This one is pretty silly. A good player makes the right play, do your job, if someone else doesn't do theirs they won't be out there. I like Lino's future, but he did not look to pass, almost ever, but especially when he drove. It was eyes at rim. Not all that abnormal for a freshman when the game is still fast for them.
Derek Simpson 2.0
- Thread starter -RUFAN4LIFE-
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This is true, but I think it’s also true that we played a deliberate iso focused style (even more than usual) this year because of the lack of scoring options in the paint. Meaning he was probably on less of a leash than he might otherwise have been on.
Now arguably we could’ve tried to use Ogbole more on offense, but keep in mind he only played 19 mpg and was prone to offensive fouls.
I think the deliberate isolation has always been the offense, not something just for this year. Agree on Ogbole, and when I've said play like we have a center, that really probably only means another two/three post touches a night. Just to even pretend the position was a threat. Besides, even EO's mediocre 50% shooting for a big was better than everyone else.
Agreed - but look, part of it was his tendency to pick up charges. Hes physical down there and as it was we were only able to keep him on the court 19 mpg. Pike’s opening play of the game was often a call for EO.
And yes, we always play more iso than most teams. My point was this particular year it had to be the bulk of our offense because of our limitations. Our most negative fans on here will say our guards stunk at penetration too, but that’s relative statement. The 2023-24 guards, for example, truly “stunk” at that. They were bad in iso and in transition. Getting the ball to an established Cliff was our very clear best option. So in that case IMO the context of Derek failing to get the ball to him and taking so many shots himself was very different than the situation Tariq and Lino were in with their decision making. That’s all I really meant.
Simpson was also a good kid. Young was difficult to deal with and a little bit of a nutcase.
Very often we would run something successfully for Ogbole at the beginning of each half, but then for some reason we never went back to it.
His situation is such that he’s not going to be recruited into an immediate starting role at another high major. At the high major level, Rutgers will present the best chance for him to earn starter minutes for sure.
With him, I think alternative landing spots would be more about fit this year the pay, because there are certain systems that suit his game more than others. Pretty ball rotations for kick out shots probably would not be what he’s looking for.
Lino had a tough adjustment to the college game. He went 0-18 from 3 against weak out of conference competition. By the last third of the season he was shooting really well and hitting shots against much tougher Big Ten competition. His improvement wasn’t a one game fluke, it was game after game. In fact, after his 0-18 start he shot 10 of 25 from 3 for 40%, which is about what he shot from 3 in high school. My concern is that the 0-18 from 3 start is impressive in a bad way and makes me wonder if he has an issue handling pressure situations.
I only recall Lino getting stuffed against the zone. He was pretty useless there, but otherwise was pretty incredible getting to the rim.
I don't think he cares that much about going to another high major. I think he just cares about getting a paycheck and being the starting PG someplace. He can move back up to a high major after that. I just get bad vibes from this kid - the one foot out the door stuff by mid season, the driving out of control without ever looking to pass, and the attention seeking hair. Just doesn't strike me as a team first guy. Maybe a great kid but that's the feeling I get.
Sorry but how exactly do you know what Lino cares about? Or is it just you lookong to take shots at him in other ways because you may not like his playing style? Such a dbag thing to do IMO. . Sometimes its better to stfu instead of disparaging people by expressing negative opinions about things that you know nothing about.... such as what's going on in a players head. No one really has any idea whether he had a foot out the door nor do you have any idea what his motivations are for staying or leaving.
Fair enough. In my (clearly minority) opinion, I think we would have a punchers chance of being able to put together a competitive roster as long as we keep one of him or J Mike and Tariq. Its not that these combinations are great, rather, it simply provides a good enough floor on pure ball handling and backcourt scoring to be able to focus attention on upgrading the biggest issues with the 2025-26 team.
If we don’t keep what we know we have in these two areas, now suddenly we’re shopping for those things too. Purchasing a guaranteed backcourt scoring ability at the high major level (not from a catch and shoot but from a playmaker) in open market will not realistically be in our price range in combination with buying a competent frontcourt. Tariq is going to cost us much less than it would to convince a double digit scorer with decent efficiency numbers to come here (not at the low major level). Nor will it be in our price range to buy a proven veteran PG (I don’t care that J Mike isn’t top tier - our fans aren’t understanding that many of these low major PGs are not going to be servicable at the next level and the ones that project to be able to make the jump will cost too much. The hard reality is that we would almost certainly have to pay double in the open market to replace the things these guys provide unless we are rolling the dice with long shots and we don’t have the resources to do that.
We need to buy our frontcourt and add one perimeter player with carefully analyzed skills that complement / balance what we hopefully already have. That’s our best chance.
He doesn’t know. He explained that he’s basing it on the reports that Lino and his camp were grumbling about leaving midseason. I get where he’s coming from (definitely classier to keep those thoughts to yourself during the season). But then, he’s a frosh who wasn’t playing that much and was probably disappointed with how his career started. I personally would overlook it and would be happy for him to return but I understand why someone might think this way.
I must say I have never seen anyone described as having attention seeking hair. In 2026.