Rapid Reaction - Nebraska
- Thread starter Degaz-RU
- Start date
Complete hyperbole now. Take a deep breath.
We haven't lost (or won) a single game because of Gavin.
He's currently 8th in MPG.
OSU (L) - 17min (most by a bench player, AWill played 12 and scored 0 points)
Iowa (L) - 10min (lowest on the team)
Indiana (W) - 5min
MSU (L) - 5min
Neb (W) - 7min
JaMike and everyone else are making much more mistakes (and positive plays) than Gavin.
It's literally time on court.
For every "missed assignment by Gavin", JaMike has a drive to the hoop thrown off the backboard and given away.
Gavin isn't part of the rotation so not sure why all the complaints and blame for a player that's in for 2minutes at a time.
But again - it's a theme on the board that offensive mistakes aren't a thing and only defensive mistakes matter for playing time.
I am all tolerant of guys like JMike and Gavin and early on even Derek… players like the Big O tries hard but he is only a shooter… Hyatt was the whipping kid for many … fact is he has been mostly good even last season. Did he make bad shots? Too many 3 pointers.… sure but where did his critics go?
You don't know this. Princeton isnt on the list. We could have easily lost last night and had Gavin stayed home it could have been a W.
We were a gary injury OR a A Will OREB on a FT miss OR a bad call on Tominaga 3 non call from losing by a possession.
If Gavin gets going on offense, his defense will likely take a step forward as well just with the increased confidence that will come with it
He has looked rough on D but his mistakes seem to be highlighted. A semi contested 3 made on him isn't the worst D in the world. It happens to everyone
There was one play where Gavin was guarding his man on the perimeter and I believe it was Hyatt just completely lost his man and started guarding Gavin's for no reason. Hyatt's man wide open under the basket. Gavin comes over late but it's an easy bucket. Looked like it was Gavin's fault but it wasn't
Yes he's still struggling on D and there were some bad plays. He needs to be stronger on weakside rebounds as well
He has looked rough on D but his mistakes seem to be highlighted. A semi contested 3 made on him isn't the worst D in the world. It happens to everyone
There was one play where Gavin was guarding his man on the perimeter and I believe it was Hyatt just completely lost his man and started guarding Gavin's for no reason. Hyatt's man wide open under the basket. Gavin comes over late but it's an easy bucket. Looked like it was Gavin's fault but it wasn't
Yes he's still struggling on D and there were some bad plays. He needs to be stronger on weakside rebounds as well
I actually think he is being harmed by being so robotic and boxing out. he tried to find his man on the weakside and it takes him away from where the rebound is going. He ends us missing the guy he is trying to box. He is going away from the basket his man is going towards the basket.
We ARE actually in a better position if he attacks the glass with his long frame instead of tring to seal his man with his tiny body.
I was kind of wondering the opposite.
If we are a team with a defensive identity and that’s what keeps you on the court, do you handle the situation by not even focusing on his shooting or getting him points. Develop his D and rebounding so that he can stay on the court and let the O come as the confidence grows and he takes the immediate pressure off himself to score.
That is the conundrum for GG.I also feel if he can get his offense to produce 10-12 per game those people saying his D probably will escalate are probably correct. He is letting his offensive play hinder his D development. Remember he has been touted as a prolific scoring threat since high school.
And neither do you. Why is that possession only attributed to Gavin?
It wouldn' thave been AWill missing 6FTs that could have been that posession?
Or a JaMike Davis or Williams or Simpson throwing the ball away trying to drive on 4 guys.
The other 195 minutes played by Rutgers could have been disrupted by the 5 mins Gavin was in.
There you said exactly what I said 3-4 games ago. ATTACK the rim. Pikiell should insist he drive as often as possible. Right now defenders see him as one demensional.
Gavin also has an uncanny knack for cleanly blocking shots, even after his man dribbles around him and shoots.
It’s pretty obvious he needs to gain confidence and strength. He could have a sophomore season like the one Dix is having now for Iowa (very high shooting percentage from 2,3, and FTs), only Gavin would likely take many more shots.
