RAPID REACTION - Iowa

[Degaz-RU]

1. Really good effort on the road against a KenPom top 20 team. But too many turnovers in the first half (12) put us in a 7-point hole. We climbed back with a good second half, but that 7 points was the difference.

2. The defense came to play tonight against an Iowa team that averages 78 ppg, but we really couldn’t get a stop when it counted in the last 10 minutes. Iowa ran the same pick and roll play on every possession with Bennett Stirtz on the ball, and we couldn’t stop it.

3. Iowa’s length really bothered us on offense, with their perimeter defenders all 6-4 to 6-7, so we couldn’t get an open look from 3-pt range. We only hit one three in the 2nd half and were only 5-18 overall.

4. In contrast, Iowa hit 7-19 from deep, including 4-6 from Tate Sage.

5. Game ball to Darren Buchanan, who scored 17 points on 5-8 (1-2) and 6-7 from the line. Jun clearly worked on his foul shooting after going 0-4 last game and 6-10 in the OT win against NW. Honorable mention to Manny Ogbole (8 points, 10 rebounds, 2 blocks) and Lino Mark (7 points, 3 assists, 3 steals). Francis was ineffective even though he scored 15 points (4-12 from the field).

6. Demerits to JMike (0 points, 1 assist, 2 TOs), Zrno (0 points with two airballs from deep in 11 minutes), and Dortch (0 points, 1 rebound in 13 minutes).

7. You just can’t win on the road coughing up 19 turnovers and only hitting 5 threes. We had 19 made FGs and 19 TOs.

8. This was a big opportunity to get a road win against a good Big Ten opponent, and we squandered it because we just don’t have enough offense. Too many guys just provide nothing on offense in each game, and it changes from game to game.

9. The upcoming game against a fading Indiana team is our best chance to get a win in this 7-game gauntlet. Hopefully we can get a little RAC magic on Friday night.

 

[richthedentist]

1. Really good effort on the road against a KenPom top 20 team. But too many first half turnovers in the first half (12) put us in a 7-point hole. We climbed back with a good second half, but that 7 points was the difference.

2. The defense came to play tonight against an Iowa team that averages 78 ppg, but we really couldn’t get a stop when it counted in the last 10 minutes. Iowa ran the same pick and roll play on every possession with Bennett Stirtz on the ball, and we couldn’t stop it.

3. Iowa’s length really bothered us on offense, with their perimeter defenders all 6-4 to 6-7, so we couldn’t get an open look from 3-pt range. We only hit one three in the 2nd half and were only 5-18 overall.

4. In contrast, Iowa hit 7-19 from deep, including 4-6 from Tate Sage.

5. Game ball to Darren Buchanan, who scored 17 points on 5-8 (1-2) and 6-7 from the line. Jun clearly worked on his foul shooting after going 0-4 last game and 6-10 in the OT win against NW. Honorable mention to Manny Ogbole (8 points, 10 rebounds, 2 blocks) and Lino Mark (7 points, 3 assists, 3 steals). Francis was ineffective even though he scored 15 points (4-12 from the field).

6. Demerits to JMike (0 points, 1 assist, 2 TOs), Zrno (0 points with two airballs from deep in 11 minutes), and Dortch (0 points, 1 rebound in 13 minutes).

7. You just can’t win on the road coughing up 19 turnovers and only hitting 5 threes. We had 19 made FGs and 19 TOs.

8. This was a big opportunity to get a road win against a good Big Ten opponent, and we squandered it because we just don’t have enough offense. Too many guys just provide nothing on offense in each game, and it changes from game to game.

9. The upcoming game against a fading Indiana team is our best chance to get a win in this 7-game gauntlet. Hopefully we can get a little RAC magic on Friday night.

Good recap agreed we just don’t have enough on offense but the team played good defense against a potent team especially with so many TO’s

 

[PiscatawayMike]

3. Iowa’s length really bothered us on offense, with their perimeter defenders all 6-4 to 6-7, so we couldn’t get an open look from 3-pt range. We only hit one three in the 2nd half and were only 5-18 overall.

This. All night I was saying to myself we could really use a 6-5 guard. We had a tough time getting open looks.

 

[Simce91]

Good post

Buchanon needs the ball more on the offensive end, 5 for 8 and 17 points, had another solid game.

Would have liked to see Nwuli on Stritz more in the last 4 minutes, he was frustrating the hell out of him.

