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Some questions have been answered

NewJerseyHawk

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Without adding more items that are isolated to the discussion about the end of the Ohio State debacle, there are some more important questions that are being cleared up.

A) Cam Spencer looked like he belonged on the floor on both ends. The end of the game was a mixed bag, where he had a great pivot, turn around jumper and then threw away a pass trying to find Caleb, which was a horrible play.....I would have like to have seen the ball move more and run some more clock to get a better look.

B) Aundre Hyatt is a B1G starter......somehow he has gotten into the crosshairs of a lot of fans, but he can make some postup plays and plays with some presence in the paint. Somehow Hyatts play isn't sufficient enough for some critics, but he is 100% a Must-have on the court for me....how anyone keeps advocating Mag starting over Hyatt, just doesn't add up to watching what fits this lineup and what doesn't. Hyatt fits perfectly as the complimentary piece that does a little bit of everything and seems to land with 10 to 13 PPG, if you play him 26 to 28 minutes a night. Sign me up for that into the teeth of the schedule.

C) Caleb has the ear of some referees as the Defensive Player of the Year. He is defending at a high level and the refs are at least listening to him between plays and into and out of timeouts. His offense is pretty solid when he stays on-script.....Caleb when he tries to create on his own, doesn't have all of his legs just yet.....there's upside still there.

D) Woolfork defense and rebounding are important in conference play. I don't know if he is a full time starter down the road, but he appears reliable on both ends. Another positive sign.

E) Mulcahy and Simpson.....wow.....40 minutes between the 2 (27 & 13)....13 points and if not for an uncharacteristic 4 turnovers by Mulcahy, RU wins comfortably. Simpsons 2 2nd half baskets, showed zero fear, on the road and he's going to be put into screen and rolls on defense, because he's a little young, but he will learn and get better down the road. He plays smarter than his actual upside, I think he's a future fixture in RUs bridge from the Geo/RHJ era to the Gavin Griffiths/Dylan Harper era down the road.

F) Brandin Knight.....why am I mentioning an assistant coach and not Steve Pikiell?? Because the roster is evolving from one that used to play very tight in spots, to what we are seeing in the recent last 2 years or so.

I know, RU on the road is a theory that keeps coming up, but the staff and Knight, makes this team play hard through mistakes and it's starting to take on a more confident personality.

Many RU teams wilted and would have lost this game with more frazzled players OR where Vegas had this game pegged, around 6 to 7 points as a loss. The players are connected and it shows during timeouts when Knight and Pike are addressing the players. This roster has played confident basketball on the road in the B1G since the 5 game losing streak 2 years ago, which was the crossroads for this culture and roster. After losing to Penn State and heading to Indiana in 2021, RU sent Mulcahy and McConnell to the starting lineup and Mathis and Young to the bench.

Since that Indiana win, fueled by Myles Johnson and solid defense, RU has played solid on the road, posting a 7-10 record in their last 17 B1G road games.

3-3 in the last 6 B1G road games in 2020-21......4-6 in B1G road games in 2021-22......and while getting robbed last night was criminally bad, the trend line of "RU struggles on the road", is really more past than present. It's impossible to ask for anyone not deemed a blue-blood to be over .500 on the road, especially in this league.

You don't win 7 or what should have been a 8th B1G road game out of your last 17 in conference, without playing with confidence. The sum is better than the parts, I'm giving full credit to the assistant coaches, specifically Knight, for getting this team to dial in mentally on the road.

I feel like RU has closed to loop on whether there's enough there post Geo Baker/RHJ......these games like Indiana and Ohio State were eye-opening for some fans, but showed RU has made some steps forward to me. And it has upside as we move into the teeth of the schedule.

Moving onto the rest of December and looking for more positive things to develop off the bench to make this team even more fun to watch, while being tested the rest of the schedule.
 
Last edited:
Without adding more items that are isolated to the discussion about the end of the Ohio State debacle, there are some more important questions that are being cleared up.

