Question for ISU fans

**BCClone** · 03-12-2012, 07:07 PM

I don't know uconns team much at all, but if Drummond guards the post player, he will be on ejim. Royce is out past the 3 point line and booker generally plays out like a wing. We play a pro style offense, but without a post. Drummond will need to be able to come out and guard outside the 3 line, unless uconn plays a one man zone.

The guy babb guards does score points, but they have to generally take twice as many shots. This disrupts the rest of the offense, due to the scorer forcing things and not being squared up. I think bubu and McGhee might be seeing more minutes, if their guards are quick.

**SCarolinaCy** · 03-12-2012, 07:14 PM

Royce,

Just elliminate the stupid turnovers.

**Cyclonefan89** · 03-12-2012, 09:29 PM

Originally Posted by SCarolinaCy

Royce,

Just elliminate the stupid turnovers.

i wouldnt call his turnovers "stupid"
i mean if you're an assist guy you have to try and make some tough passes. ill agree the start of the texas game royce made some really bad passes, but remember tinsley led iowa state all time in turnovers until we had mike taylor come play for us

**CYCLONECORY** · 03-12-2012, 09:43 PM

I don't know how much better Lamb is this year over last. He was scoring in bunches in the toruney last year, obviosly he wasn't drawing the top perimiter defender like he will be this year. I can honestly say if they ball screen Lamb a lot, our screen and roll defense is so bad Lamb might be at the rim the entire night. I think Lamb is going to score, however my biggest concern would be keeping their Bigs off the offensive glass. That white center from Texas made us look bad, these guys will be twice that talented!

**gwoodclone** · 03-12-2012, 10:10 PM

I haven't seen much of UCONN this season (watched a few minutes of Harvard, Villanova, and second Syracuse game), so I guess I can't comment much on their team.

I think it will be a good game, though. We've clearly been the better team this season, but we all know that doesn't mean everything. We had a better season than Texas but still lost to them twice. Calhoun is also an experienced coach who knows how to win in the tourney, and has a very talented team.

Like I said, I don't know enough about UCONN to comment on matchups. But if our guys learned from that last game and come out like we did against Baylor, both times against KU, or at KSU, we should win on Thursday. If we play like we did against Texas, it will probably get ugly.

**Cyclonepride** · 03-12-2012, 10:27 PM

Originally Posted by VeloClone

Yeah, I don't know how any Cyclone fan can be overconfident after watching this team lay an egg against Tejas. There are really no patsies in the dance. Especially in the 8/9 game.

We played horribly almost across the board, and were there at the very end with a chance to take the game (against a tourney team). I think that says something about our talent level. If we come to play, and are on, we can beat anyone.

**jsb** · 03-12-2012, 10:33 PM

Here's the thing on Babb his guy may get some points, but he will have to take a lot of shots to do it. He's really, really good on defense. Maybe Lamb is too good for him to slow down. We'll see. I haven't seen Babb struggle too much defensively.

On White, I see a lot of you guys talking about how he only averages 13 points per game. Iowa State is actually better when he doesn't score as much. He is hard to guard because he is a guard in a power forward body.

It's going to be a tough game. I am convinced we have the toughest 9 seed to play. UConn is very expirenced in the tournament and Iowa State played very nervous in their tournament last week. I fear they will come out extremely nervous on Thursday.

**cyclone1975** · 03-12-2012, 10:37 PM

So many interesting questions about this game. But to me the biggest questions will be

(1)whether allen and scotty can play enough defense to hold down the "other" guards. Babb will do a nice job on Lamb, but if Lamb is smart enough to not force his game and let the other guards score, ISU could give up a lot of points and our bigs could get in foul trouble playing help defense.

(2) can Ejim stay out of foul trouble. He is a strong rebounder and probably our best post defender. He is also Royce's favorite person to pass to. Not because he always catches Royce's passes, but because he knows how to find the open spot so Royce can get him the ball in the position to score. Royce's passing game was off against Texas because he never got into a rhythm with Ejim.

(3) will the refs call lots of charges? Royce has become timid in his attempts to score because of all the charge calls. If the refs aren't calling charges than Royce can be a bull down there.

**Wesley** · 03-12-2012, 10:52 PM

Originally Posted by VeloClone

Yeah, I don't know how any Cyclone fan can be overconfident after watching this team lay an egg against Tejas. There are really no patsies in the dance. Especially in the 8/9 game.

They laid an egg because tejas over defended the perimeter and our support shooters never picked up the intensity to find a way.

**caw33** · 03-13-2012, 09:33 AM

Originally Posted by cyclone1975

So many interesting questions about this game. But to me the biggest questions will be

(1)whether allen and scotty can play enough defense to hold down the "other" guards. Babb will do a nice job on Lamb, but if Lamb is smart enough to not force his game and let the other guards score, ISU could give up a lot of points and our bigs could get in foul trouble playing help defense.

(2) can Ejim stay out of foul trouble. He is a strong rebounder and probably our best post defender. He is also Royce's favorite person to pass to. Not because he always catches Royce's passes, but because he knows how to find the open spot so Royce can get him the ball in the position to score. Royce's passing game was off against Texas because he never got into a rhythm with Ejim.

