Pitt 5 Thoughts

[anon_0k9zlfz6lz9oy]

1) We just looked completely and totally sloppy and out classes and out coached. Pitt clearly knew we wanted to get out and run so credit to them for slowing us down and making us play a half court game, we dont have a half court offense so it worked tremendously.

2) Recruiting has to drastically improve. You recruit shooters and we simply still dont have them. I think if things dont turn around this year and we dont make at least the NIT that theres gonna be serious questions about pike. Next year he’ll be judged but the heat wont be hot enough to fire him but if he doesnt dance in 2022 we rightfully will be parting ways with him. Great guy but poor recruiter and doesnt know offensive basketball.

3) Myles Johnson played a tremendous game. Defensively, offensive, boards, he did it all. Heckuva game tonight and probably the best against a quality opponent that ive ever seen him play. Too bad he had no help.

4) Jacob Young needs to have his minutes cut. Ive been saying it from the jump, he kills us. He's a role player at best. When he's in the game our team simply just looks unorganized and horrible. His jumper is just trash too. Hes shooting 16% from 3 on the year. 10 mins a night max at this point. Just not gonna work. I had posted in april 2017 when he transferred in that my UT-austin friends laughed at me and said just wait til u see him drive out of control and get stuffed by the rim over and over again, well they were right.

5) Yeboah needs more minutes. Hes been assertive when hes in the game. Hes been getting to the rim pretty easily, hitting his free throws, stretching the floor, grabbing rebs. Minutes need to be created for him one way or another.

 

[RUJMM78]

Too many of the same type player that were successful in high school driving to the basket but never developed the skill of shooting off the dribble or making 3 pointers.

 

[ColonelRutgers]

1) We just looked completely and totally sloppy and out classes and out coached. Pitt clearly knew we wanted to get out and run so credit to them for slowing us down and making us play a half court game, we dont have a half court offense so it worked tremendously.

2) Recruiting has to drastically improve. You recruit shooters and we simply still dont have them. I think if things dont turn around this year and we dont make at least the NIT that theres gonna be serious questions about pike. Next year he’ll be judged but the heat wont be hot enough to fire him but if he doesnt dance in 2022 we rightfully will be parting ways with him. Great guy but poor recruiter and doesnt know offensive basketball.

3) Myles Johnson played a tremendous game. Defensively, offensive, boards, he did it all. Heckuva game tonight and probably the best against a quality opponent that ive ever seen him play. Too bad he had no help.

4) Jacob Young needs to have his minutes cut. Ive been saying it from the jump, he kills us. He's a role player at best. When he's in the game our team simply just looks unorganized and horrible. His jumper is just trash too. Hes shooting 16% from 3 on the year. 10 mins a night max at this point. Just not gonna work. I had posted in april 2017 when he transferred in that my UT-austin friends laughed at me and said just wait til u see him drive out of control and get stuffed by the rim over and over again, well they were right.

5) Yeboah needs more minutes. Hes been assertive when hes in the game. Hes been getting to the rim pretty easily, hitting his free throws, stretching the floor, grabbing rebs. Minutes need to be created for him one way or another.

Nothing about your boy Caleb? He's the starter and if he wasn't so dreadful, Young never would've had to play that many minutes. He killed us as much as anyone.

 

[Degaz-RU]

Our guards got absolutely PUNKED tonight. Pitt’s three guards were 20-39 for 51 points.

But the game was won because of Pitt’s ferocious defense. They made our guys uncomfortable all night, taking us out of whatever half court offense we play, and causing us to just play one on one street ball, and throwing up several airballs. We also shot 4-23 from 3-pt range.

This game reminded me of Pike’s first year, when we just played chuck and rebound.

I didn’t like Pike’s rotations tonight. It was painfully obvious that Young was out of control and a TO machine, and yet he played way more minutes than he should have. Meanwhile, Mathis (who had been playing a pretty good game) was on the bench for a long stretch of the 2nd half.

Going forward, Pike needs to tighten the rotation to:

- Geo
- Mathis
- McConnell
- Harper
- Myles
- Yeboah
These guys need to be playing 25-30 mpg.

The other four guys should be relegated to 0-15 minutes depending on the matchups, foul trouble, and hot hands.

I know I’m probably overreacting to a really bad loss.

 

[bethlehemfan]

1) We just looked completely and totally sloppy and out classes and out coached. Pitt clearly knew we wanted to get out and run so credit to them for slowing us down and making us play a half court game, we dont have a half court offense so it worked tremendously.