A) Cam Spencer looked like he belonged on the floor on both ends. The end of the game was a mixed bag, where he had a great pivot, turn around jumper and then threw away a pass trying to find Caleb, which was a horrible play.....I would have like to have seen the ball move more and run some more clock to get a better look.

B) Aundre Hyatt is a B1G starter......somehow he has gotten into the crosshairs of a lot of fans, but he can make some postup plays and plays with some presence in the paint. Somehow Hyatts play isn't sufficient enough for some critics, but he is 100% a Must-have on the court for me....how anyone keeps advocating Mag starting over Hyatt, just doesn't add up to watching what fits this lineup and what doesn't. Hyatt fits perfectly as the complimentary piece that does a little bit of everything and seems to land with 10 to 13 PPG, if you play him 26 to 28 minutes a night. Sign me up for that into the teeth of the schedule.

C) Caleb has the ear of some referees as the Defensive Player of the Year. He is defending at a high level and the refs are at least listening to him between plays and into and out of timeouts. His offense is pretty solid when he stays on-script.....Caleb when he tries to create on his own, doesn't have all of his legs just yet.....there's upside still there.

D) Woolfork defense and rebounding are important in conference play. I don't know if he is a full time starter down the road, but he appears reliable on both ends. Another positive sign.

E) Mulcahy and Simpson.....wow.....40 minutes between the 2 (27 & 13)....13 points and if not for an uncharacteristic 4 turnovers by Mulcahy, RU wins comfortably. Simpsons 2 2nd half baskets, showed zero fear, on the road and he's going to be put into screen and rolls on defense, because he's a little young, but he will learn and get better down the road. He plays smarter than his actual upside, I think he's a future fixture in RUs bridge from the Geo/RHJ era to the Gavin Griffiths/Dylan Harper era down the road.

F) Brandin Knight.....why am I mentioning an assistant coach and not Steve Pikiell?? Because the roster is evolving from one that used to play very tight in spots, to what we are seeing in the recent last 2 years or so.

I know, RU on the road is a theory that keeps coming up, but the staff and Knight, makes this team play hard through mistakes and it's starting to take on a more confident personality.

Many RU teams wilted and would have lost this game with more frazzled players OR where Vegas had this game pegged, around 6 to 7 points as a loss. The players are connected and it shows during timeouts when Knight and Pike are addressing the players. This roster has played confident basketball on the road in the B1G since the 5 game losing streak 2 years ago, which was the crossroads for this culture and roster. After losing to Penn State and heading to Indiana in 2021, RU sent Mulcahy and McConnell to the starting lineup and Mathis and Young to the bench.

Since that Indiana win, fueled by Myles Johnson and solid defense, RU has played solid on the road, posting a 7-10 record in their last 17 B1G road games.

3-3 in the last 6 B1G road games in 2020-21......4-6 in B1G road games in 2021-22......and while getting robbed last night was criminally bad, the trend line of "RU struggles on the road", is really more past than present. It's impossible to ask for anyone not deemed a blue-blood to be over .500 on the road, especially in this league.

You don't win 7 or what should have been a 8th B1G road game out of your last 17 in conference, without playing with confidence. The sum is better than the parts, I'm giving full credit to the assistant coaches, specifically Knight, for getting this team to dial in mentally on the road.

I feel like RU has closed to loop on whether there's enough there post Geo Baker/RHJ......these games like Indiana and Ohio State were eye-opening for some fans, but showed RU has made some steps forward to me. And it has upside as we move into the teeth of the schedule.

Moving onto the rest of December and looking for more positive things to develop off the bench to make this team even more fun to watch, while being tested the rest of the schedule.
Agree 100%. Not sure how posters like @kyk1827 do not recognize the greatness of Pike and staff.
 
Without adding more items that are isolated to the discussion about the end of the Ohio State debacle, there are some more important questions that are being cleared up.

