There are a lot of excellent posts about the offense,sitting Geo,starting Paul,etc. There is an imperfect argument that the Big Ten is the greatest conference in history and that there are no DePaul bottom feeders. I would argue that Nebraska, Maryland and Northwestern are not very good at all. I am giving the benefit of the doubt to PSU because of the Virginia win and to MSU because of the road Duke win. I think that the Rutgers swoon is largely chemistry related. Why was there a player only meeting? Why didn't Jacob,who in my opinion is the best player not come back in last night? Why is Cliff openly gesturing to get the ball? Something is off interpersonally and I am hoping that gets repaired for what I consider is the next most likely win. Home to an offensively challenged MSU.
CHEMISTRY
- Thread starter RU72
- Start date
My take:
-Too much selfish play. Everyone wants their shots with many being ill advised. Team has become full of hero ball
- Geo and Jacob don’t play well together. Like last year, have Jacob young come off the bench to give team a spark
- Pike made big time mistake putting Caleb in lineup the way he did. Team was playing well and Pike should have babied Caleb into lineup as opposed to giving him big time minutes. Caleb is a role player. 10-15 mpg is what he should get.
- What the hell are we doing with Cliff? Let’s give him touches down low and eliminate the amateur hour with the alley oops.
-Too much selfish play. Everyone wants their shots with many being ill advised. Team has become full of hero ball
- Geo and Jacob don’t play well together. Like last year, have Jacob young come off the bench to give team a spark
- Pike made big time mistake putting Caleb in lineup the way he did. Team was playing well and Pike should have babied Caleb into lineup as opposed to giving him big time minutes. Caleb is a role player. 10-15 mpg is what he should get.
- What the hell are we doing with Cliff? Let’s give him touches down low and eliminate the amateur hour with the alley oops.
all great questions and each game we seem to get more questions and less answers
my solution is to just get back to basics, if that means less flash and less offense so be it
The harsh reality is the league is balanced 1 to 14....it gets ignored as the best because there hasn't been a National Championship but leaves out Elite 8 or Final Four participants as if that has no relevance.
It would be a guess but from a "chemistry" point of view, I don't believe it is that as much as Geo is nowhere near the player physically as he was last year....it was around this time last year where he completely placed Indiana on a poster with a vicious dunk. Maybe Geo needs a surgery or procedure but it is clear he isn't healthy.
As far as RHJ, he has a body that probably hides his conditioning, but probably playing a bit slower and heavier since his injury. He started to look like himself in the 2nd half.
Mathis is really the one player who refuses or has not been taught how to "jump stop"....that means you actually have to attack the basket and decide to jump stop with both feet, pump fake, get a defender in the air, then jump into contact to try and score. Yes that takes more legs, more effort and he would be at the FT line (another story)......but after a dozen games of driving for a layup and going off one foot, getting brushed or fouled on the arm while leaning away from the basket.....?? The B1G refs are not sending you to the FT line....maybe OOC games, yes, you would get that call....not a foul in the B1G.
The puzzling thing seems to want to blame Caleb for chemistry woes, when the team and 2020 class (Mag, Palmquist and Reiber) provide no depth or productivity....so we should limit Caleb to 10 to 12 minutes and run the starters into the ground for 36 minutes a game....?? How does that make any sense?? Mulcahy can't be the only bench player...
I will say it as many times as people need to hear this, even if they refuse to acknowledge it....this last 3 years, the B1G has been the best, most competitive, top to bottom league in CBB.....and while people believe Penn State isn't good, most of their roster is back that won 13 B1G games last year. It's not as if they were going to lose Lamar Steven's and go from 13 B1G wins to 0 in one season. Even a basement team finds 3 to 4 wins in a 20 game schedule.
If RU started their B1G slate of games since Iowa, they would be 0-5 in league, just like where PSU started the game last night. Common sense would indicate any team can have a losing streak.
