I'm not sure if this has been hit on or not. I spared myself the agony of reliving the loss by reading all the posts about it. ISU is obviously a very good/great team. But I think there are two very glaring issues with this team.
1. No spark plug. We don't have that guy that can come off the bench at around the 15 or 10 minute mark and give this team a recharge. It was kind of Thomas and now he is forced into the starting role. This team needs someone to give it a kick in the pants so it doesn't get down early. Maybe Burton or Cooke can become that player but right now it isn't there. Someone used the word "cavalier" to describe this team's attitude. And it does seem to be a team that needs a big name on the opponents' jersey to get their A-game going. Think about most of last year's losses. They were mostly decent, not great teams, that ISU simply let outplay them. A spark plug guy could keep this team from falling into these crater-sized deficits in the first half.
2. No lock down defender. We can't Babb anyone. Even with a Babb on the bench. In the case of both Iowa and UNI there was no one that could shut down the hot hand. We know this team is never going to give a Floyd-like defensive effort but having one guy on the team that can shut down a shooter would do wonders.
The good news is that this could change but it is going to take someone outside of the top four guys on the team to do it.
Keep calm and Cyclone on my friends.
1. No spark plug. We don't have that guy that can come off the bench at around the 15 or 10 minute mark and give this team a recharge. It was kind of Thomas and now he is forced into the starting role. This team needs someone to give it a kick in the pants so it doesn't get down early. Maybe Burton or Cooke can become that player but right now it isn't there. Someone used the word "cavalier" to describe this team's attitude. And it does seem to be a team that needs a big name on the opponents' jersey to get their A-game going. Think about most of last year's losses. They were mostly decent, not great teams, that ISU simply let outplay them. A spark plug guy could keep this team from falling into these crater-sized deficits in the first half.
2. No lock down defender. We can't Babb anyone. Even with a Babb on the bench. In the case of both Iowa and UNI there was no one that could shut down the hot hand. We know this team is never going to give a Floyd-like defensive effort but having one guy on the team that can shut down a shooter would do wonders.
The good news is that this could change but it is going to take someone outside of the top four guys on the team to do it.
Keep calm and Cyclone on my friends.