He has bailed himself out quite a few times using his length and timing for a block which is a good sign if he can develop defensively to not get burned in the first place and add some strength to not be bullied
Getting burned off the dribble is acceptable and not catastrophic. Losing you man or getting manhandled on the boards is another.
I'd like to see the play where Gavin got beat for a 3. Was it like the Princeton game where a few of his lapses were more Hyatt's fault?
It looks like Gavin (and others but mostly Gavin) are slow to defend 3pt shots because they get lost hanging out near the paint to help. And then lose their man.
Then they also can't get back out quick enough on ball reversals.
Gavin definitely isn't quick enough to recover.
I wonder if this is a scheme decision from the staff.
Would like to see guys worry less about helping Clif or cheating in for a rebound and stick to their guys better on the perimeter.
Just a step or two closer.
No I get it . He was told to shoot when open . When those shots don’t fall he becomes transfigured on one aspect. with the improved D and on the boards can only help his learning curve
What was lost in all this chatter is the positive developments last night. Pike has finally settled on a 5 , Simpson, Williams , Hyatt , Mag, and Cliff. They have to play 30 minutes a night unless one is just terrible and absolutely must be on the court when we start to a lead or on clutch time. Pike did not make the 3 person sub automatically and yanked Oskar after 2-3 bad plays and a minute or 2. He kept his starting 5 in the game the last 6 minutes and OT. The way it should be. Pike hopefully figured it out. He did sit Hyatt too long and ran with Noah but give Hyatt credit as he hit a big 3 after sitting for 10 minutes of actual time.
Second huge development was he let Gavin play thru mistakes in the first half and gave him a good 5-6 minute straight run. It seemed to help his confidence. Still looks lost and thinks he can get away with high school passes but he needs to personally up his intensity especially on the boards , dive on the floor , drive harder to the hoop and not settle for an awkward 13 footer. Hopefully his 3 point skill which has been missing becomes a reality. He hit 2 last night and maybe having seen one go thru helps. But still mind boggling he continues to shoot airballs off in bound plays designed for him.
For the first time all year Derek got Cliff involved and that energized Cliff and he missed him at least 2-3 other times. But tremendous improvement . Derek having 8 rebounds and 6 assists was fabulous as well. He got his teammates more involved for literally the first time. Huge huge development . He was really good last night despite not shooting well. Bring me this Derek all year
Austin is terrific and a tough driver. He is not bad a foul shooter so do not know what happened but he never let it bother him and he continued to drive hard, rebound and play defense. He is really coming on .
Mag and Cliff attacking the offensive glass and being down low to begin with was a welcome sight and hopefully continues as we have that advantage over all other teams. The toughness and grit was back last night . 56 rebounds , our BiG 10 record , which means we missed a lot of shots, but that gives you opportunities for rebounds. We know we are a lousy shooting team so we should be crashing the glass every game and last night was a thing of beauty.
We had to win the game 3 times but showed the toughness to do it . Cliff’s misses at the line looked like fatigue misses .
Great season saving tough gritty win.
Second huge development was he let Gavin play thru mistakes in the first half and gave him a good 5-6 minute straight run. It seemed to help his confidence. Still looks lost and thinks he can get away with high school passes but he needs to personally up his intensity especially on the boards , dive on the floor , drive harder to the hoop and not settle for an awkward 13 footer. Hopefully his 3 point skill which has been missing becomes a reality. He hit 2 last night and maybe having seen one go thru helps. But still mind boggling he continues to shoot airballs off in bound plays designed for him.
For the first time all year Derek got Cliff involved and that energized Cliff and he missed him at least 2-3 other times. But tremendous improvement . Derek having 8 rebounds and 6 assists was fabulous as well. He got his teammates more involved for literally the first time. Huge huge development . He was really good last night despite not shooting well. Bring me this Derek all year
Austin is terrific and a tough driver. He is not bad a foul shooter so do not know what happened but he never let it bother him and he continued to drive hard, rebound and play defense. He is really coming on .
Mag and Cliff attacking the offensive glass and being down low to begin with was a welcome sight and hopefully continues as we have that advantage over all other teams. The toughness and grit was back last night . 56 rebounds , our BiG 10 record , which means we missed a lot of shots, but that gives you opportunities for rebounds. We know we are a lousy shooting team so we should be crashing the glass every game and last night was a thing of beauty.
