Thoughts on W @ Rutgers

L

Luftgekuehlt67

Well-Known Member
Really gritty effort today - great to get a road W even though our "run them out of the gym" style wasn't clicking.

My thoughts follow, looking forward to hearing some other takes!

- Off game for Wieskamp, for sure. I think he's been excellent this season, showing nice consistency and staying within his game. Something was off today...it happens. He forced things a couple times, but he's our 2nd best player - I think you have to allow him a little leash to try and get things going. But that opened the door for...

- ...Keegan Murray! Man, how much of a steal did we get on this kid? I keep having to ratchet up my assessment of where he is currently at and I think his upside is amazing. The sample size is small, but I could see him being a legit NBA prospect in a couple years. His body is surely still developing. Keegan may have had his best game of his young Hawk career and would probably be my player of the game if not for...

- ...Mr. Luka Garza! Big fella, what the hell are we gonna do without you next year? Statistically a below average game for him and give credit for Rutgers D making every post look a risky proposition for our guards, but The Man showed us why he's The Man when it counted the most. It's cliche, but he made up his mind we weren't going to lose and willed it to be so. So skilled, so tough, such a gamer. A once in a generation player.

- Losing Connor early I think hurt us. We didn't take care of the ball and had a lot of trouble getting Garza his touches. I ask you, what are Connor's two biggest strengths? Taking care of the ball and feeding the post! He is integral to this team's success and I think we got a little window today into what life sans Connor would be like. I know there are plenty around HN that would like to see his minutes perma-deleted, but count me as one who hopes his ankle thing is mild and he can get back in the lineup ASAP.

- Special mention to Ahron Ulis. I'm not sure if he planned to see minutes today or if he was thrown into the fire due to Connor being knocked out, but I felt he acquitted himself well. Probably not ready for a ton of minutes at this juncture, but he's shown me flashes of a tool set that make me think he could be a starter down the road. He shows some shake and bake off the dribble, dropped some nice dimes, and even scrapped for a few boards. Touissant became an almost instant fan favorite - I get the reasons for that and don't want to give the impression of being "down" on Joe by any stretch, but I have a suspicion Ulis might have the higher upside for our backcourt of the future.

Good win, Hawks! Now tell me I'm an idiot!
 
Luftgekuehlt67 said:
Really gritty effort today - great to get a road W even though our "run them out of the gym" style wasn't clicking.

My thoughts follow, looking forward to hearing some other takes!

- Off game for Wieskamp, for sure. I think he's been excellent this season, showing nice consistency and staying within his game. Something was off today...it happens. He forced things a couple times, but he's our 2nd best player - I think you have to allow him a little leash to try and get things going. But that opened the door for...

- ...Keegan Murray! Man, how much of a steal did we get on this kid? I keep having to ratchet up my assessment of where he is currently at and I think his upside is amazing. The sample size is small, but I could see him being a legit NBA prospect in a couple years. His body is surely still developing. Keegan may have had his best game of his young Hawk career and would probably be my player of the game if not for...

- ...Mr. Luka Garza! Big fella, what the hell are we gonna do without you next year? Statistically a below average game for him and give credit for Rutgers D making every post look a risky proposition for our guards, but The Man showed us why he's The Man when it counted the most. It's cliche, but he made up his mind we weren't going to lose and willed it to be so. So skilled, so tough, such a gamer. A once in a generation player.

- Losing Connor early I think hurt us. We didn't take care of the ball and had a lot of trouble getting Garza his touches. I ask you, what are Connor's two biggest strengths? Taking care of the ball and feeding the post! He is integral to this team's success and I think we got a little window today into what life sans Connor would be like. I know there are plenty around HN that would like to see his minutes perma-deleted, but count me as one who hopes his ankle thing is mild and he can get back in the lineup ASAP.

- Special mention to Ahron Ulis. I'm not sure if he planned to see minutes today or if he was thrown into the fire due to Connor being knocked out, but I felt he acquitted himself well. Probably not ready for a ton of minutes at this juncture, but he's shown me flashes of a tool set that make me think he could be a starter down the road. He shows some shake and bake off the dribble, dropped some nice dimes, and even scrapped for a few boards. Touissant became an almost instant fan favorite - I get the reasons for that and don't want to give the impression of being "down" on Joe by any stretch, but I have a suspicion Ulis might have the higher upside for our backcourt of the future.

