Let's face it

[Clonefan32]

The exhiobitrionm and Lehigh game showed us we were not super duper. Tonight sealed it. WSe are looking better to full court press and use ten people than this we do not have a plan point guard junk.

Royce will soon be double teamed in the Big 12 and rthewn he will have to pass some.

We just look toooooo slllllooooowwwww.

I disagree about Royce getting doubled in the Big 12. I remember Fred and Royce both talking after Lehigh about how surprised they were that they didn't double Royce. I think this offense is predicated on the idea that teams will double Royce and he will find the open guy. It seems to me that teams are instead content on letting Royce get his 20 and 10 and limiting the effectiveness of everyone else. So far, it seems like a good plan.

[herbicide]

This:


Also, I've looked over our schedule a number of times. I can't find many quality 6'11" or 7' guys on any of the teams we play. Baylor has 2 good 6'11" guys, but they are not really post players.

(For the record, I'm not counting Jeff Withey, Philip Jurick or Jordan Henriquez-Roberts as quality players)

So, who are the "tough" 6'11" or 7' guys you are talking about?

The second coming of Kelvin Cato is what comes to mind, to what these folks want. But these folks don't realize guys like him don't grow on trees. There is literally at most just a few big time 7 footers each year. There are many years there are none in the entire realm of NCAA basketball.

Its great if you have one, but definitely not needed. Especially not over a PG for this team.

[Clonefan32]

This:


Also, I've looked over our schedule a number of times. I can't find many quality 6'11" or 7' guys on any of the teams we play. Baylor has 2 good 6'11" guys, but they are not really post players.

(For the record, I'm not counting Jeff Withey, Philip Jurick or Jordan Henriquez-Roberts as quality players)

So, who are the "tough" 6'11" or 7' guys you are talking about?

If you are looking for tough, athletic 6'11" basketball players you are going to have to wait until the NBA comes back. Even then, that list is pretty much limited to Dwight Howard.

[Cyclonepride]

I'm happy with the individual talent of all the newcomers who have seen significant playing time. The trick is to meld them into a team that is as good or better than the sum of its parts.

[Wanderer]

6'8 and 260 is plenty big for what the Clones will face 90% of the time this year. Most teams don't have legit 7 footers. Heck the Hawks have Archie, Olesani that are both 6'10+ but they'll both have a real hard time with White.

The problem with the Clones is quite PG and lack there of....will be the one position that needs to be squared away somehow or the Clones will continue to struggle.

OK, but the Hawks will be one of the worst teams we play and Post is their weakest position. I don't care how we fare against them, how about conference teams with big, strong and athletic centers?

[cyclone357]

I think our best option at the point is McGee at this point. Lights out behind the 3 point line, and doesn't turn it over when he handles the ball. Plays good defense, I think we could see good offensive flow.

In that Drake game, I don't see why we did not go to Royce every possession on offense. They could not stop him, and if they double him he could pass out of it. A lot of times we would look into the post, and rotate the ball away from him.

[RayShimley]

I think our best option at the point is McGee at this point. Lights out behind the 3 point line, and doesn't turn it over when he handles the ball. Plays good defense, I think we could see good offensive flow.

In that Drake game, I don't see why we did not go to Royce every possession on offense. They could not stop him, and if they double him he could pass out of it. A lot of times we would look into the post, and rotate the ball away from him.

Another good point, exacerbated by the fact that one of Drake's bigs (Clark) and their best player (Rice) both ended the game with 4 fouls. Only reasoning for this I can see is that Royce picked up 3 offensive fouls as it was, and CFH didn't want to risk him getting his 4th.

[BigLame]

Let's face it - it takes a certain amount of time and a certain number of practices and more importantly games for a team to come together. The Miami Heat started out poorly with their Awesome-3, gathered steam through the season, then floundered and a veteran team with players who had been together a while & led by 1 stellar player wins it all - Mavericks.

One thing is evident: Scott @ PG is not working well.
Allen has been hurt & coming back from injury. Maybe that is why he did not get reps @ PG up to this point. Maybe at some point Bubu/Sledge will get more of a shot.
Team-concepts appear lost - defensively & who is guarding who. On offense, working the ball & shot selection. This goes to communication & execution & are 2 things that generally take the most time to develop. Freshmen (Sledge) may have the hardest time with these aspects.
These are the most difficult, so it should be no surprise it is where our struggles lie. To me, it brings up how we may be missing Coach Lutz.

[CY ST8T]

Who cares about how big Royce White is when you play him on the perimeter bringing the ball up and on half the plays have him guarding a PG up top while a big man is posting Christopherson up? Sorry, but even Wayne Morgan would say these guys are undisciplined.

[NEICyFan]

The point is, this should have been the expectation from the start -- improvement over last year's team. So many people blowing this team up to unreasonable expectations on this board, I was fully expecting a ridiculous meltdown -- and that was before the loss last night.

Maybe now we can quit hearing ridiculous stuff like "in the hunt for the conference championship" and "Final Four". Just be happy if they can improve this season and if they surprise, great!

It should have been but it wasn't. That's what I'm getting at with this thread.

[CyDude16]

Freak out some more people!

[rholtgraves]

After the loss to Drake, I don't know if ISU will ever have a winning season of basketball again.

[Wesley]

Game 2 = panic?

If we look like this in game 8 or 9 I'll be concerned. As of now, I've seen this all before with good ISU teams and bad ISU teams. Jury is still out on this version.

The Lehigh and Michigan High exhibition games were also underwhelming. We have a long way to figure out a better offense for the big 12 season. It does look like we can rebound. Royce is a load. I just thought the others would score more if we could pass the ball around the horn. I forgot that we now need to learn to pass the ball to others quickly and not to ballhog. The future PG needs to look towards the basket (instead of going sideways), look to drive, look to bounce pass, to stop and pop, and be able to lob the ball in for an easy bucket. We are a major work in progress.

[CyBobby]

Well boys the ugly truth is that Royce White is a talent but he sure is not the second coming of Marcus Fizer thats for sure...


Fizer and Tinsley won 33 games and this team will be lucky to win 17 games...


It is what it is as they say, this team is just not very good...

[CyDude16]

Well boys the ugly truth is that Royce White is a talent but he sure is not the second coming of Marcus Fizer thats for sure...


Fizer and Tinsley won 33 games and this team will be lucky to win 17 games...


It is what it is as they say, this team is just not very good...

And you just need to take your crazy pills and go back to bed.