What I Don't Understand...
- Thread starter BallSoHard4Cy
- Start date
"I just really want..." "We want..." "want" "want" "want"
It seems like a lot of posters that are upset or angry believe that they want the team to win more than the players and coaches do. Or that they know better how to play the game. Or that somehow they deserve (ugh) better play from the players. (Consider what you're insinuating if you believe the players aren't trying their best when they're on the court.) At least the intensity of criticism in their posts sure suggest that attitude.
Mistakes are made every game by players on both teams and by the refs. Sometimes good shots by the best shooters don't go down, sometimes terrible shots by the worst shooters swish through. Sometimes missed jumpers rebound in weird directions or distances off the rim. Pointing to any particular thing... free throws, turnovers, rebounds, missed shot, missed pass, blown call... as The Reason for a one point loss is a ridiculous exercise. (Laying the entirety of the blame on a particular player for a bad play or suggesting that they didn't practice a skill enough before the game is an entire other layer of absurdity.) Any number of different things could have happened in the 128 combined possessions to lead to a different outcome.
If you can't see the forest for the trees in a team's loss by 1 point, on the road, in the toughest conference, where the home team was favored by 3+ points in Vegas/all the predictive computer ratings, where the team was down by 17 points from some great (and probably even a bit lucky) jump shooting, then I don't know what to tell you. You're probably going to be really angry at least two or three more times this year given how close all of these conference games are going to be.
It seems like a lot of posters that are upset or angry believe that they want the team to win more than the players and coaches do. Or that they know better how to play the game. Or that somehow they deserve (ugh) better play from the players. (Consider what you're insinuating if you believe the players aren't trying their best when they're on the court.) At least the intensity of criticism in their posts sure suggest that attitude.
Mistakes are made every game by players on both teams and by the refs. Sometimes good shots by the best shooters don't go down, sometimes terrible shots by the worst shooters swish through. Sometimes missed jumpers rebound in weird directions or distances off the rim. Pointing to any particular thing... free throws, turnovers, rebounds, missed shot, missed pass, blown call... as The Reason for a one point loss is a ridiculous exercise. (Laying the entirety of the blame on a particular player for a bad play or suggesting that they didn't practice a skill enough before the game is an entire other layer of absurdity.) Any number of different things could have happened in the 128 combined possessions to lead to a different outcome.
If you can't see the forest for the trees in a team's loss by 1 point, on the road, in the toughest conference, where the home team was favored by 3+ points in Vegas/all the predictive computer ratings, where the team was down by 17 points from some great (and probably even a bit lucky) jump shooting, then I don't know what to tell you. You're probably going to be really angry at least two or three more times this year given how close all of these conference games are going to be.
CycloneErik
Well-Known Member
conference championship teams tend to play smarter than our current team. Our team is talented, and they actually play hard. But they make a lot of stupid mistakes out there. They take low percentage shots and critical times, miss bunnies, do things like lacking court awareness by catching a pass with a foot on the out of bounds line. By the way, why does that keep happening so much? I have seen more of that with Fred's teams than in all of my years of watching Cyclone basketball combined. Anyway, back on point, as it looks right now this team just does not have the look or the make up of a team that can win a regular season title. Doing something like that requires playing with a consistently high basketball IQ play on the road over the course of two months. Playing tournament type basketball on neutral courts is a different, and a lot of teams can catch fire for a weekend and win 2 or 3 in a row. Again, that is different than going 16-2 or 15-3 with half of those on the road over the course of two months against teams that know you pretty well.
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It is probably happening because of the spacing. They are set up outside the arc in the corner ready to step into a shot. If they drive instead it is easy to put your foot too far back as you push off for an explosive acceleration.
CycloneErik
Well-Known Member
No, you haven't. It happened 3-4 times a game or more in the McDermott years. I took to mumbling "that sideline is out to get our boys" after a while. That was the peak of the problem. It's still a big surprise when it happens for Fred's teams.
It did? then I stand corrected on that. Either way, it is frustrating. In tight games court awareness is premium. I am okay with mistakes that happen because guys are playing hard and fast, self inflicted wounds such as foot on the line when catching the ball when there is plenty of space sure are aggravating.
Some losses sting more than others. When we lost to Kentucky in 2012, I wasn't upset at all. I was just happy we were able to tie the game in the second half, because that alone showed a lot of poise. That Kentucky team was so much better than us there was nothing we could do, no lineup, no defensive or offensive scheme we could have run, that would have beaten them.