Good win, Hawks! Now tell me I'm an idiot!
Click to expand...
 
Actually i think youre spot on. I just dont get the fact that Conner is the only hope to feed Garza. Yes we missed that aspect of the game today, but what the hell is practice for. Passing should be one of the most fundamental aspects of the game. If it's not there, rotate, spread it out and make the D work. If Garza can't get open in the post he can come out, screen the ball...flair and shoot if he can. C'mon Fran!
 
Esteshawk said:
Actually i think youre spot on. I just dont get the fact that Conner is the only hope to feed Garza. Yes we missed that aspect of the game today, but what the hell is practice for. Passing should be one of the most fundamental aspects of the game. If it's not there, rotate, spread it out and make the D work. If Garza can't get open in the post he can come out, screen the ball...flair and shoot if he can. C'mon Fran!
Click to expand...

They were doing a really good job of challenging every pass into the post and we were making poor angle passes and passes to the defender side of Garza. Eventually we seemed to get gun-shy due to the lack of success with passes in the post and stopped trying.
 
The only nitpicking I could have of Keegan is is lack of passing into the post. I think he is unsure of it and doesn't want to turn the ball over. His excuse is lack of experience. Not sure what the other's excuse is for post passing.
 
Luftgekuehlt67 said:
Really gritty effort today - great to get a road W even though our "run them out of the gym" style wasn't clicking.

My thoughts follow, looking forward to hearing some other takes!

- Off game for Wieskamp, for sure. I think he's been excellent this season, showing nice consistency and staying within his game. Something was off today...it happens. He forced things a couple times, but he's our 2nd best player - I think you have to allow him a little leash to try and get things going. But that opened the door for...

- ...Keegan Murray! Man, how much of a steal did we get on this kid? I keep having to ratchet up my assessment of where he is currently at and I think his upside is amazing. The sample size is small, but I could see him being a legit NBA prospect in a couple years. His body is surely still developing. Keegan may have had his best game of his young Hawk career and would probably be my player of the game if not for...

- ...Mr. Luka Garza! Big fella, what the hell are we gonna do without you next year? Statistically a below average game for him and give credit for Rutgers D making every post look a risky proposition for our guards, but The Man showed us why he's The Man when it counted the most. It's cliche, but he made up his mind we weren't going to lose and willed it to be so. So skilled, so tough, such a gamer. A once in a generation player.

- Losing Connor early I think hurt us. We didn't take care of the ball and had a lot of trouble getting Garza his touches. I ask you, what are Connor's two biggest strengths? Taking care of the ball and feeding the post! He is integral to this team's success and I think we got a little window today into what life sans Connor would be like. I know there are plenty around HN that would like to see his minutes perma-deleted, but count me as one who hopes his ankle thing is mild and he can get back in the lineup ASAP.

- Special mention to Ahron Ulis. I'm not sure if he planned to see minutes today or if he was thrown into the fire due to Connor being knocked out, but I felt he acquitted himself well. Probably not ready for a ton of minutes at this juncture, but he's shown me flashes of a tool set that make me think he could be a starter down the road. He shows some shake and bake off the dribble, dropped some nice dimes, and even scrapped for a few boards. Touissant became an almost instant fan favorite - I get the reasons for that and don't want to give the impression of being "down" on Joe by any stretch, but I have a suspicion Ulis might have the higher upside for our backcourt of the future.

Good win, Hawks! Now tell me I'm an idiot!
Click to expand...
My thought is —- this was our first Top 15 win on the road since 2016. GREAT WIN.
 
Luftgekuehlt67 said:
Really gritty effort today - great to get a road W even though our "run them out of the gym" style wasn't clicking.

My thoughts follow, looking forward to hearing some other takes!

- Off game for Wieskamp, for sure. I think he's been excellent this season, showing nice consistency and staying within his game. Something was off today...it happens. He forced things a couple times, but he's our 2nd best player - I think you have to allow him a little leash to try and get things going. But that opened the door for...

