If RU makes half of it's missed layups, this is a 25 point game.
The Yeboah/Caleb gap on shooting is offset by Harper/Mathis/Geo and 40 minutes of rebounding and defense from the 5 position.
Is it asking too much to have 7 players carry a roster?? I am watching teams like Nova with a 6 to 7 player rotation and others who have or are going to ride their best players and find spots for their bench to contribute.
Let's rewind a year and it was Bryant, loss at Pitt, loss in Toronto to a hot shooting Bona and somehow rallying to a 20 win season.....all of this happened while Yeboah didn't start the handful of first games, allowing Pike to experiment with playing Caleb more minutes and force feeding Myles Johnson.
Now we are developing expanded roles for Harper, Mathis and Jacob Young is forcing the action into the team getting easy baskets.
The beginning of last year, Young was defending but was a turnover machine.....this year, he is better and more confident.
I think each roster is different and yes, it needs a shooting threat from 3 beyond Baker, Young and Harper. A 4th person like Mathis or Caleb or Palmquist will emerge from that group....and maybe some surprise contributions are not yet in the equation just yet.
This is a program based on rebounding and defense. That said, it is a NCAA caliber team and is a NCAA team, now 2 years in a row. Hofstra beat FDU by 15 for whatever that is worth for the nervous Nellie's out there.
The 1st 6 games of the B1G are difficult
At Maryland
Illinois
At Ohio State
Purdue
Iowa
At Michigan State
Add Wisconsin a couple of weeks after that and you have teams to look forward to watching and seeing how we match up. It will be fun to watch.