Basketball Hoops practice begins
- Thread starter ChrisNalwasky
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Great quotes from Paul in this article. Looking forward to the season.
Barring injuries, this team definitely makes the tourney probably at the highest seed of the recent 3 years.
By saying this you are minimizing what Geo and Ron brought to the team. Anyone who isn’t at least mildly worried about our offense isn’t being realistic.
TKR doesn’t do free injury updates. If you wanna know when a guy is going to return they make you pay for that info
I understand, but I believe Cliff, Paul and Caleb all increase their averages over last year and Spencer is good for 14 pt average. Then add in a fifth starter. Points from the bench last year were minimal. I think players 6-9 will contribute 10 points more than last year. I believe this combination of points more than makes up for loss of Geo and Ron. Looking forward to the season.
As a fan base, we underestimate player development under this coaching staff every year.
Maybe not immediately, but in time they may. You still have three guys here who have been through the wars. We have a really intriguing roster this year. As fans, we have to stop fearing the future.
Of course, but we always focus on the negative as a fan base, I totally get it as a longtime fan. But this staff’s track record suggests that we should trust them more than past coaching staffs.
Not about scoring, it is about efficiency.
Averaging 14 ppg is VERY hard to do. A big jump from playing in a bad conference to the B1G and playing at a all B1G team level.
we need to pull some threads about Paul and Caleb for the 1st 2/3 of the season.
My fear is what happens in the last 4 seconds of the shot clock and the last 2 minutes of games.
Again, fear. Just let the team develop and have it play out. Enjoy the ride. Which ride was better? Eddie, Rice, Freddie, Bannon? Maybe you could make a case for Waters and Douby…
Will be interesting to see who emerges as the guy to take over in these situations. I’m thinking Paul or Caleb.
We’ll definitely have games where we’ll miss Geo and Ron. Didn’t realize Ron shot 40% from deep, as part of his 16 and 6 every night, including 80% from the line which was also crucial in endgames.
Ron Harper did 15.6 a game last year. Would love to see your 20 PPG happen. Hunter Dickinson and Kofi Cockburn kind of offensive contribution.
Spencer with the three. Or Chol with the 3. Or Cliff with the open 3. Our offense will look different this year
Or we need to inbound the ball…
Those are 3 guys who have never made 3s at the highest level.
can Spencer create space with a step back 3? Who on the team can beat someone off the dribble? Where are these 3 looks coming from? Is Spencer creating opportunities off the dribble?
Caleb and Paul have large sample sizes here. It would be a huge reach to expect Caleb being a guy who is a successful primary scorer. Paul did it in a 5 game stretch, but I am still skeptical over a 30+ game season.
I am confident with this team defensively, rebounding and toughness. That stuff can alone get you wins some nights.
The vast majority of 3 point shots taken by every team in America are open looks created by ball and/or player movement or 3's in transition.
Creating a contested 3 or getting off a step back 3 are a small percentage of those shots taken.
It's going to be Paul and Cliff high ball screen
Paul has to become money when they sag off him to cover Cliff’s slip To the rim.
Spencer is good for 14pt average?
You realize RHJ (our leading scorer) averaged 14.9ppg and 15.8ppg his last two years.
Spencer is going to walk in and match that?
That seems like lofty expectations.
Sure but Caleb and Paul’s sample size was when Geo and Ron were still here. Both are savvy enough to create their own shot. Paul had that 5 game stretch as you point out, and Caleb took over offensively in the NCAA game last season, when no one else was stepping up. They are both capable.
Why interrupt a good worry on the board? Some of us here just love to worry.
My feeling is that Mulcahy will have the ball at the end of the shot clock forcing the defense to react to him. He'd be looking to feed Omoruyi at the rim first, Spencer at the arc second, taking his defender to the rim third, and McConnell at the elbow fourth. I think we'll be less reliant on one guy (Baker) holding the ball and creating a shot for himself, and be more focused on movement and letting Mulcahy respond to the defense by finding the open man.
^This. Makes the most sense and Paul’s decision-making, which has always been stellar, becomes the key to our success.
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The ball will be in Paul's hand basically every time. He's the playmaker and leader of the team. It seems pretty obvious to me.
We will likely see Paul and Cliff pick n roll with Paul going to his right and if the defense helps he dishes to Spencer spacing the floor on the same side of the court.
I'm actually looking forward to seeing these end of game situations with more of a basketball play. The Geo iso step back 3 is fun when it goes in, but in general I'd like to see us generating a higher percentage look
Agreed. And their ability to find and sign undervalued/underrated players.
What do you think his over/under is? I’d guess around 11.5 so 14 is a bit of a stretch but not out of the realm of possibility.
This team should be fine if Pyke recognizes that the offensive and defensive philosophies will have to change to a degree. This team as we see it now has to look to score earlier in the shot clock then previous teams.
It is not built to isolate a player as the shot clock is winding down.
We are going to have to play more motion on offense and literally take the first good shot
Defensively I think we may see more zone from Pyke
Simpson may change some of this if in fact he can create for himself when on the court but I expect that we will force feed Cliff, look for miss matches with our length (Caleb and Paul) , and give the green like to Spenser to shoot at any time .
It is not built to isolate a player as the shot clock is winding down.
We are going to have to play more motion on offense and literally take the first good shot
Defensively I think we may see more zone from Pyke
Simpson may change some of this if in fact he can create for himself when on the court but I expect that we will force feed Cliff, look for miss matches with our length (Caleb and Paul) , and give the green like to Spenser to shoot at any time .
Agreed Pete in college its a relatively new team every year thats just the game
I think if Caleb and Paul can create those mismatches we will create more open shots for Spencer and hopefully he will knock them down