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How about some optimism...

The Big 12 is a defensive minded league right now. Tight in your face defense. No one is scoring above the 70s most nights. Other coaches have figured out that we struggle in half court offense. So, they get there teams back and keep us from running and getting quick buckets off turnovers and layups.

Our post players are not playing well. Missing close shots, not boxing out and getting out rebounded, getting into foul trouble, all leaves us vulnerable inside. We also turn the ball over more that we get back. Not a good recipe to win a lot of games.
 
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Wally86 said:
The ineffectiveness and predictability of the offense contributes to players being in positions where the likelihood of a turnover goes up.
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Don’t think you’re wrong. It’s no doubt a factor. So is playing a top 10 defense that’s seen our offense before with a head coach that’s defensive minded.
 
CycloneRulzzz said:
A caller on morning rush called in saying our nonconference was a joke. What a moron.
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Well, that's half right. They had 13 games, and 7 of them were absolute tomato cans.

But the other 6 were all P6 teams, 1 away and 2 neutral court. Even if Oregon St and Mizzou both turned out to be terrible, they still had P6 athletes. So the other half of the schedule was not a joke at all, and oh by the way, they won all 6 games.

No they didn't beat Duke and Kentucky at the Maui, but that's a decent non-con schedule. TOE, as a comparison, had TWO games vs P6 (at ISU, at UVa) and 8 or 9 tomato cans, depending on how you look at Utah St.
 
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Today's update on OP:

Kansas (twice) (#8 NET)
Baylor (#9 NET)
Texas Tech (twice) (#11 NET)
Texas (twice) (#15 NET)
Oklahoma (#46 NET)
TCU (#55 NET)
OSU (#58 NET)

So 10 of 10 conference games against NET top 60 and seven games against NET top 15 (2-5).

As others have stated, just hold home court for 4 wins and steal one on the road (@KSU, @WVU, @TCU) or get a win in Big 12 and we are fine.
 
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CascadeClone said:
Well, that's half right. They had 13 games, and 7 of them were absolute tomato cans.

But the other 6 were all P6 teams, 1 away and 2 neutral court. Even if Oregon St and Mizzou both turned out to be terrible, they still had P6 athletes. So the other half of the schedule was not a joke at all, and oh by the way, they won all 6 games.

No they didn't beat Duke and Kentucky at the Maui, but that's a decent non-con schedule. TOE, as a comparison, had TWO games vs P6 (at ISU, at UVa) and 8 or 9 tomato cans, depending on how you look at Utah St.
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Tough balance because you want a decent non conference slate but if you go too tough (caller wanted isu to play a bunch of blue bloods) and have a conference as tough as the big 12 you will get annihilated.
 
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CycloneRulzzz said:
According to said caller ISU should load up on blue bloods. Never


Tough balance because you want a decent non conference slate but if you go too tough (caller wanted isu to play a bunch of blue bloods) and have a conference as tough as the big 12 you will get anhilated.
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That caller does not understand how non-conference basketball scheduling works.
 
CycloneRulzzz said:
According to said caller ISU should load up on blue bloods. Never


Tough balance because you want a decent non conference slate but if you go too tough (caller wanted isu to play a bunch of blue bloods) and have a conference as tough as the big 12 you will get anhilated.
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It probably was about the perfect balance for this season's team -- enough Quad 4/Buy Games distributed almost evenly amid the tournament-level opponents (with neutral and one road) -- got 4 or 5 challenges with opportunity to build resume (and passed all the tests) but had games you could regroup and still win without being pushed to the limit.

I assumed Big 12 would be another animal entirely, but I didn't expect it to be top-to-bottom cut-throat to the extreme we've seen.
 
cyclones500 said:
It probably was about the perfect balance for this season's team -- enough Quad 4/Buy Games distributed almost evenly amid the tournament-level opponents (with neutral and one road) -- got 4 or 5 challenges with opportunity to build resume (and passed all the tests) but had games you could regroup and still win without being pushed to the limit.
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Totally agree on the non-con, it was set up perfectly. You have a bunch of guys who haven't played together AT ALL, coming off a 2 win season. Need some gimmie wins against bad teams to build some confidence and work out the bugs. Play some tougher games to test yourself. I am sure TJ (like all of us) were surprised they actually won all the tougher games.

I still think they make the NCAA, and either they win game 1 but then have no energy for game 2, or they push a tough opponent to the wall in game 1 and lose, but the opponent loses game 2 because they are worn down from playing ISU. But then you never know. Matchups and luck matter a lot.
 
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dahliaclone said:
I'm not gonna sugar coat the offensive offense we have seen the past few games/basically all season. No point in doing so.

However, what I am going to do is try and bring some levity to the season at this point.

I think many, including myself, need to remember a couple of things: first, the fact we are even DISCUSSING the NCAA tournament as a possibility given last year is incredible. Doesn't make our play lately any better, I'm not saying that. But let's remember where we were last year. It's amazing we are 16-7 with very solid quad one wins and not one bad loss. Second, the defense in this league gets bandied about a lot, and for good reason.

