Johnson

Mr_Twister

All-American
Apr 1, 2004
15,684
5,819
0
Look at the improvement Garza made from last year to this year. Myles can do the same. Look at how much he improved this year from last year
Myles is very good and a real asset for Rutgers. But Myles is light years away from Garza on the offensive end. Garza is a very talented shooter. Remarkable touch for a big. Excellent footwork. I would settle for Myles focus on becoming a reliable free throw shooter.
 

Joey Bacala

All-Conference
Aug 12, 2005
3,673
1,703
0
I got maligned here for saying this a few weeks ago. Myles is great and I love that he’s our guy but he wilts against big physical centers. I realize that Garza is a wildly unique talent and possibly the POY in college b-ball. We have no physical, really tough presence on this team, a real warrior. Agree with the Shaq Doorson comment above. Carter and Duke don’t remotely fit the bill. Either we need a big physical force or another finesse big man who we can have in the court in sets with Myles to creat a matchup problem for the other teams 4. C’mon big Cliff sign up!!!!!
 
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tru2ru1

All-Conference
Feb 5, 2003
5,689
3,362
66
I got maligned here for saying this a few weeks ago. Myles is great and I love that he’s our guy but he wilts against big physical centers. I realize that Garza is a wildly unique talent and possibly the POY in college b-ball. We have no physical, really tough presence on this team, a real warrior. Agree with the Shaq Doorson comment above. Carter and Duke don’t remotely fit the bill. Either we need a big physical force or another finesse big man who we can have in the court in sets with Myles to creat a matchup problem for the other teams 4. C’mon big Cliff sign up!!!!!

Guess you have not realized that Ron Harper Jr. plays for RU, he is as physical as is allowed by refs & he is the definition of a warrior!
 
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NightKnight

All-Conference
Jul 21, 2008
3,221
1,634
68
Can't pop-out on screens and deny the ball in the post. Our defense is to pop-out and trust your teammates to cover the open man. All season long we've had Johnson pop-out and wait for the primary defender to recover before racing back to find his man....and this defense has been succesful. Garza is too big and too good for that. I think later in the game, Johnson switched the balance to stay with Garza and that was more effective. I know Jim Boeheim would have thrown a Box-and-One zone at them but that is not in RU's tool box.
 

JQRU91

All-Conference
Apr 6, 2013
1,855
1,386
0
To be fair, gumpper--he is a soph and still has some growing to do to fill out his frame. Garza is 6'11 260. But don't let that stop your hot take.
I agree that Myles is still growing and developing. However, he's listed at 6'11" and 255 pounds. It may not look like it, but he's not giving up much to Garza in terms of size.

Anyway, Myles is a good player, and we're lucky to have him. The B1G just has some really tough bigs for him to go up against.
 

ScarletR30

Senior
Aug 19, 2008
474
812
0
Myles played great D on Garza. Some of those shots were unguardable and it's tough to be physical with Garza on the road. Myles had 3 steals and played 27 mins. Think hes conditioning was a little bit of a problem though because he was a non factor on the boards. Would probably attribute that to battling with Garza down low every possession. MJ didn't take a single possesion off and it's unfair to judge off a game against the NPOY
 

RUChoppin

Heisman
Dec 1, 2006
19,270
13,695
0
Can't pop-out on screens and deny the ball in the post. Our defense is to pop-out and trust your teammates to cover the open man. All season long we've had Johnson pop-out and wait for the primary defender to recover before racing back to find his man....and this defense has been succesful. Garza is too big and too good for that. I think later in the game, Johnson switched the balance to stay with Garza and that was more effective. I know Jim Boeheim would have thrown a Box-and-One zone at them but that is not in RU's tool box.

Iowa did a great job neutralizing this defense.... by having Toussaint go hard at Johnson as soon as he hedged (to draw a foul), and by getting the ball quickly to Garza with a mismatch. Any time Garza got the ball within 3 feet of the basket, it was guaranteed points - and frequently with an and-1 for good measure.

