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The Wolf experiment at the four needs to end ….

Agreed. Illinois’ weave offense was a thing of beauty, executed to perfection. They always seemed to get a clean look out of it, with either Shannon getting downhill or with terrific ball movement.
That’s not our skill set. We’re fast break, rushed actually, to make up for lack of cohesive offense…if nothing there we revert to iso.
 
Maybe I need to go back and look, but Cliff always seems to me to be a black hole when he gets the ball. I always seem to be getting frustrated with him because he didn't pass it out after bricking yet another shot.
Said for years, coaches give stars the opportunity to showcase themselves. Necessary evil for recruiting and retention. He knows Cliff is a weak offensive player but he allows that showcasing early in games.
 
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Part of the issue with rebounding also starts with wolf playing the four …and having to chase fours more adapt to stepping out to the line than Wolf , and he is not quick or naturally instinctive enoogh to recover back to be in good rebound postion …

Part of cliffs issue is when wolf is playing with him …they can really slump off wolf when he is opposite …and really restrict his space to work without getting double help .

Plus ..with thar Slump…the chance of getting a OREB goes waaaaaay down

What I would do …untik mag gets back

Center
cliff 28
Wolf 12

Power foresrd
Hyatt 28
Oskar 12

Small forward
Gavin 22
Williams 18

Remaining 80 minutes at guard
Noah 27
Derek 27
J Mike 20
Williams 6

This line up to work requires aundre to step up and bang more and Gavin to show more defensively and on the boards ….

It may require playing sone zone in there ….which you can do for 10 minutes a game while pressing to reduce shot clock

When mag comes back …it gets better

But until mag gets back …that’s how I handle it
 
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Funny enough but Hyatt is our best rebounder by far...thing is he just has lapses
 
Said for years, coaches give stars the opportunity to showcase themselves. Necessary evil for recruiting and retention. He knows Cliff is a weak offensive player but he allows that showcasing early in games.
Yeah - I was thinking that. But I also think at some point you have to have a "Come to Jesus' conversation with that player. Ultimately coaches responsibility is winning, and throwing a player a bone or giving a little bit of a leash is one thing, but what Cliff is doing right now offensively is costing Rutgers greatly.
 
Yeah - I was thinking that. But I also think at some point you have to have a "Come to Jesus' conversation with that player. Ultimately coaches responsibility is winning, and throwing a player a bone or giving a little bit of a leash is one thing, but what Cliff is doing right now offensively is costing Rutgers greatly.
nope, it’s the game. Winning comes just as much from recruiting top players who expect this pampering. Pike isn’t a come to Jesus kind of a coach. They started every game last year by feeding Cliff the first few trips
 
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Wolf doesn’t draw a hedge, or need to be defended.
His presence at the 4 does nothing but allow the opposing team to further collapse on Cliff.
If he exploded for rebounds it would be tolerable, but he’s no where to be found under the glass on either end.
I’m sure the kid would rather play close to the basket, he’s good at it.
Why are we asking Cliff and Wolf to things they aren’t good at
 
That is a lineup that could give up 90 PPG
It may be the best the team has at the moment. Who do you play? Awill doesn’t make sense as pg because he is a better rebounding guard that we sorely need at the moment. Why put him on ball?
 
Simpson
Noah
Gavin
Hyatt
Cliff

That should be our starting 5…GG big liability on defense but we need MFing offense badly and we should stop trying to get CO the ball in the post. High PnR and even do it with GG a few times

We need to attack the rim and kick out if not there

Woolf/CO together is not ideal and personally o think Woolf a better post player
with gavin in a simple action we should utilize is the pick and roll with cliff with gavin replacing cliff as he rolls. This is roll and replace and is super easy to utilize and makes the help side defender have to tag cliff on the roll and leave gavin open on the replace on the wing or go with gavin and leave cliff open on the roll. Why we haven’t run much of this is beyond me
 
It may be the best the team has at the moment. Who do you play? Awill doesn’t make sense as pg because he is a better rebounding guard that we sorely need at the moment. Why put him on ball?
that's the problem...

The reality of the situation could be........

Pike knows his team and the best lineup is the one he is playing.

