Pike needs to tinker with the starting lineup
- Thread starter RUisB1Gtime
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We will be pressing Wisconsin . Pike doesn’t want nor should he want to have his guys playing defense against their sets and pin downs for 30 seconds or 28 but rather it be for 20 or 18. Plus our length with their guards should be disruptive to cause turnovers, get deflections , speed them up, which will be beneficial to us. Do not want a walk the ball up court game because our guys already under a ton of pressure will overthink every possession and a simple miss will take 30 or more seconds to get another shot if no rebound. I do not want them to have to play perfect.
This whole Dean stuff is comical. Amazing how some won't let it going no matter how poorly he plays.
They should have been starting Derek the whole time because he's a better defender than Hyatt. Caleb moves to the 4 and Paul or Cam to the 3 on defense while Derek plays guard.
Additionally, Derek has shown much more maturity on offense lately & he's been shooting much better. You get him 6-8 shots plus Hyatt's normal minutes and that's a better offense along with a slightly better defense IMO.
Makes a lot of sense, but we must be missing something because Schiano doesnt follow that model.
I would start Simpson and have Hyatt come off the bench ONLY bc I expect a 6th man to give us a spark and he does that every game with his scoring ability.
That said, you do not need to tinker with the starting lineup. What really needs to change is the wholesale substitutions. Bringing in 1-2ppl is ok. Bringing in 3 people at a time makes zero sense bc we go into lulls with a team I continually watch and ask me where any offense will come from or even provide stellar defense.
I would actually like to see Woolf and Cliff in at the same time. While Woolf has been a liability at times he actually has great footwork and decent passing ability out of the post. He also wouldn’t be responsible for covering the 5 on defense so could be a great learning experience for him AND provide that extra bigger defender we lost on Mag. Him and Rieber could alternate there as rieber brings the dimension of the 3pt shot.
That said, you do not need to tinker with the starting lineup. What really needs to change is the wholesale substitutions. Bringing in 1-2ppl is ok. Bringing in 3 people at a time makes zero sense bc we go into lulls with a team I continually watch and ask me where any offense will come from or even provide stellar defense.
I would actually like to see Woolf and Cliff in at the same time. While Woolf has been a liability at times he actually has great footwork and decent passing ability out of the post. He also wouldn’t be responsible for covering the 5 on defense so could be a great learning experience for him AND provide that extra bigger defender we lost on Mag. Him and Rieber could alternate there as rieber brings the dimension of the 3pt shot.
Optimism has drained out of RU men's hoops like the air in a punctured balloon.
Check out this one from the beginning of this thread: "We are not going to outscore teams." That is a bad tactic.
Several comments on our team's length. What does length mean anyway? I know what depth is in the sports context and this team is shallow. Suffering one player injured, even a good one in Mag, should not turn a super season into a lost one.
Pickiell has a coaching dilemma on his hands. Let us see if he earns the $30 million he is owed by solving it.
Check out this one from the beginning of this thread: "We are not going to outscore teams." That is a bad tactic.
Several comments on our team's length. What does length mean anyway? I know what depth is in the sports context and this team is shallow. Suffering one player injured, even a good one in Mag, should not turn a super season into a lost one.
Pickiell has a coaching dilemma on his hands. Let us see if he earns the $30 million he is owed by solving it.
All of the above comments are actuate (at least I think so); the funny thing was that optimism used to be a 16-15 season & making the NIT; virtually every season over the last 30 years there was never meaningful games in late Feb or March; so yeah the last game was awful - but we have something to root for, get aggravated about & hopefully somehow get 3 more wins -- to do something that's never been done -- let that sink in.
The challenge with this thinking is that the bar has been raised in terms of expectations. We have seen a team this year be dominant at times and give hope that we can win any game and actually be a contender for top 4 in the league.
Which is why it’s bizarre that everyone gives up after a 3 game losing streak, only one of which was even surprising
Agree! I didn’t expect us to beat those two teams on the road yet we had Illinois on the ropes for majority of the game and we played Indy right in their house coming off a huge win.
Nebraska is the massive let down and head scratcher
Now it’s on Pike to find some magic to surprise us in Madison
Reiber and cliff got alot of run today at same time. It was effective.....If you add McConnell to that mix it's a pretty formidable defensive line up..
Dean is probably our best post entry passer. The high low to Cliff has been effective at times