Once we backed off this strategy and glued Johnson to him in the paint, Garza had to adjust. He only had 2 layups in the second half (along with 2 threes and 4 FTs), and went 0-2 and scored no points over the final 11:30.

We really struggled getting Johnson any touches in the post, too - not really getting anything going in the paint other than put backs and Harper. It's not like against Cockburn where Johnson got the ball but struggled against his defender, he just didn't really get many opportunities in the standard offensive sets.
 

RUChoppin

Heisman
Dec 1, 2006
19,270
13,695
0
I agree that Myles is still growing and developing. However, he's listed at 6'11" and 255 pounds. It may not look like it, but he's not giving up much to Garza in terms of size.

Anyway, Myles is a good player, and we're lucky to have him. The B1G just has some really tough bigs for him to go up against.

Garza is listed at 6-11, 260 and Johnson is listed at 6-11, 255. From a height/mass perspective, they're about equal - but it looked like Garza was just physically stronger than Johnson - and he was definitely stronger with the ball to the hoop, ensuring he got three-point opportunities rather than having to shoot two from the line. Hoping that Johnson will continue to improve in the weight room and look like that as a junior, too.
 

NewJerseyHawk

Heisman
Jan 11, 2007
24,463
38,762
113
If you are Iowa, what is the answer they have to stop Ron Harper...??

I think his 2 best games in his career are in Iowa City. Sometimes fans are a bit strange on how they look at things. If I am rooting for Iowa, you can't feel good amount giving up 28 to Harper but Garza is treated by fans here like he wasn't defended well by Myles.
 
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fbc1866

All-Conference
Sep 15, 2005
5,811
2,111
113
Garza is a better scorer, but the refs gave him the benefit of missing several of his fouls. But, he is an all American and POY in the B1G.
 
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BillyC80

Heisman
Oct 23, 2006
17,110
15,542
72
Garza as a sophomore last year, per game:
23 min, 52.5% shooting, 13 points, 4.6 rebounds.

Myles as a rs-sophomore so far this year:
23 min, 68.4% shooting, 9.2 points, 7.9 rebounds.
 

JQRU91

All-Conference
Apr 6, 2013
1,855
1,386
0
Garza is listed at 6-11, 260 and Johnson is listed at 6-11, 255. From a height/mass perspective, they're about equal - but it looked like Garza was just physically stronger than Johnson - and he was definitely stronger with the ball to the hoop, ensuring he got three-point opportunities rather than having to shoot two from the line. Hoping that Johnson will continue to improve in the weight room and look like that as a junior, too.
Okay. I listened to the game on radio so I didn't actually get to see them match up. I'll take your word for it.
 

RUChoppin

Heisman
Dec 1, 2006
19,270
13,695
0
If you are Iowa, what is the answer they have to stop Ron Harper...??

I think his 2 best games in his career are in Iowa City. Sometimes fans are a bit strange on how they look at things. If I am rooting for Iowa, you can't feel good amount giving up 28 to Harper but Garza is treated by fans here like he wasn't defended well by Myles.

Garza put up 28 points across the first 29:30, and 0 points over the last 11:30. The defensive adjustments we made ended up working, but he was just dominating on offense for the first 3/4 of the game.

Harper put up 29 points, too, though, and Iowa had basically no answer for him. Was nice that he shot 50% from the arc and 100% from the line, though.
 
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RUChoppin

Heisman
Dec 1, 2006
19,270
13,695
0
Garza as a sophomore last year, per game:
23 min, 52.5% shooting, 13 points, 4.6 rebounds.

Myles as a rs-sophomore so far this year:
23 min, 68.4% shooting, 9.2 points, 7.9 rebounds.

The biggest difference between them offensively is that Garza's a much better shooter away from the basket. He's a career .335 3P shooter and a career .707 from the FT line.
 

Scangg

Heisman
Mar 19, 2016
25,448
49,369
113
Garza is completely dominate. Best player we have seen this year.

