Is this an NCAA Tourney Team?

**WhatchaGonnaDo** · 11-25-2012, 01:10 PM

For the love of god please stop comparing this year's team to last year's team

**Dryburn** · 11-25-2012, 01:21 PM

Obviously, it is too early to be positive one way or the other about the original question, but the way the team played this weekend, right now I would have to say no.

ISU beat 4 cupcakes, then lost to 2 decent, although not outstanding teams. It is possible for some fans to take away some sort of "moral" victory given the fact that the two teams ISU lost to were ranked, and one was on their home court. However, I think such moral victories fall flat when your team basically played like crap and arguably should have been able to win both games.

The fact is, none of us know if this was just a couple of bad games by this team, or if this is going to be the norm against decent competition. This could very well be the norm.

Despite all the unwarrented positive speculation about some of the players before this season began, this team still does not have a good, experienced point guard. I say unwarrented, because if you look at KL's record at Michigan State, there is really nothing there to promise success at ISU. I think we were all hopeful that given he was entering his second year under CFH, Korie would have been better prepared, but that obviously is not the case. Honestly, he has shown us nothing. He has exactly as many turnovers as assists, and is averaging 4 per game at both. Is 4 assists per game (including 4 cupcake games) really a Big 12 starting point guard? I think Naz shows promise, but he is a freshmen and not ready to lead this team, imo. I hope CFH can straighten KL out, but he's had 6 games and over a year with him already. Maybe the talent is just not there.

Everybody is trying to compare this year's team to last year's team, and the progress it made. Maybe what it will take is to make as dramatic a change as was made last year. Go essentially without a point guard, or do something like running the offense through Clyburn, or maybe Niang when he is in there. It was done for at least 10 minutes in the UNLV game. KL had 27 minutes, Long only 3 so for some 10 minutes, someone else was acting as the point. It would be interesting to look back as to when that was, and see how the team performed for those 10 minutes.

Something needs to change. The players need to step up and get it together, and the coaches need to recognize the problems (which we can only hope they do) and try something new. If this team keeps playing like this, it will be an NIT team at best, imho.

**Bobby45** · 11-25-2012, 01:21 PM

Originally Posted by ZJohnson

At this point...not a chance in hell.

I hate to be a Debbie Upper but, its way too early to tell if this team will develop to ncaa caliber.

I know one thing for sure. This team has a long long ways to go to challenge for a conference championship.

**docholihawk** · 11-25-2012, 01:24 PM

I'd say right now the team looks like a 18-19 win team, that being said it's early and teams continue to get better as the season progresses. The combinations will start to gel and players will settle into their roles. I think the team will improve and get to 21-22 wins this season. The unfortunate part is Korie Luscious may be the player that is playing the most important role in all of this and I've never been sold on him. I have no doubt about his talent but I question his basketball iq. Good luck.

**mikem** · 11-25-2012, 01:32 PM

The real question that this thread brought to my mind, is clones21 cy4p's non cave screen name?Second, I guess we should be happy we lost these two games so the same cast of "fans" can come on here to let us know how much the players suck, and of course how much Fred sucks.Good job, now just make sure that you stay the **** away when we have big wins this year.

**cyclone87** · 11-25-2012, 01:54 PM

Two losses to ranked opponents away from Hilton in the month of November with both being competitive games. I wouldn't jump over the ledge just yet, hell texas lost to Charlimane or something like that and we lost to Drake last year and to a UNI team (that was just average) at home.

**hoopitup** · 11-25-2012, 02:04 PM

Remember as the season wound down last year and we entered the Big XII tourney? People were saying 5, 6, 7 seed and many couldn't understand why we were an 8. Well the season is beginning similar to last year. Our real only "quality" opponenets in the non-conference are Cincy and UNLV. Both of which were L's. We should beat Drake and Iowa. UNI while a very solid mid-major may be the best remaining non-confernce opponent on our schedule. We should beat BYU (a tourney team last year). If we end up between 3-5th in the Big XII, given our non-confernece schedule and results, we are likely to receive a lower seed than most want because of our weak non-conference schedule.

**Dryburn** · 11-25-2012, 02:46 PM

Originally Posted by hoopitup

Remember as the season wound down last year and we entered the Big XII tourney? People were saying 5, 6, 7 seed and many couldn't understand why we were an 8. Well the season is beginning similar to last year. Our real only "quality" opponenets in the non-conference are Cincy and UNLV. Both of which were L's. We should beat Drake and Iowa. UNI while a very solid mid-major may be the best remaining non-confernce opponent on our schedule. We should beat BYU (a tourney team last year). If we end up between 3-5th in the Big XII, given our non-confernece schedule and results, we are likely to receive a lower seed than most want because of our weak non-conference schedule.

ISU does not play UNI this year. I have my doubts about beating BYU and Iowa...we'll see. Drake, they should beat, but I don't think it will be as easy as some think. Drake has played some good competition lately, and has not played that badly.

**Cydkar** · 11-25-2012, 04:29 PM

1) We will improve.
2) The Big 12 isn't all that daunting.
3) Another non-con loss and we will need a 5th place conference finish to have a sniff.

**TigerCyJM** · 11-25-2012, 04:50 PM

Last year we were awful at this time. Me (and others), thought royce was a lazy bust, and that the fact that we had no point guard would ruin our season. Look how it turned out. Give it time.

**gbaba** · 11-25-2012, 05:23 PM

The weapons are there. What we need is CHEMISTRY!

**gbaba** · 11-25-2012, 05:23 PM

Chemistry!

**gbaba** · 11-25-2012, 05:24 PM

Hey, that's 50 posts!

**Skyh13** · 11-25-2012, 05:29 PM

A lot of people's extreme reactions so far are a bit much..

Sure, the team could have played a lot better against good teams in the tourny... and unless they really start playing guard ball, driving and kicking and making jumpshots, they're going to struggle.

Give them some time. I don't see this team having a real high ceiling, but clearly they're competitive. With some cleaning up, I think they could make the tourney. Are they going to go far? I don't think so, but it could still be a good year. Certainly better than recent memory (last year notwithstanding). Interior defense and ball control are the two things that really need to improve, followed by shot selection.

**kucyclone** · 11-25-2012, 05:39 PM

A little mini-rant, in response to posts regarding other Big 12 teams' struggles:

The fact that other Big 12 teams have been struggling doesn't necessarily help us. It means that conference wins count less, and perhaps that the conference only gets four or five teams in the tournament instead of six or seven.

At this point in the season, all Big 12 teams should be cheering for each other. It's much easier to get to the tournament when you have a tough schedule, because there's more chances for resume wins. What some of you seem to want is a season like this. Washington, last year, went 14-4 in the conference, and didn't make the tournament because nobody in their conference beat anybody in the non-conference, so none of their conference wins meant a damn thing.