He hasn’t been in good shooting position or getting good looks for 3 games.
He’s joined at the hip the second he crosses mid-court,
He’s joined at the hip the second he crosses mid-court,
Cam has fast, quick twitch guards stuck to him
- Thread starter zappaa
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Was bound to happen after the good stretch he had. Teams are locked in on him. Pike needs to adjust and get him some clean looks..
Yup
More of a reason he needs to go to the basket with the idea of forcing the issue of getting a better shot or daring a physical defensive stance that could send him to the line
More of a reason he needs to go to the basket with the idea of forcing the issue of getting a better shot or daring a physical defensive stance that could send him to the line
He should take it to the basket to open up space for himself. Thing is he should be doing his best acting job to get foiled as often as possible. He relies heavily on those turnaround fadeaways which are great shots but he should be aiming for FTs as often as possible
Cam has limitations as a shooter. He isn’t going to do what Funk can do, going full speed and go off a screen and fire when there is a second of daylight.
Cam needs to be what he is. There are 4 other players on the court. It is imperative he plays the best defense he can to keep himself on the floor.
Cam is still a deadly catch and shoot shooter. He will make defenses pay for making mistakes
Cam needs to be what he is. There are 4 other players on the court. It is imperative he plays the best defense he can to keep himself on the floor.
Cam is still a deadly catch and shoot shooter. He will make defenses pay for making mistakes
I agree, but the last three games he’s been so closely marked by the opposing teams fastest and agile player, he’s had no daylight.
That’s how it appears to me anyway
Watch the Iowa tape and run some of their offensive sets for Cam.
Screen, screen, screen for him. He needs more space to hit the open 3.
Can't give you specifics right now, but generally, it's the fundamentals of good offense. Setting good screens, setting your guy up for a screen, cutting hard, movement without the ball, discipline, unselfishness, and most importantly TIMING. 5 guys clicking together in unison. It was eluded to in another thread, but think of how many times a top program has struggled with an Ivy League, Princeton (of old) style offense.
Wouldn't setting screens for him and getting him open make it easier to hit his 3 point shots?
My bad.
I thought you meant watch the tape and look at what we run for Cam.
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He’s not the one setting the screen, how could he not benefit from them?
I do notice we have a difficult time creating shots off of screens compared to our opponents
Off the ball yes....he isn't hitting a shot like Funk hit where he dribbled off the screen and shot as the defender gave him a small amount of daylight.
I see Spencer as catch and shoot...maybe pump fake and use a small dribble to create space. How many 3s has he hit flying off a screen at full speed, catching and shooting.
Yes, while other teams like Iowa who have equal and probably less athletic players than us are able to scheme their 3 point shooters open.
There are a few issues.
1) We don't run plays for Cam. I believe we ran only one for him against Iowa and it was after a time out and a double screen which got him a great look that he didn't make. Was a solid play though.
2) We don't have any other shooters. You can essentially face guard a who isn't getting screens when also having no fear of other guys making shots. If we had another shooter or two, you couldn't do that. They would be expected to help. Now they don't need to. Teams can focus other resources in the paint. Not having more shooters is a real issue for the offense. Cam helps. We need more Cams. Iowa has multiple shooters who, when you spread the floor and pass like they do, are going to get looks. Doesn't matter who is guarding them.
3) Paul is great at getting in the lane and finishing with his old school moves, but it's slow and methodical and doesn't elicit very many double teams. You need one of those blow by guys who can finish. This creates rotations where someone will get an open look.
Iowa forces you to score points. We just couldn't keep pace. The turnovers were a big issue as well.
1) We don't run plays for Cam. I believe we ran only one for him against Iowa and it was after a time out and a double screen which got him a great look that he didn't make. Was a solid play though.
2) We don't have any other shooters. You can essentially face guard a who isn't getting screens when also having no fear of other guys making shots. If we had another shooter or two, you couldn't do that. They would be expected to help. Now they don't need to. Teams can focus other resources in the paint. Not having more shooters is a real issue for the offense. Cam helps. We need more Cams. Iowa has multiple shooters who, when you spread the floor and pass like they do, are going to get looks. Doesn't matter who is guarding them.
3) Paul is great at getting in the lane and finishing with his old school moves, but it's slow and methodical and doesn't elicit very many double teams. You need one of those blow by guys who can finish. This creates rotations where someone will get an open look.
Iowa forces you to score points. We just couldn't keep pace. The turnovers were a big issue as well.
Yes, he hasn't shown the ability to hit a 3 when flying off a screen at full speed.
I see Cam helping more with spacing where teams who double Cliff can't double with Cam's man.
I thnik we need to do a better job getting Cliff to get in to a position closer to the basket. Catching the ball 13 feet allows the double to come quicker and for the doubler to get back to his man easier.
I thnik we need to do a better job getting Cliff to get in to a position closer to the basket. Catching the ball 13 feet allows the double to come quicker and for the doubler to get back to his man easier.
