Most underrated player on the team Rak Christmas

[Alsacs]

This kid has improved on defense and has developed a nice low post game. He isn't an elite post up guy, but he is getting better and giving us some offense that we need. Rak tonight was 4 for 4 and 2 for 2 from the FT line with 10 huge points. This kid is an important cog to cut the nets down in April.

 

[KaiserUEO]

And he was one our most important recruits at 1 time.

Almost went to that dc school, crazy.

 

[Cuse315Pat]

I think it's a tie between Rak and Gbinije

Gbinije has been playing stellar defense, got his FT% much higher, has a 3 to 1 assist to turnover ratio. Hitting 50% from 3 helping us stretch the D even though Cooney goes out. And quite frankly, can guard his man around the perimeter better than Cooney.

Hard to get a kid to play as tough as he has been when he gets such low minutes. I've never been thankful for Duke until he came along.

 

[dasher]

I think it's a tie between Rak and Gbinije

Gbinije has been playing stellar defense, got his FT% much higher, has a 3 to 1 assist to turnover ratio. Hitting 50% from 3 helping us stretch the D even though Cooney goes out. And quite frankly, can guard his man around the perimeter better than Cooney.

Hard to get a kid to play as tough as he has been when he gets such low minutes. I've never been thankful for Duke until he came along.

Not even close. Rak is a lot more important.

 

[themorey]

I think the most important Xmas stat was how he was able to play, and play effectively, when JB left him in with 4 fouls. That was a huge step forward. The 2 jump hooks were pretty as well.

 

[rrlbees]

I agree it is Rak. He's coming along offensively. Just wish he could rebound better. Pitt had 5-6 straight possessions where they seemed to get 2-3-4 chances on the offensive glass. At least it felt that way. We couldn't grab a damn rebound. It wasn't just Rak, but he's the center.

 

[LennX6]

Two things. 71.4 pct from the floor AND the line this year and remember when he used to get the 3 trillion award? Look at the box score today, he filled it out quite nicely.

 

[Cuse315Pat]

Not even close. Rak is a lot more important.

You could say Baye is just as valuable as Rak though. Hey plays better defense which we need. Only advantage Rak has over him is blocks and some less turnovers. Although I would rather have Rak on offense, Baye is also shooting very well from the line and field, he just takes less shots.

I would say Rak is the biggest surprise value for us, but this is what we expected from him last year, and what many expected two years ago.

 

[two3zone]

Starting to look like Rak is higher up on JBs trust chart than BMK.

 

[LennX6]

You could say Baye is just as valuable as Rak though. Hey plays better defense which we need. Only advantage Rak has over him is blocks and some less turnovers. Although I would rather have Rak on offense, Baye is also shooting very well from the line and field, he just takes less shots.

Baye played really good D today but he ain't winning the Good Hands Award for today.

 

[Cuse315Pat]

Baye played really good D today but he ain't winning the Good Hands Award for today.

Eh, the funny thing is two of his blocks got credited to CJ lol. And the turnover he had on the baseline he was shoved out. Oh well.

I will say this, Rak needs to be rewarded more often. So many times tonight in the first half he played good D, or hustled for a big loose ball, ran down and got right in front of the rim with his man on his back, under the backboard. Nobody gave him the ball, and there was no help defender anywhere close, which could have easily resulted in jump hooks or alley oops.

Gotta reward the big fella more often. If his defender is under the rim, get him the ball.

 

[Dave85]

Not even close. Rak is a lot more important.

Yes, but Silent G's contribution is very important.

 

[supp]

This kid has improved on defense and has developed a nice low post game. He isn't an elite post up guy, but he is getting better and giving us some offense that we need. Rak tonight was 4 for 4 and 2 for 2 from the FT line with 10 huge points. This kid is an important cog to cut the nets down in April.

And he can take some punishment on the inside. Zanna is no slouch compared to Pitt's previous Foreign Guys when it comes to gooning it up.

 

[Cusejuicy]

I'm thrilled to see Rak making some noise out there. Always liked the kid and its good seeing him play so much better this year. Have to think Hop is behind some of that.

 

[rrlbees]

Baye played really good D today but he ain't winning the Good Hands Award for today.

