*** Official Ole Miss vs #15 IOWA STATE Game(Day) Thread ***

[jdoggivjc]

This team had every element to be a Final 4 team. Experience and talent throughout the backcourt, did very well in the portal to complement them with a strong frontcourt, a successful core that played together for a few years. I know that they never really got a chance to play together due to lack of health but the chemistry was just off this season. Hard to pinpoint what went wrong but I did not envision the season ending like this even with Gilbert out and Lipsey hobbled, there just wasn't much fight in this dog.

I don't think it was a chemistry issue; you don't go 17-2 and get to a #2 rating if your team has chemistry issues. The team dealt injuries most of the back half of the season. Old story already, but Gilbert got hurt, and didn't really get a chance to sit to get better because Momcilovic got hurt. Then Gilbert kept playing on it until it became a season (and perhaps career) ending injury. Then Lipsey got hurt again. And with both Gilbert and Lipsey injured we just didn't really have a way to defend opponent's guards.

That's not a "chemistry issue"; that's injuries killing your once-promising season.

 

[AllInForISU]

How many games did ISU lose with everyone (minus Tamins thumb) healthy? 1? It’s such a “what if” season.

 

[t-noah]

The thing I am disappointed with this season, in TJ’s 4th year, there was no 4th year player that started with his when he became a head coach. One of the reasons why I hate the NIL and transfer portal.

A lot not to like about NIL, college athletics, conference realignment. Ugh. It's been a to go thru.

I wish I could say it is over now and will get better from here on.

 

[Cyinthenorth]

Then, it wasn't about the SEC money Mississippi has and ISU doesn't.

Yes it was. You must have missed my post about them having P5 transfers filling out their roster. Iowa States guys come from UNI, Seattle, St Mary's, and Charlotte. They have and are able to acquire better joes. We can make up that gap when our upperclassmen who've had multiple years in the system and play at all conference level when healthy are able to go. But they weren't tonight. It was that simple.

 

[Koala]

The biggest thing about the injuries is they definitely lowered the floor and our baseline was lower than before. Sucks but that'll happen to some teams.

We really needed a more reliable plan B on offense, and I'd be curious to know what lessons the coaching staff learns from this season. I'm no D1 coach but I will say the insistence at running an 8 man rotation at all costs got a bit perplexing at times. Early on it seemed fair enough, like it helped the core guys settle into and thrive in their offensive roles, but then injuries happened. And plan B probably could have been more than throw Watson in for a few minutes since there's a spot available now.

Oh well, disappointing end but I can't really say I'm all that pissed or anything, just bummed.

 

[Cyhig]

Might be a month or 2. Need sometime to decompress. We now are entering portal season. Might do it when that part is over.

Looking forward to them, Rulzzz! Hope you are enjoying your job as well

 

[cytor]

Giving up 96 and 91 in the final tournament games in March from a team known for defensive toughness will leave me questioning what happened to our team down the stretch.

Injuries

 

[CycloneVet]

No Keshon and Tamin was injured. That's 2 elite perimeter defenders. When you don't have that you are going to struggle.

Add in not hitting shots

 

[cyclo120]

I would have taken all 3 of our bigs last year over Jackson.

 

[1SEIACLONE]

ISU had about 5 games this season where they did not bother showing up, WV, KSU at home and others. You just cannot play like that and expect to win in crunch time and we didn't tonight. When their shots are falling this is a fun team to watch, but when we could not hit a shot, we struggled and kept shooting them. Have to give Ol Miss credit there were at least 3 times where they took the shot clock down to a second or two and every time they hit the shot. We let them get on a roll and they kept it going, 12 of 12 from the FT line while we were struggling to hit half of them. Injuries or no injuries, this team overall just never had others step up. When their shots were falling players like Milan are great, but tonight, when we needed a big game, they could it nothing when it mattered, hitting back to back 3 pointers down by 20 does nothing but look good in the stat sheet. This team could have done a lot more, but teams like Houston will themselves to wins, just like Kansa used to be able to do, this team wilted under the pressure. Not a good sign for a team or a coach,

 

[Taz4President]

Who lost in the second round? I was referencing the Hampton and UAB years.

Got it. I misread it. My mistake.

 

[jsb]

And two people talking on a podcast doesn't mean much.

I heard a whole bunch about St. Johns last week and that didn't work very well.

Correct and I bet their fans are pissed today too.

We were top 10 team for all but 1 week this year and we got boat raced in the second round. It’s not shocking that fans are pissed.

Most fans are acknowledging the reasons why it happened. And know that it is not some huge failing.

But it sucks and frankly any elite program in our shoes would be unhappy.

 

[Pizzapitter]

I think next year if he wants the NBA he needs to do more drives and fades.

If the 3 ain't falling gotta try something else

Milan is a loooong way from the NBA

 

[cincinnaticyclone]

Currently staring into the abyss right now. It appears to be staring back at me. Any advice on how to proceed?

 

[cyclonehomer]

Toure is such an unknown, I don't have a good read there

I think he looks like a plus athlete and while he wasn't high volume at Brewster, his shot isn't bad. I mostly think his ability to defend the ball and length will be something TJ likes.

 

[IcSyU]

Giving up 96 and 91 in the final tournament games in March from a team known for defensive toughness will leave me questioning what happened to our team down the stretch.

Your best defender who is a pest is playing at less than optimal and your 2nd best defender who is an absolute pest was absent. I wouldn't be surprised if Gilbert is worth 8-10 points defensively and Lipsey worth another 6-8 over the performances we got.

Likewise Gilbert is worth points over Kelderman offensively if for no other reason than being able to drive and kick to shooters. Kelderman effectively makes it 4 on 5 on both ends.

Love him or hate him, Gilbert was a HUGE loss.

 

[AlaCyclone]

Yes it was. You must have missed my post about them having P5 transfers filling out their roster. Iowa States guys come from UNI, Seattle, St Mary's, and Charlotte. They have and are able to acquire better joes. We can make up that gap when our upperclassmen who've had multiple years in the system and play at all conference level when healthy are able to go. But they weren't tonight. It was that simple.

Then, if they had better players with better wins during the year (which they did), they should have been seeded higher than ISU.

 

[NWICY]

His mom is recruiting for us on social media to get players to ISU. Seriously.

Ok that's pretty amazing. They must like TJ and the program.

 

[Baseline23]

I plead guilt to any "Final Four" talk in Jan. or Feb., as a 40-yr. Clone fan, @ a program that hasn't even sniffed an Elite Eight in decades.
And with NIL, it looks like "Never" might be the reasonable expectation.

 

[Darius Bieber]

Also kinda sucky that TJ didn’t put in the CEO for a final hurrah when he called off the dogs with 40 seconds left.