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Rutgers Pregame Thread


rbkl

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Rutgers fan coming in peace.

I read through the IndianaHQ scouting report at the top of this thread, and figured I'd add a bit more info/context for any who are interested:

1. Omoruyi (6-7, 240, PF) has been the heart and soul of the team, and will probably be back in the starting lineup for Wednesday night's game.  He missed three games with a dislocated left kneecap (repeat of an injury from last year that kept him out 2 weeks), and returned to come off the bench the last two games.  He's a bit undersized for a PF, but is very good with footwork on defense and leads the league in charges taken.  He can defend the 2-4 and the team runs much better when he's on the court.

2. Mathis (6-4, 200, SG) is a true freshman that had a bit of a slow start to the  year, but has been a consistent starter the last 8 games and has emerged as a third scoring threat.  While his season averages are 8.6 pts / 3.1 rbs (25% 3P,) since conference play restarted in January, he's averaged 14.4 pts / 5.3 rbs (38% 3P).  He's definitely a slasher who gets most of his points on drives to the hoop and at the line, but he will take threes if left open.  The IndianaHQ had Baker/Omoruyi accounting for 40.9% of the team's points, but that's really now includes Mathis now as a third option (Baker/Omoruyi have accounted for 36.3% in conference play, and Baker/Omoruyi/Mathis have accounted for 54.7%).  He's also probably our best on ball defender, and at 6-4 will guard 1-3.

3. Thiam (6-10, 190, SF/SG) has been really off his game for most of this year, and word is that he hasn't been healthy.  He was a DNP in our last game, and only averaged 16.5 min in the 6 conference games before that.  While starting the season 16/34 (47%) from the arc over the first 9 games, he's since gone just 2/20 (10%) over the next 8 before sitting out on Saturday.  I wouldn't expect to see him for many minutes.

4. Doucoure (6-9, 243, PF/C) is injured and it looks like he'll redshirt this season.

5. Johnson (6-10, 255, C) is a redshirt freshman who can be really good when he puts all the pieces together.  He went 13/11 in 25 min vs. Nebraska and 13/8 in 27 min @Minnesota, but in three other games surrounding those two outings, he's gone 0/2, 3/4, 2/5.  We try to get him established early in the game, and he has potential to be a threat down there, but he hasn't found offensive consistency yet.

6. Offensively, we've been trying to push more in transition, and you'll see Baker, Harper, and Mathis all looking to push the ball quickly up the court off a rebound.  The offense has sometimes stagnated in half court sets, and we look to score either before the defense is set or off of offensive rebounds.  In the half court, we've been trying to push the ball in to the bigs (Omoruyi/Johnson/Carter) much more, and they've had some success - which has taken some defensive focus off the perimeter to let Mathis and Baker have some more room.  Late in the shotclock, the ball will be in Baker's hands looking to create - frequently off of a stepback jumper. 

7. Defensively, we're primarily a man-to-man team that fights over screens rather than switching.  We have mixed in a 2-3 zone a bit, which is what helped us beat OSU - partly because OSU has struggled against zone defenses, but partly because there was zero in our scouting report that would have made them prepare for a zone.  Mathis is probably our best defender, while Omoruyi is also a strong interior defender - who frequently appears in driving lanes as a secondary defender to draw charges.   

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I think Harper's going to be great, personally. He has a ton of upside, but he's right now in "solid roleplayer" status.  He's got great basketball IQ, handles the ball well (and sometimes brings the ball up a sort of "point forward"), has an insane wingspan (he's 6-6 with a 7-1 wingspan), and is always looking to score.  He had a really rough start from range in the early going (starting 5/36 from range in the first 12 games) before settling down a bit (9/24 since).  He really needs to work on defending without fouling, though, which has limited his minutes (5.5 fouls per 40 min/played) - but that will come as he gets more live game reps.

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1 hour ago, dgambill said:

All I got to say is shame...shame on the IU video/media dept for hyping us up all offseason. First I thought we had some shooters on this team then I thought the whole team was ripped and we’re going to out physical everyone and finally I thought we had athleticism that would translate to a big season for some of our guys....I won’t forget this when next season starts to roll around and the Twitter vids start up again. Won’t fool me twice!!