Baye has bad hands, but like I mentioned to Jake a couple times today, none of our bigs, Baye, Rak, Grant or Fair have strong hands. Great athletes but damn, we have our hands on so many balls that just get knocked out.

 

[orangefan13]

Baye has bad hands, but like I mentioned to Jake a couple times today, none of our bigs, Baye, Rak, Grant or Fair have strong hands. Great athletes but damn, we have our hands on so many balls that just get knocked out.

 

[KaiserUEO]

Baye has bad hands, but like I mentioned to Jake a couple times today, none of our bigs, Baye, Rak, Grant or Fair have strong hands. Great athletes but damn, we have our hands on so many balls that just get knocked out.

Coleman would've grabbed some. Just his size alone clears space for him, so the board wouldn't have been so competitive. Which yes...it seemed we lost every goddamn 1.

 

[orangefan13]

I love Baye but in a toughness game like this where they are pounding it inside dajuans wide body could be a help just in the same way that keita has had better games at center then Xmas a few of the last games. Plus it would be fun to have someone strong like Dajuan against Pitt.

 

[Cuse315Pat]

I love Baye but in a toughness game like this where they are pounding it inside dajuans wide body could be a help just in the same way that keita has had better games at center then Xmas a few of the last games. Plus it would be fun to have someone strong like Dajuan against Pitt.

Yeah we could really use his size whether he gets the rebound or not at least he can box out or tip the ball. He's too big to not be used.

 

[swish7]

This kid has improved on defense and has developed a nice low post game. He isn't an elite post up guy, but he is getting better and giving us some offense that we need. Rak tonight was 4 for 4 and 2 for 2 from the FT line with 10 huge points. This kid is an important cog to cut the nets down in April.

I am not sure one can be underrated after their 2nd good game, but I do agree with everything else. With DC non-existent, and BMK solely the energy bunny role, Rak is oh-so important to this team.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

You could say Baye is just as valuable as Rak though. Hey plays better defense which we need. Only advantage Rak has over him is blocks and some less turnovers. Although I would rather have Rak on offense, Baye is also shooting very well from the line and field, he just takes less shots.

I like Baye, but Christmas is by far the more productive player and it isn't even close.

 

[Cuse315Pat]

I like Baye, but Christmas is by far the more productive player and it isn't even close.

Ehh.. Rak averages 3 more minutes and scores 3.4 more points with a better FG%. Rak at 71% and Baye at 58%. Rak gets .4 more blocks Other than that, their actual production stats are identical. Literally, almost identical. I'd take better all around defense over 3 points on most nights tbh. But Rak seems to be breaking out into what most of us thought he'd be on offense for the past couple years. He's now dropping less passes than Baye is, no question. His defense is slowly getting better.

 

[jdubs30]

Our best post player since Rick Jackson, except he doesn't get nearly the touches. As each game goes by their finding him more, he'll be a force in a month.

He has a year left too...seems like he's been here for 9 years!!

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Ehh.. Rak averages 3 more minutes and scores 3.4 more points with a better FG%. Rak at 71% and Baye at 58%. Rak gets .4 more blocks Other than that, their actual production stats are identical. Literally, almost identical. I'd take better all around defense over 3 points on most nights tbh. But Rak seems to be breaking out into what most of us thought he'd be on offense for the past couple years. He's now dropping less passes than Baye is, no question. His defense is slowly getting better.

I think the three points are big, because we're not talking about a difference between 8 points and 11 points. We're talking about no scoring vs some scoring.

 

[Cuse315Pat]

I think the three points are big, because we're not talking about a difference between 8 points and 11 points. We're talking about no scoring vs some scoring.

True, I didn't think of it that way. But also, it seems to depend on how he shows up on D as well. There's times where Rak doesn't bother to step out to the gaps when opponent's, such as Pitt's big men, take that shot from the FT line in the middle of our zone. Next thing you know, he gives up eight points from that spot. That's what Pitt did, and that's what teams like Notre Dame and Marquette have always done to us in the past. Those are the moments when JB brings Baye in cause Rak rotates late. Baye tends to jump up to that gap and defend it very fast. Those eight points from the middle of the zone is more than he and Baye score together to counter it.