We had to win the game 3 times but showed the toughness to do it . Cliff’s misses at the line looked like fatigue misses .
Great season saving tough gritty win.
I think Noah will still have to play enough minutes to keep him involved.
End game he needs to be in for Williams.
Williams can't be on the court if the other team is fouling.
We got lucky last night that Noah made both FTs despite being cold off the bench.
End game he needs to be in for Williams.
Williams can't be on the court if the other team is fouling.
We got lucky last night that Noah made both FTs despite being cold off the bench.
I think hyatt sat longer than you would have thought is we were rolling defensively with that 5 AND I think Hyatt had a few bad defensive plays in the middle of the 2nd half.
I am now under the belief with this roster Simpson is our best PG, but if J Williams gets reinstated and he is half decent he quickly becomes the PG. Simpson hasn't won the position, right now he is less worse than the others. Playing exceptional D and rebounding like a forward increases his leash a ton and allows him to play through his mistakes.
I am now under the belief with this roster Simpson is our best PG, but if J Williams gets reinstated and he is half decent he quickly becomes the PG. Simpson hasn't won the position, right now he is less worse than the others. Playing exceptional D and rebounding like a forward increases his leash a ton and allows him to play through his mistakes.
Correction - Simpson had 8 assists (not 6) to go along with 14 points and 8 rebounds. I actually think he played his best "floor game" of his career, as he looked in charge of the offense and really did a nice job distributing.
But dang, if he could only hit his shot at a higher percentage. He always seems to be 3-13 or 4-12. But 2-6 last night on threes was solid -- both of his makes were huge.
Agreed. Those elbow jumpers should be automatic. I don't know how many times he bricked them. That's where shooters like Geo made the difference for us. He would knock those down in his sleep.
Agree with everything except increased confidence on offense isn't going to make him a better defensive player. Confidence doesn't have much to do with playing defense.
Really need to take a closer look but I think Simpson line drives that shot...no arc. Line drives result in bricks being thrown up. Swish or Bricks.
Last edited:
Being able to play help defense is important, but stopping penetration by the guy you are covering negates the need for help defense and allows for more contested threes. We get beat off the dribble too much.
Confidence matters everywhere. When you're feeling confident and feeling good you are going to be playing better on both ends and thinking less
Making shots lengthens the leash. Longer leash may make some not so worried about making mistakes and attention becomes making plays. It is human nature. Every possession for him is high stakes. One mistake and he is on the bench.
Nah, I don't think so, unless increased confidence on offense is going to make you play harder on D - maybe that.
Exactly. Best overall game. The assists and rebounds were so encouraging but he still needs to find a way to be a more efficient shooter
If he can bring the other aspects every game he will still be an overall plus and help this team. Hopefully this is more of a breakthrough than an aberration
If Simpson can bring this overall play and start shooting even an ok percentage it would be enormous
Simpson still has a high ceiling if it all comes together for him. He also has that swag factor and isn't afraid of the moment
Exactly. He knows he needs to play well bc he has a short leash so it is putting pressure on him on both ends to not mess up and get yanked
It's a tough position to be in, but Pike can't just play him major minutes no matter what if he's not producing
Hopefully this is the game Gavin starts to turn it around. Odds are at some point he would, at least shooting wise. He's too talented offensively to play as poorly as he has of late the entire season
I'm sure he has never gone even remotely close 1-19 from 3 at any stretch of his life
The timestamp should be loaded on this but if not start it at 2:44. Comes right after a Griffiths made three and turns it into a made one.
Tapdances around the paint while everyone else makes rotations, and then when he does go to recover he runs to Gary instead of putting himself between Gary and the basket.
There is a lot going on there. I thought this wasn't really Gavin's fault but the more I watch it, I guess it is. He's too slow rotating to the perimeter which causes Noah to want to react. Noah should probably have stayed with the man under the basket though
He would have been if he was born 20 or so years ago and played in Hunterdon county
His stroke and everything looked dead on on at least 2 of those 3 pointers, he was feeling it, feel like 9 out of 10 those shots go, he just got unlucky it was a couple 1 or 10s and they didn't.
