his defense in the 2nd half set the tone for the entire team. Big time performance in his 8th game
and Lino--man I really do like his game but he has to finish!
and Lino--man I really do like his game but he has to finish!
Start Nwuli!!
- Thread starter PatrickRU92
- Start date
The Europeans rode the pine in the second half. Nwuli, Buchanan and Mark all made the difference. As per usual, the bench will shorten as the year goes on, and D/rebounding will be the determining factor on playing time.
Don’t know if Nwuli must start but it’s imperative that Nwuli and Lino play solid minutes and have their playing time increase game by game.
Would like to see more of Powers as well !
Would like to see more of Powers as well !
Lino will get there. He just has to adjust to college physicality at the rim.
I think Powers has the most upside of any of the freshmen.
The European are terrible. They were supposed to shoot it well and they have been terrible. Not to mention they don't supply any defense or rebounding
Interesting, based on what? I think Nwuli, but limited offense could cap his ceiling.
You aren't wrong, but is funny that while their shooting has been mediocre, they are at least above 30% each from 3. The other freshman are like 1-14 combined.
Remember when the " experts" were calling Buchanan worthless.
I don't believe that Zrno is over 30%. I show him at 28%. Additionally, 30% is not very good considering most of their looks were wide open and both of them don't rebound or play defense well. It will be interesting to see what their percentages are once conference play starts.
The other freshman are not known for three point shots and they are much younger than the Europeans so I expect much better development
I was not one of them who called him worthless, but I don't see him contributing that type of game once conference play begins. Additionally, he is a pretty lousy free throw shooter and that doesn't bode well when he drives lane and gets fouled
Pretty sure zrno is higher than badalau, but could be wrong. He was 10% higher going into the last couple days, thought he was at 33% now. ESPN and Scarletnights.com both show 33% from 3 after checking. Yes, below 30% overall because he hasn't made a two yet, but I was only referring to 3's.
Who said it does? Only the usual bs " experts" do after a win or loss or after a missed layup. That's the point.
You are correct. I was looking at wrong column. He is 28% overall which is absolutely dreadful
Nwuli is super athletic BUT his bball skills are really subpar.
There will be games where his energy and athleticism will help but not every one. Hes a bench guy who you ride when his constant bumping and fouling isnt called and he's changing the other team's flow. Thats the scope.
There will be games where his energy and athleticism will help but not every one. Hes a bench guy who you ride when his constant bumping and fouling isnt called and he's changing the other team's flow. Thats the scope.
Agreed. I think people are losing site of the fact that we put in very fresh resources against a very tired and undermanned UNLV team. My takeaway is more about good coaching strategy by Pikiell. He almost stole one against ND and beat UNLV because he had less tired guys going against very tired guys.
Agree with this...and also caution with Buchanan.
What I havent seen yet is any real consistency by anyone except Grant who has taken a large leapfoward. Also Ogbole is vastly improved yet unknown how that translate to Big 10 play
Unfortunately its going to be tough to glean anything from the next 2 games. I sense Pike will get his answers in the final 3 games of this year and the many practices during this time
The difference is, the frosh (outside of Powers who wasn’t really expected to play much this year) weren’t brought here specifically to be shooters. It was pretty much a given that the Euros were going to mean compromised D. Lino Mark is super fast so there’s potential upside there and we needa 3rd ball handler besides Davis and Francis. Nwuli sees time for his defense. You can’t start a guy for his shooting who is shooting 30% from the floor when you have 5 other guys shooting better than him and who are better at D.
He’s higher than 30% but Zrno just doesn’t do enough other things to warrant playing unless he’s truly lights out. I think the expectation was we would be sp bad at offense he’d have to play but thankfully, that assumption isn’t the case. We have at least 6 guys who arguably offer more on offense than him if not in perimeter shooting in overall versatility, and they are all better than him at D.
I'd like to see Nwuli, Grant and Buchanon on the floor together more often. I also think Pike should have at least 2 of them playing at all times.
all 3 are bangers, good offensive rebounders, and decent FT shooters ( include Ogbole in there too).
Pike's best teams were those that crashed the O boards, and this team seems to be a better FT shooting team ( 28/36 against UNLV 16/24 against Tenn)
Downside with Nwuli currently is the TO's, but that should decrease as he plays more.
all 3 are bangers, good offensive rebounders, and decent FT shooters ( include Ogbole in there too).
