Haas getting softer.....

[Bob the Boiler]

I think the coaching staff needs to tell Haas to toughen up. He is 7'-2", 300 lbs and had 6 points and 3 rebounds against Minnesota. This cannot happen if we are going to win Big Ten, or tournament games. I think they need to tell him to dunk the damn ball or get fouled trying to dunk the ball. Too many missed lay-ups. Also - if you don't get 10 rebounds a game, you will run the entire next practice. Right now, he looks like Craig Riley from yesteryear. Big as hell, but super soft.

 

[pharoutengineer]

He does seem to play a little soft, but in my eyes the problem lies more in the effort he puts forth, primarily with loose balls and rebounding. Maybe it's just because I've gotten used to seeing Biggie going nuts down there snagging rebounds left and right so I have a higher bar now. But it seems like Haas spends a lot of time standing flat-footed hoping the ball comes to him, or over-reacting to contact hoping for a foul rather than just bulling his way in there to grab the ball.

 

[Boiler Buck]

I think the coaching staff needs to tell Haas to toughen up. He is 7'-2", 300 lbs and had 6 points and 3 rebounds against Minnesota. This cannot happen if we are going to win Big Ten, or tournament games. I think they need to tell him to dunk the damn ball or get fouled trying to dunk the ball. Too many missed lay-ups. Also - if you don't get 10 rebounds a game, you will run the entire next practice. Right now, he looks like Craig Riley from yesteryear. Big as hell, but super soft.

Soft? I just think him and Dakota partied too hard on New Year's Eve and had a problem getting up to game speed the next day accordingly. Their play sure looked that way.

It is way hard for anyone to get 10 rbs a game.....so that was a bit over the top too. No one in B1G averaged 10 rbs last year did they?

 

[Casey and his Brother]

He's been scouted. Too easy to game plan against now. Drive on him, and you'll get to the rim every time. If you have a post player over 6'6", he'll swat Haas every time, so you've eliminated him offensively too. Dude plays below the rim. I thought Painter had it figured out and used him perfectly against Iowa. Then Rick Pitino schooled him a second time. Hopefully daddy is busy the next time we play Minnesota.

 

[Boiler Wolf]

Not having anyone close to his size to practice against may be making it harder for him to play at game speed. What a luxury it was having both him and AJ for 2 years.

 

[BoilerInChiTown]

I think the coaching staff needs to tell Haas to toughen up. He is 7'-2", 300 lbs and had 6 points and 3 rebounds against Minnesota. This cannot happen if we are going to win Big Ten, or tournament games. I think they need to tell him to dunk the damn ball or get fouled trying to dunk the ball. Too many missed lay-ups. Also - if you don't get 10 rebounds a game, you will run the entire next practice. Right now, he looks like Craig Riley from yesteryear. Big as hell, but super soft.

I hate to break this to you, but Haas will never average 10 rebs per game. Rebounding is about positioning, reaction, knack for the ball and very little to do with height (A couple of good example is Barkley & Rodman). He doesn't have any of those qualities.
He need to be tougher for sure, but I think he is losing some confidence as his role is diminishing at critical moments of certain games. He will need to get over this, as we will need a smaller and quicker liner up against certain smaller and quicker teams like Nova, Louisville and MN. I think against these teams we need Biggie, VE, DM, CE and PJ starting. Against bigger teams it should be Hass, Biggie, VE/DM (whoever is playing better), CE and PJ starting.
Without Biggie next year, Haas rebounding number won't go up much at all, and that's why I'm afraid that rebounding for next year will be our biggest deficiency unless we recruit one. I think we have 2 schollies available with Biggie leaving, so we need to use it wisely. Otherwise we will get out-rebounded on a pretty regular basis, as I'm not seeing anyway anyhow with next year roster making this up with Biggie leaving.

 

[Mgkcbb]

Hes a good, solid backup center. He should be coming off the bench and playing 12-15 mins a game.

 

[StickPurdue]

I honestly don't think it is about his toughness at all. If he is remotely physical, he is called for a foul. He is constantly punished for his size. When he aggressive they hit him with a charge. His game is far better for the NBA. The other teams also constantly mug him relentlessly. If they called him like they did a 6'8 player, he would be at the line far more often and would be allowed to fight for position for rebounds. He doesn't have the instinct of Biggie, but considering he is second in rebounding there aren't many that do. I was watching Haarms and he has a much better touch near the rim and he isn't near as big so maybe he won't have the same issue with the refs. It will likely be a long time before we get another player like Biggie, so we need to enjoy him while he is here.

