Team Chemistry - My "Speculation"

[RURahh]

Was listening to Beilien today and he mentioned something so simplistic but true - this year in particular, players need to be around each other and nobody else - no family, no friends, girlfriends, classmate, etc. Just think about how tired you might get if you take a cross country trip and you are stuck in a car with someone for 3 days, 6 days, 2 weeks, it may not have a happy ending. Add to that the pressures of being under a microscope in the best league in the country, with expectations sky high, some pretty big egos and it is a combustible combination


My "guess" is that somewhere in this mix, is RHJ. He is beyond cocky (which i appreciate as a fan) and has stated numerous times that whether he is 0-10, 0 -20 or 0-60, he is gonna keep shooting, because he knows it will eventually go in. His minutes havent changed even when his play declined dramatically (hopefully Indiana was the turning point) and compare that with someone like Montez, who leaves it all on the floor, started the year off as the hottest player on the team besides Ron, but has now seen his playing time cut by more than half, and his production declining as well. If I am Montez, I am thinking, why am I being singled out when RHJ is hurting the team more than I am, and I am the highest rated recruit on this team (sans Cliff). Others have mentioned, that he has a permanent scowl on his face, but that may just be his game face. If he does transfer out, as some have speculated, then this would confirm what I wrote in this thread, but its clear the chemistry started breaking down right before the shuffle in playing time, whereas JY has benefitted from it and is playing almost as many minutes as when he was a starter, MM has been impaired the most

Again, this is simply a speculation because so many have mentioned it in past threads, and my hope is that winning cures all. The team took a huge turn against Indy, and has a good chance to pick up our 2 easiest wins in the next 2 games....if we see RHJ and MM hug it out on the court, I will be more than happy to delete this post

 

[SleepingGiantIsAwake]

There’s a zillion scenarios to speculate on. But if you or anyone is questioning why to choose letting Harper play out of his funk vs Mathis.....to me it’s a no brainer. Check the star ratings ego crap coming out of high school in at the door. Reality is, Harper is much better. Honest question, if your job was on the line and it’s your decision who to play, who would you play?

Love Montez and we all know what he can do when he lets the game come to him. Harper being in a shooting funk is one thing, but Tez always driving to the hoop when outsized and consistently making terrible (bad) passing decisions is unacceptable. The vibe I get is he just wants to get his. That’s bad chemistry.

 

[RUBlackout]

Just tell MM to wear white shoes in all of his games going forward. He seems to do well wearing white

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

I'll play along and just say this.....if you are transferring out of a Pkie coached roster, I would be very, VERY skeptical of taking on that player if I was a coach of another program......Pike has an extremely long leash for all of his players and game tape doesn't lie.

Player X hits the portal.....5 assistant coaches reach out to the player, players family or former HS coach or the player.....the 1st question they're going to ask is "what happened, what is it that you're looking for???

Imagine that player or family trying to explain how difficult it has been playing for a players coach like Pike and the program he's built and run.....it's going to be very difficult to get someone to buy into the story that you didn't get a fair shake from Pike on PT, not getting shots, minutes or opportunities to play.

If this was some other programs or head coaches elsewhere (some coaches have a reputation as being tough to play for), maybe that would work on explaining why you are leaving. If it was a Mathis who has started pretty much 85 to 90% of his games since Day 1, it is going to look very odd to the other coaches when potentially listening to the player.....especially if he bases it on lack of opportunities or playing time, shot attempts etc.

 

[RUChoppin]

One thing left out of that math is position. Mathis is in competition for minutes at the 2/3 spots... it really doesn't impact him what kind of minutes the guys playing 1/4/5 are getting, because he's not a primary ball handler or a big.

Harper's the only rotational player who's not a center, but is also more than 210 lbs (6-6, 245). He has to stay on the floor extended minutes to defend at the 4 since we don't really have a true PF in rotation.

 

[BoogieKnight]

I’ll play along. Hitting or not, RHJ’s shots still come within the flow of the offense while Mathis has continually forced it on way too many occasions. A few nice dunks vs IU doesn’t change the fact that he has made awful decisions with the ball for the past month or so. Glad both kids played better on Wednesday and hope it continues as we head down the critical home stretch here.

 

[RURahh]

I seem to remember Pike saying that MM was our best on ball defender. Granted, guys like Caleb and JY have improved dramatically, but MM must have some value to the team, and his wild looking drives to the basket have been a staple for years now

 

[Big East Beast]

Was listening to Beilien today and he mentioned something so simplistic but true - this year in particular, players need to be around each other and nobody else - no family, no friends, girlfriends, classmate, etc. Just think about how tired you might get if you take a cross country trip and you are stuck in a car with someone for 3 days, 6 days, 2 weeks, it may not have a happy ending. Add to that the pressures of being under a microscope in the best league in the country, with expectations sky high, some pretty big egos and it is a combustible combination


My "guess" is that somewhere in this mix, is RHJ. He is beyond cocky (which i appreciate as a fan) and has stated numerous times that whether he is 0-10, 0 -20 or 0-60, he is gonna keep shooting, because he knows it will eventually go in. His minutes havent changed even when his play declined dramatically (hopefully Indiana was the turning point) and compare that with someone like Montez, who leaves it all on the floor, started the year off as the hottest player on the team besides Ron, but has now seen his playing time cut by more than half, and his production declining as well. If I am Montez, I am thinking, why am I being singled out when RHJ is hurting the team more than I am, and I am the highest rated recruit on this team (sans Cliff). Others have mentioned, that he has a permanent scowl on his face, but that may just be his game face. If he does transfer out, as some have speculated, then this would confirm what I wrote in this thread, but its clear the chemistry started breaking down right before the shuffle in playing time, whereas JY has benefitted from it and is playing almost as many minutes as when he was a starter, MM has been impaired the most

Again, this is simply a speculation because so many have mentioned it in past threads, and my hope is that winning cures all. The team took a huge turn against Indy, and has a good chance to pick up our 2 easiest wins in the next 2 games....if we see RHJ and MM hug it out on the court, I will be more than happy to delete this post

It’s really weird to speculate about Tez thoughts vs Harper when his minutes clearly are coming from McConnell, Mulcahy, Young.

