Thiam and Shaq

[S_Janowski]

Played their best games in their young careers tonight.

Thiam - one thing the announcer said tonight that I actually agreed with was he could have used a redshirt. He's so thin, takes forever to get his shot off resulting in blocks or ugly shots and makes freshman mistakes here and there. With that said he showed a lot tonight. A couple big threes which opened the lanes up and a couple nice plays on D which led to 2 breakaways.
If the staff can put 25 lbs on this kid and cut his release time in half by next year he'll be a threat everynight.

Shaq - Amazing what shedding 50lbs can do to a guy. I thought he's played pretty good D all year which he continued tonight but he also picked up some offensive boards and buckets. He stepped up in place of Gettys who was in foul trouble and struggled a bit tonight. He's got pretty good footwork and balance for his size. If he can continue to improve his shape and develop a couple post moves he could be more of a threat next year also.

The play of these two kept us in the game tonight.

 

[RUonBrain]

Both played great.

Very good to see.
Bodes well for next year.

 

[SJScarlet]

Doorson's foot is a problem for him, if healthy he would have accomplished more this season. He will likely have surgery after the season, so how he recovers from that will be important to the team's chances next season.

 

[Scarlet Shack]

Doorson is one more year of serious strength and conditioning from making it translate on the court in productivity

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

While a RS may have helped Thiam, I know for this season, this is almost a glorified RS season for him.....he's playing on a rebuilding roster, isn't automatically guaranteed minutes and is asked to play defense, rebound and avoid turnovers against bigger, stronger, faster kids in the B1G.

Getting knocked around and not having success early in the conference season or not being close to 100% was good for Thiam....it shows him how much harder he has to go, to be a little more consistent and the staff has isolated a role for him, that allows him to do what he does best.....find spots to try and get space to shoot.

The Small Forward position is wide open for now and next season.....Ideally we have a stronger 5th year Shooting guard that is around 6'4 to 6'5, that can rebound and make an occasional dribble drive/pass, to buy Thiam more time to develop....That would take some of the pressure off Thiam for a year and allow him to grow into a role that isn't a 28-30 minutes a night. If he steps up these last 6 games with double digits and a couple of threes in each, then he can go into the spring and hit the weights to add about 10 12 lbs of good strength that will allow his game to take the next step.

On Doorson....I want to bottle 6 points a night from him and run.....if he can provide that each night, RU improves drastically next year....

 

[urbanecane]

I haven't watched too many games this season so I don't say this with hard confidence, but I thought Doorson was better than Freeman and Gettys last night. Another game or two like that and I would add him to the starting 5.

 

[toby83]

Thiam needs to much space to get that shot off. late in game he had enough space for most shooters his height to get it off, but in air threw away a pass instead realizing was going to prob get blocked.

 

[goru7]

I haven't watched too many games this season so I don't say this with hard confidence, but I thought Doorson was better than Freeman and Gettys last night. Another game or two like that and I would add him to the starting 5.

You are right you have not watched many games this year.

 

[higgins3]

Very important game for these two. Hopefully it continues, and Doorson keeps getting time.

On top of that, CJ Gettys works continues to help him out.

 

[ColonelRutgers]

Still like Diallo's upside much more than Doorson's. Would like to see Diallo get more minutes. Was a DNP against OSU.

 

[BellyFullOfWhiteDogCrap]

Baby steps for both. Hate to say it, but I'm not bullish on either Thaim or Shaq. Can they contribute consistently productive minutes in the next 2-3 years? Possible. Will either be an impact player? No.