Pike's best teams were those that crashed the O boards, and this team seems to be a better FT shooting team ( 28/36 against UNLV 16/24 against Tenn)
Downside with Nwuli currently is the TO's, but that should decrease as he plays more.
agree, would also like to see how effective his D is on some of the opponents 3 points shooters
That doesn't make him the best player alone. He needs to get stronger and smarter.
Not yet; but soon enough; just continue to get minutes and hopefully and eventually get some more ball skills. But want to offer my appreciation to his coaches for teaching him how to shoot FT's. Also want Mark to get more time on the floor - and eventually the game will start to slow down. Not looking to breakdown anyone else right now - and not expecting much from this team - other than continue to improve; which means work for 37 minutes not 20.
I’m thinking that there are now legitimate concerns about getting contributions this season from Badalau or Zrno.
They should have looked good during the OOC season against lesser competition. Instead they are looking like they may be nearing the end of the rotation during the B1G season.
Hoping there is some upside to the Euros but it’s not looking good right now.
He’s not the answer. He couldn’t even play servicable D at the Patriot level. Might have a few lights out shooting games but it’s unlikely he develops into a consistent regular rotational piece. Zrno has gotten enough run to see that he’s just slow which is rate omitting at his position. His ceiling on D in my opinion is Oskar level, but Oskar was also bigger than him and didn’t need to guard 2s.
It’s not a given that the other frosh will help us more this year, but he’s the only one where I’ve seen this. The other guys struggle with the typical frosh confusion and are out of position a lot (especially Powers right now), but none of them seem physically limited to me. Denis isn’t quick but he’s also not unplayable in part because he’s taller and stronger than Zrno.
All things considered - I don’t really understand the posts pushing for Francis to play less. Lino Mark is currently shooting 19% from the floor. He’s not a better ball handler, isn’t much taller and hasn’t done anything remarkable on D. He might develop as the season goes on but IMO it would basically be GG all over again to play him over Francis right now based on some hope of longer term potential. Francis is beating him out for PT at the moment - whether for time in the back up 1 or the two. It might change but that’s the current situation.
Zrno also offers nothing at the 2 based on his height that is superior to what Francis brings. Don’t tell me shooting, because Francis is just fine for catch and shoot usage when left open on rotations. He actually has a pretty quick release and Zrno doesn’t - so the theory that Zrno will get shots off easier than Francis because of his height isn’t even a thing.
Powers is clearly not ready for major PT so the only other guard option would be to slide Buchanan over to the 2 which Pike has tried but so far Buchanan has struggled with turnovers when thrust in that guard / point forward role. Also as the bench shortens, with Denis struggling and Buchanan one of those guys who can play 3-5 for stretches, he’s probably going to end up needing to see more combined minutes at the 3-5 - probably close to 20. J Mike is resting 10 min a game and Francis 13. That’s already 23 minutes of guard PT to fill. Even if Lino continues to gets 9 of those minutes - there’s 14 available for Buchanan in combination with more time 3-5.
In my opinion the rotations will be:
Guards 1-2 - J Mike and Francis (with Buchanan and Lino Mark combining to take only 20-25 min total per game to spell them)
Others 3-5 - Grant, Buchanan, Denis, Dortch, Nwuli, Ogbole (6 guys splitting time at the 3 positions).
Zrno also offers nothing at the 2 based on his height that is superior to what Francis brings. Don’t tell me shooting, because Francis is just fine for catch and shoot usage when left open on rotations. He actually has a pretty quick release and Zrno doesn’t - so the theory that Zrno will get shots off easier than Francis because of his height isn’t even a thing.
Powers is clearly not ready for major PT so the only other guard option would be to slide Buchanan over to the 2 which Pike has tried but so far Buchanan has struggled with turnovers when thrust in that guard / point forward role. Also as the bench shortens, with Denis struggling and Buchanan one of those guys who can play 3-5 for stretches, he’s probably going to end up needing to see more combined minutes at the 3-5 - probably close to 20. J Mike is resting 10 min a game and Francis 13. That’s already 23 minutes of guard PT to fill. Even if Lino continues to gets 9 of those minutes - there’s 14 available for Buchanan in combination with more time 3-5.
In my opinion the rotations will be:
Guards 1-2 - J Mike and Francis (with Buchanan and Lino Mark combining to take only 20-25 min total per game to spell them)
Others 3-5 - Grant, Buchanan, Denis, Dortch, Nwuli, Ogbole (6 guys splitting time at the 3 positions).