A lot of hoops still to be played...

[ISUFan22]

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.

Great points.

Dendy's shot was also one of the few real aggressive things we did all game. I never want him to lose that instinct. Yes, he needs to get better about when to pull it out and when to hold it in.

But at least someone was trying to win there instead of playing passive.

[jbhtexas]

Great points.

Dendy's shot was also one of the few real aggressive things we did all game. I never want him to lose that instinct. Yes, he needs to get better about when to pull it out and when to hold it in.

But at least someone was trying to win there instead of playing passive.

My old high school coach came in when I was freshman. His policy was anybody who turned down an open shot from FT distance or less immediately went to the bench, and ran sprints in the next practice. Over the course of my four years, he changed us from a team of stand-around jump shooters who lost alot of games into a high-scoring defensive minded district champion...basically the same people. And that was quite a deal, considering we were basically a team of short, fat Germans...

[ISUFan22]

My old high school coach's policy was anybody who turned down an open shot from FT distance or less immediately went to the bench.

Not a bad policy.

We've had a group of guys afraid to shoot here for a while now. And this year, that has not happened. Until, the going got tough. Then, it seemed no one really wants to step up and take the shot. Is it fear of falling short? Worry they'll get benched if they miss shots?

I have no idea. But it must stop. This team needs to be confident in their own abilities and that of their teammates. These guys can make shots if they are confident when shooting, make good shot selections and are moving on offense.

[jhill]

Great points.

Dendy's shot was also one of the few real aggressive things we did all game. I never want him to lose that instinct. Yes, he needs to get better about when to pull it out and when to hold it in.

But at least someone was trying to win there instead of playing passive.

I agree about the aggressiveness. If he had put the ball on the court and taken it to the hoop, I would be much less critical (if critical at all). But, I don't like Dendy settling for an 18 foot jumper early in the shot clock at any point in the game, let alone up 1 with under a minute to go. These guys have got to acquire the mentality that they are taking it to the basket. Let Christopherson and Staiger roam the 3-point line -- everybody else, take it to the hoop. So many good things result from that.

[ISUFan22]

I agree about the aggressiveness. If he had put the ball on the court and taken it to the hoop, I would be much less critical (if critical at all). But, I don't like Dendy settling for an 18 foot jumper early in the shot clock at any point in the game, let alone up 1 with under a minute to go. These guys have got to acquire the mentality that they are taking it to the basket. Let Christopherson and Staiger roam the 3-point line -- everybody else, take it to the hoop. So many good things result from that.

With ya, wish he would have taken a couple dribbles to either go strong inside or get the defense to converge and dish it, as I noted before.


Enjoyed this thread a lot, one of my favorite ones in recent weeks...excellent discussion. Kudos folks!

[cyclonepower3]

My thoughts exactly Chris. If we win all the games now, then LaRon and the rest of the guys never learn how to win a close game. It hurts now but could be beneficial in more meaningful games late in the season, although with the way the big 12 is playing out of conference we need to see some improvement.

[cyclonenate]

I think we'll bounce back and beat Cal

[fcmc]

As long as we go at least 9-7 in conference and win at least one Big12 tourney game, we'll be dancing, the preconference isn't as important as everyone thinks.

We just lost to the worst basketball school in the big 10, and to a mid-major on our home floor, and you have us winning 9 games in the Big12?
I wish I hadn't watched Greg Mcdermott coach basketball for the last three years either.
Was it intentional or were you out of the country?
Which of the four big 12 wins from last year gives you so much confidence.
Or was it one of the four big 12 wins for two years ago.
Maybe it was watching him coach Wesley Johnson and Craig Brackins on the same team and still lose.
You might want to take a look at our big 12 schedule.
What's most likely going to happen, is that we're going to lose the first five, the team is going to completely quit on the soon to be fired Mcdermott, and we'll be lucky to win 2 conference games this year, if any.

[justgetcy]

So far the season has been disappointing but with that said, I can only imagine how things will turn around here at CF if we win tomorrow night @ Cal and blow out Iowa next friday....very possible chance those two things happen

[acody]

As long as we go at least 9-7 in conference and win at least one Big12 tourney game, we'll be dancing, the preconference isn't as important as everyone thinks.

After watching the last half of the UNI game, 9-7 would be a unbelievable. I'm really concerned and disappointed with McDermott BB right now. There have been way too may MVC opponent close games where our coach and team melts down in the last 4-5 minutes. I hope I'm wrong, but nearly four years of this is a trend. Greg appears to be over his head. UNI is probably a really good team, but that was very embarassing to watch our guys fold in the last few minutes like they were getting slowly choked. I've seen it way too many times with McDermott.

[ISUAlum2002]

Why did Lucca only end up shooting the ball twice in the second half? And both of them were off-balance desperation type shots. Do we not have any plays that can be run to get him open looks?

Why is Craig trying to post up his defender 15 feet away from the basket? In the meantime, Eglsedar is posting up 6 feet away from the hoop and backing our defender down and turning around for an easy layup.

The other night I lost sleep for the first time ever after an ISU loss, in any sport. This looked like the year we were finally going to make some noise. Now....not so much. And I'm just so damn tired of constantly losing to MVC teams.

[CyBobby]

People are up in arms because, based on what we've seen, the scenario you lay out above seems like a pipe dream.

Yeah Cykar You could be rite about the pipe dream...Winning more than seven games in conference this season is gonna be mighty difficult with this team of underachievers!!!!!