The fact we are starting 2 centers and a power forward and are getting waxed by Illinois and St. peters on the defensive glass is scary.

Replacing Woolfolk with gavin kills our defense and hurt our DREB even more.

MOST IMPORTANTLY.....sends a message to the team that you don't need to play defense to get minutes.

How does a team sit together as a team and watch the film and see a few of the egregious plays and then send a player out there because he had 5 recruiting stars.

There are 3 plays, 2 with Gavin and 1 with Hyatt where it was as clear as day they were in the position to take a charge and wanted no piece. Pike built this program on a foundation that can't be broken because a player had 5 stars.
 
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with gavin in a simple action we should utilize is the pick and roll with cliff with gavin replacing cliff as he rolls. This is roll and replace and is super easy to utilize and makes the help side defender have to tag cliff on the roll and leave gavin open on the replace on the wing or go with gavin and leave cliff open on the roll. Why we haven’t run much of this is beyond me
We have a nice play where the 2nd screen in a sequence is Cliff screening the wing. I have seen it run twice this year. I can't fathom why we didn't see it yesterday.

Gavin should be splinters or touches....having him on the floor getting torched defensively is stupid if he isn't at least given the opportunity to make up for it offensively.
 
Wolf doesn’t draw a hedge, or need to be defended.
His presence at the 4 does nothing but allow the opposing team to further collapse on Cliff.
If he exploded for rebounds it would be tolerable, but he’s no where to be found under the glass on either end.
I’m sure the kid would rather play close to the basket, he’s good at it.
Why are we asking Cliff and Wolf to things they aren’t good at
This. There is no need to cover Wolf on the perimeter. His defender clogs the lane for Cliff but also for the guards to penetrate. In order for it to make sense to play Wolf at the 4, he needs to be dominating the boards and or scoring in the post. It's not happening

I want to see more plays for Gavin to get a 3. Even if they cover it well it will likely mean his defender is fighting through a screen at an angle that gives Gavin a lane to penetrate

Also would like to see Gavin and Cliff on a high ball screen. If they go under, Gavin pops the 3. If they hedge with the big Gavin is tall enough and a willing passes to hit Cliff on the roll
 
This. There is no need to cover Wolf on the perimeter. His defender clogs the lane for Cliff but also for the guards to penetrate. In order for it to make sense to play Wolf at the 4, he needs to be dominating the boards and or scoring in the post. It's not happening

I want to see more plays for Gavin to get a 3. Even if they cover it well it will likely mean his defender is fighting through a screen at an angle that gives Gavin a lane to penetrate

Also would like to see Gavin and Cliff on a high ball screen. If they go under, Gavin pops the 3. If they hedge with the big Gavin is tall enough and a willing passes to hit Cliff on the roll
Addresses the two biggest things missing from this offense right now. 1) Gavin getting more touches and 2) Getting the ball to Cliff moving downhill towards the basket.
 
that's the problem...

The reality of the situation could be........

Pike knows his team and the best lineup is the one he is playing.

The fact we are starting 2 centers and a power forward and are getting waxed by Illinois and St. peters on the defensive glass is scary.

Replacing Woolfolk with gavin kills our defense and hurt our DREB even more.

MOST IMPORTANTLY.....sends a message to the team that you don't need to play defense to get minutes.

How does a team sit together as a team and watch the film and see a few of the egregious plays and then send a player out there because he had 5 recruiting stars.

There are 3 plays, 2 with Gavin and 1 with Hyatt where it was as clear as day they were in the position to take a charge and wanted no piece. Pike built this program on a foundation that can't be broken because a player had 5 stars.
FIG, hundreds of coaches around the country let defense slide for a better offensive player. Gavin is not the only one getting beat on defense.

Also, he is a freshman. We have had many kids come in undersized. Give the kid some time to grow. Also, give him some props in general. He made it to a D1 program, and has shown a lot of offensive potential. People want him in the game because right now because he has probably shown most offensively potential on a team thats struggling there.
 
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So many people wanted to start him at the 4 and now everybody is saying he’s bad🤣. There’s a whole thread dedicated to saying we need to start Wolf at the 4 lmao. I never liked the idea of him starting there. He can’t shoot
 
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