It sickens me that we have to play @ Pitt not at full strength...

[HoustonCuse]

Tomorrow we will be driving a 2014 Ferrari into an iced over Wegmans parking lot. Random shopping carts will be roaming the place, soccer moms and 9 year olds will be flinging doors open with abandon. A meth addled ex-con will be careening about in a 1992 Ford with a rusted out plow hanging off the front of it.

I'm more worried about further injury to our personnel than I am anything else going into that dump.

 

[Millhouse]

losing keita hurts our defense but maybe we score more. i still can't believe SU passes the ball to keita on purpose. it's like autopilot, you see a 7 footer wide open in the lane, you throw him the ball and then you slap yourself on the forehead for not realizing.

 

[CaptainJ]

Tomorrow we will be driving a 2014 Ferrari into an iced over Wegmans parking lot. Random shopping carts will be roaming the place, soccer moms and 9 year olds will be flinging doors open with abandon. A meth addled ex-con will be careening about in a 1992 Ford with a rusted out plow hanging off the front of it.

I'm more worried about further injury to our personnel than I am anything else going into that dump.

I think facing a scenario like that, it may be worth taking a bus or cab or deciding to hole up with the current provisions already on hand. And maybe some guns too, just for extra measure. I think they go well with being holed up.

 

[TBCuse11]

We will most likely lose without BMK tomorrow, but who cares. We have two bunnies after that and then he should be back for our trip to Cameron. There are worst things than heading in to Duke with a 25-1 record and a #2 ranking.

 

[jekelish]

This all is a moot point if Rak stays out of foul trouble. If he does then problem solved.

Zanna and Patterson are far from healthy and it will have an impact on them as well.

Keita or no Keita we should win this game

This, right here. Everyone has been worried about Keita and wondering what we'll do, and seems to be forgetting about our BEST center, who is fully healthy and just needs to stay out of foul trouble.

 

[orangefan13]

We will be ok with Jerami at center I don't know what the big deal is.


Not saying any of this is definite but there is a possibilliy. It gives us better ball handling at the wings in Gbinije and Roberson, and some jumpshooting. On top of that some offensive boards. We lose some experience but I am not to worried about 8-15 minutes without Rak. If anything this gives roberson and Gbinije opportunity to come out of their shell, and gives Gbinije, and Roberson less pressure to stay in the game and just play something that they haven't had all year.

Also that BJ guy is ok, if he can take his time, just sit on the perimeter and use a slower release to knock down a few jumpers. Who knows maybe he finds a clean stroke in practice the next few days. We also should be able to run the floor alittle better with Gbinije out there. Go back and watch the unc game Gbinije was a beast one of the top 3 players on the floor first half. Having 3 ball handlers is a huge plus.

 

[Trueblue25]

Christmas has always shown up for games where there was enormous pressure on him. Think about all the weight he had on his shoulders during the tournament when Fab Melo had to sit out.

 

[RF2044]

This, right here. Everyone has been worried about Keita and wondering what we'll do, and seems to be forgetting about our BEST center, who is fully healthy and just needs to stay out of foul trouble.

Easier said than done. It reminds me of the old Steve Martin skit where he gives a seminar on how to be a millionaire and pay $0 in taxes.

Step One: get a million dollars...

 

[reedny]

I'm very concerned about the Keita situation. They smoked us on the boards last time, giving them tons of extra possessions. Rak is effective in there ... to slow down Zana (who can score on the low block or from the FL) and to hit the glass. But if he gets in foul trouble, it will be hard to stop Zana inside and they'll eat us alive on the boards.

If the game is close, I hope we learned from 9 points in 64 seconds that Patterson is their go-to guy.

 

[Waltdods]

This, right here. Everyone has been worried about Keita and wondering what we'll do, and seems to be forgetting about our BEST center, who is fully healthy and just needs to stay out of foul trouble.

Yea, but Christmas has played 30+ minutes just twice all year, one of them the OT Duke game, and averages a foul every 7 minutes. The likelihood of him being able to play 35+ minutes is not that great.

 

[LennX6]

Yeah I think with them being a little beat up too its the best we could hope for with baye possibly out. Even though id rather be healthy and just wax them too.

So Baye is worth what 15 min of play? Not to minimize his effort ,and he plays his role well, but this ain't Shaq out there. We can cover 15 min that Baye would play with Gbinije and Tyler. Maybe more if they click.

 

[LennX6]

I'm very concerned about the Keita situation. They smoked us on the boards last time, giving them tons of extra possessions. Rak is effective in there ... to slow down Zana (who can score on the low block or from the FL) and to hit the glass. But if he gets in foul trouble, it will be hard to stop Zana inside and they'll eat us alive on the boards.

