Before the season...curious

[dahliaclone]

Before the season started, what were you hoping for with this team? Were you bullish? Bearish? Just curious.

Knowing we had Lipsey, Jefferson, and Milan and Heise coming back, I thought while we had a great core, we'd have a solid season but nothing spectacular due to so many new faces coming in which can be a situation where they never mesh like we thought. Even preseason rankings I thought we might be pegged a bit too high. Maybe I wasn't giving our big three enough credit. I thought we'd make the NCAAs but somewhere in the 5-6 seed range.

We haven't even hit conference play, so can things change? Yes. Can injuries happen? Yes. Still a lot of variables. But given our schedule with the neutral game against MSU and the three neutral games in Vegas with a bunch of new players, and playing at #1 Purdue and a rivalry game against Iowa, I thought being 7-3 after ten games would be ok...not great but fair. 8-2 is solid. 9-1 is fantastic and 10-0 just wan't in the cards.

This is a TEAM. Every single player and position just...makes sense and compliments everyone so ******* well. We have incredible basketball IQ at every position. Our depth is insane.

Are we going to stumble and lose games? Yes. I think we're still looking at 5-6 regular season losses...this league is tough as hell. But so far, this season has to exceed almost all of our expectations, right? Not sure many would have said we'd be 10-0.

 

[MartyFine]

Was not that optimistic, and I was hoping Tamin could stay healthy, and that Milan and Jefferson would be improved (as they are).

But Toure has changed everything.

 

[cycfan1]

I was a tad fearful that we had given up too much to keep Jefferson. Lack of depth and zero success in the portal due to going all in on JJ was going to be the downfall for the year.

Hitting on Blake and Toure though covered all of those concerns as well as Bateman being very servicable.

Tamin, Milan and JJ have been playing every bit at the level we needed to have high level of success.

I'm still a tad concerned yet on post depth. Pleta very raw. Mulder looked lost on defense last night. I thought we would struggle with big bigs... but have gotten two very good tests with St Johns and Purdue.

 

[madguy30]

I figured they'd have a rougher start through Feast Week like '23-24 with new pieces etc. and two losses was the ceiling, with maybe a close loss at Purdue being really good.

So....

 

[WastedTalent]

Was not that optimistic, and I was hoping Tamin could stay healthy, and that Milan and Jefferson would be improved (as they are).

But Toure has changed everything.

And Buchanan.
But it is early still, and although they've faced some tough competition, we all know how brutal the Big 12 can be. And this year could be the most brutal.

 

[Cyhig]

Before the season started, what were you hoping for with this team? Were you bullish? Bearish? Just curious.

Knowing we had Lipsey, Jefferson, and Milan and Heise coming back, I thought while we had a great core, we'd have a solid season but nothing spectacular due to so many new faces coming in which can be a situation where they never mesh like we thought. Even preseason rankings I thought we might be pegged a bit too high. Maybe I wasn't giving our big three enough credit. I thought we'd make the NCAAs but somewhere in the 5-6 seed range.

We haven't even hit conference play, so can things change? Yes. Can injuries happen? Yes. Still a lot of variables. But given our schedule with the neutral game against MSU and the three neutral games in Vegas with a bunch of new players, and playing at #1 Purdue and a rivalry game against Iowa, I thought being 7-3 after ten games would be ok...not great but fair. 8-2 is solid. 9-1 is fantastic and 10-0 just wan't in the cards.

This is a TEAM. Every single player and position just...makes sense and compliments everyone so ******* well. We have incredible basketball IQ at every position. Our depth is insane.

Are we going to stumble and lose games? Yes. I think we're still looking at 5-6 regular season losses...this league is tough as hell. But so far, this season has to exceed almost all of our expectations, right? Not sure many would have said we'd be 10-0.

Cautiously optimistic. Really didn't know what to expect from the newcomers. I thought this team would still make the tournament before the season started, but didn't think they'd be a top tier team in the nation.

But I'm still cautiously optimistic... just a little less so. This season has the potential to be special, but we thought the same thing this time last year even into mid January.

This team is fun to watch. They play hard and for each other. As a fan, that's what I really want to see. They will have a stretch where they won't play very well, and they will have a stretch where they can't be beaten. I'm here to enjoy the ride.

 

[CascadeClone]

I thought they would go like 9-4 in non-con and maybe 11-7 in conference. Maybe a game or two better, as I am usually a little pessimistic.

Seeing Toure and Buchanon be MUCH better than anticipated, and seeing Batemon and Nelson bringing something useful to boot... I am more optimistic overall. Obviously they are going to go 13-0 non-con now, and maybe a game or two better in conference? I think conference season will still be a slog - just a lot of tough teams.

I also think their tournament ceiling is higher. I was hoping E8 at best, but now seeing quality depth, and again Toure & Buchanon and how the really fit in with the 3 core returners... they are a legit F4 and title contender. Obviously you have to be elite AND get a little lucky, but the potential is there.

Everybody has to stay healthy, and if Pleta could step it up a level, would help with Buchanon wear and tear.

