seriously, wtf has happened to Rodney Williams?

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He has no shot whatsoever and cannot breakdown defenders off the dribble. He can be great in transition but he really a one trick pony on the offensive end.
 

Moses87 said:
Rodney Williams Positves: Athleticism, Shot-blocking. Good kid.

Rodney Williams Negatives: Lacks fundamental skills like ball-handling and shooting technique. Bad hands. Low Basketball IQ. Not mentally tough. Not Gritty. Soft.

Add it up and you have what you have. The results fit who he is. To expect more at this point is wishful thinking.
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Rodney is playing hurt. It is perfectly reasonable to expect better results once he is healthy. Before you try to twist my words, I did not say anthing about expecting a first-team all big ten season. Simply that you can expect more than what he is currently giving once he gets healthy. This is not wishful thinking.
 

If my guy is shooting a free throw with 1.7 seconds left in the game and makes the first why as a coach would you freeze him with a substitution, did Tubby really think he needed Eliot in the game for one second? Rodney made the first, don`t stop the flow.
 

ulmer said:
If my guy is shooting a free throw with 1.7 seconds left in the game and makes the first why as a coach would you freeze him with a substitution, did Tubby really think he needed Eliot in the game for one second? Rodney made the first, don`t stop the flow.
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He put Elliot in to get an offensive rebound on a potential miss.
 

GophersOnTheRise said:
Rodney is playing hurt. It is perfectly reasonable to expect better results once he is healthy. Before you try to twist my words, I did not say anthing about expecting a first-team all big ten season. Simply that you can expect more than what he is currently giving once he gets healthy. This is not wishful thinking.
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Good points on Rodney but I think where he has lost some people is the fact that regardless of injury this isn't the first time he has gone missing at some point during the conference season.
 


WilliamsArenaGuy said:
I don't that it equates to bring athletic either. Jumping is a skill. Wouldn't an athlete be more effective at the dribble drive and making space?
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there is no space with trevor down there.. need a few clear-outs for rodney.. NIT he looked great because trevor wasn't clogging the lane
 

Costa Rican Gopher said:
I try not to rip on our players, but I've been on record for a couple years as saying Rodney's not physical at all & his psyche is very fragile. If basketball was a dunk contest he'd be an All-American.
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he's not 'fragile'... he just has a high center of gravity.. and gets rooted out of the post by 'lower' guys.. these types of games are not his style.. better to go with eliason and/or ingram.
 

Moses87 said:
Rodney Williams Positves: Athleticism, Shot-blocking. Good kid.

Rodney Williams Negatives: Lacks fundamental skills like ball-handling and shooting technique. Bad hands. Low Basketball IQ. Not mentally tough. Not Gritty. Soft.

Add it up and you have what you have. The results fit who he is. To expect more at this point is wishful thinking.
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ball handling is better this year than all previous years... i'd say average.
shooting technique is above averge... bad technique is jackson from wisky.. he launches from the hip.
rodney does have small hands.. so lets not say 'bad'... just small.
mentally and physically... he is not suited for b1g.. should have gone to the pac12 to play.
 




mnsports255 said:
Rodney can't seperate, isnt quick enough to drive past defenders, can't shoot, has no go to move, and can't finish through contact.

There you have it.
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nobody was 'driving pas defenders' today.. .so why hang that statement on rodney?
goto move is jump hook.. but doesn't have the lower body strength against a team like wisky to establish himself down low.
 

Boy, I sure hope Rodney doesn't read Gopherhole. Harsh.
 

Rodney is product of AAU basketball. Too many who coached him were infatuated with his athleticism. No one taught him how to play. It's laughable to watch him sometimes, particularly away from the ball. It's also sad because he could be an absolute beast.
 

CP Gopher said:
Rodney is product of AAU basketball. Too many who coached him were infatuated with his athleticism. No one taught him how to play. It's laughable to watch him sometimes, particularly away from the ball. It's also sad because he could be an absolute beast.
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what?? ' a product of AAU basketball'? in a negative way? he was teammates with or played against 25 others from 2009 that are D1 now.. the best class in Minnesota history... so what are the other 24 ' a product of' ?
 



I was listening to Saturday morning Gopher Hoops program(9-10am on espn1500) a week ago yesterday with Spencer and his sidekick. Sidekick said 'Rodney is not a good basketball player'. He said he is a tremendous athlete...good in transition/great leaper for rebounding and scores on put backs, BUT he is a poor shooter, can't drive with the ball in his hands and is not a good passer.

Yeah sounds harsh..........just relaying his comments.
 

Rodney has never played well during Big 10. He is too small to play inside and does not have the perimeter skills to be effective on the perimeter. He gets lost on defense and loses focus. His poor lazy attempt to help Trevor on Jackson on that last play does not translate to winning basketball. He had plenty of time to recover to Jackson after his pump fake if he was engaged. He went on a tear in NIT against mid major teams and in the beginning of the season. When he matches up against true power forwards , he is usually in trouble.
 

jumpstop said:
Rodney has never played well during Big 10. He is too small to play inside and does not have the perimeter skills to be effective on the perimeter. He gets lost on defense and loses focus. His poor lazy attempt to help Trevor on Jackson on that last play does not translate to winning basketball. He had plenty of time to recover to Jackson after his pump fake if he was engaged. He went on a tear in NIT against mid major teams and in the beginning of the season. When he matches up against true power forwards , he is usually in trouble.
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Great point on the last play. If he was aware, he would have been able to at least pressure Jackson after the fake if not even block the shot.

But he made up for it by making two free...
 

