***Official ISU-Pitt postgame thread***

[jsb]

Right. And At what period during those 15 years would this level of success in a coaches first two seasons not be considered successful?

These two years would be considered a success no matter what had happened before. ANY TIME we reach the tournament is a great season.

I just think sometimes we act like we hadn’t won a game in 5 years or something.

 

[madguy30]

No one’s making you. And I like TJ. I want him to succeed. But he clearly has some deficiencies. He needs to address them either threw reflection and growth or get somebody on staff to help scoring.

Any coach that ever coaches at ISU is going to have deficiencies one way or another.

You hope for general success without something like a toxic culture and see how it goes if the tourney is in the works.

 

[madguy30]

These two years would be considered a success no matter what had happened before. ANY TIME we reach the tournament is a great season.

I just think sometimes we act like we hadn’t won a game in 5 years or something.

And some act like there hasn't been a loss in 5 years.

 

[ChickenNuggetMan]

You must have missed the UAB game.

It was a bigger upset, sure. But this was worse. We never stood a chance today.

 

[FerShizzle]

Any coach that ever coaches at ISU is going to have deficiencies one way or another.

You hope for general success without something like a toxic culture and see how it goes if the tourney is in the works.

TJ needs to find a bit more balance. Mediocre offense is plenty with elite D. But horrifically bad offense is enough to let down elite D.

 

[CloneIce]

No one’s making you. And I like TJ. I want him to succeed. But he clearly has some deficiencies. He needs to address them either threw reflection and growth or get somebody on staff to help scoring.

Yeah, call me crazy… but instead of self reflecting on it or meditating or some other new age ****, I think he needs to recruit better offensive players.

 

[NoCreativity]

When are you going to understand that one game doesn't define how a team plays or looks?

So you think it's a coincidence that after a sample size of 36 games Pitt just all of a sudden decided to play their best defense of the entire year?

Their defense rating on Torvick was 101.7 on average and they had 64.4 today.

I've seen them play a few times this year and watched every second of the Mississippi State game, they are a soft finesse team like Iowa with not much size or inside game.

 

[tim_redd]

Did Rob prepare for this game by getting in a fight with an actual panther?

 

[carvers4math]

Our freshman point guard made one of our two three pointers and led the team in rebounding with 10.

 

[FerShizzle]

Yeah, call me crazy… but instead of self reflecting on it or meditating or some other new age ****, I think he needs to recruit better offensive players.

Ok boomer

 

[simply1]

Impossible to say one way or the other without actually being there for all of the things that led to that outcome. In the end, I trust that Caleb needed to go his own way, and it was going to be certain that whenever that happened, the ceiling of this team would be lower.

The floor, too, in hindsight.

 

[JP4CY]

So you think it's a coincidence that after a sample size of 36 games Pitt just all of a sudden decided to play their best defense of the entire year?

Their defense rating on Torvick was 101.7 on average and they had 64.4 today.

I've seen them play a few times this year and watched every second of the Mississippi State game, they are a soft finesse team like Iowa with not much size or inside game.

You watched Pitt this year?
I watch a lot of bball and don't know if I ever saw one of their games being broadcast.

 

[madguy30]

It was a bigger upset, sure. But this was worse. We never stood a chance today.

This was a similar game to others this season, just the worst of the worst but not shocking.

The last 30 minutes of the UAB game was this slow motion car wreck.

 

[AuH2O]

They desperately need guards that can shoot. Again, they thought they had Greene, Williams and Grill for scoring. That is a lot of shooting guards missing from a team that is based on defense. In addition if Shoon, Ward, Jones, Watson, or even Kutz couple make a 10 foot shot things wouldn't be quite so ugly.

The good news is that guards are pretty easy to find. Big guys that can shoot and defend are the hard part and on paper TJ has the guys to do that next year.

Williams wasn't going to do a single thing to help our offensive problems. He's a 9 ppg guy that shot 23% from 3 in the American last year. Lipsey played surprisingly well. I don't think anyone can say there would've been a big improvement with Williams. Lipsey can't shoot but neither could Williams.

Banking on Grill to be a consistent shooter was a big leap of faith. I don't know what the story with Green was, but again, if you're banking on a guy that hasn't so much as committed then that's a big risk.

And we of course lost Hunter, but he was an otherwise bad shooter that had one fluke shooting game that saved ISU from a first round exit.

So short of landing Green this team was going to probably stink shooting the ball.

Getting to the tourney two years in a row is a hell of an accomplishment by TJ and this staff. There's something to be said for taking the underappreciated guys and being a tough team that gets after it. But I think that has a shelf life, and is not sustainable throughout a long season.

 

[AlaCyclone]

Thank goodness ISU didn't have to play Miss. State!
/ sarcasm

 

[CloneIce]

Ok boomer

Haha, yeah dude. TJ needs to just do some self reflection and growing. That’ll make Bob Jones hit free throws and Lipsey a better jump shooter.

 

[Rogue52]

I know we are all excited about the freshmen coming in to the program next season, but unless I'm missing something, they aren't solving our jump-shooting problem. I assume that will be a key portal look, but easier said than done. Too bad things went the way they did with Caleb Grill.

After our last game of the season, we sit at 110 in KenPom offensive efficiency.

 

[Die4Cy]

Lost by 18, not to one of the better teams in the tournament, but lost by 18 to a team that barely made it into the tournament. And this has been indicative of the last half of the season, where ISU just lays offensive eggs against not really good teams. A similar thing was going on last year.

There is something that needs fixing beyond talent. There is an issue with the strategic, fundamental, and mental preparation in the offensive game that the coaching staff needs to figure out. When you can beat BU three times, KU, and UT, your offensive shouldn't get shut down by a team that had to "play-in" to the tournament. When the simple, basic offense doesn't work, this team just falls apart.

It's really about the talent. The best outside shooter on the team is a 32.8% career guy, that's not very efficient. If he isn't hitting or they are getting it from one of the guys that are even lower percentage than Gabe, ISU will be easy to defend in the post because everyone will pack it in on us as Pitt did today. They don't have to have 5 guys who can rain it in from behind the line to be successful. But they need more than what they've got.

 

[AuH2O]

When are you going to understand that one game doesn't define how a team plays or looks?

This is true, but if you watched the Walmart Chet Holmgren twins play against Mississippi State, they were not just bad, they flat out didn't belong on the court. When I heard their center was out with injury and that's why the one started and the other played it made a little bit of sense, but still pretty surprising that they were even 2nd and 3rd string on a tourney team. They were that bad.

 

[CyCloned]

Williams wasn't going to do a single thing to help our offensive problems. He's a 9 ppg guy that shot 23% from 3 in the American last year. Lipsey played surprisingly well. I don't think anyone can say there would've been a big improvement with Williams. Lipsey can't shoot but neither could Williams.

Banking on Grill to be a consistent shooter was a big leap of faith. I don't know what the story with Green was, but again, if you're banking on a guy that hasn't so much as committed then that's a big risk.

And we of course lost Hunter, but he was an otherwise bad shooter that had one fluke shooting game that saved ISU from a first round exit.

So short of landing Green this team was going to probably stink shooting the ball.

Getting to the tourney two years in a row is a hell of an accomplishment by TJ and this staff. There's something to be said for taking the underappreciated guys and being a tough team that gets after it. But I think that has a shelf life, and is not sustainable throughout a long season.

ISU lived on Turnovers and easy baskets at the beginning of the year. They didn't turn over guys near as well or get as many easy baskets at the end of the year. I don't know much about the recruiting class other than they are highly touted, and they have the big guy from Iowa and ND. Again, they need to find some guards, and they better be able to shoot the ball.