In order for RU to get some wins off the top half of the league, they need Cliff to contribute more offensively. His offensive deficiencies are kind of mind-boggling. He's probably been coached to not put the ball on the floor around the basket, so he rushes his lay-ups, put backs, and other short shots. He also fumbles the ball too often and is allowing opponents to offensive rebound against him. Defensively, he is ok, but even there, he needs to recover to his man more quickly after a double team. I've been a big supporter of the team all season, even during the early set-backs, but I was hoping for more from Cliff at this point.
Rutgers next nine opponents…
- Thread starter Tango Two
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You are too dumb. I agree losing at a good Northwestern team that has lost a number of close games to the top and middle of the league makes it more difficult but we play 8 straight Quad 1 games right after starting with the 2 game home stand of MSU and Ohio State. If you know anything about selecting teams for the NCAA tourney Quad 1 wins go a long way. Get educated as your post is offensive.
You’re funny. And you expect we are going to find six or seven wins without NW? Ans that we would beat OSU and/or MSU coming off that loss. Please enter reality.
There is 0.0000000% chance we win 6 of 9. I mean not even the TKR jinx can make that happen 😜.
Some individual things that have got to change, if this team is going to make a run:
Cliff: I think his rebounding positioning is getting better, but he has butter fingers sometimes. He needs to grab onto the ball and hold onto it. Also, maybe a little tough to adjust shooting touch in the post this late in the season, but maybe surprise some opponents and back down harder to get some separation? (He’d be great with a Dirk stepback now that I think about it, but too late to develop that now.)
Paul: For a point guard, he overthinks everything way too much. He’s almost too hyped up sometimes. If there was a guy that drank too much caffeine before a game, it’d be Paul. Sometimes he has moments of brilliance, sometimes he makes us go WTF. He needs to have a zen mindset and let things just happen within the storm of a basketball game.
Caleb: As much as you all criticize his offense, we know he’s better than this. We also can’t have someone do nothing on offense if we’re going to make a run. He’s just shooting with anxiety right now. All his shots are short armed or pushes. Then, he gets frustrated and sometimes forces the action with an off balanced shot. If we were chatting, I’d say to get a balanced shot and let it fly.
Harper: Dude is our James Harden. I think it’s his conditioning as late in the Nebraska game shots were falling way short. That’s not to say he’s out of shape. Dude probably hit the gym more than anybody with the way he jumps for his size. Wouldn’t be surprised if he squats more than anybody on our team. I compare him to Harden because I suspect Harden just conserves his energy for offense and doesn’t play defense when he can afford it. I don’t necessarily condone that, but we have to find ways to conserve his energy and keep him fresh for offense. He also needs to prioritize his post game recovery more so than anyone else, if he’s not doing that.
Geo: Geo has been playing great as of late. I’d say for him to just have fun and continue being that stone cold shot maker. He is the most emotional and streaky player on this team. When he’s smiling and having fun, he’s probably been balling out that game. He shoots with the most authority and intent when that happens, which is what elite scorers do.
Pikiell: He needs to ride the hot hand and stop trying to balance minutes. Oftentimes, he takes people out when they’re in a groove. It’s tough getting that mojo back when you come back off the bench. I don’t care if it’s Reiber staying longer for Cliff in a stretch or Mawot/Hyatt getting hot. You’ll know when they need to sit. If they’re playing so well as to keep a starter sitting on the bench, then so be it. And if our main guys are gassed at the end of the game, it’s just something we should accept. We gotta stop preparing for the endgame and start playing for the present moment.
Cliff: I think his rebounding positioning is getting better, but he has butter fingers sometimes. He needs to grab onto the ball and hold onto it. Also, maybe a little tough to adjust shooting touch in the post this late in the season, but maybe surprise some opponents and back down harder to get some separation? (He’d be great with a Dirk stepback now that I think about it, but too late to develop that now.)
Paul: For a point guard, he overthinks everything way too much. He’s almost too hyped up sometimes. If there was a guy that drank too much caffeine before a game, it’d be Paul. Sometimes he has moments of brilliance, sometimes he makes us go WTF. He needs to have a zen mindset and let things just happen within the storm of a basketball game.
Caleb: As much as you all criticize his offense, we know he’s better than this. We also can’t have someone do nothing on offense if we’re going to make a run. He’s just shooting with anxiety right now. All his shots are short armed or pushes. Then, he gets frustrated and sometimes forces the action with an off balanced shot. If we were chatting, I’d say to get a balanced shot and let it fly.
Harper: Dude is our James Harden. I think it’s his conditioning as late in the Nebraska game shots were falling way short. That’s not to say he’s out of shape. Dude probably hit the gym more than anybody with the way he jumps for his size. Wouldn’t be surprised if he squats more than anybody on our team. I compare him to Harden because I suspect Harden just conserves his energy for offense and doesn’t play defense when he can afford it. I don’t necessarily condone that, but we have to find ways to conserve his energy and keep him fresh for offense. He also needs to prioritize his post game recovery more so than anyone else, if he’s not doing that.
Geo: Geo has been playing great as of late. I’d say for him to just have fun and continue being that stone cold shot maker. He is the most emotional and streaky player on this team. When he’s smiling and having fun, he’s probably been balling out that game. He shoots with the most authority and intent when that happens, which is what elite scorers do.
