Teams used to say that about Douby, too. Never underestimate how much a gifted scorer can impact a game, even when he's the focus of the defense.
Open practice thoughts
- Thread starter kcg88
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Teams used to say that about Douby, too. Never underestimate how much a gifted scorer can impact a game, even when he's the focus of the defense.
I lowered expectations on you to. Expect an increase in replies with the hashtag #badtake
Worried about your memory......I seem to remember a lanky guy that used to play from us. He was like 6’ 10’’ 170 pounds.
Yeboah is an upgrade from Eugene. A guy his size who can pop 40% from 3 point range and won’t take stupid shots and 80% from the line. Hopefully he can also take charges. We will be better this year. Much quicker and a year under their belts for Harper, Mcconell, Mathis Johnson and Kiss.
This is a post season team.
This is a post season team.
Didn't read all of the other prior posts so I apologize if I am repeating some info but below are my takes from the Open Practice - which was only about an hour and 15 minutes and was controlled (was not an open scrimmage):
Caleb: has grown to 6'7" and has a new look via Braided hairdue.
Jacob Young: his right thumb appeared to be bandaged however it did not appear to affect him at all since he's a also a lefty. Appeared to be starting PG and is still fastest on team by far.
Shaq Carter: seems more fit physically
Pike: Much more involved in the practice which Jay Young handled last year.
Crowd: Much more people than prior years for obvious reasons as well as to see Practice facility as well
Brandin Knight: much more involved in the practice dealing with the team
Daniel Lobach: will redshirt per Pike. Was off working out with Van Dyke.
Mulcahy: hit open 3's in workouts. Appeared to be backup PG per drills. Seemed vocally assertive in some drills
Kiss: was practicing better and harder.
Yeobah: seems quite mature and seems to fit in well with team.
Geo: Did not do any PG drills and played off the ball.
Dourcoure: Pike seems to be much higher on him than last year. He'll need to be.
Myles: has lost 35-40 LBS.
Montez: Just an intelligent player as he pointed out wrong positioning to another teammate on a play.
Harper: shot wasn't fluid during practice but that's the leas of my worries.
If I had to guess starting lineup will be: Geo; Jacob; Harper; Yeobah and Myles.
Also, Steve Bayh was not at the practice as I presume he was recruiting.
Caleb: has grown to 6'7" and has a new look via Braided hairdue.
Jacob Young: his right thumb appeared to be bandaged however it did not appear to affect him at all since he's a also a lefty. Appeared to be starting PG and is still fastest on team by far.
Shaq Carter: seems more fit physically
Pike: Much more involved in the practice which Jay Young handled last year.
Crowd: Much more people than prior years for obvious reasons as well as to see Practice facility as well
Brandin Knight: much more involved in the practice dealing with the team
Daniel Lobach: will redshirt per Pike. Was off working out with Van Dyke.
Mulcahy: hit open 3's in workouts. Appeared to be backup PG per drills. Seemed vocally assertive in some drills
Kiss: was practicing better and harder.
Yeobah: seems quite mature and seems to fit in well with team.
Geo: Did not do any PG drills and played off the ball.
Dourcoure: Pike seems to be much higher on him than last year. He'll need to be.
Myles: has lost 35-40 LBS.
Montez: Just an intelligent player as he pointed out wrong positioning to another teammate on a play.
Harper: shot wasn't fluid during practice but that's the leas of my worries.
If I had to guess starting lineup will be: Geo; Jacob; Harper; Yeobah and Myles.
Also, Steve Bayh was not at the practice as I presume he was recruiting.
Pike has a well run practice and each drill timed and hardly any idle moments which keeps players engaged throughout.
Pike seems to challenging Young on his D. My guess his minutes will be based on how well he is defending and how quickly Mulcahy develops.
I also expect our starting five will be Geo, Myles, Harper (our three best players), Young and Yeboah.
Best thing for me 1) was seeing Myles having better form and an arc to his free throws. No more line drives at the hoop!!
2) Mamadou seems to moving well, setting solid screens... kid has a chance to be good.
3) Our depth... Pike has options
Pike did indicate that coach Hayn was out recruiting.
A special shout out to Nick Brooks!!!! At the APC, he came over and spent time playing BB with my 2year old grandson. Nick is a special kid!!!
