson and bring Hyatt off the bench. Given Mulcahy's funk I'd want to really limit his minutes and I'd have Hyatt ready before the 1st media timeout to potentially go in for Paul.
My math really is 32*5 for the 4 non C spots.
My math really is 32*5 for the 4 non C spots.
Unless Dean Does an about face , this year’s Dean is not the answer. He has had his chances in many games and come up short offensively , defensively and on the backboards.
Now I think the starters are entrenched and all have to play better if we are going to break this losing streak. Now I would change minutes and positions as I would play Andre at the 3 for minutes instead of Cam . He is shooting the 3 and driving things Cam is not doing. Derek has to get more if either Paul or Caleb’s minutes but mostly Paul’s if he refuses to shoot. Unfortunately not seeing Wolf impacting as he has regressed from earlier so cannot replace Cliff , who has to be better on both ends. Maybe give Oscar the 4 spot for some minutes and hope he gives you some threes to offset his defensive and rebounding and handle deficiencies.
Now I think the starters are entrenched and all have to play better if we are going to break this losing streak. Now I would change minutes and positions as I would play Andre at the 3 for minutes instead of Cam . He is shooting the 3 and driving things Cam is not doing. Derek has to get more if either Paul or Caleb’s minutes but mostly Paul’s if he refuses to shoot. Unfortunately not seeing Wolf impacting as he has regressed from earlier so cannot replace Cliff , who has to be better on both ends. Maybe give Oscar the 4 spot for some minutes and hope he gives you some threes to offset his defensive and rebounding and handle deficiencies.
I have thought the same thing, the loss of Mag is a game changer,
We had two interchangeable defenders that could cover from 1 to 4 effectively
You can't expect to play the same way anymore
Let Reiber play some 4 with Cliff.
It makes us bigger and Reiber's height will help him at the 4
At some point go very big with Cliff, Reiber, Hyatt, Caleb and Paul
We need to change the dynamic
We had two interchangeable defenders that could cover from 1 to 4 effectively
You can't expect to play the same way anymore
Let Reiber play some 4 with Cliff.
It makes us bigger and Reiber's height will help him at the 4
At some point go very big with Cliff, Reiber, Hyatt, Caleb and Paul
We need to change the dynamic
Losing Mag on defense is like losing your leading scorer on offense. RU is no longer an elite defense without him. Scrap the press and focus on half court defense. Save the legs for more offense.
I like the lineup with Reiber, Cliff, and 3 guards. But I would put Simpson in as a starter and bring Hyatt and Cam off the bench.
I also prefer Cliff lining up on the left side of the block so he can more easily go to his dominant hand. Why is he mostly on the right?
I like the lineup with Reiber, Cliff, and 3 guards. But I would put Simpson in as a starter and bring Hyatt and Cam off the bench.
I also prefer Cliff lining up on the left side of the block so he can more easily go to his dominant hand. Why is he mostly on the right?
no way Reiber starts. ridiculous. yes lets sit a starter in favor of a guy who cant score or defend just for more points off the bench. heck, lets sit all our starters so as bench players they will certainly outscore the opponents’ bench. great formula for certain victory
If we're not going to outscore teams, we aren't going to win, because the last time I checked you need to have the higher score of the two teams in order to be declared winner of the game.
Simpson had 10 off the bench vs Nebraska. He wasn't one of the problems. The guys who started and played most of the minutes were.
Having your better players come off the bench doesn't make you deeper, it just means your best players aren't on the court at the start of the game lol
No Rieber against Wisconsin. Or Miller. I think Simpson could do well in this game though. Wisconsin will struggle with his speed.
Wisconsin just isn't the team where giving Dean more minutes will help anything.
No they won't. Wisconsin will score 178 points on Simpson. But they'll do that to all of our players because they're terrible and badly coached.
What part doesn't make sense? We are bad, our players are bad, our coaches are bad. There's like a 1% chance we beat Wisconsin. Nebraska scored 82 points on us. Wisconsin is at least 15 points better than Nebraska. We'll be lucky to hold them under 100.
As a scholar pointed out in a great thread this week, we usually lose when the other team scores a lot of points and/or we don't score a lot of points. Well, 100 is a lot of points! There's no way in hell we are scoring 100 points against Wisconsin. We're ****ed.
Well Dean is not the key to beating Wisconsin. Simpson and Palm can be key contributors here.
Palm will need to hit 34 threes to get us over 100 points. Do you really think he can almost double his career 3p output in a single game?
I don't see it.
His shot is pure. Beautiful left-handed stroke. Also maybe ultimate team player.
I'm not really for Dean getting more minutes, but Wisconsin actually is a game where you could make an argument for playing him more due to matchups
Why do you think Wisconsin is a particularly bad matchup for Dean?
As much as gojng big sounds good….I have seen ZERO evidence that Dean can play the four on defense and chase to the three point line and recover
Hard pass
Hard pass
Although the current starting lineup is in a slump, it still give us the best chances to win, assuming of course that Paul and Cam regain their earlier forms. Reiber and Oskar are turnover machines, as is Caleb when he tries to do it alone. What happened to the double digit assists we saw against Iowa and Minnesota?
I don’t expect any personnel moves as there’s no obvious upgrade. Change for the sake of change is sometimes a strategy, but rarely a good one. Practice better, game-plan better, coach better, play better.
RU has 6 reliable players now, instead of 7, when Mag was healthy and getting better.
The starting lineup will stay intact and Simpson just needs 24 to 26 minutes.
The lineup that gets RU to 70 points and will win the most games of the remaining 5 is.
