The Ross Enigma

[AllHusky]

Ahmad got 6 vs Nova, not garbage time. He was not scary, love to see him again for 10+

 

[Scottobot]

Stewart looked good last night. It’s his 3rd good game. I think he has earned to get some of Ross’s minutes and more PT. he played well on both offense and defense last night. Best defense he has played all year in my opinion.

..and then he follows it up with a stinker of a game against Georgetown. The reason Stewart is not getting more minutes, is he follows up every good game with a really bad one. Ross outplayed Stewar against Georgetown, but Ross shot still looking pretty rough.

 

[cp176]

I don’t really think that Stewart’s game was a stinker. He made some good contributions. I am questioning why you would ever let Ross bring the ball in bounds.

 

[Palatine]

Ahmad got 6 vs Nova, not garbage time. He was not scary, love to see him again for 10+

No. Mahaney gives us much more especially since he is starting to pick up his D. There may be a game where it makes sense to give him 10 minutes but not every game. IF AN gets a few meaningful minutes a game, he will improve. If it saves us a foul on Diarrra or AM , it's of value.

 

[alphasigko]

Ross had a straight drive to the hoop for a slam in the 1st half but he just stopped driving and put up a brick! Really? He lacks BBIQ, I think.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Ross had a straight drive to the hoop for a slam in the 1st half but he just stopped driving and put up a brick! Really? He lacks BBIQ, I think.

Head scratching. That sums up my issue with him, it’s like he panicked. There was no one within 10 feet of the hoop.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

Yet another game of nice progress for Ross and that only helps this team come, February March and April…

Im mystified at the people in this thread saying Ross’s shot looks horrible…it’s technically sound. He had three clean pretty looking threes today… One of them nothing but net, another one halfway down and rattled back out. A beautiful reverse layup. A great alley oop dunk as well.

And the best defense he’s played against a quality team so far…

Yes, he had that one crazy brain fart missed opportunity for a highlight dunk, but I’m willing to bet he may not do that again.

Let’s root hard for this kid instead of being d-bags.

 

[AllHusky]

No. Mahaney gives us much more especially since he is starting to pick up his D. There may be a game where it makes sense to give him 10 minutes but not every game. IF AN gets a few meaningful minutes a game, he will improve. If it saves us a foul on Diarrra or AM , it's of value.

Mahaney has greater body of work, his D is improving, helped us beat Georgetown today. Don’t think Nowell to Mahaney is apples to apples just yet. The only way to see is if Nowell get 15 min or so a game for the next month and then discuss. Could be a difference maker.

 

[jibsey]

Yet another game of nice progress for Ross and that only helps this team come, February March and April…

Im mystified at the people in this thread saying Ross’s shot looks horrible…it’s technically sound. He had three clean pretty looking threes today… One of them nothing but net, another one halfway down and rattled back out. A beautiful reverse layup. A great alley oop dunk as well.

And the best defense he’s played against a quality team so far…

Yes, he had that one crazy brain fart missed opportunity for a highlight dunk, but I’m willing to bet he may not do that again.

Let’s root hard for this kid instead of being d-bags.

He played a very good game today and after Nova it was good to see.

 

[Hoophound]

Head scratching. That sums up my issue with him, it’s like he panicked. There was no one within 10 feet of the hoop.

My thought at the time was as that he expected a cutter and picked up his dribble but no one flashed to the hoop. He would have had an easy dunk if he kept his dribble. He was being unselfish—-but we want our guys to be very selfish when it comes to dunks.

Not sure if Samson or Reed was on the floor at the time but both are usually pretty good about heading to the basket in those instances.

 

[lateralous]

Yet another game of nice progress for Ross and that only helps this team come, February March and April…

Im mystified at the people in this thread saying Ross’s shot looks horrible…it’s technically sound. He had three clean pretty looking threes today… One of them nothing but net, another one halfway down and rattled back out. A beautiful reverse layup. A great alley oop dunk as well.

And the best defense he’s played against a quality team so far…

Yes, he had that one crazy brain fart missed opportunity for a highlight dunk, but I’m willing to bet he may not do that again.

Let’s root hard for this kid instead of being d-bags.

I don't think anyone is rooting against him, it's now just a calculation of if we still think investing major minutes in him this season will create some sort of defensive stopper by March, or if this is more of a '25-'26 project. If it's the latter, there's nothing wrong with that. I just think that with a lot of the Coach's comments in the summer and fall, we were set up as fans to expect quite a bit more from him this season.

While McNeeley is out, I'm all for letting him get a little more experience but once Liam comes back, we need to free up 30ish minutes from the current rotation and I think most of Ross's time will go towards that.

 

[Umami Zen]

Hurley's confidence in Ross is starting to work. Still hesitates between using his natural instincts and what coach would want him to do. Part of maturing as a BE player.

 

[Waquoit]

Hurley's confidence in Ross is starting to work. Still hesitates between using his natural instincts and what coach would want him to do. Part of maturing as a BE player.

Dan Hurley has a plan for every player. He puts them in positions to succeed.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

Head scratching. That sums up my issue with him, it’s like he panicked. There was no one within 10 feet of the hoop.

He was made in a lab for that moment. The seas parted and he could have thrown down an absolute viscous dunk.

 

[Umami Zen]

Dan Hurley has a plan for every player. He puts them in positions to succeed.

I'm hearing your noise

 

[ctchamps]

Hurley's confidence in Ross is starting to work. Still hesitates between using his natural instincts and what coach would want him to do. Part of maturing as a BE player.

