Cliff out multiple games

[Scarlet Blind_rivals]

This is the reason you build a team to sustain injuries. You divide 200 minutes into 6 is just 33.3 minutes each player, I don't think strength or conditioning is a problem on this team. If you have to buy minutes with a Doucoure, Reiber or Palmquist, you just cant put too many on the court at the same time. The roster is smart enough to stay out of foul trouble in this situation.

We have a 5 year R-Sr. Jacob Young, 4 year Sr. Geo Baker, 4 year R-Jr Myles Johnson, a 3 year Jrs. Ron Harper Jr and Montez Mathis and 2 yr Paul Mulcahy. The 5 of them have played and practiced together for 3 yrs and Paul, part of the program his HS Sr. Year, and played and practiced for 2. Doucoure, Myles and Geo for 4 years together. It hurts but we can still win games with those main six healthy.

 

[Scangg]

This is the reason you build a team to sustain injuries. You divide 200 minutes into 6 is just 33.3 minutes each player, I don't think strength or conditioning is a problem on this team. If you have to buy minutes with a Doucoure, Reiber or Palmquist, you just cant put too many on the court at the same time. The roster is smart enough to stay out of foul trouble in this situation.

We have a 5 year R-Sr. Jacob Young, 4 year Sr. Geo Baker, 4 year R-Jr Myles Johnson, a 3 year Jrs. Ron Harper Jr and Montez Mathis and 2 yr Paul Mulcahy. The 5 of them have played and practiced together for 3 yrs and Paul, part of the program his HS Sr. Year, and played and practiced for 2. Doucoure, Myles and Geo for 4 years together. It hurts but we can still win games with those main six healthy.

Who are our best 6 players? They are all healthy. Maybe you could argue only best 5 but all our stars are healthy. We can make due with role players getting a few minutes

 

[Treeman_rivals154397]

Pike's fault for not being 3 deep at every position

Understanding that this is a written as an unrealistic expectation for Pike, the team's depth problems would likely have been mitigated had Pike recruited to use all of his scholarships. He has a habit of leaving 1-2 open schollies on the team. It definitely hurts depth. For a program that brands itself as a developmental program, it's not what I would consider a prudent strategy. Having said that, I have never built a top 15 basketball program, and Pike has. That doesn't mean improvement can't be made - and he gives out too many schollies to walk-ons.

 

[superfan01]

This sucks but every team has to overcome injuries along the way. We have to find a way. Luckily our starters are mostly upper class men

 

[BigEastPhil]

The Good News:

- Pike usually "overstates" injuries and hopefully this is the case with Cliff and Cliff is back for the Iowa game.
- Ohio State doesn't have a big time center (Ryan Young is good; plays tough) and hopefully guys like Duke; Reiber and Palmquist can gain some experience and contribute.
- Next game is 12/29 so core 6 or so can play 30 plus minutes each and hopefully they're not tired from Illinois game.

The Bad News:

- You can't mess around with a knee sprain especially with your future thus Cliff will remain out as long as necessary.
- Did I mention Duke, Reiber and Oskar will play
- Will defensive tenacity be reduced given fear of foul trouble?
- Team can't get into foul trouble.

Hope Cliff gets healthy soon!

 

[anon_0k9zlfz6lz9oy]

Cliff is with the team in Columbus right now. If he wasnt available to play why would he travel in the middle of virus season?

 

[Shell21]

Cliff is with the team in Columbus right now. If he wasnt available to play why would he travel in the middle of virus season?

Funny , I was just thinking about this today ; whether Cliff would travel with the team. Very strange. Pike is very vague on injuries on purpose I think .

 

[RUHouston]

Funny , I was just thinking about this today ; whether Cliff would travel with the team. Very strange. Pike is very vague on injuries on purpose I think .

Maybe he could play if absolutely necessary?

 

[Scarlet Beach]

Cliff is with the team in Columbus right now. If he wasnt available to play why would he travel in the middle of virus season?

Because he's a freshman and even if he can't play, there's a lot to be learned by sitting on the bench, watching the game, seeing the opposing players in person, and being a great cheerleader/teammate.

 

[anon_0k9zlfz6lz9oy]

Because he's a freshman and even if he can't play, there's a lot to be learned by sitting on the bench, watching the game, seeing the opposing players in person, and being a great cheerleader/teammate.

In normal times? Sure. In times where it seems were trying to limit travel?

 

[Scangg]

You would think he would miss at least this one game but it is odd he traveled then in covid times.

