***Official Baylor postgame thread***

[rochclone]

Last night is frustrating because historically we figure out how to win these types of games at Hilton. We shot 50% from two and 34% from three. Not great but when the opponent basically shoots a similar % from 2 & 3- the Clones win those games. Obviously, allowing Baylor 18 offensive rebounds was the reason we lost.

But I think there we a lot of subtle things that showed we weren't aggressive. Our two post guys got 6 rebounds in 40 minutes. We shot 11 free throws. We only committed 3/4 fouls in the 2nd half until we were forced to foul.

If I look at our losses and IMO there are 2 common threads:

1. We allow the opponent to impose their style of play
2. We lose focus during key periods of the game offensively. Sure we might get "good" shots, but do we work to get our teammate a "great" shot.

IMO we have the most talent in the league from player 1 to 10- we just need to figure out how to get consistent production. I think CSP needs to be willing to try different things during games. Whether that be players, player combinations or offense/defensive philosophy. Sometimes the unexpected can knock a team out of their comfort zone.

At the most basic level we are losing games because we cannot stop dribble penetration which oftentimes is a direct result of playing poor pick and roll defense with our point and our big.

Perhaps this would be a good educational opportunity for Jared who was a big to discuss the four ways to defend a pick and roll.

1) Switch
2) Hedge and Recover
3) Ice the Pick & Roll
4) Blitz the Pick & Roll

#1 isn’t an option very often with Jacobson & Lard.

#4 worked for 3-4 minutes last night and then Baylor adjusted.

#3 we tried against TCU and the Big was never able to provide enough help to keep Alex Robinson from getting into the lane.

We have tried all four options but cannot seem to execute the defense on a consistent basis. Once again maybe this could a educational opportunity but until our Pick & Roll defense is solidified we will continue to give up good looks.

 

[IASTATE07]

Baseball.

what school?

 

[FinalFourCy]

So for some perspective, USA Today updated their brackets after yesterday's loss. Coming in we were a 4 seed who would have played Vermont, Villanova and Duke in our first 3 games (if everything held serve). Now we are a 5 seed who would play Florida/NC State, Wisconsin and Tennessee. I'd much rather the latter.

I’d much rather have the former. Money would be on Wisconsin feasting on our weakness imo.

 

[jbhtexas]

Lard actually backs off to let him drive to the hoop in hopes of making a highlight block.

Yes, Lard follows the dribbler down the lane, and then goes for a highlight block, which takes him way out of rebounding position. He does this too much. You don't have to block every shot to be a "rim protector". He could have made that dribbler put up a difficult shot without going for the block, and would have remained in good rebounding position.

What I've noticed about Conditt when I've seen him play is that he seems to have a pretty good handle on this. He gets some blocks, but doesn't get wildly out of rebounding position.

 

[NoCreativity]

what school?

One of the best programs in the state of Iowa.

 

[PAcyclone]

I think this team has a low basketball IQ. When Wigginton does pass it has to be a “hero” pass. The behind the back pass to Shayok is an example. That ended OK but there is absolutely no reason to pass it that way. Too many risks.

 

[cyclones500]

Well, Floyd's second year we were a 5 and had to play a tough 4 (Utah) in the second round.

The details have faded, but I remember at the time thinking we p*****d away that game.

 

[cyclones500]

CSP keeps saying “it’s on me”, but nothing seems to change.

I hope he uses that phrase more sparingly. Not to compare coaching quality or results, but McD said that seemingly a dozen times his final couple of seasons. After a while, it sounds like an excuse. I began to think, "Well, fix it."

 

[cyclones500]

Like most of our fans, I'm disappointed to be (realistically) eliminated from title contention with another home loss. I'm willing to concede this year's team simply isn't able to attain that goal, no matter how promising it looked. Plenty of opportunities to keep pace, but haven't been consistent enough.

Instead of agonizing any further about that, I've turned my attention to the tournament resume.

Climbing to 3-line doesn't look realistic (although it isn't impossible). More likely, we're looking at 4-5-6, it fits the profile.

General overview, based loosely on what the field would be if it were unveiled today (regardless of home-road-neutral, for simplicity):

Wins vs. locks or near-locks: Kansas, Tech, KSU.
Losses vs. locks or near-locks: KU, KSU, Iowa
---> Those games were vs. teams in 3 to 6 seed range.

Wins vs. "would be in": Texas, Ole Miss
Losses vs. "would be in": Baylor (twice), TCU.
---> Those games were vs. teams in 8 to 11 range.

OU is in First Four territory, I'll omit that win.

Only one loss vs. a team with no viable at-large chance -- Arizona.

