Turning Point of Season (ISU/Drake Postgame thread)

Cyclonepride · 12-05-2007, 11:51 PM

On a side note, I did catch some of the Hawkeye game on the tv and then on the radio, and while the Hawks have sucked out loud this year, the return of one player (Tony Freeman) seems to have helped put things back together to an extent. I mention this only because it shows that one player can make a huge difference, and whether Wesley gets back healthy this year or not, we are not that far away.

copenhagen · 12-05-2007, 11:51 PM

They were favored by 10 or so. Everything just went their way, even if ISU had played their best game of year ISU still loses. Haluska, Thompson, and Wes played ok. I thought Jiri had a terrible night as did Garrett. Brackins disappears too much, which is fairly normal for a freshman.

herbicide · 12-05-2007, 11:53 PM

Originally Posted by ISUFan22

How many defections did he have to deal with after Greg left?

Good question. Can we dare think of it from both ways though???

ie. What if Jacobson is the reason they came there/stayed there?

CY ST8T · 12-05-2007, 11:56 PM

I'm sick of hearing all the youth, inexperience and all of those excuses. Yes, this team should have a long way to go, but there are coaching deficiencies that are seen right now. These teams are not prepared and in position defensively or rebounding. The guards both years are very poor in protecting the ball and there are many other little things that coaches like Eustachy, Knight and many other coaches display. Those coaches seem to be in full control at all times and almost seem to move the players where they should be. With GMAC I don't see this control so far. I am not going to say get rid of the guy, I just am begging to actually see some coaching or something to prove me wrong. Cyclone Basketball has lost it's luster and it is very frustrating to watch. For the first time in my life I quit watching a game before halftime and found something else to do.

frontrangeclone · 12-06-2007, 12:01 AM

so much for momentum from the road win in Corvallis....

someone pointed out last week that GMac in his past coaching positions was always worst (in terms of wins/loses) in his 2nd season, but then turned things around nicely in his 3rd or 4th seasons.

I've only seen the team a couple times this year, but the point guard situation is atrocious. BP is not a D-I PG.... can he create his own shots, penetrate and dish? DG is going to be good, but needs to gain 15 lbs. and gain D-I experience. And does Jiri even care about playing anymore? When I've seen him his body language disgusts me.

travman23 · 12-06-2007, 12:10 AM

This has just been a crappy day all together for me and to be honest the ISU game is probably the least of it even though I'm still pretty frustrated with that right now. This afternoon I learned that a neighbor of my parents for 28 years commited suicide, a friend from HS mother in law has an inoperable brain tumor that his wife has quit school to be with her as she might not make it to Christmas, then ISU has this embarassing game, then finally driving home from the game my girlfriend decides to drop a bomb on me on the phone that after saying she was fine with our travel plans going from her family to my family's Christmas's (its 8+ hours apart this year) that she has changed her mind and doesn't want to leave her parent's when I do to go be with my family. The ISU game probably the least of my problems today but the last thing I'm in a big deliema because we see her family way more often than mine (parents live closest but extended family and brother all live between 6-14 hours away) and all her family lives about 2.5 hours away so family Christmas is about the only time I get to see my extended family so 1 way or another 1 of us gets the shorter end of the stick in this deal because either she compromises and is pissed at me probably or I give in and we spend Christmas day driving over 8 hours and basically have my family waiting on us to get there before we do our Christmas.

So yeah, while the Drake game was frustrating as hell, I had way more going on today that in the big picture the game is not going to cause me to lose sleep.

travman23 · 12-06-2007, 12:15 AM

I hate to say it but all any team needs to do is look at the Bradley and Drake game tapes to find out how to beat us.

-Pressure the guards
-Play a sagging zone and deny passes into the post. When the post players do get the ball immediately double team them and force them to pass it back out
-Drive the lane and force the defense to commit as we don't do a good job of cutting off drives
-Force ISU into taking perimeter shots late in the shot clock

This is exactly whay both MVC teams did to us and we were unable to adjust. Brackins "disappeared" in both games because he did not get touches and when he did the defense swarmed him. After watching Peterson tonight I really missed McIntosh even if he had his limitations because even McIntosh could get the ball up the court without panicking and turning it over and was quicker.

bmuff · 12-06-2007, 12:22 AM

Originally Posted by travman23

I hate to say it but all any team needs to do is look at the Bradley and Drake game tapes to find out how to beat us.

-Pressure the guards
-Play a sagging zone and deny passes into the post. When the post players do get the ball immediately double team them and force them to pass it back out
-Drive the lane and force the defense to commit as we don't do a good job of cutting off drives
-Force ISU into taking perimeter shots late in the shot clock

This is exactly whay both MVC teams did to us and we were unable to adjust. Brackins "disappeared" in both games because he did not get touches and when he did the defense swarmed him. After watching Peterson tonight I really missed McIntosh even if he had his limitations because even McIntosh could get the ball up the court without panicking and turning it over and was quicker.

Sad but true, McIntosh leaving KILLED this team. Just having him here would have made a ton of difference. He wasn't great, but he was at least solid by the end of last year.

rd4isu · 12-06-2007, 12:26 AM

Originally Posted by frontrangeclone

I've only seen the team a couple times this year, but the point guard situation is atrocious. BP is not a D-I PG.... can he create his own shots, penetrate and dish? DG is going to be good, but needs to gain 15 lbs. and gain D-I experience. And does Jiri even care about playing anymore? When I've seen him his body language disgusts me.

How long do we wait for a capable point guard? McDermott's longevity at ISU is going to be directly tied to Diante Garrett and/or Dominique Buckley. If one of these two guys doesn't turn into a legitimate D-1 point guard (ie - breaks down defenders off the dribble, kicks to the open shooter, handles pressure, etc) we're in serious trouble.

iowast8fan · 12-06-2007, 08:48 AM

Originally Posted by travman23

I hate to say it but all any team needs to do is look at the Bradley and Drake game tapes to find out how to beat us.

-Pressure the guards
-Play a sagging zone and deny passes into the post. When the post players do get the ball immediately double team them and force them to pass it back out
-Drive the lane and force the defense to commit as we don't do a good job of cutting off drives
-Force ISU into taking perimeter shots late in the shot clock

This is exactly whay both MVC teams did to us and we were unable to adjust. Brackins "disappeared" in both games because he did not get touches and when he did the defense swarmed him. After watching Peterson tonight I really missed McIntosh even if he had his limitations because even McIntosh could get the ball up the court without panicking and turning it over and was quicker.

shhhh....don't let the the opposing team scouts see this

iowast8fan · 12-06-2007, 08:55 AM

Originally Posted by Cyclonepride

On a side note, I did catch some of the Hawkeye game on the tv and then on the radio, and while the Hawks have sucked out loud this year, the return of one player (Tony Freeman) seems to have helped put things back together to an extent. I mention this only because it shows that one player can make a huge difference, and whether Wesley gets back healthy this year or not, we are not that far away.

Wasn't Freeman supposed to be out another week or 2? He was limping at the end of the game. Maybe he was forced to come back before he was ready with Iowa's lack of players for the UNI game.

I think Wesley came back too early when he played against UNI, but had a great game. Unfortunately, he has been paying for it in every game since. Freeman could be hurting in their game against us on Saturday.