In short, other teams are wore down and have injuries.
Milan Rumors - Hand Injury
- Thread starter hobbsfan27
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In short, other teams are wore down and have injuries.
My guess is we are a top rated team. That target on their back is big. If you cant get up for a top ten team.......
I think that’s fair to “hope for” some incremental improvement in the %, but it’s also the type of 3’s (and volume) a player has in his toolset.
Milan is an elite outside shooter. CuJo has been really good at times. Lipsey has shown to be formidable from 3 (and he’s hit some big time 3’s). Gilbert has hit some big ones, as has Jefferson.
Some of the elite squads have multiple guys that can not only make a 3 but can also
A) create separation at any time to get off a 3, and
B) in any game (or even a half) can get hot and hit 4+ 3’s. Lipsey couldn’t do either his freshman year. Last year as a sophomore, he did show he could do A, which was huge for us. I’m not sure he can do B (yet). Same with Gilbert, who has kind of a slow release anyway.
CuJo can do both A and B, as can Milan, and that’s about it. Heise is barely a catch-and-shoot threat, as is Watson. Jefferson also a set shot guy. I ‘think’ Nojus has the tools to be an A/B guy, and I think a few of our recruits next year might be as well (at least one for sure in Batemon).
Rambling at this point… In summary, getting Milan back is not only key in spacing but we also need him to simply make some tough 3’s out of essentially nothing. He did this in the Big 12 tournament last year and it was friggin awesome. Who could forgot the side-step spin dribble corner trey against Houston in the title game!? Those are absolute back breakers for the opponent.
Edit. As I typed this out I was thinking - holy smokes, some of Freddy (and Prohm’s) teams had like 5+ guys that were A/B guys! Mind blowing. Too bad they couldn’t guard
You think this team could be the caliber of 2016 Villanova that had:
Jalen Brunson - all pro NBA
Josh Hart- college all American + NBA
Mikal Bridges- college all American + All pro defensive nba
Dante divencenzo- NBA for 6 years
Plus a handful of euro/g league guys.
This roster isn’t even close to that.
This happens every year, people start looking for excuses why we aren't playing well. It's weird to me that it only seems to affect ISU even though other teams play the exact same number of games.
Lipsey, Gilbert, and Jones actually played far fewer minutes this year up until Milan's injury than last year. I will admit they've played heavy minutes lately but the cumulative affect so far this year doesn't seem as much.
Drake has 3 starters that have played more minutes than anyone on ISU and it doesn't seem to be bothering them.
Keshon has looked at least somewhat hobbled to me since the WVU game.
Tamin playing with a mangled thumb.
That's three starters either limited or out.
Injuries are a normal part of sport at this level and every team has to handle it, but that's a lot to handle all at once.
Lipsey's been a walking injury and has a fractured thumb, and Gilbert appears to have a lingering leg injury. Neither of those have anything to do with getting tired, just luck.
Cujo just looks like he's lost his mojo and is getting guarded differently.
And, the three together don't seem to be a good fit on the court for long stretches which seems to limit things more.
Some guys don't become better shooters, no matter how much they work at it. Like athleticism, it's partially a natural talent, and partially a learned skill.
Random thoughts. The 3s are going to be there. Captain Obvious but need to make some or we are sunk. Lipsey and Gilbert are below average. Jones is elite but has no room anymore. Lipsey is left wide open. Surprised Milan is over 40%. For an elite shooter, he misses a lot of wide open shots.
Yeah. Those trips to Missouri State and University of Evansville are gauntlets
Nick Weiler-Babb was the best I have seen at improving his shot. Guy went from beyond horrible to good after one summer.
EDIT: He went from 31% to 32% to 36% 3 pt shooting. Weird. Seemed he was awful his first year here and greatly improved. I think he slumped badly at the end of the year to skew stats but whatever.
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Correctrion: Per ISU website stats Milan is 40% (6 of 15) in Big12 Conference play.
What the above list tells me is we are pretty average 3 points shooting team. And in fact ISU ranks 9th in Big12 games in 3pt shooting % at 33%. Interesting our 3 point defense is tied for 12/13th best with opponents shooting 35.7%. KU, TT, WVU and ASU all limit opposing teams to shooting under 30% from 3.
So during our recent 3 game skid, other than than KU, our 3 point shooting has been typical: UA 7-24 & KSU 8-18. So I feel our sluggish offense is less about 3 point shooting, and more about opposing defenses are clogging the paint. Sure opponents can clog the paint if we aren't hitting 3's.
But IMO opposing coaches catch on to tendencies. And most of the time our offense initiates action from the free throw circle. So teams are crowding below the free throw line making dribble penetration tough and resulting in difficult shots and turnovers. Plus on the high ball screens our guards aren't really scoring threats, so no reason for the screeners defender to come up. They can clog the paint.
We need more ball movement to shift sides, solid screens with cutting and dribble penetration from the wing to break tendencies.
The guys replacing Milan’s minutes just aren’t scoring even combined. Watson’s performance and potential as a rebounder and shot blocker is great but some nights you need a spark on offense.
Milan had off nights but he also had nights with relatively effortless 12-18 pt games.
Too bad Heise can't shoot 30% from 3, less even shoot. The guy is a beast with effort on D and rebounding. Nailed that pivotal 3 in the Iowa game.
I feel like he just need to shoot more. He never takes shots. From what I can tell.
Yep they've done absolutely nothing as of late and that has to change. For Chatfield that means getting offensive rebounds and getting a put back or fouled. For Heise that means having your feet ready to shoot, not instantly catching and putting the ball on the floor when his guy doesn't even close out. I have zero issues with anything that Watson is doing right now. He's playing pretty much perfectly to his role right now.
That's exactly the issue. He can be an average shooter but if you barely take any or shoot scared/afraid to miss, you're going to be a bad shooter. And that's what he is right now.
n 8th grade. I watch Chatman in warm ups and surprisingly he has a decent three point shot. Wonder if he has just been told to not try it.
I just don't get the Heise thing. How can you go from UNI's leading scorer to someone that looks allergic to the ball? He's not even trying to score at this point. Even with Milan back, we're going to need him to find his confidence if we're going to make a run in March.
The other guards are shooting but I noticed them looking to get rid of it to it seemed against KU.
Everyone seemed just a little gun shy. KU's blocking ability probably didn't help.
Hopefully they've dug in a bit this week (or took some time away) to get right for Saturday. TCU's not good but Dixon has been a solid coach.
Everyone seemed just a little gun shy. KU's blocking ability probably didn't help.
Hopefully they've dug in a bit this week (or took some time away) to get right for Saturday. TCU's not good but Dixon has been a solid coach.