Speaking of seeding, ISU got smidgen help tonight in connection with teams in our basic resume area: LSU and Nova lost to fringe bubble teams and Louisville fell to 8-ish seed SU.

 

[Sigmapolis]

Like most of our fans, I'm disappointed to be (realistically) eliminated from title contention with another home loss. I'm willing to concede this year's team simply isn't able to attain that goal, no matter how promising it looked. Plenty of opportunities to keep pace, but haven't been consistent enough.

Instead of agonizing any further about that, I've turned my attention to the tournament resume.

Climbing to 3-line doesn't look realistic (although it isn't impossible). More likely, we're looking at 4-5-6, it fits the profile.

General overview, based loosely on what the field would be if it were unveiled today (regardless of home-road-neutral, for simplicity):

Wins vs. locks or near-locks: Kansas, Tech, KSU.
Losses vs. locks or near-locks: KU, KSU, Iowa
---> Those games were vs. teams in 3 to 6 seed range.

Wins vs. "would be in": Texas, Ole Miss
Losses vs. "would be in": Baylor (twice), TCU.
---> Those games were vs. teams in 8 to 11 range.

OU is in First Four territory, I'll omit that win.

Only one loss vs. a team with no viable at-large chance -- Arizona.

Speaking of seeding, ISU got smidgen help tonight in connection with teams in our basic resume area: LSU and Nova lost to fringe bubble teams and Louisville fell to 8-ish seed SU.

Yeah, we have no truly awful loses in terms of a CV.

The losses at Hilton suck. TCU and Baylor are probably our worst two played games, but those are still good Big 12 teams fighting for the postseason. They are dinging us all psychologically, but they are not absolutely devastating to the selection committee.

They are certainly better than, say, the time senior Georges lost to UNI in Des Moines.

Arizona is easily our worst loss of the season from that perspective.

 

[clonefreek]

I absolutely blame Prohm for putting a top 25 team on the court this year despite all of the injuries and suspensions, lineup changes, and everything else that will probably result in a top 4 or 5 seed.

Thats cool, you can settle for whatever you want but in my opinion he has a top 10 talent and coaching is what is keeping us from actually achieving it. 5 years ago winning the first game of the ncaa tournament was cool now i want more. Can he provide that? I hope so but I dont see it. This team is better then this. The first 2 losses of the season I get because we didnt have a full roster, the rest were all winnable games where we either didnt show up for or lack of execution at the end of the game. And most of those games we still had a timeout to try and calm the team down and draw up plays but that wasnt done.

 

[clonefreek]

I absolutely blame Prohm for putting a top 25 team on the court this year despite all of the injuries and suspensions, lineup changes, and everything else that will probably result in a top 4 or 5 seed.

Thats cool, you can settle for whatever you want but in my opinion he has a top 10 talent and coaching is what is keeping us from actually achieving it. 5 years ago winning the first game of the ncaa tournament was cool now i want more. Can he provide that? I hope so but I dont see it. This team is better then this. The first 2 losses of the season I get because we didnt have a full roster, the rest were all winnable games where we either didnt show up for or lack of execution at the end of the game. And most of those games we still had a timeout to try and calm the team down and draw up plays but that wasnt done.

 

[FinalFourCy]

Thats cool, you can settle for whatever you want but in my opinion he has a top 10 talent and coaching is what is keeping us from actually achieving it. 5 years ago winning the first game of the ncaa tournament was cool now i want more. Can he provide that? I hope so but I dont see it. This team is better then this. The first 2 losses of the season I get because we didnt have a full roster, the rest were all winnable games where we either didnt show up for or lack of execution at the end of the game. And most of those games we still had a timeout to try and calm the team down and draw up plays but that wasnt done.

Top 10 talent is really good. We don’t have that elite player that you see on those team imo.

Certainly we have the talent to steal some games on the road and win home games against the likes of TCU, Baylor, and KSU, thus finish high in the Big 12. It’ll be disappointing if we do not, but we could redeem it with a run in the Tournament.

 

[SolarGarlic]

Lard actually backs off to let him drive to the hoop in hopes of making a highlight block.

Wrong.

He gets caught between helping NWB and discouraging a pass to his man. Lard backs off because he thinks NWB has recovered and Mason poses no threat to get to the hoop. NWB thinks Lard is going to help longer until he recovers. They both thought Mason was going to probe instead of trying to take it all the way.

My point is Lard didn't back off of Mason so he could try to get a highlight play. He and NWB had horrible execution on their PnR defense, and Lard was forced to leave his area to contest.

Defense is about discouraging actions, not trying to catch up to them. This team is dead set on the latter. We'd rather get a big block than discourage the drive in the first place.