Would be great if RU can get this type of energy from Ogbole the rest of the year,

Francis has to learn to dish when he's not microwaving !

 

[goru7]

1. Really good effort on the road against a KenPom top 20 team. But too many turnovers in the first half (12) put us in a 7-point hole. We climbed back with a good second half, but that 7 points was the difference.

2. The defense came to play tonight against an Iowa team that averages 78 ppg, but we really couldn’t get a stop when it counted in the last 10 minutes. Iowa ran the same pick and roll play on every possession with Bennett Stirtz on the ball, and we couldn’t stop it.

3. Iowa’s length really bothered us on offense, with their perimeter defenders all 6-4 to 6-7, so we couldn’t get an open look from 3-pt range. We only hit one three in the 2nd half and were only 5-18 overall.

4. In contrast, Iowa hit 7-19 from deep, including 4-6 from Tate Sage.

5. Game ball to Darren Buchanan, who scored 17 points on 5-8 (1-2) and 6-7 from the line. Jun clearly worked on his foul shooting after going 0-4 last game and 6-10 in the OT win against NW. Honorable mention to Manny Ogbole (8 points, 10 rebounds, 2 blocks) and Lino Mark (7 points, 3 assists, 3 steals). Francis was ineffective even though he scored 15 points (4-12 from the field).

6. Demerits to JMike (0 points, 1 assist, 2 TOs), Zrno (0 points with two airballs from deep in 11 minutes), and Dortch (0 points, 1 rebound in 13 minutes).

7. You just can’t win on the road coughing up 19 turnovers and only hitting 5 threes. We had 19 made FGs and 19 TOs.

8. This was a big opportunity to get a road win against a good Big Ten opponent, and we squandered it because we just don’t have enough offense. Too many guys just provide nothing on offense in each game, and it changes from game to game.

9. The upcoming game against a fading Indiana team is our best chance to get a win in this 7-game gauntlet. Hopefully we can get a little RAC magic on Friday night.

Regarding your summary , 6 and 7 just cannot happen. We cannot turn the ball over like that and we cannot get zeros from players the game before gave you good contributions. It drives you nuts .

my key takeaway was tonight was not the night Francis had to lead us in taking shots with 12. He was forcing things and at a key juncture he had Buchanan on the wing waiting for the ball to hit a key triple and he never got the ball. Buchanan was 5-8 , Manny was 3-3 and Dylan was 3-4. That is who should have been shooting .Francis is too selfish to understand that and tonight it showed

Thought Pike missed an opportunity to really surge when we were up 43-39 and Buchanan was starting to drive and be impactful. Dylan also drove for a layup and Manny got a flush. Instead he turned to iso ball with Francis which was a disaster. Iowa had 4-5 empty trips or turnovers caused by our defense and instead of extending to 10 points , we had 4 empty trips when Buchanan should have been allowed to cook. Powers was having a bad game but never saw Zrno again. Box score says he was 0-2 and Degaz says 2 airballs but you only need 1 or 2 to go down and not trying him again after he was 5-9 the game before , and we struggle for offense, was not a wise move.

Then the last 6 minutes , Pike has Buchanan guarding Stritz and before that Nwuili and it goes well and he allows Iowa to screen and get Francis matched on him which was a disaster. That is just bad coaching. On a night Stirtz was struggling 0-6 from 3 Pike allowed him to go off driving into Francis and others without being guarded by Buchanan or Nwuili , which ended up being the difference in the game. .

As a general observation , we have to shoot more . Shooting only 44 times will rarely win you games . The 19 turnovers affects the number of shots but we should be attacking the basket and crashing the boards instead of passing or dribbling without purpose and going away from the basket. The deferring on the perimeter 25 feet from the basket is not the way to attack the basket .

this was an easy winnable game that ends up as a loss with plenty of blame to go around coaches and players and a miserable 11 turnovers in the first half. Really shouldn’t be happening 19 games in.

