Yeah, I'm one who thought Buchannon would turn into our best player after the first game or two, he really lost confidence. Hoping yesterday is a little springboard for him, time to tighten the rotations a bit.
Constructive Feedback / Observations
- Thread starter RedChucken123
- Start date
good post
unfortunately transfers cost $$ that Pike doesn't have right now, that said, Buchanan looks like he good be a good bargain, if for nothing else than the toughness attitude.
Plus as we are seeing from both Grant and Ogbole progress Pike does better with players he develops through his "system" To this point, hopefully RU can rustle up the $$ to keep Grant, Nwuli and others for a couple, 3 more years.
If Ogbole and Buchanon both return with JMike and the group that you mention next year could be a reminder of the early 2020's
If Pikiell has any chance, he must retain his good players. Without that, his strategy of building a team the old way has zero chance of working
Francis is second in scoring, first in three pt makes, second in mins, second fg%, second FT makes, first in FT %, third in FT attempts, third in defensive rbs, second in assists and first in steals.
With all due respect, this is a bad take. Kid is a bucket getter and when teams goes in a drought, Francis can get a bucket in multiple ways. Agree you can’t have Francis and JMIke for long stretches on court but I would go more with Francis when the game hangs in the balance without question.
GO RU
With Badalau, what he's provided would've exceeded my expectations any time before Halloween. Unlike most of the Euros, he's a normal freshman age and clearly has some development to do. Zrno can go back to Bosnia though, I don't see much of a path forward for him.
Against bad competition yes he gets buckets, but that hasn’t translated against the P5 teams they’ve played thus far
Pike is going to have to do some solid coaching/player management here
JMike and Francis in together give up a lot of size and toughness when you have Nwuli and Buchanon also available
I agree with what your saying on Francis #'s, plus he drives and dishes well
however you have to also admit JMike takes smarter shots and is more consistent
The problem is he a freshmen who has no business starting...not his fault..blame Pike
With all due respect , Francis is a ball hog and never makes a correct pass. Dylan had the position on the block 5 times and Francis never got him the ball . He shoots too much and takes the most bad shots on the team. Yes , sometimes he can make a shot and can hit an occasional 3 and yes he can hit foul shots so down the stretch if we are holding a lead and the other team has to foul , then he should see playing time. His defense is not good and he will be dominanted by bigger guards in conference. He also never passes to Manny on the pick and roll. He has a role but nothing like you are making him out to be.
I think the Euros got potential. They’re just a step too slow right now, but they’ll get there. It’s tough because the harder you play on defense, the less legs you got for shooting. The less shooting you got, the less playing time they’re going to get. The less playing time, the less time to get into any kind of rhythm. All down to conditioning in my opinion for them, but overall they’ll get there and be fine eventually.
Dortch, 6’9”, 210 lbs, is faster than both of them IMO even though we use him for center play. I think he’ll be our next Caleb McConnell defensive-wise, now and the future. Should put him in to stop the opposing team’s best player most times.
Dortch, 6’9”, 210 lbs, is faster than both of them IMO even though we use him for center play. I think he’ll be our next Caleb McConnell defensive-wise, now and the future. Should put him in to stop the opposing team’s best player most times.
I hearya. He definitely has to work harder against better comp but he has a shooter’s stroke and has length.
Pike might have to use him more as a spot up shooter for open shots.
GO RU
Zrno is terrible at almost everything. JD rarely turns the ball over and is shooting 52% from three. We have much bigger problems than him.
As long as Pike and Knight are running the show, giving money to NIL is kind of like giving money to St. Jude knowing the doctors there aren't helping children. Well, probably not exactly like that.
Zrno is good at shooting threes. Against zone or during scoring draughts a three really will break up a run. He is a better shooter than Jmike although Jmike has improved and when he sets his feet and confidently lets it fly , he is getting results. We will need Zrno ‘s shooting and scoring this year.
Jmike is much more valuable than Zrno. He plays great defense, dives for loose balls, drives the ball, etc. Zrno does nothing besides shoot
I’m not implying he was “great”, but I’m also not sure what you saw that stood out as being awful. He was far from our biggest problem against Tenn. Only played 25 min as others were put in for garbage time but had 9 points on 50% shooting, 2 assists, 2 boards and a steal.
