Austin Williams is the only 2 guard on the roster. Fernandes, Simpson and Davis just are not 2 guards. Williams is the only one that looks the part as far as size and his game. He played second highest minutes on the night after Davis. Williams has his own issues, defense was very erratic as guys blew right past him to the hoop at times. I think the guard play could look like this: Simpson starts at the point and splits time with Davis and Williams or Noah starts at the the 2 and split time. I really don’t love the fit of these guards as we have 3 point guards, an odd fit to say the least.
Austin Williams
- Thread starter RAC93
- Start date
Neither Fernandes nor Simpson are PGs or 2s. They are both small combo guards better suited to come off the bench. However. we don’t have that luxury. Basically, we have 4 B1G bench guards fighting for time at both positions.
Agreed. One of the 3 small guards is going to be an odd man out. Austin at least has a big ten body. Davis has toughness and that Pike mentality so he’ll play more so that leaves Noah or Simpson to have a reduced role. Disappointed that Noah is not really a PG and weak defensively.
Tend to agree and its me mad there are still major recruiting issues even after all this time. Yes help is supposedly on the way...
Actually I thought Austin was one of our better perimeter defenders. He just got Mulcahy’d. Princeton with 5 perimeter players left our defenders one on one many times. Austin’s man did all the Mulcahy moves until he was able to get a shot off or draw contact.
The major recruiting issues were not the ones coming in, its the ones that left. We were sorta scrambling for players after that
I didn’t say that. We’re very weak at the guard position right now.
Agreed, we don’t know if they stink yet as a team. Just that it looks like guard may be a weakness compared to play we get from forwards/center (Cliff, Woolf, Mag, Griffiths, Oskar……and dare I speak his name, Hyatt)
I am 100% OK with Pike benching players. Having said that...how does it look to Dylan and Ace. We bring a 5 star recruit and he doesn't play because of defense. We tell the world we are fast and play uptempo and we played to 62 possessions. We have Derek Simpson and Gavin Griffiths and in crunch time they are replaced by Oskar Palmquist and Austin Williams.
It is going to take a few months for gavin to learn how to play defense. i really hope Ace and Dylan have had good coaches. If not they are truly best not coming here for the program's sake. I say that sincerely.
Honestly. . Freakish athleticism is such an advantage in playing defense that I don't think those two will be any kind of defensive liability. I think it's one of the reasons that Davis looks better than Griffiths on D right now
Ace and Dylan will be taking most of the shots and many of the players on the current roster will be gone.
not if Oskar playing over them
It's the first game dude. Gavin was clearly overwhelmed, and needed to sit for a bit and watch. I love the dramatic overreactions after one game against a tough team.
I don't expect you to.....but if you go back to any game where we have a bad loss I almost never overreact. In addition, Pike never overreacts to what he sees on the court.
He quickly pulled Gavin in his 2nd shift of his career after 2 possessions and essentially benched him the entire 2nd half. This is a 5 star recruit.
The difference between this game and the other disappointing games in the past is Pike had the doghouse built and ready to use. Game 1.
The trouble is - who is “not” in the doghouse. Just Oscar? Wolf? Anyone else. Cliff is Cliff. He let a 6-7 Princeton kid drop 19 on us. He’s supposed to be our stud big man. 12 points isn’t exactly domination.
In a thread full of poor takes you win the worst take. He guarded their best player most of the game and was the only one to slow him down. Davis did the best job on Lee who was very quick. We were on our way to getting blown out and their D kept us in the game.
Princeton held every Offensive possession down to the wire and played pretty good physical D. Poster above who posts a lot should know why we only ran 62 possessions. I’m hoping he didn’t watch the game and just made a dumb post looking at the box score. That’s the second worst take in this thread.
not if Oskar playing over them
I honestly cannot wait for them to sign their NLIs, just so I don’t have to keep seeing posts about how the number 2 and 3 prospects in the class of 2024 aren’t going to come here because they’re afraid of getting benched for Oskar Palmquist.
He didn’t “have the doghouse built and ready to use.” The difference is we weren’t in control of this game from the jump and were playing from behind for almost the entire game. He didn’t have the luxury of opening up against a bad team and giving guys a long leash to figure it out. Which is why I agree with Bac that scheduling this game was a dumb thing to do in the first place.