A) Cam Spencer looked like he belonged on the floor on both ends. The end of the game was a mixed bag, where he had a great pivot, turn around jumper and then threw away a pass trying to find Caleb, which was a horrible play.....I would have like to have seen the ball move more and run some more clock to get a better look.

B) Aundre Hyatt is a B1G starter......somehow he has gotten into the crosshairs of a lot of fans, but he can make some postup plays and plays with some presence in the paint. Somehow Hyatts play isn't sufficient enough for some critics, but he is 100% a Must-have on the court for me....how anyone keeps advocating Mag starting over Hyatt, just doesn't add up to watching what fits this lineup and what doesn't. Hyatt fits perfectly as the complimentary piece that does a little bit of everything and seems to land with 10 to 13 PPG, if you play him 26 to 28 minutes a night. Sign me up for that into the teeth of the schedule.

C) Caleb has the ear of some referees as the Defensive Player of the Year. He is defending at a high level and the refs are at least listening to him between plays and into and out of timeouts. His offense is pretty solid when he stays on-script.....Caleb when he tries to create on his own, doesn't have all of his legs just yet.....there's upside still there.

D) Woolfork defense and rebounding are important in conference play. I don't know if he is a full time starter down the road, but he appears reliable on both ends. Another positive sign.

E) Mulcahy and Simpson.....wow.....40 minutes between the 2 (27 & 13)....13 points and if not for an uncharacteristic 4 turnovers by Mulcahy, RU wins comfortably. Simpsons 2 2nd half baskets, showed zero fear, on the road and he's going to be put into screen and rolls on defense, because he's a little young, but he will learn and get better down the road. He plays smarter than his actual upside, I think he's a future fixture in RUs bridge from the Geo/RHJ era to the Gavin Griffiths/Dylan Harper era down the road.

F) Brandin Knight.....why am I mentioning an assistant coach and not Steve Pikiell?? Because the roster is evolving from one that used to play very tight in spots, to what we are seeing in the recent last 2 years or so.

I know, RU on the road is a theory that keeps coming up, but the staff and Knight, makes this team play hard through mistakes and it's starting to take on a more confident personality.

Many RU teams wilted and would have lost this game with more frazzled players OR where Vegas had this game pegged, around 6 to 7 points as a loss. The players are connected and it shows during timeouts when Knight and Pike are addressing the players. This roster has played confident basketball on the road in the B1G since the 5 game losing streak 2 years ago, which was the crossroads for this culture and roster. After losing to Penn State and heading to Indiana in 2021, RU sent Mulcahy and McConnell to the starting lineup and Mathis and Young to the bench.

Since that Indiana win, fueled by Myles Johnson and solid defense, RU has played solid on the road, posting a 7-10 record in their last 17 B1G road games.

3-3 in the last 6 B1G road games in 2020-21......4-6 in B1G road games in 2021-22......and while getting robbed last night was criminally bad, the trend line of "RU struggles on the road", is really more past than present. It's impossible to ask for anyone not deemed a blue-blood to be over .500 on the road, especially in this league.

You don't win 7 or what should have been a 8th B1G road game out of your last 17 in conference, without playing with confidence. The sum is better than the parts, I'm giving full credit to the assistant coaches, specifically Knight, for getting this team to dial in mentally on the road.

I feel like RU has closed to loop on whether there's enough there post Geo Baker/RHJ......these games like Indiana and Ohio State were eye-opening for some fans, but showed RU has made some steps forward to me. And it has upside as we move into the teeth of the schedule.

Moving onto the rest of December and looking for more positive things to develop off the bench to make this team even more fun to watch, while being tested the rest of the schedule.
Last night Hyatt was great. He had some of his best moments of his RU career, big buckets when we needed them. And he didn't have any of his trademark boneheaded plays. If he continues to play like he did vs OSU, everyone will agree with you on Hyatt over Mag. But the season's body of work suggests that both players have good nights and bad. And I'm glad we have both of them so Pike has options. The good news is that they are both generally showing improvement as they get PT.
 
