As of this point in the season we are actually ahead of last year in conference play. 4 losses this year to 5 at this point last. Won at OSU last year, won at WVU this year. Right now the real difference is the Tech loss, but comparable to the 25 point blow out at WVU last season. But also remember that our home record is better than last year. Not sure why everyone has this revisionist history were we were dominant on the road last year, because we weren't, we only had conference road wins at Tech, TCU, and OSU.
Heroball
- Thread starter cycloneworld
- Start date
As of this point in the season we are actually ahead of last year in conference play. 4 losses this year to 5 at this point last. Won at OSU last year, won at WVU this year. Right now the real difference is the Tech loss, but comparable to the 25 point blow out at WVU last season. But also remember that our home record is better than last year. Not sure why everyone has this revisionist history were we were dominant on the road last year, because we weren't, we only had conference road wins at Tech, TCU, and OSU.
It's really weird, it's like a large portion of posters on here completely forgot the B12 regular season from last year. We were two Naz Long 3 pointers from being .500 in the conference, lost two All-American level players and people expected us to cruise to a better record in a tougher conference this year.
People just remember how we finished last year. I'm not sure why some don't think we can do the same this year? We were pretty frustrating at times last year also.
The one on one driving to the basket needs to stop from a couple players, but Morris needs to be doing it more. Who's the teams strength coach? Wow, we get over powered in the lane. Niang may have worked in the off season to lose weight. Next off season he needs to hit the weight room and add strength. Sorry, but he's a defensive liability. Way too many Second chance points last night for OU because of weak defensive rebounding.
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Oklahoma had a great game plan and executed with dribble penetration, throwing multiple defensive looks at Niang, and not driving into McKay to allow him a shot blocking opportunity. With McKay pulled away from the rim, Oklahoma had success with 2nd chance points. They also seemed to have Georges scouted quite well, sitting on his right hand, help defense ready for his spin, doubling the post... still comes down to stops though.
Niang has been very careless with the ball the last few games and needs to get some rhythm going in the post when McKay is down there he seems to float out a lot more. He is much more effective on the block. The dude can't buy a foul though. I've never seen someone get crushed so many times without getting a foul called. Defense is what it is. We aren't going to turn into a great defensive team overnight and I think getting out in transition is hurting us too much on the defensive glass. The last few games our transition offense has sucked so maybe it's time to stay back and crash the boards, especially since we aren't a great rebounding team anyway.
If it was here and there it could be luck. TCU averaged 2.8 made 3's coming into our game with them, they made 9 (I believe) against us. The biggest problems with this team are on the defensive end. Not sure what it is besides being undersized (which forces your hand to double the post therefor leaving open shooters) but second chance points, open jump shooters every time you look and very little energy for long stretches on the defensive end leads to games like last night. Oh, and FT's! 7-14 last night. We are not good foul shooters to say the least.
Also, I am concerned about this team's unity. A telling point last night had Naz dive on the floor for a loose ball. He stuck out both hands looking for a pick me up and no one was there. It was painful to watch him go from hands out to hands on the floor with his head down to pick himself up. When things are good they're smacking each others' back sides, high fiving and chest bumping. When adversity strikes there's finger pointing, pleading for calls and neglecting to help their brother off the floor.
No doubt this team is talented and most of their goals are still in front of them and attainable but I have to admit I have lowered my expectations a bit. Make me eat some crow boys! GO STATE!!!
Bryce is used to being the best offensive option on his team his entire life. On crucial possessions in tight games, Bryce feels its his job to get a bucket, stats are not going to measure when ball is slinging around the perimeter and when it arrives to Bryce he pauses, measures up his defender, meanwhile the D recovers, Bryce takes 4 dribbles and gets an isolated shot or he passes back up top in which the crisp passing must take place again in order to get the defense out of position. That's BDJ's biggest offense, the ball sticks in his hands the most.
See the below stat post, if you replaced BDJ with Niang in your post you would be even more right, except the end result is more likely to be a turnover or a missed shot with Georges. I'm not bashing, I like both guys, but might as well get the facts right.
