No official EVER showed a "touch" call on Crooks. I'm not sure what the official at the bottom was signaling at the time.
Twister Sister Summary - When the going gets tough, we get tougher.
- Thread starter acoustimac
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No official EVER showed a "touch" call on Crooks. I'm not sure what the official at the bottom was signaling at the time.
That's what a lot of good shooters do. It's the clowns who can't shoot that need all the theatrics.
We lose a few games without her. Our ball handling is extremely suspect without her. She gets into the lane, finds shooters, and scores. She made some big mistakes late, but we are a much better team with her on the court.
I admit that I had underestimated Hannah. She is a cold-blooded assassin. Big 3's. Clutch free throws. Even drives to the hoop and makes a push off on a limping defender. She is so much more than a 3-point shooting ace.
Earlier in the season I would have agreed with this. Now...AJ has developed into a solid ball handler. Backs down to no one. Belanger has also shown she can handle things relatively well. And then there is AB. Wowza. She makes mistakes sometimes, but more than makes up for them.
Fans may need to adjust some to Brown. She a unique player and not in our usual zero risk mode. I do expect her turnovers to decrease. A lot of those seem more like lapses that attempted bad passes or the like. She's still going to take more passing risks so we might need to table the fan obsession with assist to TO ratios. Most forwards are going to have 1 assist, not five or six.
She is definitely unique and special. I've heard several say that an early prognosis indicates she could be one of our all time greats. I would not disagree.
You know when I saw that I said, "I think we are going to win this." As, BU used all their luck, skill, and whatever in that 100 C.C. of a shot.
I think see was saying that Audi touched the ball so it was not a double dribble.
AJ has struggled to run the offense and handle full court pressure. She's been much better shooting the ball. Belanger is adequate but also struggles with ball pressure.
Ryan is a clear upgrade at PG when she's in the game.
Audi is Big 12 Player of the Week this week. Not freshman of the week. Player.
I agree about Ryan, but AJ wouldn't have the outstanding assist numbers if she couldn't run the offense. Belanger has improved tremendously over the past few games. 1 turnover against Baylor (Ryan had 5). 2 against WVU (Ryan had 3). 1 turnover against BYU (Ryan had 3). It goes on. Belanger has been more than adequate helping to bring the ball up. Against pressure it's not a one on one situation usually. It's running a scheme effectively.
How do you explain her free throw shooting then? Or her lack of assists, or her numerous TOs. Here are the facts; She has nearly as many TOs as assists this year, 26-21. That's for someone who normally has twice as many assists as TOs. She's only averaging 3.7 assists per game. I realize that's on reduced minutes per game, but there's still that 26-21 assist to TO ratio to consider. Her 3-point percentage is also way down to 14 percent.
Wasn't sure where to put this, but ESPN has named us team of the week.
This past week, the Cyclones trailed ranked teams West Virginia and Baylor at halftime but rallied to win both games. Crooks had a combined 45 points and 17 rebounds; Brown 21 points, 19 rebounds and 13 assists.
ESPN Power Rankings
Team of the week: Iowa State
The Cyclones lost three starters from last season's team that won the Big 12 tournament title, including Ashley Joens, the program's all-time scoring and rebounding leader. But led by the freshman duo of Audi Crooks and Addy Brown, plus the return from early-season injury of point guard Emily Ryan, Iowa State is tied for first in the conference.This past week, the Cyclones trailed ranked teams West Virginia and Baylor at halftime but rallied to win both games. Crooks had a combined 45 points and 17 rebounds; Brown 21 points, 19 rebounds and 13 assists.
ESPN Power Rankings
I'm still sticking with the theory we are a better team with Em than without, she brings a calming influence and gets buckets when they count. She still recovering from the injury. But every team needs a whipping boy/girl.
I'm not criticizing her. She's one of the all-time great Cyclones. I would be stupid to criticize her. All I was asking is if it seems to anyone else as it seems to me, that she is in a weakened state because she even looks more frail, to me, than she did before the injury.
It pains me to see posters digging up the negatives on players. Leave it to the coaches. Just because this is an anomynous board does not mean that it doesn't hurt the players confidence.
You really don't know what you're watching. AJ's 8 assists in 5 conference games? Those outstanding assists numbers? I like AJ, but we've struggled to get into the offense with her at PG. Belanger is not handling the ball near as much as Ryan or in high-stress areas of the court. Have you watched our press break? It's give it to Emily, and get out of the way. Belanger will support if needed.
Wow. She's playing a different role on a much different team. How can anyone watch this team the last two weeks and not see that Ryan is one of the main reasons we've turned it around?
I didn't say she wasn't contributing. I said she wasn't contributing at the Emily Ryan level we've been used to. Try putting words in someone else's mouth.