Spencer still needs to button up his defense. He is a heady player, but still missed several times on D, including getting burned on back door in the first half.
 
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I am more bullish on the team now then before the season started. Still have some unanswered questions.

1. Can Cam and Paul play together defensively…..then add Hyatt.
2. What is the ceiling for this team offensively? Are we going to just scratch and claw for the 1.00 PPP and then obviously hold opponents under that
3. Will we get the defensive rebounding fixed?
4. Will Pike have the confidence to use his bench to keep Caleb, Paul and Cliff fresh in March?
 
This team is really good IMO, possibly the best team Pike has had here, which paradoxically is why I am so annoyed we have 3 losses already.
We are still 1-3 against the 4 teams with a pulse. Our offense hasn’t been great and we might be aided by opponents poor shooting. Now I realize looks have been bad and we are generally doing a very good job defending the line, but the rate our opponents are shooting probably isn’t sustainable. Although last night is reverting back to some type of mean.
 
We are still 1-3 against the 4 teams with a pulse. Our offense hasn’t been great and we might be aided by opponents poor shooting. Now I realize looks have been bad and we are generally doing a very good job defending the line, but the rate our opponents are shooting probably isn’t sustainable. Although last night is reverting back to some type of mean.
Opponents shooting definitely not sustainable. I’m working on updating my model to incorporate this better
 
if I normalized opponents shooting to 30% (D1 average is 33.5%). We would have given up 58.5 3s instead of 44. That is an extra 43.5 points. Going to chop 30% off that number because the 14.5 extra misses could have been OREB and converted for points. We are talking about an extra 30.5 points spread over 622 possessions or roughly .05 PPP. That would take us from #4 to somewhere in the mid 40s in adjusted defensive efficiencies
 
if I normalized opponents shooting to 30% (D1 average is 33.5%). We would have given up 58.5 3s instead of 44. That is an extra 43.5 points. Going to chop 30% off that number because the 14.5 extra misses could have been OREB and converted for points. We are talking about an extra 30.5 points spread over 622 possessions or roughly .05 PPP. That would take us from #4 to somewhere in the mid 40s in adjusted defensive efficiencies
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This team is really good IMO, possibly the best team Pike has had here, which paradoxically is why I am so annoyed we have 3 losses already.
Rebounding , 3 point shooting and missed layups are the main reasons for the three road losses.The 3 pointer by Ohio State is a totally different issue because the shooter was out of bounds before making the shot.
 
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We are still 1-3 against the 4 teams with a pulse. Our offense hasn’t been great and we might be aided by opponents poor shooting. Now I realize looks have been bad and we are generally doing a very good job defending the line, but the rate our opponents are shooting probably isn’t sustainable. Although last night is reverting back to some type of mean.
Before the season is over, you're going to step over to greener pastures. lol




grass saying GIF by Melly Lee
 
Without adding more items that are isolated to the discussion about the end of the Ohio State debacle, there are some more important questions that are being cleared up.

A) Cam Spencer looked like he belonged on the floor on both ends. The end of the game was a mixed bag, where he had a great pivot, turn around jumper and then threw away a pass trying to find Caleb, which was a horrible play.....I would have like to have seen the ball move more and run some more clock to get a better look.

B) Aundre Hyatt is a B1G starter......somehow he has gotten into the crosshairs of a lot of fans, but he can make some postup plays and plays with some presence in the paint. Somehow Hyatts play isn't sufficient enough for some critics, but he is 100% a Must-have on the court for me....how anyone keeps advocating Mag starting over Hyatt, just doesn't add up to watching what fits this lineup and what doesn't. Hyatt fits perfectly as the complimentary piece that does a little bit of everything and seems to land with 10 to 13 PPG, if you play him 26 to 28 minutes a night. Sign me up for that into the teeth of the schedule.

