*** Official Grambling State vs #16 IOWA STATE Game(Day) Thread ***

Toure and Bateman both look fantastic as true freshmen. I could not be more excited about those two.

Buchanon and Mulder are FASTER than Jackson and Chatfield, though not as beefy. Speed probably better to recover on the PnR, and won't tire as fast probably.

Gonna be pretty good most nights, but they're still erratic offensively. It's like they play so hard and fast on defense, they can't relax on offense, and it ends up looking like they are playing too fast and out of control a bit. Settle for 3s a LOT. Gonna be nights when they can't hit anything and lose.

It's two blowout buy games, but I am more optimistic now than I was 2 weeks ago.

My ESPN+ kept cutting out but from what I saw imo Batemon looked like he was just playing last night and comfortable so hopefully that keeps coming along. I think he's got speed that hasn't been there on recent teams.
 
So we cant believe that this is a good 3 pt shooting team because of 2 bye games, but we can deduce that they will be a bad 3 pt shooting team and lose some games, because of 2 bye games?

Just wanting to make sure I understand this correctly

The poster you're replying too iirc doesn't think ISU football should have a ceiling due to its general history and lack of resources, etc but doesn't think ISU should lose to teams like Cincinatti or KU that were bad in recent seasons but tend to currently be decent or capable.

So it lines up that ISU has shot decently but will be bad at it going forward.

Maybe one of these years ISU will be amazing at every aspect all the time like very few basketball teams are pretty much ever.
 
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The past 10-15 years have been ISU's best ever, and we are all hashtag blessed to see it.

But just once before I die, it would be nice to win the conference in football, and win the natty in bball.

It would be incredible.

Even then, I think about how many elite/greatest teams ever had to get wild breaks or incredibly perfect plays when things weren't going well.

Like if Grant Hill's pass is 2 feet further to the right, does Laetner's shot just go off the rim, and that's it?
 
Did you watch the Purdue game? He wasn’t much better.

It’s still early. I think they’ll figure it out. TJ made a sweet 16 with Bob Jones and George Conditt. These bigs haven’t shown anything yet that makes me think they would be any worse
Buchanan and Mulder have both been soft around the rim so far. Against guys inferior to the ones we will be playing. It’s definitely cause for concern. And a little frustrating that we are here yet again with our post play.

I agree that if they play their roles well, we can still make it to the sweet 16.

I just think that’s the ceiling though if we are lucky…

I know it’s not easy to recruit and retain big guys but was hoping for some semblance of a talent upgrade there and I don’t see it.
 
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MBB has had three teams in my lifetime that I think could have won it all:
- 2000 (essentially played in the championship game, and I think ISU wins that game 7/10 times at least)
- 2014 (Niang foot what-if)
- 2025 (crippled by injuries)
 
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A couple of thoughts on last night. Grambling was obviously a much better team than FDU and found some ways to beat our D. The Munoz kid is good. 6-6 Freshman from Chicago. Good playmaker. Wouldn't be surprised to see him playing at a bigger school next year.

Buchanan: hasn't looked good in the first few games, but seemed to be much more in the flow last night. Did exactly what he was brought in to do. Obviously, it was against an overmatched frontcourt, but good to see at least a flash of what he might be capable of.

Bateman: Good to see the ball go through the hoop. If he can three and D like that for us this season, he'll cement a place in the rotation

Toure: Just reminds me a lot of Curtis Stinson from back in the day. It doesn't look pretty but its very effective. Plays bigger than he is and is just very physical for a freshman. Our defensive speed and pressure with him and Tamin are going to be a nightmare for other teams.

Mitchell: I've been curious about his progress, and it was good at least to see him on the floor. Very highly regarded recruit who is buried on the depth chart. Hope we can keep him around the program for development.

Mulder/Pleta: Warm bodies at this point. Still trying to learn how they can impact the game for this team.
 
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My ESPN+ kept cutting out but from what I saw imo Batemon looked like he was just playing last night and comfortable so hopefully that keeps coming along. I think he's got speed that hasn't been there on recent teams.
He adds another shooter that we're going to need this year too. It'll be huge if he can keep himself in the rotation.
 