Yes... shame on them for doing their job... 🙄

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Just listened to CAM’s radio show and a couple of things stuck out:

CAM spoke to WHEN we get Greene back, so I guess we can stop speculating to his transfer, at least for the foreseeable future

CAM spoke in a couple of occasions getting some bench players some PT, specifically pointing out Jake.  We have heard this before, but hopefully we see more of Jake and Clifton

CAM stayed Race will be able to help the team once his conditioning improves.  Will be good to see him in the floor soon.

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6 minutes ago, Milehi Fan said:

Just listened to CAM’s radio show and a couple of things stuck out:

CAM spoke to WHEN we get Greene back, so I guess we can stop speculating to his transfer, at least for the foreseeable future

CAM spoke in a couple of occasions getting some bench players some PT, specifically pointing out Jake.  We have heard this before, but hopefully we see more of Jake and Clifton

CAM stayed Race will be able to help the team once his conditioning improves.  Will be good to see him in the floor soon.

Help is on the way (I just couldn't resist).

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On 1/27/2019 at 6:13 PM, Parakeet Jones said:

Here is my prediction for the game in painful detail. 

We lose the opening tip. 

Both teams have empty possessions the first three minutes of the game. 

Rutgers breaks the scoring drought prior to the under 16 timeout and we go to that break down 6-0.  We look lost and disorganized  

After the timeout some guy for Rutgers who shoots about 22% from 3 pt range starts shooting like Steph Curry and by the under 12 break we are down 14-5. 

At this point Al finally comes in for McRoberts and gives us a quick four points to make it 14-9.  

Two more threes from Baby Steph, down 20-7. Both of those come after Smith loses him twice and can’t close out in time  

Juwan goes to the bench with his second foul. Moore comes in and gives us 2 points on a put back, a rebound, and one altered shot. He promptly goes back to the bench after losing his man on defense and is not heard from again. 

After somewhat getting it together we make a run and close the halftime deficit to four, 30-26. 

We get the ball to start the second and promptly turn it over. Baby Steph hitsba three starting a 7-0 run to start the half for Rutgers we are now down 11. 

We eventually fall behind by 15. We claw back but can never break the four point barrier. 

I stress eat too many M & Ms during the game  

In the game thread I like posts from an, “Archie needs time guy,” and an, “I’m starting to have some worries,” guy because I can identify with both. 

At least two posts in the game thread make me spit out my water. 

No one will actually make it through this entire post. 

Pretty much nailed it, this team is soo predictable.

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11 hours ago, Milehi Fan said:

Just listened to CAM’s radio show and a couple of things stuck out:

CAM spoke to WHEN we get Greene back, so I guess we can stop speculating to his transfer, at least for the foreseeable future

I still think that Green can be a VERY valuable player for us IF he understands that he doesnt need to be and isnt going to be THE guy on this team.  But what he can be, and i think be very good at it is be the guy that gets THE guy the ball for an easy-ish bucket.  If he isnt the best oerimeter defender we have, hes a close second and i realize that he gets too flashy with it simetimes, but hes the best passer on the team. Not to mention he is one of our better shooters.  But all of that goes out the window when he has to think about what he is thinking about what CAM wants him to do.  You can see it when he plays.  How many wiiiiiiiide open 3's has he (and about everyone else) passed up to try and get the ball into the lane.   

Im by no means think he is the 2nd comming if steph or even seth curry and some of the things he does on (and off) the court make me want to bang my head against a wall, but i dont think he deserves quite the amount of backlash he has gotten.  

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Looking a bit more at the game, I'd think that Mathis would draw Langford as his defensive assignment - so it will be interesting to see the two freshmen go toe to toe.  Langford was the #6 prospect last year (per Rivals), and Mathis was #108.

