Head scratcher
- Thread starter cypher
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The zone is intended to shut down niang and slow the game down. Baylor did the same thing in the B12 Championship.
Some were overly optimistic. A 7th place Horizon team pushed us around a bit and shot over 50%.
Oakland hit shots; Georgia State didn't. And the Ga. St. guards were very content to just sit back and chuck jumpers while Oakland did a little more to work a better shot. Iowa State's defense is pretty terrible from what I saw; Ga. State just wasn't patient enough to take advantage of it and were even more terrible on their own defensive end.
You can't compare scores of other games, it's never been an accurate barometer IMO. It's all about match ups, always has been. We didn't play well game 1 that was obvious and it happens, woke them up. Had we played Oakland tonight the way we played we beat Oakland by 30. We lost last year @WV by what 30? means nothing, one game. Match ups.
The Oakland team that shot 52% against ISU lost by 12 last night to Eastern Michigan, for the record. ISU looked great on offense in the second half last night but that defense is going to be a huge problem on the road.
My take is that GS has a good collection of talent but it hasn't melded into a good team yet (sound familiar?). Later on in the season they will meet the hype that the players and media had given them.
The GS team we beat won't resemble the one that many predict to go the Tourney.
I also feel that we are giving Oakland too much credence for being competitive when the team was just plan bad on defense.
The GS team we beat won't resemble the one that many predict to go the Tourney.
I also feel that we are giving Oakland too much credence for being competitive when the team was just plan bad on defense.
Good judgement to make after the first game of the year and also without 2 of arguably the best defenders on the team sitting out.
Tuco, are you concerned about KU this year? I would be concerned with Jamari Traylor, Frank Mason, and Wayne Seldon having to play huge roles on your team this year. Is KU going to have huge offensive problems on the road this year? Quite possible. KU is not going to roll though this conference. Texas and Iowa State are going to make it hard on them this year.
Right. We gave up 58 points to a high scoring team who is expected to win the Sun Belt. They averaged almost 80 ppg last year and added Kevin Ware. How much better could the defense get last night??
I am concerned about KU EVERY year because I am a worrier. No one has to play a huge role for KU this year so I don't consider that specifically to be a concern. Traylor will get relegated to the bench once Alexander gets up to speed and will go back to the high motor, energy guy role off the bench that he is best at. Mason is a much improved player and will surprise a lot of people this season. And Selden does lots of intangible things for the team from an emotional leadership role so I don't worry about any of those guys. KU's offense will be worse than their defense this year but I'd bet they'll finish the year ranked in the Top 20 in efficiency in both categories so I wouldn't call that a problem. And it's hard in the Big 12 every year so that's not a worry, either.
All I am saying is that I watched the game and didn't see Iowa State doing much of anything impressive on defense. From comments I have read from Hoiberg, he seems to think the defensive effort will need to improve as well. Harrow drove to the rim all night but was unable to finish and got no love from the refs in getting to the line.