 

[PineClone]

I thought ISU would be good, but not as good as last season. Figured there would be a lack of perimeter scoring with the loss of Cujo. As is usual, i was wrong.

 

[JP4CY]

I didn't expect our 3pt % to be this good. I've been pleasantly surprised.
I did expect better FT %.

I was absolutely hoping for a split of Vegas+Purdue. I would have taken 2-2 record there.
Defense is even better than I could have hoped.
Toure looks like he'll be at ISU (at best for us fans) 2 years.

 

[mb7299]

I agree with the sentiment that these guys just seem to really play for each other. I didn't think much of that concept last year but looking back on it we definitely had some me first players. Maybe not as talented as last year but such a better cohesion between the players.

 

[AgronAlum]

Cautiously optimistic but I most definitely did not see all of the below happening. Maybe one or two.

Toure being a dude
Buchannan being a dude
Pleta being a dude
Milan improving his shot as much as he has
Being so in sync with how many newcomers we have

 

[WIB]

I didn’t know Tamin had this level of offense in him. Nor did I expect Jefferson to be the second coming of Royce White, and Toure to be the best on ball defender in the country.

 

[FerShizzle]

Before the season started, what were you hoping for with this team? Were you bullish? Bearish? Just curious.

Knowing we had Lipsey, Jefferson, and Milan and Heise coming back, I thought while we had a great core, we'd have a solid season but nothing spectacular due to so many new faces coming in which can be a situation where they never mesh like we thought. Even preseason rankings I thought we might be pegged a bit too high. Maybe I wasn't giving our big three enough credit. I thought we'd make the NCAAs but somewhere in the 5-6 seed range.

We haven't even hit conference play, so can things change? Yes. Can injuries happen? Yes. Still a lot of variables. But given our schedule with the neutral game against MSU and the three neutral games in Vegas with a bunch of new players, and playing at #1 Purdue and a rivalry game against Iowa, I thought being 7-3 after ten games would be ok...not great but fair. 8-2 is solid. 9-1 is fantastic and 10-0 just wan't in the cards.

This is a TEAM. Every single player and position just...makes sense and compliments everyone so ******* well. We have incredible basketball IQ at every position. Our depth is insane.

Are we going to stumble and lose games? Yes. I think we're still looking at 5-6 regular season losses...this league is tough as hell. But so far, this season has to exceed almost all of our expectations, right? Not sure many would have said we'd be 10-0.

I thought ISU would be in the tier of teams that is top 15-30. I didn’t see them being top 10 or top 5. I didn’t think they had the depth for a really epic season, but KT, BB and the other freshman and newcomers have really enhanced the returning core. This is TJs best defensive team, at least 1/3 of the way through the season it is, and it is a highly efficient offense.

 

[Cyclonepride]

I thought that they had a chance to be really, really good with that kind of core returning, but I thought it might take until Big 12 play to really integrate the new parts. I would have guessed between 7-3 and 8-2 as Purdue was almost certainly a loss and the Player's Era tournament was going to be some tough matchups

 

[12191987]

My guess for what this team will accomplish is largely unchanged:

Top 4-5 finish in the league.

They should make it out of the first weekend of the tournament and could make it out of the second.

There are two big changes though.

The first is seeing. I thought they’d most likely be in the #3-6 range, but right now I think #1-4.

The other is resilience. All of those results were contingent on all three of Lipsey, Jefferson, and Momcilovic staying healthy most of the season as well as being available and at 90%+ for the postseason. Now I think the team could endure losses and still maybe achieve all of that.

I guess that means I was optimistic before the start of the season.

Now, with the emergence of Toure and Buchanan as legitimate starters on a Top 10 team (as well as Pleta, Nelson, and Batemon as contributors), I think my view might be pessimistic.

 

[Die4Cy]

Before the season I felt we would be a 3-5 seed. Have played like a 1-3 seed so far.

 

[ruxCYtable]

I guessed 24-11 with a possible Sweet 16. I might need to amend.

 

[Dale]

Mid-to-lower top 25, trending toward a 4-6 seed. Same as the computer metrics and human polls preseason.

 

[CYdTracked]

Wasn't sure what to expect coming into the season other than probably top 4 finish in the Big 12 and Sweet 16 run. We returned just 4 guys and you never know how transfers and freshmen are going to pan out.

I feel this is a better team than last year's when they were 100% healthy. Buchanon is an upgrade over "Big Dog" Jackson at center and fits our style of play better as he's more athletic, plays more above the rim, and runs the floor well. Toure is probably the best freshman we have had since Milan. The staff has done a good job in the portal over the years, hardly any misses. This team seems to have the highest ceiling of any that TJ has coached. The key will be staying healthy and not running these guys out of gas by the end of the season. That was our downfall with a good team last year was we finished the season injured and the guys that were still "healthyish" looked fatigued at times.

 

[OscarBerkshire]

Post depth is the only "weakness" of this team. Pleta or Mulder need to become reliable 8-10 minute guys or we are going to really struggle against teams with an abundance of strong post players. You can put any number of high quality guards against this team's defense and they just won't look impressive.