The larger question is how does Pike find a path towards development of a bench, during a live season, where every possession and day matters.....OR how does he write off the 2020 class in Mag, Palmquist and Reiber as completely complimentary pieces, without widespread recruiting upgrades or transfers in the next 2 classes....most programs really only rely on 8 to 9 players, but in 2 years, it is Caleb, Mulcahy, Jones, Miller, Cliff that look like functional players who can play.....Mathis, RHJ, Jacob, Myles and Baker all depart.
Pike needs 5 legitimate pieces in the next 10 months of recruiting via 2022 class (November signing period) transfer portal into the program or 2021 spring additions (if there are departures after this season) to avoid dropping to the bottom half of the league again after the 2021-22 season.
I don't see any development plan for the 2020 kids during these last 12+ games, that gives any indication that they can make that type of jump into a capable starting or bench role, if they can't find minutes now.
It would be a guess but from a "chemistry" point of view, I don't believe it is that as much as Geo is nowhere near the player physically as he was last year....it was around this time last year where he completely placed Indiana on a poster with a vicious dunk. Maybe Geo needs a surgery or procedure but it is clear he isn't healthy.
As far as RHJ, he has a body that probably hides his conditioning, but probably playing a bit slower and heavier since his injury. He started to look like himself in the 2nd half.
Mathis is really the one player who refuses or has not been taught how to "jump stop"....that means you actually have to attack the basket and decide to jump stop with both feet, pump fake, get a defender in the air, then jump into contact to try and score. Yes that takes more legs, more effort and he would be at the FT line (another story)......but after a dozen games of driving for a layup and going off one foot, getting brushed or fouled on the arm while leaning away from the basket.....?? The B1G refs are not sending you to the FT line....maybe OOC games, yes, you would get that call....not a foul in the B1G.
The puzzling thing seems to want to blame Caleb for chemistry woes, when the team and 2020 class (Mag, Palmquist and Reiber) provide no depth or productivity....so we should limit Caleb to 10 to 12 minutes and run the starters into the ground for 36 minutes a game....?? How does that make any sense?? Mulcahy can't be the only bench player...
I will say it as many times as people need to hear this, even if they refuse to acknowledge it....this last 3 years, the B1G has been the best, most competitive, top to bottom league in CBB.....and while people believe Penn State isn't good, most of their roster is back that won 13 B1G games last year. It's not as if they were going to lose Lamar Steven's and go from 13 B1G wins to 0 in one season. Even a basement team finds 3 to 4 wins in a 20 game schedule.
If RU started their B1G slate of games since Iowa, they would be 0-5 in league, just like where PSU started the game last night. Common sense would indicate any team can have a losing streak.
The larger question is how does Pike find a path towards development of a bench, during a live season, where every possession and day matters.....OR how does he write off the 2020 class in Mag, Palmquist and Reiber as completely complimentary pieces, without widespread recruiting upgrades or transfers in the next 2 classes....most programs really only rely on 8 to 9 players, but in 2 years, it is Caleb, Mulcahy, Jones, Miller, Cliff that look like functional players who can play.....Mathis, RHJ, Jacob, Myles and Baker all depart.
Pike needs 5 legitimate pieces in the next 10 months of recruiting via 2022 class (November signing period) transfer portal into the program or 2021 spring additions (if there are departures after this season) to avoid dropping to the bottom half of the league again after the 2021-22 season.
I don't see any development plan for the 2020 kids during these last 12+ games, that gives any indication that they can make that type of jump into a capable starting or bench role, if they can't find minutes now.
The starting lineup has to change. Looked back at the last 5 games to the first tv TO. All JY, Geo, Mathis, RHJ, Myles, kind of small lineup, a PG, a CG, 2G, undersized 4 and Myles. Mathis is NOT a wing. He has to change it for Sun.
1st half/2nd half
Iowa 7-9 -2 / 8-5 +3 (+1)
MSU 4-11 -7 / 3-8 -5 (-12)
OSU 11-16 -5 / 2-10 -8 (-13)
Wisc 4-8 -4 / 6-7 -1 (-5)
PSU 4-9 -5 / 6-13 -7 (-12)
You can't start first 4 minutes or so down that much and expect to win.