The Baylor loss feels different to me since there was one particular area where the Bears will killing us (rebounding) and we did nothing about it. We didn't put in our big bruiser Edozie for even a couple of minutes to see if that would make a difference. If he falls flat on his face and commits a bunch of turnovers, fine, then bench him. At least we gave it a shot. But we didn't give him a shot Wednesday, and that's what I find irritating. Secondly, our boxing out didn't seem to get any better over the game. McKay kept going for blocks, which is normally a good idea since we would need that against most teams, but not against Baylor.
Plus, we can't play a sag defense against a good three-point shooting team like Baylor. It took us way too long to figure that out. The sag defense worked against West Virginia because they're a poor shooting team, but Baylor is another story.
Heck, if the refs are going to fall for that outrageous flop by Gathers, maybe we should try the same thing when we're on defense. I hate flopping but, gosh, if Gathers can play the whole *&$# game without being called for a single foul, you have to try something! Flop until they stop calling it. I thought that was probably the only way we were going to get a foul called on Gathers' clear outs (like that obvious clear out of Niang where Niang gets called for a foul after the rebound). Someone has to make a big production out of it and fall over to get the refs' attention.
The Baylor loss feels different to me since there was one particular area where the Bears will killing us (rebounding) and we did nothing about it. We didn't put in our big bruiser Edozie for even a couple of minutes to see if that would make a difference. If he falls flat on his face and commits a bunch of turnovers, fine, then bench him. At least we gave it a shot. But we didn't give him a shot Wednesday, and that's what I find irritating. Secondly, our boxing out didn't seem to get any better over the game. McKay kept going for blocks, which is normally a good idea since we would need that against most teams, but not against Baylor.
Plus, we can't play a sag defense against a good three-point shooting team like Baylor. It took us way too long to figure that out. The sag defense worked against West Virginia because they're a poor shooting team, but Baylor is another story.
Heck, if the refs are going to fall for that outrageous flop by Gathers, maybe we should try the same thing when we're on defense. I hate flopping but, gosh, if Gathers can play the whole *&$# game without being called for a single foul, you have to try something! Flop until they stop calling it. I thought that was probably the only way we were going to get a foul called on Gathers' clear outs (like that obvious clear out of Niang where Niang gets called for a foul after the rebound). Someone has to make a big production out of it and fall over to get the refs' attention.
I'm personally not all that upset, I just thought Fred should have played Edozie some. In saying that while I think fans should be generally pleased with the season so far, as this team will once again be capable of winning NCAA tournament games and beating the best in the country, it's still far away in my opinion from being able to win it all depending on what draw they get.
A national title is a lofty goal, but it's Fred's goal. I hope we see one in Ames over the next couple years, but I'm skeptical. Regardless, I won't get too low after losses and certainly won't let a road loss by one point to a good team ruin my day.
A national title is a lofty goal, but it's Fred's goal. I hope we see one in Ames over the next couple years, but I'm skeptical. Regardless, I won't get too low after losses and certainly won't let a road loss by one point to a good team ruin my day.
You can be upset that we lost and not worried about the team going forward.
I'm personally upset about the ******* pushoff that robbed us of a top 25 road win. That would've been a big bright spot on our resume and given us a huge leg up in the Big 12 race.
The loss isn't a big deal, taking such a quality win away is the big deal.
Again, I'm not worried about the team just want the best possible odds for them going forward because the goals this program has are extremely lofty and difficult. You want as big of a leg up as possible.
I'm personally upset about the ******* pushoff that robbed us of a top 25 road win. That would've been a big bright spot on our resume and given us a huge leg up in the Big 12 race.
The loss isn't a big deal, taking such a quality win away is the big deal.
Again, I'm not worried about the team just want the best possible odds for them going forward because the goals this program has are extremely lofty and difficult. You want as big of a leg up as possible.
Initially I was upset, but after sleeping on it you realize in the grand scheme of things it isn't terrible. We came back from double digits twice to only lose by 1 to a good baylor team. That shows we have the ability of any given night to be in a game. Yes there were some mistakes that shouldn't have happened and ticky tack fouls that we have grown accustomed too, but we were in it.
It hurts we lost by one, but would you rather we get blown out. I'm not worried going forward. Beat Kansas and we are tied for 1st again.
It hurts we lost by one, but would you rather we get blown out. I'm not worried going forward. Beat Kansas and we are tied for 1st again.
a certain % of people in all walks of life are never satisfied. Wouldn't get too worked up over it. I think the vast majority of ISU fans are doing just fine and looking forward to the KU game.
CycloneErik
Well-Known Member
CycloneErik
Well-Known Member
Technically, wouldn't we be in 1st, since we beat them head to head?
It's way early in the conference season, but it'll be nice to point out to Kansas that we're not tied.
Kansas must be destroyed.
