*** Official #2 IOWA STATE vs West Virginia Game(Day) Thread ***
- Thread starter CycloneRulzzz
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Pissed as I am about yesterday I am not sure our offense was as bad as some made it out to be (including myself immediately following game).
We shot 1-17 which is obviously atrocious. But most of them were actually good looks. We shoot even 20-25% which is a poor showing and we win that game. Shooting performance was an anomaly that hopefully will not happen again. I’d be much more concerned if most of those 17 were end of the shot clock hail marys because we could get anything going.
We also got absolutely mugged non stop and shot only 7 free throws. Missed layups and dunks. Layups and dunks that didn’t even happen because of uncharacteristicly bad handles in the post.
Don’t get me wrong - it definitely wasn’t pretty. Just saying you apply our next worse performance of the year in terms of 3 point shooting and free throw attempts and we probably cover.
We shot 1-17 which is obviously atrocious. But most of them were actually good looks. We shoot even 20-25% which is a poor showing and we win that game. Shooting performance was an anomaly that hopefully will not happen again. I’d be much more concerned if most of those 17 were end of the shot clock hail marys because we could get anything going.
We also got absolutely mugged non stop and shot only 7 free throws. Missed layups and dunks. Layups and dunks that didn’t even happen because of uncharacteristicly bad handles in the post.
Don’t get me wrong - it definitely wasn’t pretty. Just saying you apply our next worse performance of the year in terms of 3 point shooting and free throw attempts and we probably cover.
We are a great team.
I think WV has shown people how to play us.
Guard Jones, pack the lane, dig the ball away from our bigs, and dare us to shoot. Without Milan, either Heise, Tamin or maybe Nojus need to make some threes. As somebody else said 1/17 from three and giving up 14 steals will not win. We have been a little loose with the ball several games now. Need to tighten that up before we head to Arizona.
WV is good, well coached and a tough place to play. We played poorly and dam near won.
The sky is not falling, but I think we missed Milan’s threat. Changes how opponents can defend us.
I like your post.
I don't, however, think anyone was shown anything. Their defensive plan was a good one, but it isn't as if it was some mysterious code that now means ISU is toast. It was the obvious play.
That plan wouldn't have worked so well without ISU shooting uncharacteristically poorly from 3--and that's not attributable solely to Milan being out nor to some arcane defensive principles that DeVries discovered.
I also don’t think that most officials are going to lay off the whistles as much as they lit off in Morgantown. Objectively, mountaineers were able to get away with so much on defense that they didn’t need to score as much as they should have against us. I’m not suggesting that the game wasn’t called evenly, but I am suggesting that it was called poorly.
I'd guess WV borrowed some things from KU. They largely shut down Cujo in the 2nd half.
Or maybe "the plan" was partly?/mostly? the reason ISU shot poorly from 3pt range...ISU was frazzled by the physical nature of the defense. I agree that what WVU did wasn't novel. However, what was "shown" was that ISU didn't seem prepared to deal with the physical style of play and wasn't able to force WVU out of that gameplan.
Frankly, no one has a clue of how officials are going to call a game, other than that it is likely to be inconsistent from game to game. Huggins got that kind of officiating for years. You need to be prepared for refs swallowing the whistle, and need to be able to make teams pay for playing arm-bar on every possession. I think ISU has the athletes to do that.
Yep the open looks looked hurried. ISU was sped up.
And unfortunately ISU can't get bigger and faster to counter it when someone else tries it. But they also still had a solid chance to pull it off if a few more buckets fall in the lane or perimeter.
And they can work on patience which hasn't been there and it's good to see it in January to get some sort of plan.
Good point. This was the first game I saw multiple players on multiple possessions (sometimes for several plays at a time) be visibly frustrated with not getting calls from the officials. Jefferson was sulking during key stretches in the first half, and I think it led over to defense where their Forward got confidence making a couple 3's. We were up maybe 21-12 and we got really frustrated on consecutive plays - WVA calmly knocked down 2 quick 3's and stole any momentum we had going.
**November.
Think of the possibilities had Watson ran up and down the floor about 10 times in a game in November to defend and get a put back.
Iirc Cujo reacted to a call early in the game and Chatfield did too.
Not to say it wasn't justified but a key point from the staff has been to not react to refs or opponents and keep pushing on to control only what you can. Imo that showed ISU was off and that can affect other things.
I expect Tuesday to be different from that aspect.
And you want to accuse me of hyperbole? You can't be serious.
Look, I already laid out my arguments and none of it invoked just "running sprints up and down the court". Alot of people agree with my approach also.
The only reason you and other posters disagree with me is that's not the way TJ decided to handle it. Had he chose my approach and kept playing Nojus alot then you'd say he's a genius and would agree with me.
Campbell is a master at getting guys reps and keeping them engaged so they can contribute in the future but I guess it's frowned upon in basketball.
I was getting a flashback during the game to Otz's first year, with CuJo playing the role of Brockington. It seemed like if CuJo didn't score, no one else was a threat. That makes it too easy for opponents to shut us down and puts too much pressure on CuJo.
If that is what was "shown", then I am not worried in the least. TJ knows how to coach that style of play, too. Really, I guess, what was shown was what degree of physicality the refs would allow and alsi a less than optimal response by ISU during the game. Again, nothing novel, no secret codes or strategems, or some such nonsense.
When you're coach, jeresib, you can implement your brilliant policies. Good luck. We're all counting on you.
I didn't say doing sprints. He'd get in, defend really well, get a putback occasionally.
I don't care if TJ plays guys or not or when. I can understand that coaches spend hours preparing however they do and TJ and staff have shown to prioritize details and assessment of players so there's no realistic reason to point at some November game as the reason ISU lost Saturday.
Re:CMC: football is a completely different type of physical energy expended over even one series so rotating players to provide breaks makes much more sense since it's only one game/week.
Not to mention practice reps etc. in football are completely different since they're against a full scout team of guys not on the depth chart instead of facing one another with only 12-15 players on the bball roster.
