WBB: **** No. 18 Iowa State vs. No. 21 Iowa - 8:00 PM FS1 GAME THREAD ****
- Thread starter BoxsterCy
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It was an absolutely brilliant strategy to sit her as long as the rest of the team was maintaining or improving the lead. They did exactly that in building an eight point lead and holding Iowa down. Almost anyone would realize a good coach would hold her out until something changed. He played it masterfully.
At some point you trust your player to play smart. Again, no other coach would have sat her that long.
I mean, he lost, so maybe not entirely masterfully.
It's not like we were pouring it in offensively though. We had a lead because Iowa was also struggling to score. Brilliant strategy? LOL no he coached to not lose and here we are.
EIU is playing with a lot of confidence that a team has when they are coming off two final fours and championship game appearances. They lost 3 starters but returned a lot and the Olson girl that came in, has made all the difference in the world with them. They also have recruited at a very high level the last couple of years. As much as I hate to say it, they are not going away, and Jensen will do an excellent job as their coach.
You just cannot say that the way the refs were calling the game last night. If he would have brought her in and she picked up a quick foul, people would be on here today complaining that he should have sat her more instead of playing her. I have said many times, some of the best games I ever coached was from the stands or in front of the TV, but when you are on the sidelines, its totally different. Bill thought he could get away with sitting her most of the quarter, and really he was correct, ISU still had a 3 point lead when he brought her back into the game.
She was playing smart in the first half and picked up 2 BS calls, Not quite sure what could have been done???
I just re-watched the 4th quarter just for the eyeball test. At 4:27 Audi went to the line to shoot two. The lead was 61 - 60. She missed both. That's when Humpty Dumpty fell off the wall. From that point on Eerbody messed up. At the 42 second mark Iowa hit a three to extend their lead to 8. Game was OVA.
He was all over the refs early. Then calmed down for some reason. He should have stayed on them. Jan acted like a idiot all night and got rewarded with calls. Can't stand her. She's worse than Bluder.
This is carrying water for Bill like I've never seen before. Played it masterfully? She scored 2 points in the 2nd half and we lost.
I've watch a TON of basketball and I've never seen another coach do this. Never. There is no strategic benefit to your best all around player playing 19 minutes. Playing her 19 minutes to avoid the potential of her having to sit the last 3-4 minutes of a game having fouled out is absolutely stupid. You've effectively created the result of her having fouled out (not playing) on your own without the benefit of her contributing.
We had a 3 point lead when she came back in. That lead could have been double digits with as bad as Iowa was playing if we'd had her in. Then she came in ice cold and didn't contribute.
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Factor here reads more like "excuse". Our sophomores all had starts last year and they all played substantial minutes with Crooks/Brown as locked in starters. We have four sophomores with WAY more experience than any other group of sophomores in the Big 12 because we really did play a very young team last year. Because of all of their experience and minutes I just can't do the "Oh, we are so young" whine especially when we got a 5th year COVID eligibility gift for our PG. Our most experience player fell flat. Sort of unexpected considering much of this years expectations were built around the finish last year (ending with her having a career game versus Stanford).
As to the Hawks, Three of the Hawks seniors starting were just role players until this season although Affolater was emerging some at years end on the Clark team. Gotta give the Hawks a tip of the hat for landing Olsen to lead this transition year for them. By transition I mean from the Clark run to the next team built on their 2024 and 2025 classes (both look very good on paper). No Olsen and they are not an NCAA team. Next season they are likely to be almost all freshman and sophomores and maybe a portal upperclassman. Essentially they will be where we were last year in some ways.
One thing I will add, even though our sophomores are plenty experienced, our sophomores haven't ever played in a packed house road game like that before. And probably won't again this season. Nobody in the Big 12 on the WBB side draws a crowd like that. Might have contributed biggly to the 4th quarter collapse. We might see some good crowd in smaller venues but nothing like this.
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SWARM is 100% all in on women's basketball they will reload via the portal. It's actually pretty insane how much money Iowa is spending on a sport that costs the AD money but their fasn are 100% on board.
In all fairness, Iowa women's basketball made Iowa a lot of money. And if their men's team continues to be very average, they will continue to make the university money. Iowa fans are more into their women's team than their men's team.
There is no strategic benefit of putting a player in and having her foul out either. Especially when the rest of the team is managing the game quite nicely. As hot as she was in the first half you would reasonably have the expectation that she would come in and hit some shots in the fourth quarter and make a difference.
And you o
gave me a flashback to the Creighton team two years (I think) ago. Constant movement on the court. Was fun to watch unless they were playing you.