 

[PhillyRU]

Regarding your summary , 6 and 7 just cannot happen. We cannot turn the ball over like that and we cannot get zeros from players the game before gave you good contributions. It drives you nuts .

my key takeaway was tonight was not the night Francis had to lead us in taking shots with 12. He was forcing things and at a key juncture he had Buchanan on the wing waiting for the ball to hit a key triple and he never got the ball. Buchanan was 5-8 , Manny was 3-3 and Dylan was 3-4. That is who should have been shooting .Francis is too selfish to understand that and tonight it showed

Thought Pike missed an opportunity to really surge when we were up 43-39 and Buchanan was starting to drive and be impactful. Dylan also drove for a layup and Manny got a flush. Instead he turned to iso ball with Francis which was a disaster. Iowa had 4-5 empty trips or turnovers caused by our defense and instead of extending to 10 points , we had 4 empty trips when Buchanan should have been allowed to cook. Powers was having a bad game but never saw Zrno again. Box score says he was 0-2 and Degaz says 2 airballs but you only need 1 or 2 to go down and not trying him again after he was 5-9 the game before , and we struggle for offense, was not a wise move.

Then the last 6 minutes , Pike has Buchanan guarding Stritz and before that Nwuili and it goes well and he allows Iowa to screen and get Francis matched on him which was a disaster. That is just bad coaching. On a night Stirtz was struggling 0-6 from 3 Pike allowed him to go off driving into Francis and others without being guarded by Buchanan or Nwuili , which ended up being the difference in the game. .

As a general observation , we have to shoot more . Shooting only 44 times will rarely win you games . The 19 turnovers affects the number of shots but we should be attacking the basket and crashing the boards instead of passing or dribbling without purpose and going away from the basket. The deferring on the perimeter 25 feet from the basket is not the way to attack the basket .

this was an easy winnable game that ends up as a loss with plenty of blame to go around coaches and players and a miserable 11 turnovers in the first half. Really shouldn’t be happening 19 games in.

IMO this doesn’t give enough credit to Iowa. They play elite defense and force the sixth highest turnover rate in the country. A lot of our issues tonight are common when playing Iowa, and we held in against a good to great team

 

[goru7]

IMO this doesn’t give enough credit to Iowa. They play elite defense and force the sixth highest turnover rate in the country. A lot of our issues tonight are common when playing Iowa, and we held in against a good to great team

I do not think Iowa played great defense against Buchanan or Manny. We should have been going to both of them more. ISO ball with Francis bailed them out. If we swung the ball and used more zoom action we would have scored more and won easily.

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

The write up is great and I think the scouting report on what we have been implementing is good to see. Teams are prepared for Francis and now Powers as well.....which opens up opportunities for Buchanan to drive and score.

Powers needs to find more shot attempts for RU to be successful.

There are fewer empty minutes on the floor as we reduce the minutes of Zrno and Badalau.

The Zrno issue ia that he actually made 1 nice defensive play and steal, but rushed his 3 pointer after from the corner. He looks like a player who is impossible to count on because hes not going to give RU points off the dribble and isnt a plus defensive player but has been competing more defensively in recent games. The message is being sent....you can play and get shot attempts but you have ro provide something on defense.

The JMike dilemma is the same....1 good game, 1 disappearance, 1 so-so game....as a junior and now pretty experienced, he is still capable, but has to dial in and focus....one out of control drive into traffic in the 1st half, where a veteran guard needs to understand that when others are turning the ball over, you cannot also contribute to the mishaps as well.

Powers has to also cut down on the silly or reach in fouls on a couple of plays. He added 2 fouls to layups that would have happened anyway. Hidden couple of FTs for Iowa when we did a good job most of the night.

When Dylan Grant scored his 1st basket, he picked up the pace a little more and if we plug him into the starting lineup over Zrno, I think we have a better shot of getting ahead early.

Dortch
Grant
Powers
JMike
Buchanan

It's not an ideal lineup to start a game, but I feel like we haven't seen a lot of this combination OR we need to see more Lino Mark for JMike.....the problem with potentially making that switch is we get more dribble drives with Mark, but Mark plays better whwn Francis is on the court with him....that could be just an observation not supported by the actual lineups and productivity.

If teams keep their extra focus on Francis and these open lanes are still there for Grant and Buchanan, we need both of those players to get to 12 to 14 points and RU suddenly becomes very balanced and difficult to beat.

 

[RUBlackout]

mark needs to play over Jmike and start now.

No real downgrade on defense amd
Much more energy and attacking on offense. Too often I see Jmike at the top passing the ball around without any real action towards the basket and it stalls our offense. Between JMike
And Zrno we are getting nowhere right now. Zrno may be better coming off the bench in a spot 3 type situation to spark a drought
mark and powers need the game to slow down for them a bit but they are only freshman.

