*** Official #16 Texas Tech vs #4 IOWA STATE Game(Day) Thread ***

[AuH2O]

Yeah, batemon needs like 30 minutes, can't run with any combination of 3 of...Buchanan, toure, lips, and Heise. Just way too easy to guard with 3 of those guys in there. and after the first round the trap won't get us anything other than dunks against us. So if you insist on trapping, you gotta have batemon out there basically the whole game.

JJ and Milan are play every minute they can handle while being effective. 35+ if possible. Tamin needs to due to the inability of the other guards to handle and run the offense.

Heise and Toure need to play plenty, but one at a time and I’d say only If Milan is in. Or there is just no space.

 

[Cyinthenorth]

It’s the NCAA Tournament.

There’s no 5 games in 5 days. Or even Back to Back.

This is

Thursday- Saturday

Thursday- Saturday

Thursday- Saturday

Is it likely for a team to shoot lights out for 6 games in a row?

No. Of course not. But it does happen.

And BTW, UCONN in 2011 won the Big East Tournament. 5 games in 5 days as a mostly shooting team.

Then WON THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP.

6 games in 3 weeks.

Kemba Walker

Hoping they get tired is not a strategy either.

When you shoot 30-35 threes a game, and you typically shoot them well,

You’re a very dangerous team.

Thursday and Saturday.

Even Friday and Sunday.

In a 4 game sample size without Toppin (3-1 record) Tech has not shot below 40% from 3 yet. Yesterday was their best mark yet at 48.3%. I'm not sure how long they can keep it up, but I'd be too scared to advance them beyond the Sweet 16 in my bracket. Live by the 3 die by the 3 is too real, and we saw a lot of Cyclone teams die by it under Fred.

 

[AuH2O]

Yeah, basketball is essentially about scoring. A team can play 4-on-5 on the offensive end and still be successful against good teams by playing really good defense. Unfortunately, ISU has devolved as of late into playing 3-on-5 offense, and overcoming that takes absolutely stellar defense.

TT shot really well yesterday, but ISU did not play stellar defense. They gave up too many open 3pt looks...no adjustments on defense. This was the most disappointing thing to me.

Hopefully one or more of Lipsey/Toure/Batemon can defunk on the offense side.

I know I say this all the time but it bears repeating. Scoring and shooting are far and away the most important skill players should have. You can’t out scheme your way to scoring when you are playing 3-4 guys that can’t shoot.

 

[danvillecyclone]

In a 4 game sample size without Toppin, Tech has not shot below 40% from 3 yet. I'm not sure how long they can keep it up, but I'd be too scared to advance them beyond the Sweet 16 in my bracket. Live by the 3 die by the 3 is too real, and we saw a lot of Cyclone teams die by it under Fred.

They are 100-1

It’s extremely unlikely, it’s not about picking them in a bracket.

However, the whole point of this conversation is that they are a VERY dangerous team, at 100-1

They have proven to beat VERY good teams at home AND on the road, with and without Toppin.

Factor in the style of play suits historically teams that CAN (not will) go on deep runs….at 100-1

 

[bosco]

A lot of well Tech was on fire and they made tough shots ********. The tough honest truth is this team is not talented enough or good enough to come out with the cutesy trap effort and we are Iowa State so we play good defense but without any real defensive intensity like they did in the first half and win.

Guess what? You're going to run into good teams or hot treams that are going to make shots. The team has to come to realization that they need to play balls to the wall defense like they did in the second half for a full ******* game or they won't make it past the second weekend of the Tournament.

I don't care if they win in Tucson as long as they go in the game with we are going to piss pound you for 40 mins effort. That is this team's identity and that's what this team needs to do for it to reach the F4.

 

[rosshm16]

They were great at making the extra pass. There is no adjustment that can be made for that. There just isn't. Sometimes teams are on fire.

You respectfully don't know ball if you think this is correct.

 

[IcSyU]

I don't care if they win in Tucson as long as they go in the game with we are going to piss pound you for 40 mins effort. That is this team's identity and that's what this team needs to do for it to reach the F4.

When was the last time we saw that effort for 40 minutes? When that's the question being asked you can't call that an identity.

