***Official ISU-Pitt postgame thread***
- Thread starter Cyclonepride
- Start date
They were in a Sweet Sixteen a year ago.
It's a pretty precarious situation; do you get a coach's seat warm because they keep losing to low seeds after having very nice seasons?
Gene Keady had two Elite Eights and a three Sweet 16s over 25 years but generally was just a tourney participant and in an era where the disparity in talent was huge.
Painter has four Sweet Sixteens and one EE in almost 20 years.
I thought UConn was just simply better no matter what ISU did but the rest just seemed to jump out at ISU and get them in a place they couldn't get out of.
ISU could turn into a team that looked like they forgot how to play quick; dribbling off the foot, weird turnovers, panicked offensive possessions and even getting out of sorts on defense. They flipped that switch at about the 13 minute mark at Tech.
Maybe there really wasn't a dude that really took over the huddle to dissolve things a bit and is something going forward; I remember Niang having to take that on his senior year as he'd always kind of been the Robin type.
Credit yesterday as ISU at least crawled back but then the shots just weren't falling.
You think you could handle other teams message boards?
I read alot of others, like Rutgers and Oklahoma State after they got snubbed. This place has the calmness of a darkness retreat compared to some other stuff I've seen. Iowa's is even alot worse than here.
Yes me saying that Purdue's coach and a couple of players conducted themselves very well in a presser after the loss is me saying I think I could handle other teams message boards.
Add to that ISU went 2-6 vs WVU, OSU, OU and TT.
I come to 2 conclusions:
- There are certain teams from a style of play and athleticism we just don't match up well against.
- While I feel Big12 was best conference, the whole "best conference" argument is overhyped. ISU was 5th place 9-9 team in Big12 and Pitt was 3rd(t) place 14-6 team in ACC. Maybe the seedings should have been reversed! That said, I don't feel a 6 seed losing to an 11 seed is much of an upset.
I kind agree with the style of play thing, although UCONN, Texas and OSU seem different styles than Iowa and Pitt.
I don't think there's any doubt that the Big 12 is the best conference, top to bottom, this year and for the past several. But that doesn't mean the individual teams will play well in the tournament. I don't think the national champion will be from the conference, probably not even a final 4 team.
If TJ plays really small we would see Omaha at the 4, but he is so skilled seems to me he is a 3.
Playing him at the wing allows Biliew to dribble in space or post up small ball 3's.
Hopefully, Watson expands his offensive game and he gives us 3/4 flexibility as well.
Gotta believe Tre King is our 4 along with Momcilovic.
Biggest needs are scoring guards and scoring post.
The Big 12 was the best conference, I'm not going to try to debate that because the facts prove it.
The problem is alot of fans don't watch other conferences so all they hear is the hype all season on how the Big 12 is so good.
Conferences like the SEC and ACC don't have the strength top to bottom but there are some damn good teams with elite athletes very capable of making Big 12 teams look bad.
Just a gut feeling and I could be wrong, but I think Arkansas takes out Kansas today.
Teams that spread the court and moved the ball well like Iowa, Mizzou and Pitt were able to exploit our trapping defense.
Then super athletic, long and physical teams like OSU and UConn also created problems.
Disappointing loss, but the future seems bright with guys returning, recruits and a couple transfers.
I agree regarding conferences. Sometimes I think the perception is that it's nba vs high school. In fact, the difference between P5/6 teams is more incremental than we believe.
There’s a reason more and more low major teams are winning in the tournament, and it sure as hell isn’t because they go big and put the tweeners at the smaller of the two positions. Obviously it’s different in college but Omaha is a 40% 3P guy. He will give ISU the most versatile defender we’ve had in recent years. He gives you the flexibility defensively to play King as a small 5. Now you have some offensive mismatches at the two forwards and open up a wing to put a shooter on the floor, which we will need, especially if we see Lipsey and Williams on the floor a lot together.
Now, maybe OB plays the wing with Milan and Kung in the front court. That would be interesting.
A little step down in defensive ability, size or athleticism isn’t going to hurt our defense that much. A little bit of shooting from two guys in the starting lineup would boost the offense a ton.
It was embarrassing, but I never questioned their effort. So they can keep the shoes. They just aren’t very talented offensively and it bit us in the ass at the worst time.
Seeing the same thing with King and Biliew. A post transfer with the 2 of them would be good size. Whichever is most capable of guarding the opposing teams 3 or a guard is my guess for us at the wing. They both along with Momcilovic and Watson look capable of playing multiple positions.
Someone posted elsewhere that everyone except King, Holmes and someone else had by far their worst statistical day of the season all at the same time and that is almost overall statistically impossible to do.