If the game is close, I hope we learned from 9 points in 64 seconds that Patterson is their go-to guy.

The go-to guy with a bad thumb that I am sure had something to do with him going 1-9 Saturday. We're going to be OK.

 

[RF2044]

Yea, but Christmas has played 30+ minutes just twice all year, one of them the OT Duke game, and averages a foul every 7 minutes. The likelihood of him being able to play 35+ minutes is not that great.

Especially because they are going to game plan to go right after him. My biggest fear is that they attack him and draw two fouls on Rak in the first three minutes of the game, leaving us to play shorthanded / undersized the rest of the game.

I think pitt sucks offensively. And I think we are better than them. But the great equalizer will be them being able to play dump-and-chase on the backboards even when we stop them, offsetting their offensive deficiencies.

 

[moqui]

This, right here. Everyone has been worried about Keita and wondering what we'll do, and seems to be forgetting about our BEST center, who is fully healthy and just needs to stay out of foul trouble.

that, and also JB will have to carefully utilize his time-outs to make sure he gets enough rest through the night so he is strong for the finish. Stamina for 40 minutes vs. a physical team like Pitt is an unknown (He played 29 minutes vs. Pitt this year; 21 and 17 in two meetings last year and just 7 in the one meeting his freshman season); Roc is only averaging 22 mpg this year, his season high was 34 vs. perimeter-oriented Notre Dame, and the only 40 minute game of his career was last season vs. small ball Villanova.

 

[TheOrangeBuddha]

Nonsense. Neither Minnesota nor Cal were without their "best" player.

Cal was indeed without its best player and most talented big man.

 

[RF2044]

Cal was indeed without its best player and most talented big man.

No question that Soloman is their best big man. Whether he is Cal's "best player" is at best debatable.

And Townie's statement about that also being the case for Minnesota was 100% false.

 

[Knicks411]

I assume Pitt is going to try what they normally do, protect the ball, not shoot a great %, but rebound the hell out of the ball. (It's not a bad plan, it's basically our blueprint, though we're better than them at it)

 

[TheOrangeBuddha]

No question that Soloman is their best big man. Whether he is Cal's "best player" is at best debatable.

And Townie's statement about that also being the case for Minnesota was 100% false.

Agreed

 

[ClamOtto]

Especially because they are going to game plan to go right after him. My biggest fear is that they attack him and draw two fouls on Rak in the first three minutes of the game, leaving us to play shorthanded / undersized the rest of the game.

I think pitt sucks offensively. And I think we are better than them. But the great equalizer will be them being able to play dump-and-chase on the backboards even when we stop them, offsetting their offensive deficiencies.

I'd be stunned if they didn't do that. It's basically their strategy anyway, but now their best outside shooters are hurt and we're down to one center, so it's a no-brainer. Roc should be able to control his fouls on defense but the things that worries me most is him getting called for over-the-backs when he's getting muscled out for rebounds. It's especially frustrating because most fouls on the boards could go either way, but they usually seem to go in Pitt's favor.

 

[LennX6]

that, and also JB will have to carefully utilize his time-outs to make sure he gets enough rest through the night so he is strong for the finish. Stamina for 40 minutes vs. a physical team like Pitt is an unknown (He played 29 minutes vs. Pitt this year; 21 and 17 in two meetings last year and just 7 in the one meeting his freshman season); Roc is only averaging 22 mpg this year, his season high was 34 vs. perimeter-oriented Notre Dame, and the only 40 minute game of his career was last season vs. small ball Villanova.

Be interesting to look back and see what kind of run Rak had during the run in 2012.

 

[LennX6]

No question that Soloman is their best big man. Whether he is Cal's "best player" is at best debatable.

And Townie's statement about that also being the case for Minnesota was 100% false.

I think the Minnesota thing was their journeyman center, who really looked surprisingly good early on against us, had foul trouble right from the start and basically was irrelevant after that. Sat a LONG time.

 

[Knicks411]

For some reason I was thinking of the K State game in the 2012 tournament, probably because it was mentioned in another thread. Rak went 34 minutes, 8 points, 11 boards, 3 blocks. K State was a physical, Pitt like, team. Might need more than 34 minutes out of him tomorrow though

 

[two3zone]

If not having BMK for 12-15 minutes a game makes us so bad that we lose to this banged up Pitt team I'd be disappointed. Grant playing the 5 for 12-15 shouldn't be that much if a deciding factor considering the offensive upgrade Roberson and Silent G are over BMK (yes, those two are a huge offensive upgrade).

If we lose without him no doubt we're still a great team but I would seriously change my expectations on this squad for the season. BMK is valuable in the middle of the zone but between the difference of a win or the lose he really shouldn't have that impact on this team as a whole if they're as great as we all view them. This isn't losing AO or Fab, it's not even close.