*** Official #23 Tennessee vs #6 IOWA STATE Game(Day) Thread ***

And while those moments were great, their team being in the Elite 8 with a less talented roster than ours is a hard pill to swallow.

The harsh reality for college basketball is that what you do in the NCAA tournament matters....and Sweet 16's are great....but we've hit this same wall repeatedly and we seem to not be able to break through it....I think TJ eventually will but I'm kind of at the point where I need to see it to believe it.

Now before anyone calls me out, no I am not advocating for a HC change....love TJ and what he's done for our program.
I’m glad you aren’t advocating for a coaching change coming off a 29 win season. Holy **** is this thread pathetic. We are averaging 24.8 wins a season under T.J. This is literally the golden age of Cyclone basketball. Our NIL from fans is below average and yet we continue to succeed.
 
I doubt there are many/any coaches ever who have taken over a two-win program and made the tourney every year for five straight years, with three trips to the third round.
 
One of my worries going in was that Rick Barnes is one hell of a coach and that he'd find a way to disrupt us. He definitely saw the key as keeping Milan in check and that's what they tried to do, quite successfully.

I've seen some people on social media giving him crap about his performance, but in a situation like that, you really need to make them pay for doing that by having others step up. He's such a threat that there's almost no downside to continuing to key on him either way, but to loosen them up just a little bit, you'd have to make them pay down low. That's where Jefferson would have been key.
 
One of my worries going in was that Rick Barnes is one hell of a coach and that he'd find a way to disrupt us. He definitely saw the key as keeping Milan in check and that's what they tried to do, quite successfully.

I've seen some people on social media giving him crap about his performance, but in a situation like that, you really need to make them pay for doing that by having others step up. He's such a threat that there's almost no downside to continuing to key on him either way, but to loosen them up just a little bit, you'd have to make them pay down low. That's where Jefferson would have been key.
Jefferson not being available really hurt. Without him we needed to have a player be able to create and finish. Heise did that. But we also needed Batemon to be able to hit some shots. Tennessee limited their live ball turnovers and limited us from having open looks at 3’s. Honestly I can count on one hand the number of clean looks that we got from 3 point range last night. I was surprised at the amount of physicality with two hands that the crew allowed last night. Tennessee was allowed to play with two hands engaged on us all night on the perimeter until the last 8 minutes.
 
TTU with Toppen was easily final four caliber team. Even though they won, what 3 in a row after he went down eventually it catches up.

It is what it is. Those bi***** about this along with Iowa..........how far do they go if their best player goes down 2 minutes into the Clemson game?

Being good is one thing, but you also need some luck to go far in this tourney.
 
I think there is some valid criticism of TJ in this. His roster management isn’t good - he’s so focused on destroying teams and gaming the metrics that we don’t develop guys. This season is a perfect example - Jefferson goes down and Dom Nelson has to play, who hadn’t played any significant minutes in what… two months? I don’t understand why he doesn’t play guys BEFORE you need them. We kicked the crap out teams and he had starters playing late in the game. Why? Work in some guys so they can contribute when you need them. It’s a long season and there are bound to be unexpected injuries. So maybe you only beat Arizona state by 15 instead of 21.

He’s so focused on winning the battle, he loses sight of winning the war.

So you think TJ doesn't try to recruit good players with reportedly one of the lower NIL funds out there?

Do you not think coaches aren't evaluating players constantly outside of games?

There is a long list of teams that give the bulk of the minutes to 8-9 guys in the bye games. It's not some unusual thing and 11th bench player getting 5 minutes in November isn't going to do much in a game 4 months later.

And who would have done much last night?
 
You know the kid body better than him.

So you haven't got a clue. A limping Jefferson was going to be a detriment
I do not know how bad he was hurting. I just think he could've sent a message by at least trying to play and if he couldn't do it go back to the bench but at least there would have been no questions about his willingness to try for the team.
 
I do not know how bad he was hurting. I just think he could've sent a message by at least trying to play and if he couldn't do it go back to the bench but at least there would have been no questions about his willingness to try for the team.
You appear to be the only one questioning his willingness to try
 
Jefferson played through a HIGH ankle sprain in high school. He is a dog/demon/grinder. If it was at all possible to be out there yesterday and be effective, I'm sure he would have been.

****ing sucks but what can you do?
:mccaffery:
 
Win some lose some. When your best player isn't playing, going to lose more often than not. Some day we will catch a break, we are certainly due.

Bunch of quitters/whiners in this thread. Buck up, be a Cyclone, we've got the best coach in the country, we will get'em next year! KU's down and is going to stay down (basketball is harder when everyone is paying their players full salaries), Houston's losing a ton of guys, Arizona might lose their coach...I like where we're at.
Exactly right, we played as well as we could without our best player (other than FTs). So much for the "we're better without Jefferson" posters. In addition to his much-needed rebounding, he's really the only player on the team who could consistently get his own shot.
 
I do not know how bad he was hurting. I just think he could've sent a message by at least trying to play and if he couldn't do it go back to the bench but at least there would have been no questions about his willingness to try for the team.
You want him to go out there and get one of those free baskets like you see for injured seniors in high school basketball?
 
You want him to go out there and get one of those free baskets like you see for injured seniors in high school basketball?

This tournament hasn't had many 'not a dry eye in the place' moments so this tracks.

What the hell TJ!!!?
 
We talk a lot about other fan bases sucking, is it possible that we suck too?

They accuse TJ of being Kilmer by playing guys 28 minutes in a bye game but want TJ to be Kilmer and throw a guy out there so ISU can play 4 v 5, and then they'll say teams have the 4 person trapping defense figured out and it's time to clean house.

Amazing fans.
 
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