Jaz Kunc has a Broken Finger

Good thing they have King. Only thing with him is he just started playing again so could take awhile to gel with the team and has a huge step in competition with only one game under his belt.
 
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We need Gabe to pull it together though. It's year 5, time to make the most of your last opportunity.
I think Gabe is what he is at this point. There will be 2 games where he is lights out awesome, but there will be way more games where you just can't even put him on the floor.

I think he would be "less bad" if he just stopped shooting 3s entirely. Just play defense and make layups. He is 20% from 3 against teams not named McNeese and IUPUI; yet leads the team in attempts. That has to stop.
 
That's a big loss. Get well soon, Jaz. Sat at a table with him at an event and he was engaging and wonderful to talk with. Very nice young man.

Hope this team can scratch and claw it's way to at least .500 the rest of the season. If they can get to 19 wins in the meat grinder that is the Big XII, they'll have a seat at the Dance for another year.
 
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I think Gabe is what he is at this point. There will be 2 games where he is lights out awesome, but there will be way more games where you just can't even put him on the floor.

I think he would be "less bad" if he just stopped shooting 3s entirely. Just play defense and make layups. He is 20% from 3 against teams not named McNeese and IUPUI; yet leads the team in attempts. That has to stop.

Yep. I'd rather see him attack the basket and only shoot 3's when no one is in his zip code. He is cancer to our offense 6/10 nights.
 
ISU stayed inordinately healthy last season. We're due for some

Yep. I've written before that one of the unsung factors in how great last season ended up being was our lack of injuries. IIRC I don't think we had a single player miss a game due to injury. I'm sure there were a few bumps and bruises that might have kept a guy or two at less than 100% because it's just a long season and those will naturally happen, but they weren't serious to cause anyone to miss time.

This season we've already had two players out with injuries now, and it's not even 2023 quite yet. Thankfully, I think we have the depth this season to still be competitive; last season, not so much, which again is why we overachieved so much. Luck does play a part in how a season goes.
 
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Several combos are possible .... I took a leap and inserted Tre.

My first gut feeling:

Lipsey
Holmes
Grill
T-King
Big Energy
For what it's worth, I like yours better and hope that is where it ends up. Although I think for the team to reach its ceiling, Osun needs to be playing at his, and I am not convinced we've seen the best of him yet. Osun needs to step his game up, and Big Energy needs to keep bringing the energy off the bench.
 
For what it's worth, I like yours better and hope that is where it ends up. Although I think for the team to reach its ceiling, Osun needs to be playing at his, and I am not convinced we've seen the best of him yet. Osun needs to step his game up, and Big Energy needs to keep bringing the energy off the bench.
Yeah I'm not sure whats up with Osun. He has had flahses where he's looked really good - he was really good in the A10 and while its not at the level of the Big 12 or other P6 conferences, its still a solid league. I think he'll come around eventually.
 
Good question. I think until Tre has his sea legs a bit more we go small:

Osun
Holmes
Grill
Kalscheur
Lipsey

Going small is great for a couple minutes. But there are no good shooters in that lineup to space the floor..

I'd rather see this "small" lineup. Watson rebounds well for his size (I think he has a 7' wingspan) and he can switch 1-4 with some threat of shooting.

Lipsey
Grill
Holmes
Watson
King

It's really hard for me to justify putting Gabe and Grill on the floor together unless we are having foul issues with Holmes and/or Lipsey. Caleb is shooting 38% from 3 in games following his UNC showcase. Gabe is shooting 22% over the same period, which is in-line with his 2021/22 shooting on the season..
 
I think we need to change the way we play on offense. We have a lot of size inside and at guard so time to get really physical and aggressive on the offensive glass, which we have not been so far. IMO it must be intentional. Baylor and TT have been monsters on the offensive glass because they send bodies and position themselves well. We don’t have shooters, even less with Jaz out, so we need to get buckets inside on putbacks and free throws. It’s shocking to me how poor we’ve been at offensive rebounding so far this season.
 
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Going small is great for a couple minutes. But there are no good shooters in that lineup to space the floor..

I'd rather see this "small" lineup. Watson rebounds well for his size (I think he has a 7' wingspan) and he can switch 1-4 with some threat of shooting.

Lipsey
Grill
Holmes
Watson
King

It's really hard for me to justify putting Gabe and Grill on the floor together unless we are having foul issues with Holmes and/or Lipsey. Caleb is shooting 38% from 3 in games following his UNC showcase. Gabe is shooting 22% over the same period, which is in-line with his 2021/22 shooting on the season..
I agree that a lineup featuring Grill and Gabe both could be a bit brutal, especially if both were having cold nights. I was just speculating that while Tre King continues to get into form, it might be the best option in the interim. Not trying to knock on Watson, but we won't win many Big 12 games where he plays 20+ minutes. He is a net zero on offense, and in regards to shooting, he is no better than Gabe with a much smaller sample size. Hopefully with T. King he just needs 2, maybe 3 games of coming off the bench and gradually getting more minutes to then be ready to thrust in the starting lineup.
 
Holmes is the guy we need to lean on hard IMO.
Holmes is the X factor that will make us go. We don't need him to be Brockington, but need him to win big games

In his 3 worst games this year (UCONN, ND, Iowa), Holmes has a combined 22 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, 9 TO's, and 5 made free throws.

In his 3 best games this year (SJ, UNC, Nova). Holmes has a combined 48 points, 12 rebounds, 14 assists, 7 TO's and 10 made free throws.