Teams
Forum List
Toggle sidebar

Usual No Favors

CycloneWarning said:
Agreed. I was at the airport getting ready to board a plane for March Madness weekend in Vegas, and ISU had already lost in the first game of the entire tourney to UAB. Sucked rocks.

Just hard to get the energy going in an early start.
Click to expand...


This is true. But as I pointed out that elsewhete, we got pretty good energy last Thursday at 11. And we had the early NCAA game last year.

I think the key is that any scenario is cause for concern. And once you realize that, you know that nothing scenario is cause for concern.
 
allfourcy said:
Yes, all bracket scenarios could have been tough, its not an easy tournament. Quite frankly its a crapshoot unless you're really far and above the competition, which most teams aren't. If we wanted 'favors', we could have played a lesser opponent real close to home (like in Hilton in the NIT). I prefer this option!
Click to expand...

Me, too. Worst case scenario is that we lose a game, like 63 of the teams will.
 
jsb said:
This is true. But as I pointed out that elsewhete, we got pretty good energy last Thursday at 11. And we had the early NCAA game last year.

I think the key is that any scenario is cause for concern. And once you realize that, you know that nothing scenario is cause for concern.
Click to expand...

And we have done great in late night tourney games as well. UConn, ND, and NC Central were all late games.
 
It's basically a miracle that I can watch our entire game after a long commute home without missing work living in California.

I've listened to at least the first half of every weekday game on xm radio all season with the exception of president's day I think.
 
Would you rather:

vs Nevada in Milwaukee
vs Purdue in Milwaukee
vs Kansas in Kansas City

vs UNC-Wilmington in Orlando
vs Florida in Orlando
vs Villanova in New York

vs Princeton in Buffalo
vs West Virginia in Buffalo
vs Gonzaga in San Jose

vs Middle Tennessee State in Milwaukee
vs Butler in Milwaukee
vs North Carolina in Memphis
 
  • Winner
  • Like
  • Agree
Reactions: Dormeezy, BBHMagic, UraMallas and 9 others
Playing late is like playing on Friday. Any upsets early should help any favorite team focus a little more. As for the bracket, I really think the committee was looking for an ISU/Kansas game at KC. That could be the best game of the tourney, and one that would require an NCAA disclaimer on the tickets that "this event may cause hearing loss"...

On a side note, anyone going to Milwaukee who wants fantastic BBQ; visit Saz's http://sazs.com/statehouserestaurant/
 
Sometimes you have to take a step back and realize a couple things:

1. No road is perfect and every team that makes the dance made it for a reason.

2. If we want to make a run and be considered great, we simply have to beat great teams. For example, rather than getting K-State in the finals, we got to run over WVU and make more of a statement.
 
Playing KU in KC is about as perfect of a draw against a 1 seed as we could get. The guys know the arena and the court already, have confidence from beating KU once already, and the arena will be a neutral site essentially, as there will be close to an equal number ISU fans there as KU. Remember Monte talking before the BXII tourney about how the love playing against KU at the Sprint Center because the atmosphere is off the hook. This is much better than having to play UNC somewhere in the SE or Villanova up in New England
 
  • Agree
Reactions: jdoggivjc and NoCreativity
Respect all, fear none.

We're a very good team with a thin margin for error. That hasn't changed since November. The only difference is that roles are clearly defined now and we've been playing with fire a lot less over the last month. We are beating good teams and closing games out well.

Nevada is a quality team with some high major (transfers) talent but let's not act like they're something we haven't seen before. We've beaten more top 50 teams in the last 4 days than they've beaten all year. Most of that is opportunity but the fact remains, we are much more battle tested than them. Yes, they're under-seeded (probably by 3 or 4 lines) and they can beat us if we don't play ball, but so could 40 or 50 other teams in the tournament.

There's not much sense talking about Purdue, but they've got the advantage in the front court and we have an advantage in the back court...guards win this time of year, especially ELITE point guards. Aside from Gonzage, KU is the #1 seed I wanted to see in our bracket the most. I don't care where we play them. The geography of our draw could not be better for us based on this year's sites.

Time of game? Don't care and neither does our team. Who is going to handle neutral site, odd time NCAA games better, a team with mostly seniors that is doing it for the 4th time or a team that's never done it before?

