Penn State Vs. UCLA: Preview, how to watch and more
The Penn State Nittany Lions take on UCLA on Saturday at 4 PM
Basketball GAMEDAY THREAD: Penn State Vs. UCLA
- Thread starter Richie O
- Start date
We look terrible….not worth watching. That pretty much sums it up.
Agree. With out Konan and with Puff Johnson likely out for the season we don't have the bench to compete. Ace has to be hurting. He is nowhere near the player he was last year.
Our freshmen players got a lot of minutes. They weren't impressive, but it's a start in their development. Some highly ranked recruits coming in for next year but they will not be ready for the Big 10.
We will need a lot help from the portal.
And I don't blame the coach. He doesn't have the players yet, particularly on the bench.
He’s done a terrible job this season, even before all of the injuries. Obviously, with the injuries and the close losses in January, this team has given up, so the remaining games are meaningless other than getting players who may be back next season a lot of minutes. With that said, this season has devolved into a great embarrassment for this athletic program; they make a lot of other terrible PSU teams look good by comparison.
Someone should simply ask Rhoades that based off their recent performance does he think he has lost the team.
I agree. From what little I've been able to tolerate watching this team lately they look completely disinterested. Very disappointing, especially given the hope prior to the season.
Need to flush this season and build toward a good season next year. Key is that he can develop the freshmen/younger guys and do well overall in the portal. If not then that is a bad sign for Rhoades and his longevity.
Didn’t see the game until the final minutes.
But the announcers PSU ‘came ready to play’ indicating they played hard early on. Then said they were undermanned by injuries.
Yes, Ace has gone from All B10 defensive player of the year, one of the best point guards in the B10, and really in the country, to a turnover machine that forces his way into the lane and usually now can't get a shot up or get the ball to anyone on his team.
PSU must have had 10 turnovers before UCLA committed their first one. Just can't win a game against a good team with a large negative turnover margin. Ace had more than his share, but the rest of the team contributed to the mess as well. This has been the script for a number of games but the players can't seem to improve their decision making.
This has to be killing all the seniors on the team. Ace, Puff, Kerns and the rest had to be looking at this season as a climax to their college careers and an opportunity to make an impact in the NCAA, but now are staring at just trying for a .500 overall record which now seems unlikely.
It sure is time to play and develop the young talent, and it's great to see Goodman and the others get minutes. But the seniors have to be heartbroken and just sitting them doesn't seem fair to them either....
I had very high expectations for the team being coached by Rhoades after seeing him in the A10 playing against my son's Dayton Flyers, but this season can't get over soon enough.....
Losing Puff and Konan combined with Ace's injury has been devastating. I'm not sure those things are the coach's fault.
Why are the highly ranked recruits not going to be ready for the Big 10? At least one of them needs to be somewhat ready. Other frosh on other teams come in and can make an impact. Rhoades needs to get these guys developed quicker.
Changed the channel before the half. Terrible. Don't understand why you pass up open shots to run the clock down and end up with a shot clock violation. Also way too many lay-ups allowed. Got their eyes in the wrong place. Difficult to watch.
Mingo and Blackwood should be able to come in and start or at least Mingo should. Blackwood could play the 3/4 spots off the bench at minimum. Houser is a project, hopefully not needed for at least a year as Konan and Goodman are back (hopefully) and so is Nzeh. The team could actually be very solid in the post next year, maybe even some time with both Konan and Miles on the floor together.
Backcourt of Mingo, Dillione and some combo over Stewart/Carter could be ok, but the team will need to probably slow the pace and run everything through the bigs. Rice, who is out for the year, could be a wild card though I didnt see him getting much time on this years roster so not sure where he fits in but he does have some size on the wing.
Definite room for a portal guy or two who can step in and play a bunch on the perimeter.
Well, the seniors are the main cause of the problems, so they can really only feel bad at themselves.
Maybe Ace, though a very competitive player, needs to sit and get healthy for the draft. Why play him and possibly jeopardize his future health? Back problems are serious.
As good of a 3 pt shooter as Dunn is this year's lack of inside scoring, particularly with Konan out, prevents him from getting many good looks. With next year's likely significant inside play improvement there will likely be better 3 pt looks available. Any idea where the 3 pt shooting comes from next season? Is that what Rhoades will be looking for in the Portal?
Thanks.
I think he, along with every other major program, is always looking for three-point shooting. It’s crazy that with the game being played today where you either drive to the basket for a dunk or shoot a three pointer, that so many of these top 100 ranked players Are not that great of shooters. They’re just super athletes who can get the ball to the hoop.
Today's game (college & pro) is lacking solid "basketball players" with well rounded games. Plenty of athletes, a few pure shooters, and that's it. Where are the dominating rebounders/shot blockers, assist machines who can break down a defense and find the open man, ir the guards who are defensive stoppers? I rarely watch a pro game, even playoffs and college has morphed into the same type of game. I enjoy watching teams like Princeton, not elite but simply entertaining fundamental bball.
My coaching friends and I were talking about this the other day, there was a time when undersized power forwards transitioned to TE in football. Now we think some of the uber athletic white kids with size who would be the 'shooters' on the wing at D1 programs are just going straight to football and playing TE. Tyler Warren would not have been D1 at hoops but some of these guys could have been if they didnt play FB. Look at our TE room, all 6'4, 6'5 athletes, Olesh, Reynolds, Schlaffer, Rappleyea. All of these guys could have been decent guards if they started early and played BB instead of TE, ut they realized that there is much more opportunity in FB at this point.
Great stuff. You know a lot more than I do about the team so thank you for this assessment. It sounds like a couple of the new freshmen next year can start. I knew we got a couple good recruits (as in much higher ranked than we have gotten in the past) so I don't expect them to be projects just on the pine contributing nothing.
Not sure what has happened this year beyond the bad luck injury bug. Then when we fell short in a couple close ones on the road to Iowa and Michigan it seemed to demoralize us. Rhoades has to take accountability for the team looking like they have packed it in. That is more concerning than the actual wins and losses, just the fact that we don't have energy or fight.
I still have confidence in Rhoades. But next year is critical. We need to see significant improvement. I am hopeful we will if the post guys are solid, the freshmen contribute and we get a couple portal guys.
I follow PSU men's b-ball and Lehigh's. I am also a Lehigh alum, plus a retiree and an Athletic Department volunteer. I attend most Lehigh home games. The points that Rick made are very typical in the Patriot League. The offense strategy is force it inside and if that's not open, kick it out for a 3-pointer. The one exception was the Navy team coached by Ed DeChellis. They had a third dimension - the 12 foot jump shot. I don't understand why teams have abandoned the medium jump shot. 60% on a short jumper is better than 30% on a 3-pointer in my opinion.
And don't get me started on the times players don't use the bank shot.
Exactly. Rarely see players taking the closer in high percentage shots. It comes down to coaching style. Too much "chuck up the 3 ball" going on.
It’s not so much coaching style but much like baseball and with going for two after scoring touchdowns, it’s analytics. If you can shoot 33% from three point range it’s the same as shooting 50% from two point range. And by going through all of these type of analytics, they’ve basically concluded that jump shots that are not three-point jump shots or bad shots. Like you guys, I agree that the 12 to 15 foot jumpshot is an exceptional shot in the game. You practice free throws all of the time and it’s the same distance shot basically just off the move.
Similar threads
