We have the oddest and most likely, uninformed fanbases in all of CBB and CFB, it is really odd how fans look at things.
I saw this on Twitter and also saw it here and I guess my question is the following.....
How do you develop OTHER options or players in a season when the losing season was already defined 6, 12 or 18 months ago??
Did anyone here or does anyone here, actually in their heads believe that if we start Tariq Francis, that he will stop the team from falling into a 6 to 8 point hole every 1st or 2nd half??? YES, factually, that would make sense and YES, he would take another 5 to 6 shots per game.....and every opponent RU plays would also know that BUT Francis, even if he is playing well, would probably hit 50% of those extra 5 to 6 shots per game, so RU would be down only 4 points in most of these games, instead of 8 or maybe 10PTS.
Let's assume that happens and we start Francis, which is fine......now he will be asked to play the same amount of minutes, maybe 3 to 4 more.....How does him taking even MORE shot attempts, help Kaden Powers, or find shots for someone who is a borderline B1G rotation player like Harun Zrno??
I think I saw last night, Kaden Powers being developed when Francis sits to start the half....Powers is having sets run for him, almost as a trial run....or experiment of sorts....he is not a 5*, cant miss player, but I have mentioned for months, his tape and footwork are excellent, he has been trained and coached as a youth by former Knicks 6th man and long time NBA player Jamal Crawford.
Powers can take shots and brick a lot of them, he has tossed up some ugly looking shots, but during these games in January, he is becoming a more consistent player. Last night, it clicked for him and he scores 18 in the 1st half..
What happens if in the remaining 9 to 10 games of the year, if he develops more consistent play, does that help him to be the primary option in the 1st 4 minutes of each half, while Francis sits?? Or, do we expect Francis to take all the shots and let Powers and others take fewer shots??
The ideal situation is Powers takes more shots during the 7 to 9 minutes of the start of each half, so when Francis comes in, we are maximizing the shots attempts for each player.
The fans frustration directed towards Pike is clueless and dumb....should we be mad because Ogbole starts and does little scoring??
Should we penalize JMike, who tries and plays 26 minutes a game and scores around 7PPG.....??
What should we do with Dylan Grant?? Should we ignore finding him shot attempts in these 1st 4 to 5 minutes of each half.....??? Or see if he develops more than he's shown??
Right now, these posts are wild.....essentially, start Francis, because Grant isn't scoring enough yet, JMike is limited although playing an amount of minutes per game, that normally would generate 12 to 13PPG??
These things are ALL Pikes fault.....(sarcasm, but partly true)......because he doesnt run an offense to get Ogbole more scoring opportunities, he hasn't developed JMike into a 13PPG player who shoots 40% from 3 and makes 85% of his FTS and ices games vs Sparty......these are all based on Pike’s lack of creativity and not running more sets, to get Badalau more 3s, finding a way to fix Lino Mark from 2 for 26 from 3 in his freshman year???
I love the passion of this fanbase, trying to find additional ways to cut down the margins of defeat, but sometimes that only happens in time, if RU finds other options like Powers and hopefully Grant.
No one wants to be 2-10 in the B1G, maybe with a better coach, we beat Iowa, USC, Ohio State and Michigan State because they were close and we would feel like we are making out this roster. But there's no path to winning by force feeding Francis 20 shots a game and not finding out if Powers, Grant and others can get better.
I personally dont want to see Francis push up 20+ shots per game, but maybe its just me...!!.