First game where he didn’t hesitate. Except for that one play. I was very excited about that. As well as his defense of Peavy who is a senior.

He played 100 minutes last year. That compares with 329 for Stewart and 450 for Solo. Most of his minutes were in garbage time. He’s more a redshirt freshman than a sophomore experience wise.

One game is not a trend. Given most of the posters are from Missouri we’ll have to see if he can continue this development over the course of this season. But it was nice to get a glimpse of what Hurley sees in practice.

 

[Scottobot]

Yet another game of nice progress for Ross and that only helps this team come, February March and April…

Im mystified at the people in this thread saying Ross’s shot looks horrible…it’s technically sound. He had three clean pretty looking threes today… One of them nothing but net, another one halfway down and rattled back out. A beautiful reverse layup. A great alley oop dunk as well.

And the best defense he’s played against a quality team so far…

Yes, he had that one crazy brain fart missed opportunity for a highlight dunk, but I’m willing to bet he may not do that again.

Let’s root hard for this kid instead of being d-bags.

Ross’s shooting form looks fine, but he looks uncomfortable on offense. He has this manic energy and nothing is smooth. I am hoping it’s just a confidence issue, and after a good game or two he chills out and then levels up. Today was probably his best game of season.

 

[ucp990411]

Ross’s biggest issue I think is that he looks nervous and unsure at times. He seems to have the physical tools but needs experience and allow the game to slow down for him.

 

[microfich]

That one brain fart: Ross has open 3 but pulls it down and begins drive to hoop when unexpectedly no one is there and it pulls his plug. It happens and always looks ugly.

He had a very good game, though, while Stewart played behind the scenes in this one.

If we can get the good Ross or Stewart every game then Danny is more than a genius, he's a wizard.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

I thought this was a Ludlum novel.

This whole thread could’ve been penned by Grace Metalious.

 

[Palatine]

I don't think Ross had a straight line to the basket. He was going to be cut off (at least from my angle), so he stopped. If he hit the little floater no one would care, or think he made a great play. But he got caught in between. It happens.

IMHO, he needs to be put into these positions to grow. It looks worse than it was because he was indecisive. But I don't believe he would have stopped, if he thought he had a free path to the basket. It's the speed of the decision making that has to improve and that comes with experience. He needs to trust his instincts and go through the guy, put up the floater immediately, or take the ball back out.

 

[AllHusky]

Some athletes super power is decision making. It is not Jaydens. He will develop that skill only through repetitions of play, watch film, practice rinse and repeat. Showing signs that good decision making is not terribly far away.

Dribble drive is next on the agenda.

 

[Spaceman213J]

Ross’s biggest issue I think is that he looks nervous and unsure at times. He seems to have the physical tools but needs experience and allow the game to slow down for him.

A guy who coached Ross when he was younger told me he thinks he has a high basketball IQ, but that he is playing afraid right now maybe even over thinking. Remember, there's a reason why it those who are slow and those who hesitate are the first to perish in the wild. Someone already wrote about giving up a dunk and settling for a jumper. I said it in another post, that he knows where the ball goes in the offense, but he is at times so beholden to the system that he doesn't even look for a teammate cutting or flaring.
Also, I'd like to see him in Solo 'hit' more people in the offense. Watch Karaban on the floor. He gets some easy baskets once in a while, but he more often than not is looking to set a solid screen or make another defender aware he's roaming around and setting picks. There was one play in particular where the defender went wide and he hopped to his right, stuck out his elbow (which thankfully did NOT make contact because it could be an illegal screen), but after the player went wide he still reached out and just tapped the player in the back with the palm of his hand like to say "I'm still here.". He gets open more often on those back cuts because all the defenders are looking for him and sometimes 2 guys decide to cover 1 player... sometimes Karaban or sometimes Solo or another player on the perimeter.

 

[RuffRuff]

A guy who coached Ross when he was younger told me he thinks he has a high basketball IQ, but that he is playing afraid right now maybe even over thinking. Remember, there's a reason why it those who are slow and those who hesitate are the first to perish in the wild. Someone already wrote about giving up a dunk and settling for a jumper. I said it in another post, that he knows where the ball goes in the offense, but he is at times so beholden to the system that he doesn't even look for a teammate cutting or flaring.
Also, I'd like to see him in Solo 'hit' more people in the offense. Watch Karaban on the floor. He gets some easy baskets once in a while, but he more often than not is looking to set a solid screen or make another defender aware he's roaming around and setting picks. There was one play in particular where the defender went wide and he hopped to his right, stuck out his elbow (which thankfully did NOT make contact because it could be an illegal screen), but after the player went wide he still reached out and just tapped the player in the back with the palm of his hand like to say "I'm still here.". He gets open more often on those back cuts because all the defenders are looking for him and sometimes 2 guys decide to cover 1 player... sometimes Karaban or sometimes Solo or another player on the perimeter.

Good intel - suggests we should remain patient with his development. He’s certainly an amazingly well spoken kid, so I can believe it.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

I don't think Ross had a straight line to the basket. He was going to be cut off (at least from my angle), so he stopped. If he hit the little floater no one would care, or think he made a great play. But he got caught in between. It happens.

IMHO, he needs to be put into these positions to grow. It looks worse than it was because he was indecisive. But I don't believe he would have stopped, if he thought he had a free path to the basket. It's the speed of the decision making that has to improve and that comes with experience. He needs to trust his instincts and go through the guy, put up the floater immediately, or take the ball back out.

I saw the same thing from my angle. It should’ve been a simple pump fake into a pull up jumper. He looked shocked at how open he was and almost passed it.