(3) will the refs call lots of charges? Royce has become timid in his attempts to score because of all the charge calls. If the refs aren't calling charges than Royce can be a bull down there.

Lamb's problem is not shooting enough. Seriously frustrating. He scores most of his points off of curls/shots with 1 dribble or less but sometimes decides not to shoot when he is open off the screen/curl. It can get very frustrating because they are shots he should be taking.

**VeloClone** · 03-13-2012, 09:41 AM

Originally Posted by Cyclonepride

We played horribly almost across the board, and were there at the very end with a chance to take the game (against a tourney team). I think that says something about our talent level. If we come to play, and are on, we can beat anyone.

I agree wholeheartedly. Can we also agree that if ISU comes out and plays like against Texas in KC or @ Baylor and they can be beat by anyone? I think they can win, but there are too many posters taking a similar line as they did before Texas and saying that UCONN doesn't have a chance or that ISU WILL beat UCONN. This team has laid too many eggs to have that level of confidence. Part of it may be relying on the 3 (which I am okay with) and part of it is losing focus and sloppy play. That's just the way it is.

It's no wonder there are so many melt downs on this forum. We pump sunshine up each other's *** holes that the team is unbeateable and then are crushed when the team has a bad game.

**MNCyGuy** · 03-13-2012, 09:44 AM

Originally Posted by Cyclonefan89

i wouldnt call his turnovers "stupid"
i mean if you're an assist guy you have to try and make some tough passes. ill agree the start of the texas game royce made some really bad passes, but remember tinsley led iowa state all time in turnovers until we had mike taylor come play for us

It seems like at least once or twice a game Royce will go for the "SportsCenter" pass instead of the simple pass and it bites him in the ***. There's a time and a place for the spectacular play, he just needs to do a little bit better job picking his spots. He knows it too. You can see it on his face when he makes those turnovers.

**Prezidint** · 03-13-2012, 10:02 AM

Originally Posted by jay moe

No particular reason, you will find that some posters on here spout off stuff to make themselves feel better about the game. Don't take it personally, I'm sure you have the same thing in Connecticut, really looking forward to the game, I think it's a great match-up.

No doubt.
Lamb is good, but the OP has thick homer glasses on to believe that a good defender can't take Lamb out of his game quickly.
Lamb tends to get into stretches where he gets content to bomb contested 3s. Could be a very long game for him if he doesn't want to work to get closer to the rim.

What makes Lamb tough to D closer to the rim is that his arms are inhumanly long, and he has a quick release type floater that nobody can get off the floor to block.

But like I said - if Babbs gets in his grill early, he may fold and be content to bomb low % 3s.

**Hayes30** · 03-13-2012, 10:16 AM

Originally Posted by awmuconn

Why is it that ISU fans are convinced that Babb will shut down Lamb but on the same hand no one can cover White???

As to Lamb, he seems to get his points regardless of who is covering him, The Big East does play some tough defense, I have never seem Babb play so you guys might be right but I would be very interested in conversation that tells me why you consider Babb to be a super defender, like who else has he shut down and how that player compares to JL.

Also White, From what I see he's a tough match up, But Calhoun in the past has had success designing game plans, think Elton Brand and Shaq, Also as far as White bringing ball up I would assume that Uconn is not pressing so it doesn't matter.

Other than Babb shutting down Lamb how do you see ISU defending Napier and Drummond without fouling etc

You cant stop everyone on the team but you can try. Iowa State will have some players coming off the bench that can play some good d with a little effort. I think Tyrus Mcgee and Bubu Palo will be used to play d on Napier at some point and Anthony Booker and Percy Gibson will be on Drummond alot too both can block shots well and will foul too tho.

I see this game as a Tossup, that is Uconn could play well and still Lose,, I just don't get the Lamb will be totally shut down but no one can stop White? seems a little naive, no?

**Cyclonestate78** · 03-13-2012, 10:24 AM

Originally Posted by isufan

Babb has taken the other team's best wing out of the game all season in the half court set. These are players like Rodney McGruder of K-State, Denmon for Mizzou, Pierre Jackson for Baylor, J'Covan Brown, etc.

Nobody has proven to have much of an answer for White so far.

The best thing about White is that ISU doesn't depend on him scoring a ton of points to have success on offense. He isn't the type that will force things if they aren't there. That is what makes him so much different then most star players on their respective teams. The really difficult thing about defending ISU is that the opposition never knows who is going to go off for the Clones. Ejim has blown up in games, Scotty, Chris Allen, Royce, McGee, etc.... have all lit up teams this year. All it takes is one guy to get stuck on automatic and then the opposition has real problems. The K-State road game is a great example. How many open shots did McGee, Allen, Babb, Royce, Ejim, and others get simply because Scotty was on fire? A bunch... and even with K-State shifting their defensive focus to stopping Scotty they still couldn't do it.

This is why ISU is so dangerous. It takes 1 guy... 1 guy to start filling it up and ISU's offense becomes extremely difficult to defend and ISU has plenty of guys to pick from that can fill it up.