That's because they have multiple guys who can shoot the 3. We don't.
It's a lot easier to scheme guys open when you have 5 guys on the court that can shoot the ball.
We can certainly do a better job, but for us it's hard. Our weakest area is scoring the basketball. And it all gets back to shooting.
Paul, mag and Hyatt should have more looks from 3 when cam is on the floor. Hyatt and Paul seem to get their fair share of open catch and shoot 3's.
Cam would have benefited from playing with Ron and geo.
Cam would have benefited from playing with Ron and geo.
3 reasons you can't run what Iowa runs: Cliff, Mag, Caleb
Love the way these guys play but they're not able to read defenses, make the proper pass at the proper time or keep the floor spread with their shooting.
They are screening for him in the lane with Cliff and he is being bumped or held trying to get up to the key coming around the screen. They can run a staggered screen where they screen once on a PNR and if they hedge it and back off , send a second screen and he should be open for the shot. Nothing is wrong with hitting 6 mid range shots and nothing is wrong with driving and getting fouled. He should be doing more the minute he sees they are overplaying him. So not just on Pike to run screens for him. He has to work harder.
We have no other shooters. We can’t rotate the ball with set plays to get Cam open. It has to work out like some of the game winners Cam hit where the opposing team is so concerned about preventing Cliff from getting the ball down low that we find Cam.
The inside out threat has to start with finding Cliff. And not just early shot clock dunks. Those are good. But we need him to be more of a threat in the established half court offense to open up more kick out opportunities.
The inside out threat has to start with finding Cliff. And not just early shot clock dunks. Those are good. But we need him to be more of a threat in the established half court offense to open up more kick out opportunities.
Rutgers is a team that emphasizes defense while Iowa is offense minded as seen by their 80 point scoring average.Iowa recruits shooters and Rutgers recruits players with height and are more athletic than Iowa.Starting next season Rutgers seems to be changing direction with Griffiths and 2024 with Bailey and hopefully, Harper.They are players that can create and make shots off the dribble.I am convinced that Spencer would get far more open three point shots right now playing as part of the Iowa half court offense becuase that fits his skillset.Offensive styles matter and so does the players recruited.Rutgers present roster leaves very little margin for error as seen by so many games decided by less than five points.
This is the only way as we are constituted to get open looks for Cam outside of some better screen plays.
Cliff has to become more dangerous down low but he also has to be a better passer out of the post. He seems to find guys when doubles come but his passes are often very poor. The margins at that level are small. Cliff throws it at Cam or someone elses feet and the flow is gone.
Post awareness and passing are two areas Cliff can really get better at.
If Cliff could learn a simple pivot, face up, look opposite, he'd be twice as good in the post.
I'm sure they're trying to teach it to him. Sounds easy, but not man guys do it.
When you press us it takes Paul quite some time to get passed mid-court…Cam is covered like a blanket by then
There are no magic plays to get him clean shots.
The rest of the shooters need to step up and take advantage of THEIR open looks. If you depend on one guy, you'll get shut down. Other guys scoring will open up space for Cam. He just has to accept the challenge for now and strike when he can. Still playing great defense and working hard. That's all we can ask.
No magic plays, but it would be nice to see him set a ball screen and pop, or set a screen, then get a screen.
I say that knowing it's tough to do when Paul is the only facilitator out there - there is no other good decision-maker to put in the middle of plays to read the defense and make the right pass or shot.
It's amazing how good this team is with such limited offensive options
I agree.
You can shoot the lights out and score 100. But if you give up 101? You lose. Defense is where it all begins. Scoring is important, but a stop on D is as good as a bucket on the other end. One of the many reasons I love coach Pike.
Yes, they can set good screens. It's when they roll, you don't want them in the middle of a play making a decision, dribble/pass/shoot. Cliff and Mag are not skilled to do that and Hyatt isn't making a decision, it's going up.
And I was hoping for pick and pop to get Cam a 3, but that would have to be almost exclusively with Paul. Nobody else has the skills to make that work.
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I've mentioned it during/after the last 3(4?) games: it's his mechanics.
- 1st 2 poor shooting games almost every shot was hitting off the right side of the rim (in the lane or beyond the arc)
- last games most misses (this is a good thing) were "in-and-out" types. IIRC only 1 o 2 were "off right"
....again, if he hits a 3 early tomorrow night, watch out!
- 1st 2 poor shooting games almost every shot was hitting off the right side of the rim (in the lane or beyond the arc)
- last games most misses (this is a good thing) were "in-and-out" types. IIRC only 1 o 2 were "off right"
....again, if he hits a 3 early tomorrow night, watch out!
agree. in other words, we have better athletes and Iowa has better complete basketball players. is why defense is our strength. more often than not, having better athletes equates to more wins, especially when the opponents also lack skilled players.
It would be nice to have good athletes who are also skilled can shoot and have high BBIQ coming in
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