I agree. Nash has been tough for us to defend. I'm curious who might draw that assignment. You have to be quick enough to keep in front of him on the outside, and strong or big enough to bother him inside. McKay? Hogue? BDJ?
*** Official #14 IOWA STATE vs #22 Oklahoma State Game(day) Thread ***
- Thread starter CycloneRulzzz
- Start date
I agree. Nash has been tough for us to defend. I'm curious who might draw that assignment. You have to be quick enough to keep in front of him on the outside, and strong or big enough to bother him inside. McKay? Hogue? BDJ?
Need to win one of these two on the road. I think tonight is the "easier" of the two.
I think the team is beginning to"Get it". This team has taken a little longer to gel, but is quite remarkable. Tonight will be fun to watch.
CycloneErik
Well-Known Member
All I want for my birthday is a win in Stillwater. No cookies. No fuzzy slippers. No free drink at the bar. Just a win, baby!
To be fair, he did give it a little body English. Fred's gravitational pull may have helped it go in.
I think McKay or Hogue have to draw the Nash assignment...maybe Nader? We need someone with length to guard Forte, IMO, especially with Naz being hampered. I would put BDJ or even Hogue on Forte...have them face guard him, a la Babb, then rely on the other 4 to battle for boards. Monte, I suppose, could draw Forte, but then who guards Hickey? I'm not terribly worried about anyone else on their roster but these 3, but those 3...with almost zero help from anyone else...can beat you. They are good.
Nader probably matches up the best physically (or Hogue), though I think McKay's length could bother him.
On Forte, you have to have someone who is physical enough to get through all the ball screens, yet fast enough to keep up with him. The kid is tireless, so it's tough. Naz might be the best bet there. I like Monte on Hickey because I think he can turn him over a lot.
It really takes good team defense, and everyone executing the scouting report to slow down a guy like Forte. Whoever is on him needs to be able to follow him all over the court and thru screens, but it's also the responsibility of the guys guarding the screeners to know when to pop out on to Forte, and which way to force him.
Just watch forte on a few possessions, he'll go across the court three times, thru 6 screens, and run a circle around another screener, all in an effort to catch and shoot with a few inches of space.
CycloneErik
Well-Known Member
I'd like to see a Fitbit report on Forte during a game. The man's conditioning is phenomenal.
The other question is whether to switch on the screen out top. I would imagine that this would allow OSU to rearrange our match ups to their purposes, but Ford doesn't strike me as a great basketball mastermind.
I hope we don't get tunnel vision on trying to shut Forte down. Dude is a baller, and he's gonna score. Try to contain him, and make an effort to cut off his passing lanes while you're doing the same thing to Nash, and pray that some other Cowboy doesn't have the game of his life*.
*- .......like players always do when they're playing the Cyclones.
*- .......like players always do when they're playing the Cyclones.
Forte reminds me of Fred as a player because of his constant motion. Much like a shark swimming constantly to keep water flowing over its gills, Forte keeps moving to try to create that half-second where he's got an opening to shoot.
Have Niang draw two fouls on Nash early, and focus on shutting down Forte. The game in Ames Nash was able to hit shots over Niang, and Houge but once they put McKay on him for the most part we shut him down. I'm more concerned with Hickey. Lately he seems to be making big time shots. If we play to our potential we win this one in "hopefully" comfortable fashion.
Whenever I post in the morning on this thread we always lose. Let's hope that the streak ends today.
