nothing is permanent, but right now you have to be running sets with the personnel you expect on the floor. If Yeboah and Harper play 90% of the minutes as a 4th perimeter player things look a lot different than if Duke and myles are on the floor together.
Pikiell on Omoruyi and more (NJ.com interview)
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nothing is permanent, but right now you have to be running sets with the personnel you expect on the floor. If Yeboah and Harper play 90% of the minutes as a 4th perimeter player things look a lot different than if Duke and myles are on the floor together.
McConnell also had a bum foot last offseason so he wasn't getting all he could out of the weight room work.
You're going to have to spell out your "not missing a beat" part because, having read the articles myself, I know that most of the nuttiness written here over the last few days is not there. I did see the article mention his plane ride.
We should also all accept the common ground of reality and not fantasy by agreeing that Pike is in full promo mode, which he's good at and should be and has used before, such as when he lauded Kiss's shooting and spoke of the NCAAs last off season. In fact, in one of the articles he's again saying that "Kiss can really shoot the ball," which he should say. But we've all seen Kiss now, and his shots can at times be breathtakingly off target, hitting nothing but nothing.
Thinking about our size and positionless ball...
6-2, 190 - Young (1/2)
6-4, 180 - Baker (1/2)
6-4, 200 - Mathis (2/3)
6-5, 200 - Kiss (2/3)
6-6, 186 - Mulcahy (1/2/3)
6-6, 230 - Harper (2/3/4)
6-7, 208 - McConnell (1/2/3)
6-7, 235 - Yeboah (3/4/5)
6-9, 243 - Doucoure (4/5)
6-9, 245 - Carter (4/5)
6-10, 255 - Johnson (5)
Each role, and how many guys that could play it (based on my rough assumptions above):
PG - 4
SG - 7
SF - 6
PF - 4
C - 4
Lots of flexibility of personnel available.
6-2, 190 - Young (1/2)
6-4, 180 - Baker (1/2)
6-4, 200 - Mathis (2/3)
6-5, 200 - Kiss (2/3)
6-6, 186 - Mulcahy (1/2/3)
6-6, 230 - Harper (2/3/4)
6-7, 208 - McConnell (1/2/3)
6-7, 235 - Yeboah (3/4/5)
6-9, 243 - Doucoure (4/5)
6-9, 245 - Carter (4/5)
6-10, 255 - Johnson (5)
Each role, and how many guys that could play it (based on my rough assumptions above):
PG - 4
SG - 7
SF - 6
PF - 4
C - 4
Lots of flexibility of personnel available.
Don't usually agree with your tone, but spot-on about promo mode.
He also called Kiss another "positionless player," which I understand is meant as a compliment... but he is the most stereotypical 2 guard we've had in a while! Definitely not positionless... cant play the 1, not big enough for the 3, is mainly a spot up shooter that is somewhat athletic on the break. That's a 2.
Guess I'm glad he's embracing the "positionless" thing anyway
Yes he's undersized for it, but Kiss played a lot at the 3 for us last year.
I think the depth at the 5 is my biggest worry. I just can't include Doucoure in those discussions. Yeboah can post but he's on the smaller side and we are facing really big athletic bodies in the Big 10. Gene just played bigger and I'm not saying Yeboah won't replace his points; but i felt like it was the addition of Yeboah plus Gene for a one/two punch of outside shooting and power offense. So, without Gene, we could get through it but I'd like to add on more 5 or even a big 4? I though the portal is stocked but there's a lot of trash in there as well.
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I found that curious too. Especially considering geo is home in new hampshire right now while the rest of the team is on campus
Not sure what you expect him to say.....the only item is that it's not fantasy land when we actually saw flashes of good play from everyone last year. I think you're taking literal comments about the players as some sort of promise of playing well. He's not saying Kiss is a versatile player who can defend 1 to 5, he accentuates the positive aspects of the player....he's not saying Kiss can be a backup PG or defend 1 to 4 like Caleb will be asked to do.
I also think it's good for the players to see their coach saying positive things about them, when during film sessions, I'm sure they need to get improvement out of them.
Pike was diplomatic about everything including Eugene, but stopped short of tossing rose petals at the kid's feet like some here are determined to do. Big difference between the two.
He’s got class and of course impossible to rip one of your kids in the media or it comes back to you. Will be interesting to see if gene goes the opposite way once he’s settled? As blindsided as we all are; something happened?
Geo is who he already relies on. Doesnt need to build him up. Telling quite was that it wont be "just Geo" at the end of the shot clock. That's who he already trusts there
Pike has to take the high road and say he was shocked etc....fans were shocked but based on the lack of responses from the remaining players here, no one was shocked.
I know it's not comfortable for fans for whatever reason, but there's a part of the fanbase that is almost always siding with the player, as long as they're perceived to be helping RU.
I am more than comfortable with EO out of the picture as a huge distraction. My biggest fear in taking a grad transfer at guard last spring or summer, would be one of the current frosh/now sophomores, not getting enough minutes and leaving. Instead we have enough depth last year and more importantly, competitive battles for playing time this coming season.
And we have the right amount of good players that I feel can play next year AND the ability to take a sit out transfer of our own, if the need and position is there or it potentially adds more competition to the roster.
If something falls into RUs lap this summer as a 2019 late addition, great but not likely this late as an impact person.....instead. focus on 2020 and get the kids that want to visit and see campus, here and sell the program for beyond the 2019-2020 season.