Pike seems to challenging Young on his D. My guess his minutes will be based on how well he is defending and how quickly Mulcahy develops.
I also expect our starting five will be Geo, Myles, Harper (our three best players), Young and Yeboah.
Best thing for me 1) was seeing Myles having better form and an arc to his free throws. No more line drives at the hoop!!
2) Mamadou seems to moving well, setting solid screens... kid has a chance to be good.
3) Our depth... Pike has options
Pike did indicate that coach Hayn was out recruiting.
A special shout out to Nick Brooks!!!! At the APC, he came over and spent time playing BB with my 2year old grandson. Nick is a special kid!!!
Who was the former RU player in attendance? He was seen sitting behind the basket and talking with Carl Hobbs.
Agreed. Powell is considerably better than anyone on RU's roster when it comes to offense.
You ever watch him play? Stop getting bogged down in stats when a player is older, stronger, and in a system that better suits his skills. You can always count on FIG to come in and rain on everyone's parade. You are reading stats from Texas like you scouted the kids when in reality you probably didn't see a single game.
:ThumbsUp
Paralysis by analysis. Analytics is a great tool, but analytics is useless if it's several years old. Young is in a different environment, surrounded by different players, in a different league, with different coaches, and plays in a different system. I think if fair to judge Young after seeing him play for Rutgers.
I get it. BUT...last year (and quite a few examples beyond that) we had a few new players with similar stats, or lack thereof, that were cautionary. I understand small sample size, but you can't ignore 2 years of data that tell a picture different than what people are hoping for.
I hear 10X more things about Young than I do about Mathis. I don't get it.
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I dunno, kyk, I think you're underestimating SHU as a team. They are basically a consensus top 15 team preseason, and it's not just because of Powell, although he is the major reason at 23 ppg and 36% 3-pt last year. They also have three other returning starters who can ALL play at a high level (Cale at at 10.2 ppg, and 38% 3-pt; McKnight at 9.4 ppg and 4.0 apg; Mamu at 9 ppg and 8 rpg), not to mention that 7-2 Gill kid who is quite a rim protector (1 bpg in just 10 mpg).
If we had a guy like Cale (6-6 WF who scored 10.2 ppg and shot 38% from 3-pt range, as a sophomore), we would be touting him as a potential all-conference player this year as a junior. And Mamu gives them a legitimate inside-out game, with Powell/Cale on the wing and Mamu a post threat.
This will be an absolute DOGFIGHT, and, depending on how both teams do in their first 7 or 8 games, SHU will likely be a 5 to 8 pt. favorite on the road.
I think it's because, though Mathis is a player that can slash, rebound, and score against certain defense, or teams, Mr. Young can change a teams method. He is one of those players that by speed alone, can disrupt any Defense, but he has to do it under control. And, yes I have seen both players play in person. Mathis can get lost on the court, Young you can't ignore!
This and also it is a type of player that our roster was sorely lacking. How many times have we been destroyed by smaller ballhandlers down the stretch? If we had someone that could run with Cassius Winston, we probably beat them last year. That is why people are excited.
I think GRF is off again in saying Young will only get 15 minutes a game. He keeps bringing up Young's stats at Texas which was 2 and 3 years ago. He didn't play the point at Texas either. He keeps saying he is almost always right and seems to think he knows everything better than the rest of us. I like GRF but I remember well when he said several Times Ridge was going to destroy Linden and that never happened. He is wrong often but never will admit it. He also has not spoken well of Mulcahy either. I think he will shine for us perhaps not that much this season but over 4 years he will. Please just don't act like a MR. Know it All most of the time.
Young got DNPs and conference and wasn't part of Texas's plans. Mathis was a huge part of RU's plans as a freshman. For fans to discard a current player who was very important last year for a new shinny piece.......
I like and respect you as well, BUT you are misquoting me.
AND....I definitely admit when I am wrong.
I like Mathis, Baker, Harper, McConnell. Especially Mathis :WideSmile:! I just can't sit here and assume new guys, with bad stats, will come here and automatically take minutes away.
There are definitely things about Mathis's game that I don't like or need improvement. With that being said I haven't seen a new player come here in a LONG LONG time that has the motor he has. Will that translate in him having a big part in taking RU to the next step? I hope so, but I am far from certain.
