How concerned should we be?

[heitclone]

I love Fred, but even when his teams have won over the last 2+ years, they've shown poor shot selection and struggled to take care of the ball. Friday nights game was pretty typical of what a struggling FH coached team looks like. Last season, it took until after Xmas for this team to hit its stride (if you thought this was an NCAA tourney team at this time last year, you had a serious Kool Aid dependance), for whatever reason things started to gel when big 12 play opened. The bad news is we went 1-3 against the best non conference teams we played, the good news is, while the big 12 has a lot of solid teams, no one looks unbeatable so I'll hold off being worried for a couple months. Honestly, some humble pie might have been just what the team and fans needed.

 

[mitten1975]

Hey Mitten! How's it going? Good to see you here.

You think Leonard Nimoy should be in big trouble?

McGee, McCoy, Nimoy, what is the difference? I have trouble with the names of this team. Why can't Fred recruit people with shorter easier names. Nkeureaum? I am sure I didn't spell that right, but why should I have to look up a name every time I want to spell it? Next thing you know, they will force us to learn foreign languages!

 

[mitten1975]

I love Fred, but even when his teams have won over the last 2+ years, they've shown poor shot selection and struggled to take care of the ball.

I thought when Kentucky played against us last year, they shot threes out of their minds. Some might say they didn't show good shot selection. I think there is a fine line between getting people to have good shot selection and over emphasizing this point which takes out some of the spontaneity of good basketball team. When people doubt whether they should be taking a particular shot, they sometimes shoot poorly as a result. Basketball is a game that needs precision and confidence.

Turning the ball over is another issue. Also taking shots quickly before you can give yourself a chance to get an offensive rebound is another issue. I think they need to take care of their turnovers but not stifle their creativity in creating open shots through good passing. I think Fred is trying to weigh all of these factors.

 

[heitclone]

I thought when Kentucky played against us last year, they shot threes out of their minds. Some might say they didn't show good shot selection. I think there is a fine line between getting people to have good shot selection and over emphasizing this point which takes out some of the spontaneity of good basketball team. When people doubt whether they should be taking a particular shot, they sometimes shoot poorly as a result. Basketball is a game that needs precision and confidence.

Turning the ball over is another issue. Also taking shots quickly before you can give yourself a chance to get an offensive rebound is another issue. I think they need to take care of their turnovers but not stifle their creativity in creating open shots through good passing. I think Fred is trying to weigh all of these factors.

Agree 100%, I'm not saying Fred needs to change anything up, just that the style he plays is going to look rough sometimes but often times the reasons his teams struggle are the same as the reasons they are sucessful. Chris Allen last season is a perfect example, he had games that had fans and the at times coaching staff pulling their hair out due to some really poor shot selection, but he had games where he carried us on offense, had he not had that confidence to take those shots, he wouldn't have been as big a contributor last year. Both he and Scotty put up bad shots last year but without that aggressive mentality, they don't have those big nights either.

 

[kberyldial]

I went to the game and have let my anger subside before posting. Several things happened Friday night. One, the crowd was a factor. You could sense an Iowa crowd that did not want to lose to ISU in basketball. They were angry whenever something went our way (albeit that didn't happen often). Iowa fed off that energy. Iowa came out ready to play - we did not. Our guys way to often let Iowa's defense get to them - you could see it emotionally coming out and that is a poor way to execute. Lucious has got to get in the lane more and create from there. We were stuck on the perimeter way too much. I don't mind hoisting up 3's but we could do a much better job getting open looks by slashing the paint first. Niang and Gibson played really well in a hostile environment. Iowa's freshmen are better than I gave them credit for. Like last year, Fred has work to do to create an identity for this team. We have alot of talent ALOT! Just need to get on the same page and we'll be fine. Obviously Clyburn didn't show up. We weren't ready to play and Iowa was. Really that simple. BTW, the refs were a factor. It's not an excuse, it's a road game fact. Must overcome.

 

[Cydkar]

Iowa just beat us starting 3 freshman, a soph and a junior. They lose no one of consequence after this year and landed a stud in Jok and another mature, athletic player in Uthoff for next year.

Yikes. Every time I saw someone on here trashing McCaffery the past few years I cringed. He's a damn good coach and will be a thorn in our side for years to come.

I'm late to this thread but the way we played Friday would have ended in a loss to numerous teams. Iowa played well but we didn't lose because we were overwhelmed by talent. Both teams will be fine but if they wanted to play again tomorrow I wouldn't lose any sleep over it.

 

[wonkadog]

I went to the game and have let my anger subside before posting. Several things happened Friday night. One, the crowd was a factor. You could sense an Iowa crowd that did not want to lose to ISU in basketball. They were angry whenever something went our way (albeit that didn't happen often). Iowa fed off that energy. Iowa came out ready to play - we did not. Our guys way to often let Iowa's defense get to them - you could see it emotionally coming out and that is a poor way to execute. Lucious has got to get in the lane more and create from there. We were stuck on the perimeter way too much. I don't mind hoisting up 3's but we could do a much better job getting open looks by slashing the paint first. Niang and Gibson played really well in a hostile environment. Iowa's freshmen are better than I gave them credit for. Like last year, Fred has work to do to create an identity for this team. We have alot of talent ALOT! Just need to get on the same page and we'll be fine. Obviously Clyburn didn't show up. We weren't ready to play and Iowa was. Really that simple. BTW, the refs were a factor. It's not an excuse, it's a road game fact. Must overcome.

I was there too and completely disagree. It was a typical road crowd but nothing like we're going to see at Oklahoma State or Kansas. I turned to my dad a couple times when Iowa was ahead and said something to the effect of "why aren't the Iowa fans louder right now?"