He scored 10 in the ND game in only 22 min due to foul trouble. the low percentage 2-7 is also somewhat deceiving. One shot was a desperation heave at the end of regulation. So he was really 1-2 from three. He made 1 of 4 attempts from two - two of the misses were in transition with numbers (one off his own steal) and the other Dortch cleaned up the glass with the put back. Again - not great but he didn’t stand out as not belonging out there. I thought of this kid as a last resort addition who would ride the bench. He’s been nothing but a positive surprise for me.
Zrno is the least valuable guard on the team other than maybe Powers. He can’t handle the ball and he needs someone to set him up for an open shot to be a contributor.
Another one of your great takes. I have been harping on sitting Francis out of the starting lineup because he shoots too much , doesn’t pass to the bigs especially Dylan or Msnny and his defense is lousy . He should come in at the 12-13 minute mark when Dylan or Manny are subbed except for foul trouble and then he can be the scorer and shoot like he wants to .,HIS DEFENSE IS LOUSY AND Pike saw the same thing and sat his butt on the bench the second half.
Now I have been telling you we will need Zrno’s 3 point shooting. He came in cold and hit his first 3 and had a good look at his second and if it would have went down , we might have made some noise. He hit a couple more 3’s which is what he could give you. His defense was not terrible as you claimed and certainly not worse than Francis which you claimed. Pike also ran the sideline picks to free him up which was the smartest offense we have run all year. He did this against Purdue’s starters before you pull your comment in another thread about “garbage time “. Now if you cannot see what benefit he can bring to the offense over Francis , then I and the coaches disagree
This is a good take
What Francis does and can provide offensively is severely offset by his defensive acumen and more importantly effort
watch last nights game and notre dame and while Jmike is not as skilled as loyer or smith or burton from nd he is quick ENOUGH and doesn’t give up defensively to at least make things difficult for those guys I didn’t see much at all defensively from Francis to this point in the season to warrant his average offense and lackluster PG skills
zrno has his clear deficiencies but he also has clear upside to what he does do well which is get open and shoot quickly
on a team without shot makers he needs to be on the floor and get looks
perhaps his time on the bench will allow him to grow and mature it remains to be seen I think Francis is what he is
Pike has to figure out the rotations. It is not a participation trophy game. Baye Fall should never have been in the game. Supposedly he put him in for rebounding. He gives up a rebound on a missed foul shot and then fouls Jacobson for the and one. He then gets blocked , loses the ball , somehow retrieves it and then throws it away. Pike cost us 6 point swing by that sub. It was criminal.
Dylan is our best player and he has to be prioritized and not sit on the bench for 10 minutes like pike did yesterday. Buchanan looks like he can give you some offense and get fouled driving. Nwuili is a really good defensive player but have him guard guards and wings not power forwards where he can get in foul trouble. ZRno can give you something from 3. Pike has to get his rotations right and let them play together for longer stretches . His playing 12 guys is ridiculous and he is to blame. His post game rant about finding someone to rebound and giving everyone a chance was pure stupidly. He claims they do more rebounding drills than anyone in the country. I call ********. Coach better , box out better , have all players and all guards attack the glass.
Dylan is our best player and he has to be prioritized and not sit on the bench for 10 minutes like pike did yesterday. Buchanan looks like he can give you some offense and get fouled driving. Nwuili is a really good defensive player but have him guard guards and wings not power forwards where he can get in foul trouble. ZRno can give you something from 3. Pike has to get his rotations right and let them play together for longer stretches . His playing 12 guys is ridiculous and he is to blame. His post game rant about finding someone to rebound and giving everyone a chance was pure stupidly. He claims they do more rebounding drills than anyone in the country. I call ********. Coach better , box out better , have all players and all guards attack the glass.
Dylan day because Coach didn't like his rebounding effort. Like it don't like it, accountability matters. Coach's presser was pretty informative
Cutting off your nose to spite your face. Beyond dumb by Pike. Other ways to discuss with Dylan but sitting him down for 10 minutes is not one of them. How about the guards rebound. ? Something novel ?
Okay - let’s see how Zrno, Powers and company look on D comparatively in that first substitution pattern of the next winnable game. You cannot compare anything you saw in garbage time but go ahead and think you can and dismiss the horrendous plus minus from literally every competitive game with those subs. Again, maybe they turned a magical corner but I doubt it.
You say the most ridiculous things sometimes. Zrno , Powers came into the game in the second half with 16:42 to play. Yes we were down 22 at the time. But they played against Purdue’s starters so not what you conveniently referred to as garbage time like the last 5 minutes of a game. Zrno acquited himself well , contrary what your belief and biased opinion. Your pet Francis was on the bench where he deserved to be.