 

[richthedentist]

The write up is great and I think the scouting report on what we have been implementing is good to see. Teams are prepared for Francis and now Powers as well.....which opens up opportunities for Buchanan to drive and score.

Powers needs to find more shot attempts for RU to be successful.

There are fewer empty minutes on the floor as we reduce the minutes of Zrno and Badalau.

The Zrno issue ia that he actually made 1 nice defensive play and steal, but rushed his 3 pointer after from the corner. He looks like a player who is impossible to count on because hes not going to give RU points off the dribble and isnt a plus defensive player but has been competing more defensively in recent games. The message is being sent....you can play and get shot attempts but you have ro provide something on defense.

The JMike dilemma is the same....1 good game, 1 disappearance, 1 so-so game....as a junior and now pretty experienced, he is still capable, but has to dial in and focus....one out of control drive into traffic in the 1st half, where a veteran guard needs to understand that when others are turning the ball over, you cannot also contribute to the mishaps as well.

Powers has to also cut down on the silly or reach in fouls on a couple of plays. He added 2 fouls to layups that would have happened anyway. Hidden couple of FTs for Iowa when we did a good job most of the night.

When Dylan Grant scored his 1st basket, he picked up the pace a little more and if we plug him into the starting lineup over Zrno, I think we have a better shot of getting ahead early.

Dortch
Grant
Powers
JMike
Buchanan

It's not an ideal lineup to start a game, but I feel like we haven't seen a lot of this combination OR we need to see more Lino Mark for JMike.....the problem with potentially making that switch is we get more dribble drives with Mark, but Mark plays better whwn Francis is on the court with him....that could be just an observation not supported by the actual lineups and productivity.

If teams keep their extra focus on Francis and these open lanes are still there for Grant and Buchanan, we need both of those players to get to 12 to 14 points and RU suddenly becomes very balanced and difficult to beat.

Its going to take Grant a bit to recover from the flu; remember last year it knocked Dylan out for at least 2-3 weeks

 

[seansherm]

mark needs to play over Jmike and start now.

No real downgrade on defense amd
Much more energy and attacking on offense. Too often I see Jmike at the top passing the ball around without any real action towards the basket and it stalls our offense. Between JMike
And Zrno we are getting nowhere right now. Zrno may be better coming off the bench in a spot 3 type situation to spark a drought
mark and powers need the game to slow down for them a bit but they are only freshman.

Never know how the team is going to perform when Mark is out there. We outscored Iowa by 5 in the first half with him, and were outscored by 5 in the second with him. We seem to perform better when he's out there but he's a terrible shooter and his turnover rate is double JMikes, and his asst/to ratio is a third of JMikes, like 4.5/1 vs 1.5/1 (this is in conference). He get's to the line. Freshman, they drive you crazy!

 

[RU-ROCS]

Regarding your summary , 6 and 7 just cannot happen. We cannot turn the ball over like that and we cannot get zeros from players the game before gave you good contributions. It drives you nuts .

my key takeaway was tonight was not the night Francis had to lead us in taking shots with 12. He was forcing things and at a key juncture he had Buchanan on the wing waiting for the ball to hit a key triple and he never got the ball. Buchanan was 5-8 , Manny was 3-3 and Dylan was 3-4. That is who should have been shooting .Francis is too selfish to understand that and tonight it showed

Thought Pike missed an opportunity to really surge when we were up 43-39 and Buchanan was starting to drive and be impactful. Dylan also drove for a layup and Manny got a flush. Instead he turned to iso ball with Francis which was a disaster. Iowa had 4-5 empty trips or turnovers caused by our defense and instead of extending to 10 points , we had 4 empty trips when Buchanan should have been allowed to cook. Powers was having a bad game but never saw Zrno again. Box score says he was 0-2 and Degaz says 2 airballs but you only need 1 or 2 to go down and not trying him again after he was 5-9 the game before , and we struggle for offense, was not a wise move.

Then the last 6 minutes , Pike has Buchanan guarding Stritz and before that Nwuili and it goes well and he allows Iowa to screen and get Francis matched on him which was a disaster. That is just bad coaching. On a night Stirtz was struggling 0-6 from 3 Pike allowed him to go off driving into Francis and others without being guarded by Buchanan or Nwuili , which ended up being the difference in the game. .

