December 1, 2022

Is MJ Rice that dude?

For a moment in time, I was very worried about MJ Rice, and not only because he had kidney stones and that seems like it absolutely sucked. The basketball timing could not have been worse. This is the part of the season where Self is feeling things out and letting guys play. The threshold for mistakes isn’t “high,” per se, but it’s much higher than it will be in February. (Self’s late arrival either helps or hurts this aspect, I can’t decide). Would MJ Rice have the opportunity to prove he belongs in the rotation?

[Laughing at past self] I WAS SO NAIVE BACK THEN! In the wake of the putrid offensive performance against Tennessee, a third scorer needed to emerge to take the pressure off of Jalen and Gradey. Plenty of dudes had the chance to audition—the big guys are… not close yet, although seizing the caroms from Zach Clemence bricks was serviceable offense in the UT game. In the end, it was apparent that two-non-shooting-guard lineups Were Not It. Against Texas Southern, MJ Rice met the moment.

I love to follow up A TAKE with a slight backpedal, so here it is: I don’t want to confuse THE solution with A solution, and I’m probably guilty of that here. MJ Rice excites me!

What Rice gives this offense feels transformative. With Wilson and Dick, it’s going to be a spread-out attack1. There’s lots of room for someone who can get to the rim easily with breakneck drives to the hole. It’s the real change of pace that the offense needs, variety-wise—we don’t need Rice to score 20, but we need the threat of it to suck up some gravity when the ball gets sticky.

Also Rice… has a pretty clean release on his jumper? He’s only 2 of 9 so far from three, so it’s not a huge part of his game. Still, he’s not going to need to take contested threes all that often, he just needs defenders to think it’s possible. If you contest too hard on Rice, he’s going to blow by you for a layup or free throws. It’s what we need, and I’m excited that a convenient breakout game popped up in the narrative. It’s early and talk about limited data, but his ORTG over 100 possessions is 106.9. That’ll play.

Yes, it’s Texas Southern. But they won their conference last year! We played them in the first round, which no one seems to remember! It’s not nothing. Our collective thirst for someone who can tilt the offense a little bit might be satisfied this season. This team might be a monster be February. MJ Rice…. he just might be that dude!

Looking ahead—sorry Seton Hall!2—the Missouri game is going to be really, really fun. They’re 9-0. That’s going to be as lit as that building has ever gotten. It’ll be a great test for us. I’m pumped!

A QUICK AND FUN NOTE FOR ALL SUBSCRIBERS INCLUDING THE NEW STREAKERS BTW HI!

I made more stickers and also…. STREAK TALK MAGNETS3. Want some? Hit this email back directly with address and I’ll plop em in the mail for you. That's on God! Thank you for reading!