Rutgers, purdue, northwestern, wisconsin, msu, mich. penn State is not a good match up for us. Did you catch our two reg season games vs them?
Pregame: Illinois vs Penn State, Thursday, March 9th, 5:30pm CT, BTN
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I like it, but give me rodgers over shannon. We can’t afford a sleep,walk start again. Need guaranteed intensity for the first 5 minutes.
It all depends.
If the 2nd half (of a game) Illinois team starts and completes the game, then we win pretty much every game.
But, If the 1st half team pops its head, then we could give a game to a high school team. Then, "not a good match up for us" applies to pretty much every team out there.
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Bench our 1st team All conference guard? That is a bold move, Jimbo.
You're right about the intensity though. And I will be honest, there are things about TJ's game that I don't love, but he has a knack for putting points on the scoreboard and points are good.
Tacomallini
- Washington State
bench Dain. Start Ty, TSJ, MM, RJ, CoHawk, imo
Not going to start Shannon? That would be interesting. lol. I'm assuming my sarcasm meter should be going off?
I think Dain, unfortunately, is the weakest link in our chain, right now.
And, since Hawk can play all minutes - if he keeps out of foul trouble - he needs to be our center.
The rest can come and go as practicable.
And, since it is the one-and-done season, the start of every game is critical. I prefer to build a HUGE lead from the start. Cannot risk giving up leads and expecting to catch up.
And, since Hawk can play all minutes - if he keeps out of foul trouble - he needs to be our center.
The rest can come and go as practicable.
And, since it is the one-and-done season, the start of every game is critical. I prefer to build a HUGE lead from the start. Cannot risk giving up leads and expecting to catch up.
Post this on the team bulletin board. Make sure TSJ and MM see it. See if that doesn’t increase the defensive presence.
The really good ballers know how to do that little hook around the defender’s body with their free arm to fend him off and create space (and that is rarely if ever called a foul on the offensive player). Our Illini guys could do more of that.
Also, as far as teaching the Futball Flop... just don’t teach the part where the guy rolls around on the ground for five minutes with a look of excruciating pain on his tortured and contorted face and then he hops right up like Lazarus and runs off like it was nothing.
And give Penn State lots of yellow cards.
I didn't have the sense that Shannon has been "sleepwalking" early in games, but his start in the last game did stand out to me, and he has been very quiet in the first half of games. We will need him better, early.
1m4tr
Cliffmas
What about a token 1-2-2 press with whoever is supposed to be guarding Pickett at the point of the press. It’s sole purpose to take a few seconds off of the shot clock since it takes awhile for Pickett to back someone down. Maybe they break the press and then have to reset and give ball to Pickett to begin his back downs. If he initiates offense at 20 seconds rather than 24, you might get some more rushed shots.
All you are looking for is to chase the others off the 3 point line. Pickett penetrates the others look to relocate and shoot the 3. Picketts penetration is what kills us. At least attempt to eliminate Pickett penetration is a start.
I think offense might be our best defense. Drive to the basket early and often. Get at least two PSU starters with two fouls by the ten minute mark. Since they lack depth, that should leave them with fewer deadeye three-point shooters on the court for the rest of the half. If they have fewer three point shooters, then doubling Pickett should prove a little less dangerous.
But it WAS in the playbook 2 years ago then? And not just the 1-2-2 little zone press that he put in year before…I think it was? Interesting.
Seems like he sticks to his guns on things. But he’s also a pragmatist. That’s definitely interesting.
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.Nothing illegal or causing an injury , but a leather sandwich smothered in Illini sauce and let's see where that goes as far as him venturing back into the paint.
Agreed Everytime Picket backs in DD and Ty "the Enforcer" Rodgers need to take turns making him feel it.
Trying to match Pickett's physicality is absolutely the WORST way to approach it. He's one of the smartest players in the country, nobody is going to bully him.
No problem, give him his 5 to 8 footers all night long and let him have another 41 points.. What do you suggest?
I did and you're right. It didn't go well....at all. Honestly, Northwestern cleaned our clocks for 3 of the 4 halves that we played them. It was a miracle win(which I'll GLADLY take).
My point is that Penn State brings nothing to the table that we shouldn't be able to handle, if we're really thinking that we have a March run in us.
They shoot the ball well and they have one physical guard. What else do they do well? The fact that we struggle with them is more of an issue with us versus the challenge that Penn State provides. They have no size advantage, no depth advantage.....they shoot the ball well. That's it. That simply can't be viewed as them being a bad match up.
The fact is that we haven't been able to guard the three point line all year and our ability to keep ANY guards under control has been a problem. This is not unique to PSU. Perkins went off on us, Buie went off on us, Bufkin went off on us, all of the Purdue guards went off on us, yes Pickett has gone off on us too.
We have guards that have a tendency to go under screens, don't fight through screens, don't switch overly well and rotate poorly which has led to a lot of wide open weak side threes. Penn State has taken advantage. Again, that's on us. There's nothing that they do that's unique.
If we pressure the ball, if we switch properly, if we rotate properly....we win by 10+. If we don't, PSU will make us pay, which they've done twice.
This is basically a home game vs a team that we're far more talented than. That's just the way that I see it.
1. Bring double teams from his blind side as soon as he tries to put the ball on the floor in the post.
2. Don't try to play through screens if Pickett is the ball handler. Just switch.
Of course, this is predicated on no Dain Dainja on the floor.
Reading that Epps worked out and traveled to Chicago with the team. Glad he's making progress. Surprised it was just an "elbow to the jaw" with how tight lipped the coach and team were on details after it happened.
I'm really hoping that TSJ(the whole team for that matter) isn't just figuring out now that our abysmal start to games has been a problem, as we're two days before game #32. Here's to hoping that this gets corrected.
A lot of talk about what it’s going to take to stop Pickett, but should also remember this Penn State team has some GLARING weaknesses. Dead last in the country in offensive rebounding %. Literally, dead last. Need Ty Rodgers on the floor giving them no 2nd chances. If Dain’s in the game: rebounding. Penn State also forces like no turnovers, yet we’ve been giving it away at will lately. Yes, we need to come out with energy, but we’re gonna get our looks on the offensive end if we play smart and take care of the basketball.
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