C) Caleb has the ear of some referees as the Defensive Player of the Year. He is defending at a high level and the refs are at least listening to him between plays and into and out of timeouts. His offense is pretty solid when he stays on-script.....Caleb when he tries to create on his own, doesn't have all of his legs just yet.....there's upside still there.

D) Woolfork defense and rebounding are important in conference play. I don't know if he is a full time starter down the road, but he appears reliable on both ends. Another positive sign.

E) Mulcahy and Simpson.....wow.....40 minutes between the 2 (27 & 13)....13 points and if not for an uncharacteristic 4 turnovers by Mulcahy, RU wins comfortably. Simpsons 2 2nd half baskets, showed zero fear, on the road and he's going to be put into screen and rolls on defense, because he's a little young, but he will learn and get better down the road. He plays smarter than his actual upside, I think he's a future fixture in RUs bridge from the Geo/RHJ era to the Gavin Griffiths/Dylan Harper era down the road.

F) Brandin Knight.....why am I mentioning an assistant coach and not Steve Pikiell?? Because the roster is evolving from one that used to play very tight in spots, to what we are seeing in the recent last 2 years or so.

I know, RU on the road is a theory that keeps coming up, but the staff and Knight, makes this team play hard through mistakes and it's starting to take on a more confident personality.

Many RU teams wilted and would have lost this game with more frazzled players OR where Vegas had this game pegged, around 6 to 7 points as a loss. The players are connected and it shows during timeouts when Knight and Pike are addressing the players. This roster has played confident basketball on the road in the B1G since the 5 game losing streak 2 years ago, which was the crossroads for this culture and roster. After losing to Penn State and heading to Indiana in 2021, RU sent Mulcahy and McConnell to the starting lineup and Mathis and Young to the bench.

Since that Indiana win, fueled by Myles Johnson and solid defense, RU has played solid on the road, posting a 7-10 record in their last 17 B1G road games.

3-3 in the last 6 B1G road games in 2020-21......4-6 in B1G road games in 2021-22......and while getting robbed last night was criminally bad, the trend line of "RU struggles on the road", is really more past than present. It's impossible to ask for anyone not deemed a blue-blood to be over .500 on the road, especially in this league.

You don't win 7 or what should have been a 8th B1G road game out of your last 17 in conference, without playing with confidence. The sum is better than the parts, I'm giving full credit to the assistant coaches, specifically Knight, for getting this team to dial in mentally on the road.

I feel like RU has closed to loop on whether there's enough there post Geo Baker/RHJ......these games like Indiana and Ohio State were eye-opening for some fans, but showed RU has made some steps forward to me. And it has upside as we move into the teeth of the schedule.

Moving onto the rest of December and looking for more positive things to develop off the bench to make this team even more fun to watch, while being tested the rest of the schedule.
Really good post. Agree with all of it.
 
Hyatt is coming along for sure and he was always going to be an important piece that could take this team to another level.

But his body of work hasn’t been consistent enough for me to say he deserves a starting role over Mag yet. Mag brings certain things to the table moreso than Hyatt (Defensive, rebounds, intensity).

It looks like Hyatt has taken his game to the next level but I need to see this to be a consistent theme - inconsistency, turnovers and forced shots were a big thing with him in previous seasons.
 
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Good observations. The most reassuring development is that Cam Spencer is not the next Peter Kiss at RU. It was great to see him step up against an athletic Big 10 team on the road. After bad games at Temple, Miami and IU at the RAC, I was starting to have doubts.
 
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Cam showing that he can exceed at this level is critical for this team this year. Last night was very positive for him and RU. If he continues showing this, RU will be a tuff team to beat by anyone in this conference.
 
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Without adding more items that are isolated to the discussion about the end of the Ohio State debacle, there are some more important questions that are being cleared up.