As a general observation , we have to shoot more . Shooting only 44 times will rarely win you games . The 19 turnovers affects the number of shots but we should be attacking the basket and crashing the boards instead of passing or dribbling without purpose and going away from the basket. The deferring on the perimeter 25 feet from the basket is not the way to attack the basket .

this was an easy winnable game that ends up as a loss with plenty of blame to go around coaches and players and a miserable 11 turnovers in the first half. Really shouldn’t be happening 19 games in.

This!

Thought Pike missed an opportunity to really surge when we were up 43-39 and Buchanan was starting to drive and be impactful. Dylan also drove for a layup and Manny got a flush. Instead he turned to iso ball with Francis which was a disaster. Iowa had 4-5 empty trips or turnovers caused by our defense and instead of extending to 10 points , we had 4 empty trips when Buchanan should have been allowed to cook. Powers was having a bad game but never saw Zrno again. Box score says he was 0-2 and Degaz says 2 airballs but you only need 1 or 2 to go down and not trying him again after he was 5-9 the game before , and we struggle for offense, was not a wise move.

 

[jmalik]

mark needs to play over Jmike and start now.

No real downgrade on defense amd
Much more energy and attacking on offense. Too often I see Jmike at the top passing the ball around without any real action towards the basket and it stalls our offense. Between JMike
And Zrno we are getting nowhere right now. Zrno may be better coming off the bench in a spot 3 type situation to spark a drought
mark and powers need the game to slow down for them a bit but they are only freshman.

Lino has been the stronger defender than JMike. He leads the team in steals per 40 minutes (3.0 vs. 1.5) and has the size and speed to switch effectively, which has helped neutralize bigger matchups like Bennett Stirtz and Bruce Thornton.

During the Iowa game, after Stirtz blocked a Kaden Powers shot and it turned into a 2-on-1 fast break, Lino stayed in front of Stirtz and then recovered to block the other player’s shot, stopping the possession entirely.

 

[LeapinLou]

Just wanted to chime in to note that we played 11 guys last night while Iowa played 8. They have a locked in rotation. We still don't. No bueno.

Also, I'm not as convinced as the rest of you that we should be sacrificing JMike minutes for Lino. I like Lino and he's getting better each day. But JMike is a grown man and has been through these wars before. The lineup I would have on the floor as much as possible is:

1. Manny/Dortch
2. Buchanan
3. Grant
4. Francis/Powers
5. JMike/Lino

That's actually a pretty decent offensive lineup without being a disaster on defense.

 

[RUDivision]

Just wanted to chime in to note that we played 11 guys last night while Iowa played 8. They have a locked in rotation. We still don't. No bueno.

Also, I'm not as convinced as the rest of you that we should be sacrificing JMike minutes for Lino. I like Lino and he's getting better each day. But JMike is a grown man and has been through these wars before. The lineup I would have on the floor as much as possible is:

1. Manny/Dortch
2. Buchanan
3. Grant
4. Francis/Powers
5. JMike/Lino

That's actually a pretty decent offensive lineup without being a disaster on defense.

JMike your starting PG and captain had ZERO points ONE Assit and TWO Turnovers.

He provides leadership from the bench and should stay there.

 

[bac2therac]

Just wanted to chime in to note that we played 11 guys last night while Iowa played 8. They have a locked in rotation. We still don't. No bueno.

Also, I'm not as convinced as the rest of you that we should be sacrificing JMike minutes for Lino. I like Lino and he's getting better each day. But JMike is a grown man and has been through these wars before. The lineup I would have on the floor as much as possible is:

1. Manny/Dortch
2. Buchanan
3. Grant
4. Francis/Powers
5. JMike/Lino

That's actually a pretty decent offensive lineup without being a disaster on defense.

its a good point. J Mike for all his warts and inconsistency is still the experienced guy in clutch situations and the object is to win as many games as possible. I like Linos games but its unfair for him to be in those situations and being forced to take that last 3 or any 3 late..i think he took another one is not the right call. I just am less sold on Powers. I am adamant that Francis should be starting and playing 35 minutes a game. People dont bring up Zrno but there are some games he can contribute. I mean the only reason RU didnt lose by 20 plus to Wisconsin was Zrno and then after another goose egg, everyone forgets about him..he will play minutes.

 

[bac2therac]

Lino has been the stronger defender than JMike. He leads the team in steals per 40 minutes (3.0 vs. 1.5) and has the size and speed to switch effectively, which has helped neutralize bigger matchups like Bennett Stirtz and Bruce Thornton.