As far as people picking against us first round, when hasn't that happened? UConn, the defending national champ, was supposed to run by Royce and Co. Notre Dame was too skilled for us. UNC Central was a cute pick for a lot of pundits. Iona's guards were supposed to be tough for us to handle. Oddly the only time I don't remember a lot of people picking against ISU in the 1st round was UAB. Everybody is guessing this time of year. Some "experts" just get paid more to do it than the rest of us.

As others have said, it's not supposed to be easy. I'm not over confident (not that how I feel makes even the slightest difference) but I'm not shaking in my shoes either. Our team is focused, driven, and playing the best ball I can remember of any ISU team since this time 17 years ago. Line 'em up and let's go. My nut cup will be at the ready, but if we can't trust this group of seniors, there's no group we can ever trust.
 
  • Agree
Reactions: ironsam and jcats322
DandyCyclone said:
Would you rather:

vs Nevada in Milwaukee
vs Purdue in Milwaukee
vs Kansas in Kansas City

vs UNC-Wilmington in Orlando
vs Florida in Orlando
vs Villanova in New York

vs Princeton in Buffalo
vs West Virginia in Buffalo
vs Gonzaga in San Jose

vs Middle Tennessee State in Milwaukee
vs Butler in Milwaukee
vs North Carolina in Memphis
Click to expand...


This a great perspective. I didn't want to see UNC-W or MTSU as 12 seeds. Nevada is a quality 12 seed but I think those other 2 are worse matchups for ISU. Princeton may be the best matchup for ISU out of the first round opponents but I am not complaining as it could be worse.

Also a team like Purdue is only going to have 2 days to prepare for ISU's attack and I don't think there is any big 10 team that is similar. Perhaps Michigan and they just lost to them in their tourney.

Not to mention ISU players should be comfortable playing in Milwaukee and KC as a number of our players have played multiple games in those venues.
 
First off...this was an ideal draw! We are 10-7 vs tourney teams. 10 WINS VS TOURNEY TEAMS. Let that sink in. Nevada was 1-2 vs tourney teams lol. We play them in Milwaukee, there will be more ISU fans there then the other 3 schools in our session combined.

Then people complaining about Purdue. Yes they have bigs (Swanigan and Haas) but they cant defend us on the perimeter like we can't defend them in the paint. Last I checked a 3 is worth more then 2 and they aren't as talented as Baylor and we beat them this year while absolutely getting murdered down low. Plus they still have to beat Vermont who has a 21 game winning streak rolling. Purdue is 7-5 vs tourney teams. Wins vs 5,8,9,8,6,9,8 seeds and losses to 1,2,5,7,7. Notice a trend? Vs seeds 7 or better they were 2-5.

I love the draw and pray we get a Kansas rematch in KC!
 
I know we are all nervous because of 2015. BUt we should remember that team was playing with fire all year long, especially st end of the season. Those comebacks were amazing. And I doubt this years team could do that but it's not sustainable. In the last 3 weeks we have been pretty methodical. That's a good thing.
 
  • Agree
Reactions: Dormeezy
DandyCyclone said:
Would you rather:

vs Nevada in Milwaukee
vs Purdue in Milwaukee
vs Kansas in Kansas City

vs UNC-Wilmington in Orlando
vs Florida in Orlando
vs Villanova in New York

vs Princeton in Buffalo
vs West Virginia in Buffalo
vs Gonzaga in San Jose

vs Middle Tennessee State in Milwaukee
vs Butler in Milwaukee
vs North Carolina in Memphis
Click to expand...
Any of the other three.

Location is overrated, but KU in KC is the clearest homecourt advantage in the tournament. This isn't the meaningless Big 12 tournament, it will be 80% KU. It's the extreme of our recent fortune in regards to location and totally negates any advantage of being in KC. Milwaukee is fine, but Purdue will have just as many fans and it's not an advantage. The Thursday late game isn't optimal either.

It's the tournament, so unless you're Baylor you'll always have challenging paths. But people are completely overvaluing KC. I'm not saying we're screwed (not like 2000), but it's not a good one imo.
 
  • Disagree
  • Funny
  • Dislike
Reactions: Dormeezy, jdoggivjc, jkclone and 1 other person
jsb said:
I know we are all nervous because of 2015. BUt we should remember that team was playing with fire all year long, especially st end of the season. Those comebacks were amazing. And I doubt this years team could do that but it's not sustainable. In the last 3 weeks we have been pretty methodical. That's a good thing.
Click to expand...

That's actually a pretty good point.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Help Support Us

Become a patron
Top Bottom