**** WBB: Gamethread: Iowa State hosts Utah 5:30 pm ESPN2 ****

[swclone11]

Too many of the other players are not taking shots when the ball comes to them. And please don’t offer the hypothesis that they are being told not to shoot. Some are just plain passing up shots. There were several times tonight I saw players like AJ with an open look and she chose to pass it up.

I was going to add this to my post as well - there are shots there, just not being taken. AJ was also my example, which stinks because I think she has a good shot and if she can get it going, could be a great piece of her game. Harris, Hansford and Brown are doing this too noticeably. I'd be interested to see a stat of how many times Emily, Addy or Audi is given the ball with less than 10 seconds on the shot clock. I would assume it's a larger number than we think. Addy is her own deal right now that I think she has to figure out how to handle getting through a not great game shooting from distance while still adding points (in the paint). That's another conversation. She's not handling adversity well.

But the main point here is that if they are actually being told not to shoot (besides shots that they objectively should not be shooting), I expect someone should be in the AD's office like yesterday. Maybe it's happening, I don't claim to have inside knowledge, but I have a really hard time believing that it stays under wraps with no consequences for the coaching staff, especially with the offensive problems right now. Fennelly even said postgame something about needing more than 2.5 scorers. I doubt he's telling people not to shoot then. Just conspiracy at this point otherwise.

 

[OWLCITYCYFAN]

Too many of the other players are not taking shots when the ball comes to them. And please don’t offer the hypothesis that they are being told not to shoot. Some are just plain passing up shots. There were several times tonight I saw players like AJ with an open look and she chose to pass it up.

A.J. played 36 minutes yesterday, which means CBF was obviously OK with what she was doing on the court. She only took three shots. You're evidently all-knowing, so why is she passing up shots?

My hypothesis has been out there for months - select players have a 007 "License to Shoot" and others are obviously instructed to "pass first". Kenzie Hare had a license to shoot and Aili Tanke got one yesterday, as evidenced by her five shots. AJ and KJ are out there to pass first, hustle and play defense.

I would submit that Fennelly was "ahead of his time" in making the three-ball the centerpiece of his offense, which makes for a fun game to watch (Grinnell College) and is advantageous from an offensive efficiency perspective.

I get it - we have a dominant post, but we need look no further than KSU to see how shooting guards can thrive in an offense where a post is the leading scorer.

This loss isn't the end of the world. Utah was favored and after watching them play, that's understandable. Their best player had an off night and others stepped forward, leading them to a good-looking road win. That's what we aspire to...

 

[isufbcurt]

From a top 10 team to losing to Utah at home

WOOOOOOOOOOOOFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

 

[Cyfan1965]

Desperate for shots to go down from Lily Hansford. I hope she keeps shooting. She has good length on the D end. I hope she gets it going. Hope she knows people are behind her and want her to succeed.

 

[RoseClone]

We need to go back and run the offense we were running for the last month of last season.

The one that says - make shots? Great advice.

 

[NWICY]

The one that says - make shots? Great advice.

No the one when the ball actually rotated around the court they looked for open players and the offense wasn't as stale as day old bread.

 

[BenEClone]

We were a good team last year - this year we should be better. We're not.

 

[NWICY]

We were a good team last year - this year we should be better. We're not.

There is still time but the season so far is a disappointment to me.

 

[ISU_Guy]

after the UNI and Drake game, i said we were a 7-10 seed to potentially being left out. I think my exact comments where we are unbelievably slow and not athletic enough to make any kind of noise this year.
I just don't see how and why a few of the main players look slower and seem to have taken a step back versus last year.


I still feel like we are a bubble team, but the margin of error keeps getting slimmer when you cough up home games. My guess is we end up with 18-20 wins and either last 4 in or first four out. Which sucks given all the top ten coverage they received for a couple months. maybe that was the issue?

also, Audi really needs attention this off season if she wants to make the next leap as a player.
You have to be able to play more than 5 mins at a time, have flexibility and athleticism if you want to be an all american. Shooting needs to be on her radar also. outside of 15 ft, she either makes it or misses by 4 feet.

Doesn't make me feel good about saying any of this, but it is what it is.

 

[farm85]

From what I've seen if it's not a pivot off the block or put back things are pretty limited including handling the ball like that last turnover.

Audi would have excelled in the game of 6 on 6 basketball.

 

[Jimbo ISU]

I find it peculiar that Tanke played 26 minutes and Hansford 9. Neither one has shown that they should be in the rotation at all. And both were throwing up 3s with under five minutes left in the game. Last year the Cyclones three-point shooting was top five in the nation, but this year it is a very pedestrian 33.9%. Need to get more open shots for Harris, Brown, Joens and Ryan.

 

[Clonefan32]

Look at the schedule before you jump to conclusions. There are lots of very winnable games in the second half. Yes, if they keep playing like what we saw today on offense there are very few they will win.

Winnable games? Sure. But when you are on firmly on the bubble those are wins that don't exactly boost your resume. With the Big 12 being down, there are way more opportunities to hurt your resume than there are to help it. They have basically zero margin for error.

 

[Clonefan32]

Yes, at this point in the season is is ridiculous talk. As I said...wait a while. If they don't find more scoring well....

Charlie Creme has us as the 2nd to last "bye". How is the world is it ridiculous to suggesting we may not make the tournament?

The pass that BF and the women's program gets is unreal. Can you imagine if our men, who had similar preseason rankings, were 10-6 and were squarely on the bubble? There'd be a damn riot on here. But because it's loveable ol' Bill it's overlooked.