During the Iowa game, after Stirtz blocked a Kaden Powers shot and it turned into a 2-on-1 fast break, Lino stayed in front of Stirtz and then recovered to block the other player’s shot, stopping the possession entirely.

at the same time after Stirtz fouled Lino, Lino made a crucial mistake on the next possession but committing the same foul...big empty possession there at a time we needed it. J Mike can provide a bit more calmness and shoot the 3 but I do agree that Lino has more upside overall to his game

 

[jmalik]

at the same time after Stirtz fouled Lino, Lino made a crucial mistake on the next possession but committing the same foul...big empty possession there at a time we needed it. J Mike can provide a bit more calmness and shoot the 3 but I do agree that Lino has more upside overall to his game

I get that perspective, but I think J Mike’s lack of offensive creation is sometimes mistaken for calmness. He can occasionally shoot spot up threes, but he has been scoreless in two of the last four games, which has not happened to Lino since November, despite Lino playing roughly half the minutes.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

its a good point. J Mike for all his warts and inconsistency is still the experienced guy in clutch situations and the object is to win as many games as possible. I like Linos games but its unfair for him to be in those situations and being forced to take that last 3 or any 3 late..i think he took another one is not the right call. I just am less sold on Powers. I am adamant that Francis should be starting and playing 35 minutes a game. People dont bring up Zrno but there are some games he can contribute. I mean the only reason RU didnt lose by 20 plus to Wisconsin was Zrno and then after another goose egg, everyone forgets about him..he will play minutes.

In games where the opponent plays tight D Zrno is less likely to be effective. The three is basically his only shot and he needs someone to set him up.2 turnovers not great either.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

I do not think Iowa played great defense against Buchanan or Manny. We should have been going to both of them more. ISO ball with Francis bailed them out. If we swung the ball and used more zoom action we would have scored more and won easily.

Outside of his early three, Buchanan scored (and generally produces most of his points, not just in this game), in ISO just like Francis. I love the improvements we’re seeing from Darren but his pretty looking efficiency numbers over the course of the season are somewhat deceiving because the bulk of his turnovers have come off his iso moves before he gets a shot off. Those aren’t getting recorded as shot attempts. Francis and Buchanan are coming along though and learning to work together it seems. But I’m not sure there’s much to the point your making. A pass to Buchanan in most of the situations your talking about would’ve just been a redirect of one ISO attempt to another.

Ogbole has come a long way but realistically it sounds like your grasping here again in saying we should be feeding Ogbole in the post. He has to be wide open and timed perfectly to produce offense for us. Big O is what he is. He doesn’t try to do too much and that’s a good thing. He doesn’t give us any more or any less when Francis or an ISO player are in the game. It’s not like Davis is pounding the ball inside successfully for him or whatever. Our post game is simply limited.

The bottom line is we played a team known for tight perimeter D and that’s why we only hit 5 threes. It’s probably not a coincidence that the 3 guys who hit them are the ones who are a threat to take a step back or launch off the dribble and have to be defended accordingly. Iowa is not a good match for catch and shoot players and that’s why Zrno was on the bench.

Bottom line - This team doesn’t have enough offensive talents to win through pretty offensive sets. Without ISO against Iowa it’s unlikely we put up 50 points. We don’t have the horses to have success doing the things your suggesting as the first option on offense and Pike isn’t going to magically train an ISO player overnight who spent his the bulk of his college career surrounded by a roster who couldn’t do anything at all to know the right times to mix in distribution to open things up. That’s going to have to come over time.

 

[goru7]

Outside of his early three, Buchanan scored (and generally produces most of his points, not just in this game), in ISO just like Francis. I love the improvements we’re seeing from Darren but his pretty looking efficiency numbers over the course of the season are somewhat deceiving because the bulk of his turnovers have come off his iso moves before he gets a shot off. Those aren’t getting recorded as shot attempts. Francis and Buchanan are coming along though and learning to work together it seems. But I’m not sure there’s much to the point your making. A pass to Buchanan in most of the situations your talking about would’ve just been a redirect of one ISO attempt to another.

Ogbole has come a long way but realistically it sounds like your grasping here again in saying we should be feeding Ogbole in the post. He has to be wide open and timed perfectly to produce offense for us. Big O is what he is. He doesn’t try to do too much and that’s a good thing. He doesn’t give us any more or any less when Francis or an ISO player are in the game. It’s not like Davis is pounding the ball inside successfully for him or whatever. Our post game is simply limited.