Pikiell: He needs to ride the hot hand and stop trying to balance minutes. Oftentimes, he takes people out when they’re in a groove. It’s tough getting that mojo back when you come back off the bench. I don’t care if it’s Reiber staying longer for Cliff in a stretch or Mawot/Hyatt getting hot. You’ll know when they need to sit. If they’re playing so well as to keep a starter sitting on the bench, then so be it. And if our main guys are gassed at the end of the game, it’s just something we should accept. We gotta stop preparing for the endgame and start playing for the present moment.
I don’t care how bad the Refs were, they were bad.
Harper should never disappear against a weak opponent.
Since you sit right behind the bench I know you have seen our effort and performance at home when we see the name on the other teams Jersey. If you do not think our team will get up for MSU and Ohio State at the Rac , then you have totally given up on this team. You might be right but I am not betting against us as we will be underdogs against both and maybe a decent moneyline play.
What do those bad foul calls add, maybe 5-6 points. We should be beating this pathetic Nebby team by 25. Our play today was horrible for 37 minutes, and we were lucky to beat a horrific Nebby team as sad as that sounds.
We do not have to find 6-7 of the 8 straight Quad 1 games but 4 would be nice and 5 would be great considering 4 will be at the RAC and then Penn State at home on Senior night. Get to 11-9 or 12-8 and guess what reality has opened up right in front of your eyes.
I don't challenge your last statement.
But as you know, when you are forced to think, flow is drained and performance suffers.
It's not the points, it's the impact on the players. It's an effect modifier not a plus minus situation.
Are we the first road team to deal with a home whistle? We supposedly have senior leadership, and yet we lose to horrible Minny team and MD team, and struggle with an even worse Nebby team. The problem is the supposed senior leadership, not the whistle
The osu game was overtime and the I'll game was tied with 3 minutes left
Ohio State is all about Liddell. Either you go all out to limit him, or have Cliff do his best and smother everyone elsron the perimeter. They are beatable at home. Look what Purdue is doing to them right now with their big guys. (I am not watching it, just looking at the box score.)
I don't go as far as Lou in saying our season is over if we don't win at Northwestern, but on paper that is an easier game than many of the next games. Big opportunity again to get to 7-4 and come home to a sold out wild RAC.
I don't go as far as Lou in saying our season is over if we don't win at Northwestern, but on paper that is an easier game than many of the next games. Big opportunity again to get to 7-4 and come home to a sold out wild RAC.
That "Nebby" team you're talking about has hung tough with most of their B1G opponents all season. Yes they're 0-10 and yes we should not have struggled against them, but we do because it's a road game. For whatever reason, this team has trouble getting up for a road game. Also, when we played them at RAC, the older McGowan brother didn't play. Although not as good as his younger brother the older McGowan still gave us fits last night.
Lastly, those bad fouls in your estimation gave them 5-6 points. In my estimation it gave them at least 10-15 points, because Harper wasn't in there and never got in a rhythm. I think Ron ended the game with 7 points. He averages about 17.
I watched that game start to finish, and the officials were HORRIBLE!
I almost jinxed Purdue with this post. I'm not predicting a win, but won't be shocked if we do.
Bottom line. Just root for your team. The amount of people giving up on the players, the team, and for the rest of the season during Nebby was quite embarrassing. Too many people throwing their hands up in the air and giving up on the NCAAs (and even NIT for God's sake!!) They fought hard and won on the road. You would think we are perennial NCAA invitees at this point based on some of y'all. Root for our boys hard and loud. Go RU!!
Thanks so much for the reminder on the bad Lafayette and UMass losses. You are a lifesaver.
I mean there’s about a 1% chance of that. But we only need to win 5 of those + psu. There’s gotta be maybe 10-15% chance of that scenario.
Absolutely, no fault in your statement. Giving up on the team is a whole different story and that is where my comments were directed towards.
Here’s where Rutgers basketball stands in postseason picture entering grueling February slate
Rutgers is midway through its conference schedule. Here is where the Scarlet Knights stand.
My thoughts are the game against Nebby was a confluence of factors negatively impacting RHJ.
Overall - he was in foul trouble early - cutting his minutes on the floor, probably impacting his rhythm - and he is generally a rhythm / streak shooter from outside the arc.
Factors impacting his inside / drive offensive game:
- He was fouled extremely hard early under the boards (I think first on a defensive series which was even reviewed by the refs for a flagrant) then several times after that on layup attempts - resulting in no calls by the refs.
- He had 3 charging fouls called against him (2 of which were probably not charges).
- It appeared Nebby was bringing a help defender which adversely impacted RHJ. Perhaps causing him to try and to too much or into less than good shot attempts.
- Other RU players were not taking/hitting open looks on pass outs. Nebby defense could then consolidate inward more, creating less opportunities for RHJ to get good looks/shots.
I don’t think it’s simple Math. Rather, it depends on who we beat. If we win 5 of 9, but those wins include IL, WI and MSU, we are in much better shape because along with the Purdue win we will have beaten the top 4 teams in the conference. I’m not saying we beat those 3 teams, but if we do . . . . .
Here the realism in response to your post: It's a good thing the team didnt quit as much as many people on the board did back then.
Rutgers basketball knows math!!!
I believe you should already be digging in to that crow since we beat OSU and MSU.