Absolutely love Myles and cant wait to see him continue to develop.

Things Myles needs to work on (no order)

1. FT shooting
2. Not picking up fouls outside the 3 point line
3. Being more physical
4. Goes with the last one but killer instinct mentality. Get mean and nasty. Don't be afraid to throw your weight around.
 

patk89

All-Conference
Jul 25, 2001
6,322
2,449
78
Agree that we should have tried to get the ball to Myles more in the post. Make Garza work on the defensive side. Harper had a monster game. Iowa can score against anyone and no one stops Garza. Inside game plus ability to hit out past the 3 point line. Rare. Good rebounder, strong hands.
 

JQRU91

All-Conference
Apr 6, 2013
1,855
1,386
0
I think sometimes people forget that Myles has less than a season and a half's worth of Big Ten competition under his belt. The best is yet to come.
 
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Scangg

Heisman
Mar 19, 2016
25,448
49,369
113
I think sometimes people forget that Myles has less than a season and a half's worth of Big Ten competition under his belt. The best is yet to come.
Which is why we should be serious contenders for the B1G title next year
 

RUsince52

All-Conference
Apr 3, 2016
6,821
2,046
0
Garza is just a great center with a selection of shots he can make. I'd say try to keep him away from the basket with your body and make his shots as difficult as possible. He probably still makes his share, but on a mediocre night he misses too. He played really well last night and that includes his 3 pointers on the wing. Don't know if he would continue to take them on a bad night.
 
Last edited:
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goru7

All-American
Dec 12, 2005
6,432
7,710
113
Johnson is good and will continue to get better. He’s no Kofi or Garza though and that’s ok.
Myles shut down Cofi head to head. Garza torched Shaq first then Myles and then every other center in the Big 10. Garza is just not playing Big 10 first team good , he is playing All American good. When he is also hitting most of his threes , then he is a First Team All American. Do not be so hard on Myles. He has come a long way. If our guards gave him the ball , the number of times Iowa gives the ball to Garza, Myles points will go up rapidly. We do not feed the post enough and play inside out enough.
 

MadRU

Heisman
Jul 26, 2001
38,259
19,543
98
Boy Michigan’s centers must really suck after what Garza did to them.
 

Big boy stan

All-Conference
Oct 9, 2017
950
1,286
93
Am I the only one that thinks that MJ played Garza pretty well in the last 15 minutes of the game? There were multiple plays where Iowa clearly wanted to get Garza the ball in the paint and couldn't because of MJ's battling with him.

I do agree that MJ is still a work in progress offensively but if he continues his trend from last year to now, the the next 2+ seasons will be amazing.
 
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RUChoppin

Heisman
Dec 1, 2006
19,270
13,695
0
Garza's splits are also crazy.... he gets whistled nearly twice as often away from Carver, but ends up playing even more minutes and gets roughly the same points/rebounds totals.

At home, he's averaging 23.7 ppg, 10.2 rb in 29.0 min with 1.5 pf
Away/neutral, he's averaging 22.6 ppg, 10.4 rb in 32.6 min with 2.9 pf
 

RUsince52

All-Conference
Apr 3, 2016
6,821
2,046
0
Myles shut down Cofi head to head. Garza torched Shaq first then Myles and then every other center in the Big 10. Garza is just not playing Big 10 first team good , he is playing All American good. When he is also hitting most of his threes , then he is a First Team All American. Do not be so hard on Myles. He has come a long way. If our guards gave him the ball , the number of times Iowa gives the ball to Garza, Myles points will go up rapidly. We do not feed the post enough and play inside out enough.
Part of the problem is because our big guys don't command shots 8 feet out. MJ has really gotten better with this, but doesn't drive to the basket enough with the ability to change his shot. I think he will develop something. Plus except for drawing a foul his FT shooting is a huge liability and any team that can give fouls, WILL. He still has a huge upside and if we add the right player to help -Look Out B1G !!!