Powers tried to force but did better as well but missed 2 wide open 3’s when we got a rebound and a rare chance at a second chance point . For someone the staff says can shoot , he has not shot well. Maybe he can score on higher volume but that wouldn’t be very productive as he isn’t very efficient. But he got some experience.
Neither is great defensively, but Francis is the better and more valuable of the two. Other than shoot the three, Zrno gives you close to nothing.
You guys on the Francis apologist train are comical
there’s a reason he played almost zero minutes of the second half… go back and watch his defensive effort in the first half, and the notre dame game, Tennessee everyone looked bad
he gives up on defense and does not give the type of effort pike demands. Most of the plays where Purdue torched the backcourt was on him… j Mike had his shortcomings sure but he was at least hustling to recover with his speed
Francis was not a distributor yesterday or facilitating anything for anyone else and he wasn’t hunting his own shot so what’s he really doing out there? At least when they designed played for zrno he got shots up
they don’t play the same position so they aren’t cutting into each others minutes anyway
you saw a lot more Lino Mark instead of Francis and that’s where the minutes will shift
zrno will take minutes from badalau and split time with Buchanan most likely … zrno is an ideal spark plug scorer off the bench and honestly might be a better role for Francis if he is only going to play hard a couple minutes at a time
Easy to express your frustration and punch someone when they are down on the canvas…now grow some manhood and tell us what your detailed plan would be if in Pikes shoes, understanding and considering NIL, internal dynamics and resources and competitive landscape.
Francis small and lazy on D and helps zero on the glass!
JMike small also a poor defender nor great on the glass but definitely gives max effort and trys hard.
The entire team is made up of 7/8 men off the bench rotation guys. 5 of which do one thing well but none of them are complete players.
The younger ones have the chance and have shown flashes. 3 years from now could develop into quality Big Ten players.
Pike and staff won’t be here to see it
Other than at the end of the game with a lead and Francis shooting fouls , he is neither better defensively , that is why he sat the second half , nor more valuable. ZRno will give you a much more reliable 3 point shooter that we desperately need. Last night he shot 5-8 from the field , 3-5 from 3 with 2 assists. So your statement he gives you close to nothing is absurd. His height will help in conference as he can guard a wing instead of a faster 2 guard , which Francis will not be able to guard either. Zrno also looks to pass to his teammates something Francis has been dreadful at especially not feeding Dylan nor giving it to Manny on a pick and roll. He looks for his shot and will take it whether it is a good or bad shot.
Okay , being blown out by Michigan is not unique . On a neutral court they beat San Diego state by 40, Auburn by 30 and Gonzaga by 40. They beat Rutgers at home by 41. Rutgers is much worse than those 3 teams. But the disturbing simple things is what is baffling we weren’t in the same zip code of any Michigan defender to start the game. They got their first 18 points in the paint without any defender close to them. Why is it so hard to stay with your man and go grab a rebound or a 50-50 ball? The lack of resistance was galling
. Not sure what the 3 assistant coaches who are guards and Brandon Knight was one of the best defensive guards teach these players. Why so much space? Why aren’t the guards and wings attached to their men ? Why all the sagging off and not being able to recover to the 3 point shooters? I understand help defense but I understand defense impacting an offense.
Go watch the Iowa State game against Purdue yesterday . They were in Purdue’s grill and threw off the entire Purdue team including Smith , something we didn’t try to do or maybe just can’t do. Pike’s stamp is defense and it has been a huge failure.
Why take Manny out ? Johnson scored a career high 22 points and I can live with his 2 fluke threes but not getting uncontested layups and dunks or free rebound putbacks. Pike playing Fall over Manny and Dorsch is just mind boggling. He cannot stay upright. He flailed at blocking shots and almost never got a rebound.
Nwuili is our best defender and has to be out there more. But the whole team has to play more tight fundamental defense . Pike has to continue to pound that into this team. It would eliminate the uncontested 3’s at the expense of more penetration but at least we have Manny there as a shot blocker, something we did not have last year.
Zrno and Powers are intriguing as they clearly have shown that they are the best shooters on the team along with Dylan. Powers is not very efficient as he was 5-16 yesterday and maybe he should be reeled in and cut down on the bad shots. He has a beautiful stroke but he is a freshman and needs guidance. Zrno clearly can knock down 3’s and Pike’s moving him into the starting lineup and giving him a green light to shoot is the right move as we have to get offense from somewhere.
