Watched the game on BIG+. Had an account from the Fairfield-Purdue game. Omoryui for Rutgers was a handful. All-Big Ten and on Kareem's watch list. Was impressed with Fields. He can definitely shoot. Thought Cook played a good game and was very impressed with Willis. His rebounding, shooting, and handled himself well in the paint.
All net proceeds from ticket sales to the 2,000 fans in attendance will benefit Team LeGrand and the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation dedicated to curing spinal cord injury.
"The winner was decided before we took the court today, and that was Eric LeGrand and the Reeve Foundation," said Head Coach Jay Young. "Eric is a great person and we're honored to be a part of this game to help such a worthy cause."
"We'll be on a plane to Wake Forest at this time next week, and for us, it was a great dress rehearsal.," Young noted. "I liked a lot of what we did as far as going 11 guys deep and seeing everybody contribute against a talented, well-coached opponent. We still have a ton to work on, but we've got more answers than we've ever had, for sure."
"I just want to thank Fairfield and Coach Young, they made this game happen," Pikiell said. "It was for the best guy that I know in Rutgers history in Eric LeGrand and we appreciate you jumping on board here. Coach Young was a huge part of building this basketball program up. When Coach Young left here he was as good of a coach and a person as there is and he's going to do unbelievable things at Fairfield."
"It was good to get our guys to play in front of some good competition," Pikiell said. "I wanted to play in front of the lights before the season started. I trust all of my guys on the roster, but I liked figuring out the rotation against a good defensive team. I liked how we shared the game today and that always starts with Paul (Mulcahy)."
Post by doowopbill on Oct 30, 2022 15:25:02 GMT -5
Good to get out and see the Stags live in action. Well we have our point guard! Caleb Fields looked and played like a[point guard who can hit the 3. Appears to be the leader we need on the court. Willis was impressive. With TY's quick substituting pattern it is hard to get a good read on some players because they are in and out so quickly and perhaps not in the flow of the game. One plus is that we have depth and appear to have a solid 9-10core that will see action. All in all, we could have something special this year.
Watched the game on Big10+. Both announcers were surprised at how athletic Fairfield was and mentioned it numerous times. I agree. It looks like the most athletic crew since the later Cooley years. We were outrebounded by 1 and 15 turnovers are too many but not a lot compared to other games played against Power5 teams over the years. These are decent numbers considering we played a Big team in their building. The team looks deep and Jay has a lot of options. Think we will match up well with all MAAC teams. I have succumbed to Stag Euphoria.
Sloppy, but I was happily surprised by Fields, Johns Jr., and Willis’s performances. I was a little disappointed with our other big men. Then again I will grant that they were up against a very talented group the likes of whom you will not find in the MAAC. Good game to get jitters out of the way.
Back from RU. Here are my impressions from the game. A decent showing by the stags. JY played a lot of players during the game. Caleb Fields will be a good point guard in the MAAC. I had heard the knock on him being his lack of an outside shot. Not the case today as he shot 3-6 , 50% from 3pt land . Not impressed by Wojcik today. He looked more like the player of last year rather then the player during his first year with the stags. TJ Long had an off day and I had heard his handle had improved. Not the case today. Makai Willis had a very good game and he will get minutes. Cook seemed to be a bit sluggish. I was told he had been injured and perhaps explains his play. AJ Rose still has not developed a consistent outside shot. Perhaps the most depth the stags have had in many years with Goodine, Maidoh , Leach and Johns all contributing today.
I was at the game today! What a great event for an awesome cause. I thought both teams played well. Being a big Rutgers guy I was excited to see what they looked like without Geo Baker & Rom Harper Jr. I was pleasantly surprised with their new addition & I am cautiously optimistic that they will compete in the BIG this year! Cliff O is poised to have a breakout year for the Scarlet Knights this year. Regarding the Stags, they gave Rutgers all they could handle. I give Pikes credit for playing the Stags this year. As everyone has said in prior post, the Stags depth in undeniable. They went 11 deep & I was really impressed with all the new additions particularly Willis & Fields. JY will have the luxury of a lot of options this year. Something that his past teams have lacked. I believe both teams came out of this event accomplishing exactly what they wanted. Can’t wait to tip off the season in a week!!
