I mean Mulcahy not Murphy
I didnt boo Murphy but some did. His covid bs is disqualifying for me
RAPID REACTION - Northwestern
- Thread starter Degaz-RU
- Start date
I mean Mulcahy not Murphy
I didnt boo Murphy but some did. His covid bs is disqualifying for me
you are officially the president of the Zrno fan club...if he does turn his season around you definitely deserve some flowers...
i don't see it personally...i think he should be parked right next to badalau on the bench going forward.
You don't want to know what he did to a close friend of mine. Almost ruined his career over something innocuous that he caused to spin out of control. Tweeted (then twitter) about a relatively local matter, and people came at my friend with pitchforks and fire. Totally ridiculous reaction considering the situation. Can't say more on a public forum, but SMDH at some of the overblown nonsense.
I haven’t really watched for other off ball opportunities for non-offensive oriented bigs like Dortch and Ogbole to agree or challenge your suggestion that Francis has frequently missed them wide open. I tend to doubt that because it’s not like J Mike or someone else is finding them. I simply noted the 2 passes to them underneath that were missed opportunities for assists. He’s averaging 2.3 assists a game which is reasonable for a 2 guard.
By the way, just as a point of note, Powers has taken more shots per minute played than Francis. And Zrno leads the team in 3 point attempts by a wide margin. It’s certainly not the case that they aren’t “getting theirs” because Francis takes too many shots. Zrno by the way has a grand total of 8 made 2 point FGs on the season, so at this point it’s pretty safe to say he’s a catch and shoot 3 point guy and nothing else. I can’t see why he would be someone you’d want to go out of your way to look for in other places instead of having a kid who has connected on a higher absolute percentage of his FGs than any guard not named Dylan Harper since Pike’s arrival at RU (yes, included Cam Spencer).
I know you are adamant of your defense of Francis but I am suggesting how he can be better. To try to say look at JMike he doesn’t pass either is not validation to your point it is an indictment of how terrible our guards are at passing to a teammate in a better position to score. JMike is a terrible passer and worse yet a true point guard. Not getting any low post points is never good for an offense unless you play 5 out and you have 5 guys shooting 40% from 3 .
Powers deserves to shoot as he can drive , pull up for a mid range at his height and drain a three. He is a 2 guard and he feeds the post or the block and dishes upon penetration and then being met by another defender. I know you hate Zrno and believes he brings nothing to the table but maybe you will see my point that we need more 3’s to win these games especially against better teams. Yes, he was awful and 0-6 yesterday but they were good looks. You see his form and he should be knocking down more of these and as some has said his footwork and balance has not been steady that might explain the misses . I am seeking more offensive ways to give us a better chance in these games . That can be done by praising Francis but still saying he can do more to get his whole team involved. Pike has given him tremendous freedom to operate even reducing the high pick and roll which was like 20 times just a few games ago and now full iso.
The point I am making is that the 2 players you are suggesting should take more shots in place of Francis are shooting 32% from the field overall and 30% from 3. I’m not sure why these numbers (for either of them) suggest they deserve more shots. Certainly the data does not suggest Powers “deserves” more usage than Francis overall. Francis is hitting 45% of his attempts and 34% of his 3s. He’s a 2 guard. Not a natural PG. A scoring guard. What am I missing here?
He doesn’t play them all together because they are all 2 guards. But when he happens to have at least 2 of them in the lineup and plays 3 guards , that is the opportunity for Francis to penetrate and if confronted by another defender to dish to them for kick outs
But again - why do you think this would this help us win more games? Tariq is making 51% of his two point shot attempts on the season. That doesn’t include the penetration attempts where he’s gone to the line (he’s only missed 10 FTs all season) nor does it factor in his “and one” points following made baskets. Why would it be a good strategy to trade this math for a kick out to a 30% 3 point shooter? The math to this point doesn’t support your argument.
the issue is we don't run plays to get the other guys open which is off the ball back screens so unless they are doubling no one will be open and our bigs unfortunately don't know how to command the ball
I’m not sure it’s fair to say this is the “issue” because it implies a) we didn’t get Zrno and Powers enough perimeter looks in the NW game or others and b) we would’ve been better off targeting Zrno and Powers more on the perimeter instead of basically letting Francis try to take over the game in iso and crash the offensive glass.
Zrno and Powers took 6 and 4 respective threes in the flow of the offense. Considering Zrno only played 17 minutes, it sure seems like he got his share of usage - no? The two of them went 1 for 10 from 3 so again, I’m not getting the logic that we woul be better off with them launching more deep balls instead of Francis trying to score off penetration with our bigs crashing the glass.
Agree. The kid is a shooter, scorer, with a creative offensive game. Which makes him one of one on this team.
Zrno definitely had good looks vs Northwestern and missed them all and Pikes stopped playing him.
the whole team is different than the beginning of the year and that is on Pike for pushing Badalu and Zrno. The Powers thing is just odd because he hardly played then he took 16 fg vs SHU then the next games he barely played and then he looked in one game and became a starter suddenly. With Powers I do not like him starting in Big 10 games on the road. I get why Pikes does it but Pikes has such a slim margin of error for this team to win that its going to be about riding Francis down to the nub.
Yes I agree. In past years Pike’s lack of motion offense bothered me but I honestly think the style we’re playing now gives us the best chance to win. If anything, Francis doesn’t get enough credit for staying in control. IMO - despite the expectations put on him due to limited offensive options he doesn’t force the issue nearly as much as guys like Corey, Tez, even JY did. For the most part he maintains composure and avoids charging. He doesn’t get stuffed that often without a whistle and now that we’re not playing Denis as much we have better positioning to crash the offensive glass on a miss. Against the top tier teams, he didn’t attempt as many shots and while thats not exactly a good thing - it also suggests he’s not trying to do things he’s not capable of.
Pike did this with Grant last year, going from like, 10 DNPs to suddenly starting and producing for us. Pike’s explanation at the time was that he had 2 good practices. SMDH.
Yeah, we had 12 pt. deficit, but we probably don't have that deficit and might not even go to OT if we start Francis. If you've got a kid who is capable of scoring 30 plus pts. per game it makes Zero sense to take the first six minutes away from him
I agree with most everything here, especially starting Francis vs. Ilinois. Also, you will never get the JMike haters to see him as good or sneaky good. Most all of them just look at the amount of points he scores.
Unfortunately, we have two Zeroes as opposed to what we hoped would be two Euros on the roster.
"Buchanan, as he has finally started playing within himself and is not forcing things"
Yes it does seem like he is learning that the bully ball style which allowed him to succeed against lesser physically talented players at a lower level, does not work at the B10 level and change was needed. If he continues to let the game come to him he could be a real positive factor.
Yes it does seem like he is learning that the bully ball style which allowed him to succeed against lesser physically talented players at a lower level, does not work at the B10 level and change was needed. If he continues to let the game come to him he could be a real positive factor.
I think he busts his *** on D and I think/hope eventually the shots will fall.
They were really bad misses too on some of those open looks, I think he may have missed the rim on one.
I hope whatever is going on gets corrected - but you were right, very streaky one way or the other.