No doghouse. He was simply playing with line ups to find an answer. It’s a different situation as the loyalty card isn’t a factor. He doesn’t have multi-year backcourt starters like Geo, Caleb and Paul in the mix. Outside of Cliff, not one player on the team returned as a consistent multi-year starter.
I don’t see how anyone who has been following the program long enough to see Jaden Jones career has to know Pike will coach to the players in the program, not the hype as a recruit.
That’s what makes him great and is the only winning formula for a program.
There’s not a pre-built doghouse. This is major D1 hoops. Gavin will come around or he won’t.
This is early frontrunner for ridiculous post of the year.
It’s one game against an opponent who is a tough matchup.
How about you wait til we sign these guys before figuring out reasons they’d be better off elsewhere?
Elite players want a culture based on work ethic and accountability and not just high school highlights. There are always going to be growing pains, especially for frosh.
This year is a throw away year. Its all about prepping guys for next year.
Many dont wanna hear this but its the truth
Regarding Gavin G and defense....having your first game against Princeton is the worst case scenario for any freshmen. That style of play drives opponents nuts, especially an inexperienced freshmen.
C’mon, no one’s throwing away this season. If we had played the usual cream puff at home, with Gavin and JMike dropping a combined 27 points and Cliff dominating inside, we’d be talking about how this team could make a nice run through the B1G and into the big dance.
Our guard play is suspect.
But technically, any team with a healthy Mag, Cliff and very improved Woolfolk on it, should not be a throw away year.
Figure it out.
Simpson is a reliable foul shooter and can play if he’s mandated to stay under control.
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Williams should be your two with GG rotating between the 2and 3 and Mags between the 3and 4 and Wolf between the 4 and 5. Cliff and the Real Big O hold down the five. Your smaller guards should be your points and fill ins.
I was pleasantly surprised by Austin. When I heard he hadn’t played in 2 years my expectations were low. But he has good size and put in a good effort to defend.
Not sure how he missed that point-blank layup, but beyond that he made 3 of his other 4 shots including a critical 3-pointer near the end that had us back in it (I think we were only down by 2 after his trey).
Not sure how he missed that point-blank layup, but beyond that he made 3 of his other 4 shots including a critical 3-pointer near the end that had us back in it (I think we were only down by 2 after his trey).
Oskar should from now on be referred to as the Big O! Because he’s a walking ‘double triples’ if given the PT and the game goes to OT! He’s going for 30 at least once this season
.I get that no one is actually throwing it away but if we take the scarlet glasses off we all see what this team is.
And thats fine, next year should be special. Progress isnt always linear. Luckily we have $$$$$$ now in bball and can basically get whoever we want.
Pike has had 2 main issues during his first 7 years.
1) lack of a cohesive offensive approach
2) subpar recruiting by B1G standards
2 has been solved, tbd on 1
We have two guards on the staff, one was a very dependable heady player, the other was an outstanding all around player.
Hard to believe they wouldn’t work together in the area of ball movement and cohesiveness
I love Pike and believe him to be the perfect coach for our program but I do think Pike overreacted. He became focused on the matchup with Alloco and abandoned his original game plan in my opinion
Pike sees the game completely through the defensive side of things . It's almost an obsession. It doesn't matter if 2Gs man gets 20 if he gets 30. Saying that Princetons success with 2G on the floor can only be blamed on him is an over simplification. I loved the substitution to change things up but Pike abandoned DS and 2 G for Williams and J Mike . Much of the loss is on Pike
1. Zone press was ineffective as Princeton passses very well and that's how you beat zone press
MAn to man press would have taken more time off the clock each possession
2. We should have had an extended zone defense prepared. It would have elimated the ability of Alloco to back our guards down and It would have made back door cuts let's effective
Pike will figure it out but he has to be willing to win a game 80-75 from time to time
Mags return will be huge
Still miss him
There's the same lack of knowledge about offense.....offense is still and will always be about talent and skill and abilities to make tough shots. If fans want Princeton style basketball, they can go buy season tickets in Jadwin and watch minor league level competition.
In major league, Power 5 competition, it comes down to gathering players who can consistently make plays, rebound, defend and play multiple styles of basketball over a 32 to 37 game schedule. Anyone can play a good game in a 48 hour span over 2 to 3 days.
