Basketball VIDEO: Steve Pikiell talks Maryland postgame

[Richie O]

 

[RU MAN]

After rummaging through all the softball questions and the coach giving nothing but politically correct answers, the takeaway I got was when Pike said, to paraphrase, "Officiating can change, and it does affect how one plays, especially when your main guys are getting into early foul trouble." Read between the lines, and it says everything about how he felt today about the $shitty officiating. And he also ripped the team for not making their FT's, especially in the first half when they were struggling for 11:30 without a point. But since Pike has been here, unless a kid comes in as an 80% FT shooter, I have never seen improvement from the guys who can't shoot FT's. And year in and year out, we are at the bottom of the league. Hey Steve, how about when you're on the recruiting trail, one of many of your prerequisites to offering a scholarship should be what the kid's percentage is from the charity stripe.

Now, we all know the games coaches and journalists play, but it would be really refreshing if one of the damn questions made Pike uncomfortable, like, "Hey Steve, when are you going to develop a real offense with high and low ball screens, spacing, and set plays for certain players, because right now it looks as though your players just stand around, get bunched up, while the clock ticks down, and have no idea what they're doing out there? How about if you try and adopt Danny Hurley's type of offense that has continual movement with a set purpose?

Let's watch Pike squirm in how he answers that in coach speak, because I've seen better offenses run in high school than the pathetic crap we're forced to watch. It's one thing to be an elite defense, but if you can't score to me it doesn't matter. I want both.

 

[zappaa]

After rummaging through all the softball questions and the coach giving nothing but politically correct answers, the takeaway I got was when Pike said, to paraphrase, "Officiating can change, and it does affect how one plays, especially when your main guys are getting into early foul trouble." Read between the lines, and it says everything about how he felt today about the $shitty officiating. And he also ripped the team for not making their FT's, especially in the first half when they were struggling for 11:30 without a point. But since Pike has been here, unless a kid comes in as an 80% FT shooter, I have never seen improvement from the guys who can't shoot FT's. And year in and year out, we are at the bottom of the league. Hey Steve, how about when you're on the recruiting trail, one of many of your prerequisites to offering a scholarship should be what the kid's percentage is from the charity stripe.

Now, we all know the games coaches and journalists play, but it would be really refreshing if one of the damn questions made Pike uncomfortable, like, "Hey Steve, when are you going to develop a real offense with high and low ball screens, spacing, and set plays for certain players, because right now it looks as though your players just stand around, get bunched up, while the clock ticks down, and have no idea what they're doing out there? How about if you try and adopt Danny Hurley's type of offense that has continual movement with a set purpose?

Let's watch Pike squirm in how he answers that in coach speak, because I've seen better offenses run in high school than the pathetic crap we're forced to watch. It's one thing to be an elite defense, but if you can't score to me it doesn't matter. I want both.

The kids who can shoot weren’t available to us, so we got the leftovers.
Great athletes yes, but if they were good shooters they’d have gone elsewhere.
Pike isn’t a dummy, he knows there’s not one pure shooter in the bunch, who’s also an athlete.
I’d like to know Gavin’s free throw percentage his last 2 years in high school.
Thanks to RHJ and Dylan literally growing up with this program, he was the catalyst for this great class.
Along with Pike being a great players coach