 

[RU848789]

I'd throw Reiber and Nathan out there at the 5 before Duke. While a nice kid, Duke really still has never learned how to play basketball. He truly plays as if he's a football player showing up at open gym after school

Don't laugh, but the times we've seen Nathan on the floor, he seems decently athletic and he must know the system by now. Not saying he's better than Duke, but maybe can help out.

 

[kcg88]

Understanding that this is a written as an unrealistic expectation for Pike, the team's depth problems would likely have been mitigated had Pike recruited to use all of his scholarships. He has a habit of leaving 1-2 open schollies on the team. It definitely hurts depth. For a program that brands itself as a developmental program, it's not what I would consider a prudent strategy. Having said that, I have never built a top 15 basketball program, and Pike has. That doesn't mean improvement can't be made - and he gives out too many schollies to walk-ons.

This is true but he's stated he does this for team chemistry. Tons of teams do this including powers like Villanova, Duke, etc. Calipari on Kentucky just told a player to step away from the team because he was publicly complaining about lack of playing time.

 

[RUSCFORMERLYRULOU]

In normal times? Sure. In times where it seems were trying to limit travel?

He could always learn from watching on TV or film later, so perhaps he’s recovering quickly. Maybe he can go for 12 minutes. That’s all we need.

 

[RAC’emUp]

Cliff is with the team in Columbus right now. If he wasnt available to play why would he travel in the middle of virus season?

With the team might be the safest place.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

You would think he would miss at least this one game but it is odd he traveled then in covid times.

This has ZERO to do with Cliff, but the average 16-23 year old would be safer traveling with the team vs. being at home hanging with friends.

 

[wheezer]

Reiber over Duke unless you have a big meaty center who Reiber can't handle. Also go small ball some minutes. With Cliff out, now is the time to try against OSU who isn't tall.

Respectfully disagree.... in the limited time we have seen Reiber he has not shown he is ready...... with Duke we have a guy with experience And size

The tine to play a Reiber or Palmquist is when we feel the game is not in doubt and they get experience....... Duke has it already and more than capable of giving us minutes in a tight game

If Reiber had shown a lot it would be a different story..... the plan would be to depend on Duke for the majority of the big man substitutions and the others for a minute or so if we had to

 

[zappaa]

This has ZERO to do with Cliff, but the average 16-23 year old would be safer traveling with the team vs. being at home hanging with friends.

If he stayed at home he wouldn’t be hanging with friends...that’s the sacrifice all these kids are making.
He’d be getting round the clock treatment.
It’s very good news he’s traveling imo

 

[jordkap]

If he stayed at home he wouldn’t be hanging with friends...that’s the sacrifice all these kids are making.
He’d be getting round the clock treatment.
It’s very good news he’s traveling imo

While I don’t think Cliff plays today, I don’t think he misses more than 1 game. Considering he was on a bike and was dancing around with the team after the Illinois game, it couldn’t have been too bad of an injury. Duke and Reiber will get some minutes today, let’s hope they are a net neutral for us today.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

If he stayed at home he wouldn’t be hanging with friends...that’s the sacrifice all these kids are making.
He’d be getting round the clock treatment.
It’s very good news he’s traveling imo

It is not easy as a 18 year old to go to school close to where he is from and have all his friends home from college. That is a huge ask to have him sit alone in a dorm and play X box.

Even a responsible 18 year old will make the decision to go out wearing a mask.

 

[Scangg]

Respectfully disagree.... in the limited time we have seen Reiber he has not shown he is ready...... with Duke we have a guy with experience And size

The tine to play a Reiber or Palmquist is when we feel the game is not in doubt and they get experience....... Duke has it already and more than capable of giving us minutes in a tight game

If Reiber had shown a lot it would be a different story..... the plan would be to depend on Duke for the majority of the big man substitutions and the others for a minute or so if we had to

Reiber looked good in the early games. He showed a good feel for the game and bball IQ and is much more skilled offensively. Had a rough stretch in his last appearance which fans seem to be hyperfocusing on. Maybe that's how he looks against better competition or maybe it was just a bad couple minutes. Duke has shown he has zero court awareness or feel for the game and brings nothing to the offense. He is a bigger body though and should be a better rebounder bc of his size. I'd like to see Reiber get another shot before writing him off. If he can hold his own in defensive and rebounding against OSU who isn't that big, he brings much more to the table when we have the ball

 

[Treeman_rivals154397]

This is true but he's stated he does this for team chemistry. Tons of teams do this including powers like Villanova, Duke, etc. Calipari on Kentucky just told a player to step away from the team because he was publicly complaining about lack of playing time.

That's great. Then you don't get to complain about depth. It's by design. So I guess we will stop seeing posts discussing the lack of depth then?