The posting on this board lol...you clearly don't take stats into account do you??
rholtgraves
Re: Heroball
It's not about heroball. It's about D and rebounding and FT shooting
It's not about heroball. It's about D and rebounding and FT shooting
I agree, until we fix our defensive woes, I will be happy with a Sweet 16 trip. Anything else is just gravy. This team is not good defensively. That's just plain reality. They have many lapses where they are late on close outs, late on rotations, lack of weak side D awareness (lane was WIDE open often last night) and boxing out continues to be an issue. Could it be fixed? I don't know. It's been a trend, even in the games we've won in Hilton.
Offensively, the only gripe is they lose focus sometimes. When they get down by 5-7 they get into panic mode and start throwing up shots early in the shot clock, going away from the extra pass.
This is a fun team to watch, don't get me wrong; I will enjoy the ride. But if they think they can offensively run teams out of the gym and not play defense, they'll be in for a rude awakening come tourney time.
I'm not jumping off the ledge like some people will continue to do. We seem to be an emo fan base with a bit of unreal expectations. Maybe the media has added to that. It's already been brought up of how last year's team was sitting and we should hold off based on last years FF teams. Great points by many. Teams have up and down seasons and what matters is getting hot at the right time. Still plenty of season left.
I guess I'm just a realist and call it like I see it. There are many positives to this team, as well as negatives. But so do other teams. Losing to a ranked Oklahoma team on the road isn't a bad loss on paper, it's how they lost is what continues to be a trend. It'll be interesting to see how this team progresses and grows to see if they can overcome their defensive issues.
ISU's issue wasn't on offense last night. The OU bigs took whatever they wanted down low so ISU just wasn't able to string together stops to make their typical run. Once guards had to start helping down low the OU bigs kicked out to open shooter who knocked down a high enough percentage of threes to keep widening the lead. The OU bigs were active enough down low to keep McKay from being able to just plant himself in front of the rim and they abused Niang once he got into a little bit of foul trouble. His spotty defense is even worse when he is worried about getting a foul that will send him to the bench.
I've asked this a lot this season (and throughout my life as a Cyclone fan.) OU didn't have as many WIDE open looks as Tech and KU had, but they hit almost all of their good looks. Hield is a tremendous shooter and they've got some other guys that benefit from the attention he warrants, plus if Spangler is going to hit shots from 18' and out they're damn near impossible to defend. Our perimeter defense wasn't terrible the entire game (it wasn't great either) but they got going early and that was all it took. Dribble penetration and kickouts from offensive boards killed us.
As for the rest of this thread, I definitely agree that most of our disappointment as fans is on us. Many of us allowed the hype of last season's late run and the idea that we would have been a Final Four team had Niang not been hurt to build up a lot of expectations for this year's team. We are a blast to watch when we're clicking but we lack the defensive intensity and rebounding toughness to be elite. We're still a solid team that's a blast to watch when we're clicking but the things we are seeing now are no longer just wake up calls; they represent what we are. We can still make plenty of noise, but I don't think I'm being fair to myself in "expecting" multiple road wins against ranked teams and a Final Four run. I'm DEFINITELY not giving up on this team, just throttling back a little. Life is much easier when you temper expectations to match reality.
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When the interior defense starts getting abused like they did last night ISU is forced to help with their guards and that leaves shooters open. If Niang was a better defender and Hogue was bigger the guards wouldn't need to help them so much. College players hit open jumpers at a high clip.
Good question. Tough to understand how when ISU is getting abused as badly as they were against OU in the paint, he can't get 5-10 minutes of PT. Midway through the second half last night, it was just going from bad to worse in the paint and OU's lead was getting bigger. How does it hurt to at least try something different to stop the bleeding?
I wonder what Edozie is thinking. He's a physical player who has contributed in the Big 12 in the past, he's watching his teammates get abused by more physical players, and he can't get in the game.