Based on on stats and demonstrated on-the-court performance, Young gets lost on the court far more than Mathis. I'm with GRF here that people are obsessing over the shiny new toy (and the possibility of unrealized potential) over the known quantity that has proven to be a scorer, top defender, and warrior on the court. I'll take Mathis over Young on my fantasy team.
As a freshman and sophomore at Texas, Roach, Coleman, and Jones handled the distribution of the ball, which forced him into usage as a shooting 2G.
So, a couple of questions..
1. Do we have any point guards as good as those three?
2. How much has he grown as a point guard during his redshirt season and preseason practice?
If he hasn't grown his skill set and we have players as good as those three, then we should expect him to again be a reserve role.
If our distributors aren't at that level, and/or his skill set has improved since he left Texas, then it would not be unreasonable to assume he would start here.
So, a couple of questions..
1. Do we have any point guards as good as those three?
2. How much has he grown as a point guard during his redshirt season and preseason practice?
If he hasn't grown his skill set and we have players as good as those three, then we should expect him to again be a reserve role.
If our distributors aren't at that level, and/or his skill set has improved since he left Texas, then it would not be unreasonable to assume he would start here.
Also, Mathis is not necessarily in direct competition for minutes with Young. It seems we want Young to fill the point guard role, whereas Mathis is much more of a slashing scoring guard.
Mathis's main impact on Young's minutes will probably be if he is so dominant at the 2 that Baker gets pushed back to the 1 to stay on the court.
Mathis's main impact on Young's minutes will probably be if he is so dominant at the 2 that Baker gets pushed back to the 1 to stay on the court.
not sure about this one!
FG% push
FT% Young
Assts Young
REB Mathis
PPG Mathis
3s Young
STLS push
BLK push
definitely indirect competition, but that isn't my beef.
I am also not certain Young "won't be more important" than Mathis. Having a Mathis on the court who isn't a threat from 3 (not my assumption) hurts us and limits who Pike can play alongside him.
I will be looking a lot of things early in the season and this is one of them.
1. Who is the point guard?
A. Baker
B. Young
C. true combo
2. Defense
A. are we OK
B. does it shape who we play and as a result hurts us offensively
C. can we even field a team that is adequate defensively
3. Individual offensive efficiency (really eFG) given usage changes
A. Harper and Caleb increase usage with only marginal drop in eFG
B. what about Baker...eFG should/has to shoot up with a drop in usage
That's true. Young has not shown an unwillingness to shoot the three, but we'll have to see what his percentages look like shooting from the point rather than camping outside the line.
If he can be a 3-point threat, then there wouldn't be any issue pairng him with Mathis.
Mathis will almost certainly also play some third guard minutes.
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One major factor is going to be consistency. We had so many freshman playing major roles last season so inconsistency was expected, but it really effected the entire team including leaders like Geo.
Does Pike stick more to set rotations and minutes, or with so much depth, does he go with more of a hot hand approach where a players minutes can change quite a bit from game to game depending on their play that day and matchups? I hope we see the latter. Basketball is by nature a game of rhythm and runs where people get hot and cold. Ride the hot hands and let players who have minutes cut know that when they are playing well and someone else is struggling they will see more minutes in those games and it will even out over the course of the season.
Does Pike stick more to set rotations and minutes, or with so much depth, does he go with more of a hot hand approach where a players minutes can change quite a bit from game to game depending on their play that day and matchups? I hope we see the latter. Basketball is by nature a game of rhythm and runs where people get hot and cold. Ride the hot hands and let players who have minutes cut know that when they are playing well and someone else is struggling they will see more minutes in those games and it will even out over the course of the season.
Powell is a pre-season 1st team All American. He’ll be the best player on the court in every game SHU plays this year.
Young can play. It's in his genes. Just because he didn't have great numbers at Texas means nothing. Again as referenced earlier, look who he was playing behind. Young will make RU better before Mathis. Mathis will get plenty of minutes, but young will hold down the PG spot and really embarrass most of the big ten pgs. His defense is absolutely great. This is not his first time at the Rodeo. He's been playing with elite players all his life. Brother aau, dad just to name a few.