 

[BoiledSteel]

I honestly don't think it is about his toughness at all. If he is remotely physical, he is called for a foul. He is constantly punished for his size. When he aggressive they hit him with a charge. His game is far better for the NBA. The other teams also constantly mug him relentlessly. If they called him like they did a 6'8 player, he would be at the line far more often and would be allowed to fight for position for rebounds. He doesn't have the instinct of Biggie, but considering he is second in rebounding there aren't many that do. I was watching Haarms and he has a much better touch near the rim and he isn't near as big so maybe he won't have the same issue with the refs. It will likely be a long time before we get another player like Biggie, so we need to enjoy him while he is here.

Exactly this. Haas was aggressive out of the gate but the constant whistles appear to be what is holding him back more than him being soft.

 

[FirstDownB]

Not having anyone close to his size to practice against may be making it harder for him to play at game speed. What a luxury it was having both him and AJ for 2 years.

Except he isn't going up against anyone his size in games either. If anything, not having a 6'9" long armed athletic guy like Taylor to practice against probably hurts more.

 

[Dryfly88]

I think most agree that we are better when we have been playing the smaller line-up. That said, if IH is only going to play 15 minutes or so, why not be super aggressive during those minutes? If he truly is being tentative because of fear of foul calls, just tell him to not worry about that now. Whenever you are in the game just go full speed and power. If there is a game where CS gets into foul trouble and isn't going to be playing 35 minutes then IH might have to be reigned in, but he is a smart guy and should be able to handle that.

 

[BoilerDeac]

I hate to break this to you, but Haas will never average 10 rebs per game. Rebounding is about positioning, reaction, knack for the ball and very little to do with height (A couple of good example is Barkley & Rodman). He doesn't have any of those qualities.
He need to be tougher for sure, but I think he is losing some confidence as his role is diminishing at critical moments of certain games. He will need to get over this, as we will need a smaller and quicker liner up against certain smaller and quicker teams like Nova, Louisville and MN. I think against these teams we need Biggie, VE, DM, CE and PJ starting. Against bigger teams it should be Hass, Biggie, VE/DM (whoever is playing better), CE and PJ starting.
Without Biggie next year, Haas rebounding number won't go up much at all, and that's why I'm afraid that rebounding for next year will be our biggest deficiency unless we recruit one. I think we have 2 schollies available with Biggie leaving, so we need to use it wisely. Otherwise we will get out-rebounded on a pretty regular basis, as I'm not seeing anyway anyhow with next year roster making this up with Biggie leaving.

Barkley and Rodman were both INSANE athletes. Haas does not have the hops that either of those guys did.

 

[*4purdue*]

Soft? I just think him and Dakota partied too hard on New Year's Eve and had a problem getting up to game speed the next day accordingly. Their play sure looked that way.

It is way hard for anyone to get 10 rbs a game.....so that was a bit over the top too. No one in B1G averaged 10 rbs last year did they?

It's hard to get 10 boards a game, but at 7'2, I wouldn't think you'd have to work to hard to get 6-8 a game.

 

[icewind7]

What Haas actually needs is a yoga class to improve his flexibility?!

 

[TopSecretBoiler]

can someone show him some Shaq video from college? Or maybe it's better from his later pro years when he wasn't as athletic. Get the ball deep in the post, drop step, dunk. Honestly how hard is it for a 7 2 300 pound guy to do this? He doesn't seem to have the will power to dominate.

 

[bonefish1]

Athletically, Haas is a few notches above your typical big stiff. He's very slow off the floor and lacks explosiveness. There's not much you can do about that, that's genetics.
But, he does have the advantage of being 7'2, 290, (genetics also...) so he's got to figure out what defenses are doing to him and counter that with his advantages of size.
He's really go to figure out how to handle the double teams because that's killing him and now Painter can't trust him late in a close game because of it.

 

[BuilderBob6]

I think most agree that we are better when we have been playing the smaller line-up. That said, if IH is only going to play 15 minutes or so, why not be super aggressive during those minutes? If he truly is being tentative because of fear of foul calls, just tell him to not worry about that now. Whenever you are in the game just go full speed and power. If there is a game where CS gets into foul trouble and isn't going to be playing 35 minutes then IH might have to be reigned in, but he is a smart guy and should be able to handle that.

Because you never know when fouls are going to happen. Haas could rack up the fouls in the first half. Biggie picks a couple quick ones in the second and now we're stuck. It's hard to predict and game plan for fouls.

 

[BoilerNGold013]

My biggest problem with him is his passing. Looks like about 15% of the time he can make the correct read out of the double team. Against upper level coaches with the players to use, the doubles come hard and they come from different angles. I was hoping his passing alone would have taken off from 2nd to 3rd year but it appears it has not. Teams should continue a hard double on him every single time down low and force us to beat them from three. The problem is is that IH freezes too many times when the hard double comes or the plays don't (sigh) MOVE when we is getting attacked to give proper lanes.

