A lot of hoops still to be played...

[jhill]

I think 22 is the early runner for Poster of the Day (in a good way ).

If this team is moving on the offensive end, I don't see much trouble scoring, and we can go back to being the high-scoring Cyclones.

One thing that I wish I'd seen, and mentioned to my mother (who was with me, since revkah was kidnapped by preschoolers), was the full-court press. UNI doesn't like running. They pushed it hard on one possession, and it was a chaotic mess. I just can't help believing that the full-court press would have taken them out of their comfort zone, and started moving the game into a pace that favors us strongly.

I have seen a lot of posts that mention that we need to control the tempo, and I fully agree with that. It is time to go assert the style that we want to play, and make someone play our game, instead of vice versa.

Couple of things. A lot of stuff comes back to rebounding....including, tough time controlling the tempo without doing it. Rebounding and outlet passes start breaks. I would have liked to see McDermott mix things up a lot more -- press, maybe mix in some more zone, double teaming Eglseder in the post, moving Brackins to the free throw line and having cutters, etc. He seemed to keep it VERY vanilla in all respects. Maybe he is waiting until conference season to use the whole play book

[CycloneErik]

The reason why Hamilton is shooting 84% is because of the 19 shot attempts. He's shooting all the layups, dunks, and put-back he can. If you get him more intentional touches, that shooting percentage is going to come down.

Depends on where those touches are.

[jbhtexas]

These have been my thoughts for 2 years. Why don't we ever press? Why can't we ever gamble and trap a guard around the half court line when we need to change tempo? We NEVER change anything that we do.

Swallow your pride coach...you have to make some sort of change in your coaching style....not just man-it-up all the time. (He says that we have a deep bench this year....then put some "energy guys" in like Boozer to press/or trap from time to time.)

The common message board response has been because ISU hasn't had the athletes to press over the past two years. I think it has more to do with the coach's nature and philosophy.

[ISUFan22]

Doesn't matter. Better off not even taking a shot. Give UNI the ball back, under Iowa State's basket, with about 5 or 6 seconds left in the game. I will take my chances with that.

Because we were doing such a great job defending them down the stretch?

[WalkingCY]

The reason why Hamilton is shooting 84% is because of the 19 shot attempts. He's shooting all the layups, dunks, and put-back he can. If you get him more intentional touches, that shooting percentage is going to come down.

Well, no **** sherlock. Of course that percentage is going down. You ask him to get some more shots going and we have to tell the others to follow his shot (i.e. offensive rebounding.) Just having a guy out there for his size is doing nothing for us right now......he has to get involved to move around the ball more and take off pressure on Brack.... I think that he need to get some touches just for ball movements sake.....thus, it will have to move Gilstrap and Brackins crashing to the boards more.

This outside jumpers **** has to stop now. We've seen how we have fared against slow it down competition. More movement, more passing....and getting to the lane and the foul line is what this team needs. We need to get in the lane!

[DaddyMac]

Couple of things. A lot of stuff comes back to rebounding....including, tough time controlling the tempo without doing it. Rebounding and outlet passes start breaks. I would have liked to see McDermott mix things up a lot more -- press, maybe mix in some more zone, double teaming Eglseder in the post, moving Brackins to the free throw line and having cutters, etc. He seemed to keep it VERY vanilla in all respects. Maybe he is waiting until conference season to use the whole play book

Good point. And I think alot of our rebounding woes (offensive in particular) get back to the idea that we have a wing man in Gillstrap who stays almost exlclusively on the wing, a power forward who tries to live off his 8' turnaround jumper - or from time to time thinks he's a 3 point shooter, and the same for JVB.

Granted, all those guys can shoot. But most of our offensive sets have a gaping hole under the basket because our bigs are at the top of the key.

Am I wrong, or was about the only play where we had a cutter hit for a bucket when someone hit DG for that little reverse? I guess Colvin hit Gillstrap for the dunk, but that was more great penetration by Chris, than anything else.

Remember when Freddy, or Willoughby, or Nurse or Jake would run endlessly across the baseline from corner to corner? I'm of the opinion that any one of those guys ran more motion than this team all together.

[ISUFan22]

IMO, Hamilton showed he most certainly needs to be getting the ball fed to him down low a bit more often. Almost every time he got the ball when posted up on Egelseeder, he scored over top him. Which shocked me, but it worked - so do it more!

[clone4good]

Yes there is a lot of bball to be played, but they better get their heads out of their *** because the big 12 is looking mighty fine this year and if they are already getting a rude awakening by playing two decent teams, then they better not be looking forward to Big 12 play.

[CycloneErik]

IMO, Hamilton showed he most certainly needs to be getting the ball fed to him down low a bit more often. Almost every time he got the ball when posted up on Egelseeder, he scored over top him. Which shocked me, but it worked - so do it more!

It does seem simple, and it kept working. I was surprised, too. If something works for me in whatever I'm doing, I keep doing it. I'm funny like that.

[CyFever]

IMO, Hamilton showed he most certainly needs to be getting the ball fed to him down low a bit more often. Almost every time he got the ball when posted up on Egelseeder, he scored over top him. Which shocked me, but it worked - so do it more!

I didn't notice him scoring much over the top of Egelseder. They don't call it the 'up and under' for nothing.

[jhill]

Because we were doing such a great job defending them down the stretch?

No. Because I think the odds are in ANY team's favor if their opponent must take the ball the length of the court in 5 or 6 seconds against a set defense. They were killing the Clones with the big guys inside. You aren't going to be able to set up anything like that in 5 or 6 seconds.

Obviously, I am not suggesting they not even attempt a shot. My point was that ANY shot (short of a lay-up/dunk) is worse than using up all the shot clock.

[ISUFan22]

I didn't notice him scoring much over the top of Egelseder. They don't call it the 'up and under' for nothing.

Hamilton got the ball, faked one way, turned the other, faced up and shot right over top of him on 2 consecutive scoring possessions. Happened right in front of the ISU bench.

Yes, in the first half he did the typical, turn, turn back, slide and go under for he score. I only recall that being executed once.

No. Because I think the odds are in ANY team's favor if their opponent must take the ball the length of the court in 5 or 6 seconds against a set defense. They were killing the Clones with the big guys inside. You aren't going to be able to set up anything like that in 5 or 6 seconds.

Obviously, I am not suggesting they not even attempt a shot. My point was that ANY shot (short of a lay-up/dunk) is worse than using up all the shot clock.

I hear you and don't fully disagree. I just believe 100%, at that point, we were going to lose regardless of what we did. We were not playing tough enough, we were not getting rebounds and were allowing some easier/uncontested shots.

IMO, with their experience, the chances were greater than 50% that UNI would get a pretty good look if we had milked the clock.

[thatguy]

there is a lot of DISAPOINTING basketball left.

[Go2Guy]

there is a lot of DISAPOINTING basketball left.

I just hope my new 1080i LCD can survive the season.

[jhill]

I hear you and don't fully disagree. I just believe 100%, at that point, we were going to lose regardless of what we did. We were not playing tough enough, we were not getting rebounds and were allowing some easier/uncontested shots.

IMO, with their experience, the chances were greater than 50% that UNI would get a pretty good look if we had milked the clock.

Believe me, when it got under 2 minutes, I also expected the Clones to lose (which is sad in itself). But, again, going the length of the court in 5 seconds was going to be tough. Especially if you put Garrett on the ball and/or run some type of 3/4 court zone press. At a minimum, McDermott is able to call time-out, get his best defenders on the court and set up a strategy. Dendy's shot, or any in that situation, gives the ball back to UNI and takes all control out of McDermott's hands.