1st half/2nd half
Iowa 7-9 -2 / 8-5 +3 (+1)
MSU 4-11 -7 / 3-8 -5 (-12)
OSU 11-16 -5 / 2-10 -8 (-13)
Wisc 4-8 -4 / 6-7 -1 (-5)
PSU 4-9 -5 / 6-13 -7 (-12)
You can't start first 4 minutes or so down that much and expect to win.
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As fans its natural to think of the reasons why the teams performance is now experiencing a downward spiral .I think it started with the injuries to key players who to this day I'm not convinced are fully recovered.Pikiell was then forced to rely more on bench players who simply lacked the offensive skill set to make up for the injured players.Starting with the Michigan State game it was obvious opponents had identified weaknesses in Rutgers offense and defense.They stopped Rutgers drives to the basket without fouling while on defense Rutgers was always in foul trouble giving the opponent a wide margin in points made from the foul line.The losing streak has resulted in player reactions on the court that don't inspire confidence and more importantly team unity.A team only meeting hasn't improved the slow starts in games or corrected other problem areas .Talent really matters and in the B1G Rutgers is experiencing the fact that there are no sure wins and with the way the team is performing ,losses are mounting at a alarming rate.
agree with most, if not all, of this. Caleb is the least of our worries and some people are making him a scapegoat when the fact is that Caleb is just one of nearly every one of our players who is playing below his ability.
Next year, we lose Young and Geo and probably at least one player will transfer out and we have Jones stepping in right now. That’s another bottom half division. One potential starter in each class is not going to cut it, Particularly if the others don’t even prove to be bench players.
I had some hope for Reiber when he banged with Garza for a bit and it’s my belief that Pike rode him too long in the second half it cost us that game. He needs to play against someone equally as slow-footed to provide any value. I had hopes for Palmquist but I’ve lost those too. People seem to be high on Mag but I haven’t really seen anything that makes me think he’ll be a valuable piece in the next year or so.
If what was suggested by some people is true that Pike did not want transfers in order not to upset the current players and disrupt chemistry, it sure did backfire as the chemistry could only be worse if they argued with each other on the court.
I don’t have evidence of any major chemistry issues. There will always be minor issues. I saw them (with live eyeballs) last year. Nothing that worried me.
it is possible we have a few individuals that had great starts individually and perhaps started to have dual mandates of winning and keeping stats up.
it is possible we have a few individuals that had great starts individually and perhaps started to have dual mandates of winning and keeping stats up.
Agree strongly with the first 2 points.
For 3rd point, I tend to agree, but not convinced. I know the timing is impeccable, but lots of guys were hurt when Caleb came back AND simultaneously many guys have went into a deep funk.
I wouldn’t be looking to feed Cliff just yet. He’s really raw on O. Let Cliff get his pts off of offensive rebs and a FEW alley oops when it’s open.
There's no evidence regarding am inability or unwillingness to take a transfer, the positions and ships had to be there.....it was always my guess that the last ship now given to Jaden Jones back in the winter, was always held back to bring Jones in early.....there's always inaccurate information on the boards without knowing the story.
I am not in the know. We are losing so most are looking at things from a negative slant.
what would be wrong with not taking a transfer to take the place or minutes from Geo Baker?
wouldn’t you want to send your kid to a coach that is loyal to his players?
isn’t the secret sauce to Pikiell is how he respects his players and how they respect them and how decent of a guy he is?
doesn’t Pikiell and the program have a very good reputation?
why did Cliff come here?
what would be wrong with not taking a transfer to take the place or minutes from Geo Baker?
wouldn’t you want to send your kid to a coach that is loyal to his players?
isn’t the secret sauce to Pikiell is how he respects his players and how they respect them and how decent of a guy he is?
doesn’t Pikiell and the program have a very good reputation?
why did Cliff come here?