The bottom line is we played a team known for tight perimeter D and that’s why we only hit 5 threes. It’s probably not a coincidence that the 3 guys who hit them are the ones who are a threat to take a step back or launch off the dribble and have to be defended accordingly. Iowa is not a good match for catch and shoot players and that’s why Zrno was on the bench.

Bottom line - This team doesn’t have enough offensive talents to win through pretty offensive sets. Without ISO against Iowa it’s unlikely we put up 50 points. We don’t have the horses to have success doing the things your suggesting as the first option on offense and Pike isn’t going to magically train an ISO player overnight who spent his the bulk of his college career surrounded by a roster who couldn’t do anything at all to know the right times to mix in distribution to open things up. That’s going to have to come over time.

Man , your love affair for Francis is now getting over the top. His iso game against Iowa was mostly bad and hurt our chances to win more than helped us. You minimize a crucial moment in the game where Francis was going no where and Buchanan was on the wing ready to get a pass and had his hands up and ready to hit the 3 and guess what the pass never came because Francis is too damn selfish . When the other team is not falling for his attempts to draw a foul and he cannot get past his man , he has to pass the damn ball. You point to JMike as not passing as justification. I have already said we have the 2 worst passing guards not just in the conference but likely the country . 2 bad passers doesn’t let you justify Francis play.

Once again you miss the point with Manny. He never and I will say it again so you understand , never gets the pass from Francis on a pick and roll Manny has been improving. Other players could find him for the early second half spurt , Powers, for a Manny flush. Iowa had no real defensive center threat that Manny would have had more than 8 points if he was passed the ball. Francis never considers it. Manny can also play inside out and is a willing passer so diagonal passes for a three to Powers, Zrno or Francis are there if they tried it more. You cannot play the game with zero low post presence. We don’t shoot well enough from 2 or 3 for that. But we can get more better 3 point attempts playing inside out .

Your disdain for Zrno is so pathetic compared to your love affair for Francis. You gladly point out Zrno’s 0-2 and 2 turnovers and think it was good he never reentered the game to give us another 3 or maybe 2. You were the most quiet church mouse after his 21 points against Wisconsin and his 5/9 from 3 , one whole game ago. He is a shooter and shooter’s think they are making the next shot . We were up 43-39 and Buchanan was starting to drive and draw multiple defenders and Zrno was not in the game. Pike went to the Francis iso game for 4-5 possessions which went no where ., while we stopped Iowa 4-5 times and could have extended the lead to 10 and instead they finally caught up and went ahead. That right there cost us the game. If you think we are winning many games without making threes then it would be against all odds and we would have to take 30 foul shots.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

Man , your love affair for Francis is now getting over the top. His iso game against Iowa was mostly bad and hurt our chances to win more than helped us. You minimize a crucial moment in the game where Francis was going no where and Buchanan was on the wing ready to get a pass and had his hands up and ready to hit the 3 and guess what the pass never came because Francis is too damn selfish . When the other team is not falling for his attempts to draw a foul and he cannot get past his man , he has to pass the damn ball. You point to JMike as not passing as justification. I have already said we have the 2 worst passing guards not just in the conference but likely the country . 2 bad passers doesn’t let you justify Francis play.

Once again you miss the point with Manny. He never and I will say it again so you understand , never gets the pass from Francis on a pick and roll Manny has been improving. Other players could find him for the early second half spurt , Powers, for a Manny flush. Iowa had no real defensive center threat that Manny would have had more than 8 points if he was passed the ball. Francis never considers it. Manny can also play inside out and is a willing passer so diagonal passes for a three to Powers, Zrno or Francis are there if they tried it more. You cannot play the game with zero low post presence. We don’t shoot well enough from 2 or 3 for that. But we can get more better 3 point attempts playing inside out .

Your disdain for Zrno is so pathetic compared to your love affair for Francis. You gladly point out Zrno’s 0-2 and 2 turnovers and think it was good he never reentered the game to give us another 3 or maybe 2. You were the most quiet church mouse after his 21 points against Wisconsin and his 5/9 from 3 , one whole game ago. He is a shooter and shooter’s think they are making the next shot . We were up 43-39 and Buchanan was starting to drive and draw multiple defenders and Zrno was not in the game. Pike went to the Francis iso game for 4-5 possessions which went no where ., while we stopped Iowa 4-5 times and could have extended the lead to 10 and instead they finally caught up and went ahead. That right there cost us the game. If you think we are winning many games without making threes then it would be against all odds and we would have to take 30 foul shots.