But look at who we've played so far this year in the league:
  • Baylor (#5 NET, #9 AO, #17 AD)
  • Kansas (twice) (#9 NET, #3 AO, #31 AD)
  • Texas Tech (#10 NET, #55 AO, #2 AD)
  • Oklahoma (#42 NET, #74 AD, #37 AD)
  • Texas (#16 NET, #42 AO, #9 AD)
  • TCU (#43 NET, #112 AO, #25 AD)
That is insanity. In our first TEN league games we had to play a no worse than #37 AD with our putrid offense. With those numbers by other teams and our offense sputtering it's no shock we are 3-7. And let's be clear, there are a LOT of P5 schools that would have our same record or worse with this schedule thus far.

Here is where the optimism comes in...

We have 8 games left...
  • at West Virginia (#62 NET, #106 AO, #32 AD)
  • vs Kansas State (#72 NET, #89 AO, #39 AD)
  • at TCU (#43 NET, #112 AO, #25 AD)
  • vs Oklahoma (#42 NET, #74 AD, #37 AD)
  • vs West Virginia (#62 NET, #106 AO, #32 AD)
  • at Kansas State (#72 NET, #89 AO, #39 AD)
  • vs Oklahoma State (#61 NET, #153 AO, #16 AD)
  • at Baylor ((#5 NET, #9 AO, #17 AD)
I'm in no way saying the schedule is easy from here on out. But it is EASIER. By a lot. The next week will tell us a lot. If we go to Morgantown and lose a close one and get 65+ points it will suck but I can live with that. But if we can't score and get blown out and then come home and lay an egg against KSU then sadly I think the shot at the NCAAs is toast.

Think about this...what if...IF...we go 2-0 next week. I know that is a huge ask after what we've seen lately. But I'm trying to be the optimist. Say we go 2-0...we'd sit at 18-7 and 5-7 with a game at TCU looming. If we can go to TCU and win (again...huge task especially with how we sucked against them at home) then we'd get two VERY winnable games at home. That happens and we're suddenly 21-7 and 8-7 with two winnable games in front of us at KSU and vs OSU.

Do I really think this will happen? No. But just looking at who we've played against who we have left...I'm not as much as a cliff-jumper as I was just hours ago. I do think this game at WVU is massive. If we can pull that out and then KSU at home I can 100% see us stringing some wins together and all of a sudden NCAA is a sure thing.

Take this or leave this post. I know it's a big of sunshine pumping. All games in this league are brutal. But we've gotten the most brutal out of the way. We'll see how we do against the other teams now jockeying in our same position.

Go Cyclones!
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As much as I want to go negative this is exactly how I feel. Just gotta get enough wins to get to the big dance. This conference is brutal. We’re undefeated outside of the conference. Maybe 4 more wins? If we can do that I’d be interested to see how we fair against other conference opponents
 
CoachHines3 said:
This next stretch is very winnable. 4-4 would be great but I don't think 6-2 is out of the question.. now we have to find some offense but its doable.
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The way this team is playing, 1-7 or even 0-8 isn’t off the table. I think that the tournament is a pipe dream at this point. I’m happy with the improvement over last season and optimistic for the future, but not for the rest of this year. When it takes Brockington scoring 35 for them to win because no one else can hit a shot, that’s not a very good recipe.
 
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With as tough as the Big 12 turned out to be, this team gelling early and getting to 14-0 in the non conference was critical to their NCAA chances. It is still the case, I believe, that if ISU wins 5 more games they will have the record for biggest one year turnaround of a program in history. It has objectively been a good year.
 
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CascadeClone said:
Totally agree on the non-con, it was set up perfectly. You have a bunch of guys who haven't played together AT ALL, coming off a 2 win season. Need some gimmie wins against bad teams to build some confidence and work out the bugs. Play some tougher games to test yourself. I am sure TJ (like all of us) were surprised they actually won all the tougher games.

I still think they make the NCAA, and either they win game 1 but then have no energy for game 2, or they push a tough opponent to the wall in game 1 and lose, but the opponent loses game 2 because they are worn down from playing ISU. But then you never know. Matchups and luck matter a lot.
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If they get in perhaps some days of rest prior would help in that first game.

Not to mention that honestly the relentless defense that B12 teams are playing isn't something many teams care to see. That's not to say that the B12 will have X amount of teams make runs...it's just right now they are in opponents' grill.
 
Frak said:
The way this team is playing, 1-7 or even 0-8 isn’t off the table. I think that the tournament is a pipe dream at this point. I’m happy with the improvement over last season and optimistic for the future, but not for the rest of this year. When it takes Brockington scoring 35 for them to win because no one else can hit a shot, that’s not a very good recipe.
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Would your perspective change with a win tonight?
 
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Statefan10 said:
Would your perspective change with a win tonight?
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Definitely. They need a win like Okie St a few weeks ago. But I’d like to see more than just brockington or grill getting hot. The trend hasn’t been good for awhile now.
 
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Frak said:
Definitely. They need a win like Okie St a few weeks ago. But I’d like to see more than just brockington or grill getting hot. The trend hasn’t been good for awhile now.
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Yeah I can agree with that. I think the competition being lowered helps. No, the teams we’re going to see going forward aren’t as poor as Missouri, but they’re less like Kansas or even Texas at this point.
 
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