 

[BWRhasnoAC]

You respectfully don't know ball if you think this is correct.

In our always double defense it kind of is correct.

 

[rosshm16]

In our always double defense it kind of is correct.

Adjusting away from incessantly doing this regardless of who's the opponent or what's going on in the game would be the adjustment. I'm of course not a NCAA coach though, I'm sure there's a reason we do it that way.

 

[NENick]

Lipsey, from the Rob Gray post-game article:

"Obviously, we wanted to go undefeated at home, so that stings a little bit,” Lipsey said. “But at the same time, We’ve got Arizona (on Monday night in Tucson) and we’ve got another home game to finish (the regular season) off, so at this point there’s no point in sulking.”

The players always have better perspective than us fans.

 

[Goclones1727]

Jefferson has been objectively our best, most consistent player on both ends of the floor. He had 22/5/5/5 yesterday. Wtf are people smoking.

 

[isufbcurt]

They were great at making the extra pass. There is no adjustment that can be made for that. There just isn't. Sometimes teams are on fire.

Yes there is - Don't double and help off other players

 

[cayin]

Because that's what we do and it's effective. We have to close out on the shooters faster when the guy throws out of the double team.

but there is a problem on the close out. We run at them, they use that momentum against us and blow right by us. Or the pump fake and our defender leaves his feet and takes himself out of the play thus creating an open shot for the guy with the ball or a 4 on 5 situation.

 

[rosshm16]

Lipsey, from the Rob Gray post-game article:

"Obviously, we wanted to go undefeated at home, so that stings a little bit,” Lipsey said. “But at the same time, We’ve got Arizona (on Monday night in Tucson) and we’ve got another home game to finish (the regular season) off, so at this point there’s no point in sulking.”

The players always have better perspective than us fans.

I'd imagine they're also coached/trained to not go off all emotionally charged in press conferences like "I'm ******* shattered, this is unacceptable". Leave that kind of stuff to the head coach. But they are indeed much more publicly level-headed about such things than us fans for sure.

 

[NENick]

but there is a problem on the close out. We run at them, they use that momentum against us and blow right by us. Or the pump fake and our defender leaves his feet and takes himself out of the play thus creating an open shot for the guy with the ball or a 4 on 5 situation.

It happens. We've seen Milan do the same thing to defenders many times this season, Batemon as well. Good 3 point shooters do it. If you don't fly out at them, they get it off.

 

[Cyballz]

The amount of angst with Jefferson is ridiculous....it's pretty hard to be consistent on offense when Toure and Lipsey can't even hit the rim from 3 and Heise didn't even attempt one. What's Jefferson supposed to do when Milan is being mugged and nobody else will do anything offensively? What we've seen from this team is when the bench doesn't show up, ISU will lose.

 

[NENick]

A couple of tidbits:
Toure's minutes have gone down, 21, 15, 18 the last 3 games. Batemon's have gone up. The staff obviously recognizes the need for offense.

Heise is 6-12 from 3 over the last 5 games, although he didn't take any yesterday. There were a couple of times I wished he was who was catching the pass instead of Toure, or even Lipsey.

 

[Freebird]

On offense, Tech got a zillion open threes by playing our trap defense brilliantly. We waited too long to adjust.
On defense they dared Toure to shoot on the perimeter and simply packed the interior waiting for the rebound.
That was it. That was the ******* ballgame.

 

[rosshm16]

Heise not attempting a three in 26 minutes of play is just weird offense. I don't understand it.

 

[AlaCyclone]

What I saw today was one coach who worked the refs, fought for his players and got calls early that set the tone vs. a coach who stands there biting his finger because he thinks it's a weakness to light up refs and fight for his team.

Maybe a coach showing some fight and emotion on the sideline would help like a fire under his players.

This is a philosophical thing, but I like that TJ is that way. FWIW, that is the way John Wooden was at UCLA. Not saying he is John Wooden, but a coach doesn't need to be on the refs all the time to be successful. Never have been a fan of fire-breathing coaches - although, I gave Johnny Orr a pass, because he was our fire-breather. L:ike I said, it is a philosophical thing, not a right or wrong thing.