When RU gets point blank layup opportunities and doesn't score, that's not lack of coaching or lack of offense. That's taking advantage of the offense being run, to provide opportunities for players to make plays.
It has been stated over 100 times, that today's HS level athlete, doesn't want to be limited to a system offense and we have the same posters posting the same gibberish, that the staff needs to run some boring offense, that takes away all creativity and instincts from the players. You simply cannot recruit at this level in the Top 100s and play Princeton or Bo Ryan 1990s Wisconsin style basketball.
Make some layups and knick down some open shots and everything is fine. There's 2 months to sort things out and find a rotation and roles that ultimately gives RU a chance to play up tempo and advance the program into the next phase in 2024-25 and beyond. The days of 58-54 games are over.
In major league, Power 5 competition, it comes down to gathering players who can consistently make plays, rebound, defend and play multiple styles of basketball over a 32 to 37 game schedule. Anyone can play a good game in a 48 hour span over 2 to 3 days.
When RU gets point blank layup opportunities and doesn't score, that's not lack of coaching or lack of offense. That's taking advantage of the offense being run, to provide opportunities for players to make plays.
It has been stated over 100 times, that today's HS level athlete, doesn't want to be limited to a system offense and we have the same posters posting the same gibberish, that the staff needs to run some boring offense, that takes away all creativity and instincts from the players. You simply cannot recruit at this level in the Top 100s and play Princeton or Bo Ryan 1990s Wisconsin style basketball.
Make some layups and knick down some open shots and everything is fine. There's 2 months to sort things out and find a rotation and roles that ultimately gives RU a chance to play up tempo and advance the program into the next phase in 2024-25 and beyond. The days of 58-54 games are over.
Who said anything about boring.
Rarely do strong teams look like they’re playing street ball with players they’ve never played with before.
The words together, cohesive and in sync are the antithesis of what you’re saying.
The other item involving Austin Williams, was he just got medically cleared in very late September to early October, so he's not exactly in peak form just yet. He's probably a player that improves as the year moves along.
In terms of the backcourt, I stated that there's probably a 3 to 4 game swing in RUs favor, if Jeremiah Williams was cleared for the 2nd half of this year....he's that talented as a 2 way guard and would stabilize the backcourt and take on the assignments that fans want Gavin to handle defensively as a freshman.
Austin knows how to play the game......Jeremiah Williams is a veteran guard. Gavin will need to adjust to having to play opponents that don't want to run and make him understand his defensive assignments.
The other factor about playing up tempo doesn't also mean that you recklessly play an up tempo game, if the opponents style isn't going to allow that tempo to be played. RU simply needs to be able to play multiple styles of basketball, instead of choosing to walk the ball up the court and take shots at under 5 seconds on the shot clock.
If Wisconsin plays at a slower tempo, RU and Pike can match that and compete. If Iowa wants to push the tempo into the high 70s to 80s, RU needs to also be able to do that as well. It's not a silly blanket statement that RU blindly runs up court and takes quick shots.
Austin Williams, Derek Simpson, Gavin Griffiths and Noah Fernandes need to sort out their roles and build defensive cohesion. That takes time and at least a dozen to 15 games to sort out. Asking for that in game 1, is silly.
In terms of the backcourt, I stated that there's probably a 3 to 4 game swing in RUs favor, if Jeremiah Williams was cleared for the 2nd half of this year....he's that talented as a 2 way guard and would stabilize the backcourt and take on the assignments that fans want Gavin to handle defensively as a freshman.
Austin knows how to play the game......Jeremiah Williams is a veteran guard. Gavin will need to adjust to having to play opponents that don't want to run and make him understand his defensive assignments.
The other factor about playing up tempo doesn't also mean that you recklessly play an up tempo game, if the opponents style isn't going to allow that tempo to be played. RU simply needs to be able to play multiple styles of basketball, instead of choosing to walk the ball up the court and take shots at under 5 seconds on the shot clock.
If Wisconsin plays at a slower tempo, RU and Pike can match that and compete. If Iowa wants to push the tempo into the high 70s to 80s, RU needs to also be able to do that as well. It's not a silly blanket statement that RU blindly runs up court and takes quick shots.
Austin Williams, Derek Simpson, Gavin Griffiths and Noah Fernandes need to sort out their roles and build defensive cohesion. That takes time and at least a dozen to 15 games to sort out. Asking for that in game 1, is silly.