 

[Dryfly88]

Because you never know when fouls are going to happen. Haas could rack up the fouls in the first half. Biggie picks a couple quick ones in the second and now we're stuck. It's hard to predict and game plan for fouls.

By IH being tentative we are in essence "game planning" for fouls. It doesn't do any good for him to play 15-20 minutes of tentative basketball and end the game with 2 fouls. We would be better off with 10-15 minutes of hard aggressive play. It doesn't mean he's a bull in a china shop, but just play aggressive and smart when he's in there. Playing aggressive isn't just knocking people over, it's also taking the ball to the basket with authority instead of laying it up under the basket with your off hand.

 

[BuilderBob6]

I

By IH being tentative we are in essence "game planning" for fouls. It doesn't do any good for him to play 15-20 minutes of tentative basketball and end the game with 2 fouls. We would be better off with 10-15 minutes of hard aggressive play. It doesn't mean he's a bull in a china shop, but just play aggressive and smart when he's in there. Playing aggressive isn't just knocking people over, it's also taking the ball to the basket with authority instead of laying it up under the basket with your off hand.

It's like you're trying to treat the basketball game like a real life scenario.
Haas plays the way he plays. To some extent, he has been conditioned by the way the games have been called his first two years.......which has been said by others. But it seems like you think he has a switch that can be turned to aggressive or tentative. While I think a player with four fouls can play not to get another, 99% of the time these guys are just playing. They work on their issues in practice and then they go play. No player is gonna say to himself on the court "I can just go play more aggressively in the first half and not worry about fouls." The LAST thing we need Haas doing right now is thinking more on the court. He just needs to stop overthinking and play.
"Just play smart AND aggressive" sounds easy on a message board but harder in a game when you are the size of Isaac. Play aggressive but don't knock people down. He knocks people down NOW, playing the way he is.
All it takes is one Haas elbow in the wrong spot with the wrong ref and he is watching on the bench for the rest of the game.
Haas is walking a fine line every time he's on the floor. He can be much better with decisions and execution but he has to careful how he plays. Tough spot imo.

 

[Dryfly88]

I

It's like you're trying to treat the basketball game like a real life scenario.
Haas plays the way he plays. To some extent, he has been conditioned by the way the games have been called his first two years.......which has been said by others. But it seems like you think he has a switch that can be turned to aggressive or tentative. While I think a player with four fouls can play not to get another, 99% of the time these guys are just playing. They work on their issues in practice and then they go play. No player is gonna say to himself on the court "I can just go play more aggressively in the first half and not worry about fouls." The LAST thing we need Haas doing right now is thinking more on the court. He just needs to stop overthinking and play.
"Just play smart AND aggressive" sounds easy on a message board but harder in a game when you are the size of Isaac. Play aggressive but don't knock people down. He knocks people down NOW, playing the way he is.
All it takes is one Haas elbow in the wrong spot with the wrong ref and he is watching on the bench for the rest of the game.
Haas is walking a fine line every time he's on the floor. He can be much better with decisions and execution but he has to careful how he plays. Tough spot imo.

What does that mean? How is that different than play smart and aggressive? I think we are looking for the same thing from IH. Just play your game and quit being tentative. I brought up the fouls only because I know with a guy his size he is probably going to pick up a few more. But honestly with the rotations the way they have been going and CS playing 30-35 minutes it really doesn't matter if IH were to pick up a few more.

 

[FirstDownB]

In my book, IH picking up an offensive foul for being big and aggressive around the basket is easily forgivable. In fact I would argue in any given game (unless he's having his way with an over-matched opponent) if he's not at least come close to picking up an offensive foul then he's not being aggressive enough. He is the biggest and strongest guy on the court every game. Push the boundary and then adjust to the whistles. I don't think that is an unfair expectation for a D1 player.

IH is who he is. He's not a swiss army knife, he's a hammer. You get 5 fouls. Use them wisely and mind your elbows.

 

[bonefish1]

In my book, IH picking up an offensive foul for being big and aggressive around the basket is easily forgivable. In fact I would argue in any given game (unless he's having his way with an over-matched opponent) if he's not at least come close to picking up an offensive foul then he's not being aggressive enough. He is the biggest and strongest guy on the court every game. Push the boundary and then adjust to the whistles. I don't think that is an unfair expectation for a D1 player.

IH is who he is. He's not a swiss army knife, he's a hammer. You get 5 fouls. Use them wisely and mind your elbows.

I agree. Use your advantages to see what the refs will call. Unless it's a clear charge, refs will usually give the offensive player the BOTD anyway.
Also, even if you do pick up an offensive foul, keep going to the well. Rarely will they call a guy for the questionable foul twice.