But I truly think Pike’s chaotic rotations have hurt this team and the lack of continuity have affected the players and had them not playing with confidence which always make the product look worse. It is 10 games in. He has to cut down the rotations now before Seton Hall. No more Fall, no more Ware. Manny and Dorsch are at the 5 and if teams play 5 out then Dorsch plays more than Manny. We also have to try to get something out of Manny , either pick and roll or pass down on the block. Zrno and Buchanan , Nwuili and Dylan are your 2,3 and 4 rotations. No or little Badalau as his many minutes do not produce points which is his primary role. Guards JMike , Mark , Powers and Francis but a reduced minute rotation for Francis replaced by Powers . JMike has not produced on both ends and in those games , Mark gets his chance. It would be nice if JMike upped his game , looked for his shot more so Mark as a freshman hardly sees the floor. That is is the path to becoming competitive. Hopefully wins come out of it.
. Not sure what the 3 assistant coaches who are guards and Brandon Knight was one of the best defensive guards teach these players. Why so much space? Why aren’t the guards and wings attached to their men ? Why all the sagging off and not being able to recover to the 3 point shooters? I understand help defense but I understand defense impacting an offense.
Go watch the Iowa State game against Purdue yesterday . They were in Purdue’s grill and threw off the entire Purdue team including Smith , something we didn’t try to do or maybe just can’t do. Pike’s stamp is defense and it has been a huge failure.
Why take Manny out ? Johnson scored a career high 22 points and I can live with his 2 fluke threes but not getting uncontested layups and dunks or free rebound putbacks. Pike playing Fall over Manny and Dorsch is just mind boggling. He cannot stay upright. He flailed at blocking shots and almost never got a rebound.
Nwuili is our best defender and has to be out there more. But the whole team has to play more tight fundamental defense . Pike has to continue to pound that into this team. It would eliminate the uncontested 3’s at the expense of more penetration but at least we have Manny there as a shot blocker, something we did not have last year.
Zrno and Powers are intriguing as they clearly have shown that they are the best shooters on the team along with Dylan. Powers is not very efficient as he was 5-16 yesterday and maybe he should be reeled in and cut down on the bad shots. He has a beautiful stroke but he is a freshman and needs guidance. Zrno clearly can knock down 3’s and Pike’s moving him into the starting lineup and giving him a green light to shoot is the right move as we have to get offense from somewhere.
But I truly think Pike’s chaotic rotations have hurt this team and the lack of continuity have affected the players and had them not playing with confidence which always make the product look worse. It is 10 games in. He has to cut down the rotations now before Seton Hall. No more Fall, no more Ware. Manny and Dorsch are at the 5 and if teams play 5 out then Dorsch plays more than Manny. We also have to try to get something out of Manny , either pick and roll or pass down on the block. Zrno and Buchanan , Nwuili and Dylan are your 2,3 and 4 rotations. No or little Badalau as his many minutes do not produce points which is his primary role. Guards JMike , Mark , Powers and Francis but a reduced minute rotation for Francis replaced by Powers . JMike has not produced on both ends and in those games , Mark gets his chance. It would be nice if JMike upped his game , looked for his shot more so Mark as a freshman hardly sees the floor. That is is the path to becoming competitive. Hopefully wins come out of it.
Regarding Pike tinkering with rotations this deep into the season, which he has always done here, I wonder if it’s a remnant of his time at Stony Brook, where OOC games are meaningless record-wise when you have to win your conference to get an NCAA bid. He probably equates these first 2 B1G games to OOC, since we had no chance to win
First I would have not brought in any of the players he did last year to play alongside Dylan and Ace.
Next I would have fired Knight and over paid to bring in Blount or Linder to run the offense.
Not pay JMike, Francis, Dortch, Ogbole, or any other player on the roster except Grant!
Spend 75-80 % on the best mid major center I could grab! Remains money on a 3 to anchor the defense.
Now play the freshman and look to develop them for next year. JMike Dortch and others can come off the bench.
just a start
I see nothing of note from Mark and Nwuli that says they are big ten starters or difference makers. Sure they are fast and energetic so their D can improve, but They both can’t shoot at all. That doesn’t get better in time. Honestly Powers may have best upside as a potential scorer.
Agreed I have no idea if they will be able to swim at this level.
I do that JMike Francis Dortch Ogbole etc can’t play at this level so it’s a waste of time having them on the court. We lose by 40 with them and we lose with 40 with out them. The difference I am finding out if I have guys for next yeat and beyond.
Absolutely correct about Michigan's first points. Uncontested layups or M player went right through R defender who was hopeless one-on-one. That's not about talent.