There is real potential there. Mark did a great job on Thornton. Powers beautiful stroke. Nwuli is raw but can develop and get stronger...I'm thinking a Kelvin Troy type defender.
I like the freshmen...
- Thread starter RUdepressed
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Mark and Powers have very good potential. Just need the game to slow down for them as they grow into their roles.
Nwuli is a strange one to me...havent seen that much out of him and is very quiet on both ends of the floor IMO.
While I get the above players all deserve more time, I still don't understand why Francis, who was on a heater, sat majority of the 2nd half. He wasn't getting burned on defense to see him sit for so long. The players who should have minutes reduced are Jmike, Zrno, and Badalou
Was hoping to see some progression with players like Mark & Powers; And think we are seeing it. Just looks like Nwuli is going to take more time to develop. But he did hit a three (was at the game and actually saw it). But as mentioned, saw the same with Mark playing tough against Thornton (and giving up 50lbs); But no reason for Powers not to play more - and that means first & second half; And if in a month or so, Zrno gets his shot to fall - good - he can start playing more.
Francis sat most of the 2nd half because OSU went zone and he stopped scoring. And was making really bad, forced decisions on O to start the 2nd half.
the substitution pattern is still beyond puzzling. While Francis 1st half > Francis 2nd half, he still should have played more.
And we made our 1st half run with Mark at point, at the end of the half when he sat they cut it.
And the Euros--shouldn't be playing at all at this point. Yet they both started??
I understand wanting to win vs developing players on the fly. however we REALLY need to develop players on the fly AND they give us a better chance of winning. So I don't see any internal debate that should be going on in Pikes brain.
and to the OP's point--the freshman definitely have potential.
And we made our 1st half run with Mark at point, at the end of the half when he sat they cut it.
And the Euros--shouldn't be playing at all at this point. Yet they both started??
I understand wanting to win vs developing players on the fly. however we REALLY need to develop players on the fly AND they give us a better chance of winning. So I don't see any internal debate that should be going on in Pikes brain.
and to the OP's point--the freshman definitely have potential.
That’s not really true. He missed 3 shots total in that stretch and made one but 2 of the misses were on the same possession in the paint. One of them was a tap out pass from Ogbole off a rebound. You have to go up with that. It just didn’t fall. When you have 17 points at that point in the game your not “seeing the pine” because of shot selection. He was given a breather and then the transition scoring kicked in with Lino and Powers.
What happens very often is Francis starts out the game scoring efficiently and then teams realize we have few other scoring threats and adjust the defense to not allow him to get opportunities to beat anyone one on one. Nobody else scores the damn ball in the halfcourt sets. And opponents realize it pretty quickly. The offense we produced with Lino and Powers was transition created off of our pressure D and Powers made a 3 off an inbounds pass. This is a strategy we should use more but once we get to team foul 6, it starts to backfire. Thats why Pike made the substitutions I’m sure. I don’t agree with it. He should’ve at least waited for the unit that had evened up the game to struggle before subbing whole sale and going back to a halfcourt game. But that’s the likely reason.
The euros are shell shocked and are still acclimating.
This is one of biggest gripes with Pike. Combinations get hot and are playing well together and he doesn't get the most out of their momentum and synergy by subbing out too early
if they don't contribute to the game let them acclimate on the bench at this point.
Agree with a lot in this thread. Pike does need to shorten the rotation and cut Zrno/Badalua’s mins until one or the other has a spark but Powers needs to move to starting lineup, have Mark take some of JMike’s mins and I’m not a fan of Buchanan’s game. He’s always good for 2+ turnovers in a short period of time. He’s not a two or three because of the lack of handle and too short for the four. I’d rather see Dortch and Ogbole in at same time with Francis, Powers and JMike/Mark.
Was upset that Pike didn’t have someone go straight at Tully with four fouls in the second half.
Team played hard though. Expectations are low and that’s the minimum us fans want to see.
GO RU
Was upset that Pike didn’t have someone go straight at Tully with four fouls in the second half.
Team played hard though. Expectations are low and that’s the minimum us fans want to see.
GO RU
Powers needs to play 20-25 minutes every game. Too sweet of a stroke and too much confidence and poise to have him rot on the bench as currently occurs for too long.