2) Recruiting has to drastically improve. You recruit shooters and we simply still dont have them. I think if things dont turn around this year and we dont make at least the NIT that theres gonna be serious questions about pike. Next year he’ll be judged but the heat wont be hot enough to fire him but if he doesnt dance in 2022 we rightfully will be parting ways with him. Great guy but poor recruiter and doesnt know offensive basketball.

3) Myles Johnson played a tremendous game. Defensively, offensive, boards, he did it all. Heckuva game tonight and probably the best against a quality opponent that ive ever seen him play. Too bad he had no help.

4) Jacob Young needs to have his minutes cut. Ive been saying it from the jump, he kills us. He's a role player at best. When he's in the game our team simply just looks unorganized and horrible. His jumper is just trash too. Hes shooting 16% from 3 on the year. 10 mins a night max at this point. Just not gonna work. I had posted in april 2017 when he transferred in that my UT-austin friends laughed at me and said just wait til u see him drive out of control and get stuffed by the rim over and over again, well they were right.

5) Yeboah needs more minutes. Hes been assertive when hes in the game. Hes been getting to the rim pretty easily, hitting his free throws, stretching the floor, grabbing rebs. Minutes need to be created for him one way or another.

I think pike knows offense. He doesn’t have good offensive players so the focus needs to be defense and rebounding. We don’t have a point guard and we can’t shoot. The problem is recruiting

 

[RUJMM78]

Poor recruiting is the albatross that has caused so much losing for decades regardless of the league or the head coach.

 

[Seton75]

Was this game indicative of how you usually shoot it.

 

[garyrc70]

The analysis in this thread is spot on. RU not competitive with an ACC also ran. Pitt had much better shooters and overall much more athletic. That athleticism led to many RU turnovers. Still a long way to go.

Recruiting: better than in previous decades but not there yet..

 

[whofrewdatmataRU13]

Every other good team plays 6-7 guys. I don't understand why we continue to play 10 and get killed for it

 

[RUby RED]

I think pike knows offense. He doesn’t have good offensive players so the focus needs to be defense and rebounding. We don’t have a point guard and we can’t shoot. The problem is recruiting

Mid-major teams with plenty less talent run a functional offense. While I agree with you that better recruiting would certainly help mask the problem, I don’t think Pikes given us any indication the last 4 years that he “knows offense”.

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

Pitt played 7 guys and RU turned the ball over. Not going to overreact to 1 game but there's no reason to not just bump up Mathis to 28 to 30 minutes and same with Yeboah.

60 points is hard to fathom but an 0-fer from Caleb cant happen again if RU wants to close the gap. If he has to force up 5 shots a half, so be it.

 

[DHajekRC84]

Pitt played 7 guys and RU turned the ball over. Not going to overreact to 1 game but there's no reason to not just bump up Mathis to 28 to 30 minutes and same with Yeboah.

60 points is hard to fathom but an 0-fer from Caleb cant happen again if RU wants to close the gap. If he has to force up 5 shots a half, so be it.

So Geo's line tonight wasn't the issue? (again in a big game?)
3 of 11, 2 of 8 from 3, only took 2 shot inside the line in last 38 mins....1 foul shot and 5 turnovers.

 

[bac2therac]

last year alot went ga ga over Caleb and I cautioned them because I felt what you got as Caleb in one role may not be what you are able to get from him if he is put into another role which is starter. I think he may be better off the bench but alas we have an issue with Young and we have an issue with Mulcahy not ready and Kiss not playing

 

[bethlehemfan]

Mid-major teams with plenty less talent run a functional offense. While I agree with you that better recruiting would certainly help mask the problem, I don’t think Pikes given us any indication the last 4 years that he “knows offense”.

It’s hard to look good on offense with poor guard play.

 

[BigEastPhil]

Kyk - all your points above are spot on.

2 other things:

-I'd like to see us utilizing 2 big men together. Myles was killing them inside and that's where the ball should have went 50% of the time. Let's see extended minutes for Myles and Shaq together per se.

- I'll say it again....I think we miss Jay Young's tactical and strategical insight on the bench. I don't see Hobbs; Knight and/or Hayn duplicating what Jay Young did on game day.

 

[RU-ROCS]

The analysis in this thread is spot on. RU not competitive with an ACC also ran. Pitt had much better shooters and overall much more athletic. That athleticism led to many RU turnovers. Still a long way to go.