Post by brokenboat on Oct 30, 2022 20:31:07 GMT -5
We lost by 13… but let me tell you, we do not lack talent, athleticism or depth against a top half B1G team. Given some time to gel this squad can be special. My stock report 📊 below
📈 Willis - saw him hitting 3’s in warm ups then deliver in the game. Seems to be an improved version of Crisler 📈 Fields - team will be as good as it’s PG. Fields is an upgrade over Green 📈 Johns Jr - some mistakes but very good showing for your first college game 📉 Wojick - liked his energy and renewed focus but results were not there 📉 Long - forced it in the 2nd half, led to a run by Scarlet Knights and brought energy to the building we would not recover from 📉 Team FT - we suck, team need to run some sprints if they shoot below 70%
Post by nashvillestag on Oct 30, 2022 23:45:30 GMT -5
All in all not bad is how I would place this performance. Not great though, which I guess would be expected at this time of the year in a game against such a good opponent. But a very important thing to take from this contest if initial impressions prove to be true is that it looks like both the PG and PF positions have improved significantly in the form of Fields and Willis in particular and Leach and Rose as backups (although AJ started today). These were the positions that most worried me and therefore those guys looking good have me feeling pretty optimistic. And certainly as a group, Jay Young has a lot of options. Maybe a 10-11 man rotation may have to be cut down a bit as the season moves along. BOTOH it's nice to have good players available no matter who he chooses to go to. So although the Stags lost and never really looked like they were going to win, the fact is they competed well against a decent B-10 team, and that should bode well for the season ahead.
Last Edit: Oct 30, 2022 23:58:46 GMT -5 by nashvillestag
I think it was a pretty strong showing. Rutgers turned up the D in the 2nd half and the Stags had 11 TOs, which pretty much killed any chance for a win.
Willis had a real nice 1st half and looks like he has moved up in the rotation. Fields was good. Goodine and Cook had strong 2nd half performances. Johns threw in some late 3P and ended with 9 points. I feel a lot better about Leach as backup PG after watching this. AJR had a good 1st half and was quiet in the 2nd. Wojcik was decent and I think he's going to end up a more efficient player.
Maidoh struggled with defending Rutgers size and missed an epic dunk chance. Crisler had very few minutes. Long made his first shot, then missed the rest and had some poor TOs. Other 2 Stags frosh DNP. <-- I kind of expect this. IMHO they seem like perfect RS candidates (especially with the depth I saw, today).
Yeah I was thinking the same thing about possibly red-shirting the freshmen based on the apparent depth of the squad. But of course decisions like that don't have to be made for a while. Although he didn't play today, I know Rogan is quite skilled. But that said, physically he might have been in trouble in a match-up like this, something that could be improved upon with a year to work on his body. Davis, I've never seen play, and actually I don't think I saw him there today, or at least if he was there he wasn't in uniform. But anyway watching how those two are handled will be interesting to observe as we get into the season.
IMO, the play of Fields and Willis was exceptional yesterday. Of the two newcomers that recruiting services had rated highly in their prep days, I was more impressed with Johns Jr. than Goodine. I’m hoping the lack of playing time the past two seasons has made Goodine a bit rusty. Our offense could really turn out to be something if Goodine joins Cook, Wojcik, Long, Fields, and Johns Jr. as reliable scoring options. I was at the game and was confused by the double dribble that was called on Johns Jr. as he was heading down the court in the 2nd half with a fast break opportunity. Can someone explain what Johns Jr. did to receive that call since it looked like he was handling the ball fine to me. I saw lots that got me excited for the upcoming season. As rotations get more comfortable playing on the court together and a couple of guys step up their effort on defense, this could turn out to be a very memorable first season at Mahoney for the Stags.
So the second unit is Leach Long Johns Willis Maidoh
Crisler too. Pretty good right there.
Getting our rotation down to 8 or 9 is going to be difficult. I imagine it will change from game to game.
If we forge a strong identity on defense and don’t turn it over much then we’ll be really good.
BTW. So interesting that Jay hardly mentioned Willis in preseason comments. It’s not like his play yesterday took anyone on the staff by surprise. Just curious why he wasn’t talked up more. #secretweapon😊