The two did face off in the Adidas Uprising in 2017, when Mathis' Team BBC team beat Langford's 22 Vision team 66-58.  Mathis' line was 15 pts / 4 rb / 1 ast / 3 stl / 6 tov, while Langford's line was 11 pts / 3 rb / 1 ast / 3 stl / 5 tov.  https://www.prepcircuit.com/game/show/17635200?subseason=394589&referrer=3318494

Will be interesting to see how this matchup plays out.  Mathis plays fairly aggressive man defense, which sometimes gets him into foul trouble - he also sometimes gambles for steals around the midline, which can lead to a run out but more often leads to us playing 4 on 5 until he can get back in position.  I see that Langford's struggled a bit from behind the arc - but sometimes playing Rutgers is a cure for that, as we have seen more than a couple players go off for big nights behind the arc.

Baker's also a decent defender, but not as good as Mathis.  If Langford finds himself guarded by McConnell, Kiss, or Harper, he'll have a decent shot of driving past and either getting a bucket or a foul.  

We'll probably mix it up on Morgan, throwing different looks at him.  Omoruyi will probably draw that assignment primarily, but Juco Shaq Carter will also be called on to cover him - and probably Harper at times, too.  I don't know how much doubling we'll do from the center spot with Doorson or Johnson - we sometimes double in the post, but usually let the defender guard one on one. 

I don't know if we'll drop to a zone or not to try to deny Morgan - we may, given Indiana's recent shooting from behind the arc.  We have a lot of length in a 2-3 zone, with no player shorter than 6-4.  If Morgan is getting too many easy looks inside, we might throw it out here and there - but I doubt for more than a possession or two at a time.

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14 hours ago, Milehi Fan said:

Just listened to CAM’s radio show and a couple of things stuck out:

CAM spoke to WHEN we get Greene back, so I guess we can stop speculating to his transfer, at least for the foreseeable future

CAM spoke in a couple of occasions getting some bench players some PT, specifically pointing out Jake.  We have heard this before, but hopefully we see more of Jake and Clifton

CAM stayed Race will be able to help the team once his conditioning improves.  Will be good to see him in the floor soon.

Green coming back is not going to help fix whatever locker room dysfunction we have going on.  Break a rule?  Yeah, the minimum punishment is fine.  Not good for a team imploding before our eyes.

Race is what, 19 years old?  He may not be able to go 30-35 minutes right now, but he sure should be able to give 5-8, and then build from there..  Stop waiting until he's perfect, and get him on the floor and see if he can make a difference.  

 

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24 minutes ago, RUChoppin said:

Looking a bit more at the game, I'd think that Mathis would draw Langford as his defensive assignment - so it will be interesting to see the two freshmen go toe to toe.  Langford was the #6 prospect last year (per Rivals), and Mathis was #108.

The two did face off in the Adidas Uprising in 2017, when Mathis' Team BBC team beat Langford's 22 Vision team 66-58.  Mathis' line was 15 pts / 4 rb / 1 ast / 3 stl / 6 tov, while Langford's line was 11 pts / 3 rb / 1 ast / 3 stl / 5 tov.  https://www.prepcircuit.com/game/show/17635200?subseason=394589&referrer=3318494

Will be interesting to see how this matchup plays out.  Mathis plays fairly aggressive man defense, which sometimes gets him into foul trouble - he also sometimes gambles for steals around the midline, which can lead to a run out but more often leads to us playing 4 on 5 until he can get back in position.  I see that Langford's struggled a bit from behind the arc - but sometimes playing Rutgers is a cure for that, as we have seen more than a couple players go off for big nights behind the arc.

Baker's also a decent defender, but not as good as Mathis.  If Langford finds himself guarded by McConnell, Kiss, or Harper, he'll have a decent shot of driving past and either getting a bucket or a foul.  

We'll probably mix it up on Morgan, throwing different looks at him.  Omoruyi will probably draw that assignment primarily, but Juco Shaq Carter will also be called on to cover him - and probably Harper at times, too.  I don't know how much doubling we'll do from the center spot with Doorson or Johnson - we sometimes double in the post, but usually let the defender guard one on one. 

I don't know if we'll drop to a zone or not to try to deny Morgan - we may, given Indiana's recent shooting from behind the arc.  We have a lot of length in a 2-3 zone, with no player shorter than 6-4.  If Morgan is getting too many easy looks inside, we might throw it out here and there - but I doubt for more than a possession or two at a time.