My post had nothing whatsoever to do with what I expected Pike to say. Frankly, I wrote that I expect him to say precisely what he said, that he's good at saying it, and that he should say it.
But my post was about what you wrote. Are you trying to deflect? You vaguely stated that Pike backed up some of the nuttiness written on these boards about the effect on the team of Omo's departure. I didn't see that in the articles. Of course, if you're now saying that you didn't suggest that, that Pike didn't back up some of those points, then we can move on.
It seems easier, if you'd like, that we just agree that you can't make any and that you didn't. I'd agree with that.
Me too! He's my fave. I love his quick hands getting steals on D, his consistent looking shot, his overall demeanor too.
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As an original member of team Caleb from when he was first recruited and loved his combination of size, length, shooting, handle, and passing I am loving this news. He grew and out on weight and some talk about him being one of the more improved players. Some were saying he would be the one squeezed for minutes and out of the rotation. No chance. Caleb's going to be a huge part of the teams success this year.
As for Carter, I said he was the biggest winner with EO leaving and the opportunity was there expecting improvement from his first year in the B1G after the JuCo jump. Sounds like this is coming true. Pike talked about EO's improvement in past seasons and was right about it so hopefully this isn't just hype with Carter either.
Geo has been mentioned in the thread and one item on him is that he has been streaky, but we didn't really have other options last year. This year if it's one of those bad Geo games the team can go elsewhere to create offense and Pike can play Young and Mulcahy more minutes that night
As for Carter, I said he was the biggest winner with EO leaving and the opportunity was there expecting improvement from his first year in the B1G after the JuCo jump. Sounds like this is coming true. Pike talked about EO's improvement in past seasons and was right about it so hopefully this isn't just hype with Carter either.
Geo has been mentioned in the thread and one item on him is that he has been streaky, but we didn't really have other options last year. This year if it's one of those bad Geo games the team can go elsewhere to create offense and Pike can play Young and Mulcahy more minutes that night
The competition will increase players skillsets more so this offseason than perhaps the last five offseasons. Geo Baker will also be pushed to keep his starting spot.
Competition is high.
Jesus, if Eugene left because his team talks trash in basketball games, he's softer than his announcement would dictate.
Pike handled this perfectly, minus going to see him.
Prediction- Yeboah gives us more than Gene ever did.
I hope it really works out for Eugene because he is giving up a lot. He may be gaining a better chance at the post season but losing a home for life. He would have been adored and praised for eternity if the team makes the post season. Even if they didn’t, he would go down as an all time great. Now he’ll be a one year contributor at some school that will never remember him. Like I said, I hope it works out.
Agree...just such a strange move. He’s giving up a lot including a network and ability to comeback to the school in the future. There are probably 4,000 diehard RU b-ball fans that would have done what they could to help him in life should b-ball not work out (job referrals, introductions, etc). Like you said he would have been an all-time favorite.
Even from a basketball perspective he is taking a huge risk. His points were mostly accumulated on patiently working in the post. He could easily drop to a 8pt 7rbd stat line and be more of a role player.
I feel similarly about McConnell. Of course, last year Geo drew more of the attention of opposing defenses.
Agree.
McConnell is an interesting player. Early in the season I thought he looked completely lost on the court.
But by mid-season, he really started to come on. And by the end of the year, he was playing so well it was hard to believe he was just a true freshman. He's clearly a very talented player and I think he has the potential to be special.
Agreed. And I also understand that Geo, at times, had to force shots because no one else was trusted, or perhaps willing, to take big shots. But that fade away jumper off the iron that he would take 4 or 5 times a game has to stop this year. We have better options now.
Exactly. Including your typical condescending douchieness. Ahhh....things are back to normal indeed.
Agreed----he's a kid to watch----needs to get a mile better defensively but typically for bigs that's the hardest thing for them to learn.
Ducoure has the body to become a dominating rebounder. I would be thrilled if he could become that alone. As everyone knows, rebounding is mostly desire so it’s all on him. If he could fill the enforcer role left by Gene’s departure and rebound the crap out of the ball, this team could be so much better.
First game thread everyone was destroying Caleb as souf 2.0 but I defended him then and early in the season saying it's not skill or bball IQ that he just looks very timid and unsure of himself which will go away with time which is what happened. He always had a much higher ceiling than most people were thinking. 6'7 long with handle range and bball IQ is a great package. He also rebounded well as thin as he was and the added length and weight will help there and on defense where he could be a potential wing defensive stopper
Welp, Caleb was dissed by one of our volume posters who loves to project minutes played etc.
I think he will play a very important role on this year’s team.
It’s funny you should talk about his “ceiling“ after the first game. I saw Coach Vetrone in Henry’s diner after that first game. I complemented the team and he responded that he thought they were terrible, and singled out McConnell. I said that I thought he had a high ceiling. Vetrone actually looked annoyed that I said that and his response was “right now his ceiling is in the basement.“
Interesting story. Weird he would be bashing his players like that to fans... Especially singling out an individual player.
And maybe this is why Shoes was not considered for the assistant coach position...lol
It upset me a bit several weeks ago that someone speculated that McConnell just might be out of the rotation. That person has no clue how much some people think of McConnell's game. He will definitely be in the rotation.
He was pretty upset, especially about the defense. I’m pretty sure it was all emotion though, and he would have defended him if I had said something negative.
I dont think you meant any harm, but I'm sure Shoes didnt mean that feedback for message board consumption
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