A) Cam Spencer looked like he belonged on the floor on both ends. The end of the game was a mixed bag, where he had a great pivot, turn around jumper and then threw away a pass trying to find Caleb, which was a horrible play.....I would have like to have seen the ball move more and run some more clock to get a better look.

B) Aundre Hyatt is a B1G starter......somehow he has gotten into the crosshairs of a lot of fans, but he can make some postup plays and plays with some presence in the paint. Somehow Hyatts play isn't sufficient enough for some critics, but he is 100% a Must-have on the court for me....how anyone keeps advocating Mag starting over Hyatt, just doesn't add up to watching what fits this lineup and what doesn't. Hyatt fits perfectly as the complimentary piece that does a little bit of everything and seems to land with 10 to 13 PPG, if you play him 26 to 28 minutes a night. Sign me up for that into the teeth of the schedule.

C) Caleb has the ear of some referees as the Defensive Player of the Year. He is defending at a high level and the refs are at least listening to him between plays and into and out of timeouts. His offense is pretty solid when he stays on-script.....Caleb when he tries to create on his own, doesn't have all of his legs just yet.....there's upside still there.

D) Woolfork defense and rebounding are important in conference play. I don't know if he is a full time starter down the road, but he appears reliable on both ends. Another positive sign.

E) Mulcahy and Simpson.....wow.....40 minutes between the 2 (27 & 13)....13 points and if not for an uncharacteristic 4 turnovers by Mulcahy, RU wins comfortably. Simpsons 2 2nd half baskets, showed zero fear, on the road and he's going to be put into screen and rolls on defense, because he's a little young, but he will learn and get better down the road. He plays smarter than his actual upside, I think he's a future fixture in RUs bridge from the Geo/RHJ era to the Gavin Griffiths/Dylan Harper era down the road.

F) Brandin Knight.....why am I mentioning an assistant coach and not Steve Pikiell?? Because the roster is evolving from one that used to play very tight in spots, to what we are seeing in the recent last 2 years or so.

I know, RU on the road is a theory that keeps coming up, but the staff and Knight, makes this team play hard through mistakes and it's starting to take on a more confident personality.

Many RU teams wilted and would have lost this game with more frazzled players OR where Vegas had this game pegged, around 6 to 7 points as a loss. The players are connected and it shows during timeouts when Knight and Pike are addressing the players. This roster has played confident basketball on the road in the B1G since the 5 game losing streak 2 years ago, which was the crossroads for this culture and roster. After losing to Penn State and heading to Indiana in 2021, RU sent Mulcahy and McConnell to the starting lineup and Mathis and Young to the bench.

Since that Indiana win, fueled by Myles Johnson and solid defense, RU has played solid on the road, posting a 7-10 record in their last 17 B1G road games.

3-3 in the last 6 B1G road games in 2020-21......4-6 in B1G road games in 2021-22......and while getting robbed last night was criminally bad, the trend line of "RU struggles on the road", is really more past than present. It's impossible to ask for anyone not deemed a blue-blood to be over .500 on the road, especially in this league.

You don't win 7 or what should have been a 8th B1G road game out of your last 17 in conference, without playing with confidence. The sum is better than the parts, I'm giving full credit to the assistant coaches, specifically Knight, for getting this team to dial in mentally on the road.

I feel like RU has closed to loop on whether there's enough there post Geo Baker/RHJ......these games like Indiana and Ohio State were eye-opening for some fans, but showed RU has made some steps forward to me. And it has upside as we move into the teeth of the schedule.

Moving onto the rest of December and looking for more positive things to develop off the bench to make this team even more fun to watch, while being tested the rest of the schedule.
Great insights. I thought that was one of our best road efforts I’ve seen. Past teams would have wilted. Definitely had a swagger last night I haven’t seen. Good sign for the future. If we can stay healthy and keep improving we might be able to make some noise this year.
 
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