 

[RURahh]

Mostly from Caleb which makes sense. The speculation is based on the egos of those 2 particularly, whereas someone like Myles is clearly a team first player Again, purely speculation, if I was a journalist this is the type of story that should never be published

 

[RU_EB]

The amount of times Montez has blindly driven to the rim and thrown up a shot that doesn’t even hit rim is mind numbing. Harper has just been missing (up until the Indiana game). Other teams and our own players know that Montez will selfishly throw up a shot without regard for his teammates. Either way, I hope both these guys flourish as we near March Madness.

 

[Yeah Baby]

Montez played a very unselfish game and last few games. When the team was struggling he was pressing. No doubt. He’s playing well again now and I saw everyone playing team ball more than any game I can remember. Why we are having this discussion after a game that was played so well is beyond me.

 

[ScarletDave]

I'll play along and just say this.....if you are transferring out of a Pkie coached roster, I would be very, VERY skeptical of taking on that player if I was a coach of another program......Pike has an extremely long leash for all of his players and game tape doesn't lie.

Player X hits the portal.....5 assistant coaches reach out to the player, players family or former HS coach or the player.....the 1st question they're going to ask is "what happened, what is it that you're looking for???

Imagine that player or family trying to explain how difficult it has been playing for a players coach like Pike and the program he's built and run.....it's going to be very difficult to get someone to buy into the story that you didn't get a fair shake from Pike on PT, not getting shots, minutes or opportunities to play.

If this was some other programs or head coaches elsewhere (some coaches have a reputation as being tough to play for), maybe that would work on explaining why you are leaving. If it was a Mathis who has started pretty much 85 to 90% of his games since Day 1, it is going to look very odd to the other coaches when potentially listening to the player.....especially if he bases it on lack of opportunities or playing time, shot attempts etc.

If you’re good, and you talk to programs who care about winning first, none of this matters

 

[RU848789]

I'll play along and just say this.....if you are transferring out of a Pkie coached roster, I would be very, VERY skeptical of taking on that player if I was a coach of another program......Pike has an extremely long leash for all of his players and game tape doesn't lie.

Player X hits the portal.....5 assistant coaches reach out to the player, players family or former HS coach or the player.....the 1st question they're going to ask is "what happened, what is it that you're looking for???

Imagine that player or family trying to explain how difficult it has been playing for a players coach like Pike and the program he's built and run.....it's going to be very difficult to get someone to buy into the story that you didn't get a fair shake from Pike on PT, not getting shots, minutes or opportunities to play.

If this was some other programs or head coaches elsewhere (some coaches have a reputation as being tough to play for), maybe that would work on explaining why you are leaving. If it was a Mathis who has started pretty much 85 to 90% of his games since Day 1, it is going to look very odd to the other coaches when potentially listening to the player.....especially if he bases it on lack of opportunities or playing time, shot attempts etc.

I agree with most of your posts and I understand what you're trying to say here, but I don't find it persuasive. Eugene Omoruyi being a case in point. If any of our top 8 guys goes into the portal, finding a taker won't be an issue.

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

I agree with most of your posts and I understand what you're trying to say here, but I don't find it persuasive. Eugene Omoruyi being a case in point. If any of our top 8 guys goes into the portal, finding a taker won't be an issue.

Eugene isn't relevant to the discussion as the leading scorer and rebounding person on a team that finished 7-13 in the B1G and got bounced in the 1st round of the B1G tournament and had not danced in almost 30 years.

In this case, the player started 90% of his games (like Eugene) but the team in the last 2 seasons is a NCAA program and you are now winning games.

It is much easier to leave a program that has not been winning, while the player is carrying good stats....the BS argument could be the player wants to win or play in the NCAAs....anyone transferring out of a NCAA caliber program is usually doing so for a bigger role or more shots etc.....sometimes that backfires on the player or the team gets better without the player who believes he should have a more prominent role.

I would use the Purdue transfer, Matt Paarms, who was the 7 foot transfer out of Purdue....he was a part time starter, who never progressed as much as Purdue hoped from his frosh to junior season. He blindsided Purdue by leaving and landed at BYU.

His stat line at BYU is not much different than what it was at Purdue. But Purdue has a 7'3" frosh replacement off the bench in Zach Eady, who is a better fit for Purdue.....we even had fans here on the RU board thinking RU should pursue Haarms as if he would be an upgrade to our frontline. Sometimes player movement can allow a coaching staff a chance to find a better fit or person that is now not entering a program that hasn't won....RU is a solid, winning product in the B1G, 2 years in a row. Whomever wants to come to RU, has to buy in, like someone like Jacob Young did 3 years ago and Yeboah did a couple of years ago.

It is not debatable that Yeboah fits how RU plays better than Eugene, which doesn't mean Eugene has not developed in his redshirt season to become a more complete player in his 5th year at Oregon. But Yeboah in 2019-20, was a better shooter and player than the Eugene would have been.

Just because a player has better stats, doesn't mean he's a better fit for what a program needs at that particular time.