- ...Keegan Murray! Man, how much of a steal did we get on this kid? I keep having to ratchet up my assessment of where he is currently at and I think his upside is amazing. The sample size is small, but I could see him being a legit NBA prospect in a couple years. His body is surely still developing. Keegan may have had his best game of his young Hawk career and would probably be my player of the game if not for...

- ...Mr. Luka Garza! Big fella, what the hell are we gonna do without you next year? Statistically a below average game for him and give credit for Rutgers D making every post look a risky proposition for our guards, but The Man showed us why he's The Man when it counted the most. It's cliche, but he made up his mind we weren't going to lose and willed it to be so. So skilled, so tough, such a gamer. A once in a generation player.

- Losing Connor early I think hurt us. We didn't take care of the ball and had a lot of trouble getting Garza his touches. I ask you, what are Connor's two biggest strengths? Taking care of the ball and feeding the post! He is integral to this team's success and I think we got a little window today into what life sans Connor would be like. I know there are plenty around HN that would like to see his minutes perma-deleted, but count me as one who hopes his ankle thing is mild and he can get back in the lineup ASAP.

- Special mention to Ahron Ulis. I'm not sure if he planned to see minutes today or if he was thrown into the fire due to Connor being knocked out, but I felt he acquitted himself well. Probably not ready for a ton of minutes at this juncture, but he's shown me flashes of a tool set that make me think he could be a starter down the road. He shows some shake and bake off the dribble, dropped some nice dimes, and even scrapped for a few boards. Touissant became an almost instant fan favorite - I get the reasons for that and don't want to give the impression of being "down" on Joe by any stretch, but I have a suspicion Ulis might have the higher upside for our backcourt of the future.

Good win, Hawks! Now tell me I'm an idiot!
Click to expand...
As you requested - You are an Idiot. But not wrong with your assessment. We will see what happens in the future. But ...what do you think about Nunge today - his stat sheet looks OK - but my eye test thinks otherwise.
 
bphawkeye said:
As you requested - You are an Idiot. But not wrong with your assessment. We will see what happens in the future. But ...what do you think about Nunge today - his stat sheet looks OK - but my eye test thinks otherwise.
Click to expand...
Lol, finally!

I agree with your Nunge assessment - something's not right, he looks out of sorts. The most obvious thing to me is his shot isn't dropping, but he also often seems a step slow on D as well.

Obviously, first and foremost, you have to be concerned about him on a personal level - losing his dad just mere weeks ago. I hope he is doing ok and that hoops is serving a positive role in whatever grief he is going through. But you could also imagine if he's not feeling quite himself it could show up in his game.

Jack's size and skill set combo is the stuff coaches dream about. I hope he's able to hang in there and continue to develop, because we could sure use his size when we lose Garza.
 
Bigtenchamp said:
ehh i dont really think thats equal.... rutgers been missing free throws all year.

blowing a 7 pt lead with 47 secs left is not something that happens a lot.
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All I'm saying is we probably should have beat Minnesota and probably should have lost to Rutgers.

We're probably right where we should be. 3-1 in the league.

But 4-0 sure would be nice as well.
 
I guess I just like the fact that we're watching college basketball. It could be a lot different if we weren't. 3-1 in this league? As strong as the B1G is this is this year? I'm grateful to be towards the top, so hats off to our team. Great road win.
 
Did anyone else notice how out-of-breath Nunge was at the start of the 2nd half? He had 2 bad plays, the camera focuses on him and he looks like should look after playing 39 minutes. He came out, but it was barely 1 or 2 minutes into the 2nd half!
 
Lumberman said:
Did anyone else notice how out-of-breath Nunge was at the start of the 2nd half? He had 2 bad plays, the camera focuses on him and he looks like should look after playing 39 minutes. He came out, but it was barely 1 or 2 minutes into the 2nd half!
Click to expand...
I think we may need to give him a mulligan on this season. I cannot imagine unexpectedly losing your dad at that age. One doesn't just flush that away and move right on with life. He showed us His potential and what we have to look forward to whenever he is able to put his life back together. Even at that he is still doing a lot of nice things out there.

What's this make, year 3 of a kick in the gut for the guy as he trys to get a season under his belt?
 
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