NOt sure how to link article but great article about Mawot and how our defense really suffers when he is not in the game; great stats
Mawot Article NJ.Com
- Thread starter richthedentist
- Start date
Mag will go down in board lore as being the subject of historically bad public prognostications. Right up there with Pike can't coach and Pike can't recruit.
Mag is important, but I think (know) it's because he buys into the defensive concepts and embraced the challenge.
The reality is we have the roster pieces to absorb the loss and the offense we were getting from Mag was based on being the 5th option on most possessions on offense. Teams were not focusing on Mag, they're playing RU heavy on preventing Cam Spencer from getting open looks and that's providing the open shot opportunities for Mag.
Palmquist can hit those open shots, Hyatt can certainly hit those open shots and Simpson needs more minutes and development down the stretch and can play good 1 on 1 defense, when he's dialed in. The silly fouls on Saturday vs MSU weren't items you see on a game in game out basis (other than Cam Spencer reaching in on double teams).
Cliff, Cam, Mulcahy and Caleb are all higher on the food chain in terms of impact to the team lineup and production OR those 4 are significantly (impossible) harder to replace than Mag. We have already seen RU play 25 minutes of basketball on Saturday without Mag on the floor at MSG and it took the rest of the 1H to sort out and RU adjusted and had other players step up in the 2nd half.
If we are keeping tabs on the amount of impact starters lost across the B1G, the numbers are much higher than what we want to acknowledge. The list of players lost to injury for Illinois (Luke Goode missed almost the whole season so far), Indiana (TJD, Xavier Johnson, Trey Galloway, Hood-Schifino have all missed multiple games, Michigan State (Malik Hall missed 5 to 6 full B1G games)....the list around the league is endless.
We had Mulcahy miss games and Caleb continues to battle through and came back from a knee injury this fall). Both are essential to how we play in every aspect because they're capable of playing 1, 2, 3 or possibly 4 different positions. Mag is lined up as the 3 or 4, which we have depth at that position to go to, with other lineups.
Was Mag starting to finally click and give RU some offense..????........YES.....but the offset of offense (Oskar, Hyatt and Simpson) can override the potential defensive decrease.....this notion that Hyatt and Simpson are terrible defenders, while Spencer and Mulcahy are great on defense is nonsense. Mag not playing just means better offensive players/shooters on the court. The tradeoff of more offense for slightly worse defense is not as dramatic as some fans are making this out to be.
The reality is we have the roster pieces to absorb the loss and the offense we were getting from Mag was based on being the 5th option on most possessions on offense. Teams were not focusing on Mag, they're playing RU heavy on preventing Cam Spencer from getting open looks and that's providing the open shot opportunities for Mag.
Palmquist can hit those open shots, Hyatt can certainly hit those open shots and Simpson needs more minutes and development down the stretch and can play good 1 on 1 defense, when he's dialed in. The silly fouls on Saturday vs MSU weren't items you see on a game in game out basis (other than Cam Spencer reaching in on double teams).
Cliff, Cam, Mulcahy and Caleb are all higher on the food chain in terms of impact to the team lineup and production OR those 4 are significantly (impossible) harder to replace than Mag. We have already seen RU play 25 minutes of basketball on Saturday without Mag on the floor at MSG and it took the rest of the 1H to sort out and RU adjusted and had other players step up in the 2nd half.
If we are keeping tabs on the amount of impact starters lost across the B1G, the numbers are much higher than what we want to acknowledge. The list of players lost to injury for Illinois (Luke Goode missed almost the whole season so far), Indiana (TJD, Xavier Johnson, Trey Galloway, Hood-Schifino have all missed multiple games, Michigan State (Malik Hall missed 5 to 6 full B1G games)....the list around the league is endless.
We had Mulcahy miss games and Caleb continues to battle through and came back from a knee injury this fall). Both are essential to how we play in every aspect because they're capable of playing 1, 2, 3 or possibly 4 different positions. Mag is lined up as the 3 or 4, which we have depth at that position to go to, with other lineups.
Was Mag starting to finally click and give RU some offense..????........YES.....but the offset of offense (Oskar, Hyatt and Simpson) can override the potential defensive decrease.....this notion that Hyatt and Simpson are terrible defenders, while Spencer and Mulcahy are great on defense is nonsense. Mag not playing just means better offensive players/shooters on the court. The tradeoff of more offense for slightly worse defense is not as dramatic as some fans are making this out to be.
Agreed Palmquist had his day in the sun against a very very bad Minnesota team he didn't do much against MSU although I think his length bothered Hauser but I would still not want to see him in the game especially trying to guard Race Thompson tonight
Indiana's board has been saying Race Thompson has not been the same player since returning from his injury, so maybe Oskar can hang with him well enough for some minutes tonight. It will be a challenge for sure to play tough road games without Mag tonight and Saturday, if not longer.
I'm more worried about Oskar turning the ball over on offense tbh
Mags defense reminds me of scottie pippen. Especially when we press. The length and quickness is almost like a one man press..