I didn’t say we shouldn’t take 3s. I said we’re not likely to make all that many against teams that play tight perimeter defense. When you have no interior threat to go to with an inside / outside attack it limits the number of open looks that you get. We’re dead last as it is in made FGs per game in the BIG. But we’re 3rd in FT attempts and not because we have dominant BIGs getting to the line either. Who do you think is getting to the line for us and making most of the FGs? The irony of your relative defense of Zrno and the need for more 3s (presumably from him in place of Francis) and claiming I have love affair with him rather than your having a love affair with Zrno? Guess which of the 2 of them still has a better 3 point shooting percentage on the season. Yup, it’s Tariq. And he’s not the one padding his stats with meaningless buzzer shots against Wisconsin walk ons / deep reserves with time expiring.

The bottom line is - if you want more 3s, the data says Francis should be taking them before Zrno. And Francis has better metrics in literally every category. He even grabs more rebounds per minute. There just isn’t very good argument out there to support more playing time for Zrno in Tariq’s place.

 

[goru7]

I didn’t say we shouldn’t take 3s. I said we’re not likely to make all that many against teams that play tight perimeter defense. When you have no interior threat to go to with an inside / outside attack it limits the number of open looks that you get. We’re dead last as it is in made FGs per game in the BIG. But we’re 3rd in FT attempts and not because we have dominant BIGs getting to the line either. Who do you think is getting to the line for us and making most of the FGs? The irony of your relative defense of Zrno and the need for more 3s (presumably from him in place of Francis) and claiming I have love affair with him rather than your having a love affair with Zrno? Guess which of the 2 of them still has a better 3 point shooting percentage on the season. Yup, it’s Tariq. And he’s not the one padding his stats with meaningless buzzer shots against Wisconsin walk ons / deep reserves with time expiring.

The bottom line is - if you want more 3s, the data says Francis should be taking them before Zrno. And Francis has better metrics in literally every category. He even grabs more rebounds per minute. There just isn’t very good argument out there to support more playing time for Zrno in Tariq’s place.

No one said to replace Zrno with Francis. If you actually read what I have been writing for weeks is that Zrno or powers playing with Francis gives us more offense which we desperately need. If Francis would actually try to share the ball and psss more often then the chance for more offense occurs. If you never make the pass to Manny, to Dylan , to Buchanan , to Powers or to Zrno , you pray Francis iso works that day but that is no way to run an offense.
How lame you called all of Zrno’s 21 points were against reserves and walk ons. Get your glasses checked Gard had his starters in the game until the end. You are hopeless

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

No one said to replace Zrno with Francis. If you actually read what I have been writing for weeks is that Zrno or powers playing with Francis gives us more offense which we desperately need. If Francis would actually try to share the ball and psss more often then the chance for more offense occurs. If you never make the pass to Manny, to Dylan , to Buchanan , to Powers or to Zrno , you pray Francis iso works that day but that is no way to run an offense.
How lame you called all of Zrno’s 21 points were against reserves and walk ons. Get your glasses checked Gard had his starters in the game until the end. You are hopeless

I said one 3 was stat padding. The last one. And I’m not sure what else you would call it. Our walk ons should’ve checked in the game too when Wisky unloaded their bench. I said pretty much all his offense is 3 point shooting - and it’s true - in that game included. He got to the free throw line situationally and made shots because we were in the bonus. That’s great - but it’s not offense. His value is in his ability to hit the 3 ball consistently and to this point he’s been up and down.

Unfortunately, when we play Francis with either Zrno or Powers the D takes a pretty big hit. It’s none of their faults really but as sub par as Grant is on D, any combination of 2 - Buchanan, Grant and Nwuli at the 3/4 is better defensively than a line up with 3 guards (J Mike or Lino at the 1). The only solution if we want to go with that line up for stretches is to see if Buchanan can play the point forward roll and share PG duties with Tariq. Pike has tried going with the guard line up and Bryce Dortch at the 5 but assigned close out help duties and then we get burned on the paint. It’s a pick your poison thing really.

Grant, when healthy, is a very good offensive rebounder so I do think there could be role for him feasting on that.