Mark needs to play 15-20 minutes each game and Nwuli 10-15.
It’s easy to find the minutes by reducing the playing time for Zrno / Badalou / Buchanan and JMIke.
The trio of Powers / Mark / Nwuli would be nice to see develop under the old status quo however we may never see it at Rutgers given the current status quo.
Mark needs to play 15-20 minutes each game and Nwuli 10-15.
It’s easy to find the minutes by reducing the playing time for Zrno / Badalou / Buchanan and JMIke.
The trio of Powers / Mark / Nwuli would be nice to see develop under the old status quo however we may never see it at Rutgers given the current status quo.
Lino still hasnt made a 3, that to me is concerning, it’s not like next year hell be knocking down a couple 3s a game. And as the lead guard in this day and age, you need to be able to shoot.
all 3 frosh have potential. but what are the odds of keeping all 3 beyond this year? Odds are 1 or 2 leave. And they’re all from the West Coast, so I think that increases their chances of going back West
all 3 frosh have potential. but what are the odds of keeping all 3 beyond this year? Odds are 1 or 2 leave. And they’re all from the West Coast, so I think that increases their chances of going back West
I agree there is promise. But in the unlimited-transfer NIL era there is no guarantee that any of them will be back next year, making it hard to be a fan.
I feel like Underwood pranked Pike over beers one night and sent him to the wrong Euro country to find guys
Im bullish on Zrno. Still figuring it out, but he’s gotten demonstrably better and puts in the effort.
If we can find the money, the odds are good. I have confidence in Keli - her career is going to depend on success in raising NIL.
You think Zrno has performed better the past few games? Sorry but I don’t see that at all. He is 3 for 20 from the field since the SHU game and it’s not like his shots are rimming out - most haven’t even been close. One of them being an opportunistic open lay up early in the game which was likely only available because the scouting report says he rarely drives. Credit him for taking advantage and executing, but he’s otherwise really struggled of late.
Agreed, she performed admirably this weekend with Duff/Raymond
RU needs to keep Mark/Powers/Nwuli
You’re right - he could be the guy of the last 3 games (and the first 5 games) rather than me optimistically thinking he’s the guy of the preceding 4/5 games.
Build/retain the defensive core, buy the scoring in the portal.
Spot on. He does a lot of things well but his ceiling is limited because of shooting. I think he can be a productive backup down the road.
He may also be a really good pg. Needs to finish better, but he can get to the hoop. Feels like he’s already starting to take minutes from JMike.
I’m not implying it’s not possible for him to get hot and find some confidence. Was only calling out the perspective that he’s gotten “demonstrably better”. That’s just not reality. He did not have a stretch of 4/5 straight strong games - rather, he had 3 nice games following another stretch of 2 games where he went 1 for 7 for a combined total 3 points. Going back even further, of the 6 games before that - he demonstrated some hot shooting in garbage time of the Tenn laugher and was basically a non-factor in the first 5 games. Only scored more that 5 points in Rider (7).
So in summary - we’ve played 14 games so far and he’s produced in 4 of them none of which were the 3 most recent games we’ve played.
The other very big concern IMO is that half of his 18 threes came in three very low pressure game situations where we were in the process of getting the snot kicked out of us - game outcome well in hand. He made 9 combined threes in three games that we lost by a combined 88 points (SHU, Mich, Tenn). He’s only shooting 21% overall from 3 in the other 11 games combined. That’s horrible for someone who is supposed to provide shooting as his strength. .
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Nah, you’re right. I think with Penn and SHU in the rear view (I was borderline Major League Randy Quaid after those two), my scarlet tinted glasses may be back on. I think I really like his tenacity on D - and assume he’ll get better there and the shots will eventually fall.
I think you mean Michigan and SHU? He was not good vs Penn. To clarify - so many had been encouraged by his performance against high majors claiming he brought it for good opponents. That’s fine and good I guess, but it doesn’t change the fact that he hasn’t scored more than 5 points in any game that wasn’t completely lopsided one way or the other outside of Purdue (we were within striking distance in that one late so I credit him for providing meaningful offense in that one). It is very concerning IMO that he was not able to help us put away any of the midmajor opponents.
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Sorry - meant I was pretty dejected after those two. I’m slightly more optimistic.