MBB has had three teams in my lifetime that I think could have won it all:
- 2000 (essentially played in the championship game, and I think ISU wins that game 7/10 times at least)
- 2014 (Niang foot what-if)
- 2024 (crippled by injuries)
The 2000 game at the palace was a robbery we had that game won against Sparty until the officials turned to home cooking for MSU.
 
How old are you? Hopefully, just early 20's....:campbell:;)
I was there, Randalf (Peterson).

I was there two thousand weeks ago, when the strength of Gordon P. Eaton failed. It should have ended that day, but bad football was allowed to endure. Government geologists are weak.
 
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My ESPN+ kept cutting out but from what I saw imo Batemon looked like he was just playing last night and comfortable so hopefully that keeps coming along. I think he's got speed that hasn't been there on recent teams.

Looked like he got the "quit thinking and just let it fly" talk from someone. Totally different player.
 
Uh yeah I still do not believe this is a good 3 point shooting team. Shooting well in 2 scrub games in Hilton does not change my stance on that. I firmly believe we will have some MAJOR shooting clunkers in Big 12 play. The type that will lose us games.
That's hardly going out on a limb. Kentucky led the NCAA in 3 pt % last season and still had those types of games.

7/27 in a loss to Clemson
4/22 in a loss to OSU
6/25 in a loss to Georgia
6/24 in a loss to Texas
5/19 in a loss to Bama

I guess what I'm saying is you're probably right, but I don't get making a deal of it. We would be unusual if we didn't have a couple games like that.
 
A couple of thoughts on last night. Grambling was obviously a much better team than FDU and found some ways to beat our D. The Munoz kid is good. 6-6 Freshman from Chicago. Good playmaker. Wouldn't be surprised to see him playing at a bigger school next year.

Buchanan: hasn't looked good in the first few games, but seemed to be much more in the flow last night. Did exactly what he was brought in to do. Obviously, it was against an overmatched frontcourt, but good to see at least a flash of what he might be capable of.

Bateman: Good to see the ball go through the hoop. If he can three and D like that for us this season, he'll cement a place in the rotation

Toure: Just reminds me a lot of Curtis Stinson from back in the day. It doesn't look pretty but its very effective. Plays bigger than he is and is just very physical for a freshman. Our defensive speed and pressure with him and Tamin are going to be a nightmare for other teams.

Mitchell: I've been curious about his progress, and it was good at least to see him on the floor. Very highly regarded recruit who is buried on the depth chart. Hope we can keep him around the program for development.

Mulder/Pleta: Warm bodies at this point. Still trying to learn how they can impact the game for this team.
I don't know if I would go that low. TJ values bigs who can be switchable on defense and crash the glass both on O and D. I think those two guys are capable at keeping players in front of them and look to be willing rebounders. Calling them just "warm bodies" I think is not respective of their effort.

Pleta didn't show out in this game with just 4 points, 1 rebound, and 1 block in 9 minutes. But I don't know how you can minimize Mulder's 5 points, and 6 boards in just 11 minutes.
 
Big fan of people on this board who disagree with posts and don’t explain why. Good work.

Anyway…as some have said, Batemon looked completely different last night. “Just let it fly” as another poster said. I don’t mean to bash anyone, but I think he needs to play, and if he does, he will only get better. I’m not talking about 25 - 30 minutes per game, but 15 - 18 every game. More if he really starts putting it together. And for that to happen, I think those minutes come from one guy. Slashing and open floor ball handling isn’t what this team needs, especially if you can’t make FTs. We have ball handlers. We need guys who can shoot, and I think Batemon can ******* shoot.
 
After watching the entire game live and knowing the box score, but then reading through this entire thread after the fact, the first dozen pages of Buchanan hate is wild and hilarious.

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Every season needs a whipping boy. Big Rob, matt T, we've had lots of good players that have been less than fan favorites in the beginning