Recruiting: better than in previous decades but not there yet..

Ironically they really don’t have better shooters they just shot better tonight. They are a very bad 3 point shooting team on the season. Just not tonight. They did, however, beat No. 17 FSU at home earlier in the year, so they may be a tough out at home this year.

 

[YoucancallmeRay]

So Geo's line tonight wasn't the issue? (again in a big game?)
3 of 11, 2 of 8 from 3, only took 2 shot inside the line in last 38 mins....1 foul shot and 5 turnovers.

Agree. If Geo is our best player, he's got to give you more. He had a bad game today.

 

[Duff366]

I believe McConnell is fine as a starter. Need to grow his confidence and give him a lot of minutes.

 

[Scangg]

Team looks soft. Can't shoot. Bunch of role players but need stars. Doucoure MIA and Carter but they were giving up a ton of offensive rebounds all year. Myles is soft but eating them inside and we don't go to him. We have guys like young and Mathis shooting 3's. Young looks terrible except on D. We give the wrong ball the ball in the wrong spots and run the offense through the wrong people. Our offense looks non existent. Heard since last year Hobbs runs it. Maybe he shouldn't.

Team still young. Needs to grow and get tough in a hurry

 

[anon_0k9zlfz6lz9oy]

Nothing about your boy Caleb? He's the starter and if he wasn't so dreadful, Young never would've had to play that many minutes. He killed us as much as anyone.

Foul trouble and a tight whistle killed his night

 

[Scarlet Shack]

Our guards got absolutely PUNKED tonight. Pitt’s three guards were 20-39 for 51 points.

But the game was won because of Pitt’s ferocious defense. They made our guys uncomfortable all night, taking us out of whatever half court offense we play, and causing us to just play one on one street ball, and throwing up several airballs. We also shot 4-23 from 3-pt range.

This game reminded me of Pike’s first year, when we just played chuck and rebound.

I didn’t like Pike’s rotations tonight. It was painfully obvious that Young was out of control and a TO machine, and yet he played way more minutes than he should have. Meanwhile, Mathis (who had been playing a pretty good game) was on the bench for a long stretch of the 2nd half.

Going forward, Pike needs to tighten the rotation to:

- Geo
- Mathis
- McConnell
- Harper
- Myles
- Yeboah
These guys need to be playing 25-30 mpg.

The other four guys should be relegated to 0-15 minutes depending on the matchups, foul trouble, and hot hands.

I know I’m probably overreacting to a really bad loss.

I literally was going to post this to the word ...

 

[Proud NJ Sports Fan]

1. Pitt was more athletic
2. Pitt played smarter basketball
3. Pitt has a great homecourt advantage with students at center court instead of all the way back behind one basket
4. Rutgers did not value the ball
5. The better team won, but a lot of RU fans are over-reacting on this forum

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

So Geo's line tonight wasn't the issue? (again in a big game?)
3 of 11, 2 of 8 from 3, only took 2 shot inside the line in last 38 mins....1 foul shot and 5 turnovers.

Geo isn't an elite guard, he is capable of 3-11 4 to 6 additional times this year. The rest of the guards actually played shaky outside of Mathis.

At some point during the season, the staff has to elevate Mathis to a primary offensive player like Harper to help. And that means living with Mathis taking 3s and driving off the dribble to get to the line.

 

[Scarlet Blind]

Caleb McConnell has 2 good looks at 3 didn't fall early first half and then picked up 2 fouls at 16:42 7-6, one being elbowed in the face and getting called for the foul was BS. They made a run early in the second half, tied the game with McConnell and McConnell picked up his 3rd foul at 14:11 39-39 and Pitt made an 11-0 run after he left. They were never the same team. That's why Young had to play more minutes than usual. That was the key to the game getting McConnell out with fouls. He should run the team at PG, backed up by Mulcahy.

 

[RUsince52]

When you look at a lot of other teams (not just top 25), they have guys that can create shots and shot off the dribble. We really don't.
When shots are falling it doesn't matter as much, but when they aren't we have too many empty trips. We don't have any inside game where players can receive an entry pass and make a move or pull up for a 10 footer. MJ is great around the basket, but not if he is guarded. We just don't get to the basket and finish with a controlled shot or draw a foul, but than we miss the FT.
This is something you either can or can't do by the time you reach college and we seem to have a team that can't do it consistently.
Hope the Pitt game was just a bad night, but so hard to gauge.