Simpson
Spencer
McConnell
Hyatt
Cliff
Mulcahy is probably better suited playing with Reiber, they have good chemistry and Reiber needs someone to set him up for spot up 2s or 3s.
I would also play Palmquist with Reiber and Mulcahy, because you would have 2 spacing bigs as you shooters and you can mix in either Spencer and Hyatt/Caleb.
Mulcahy
Spencer/Simpson
Caleb
Palmquist
Reiber
That is a lineup that can force Mulcahy to a wing to spot up shoot, or drive and create from the wing or foul line.
I suspect Wisconsin is going to mix in some zone defense and make Hyatt and Mulcahy beat us from the corner 3s, or off the dribble from 2.
Wisconsin doesn't have the defenders to play 40 minutes of man defense vs Cliff or Mulcahy, if he is focused and attacking. If Paul is passive, I would roll the dice with Simpson trailing Chucky Hepburn and let Caleb get the assignment of freshman shooter Essigian, who had 20 pts vs Michigan the other night.
If RU plays focused defense, this game is in the 50s....if RU plays focused defense and plays a B to B- offensive game, they win by 6 to 10 points.
Another passive 3 to 4 shot attempt 34 to 35 minute game from Mulcahy is a game RU can still win vs Wisconsin, if the defense and pace is slowed and where Wisconsin wants. But it will be very tight and a game that shouldn't be as close as we want.
Push the tempo do what Nebraska did to RU.....take the 1st available open look and play defense on the other end. Make Wisconsin execute their offense and they don't Offensive rebound (last in the conference in OREB).
The starting lineup will stay intact and Simpson just needs 24 to 26 minutes.
The lineup that gets RU to 70 points and will win the most games of the remaining 5 is.
Simpson
Spencer
McConnell
Hyatt
Cliff
Mulcahy is probably better suited playing with Reiber, they have good chemistry and Reiber needs someone to set him up for spot up 2s or 3s.
I would also play Palmquist with Reiber and Mulcahy, because you would have 2 spacing bigs as you shooters and you can mix in either Spencer and Hyatt/Caleb.
Mulcahy
Spencer/Simpson
Caleb
Palmquist
Reiber
That is a lineup that can force Mulcahy to a wing to spot up shoot, or drive and create from the wing or foul line.
I suspect Wisconsin is going to mix in some zone defense and make Hyatt and Mulcahy beat us from the corner 3s, or off the dribble from 2.
Wisconsin doesn't have the defenders to play 40 minutes of man defense vs Cliff or Mulcahy, if he is focused and attacking. If Paul is passive, I would roll the dice with Simpson trailing Chucky Hepburn and let Caleb get the assignment of freshman shooter Essigian, who had 20 pts vs Michigan the other night.
If RU plays focused defense, this game is in the 50s....if RU plays focused defense and plays a B to B- offensive game, they win by 6 to 10 points.
Another passive 3 to 4 shot attempt 34 to 35 minute game from Mulcahy is a game RU can still win vs Wisconsin, if the defense and pace is slowed and where Wisconsin wants. But it will be very tight and a game that shouldn't be as close as we want.
Push the tempo do what Nebraska did to RU.....take the 1st available open look and play defense on the other end. Make Wisconsin execute their offense and they don't Offensive rebound (last in the conference in OREB).
Oskar Dean 4/5 combo is a recipe for disaster. Believe it's cost us a lot so far when we have seen it
Oskar was an afterthought before Minnesota and at least creates space for others to drive and kick inside the FT line. With Cliff, the paint is always clogged with at least 1 or 2 defenders.
You have to expand and show different looks and steal points on offense from somewhere. A lot of these lineup questions get solved if Mulcahy plays to a normal starting guard level.
Would the Oskar Dean combo score more than it gives up?
Defense and rebounding matter
Oskar Dean combo is worse than any other 4/5 combo in the B1G
The bottom line is our beloved Rutgers team who we thought was really going to make noise this year in the NCAA is not doing any of that unless the 4 starters that have been starters all year , play much better, play more consistent , play up to their capabilities and play like upperclassmen and refuse to lose.
I am assigning who has to play better in the following Order1) Paul 2)Cam3) Cliff4) Caleb. It really is up to them. Because if they play up to their capabilities and Hyatt and Simpson give you a little help and play their roles , we can win and have a shot in the tourney to get to the Sweet 16 but even that will not be easy. We cause other teams nightmares when we do what we are supposed to do and take what the defense is giving us and defend like we have seen all year. When we make things easier for teams , looking at Paul and Cam and Cliff here , we do not use our advantages in size and length .
No amount of tinkering with the lineup will get us the W’s if those 4 do not play to their capabilities.
I am assigning who has to play better in the following Order1) Paul 2)Cam3) Cliff4) Caleb. It really is up to them. Because if they play up to their capabilities and Hyatt and Simpson give you a little help and play their roles , we can win and have a shot in the tourney to get to the Sweet 16 but even that will not be easy. We cause other teams nightmares when we do what we are supposed to do and take what the defense is giving us and defend like we have seen all year. When we make things easier for teams , looking at Paul and Cam and Cliff here , we do not use our advantages in size and length .
No amount of tinkering with the lineup will get us the W’s if those 4 do not play to their capabilities.
Tinkering with the starting lineup isn’t going to do anything. The team needs to figure out how to get stops without Mag. On offense, they need to keep moving the ball and don’t be afraid to shoot. Simply things and play sound defense. Mag did so many little things on both ends of the floor that they need to regain their grove without him. I think they can do it but they are running out of time.
How would we know? Have we seen the defense with cliff and dean at the 4 and 5 spot this year? Maybe for a minute or 2 hear or there. I think its worth a shot. We need to lean into defense and rebounding
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