Isnt the idea of CFH's D to stop what a team does best, and make the weakest link beat ISU? Most teams are not deep enough to do that, KU is.
Is It Just Me?
- Thread starter RollsRoyce
- Start date
Yes, they are multi-dimensional . Most teams aren't (both offensively and defensively). When you play a team like Kansas, they can beat you in so many different ways.
We have to help so much with their post players because they are too tall and athletic to defend. By helping down on defense, we leave way too many shooters wide open. They were getting some very wide open looks last night.
CycloneErik
Well-Known Member
Towards the end of last night's game, I was wondering if Wiggins bothered to sweat, or if he just did that without sweating. He looked pretty sweat free.
This is something I did last year, and may again this year at the end of conference play, but it kind of explains the feeling you're having. As an ISU fan, you aren't entirely incorrect but there is an explanation as to why you're right, but also wrong at the same time.
Scoring Outbursts & Their Victims 2.0 |
Interesting stats. Hadn't seen that until now.
Another analysis I'd like to see: How often has ISU allowed high % increase over a player's average, while another top scorer on that same team scores less than usual (and what's the percentage difference?)
Reason I wonder: Having some players "go off" vs. ISU is only part of it. I swear we have a history of allowing bigger-than-expected games while also holding the opponent's top scorer well below average.
It's like, heading into a game, thinking, "If Iowa State can contain Player X, we may have an advantage." Player X, a 20-ish ppg scorer, is held to 5 — Player Y, typically a non-factor offensively, goes for 25.
Yes, as, it is just you.
Pretty much everyone says this about the teams they play and it's for the most part all psychological. People thought Tharp had a game for the ages from three against ISU in Hilton yet he was only 3/4 and kansas was 5/16 overall as a team. Nothing special to see there. I'm willing to bet the Boise fans were wondering why the other teams 25% three point shooter always finds his shooting touch when play them. Kane was 4/6 against them from three making his last 4 attempts, two of which were crucial late in the game. He had shot 5-20 from three coming into that game.
People always notice the guy who playing above average and disregard the guy that is having an off game.
I've said this for years. Some a-hole from whomever we are playing has a career game almost every game it seems like. Not sure if it is because we focus so much on stopping one player/aspect, but it does happen a lot. I will say it's not like it's a 9th or 10th man of the bench but I hear you.
A lot of this can probably be attributed to coincidence, but a couple other factors:
- ISU plays a faster tempo than KU typically does, so they just score more than usual.
- ISU's defensive strategy often times involves forcing one guy to beat them, and sometimes he does.
Listen, we have at best 3 star players, who get coached up beyond their level and play as close to the 5 STAR talent as we can. We were within 1 pt of KU under 5 minutes left and then committed two turn overs and a techinical that gave them the lead for good. KU had more height, Embiid under the board gets the most rebounds and block the most shots, we have to double him to stop the easy scores by him in the paint, that means one of KU sharp shooters will be uncovered, if they make the shot we look bad. We can't go pure man to man, we have to double down on Embiid. We have been the closest to KU than anyone else in the conference.
With Fred we have begun to believe we can win every game. Before Fred we hoped to have a winning season and we didn't. So if your ego can't handle the "TRUTH", we are good but not good enough yet, we could have beaten KU at home but didn't. Let it go and move on to the next CHALLENGE.
Go CYCLONES, beat OU!
Are we just talking about points? Because I would say career highs in rebounding when Andrew Wiggins had 19 along with his points he had in the first game is going off. And Spangler missed 1 free throw going 8-9 but was 67% on the season. He also had a career high in rebounding at the time. Heild went 6-12 from three, which he is a 37% 3 point shooter and averaging 2 a game.. Holmes from texas is averaging 12.9 and had 23 against us. Thats not necessarily going off but its 10 points higher than his average. Going off can mean many things and I would say it happens quite often whether its our defense or just the luck of the draw I obviously can not say.
We actually have a few 4-star players (Morris, Thomas, Kane) so don't be selling our team short. On the other hand, I see what the OP was saying. It has happened historically throughout conference play. Naadir Tharpe played out of his mind in the first KU game this year. Will Spradling more than doubled his scoring average against us last Saturday. Wiggins went for a career high Wednesday night. Jonathan Holmes made our defense look totally inept. Buddy Hield couldn't miss a 3 when we played OU. Dusty Hannah's looked like Jimmer Fredette against us. Someone will always go off.
IN past seasons, we've been burned by the liked of Elijah Johson, Perry Ellis (B12 semis last year), and Keiton Page just to name a few. I credit this more to defensive assignments than anything. The aforementioned group of athletes "went off" because defensively, we were comfortable allowing these guys open looks as opposed to someone else perceived to be a greater threat. I.E. when Hannah's went off, we were focusing more on stopping Jordan Tolbert and Denad Krstic. When Elijah Johnson went for 39 last year, we were focused on shutting down McLemore. When guys like Tharpe went off, it was because Wiggins was targeted, then the next game Tharpe was targeted and Wiggins went off. We simply do not have enough bodies to shut down every possible scoring option on a team. That is the one glaring difference between this team and the '99-'00 team. Defense is nowhere close to this teams strong suit.
I honestly think, and I'm going to be an armchair coach for a minute, that if Hoiberg utilized the bench he has a little bit more (I'm talking 4-5 min. for Percy, Edozie, SDW etc.) our guys would be more fresh at the end of games when they need to pull stops and they can better avoid foul trouble as well, whereas Percy/Edozie/SDW are each good for a hard foul or two if need be. Nothing is inherently wrong with only 7-man rotations, but our guys are literally facing giants game in and game out. That can really wear on a player, and it is evident that it wears on our guys at the end of games when we're trying to claw back from behind. I don't advocate we switch to Fran's 11 or 12 man or whatever rotations, but nothing seems wrong with giving 2 or 3 more SCHOLARSHIP players a reason to stay in Ames. You think SDW signed at ISU to ride pine for 2 years? Don't be surprised if he is lost as collateral in the off season.
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Niang also a 4 star. Pretty much ISU vs. KU is a case study that makes anyone that says, "Stars don't matter" look like a fool.
Get your 5 best 4 stars, and your 5 best 5 stars, Wednesday night happens.
Yep. My prediction for the Kansas game was that KU would hit their first 3.......and that is exactly what they did. Easy money.
They hit like crazy to start every game, then I comment later in the game they can't miss from 3 and in my head they're shooting like 70%...but in actuality usually the don't shoot that great from 3 I just think they do because they are on fire out of the gate.
I can only imagine how frustrating our previous two teams must have seemed to the rest of the league the way we hit 3s, especially Tyrus last year literally being the best shooter in the nation.