He's just the latest guy to quit on Tubby. He's great earlier in the season, Tubby calls him out, he says eff u Tubby. It's not just an owie in play here that zapped him of all basketball skills, even if he does have some limitations.
 

LongOpherDo said:
He's just the latest guy to quit on Tubby. He's great earlier in the season, Tubby calls him out, he says eff u Tubby. It's not just an owie in play here that zapped him of all basketball skills, even if he does have some limitations.
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If guys are quitting on Tubby because they are calling him out, that is one thing I will not fault Tubby for here. I hate his in game management, and if he is recruiting players who are too soft to deal with the coach being mean when they play well, then he needs to recruit tougher players. However, Herb Brooks and Bobby Knight are two coaches who were not bashful about letting their players know when they were upset (we can get into a debate about whether Bobby took it too far), but they managed to accomplish some pretty great years despite yelling at their players.
 

bleedsmaroonandgold said:
If guys are quitting on Tubby because they are calling him out, that is one thing I will not fault Tubby for here. I hate his in game management, and if he is recruiting players who are too soft to deal with the coach being mean when they play well, then he needs to recruit tougher players. However, Herb Brooks and Bobby Knight are two coaches who were not bashful about letting their players know when they were upset (we can get into a debate about whether Bobby took it too far), but they managed to accomplish some pretty great years despite yelling at their players.
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I don't think anyone is questioning Tubby for yelling at players, it's his calling them out IN PUBLIC.....two different things.
 


Like I have said in previous threads, my theory is that this team will go as far as Rodney Williams play dictates. When he plays bad he absolutely kills us. His attitude is horrible for one, but his play also is horrible which really affects the team in a negative way. Chucking up 3's on first pass of possession on offense, not finishing lay ups and following the defensive rebounder 80 feet away from the basket, missing free throws, whining and arguing with the refs, etc. I hate to be harsh on him, but he is one of the 2 elder statesmen of the team that the other players follow and take after. Trevors play is always consistent so there is no blame there. The 2 pieces that were fundamental in that great NIT run were Rodney somehow figuring out how to play consistently and actually score on offense and Dre. Dre has still been solid this year, but he's not a natural PG so turnovers have been his Achilles heel. If this team wants to step up, and eventually run a few games off in a row in the NCAA, they need Rodney to be that 3rd constant with Dre, and Trevor. When he plays great it takes all the pressure off the other players to stop pressing themselves and forcing the issue, and to just play loose and fill their normal roles. We need Rodney.
 

His game is a high pressure, run around, bring energy and jump out of the gym game. These scores are way too low for us. We need to get after them. Our problem is kids don't want to foul because two gets you to the bench for the first half so we are not pressuring the ball as we should. We need to get after them. We need a shooter, did you see how WI, laid off of our guys outside to play the drive and we cant get , they were too big, the D just collapsed and the refs were not about to bail us out. Dre creates but who else has the quicks with the ball and can create? Who else can dribble going right and left, in and out. No one on the floor. Unless we start to pressure and move this game at a quicker pace we are playing not to lose instead of playing to win. Cant be scared to make changes now and lose. They will get it together, we will be proud. Got to enjoy watching young men mature as well as trying to win games. I gotta go and fill my coffee cup, its only half full.
 

Scoreboard said:
His game is a high pressure, run around, bring energy and jump out of the gym game. These scores are way too low for us. We need to get after them. Our problem is kids don't want to foul because two gets you to the bench for the first half so we are not pressuring the ball as we should. We need to get after them. We need a shooter, did you see how WI, laid off of our guys outside to play the drive and we cant get , they were too big, the D just collapsed and the refs were not about to bail us out. Dre creates but who else has the quicks with the ball and can create? Who else can dribble going right and left, in and out. No one on the floor. Unless we start to pressure and move this game at a quicker pace we are playing not to lose instead of playing to win. Cant be scared to make changes now and lose. They will get it together, we will be proud. Got to enjoy watching young men mature as well as trying to win games. I gotta go and fill my coffee cup, its only half full.
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How many fouls do we commit 30+ feet from the basket? At times I think we collect more fouls than turnovers with our pressure D.
 

station19 said:
How many fouls do we commit 30+ feet from the basket? At times I think we collect more fouls than turnovers with our pressure D.
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Good point, however you remember the first games of the season, we overwhelmed teams and our kids were light on their feet and fast, now we seem to be set back on heels with less energy. We cannot be successful at the recent pace of games, as evidence by the recent outcome of games.
 

Scoreboard said:
Good point, however you remember the first games of the season, we overwhelmed teams and our kids were light on their feet and fast, now we seem to be set back on heels with less energy. We cannot be successful at the recent pace of games, as evidence by the recent outcome of games.
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The speed of the opposition also comes into play.
 


It was either Jim Peterson or Flip Saunders who called Rodney a poor man's Wesley Johnson.
 

Honestly, Rodney is more to blame IMO than tubby for this years team, in all of our losses the one player who did not show up in any of the games was Rodney, and I am not talking scoring, the guy hasn't done anything, atleast he USED to rebound consistantly.
 

Rodney still cant dribble or shoot well - at all. Fundamentals of the game.

Rodney hasnt developed well - how much of his development is tied to coaching is up for some debate.
 

tinyarch said:
It was either Jim Peterson or Flip Saunders who called Rodney a poor man's Wesley Johnson.
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My initial thought when he was a senior in high school was that he was Brent Pettway. To be honest he has exceeded expectations for me even though I'd call this last stretch of games highly disappointing considering what he was able to accomplish late last season.
 

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