Most teams have been playing a defense with the lane packed in against IU lately.  We can't shoot from outside.  We haven't been scoring off TOs.

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I would draw a 12 foot arch on the floor and tell my team if they go outside that line on defense they are getting benched if i was coaching against us.  Absolutely make us hit outside shots.  We dont have to be golden state, but if we cant knock down a couple 3's early in this or any other game, points are going to be hard to come by.

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16 hours ago, Milehi Fan said:

Just listened to CAM’s radio show and a couple of things stuck out:

CAM spoke to WHEN we get Greene back, so I guess we can stop speculating to his transfer, at least for the foreseeable future

CAM spoke in a couple of occasions getting some bench players some PT, specifically pointing out Jake.  We have heard this before, but hopefully we see more of Jake and Clifton

CAM stayed Race will be able to help the team once his conditioning improves.  Will be good to see him in the floor soon.

For as much as people rag on Devonte, he's one of the more "Archie type" players we have.

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5 hours ago, 3Ballin said:

I still think that Green can be a VERY valuable player for us IF he understands that he doesnt need to be and isnt going to be THE guy on this team.  But what he can be, and i think be very good at it is be the guy that gets THE guy the ball for an easy-ish bucket.  If he isnt the best oerimeter defender we have, hes a close second and i realize that he gets too flashy with it simetimes, but hes the best passer on the team. Not to mention he is one of our better shooters.  But all of that goes out the window when he has to think about what he is thinking about what CAM wants him to do.  You can see it when he plays.  How many wiiiiiiiide open 3's has he (and about everyone else) passed up to try and get the ball into the lane.   

Im by no means think he is the 2nd comming if steph or even seth curry and some of the things he does on (and off) the court make me want to bang my head against a wall, but i dont think he deserves quite the amount of backlash he has gotten.  

We started doing this a bit before Phinisee went down, but I would start playing Green and Phinisee alongside each other, with Phinisee on the ball. Then you have Langford on the wing opposite Green. That's a much more explosive offensive backcourt, and you elminiate some decision making responsibilities for Green, just let him play. I don't know if it would work or not, but it's worth trying. 

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2 hours ago, dwtaylor1055 said:

enlighten me on how he is one of the more "Archie type" players on this team?

Because he plays with an edge. He's a tough on the ball defender. He's not soft. He's confident. He plays to win, not to not lose. 

I'm not saying he's perfect, but his only real deficiency is decision making. My defense of Green's decision making is that he is actually playing aggressive, instead of passive... Like a lot of our players. So, some of his stupid plays/decisions are a bit of a breath of fresh air (for me) on a team that prefers to weave around the 3-point line, set soft screens and throw up prayers with the clock winding down. 

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3 hours ago, BGleas said:

We started doing this a bit before Phinisee went down, but I would start playing Green and Phinisee alongside each other, with Phinisee on the ball. Then you have Langford on the wing opposite Green. That's a much more explosive offensive backcourt, and you elminiate some decision making responsibilities for Green, just let him play. I don't know if it would work or not, but it's worth trying. 

I would like to see Rob, Green, Romeo, Morgan and Moore  get on the floor at the same time for more that 3 minutes.  That gives us 3 of our more capable outside shooters to space the floor for Romeo to get to the rim.  Mist likely creates a mismatch for Morgan to go one on one or pass to a cutting Romeo, drop it to Moore or kick out to one of our better shooters.  Moore give Morgan a break from having to get beat up on defense and provides a little more rim protection. On pure up-side, i think that would be our best lineup, but i know there are several holes and flaws that go along with it.....but at this point, we gota try sumthin cuz the same 'ole same 'ole aint workin.

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4 minutes ago, 5fouls said:

I'm surprised that so many favor Devonte over Al.  Forget the suspension for a moment, but Al's shooting from the field (both from 2 and 3) is better.  

Agree. Al has been shooting the ball well and is much more reliable. I mentioned Green in that spot because, while he's more risky than Al and his shooting numbers aren't as good, he's more dynamic. Al is really, really solid, but if (huge if) he's on, Green can really create much more. Offensively his downside is worse than Al, but his upside is also higher. 

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