 

[Jimbo ISU]

Most of Brown's perceived drop in production since last year is due to her minutes per game being down from 33 to 28. She is scoring 19.5 points per 40 minutes compared to 15.8 last year. Her shooting percentages are also better this season. I would have a lot more confidence in this team if the coaches would play Brown 35 minutes per game for the rest of the season.

 

[acoustimac]

A.J. played 36 minutes yesterday, which means CBF was obviously OK with what she was doing on the court. She only took three shots. You're evidently all-knowing, so why is she passing up shots?

My hypothesis has been out there for months - select players have a 007 "License to Shoot" and others are obviously instructed to "pass first". Kenzie Hare had a license to shoot and Aili Tanke got one yesterday, as evidenced by her five shots. AJ and KJ are out there to pass first, hustle and play defense.

I would submit that Fennelly was "ahead of his time" in making the three-ball the centerpiece of his offense, which makes for a fun game to watch (Grinnell College) and is advantageous from an offensive efficiency perspective.

I get it - we have a dominant post, but we need look no further than KSU to see how shooting guards can thrive in an offense where a post is the leading scorer.

This loss isn't the end of the world. Utah was favored and after watching them play, that's understandable. Their best player had an off night and others stepped forward, leading them to a good-looking road win. That's what we aspire to...

Charlie Creme has us as the 2nd to last "bye". How is the world is it ridiculous to suggesting we may not make the tournament?

The pass that BF and the women's program gets is unreal. Can you imagine if our men, who had similar preseason rankings, were 10-6 and were squarely on the bubble? There'd be a damn riot on here. But because it's loveable ol' Bill it's overlooked.

Nah..it’s just being a realist. Crème gets paid for making projections based on today…no forecasting the future. That’s the big difference. When I look at the future there are tough matchups - @WVU, @KSU, TCU, @KU, @Baylor and KSU at home. Playing as we are now I wouldn’t bet on any of those. Then there are nine other games I’d favor ISU in. A 19-11 team usually makes the dance. Add in any upsets in that first group and it’s icing on the cake.

 

[acoustimac]

Most of Brown's perceived drop in production since last year is due to her minutes per game being down from 33 to 28. She is scoring 19.5 points per 40 minutes compared to 15.8 last year. Her shooting percentages are also better this season. I would have a lot more confidence in this team if the coaches would play Brown 35 minutes per game for the rest of the season.

But she is also hot and cold from game to game. I’d sure like to just see here settle in with some consistency.

 

[Inthesystem]

Hansford cannot possibly be as bad a shooter as she has looked. I kinda wish they had more blowouts early on to give her a chance to shoot her way out of it but here we are.

 

[Jnecker4cy]

The entire team had 57 FG attempts today and your favored trio of Audi (20 FGA), Emily (12 FGA) and Addy (11 FGA) took 43 of them (75%). Tanke took another five, so that leaves 9 shots spread amongst the remaining seven players who saw the court.

How is another player to establish herself if there are no plays run specifically to get them in a rhythm and it certainly appears the "Big 3" aren't even looking in certain directions? Syd Harris is shooting .492 on three balls and we got her three shot attempts this evening.

Losing Hare was NOT huge, unless shooting .283 on 60 3PTA is considered good in some alternative universe. Her overall shooting percentage of .338 wasn't much better.

I'm sick of people on this board blaming everyone except Ryan, Crooks & Brown. They're the leaders and take the lion's share of the shots, so they're the one(s) who aren't getting the job done.

Blah, blah, blah, Joens is our savior. Others need to step up I agree. Love to have someone do that closest we have had is Harris so far. If you think losing Hare was not a huge blow, then I can't help you. See the thing with you is you hate Bill and you want Joens to be the star. Really no other options. Last I checked Bill was not gonna be upset if you take shots, never has been.

Who on this team should be your Starting 5, who comes off the bench, love to hear how you would make things better.

Team has disappointed no doubt, they are all struggling with some part of the game. Players gotta be better, no doubt coaching also.

 

[WartburgClone]

Nah..it’s just being a realist. Crème gets paid for making projections based on today…no forecasting the future. That’s the big difference. When I look at the future there are tough matchups - @WVU, @KSU, TCU, @KU, @Baylor and KSU at home. Playing as we are now I wouldn’t bet on any of those. Then there are nine other games I’d favor ISU in. A 19-11 team usually makes the dance. Add in any upsets in that first group and it’s icing on the cake.

Creme is also not an ISU homer and is thus able to be more objective. Our best non-con win is Drake or MTSU. We also have more than a few embarrassingly bad losses.

I hope it doesn't happen this year, but we are fully capable of losing to the conference bottom feeders (like UCF & Texas Tech last year). 19-11 might have been fine in the old Big 12 when Texas & OU were still in the conference & everyone was guaranteed 2-3 losses vs Kim Mulkey but with 4 mid-majors & Arizona State added you're gonna need to start doing better than 9-9 (which would put us at 18-13 overall).

 

[Clonefan32]

Nah..it’s just being a realist. Crème gets paid for making projections based on today…no forecasting the future. That’s the big difference. When I look at the future there are tough matchups - @WVU, @KSU, TCU, @KU, @Baylor and KSU at home. Playing as we are now I wouldn’t bet on any of those. Then there are nine other games I’d favor ISU in. A 19-11 team usually makes the dance. Add in any upsets in that first group and it’s icing on the cake.

Ok, but those wins don't improve a resume. Going back to your original post on this, you said it was "ridiculous" to suggest we wont make the tournament. So if we are 19-11 you, are saying you "usually" make the dance. That makes you a bubble team and doesn't make the suggestion we miss the tournament "ridiculous".

We have no good wins. None. And the Big 12 is not great and there are way more opportunities to slip up than there are to make a statement. And from what I've seen this year, I think there's way more likelihood we have slip ups than we do knock of the likes of KSU and TCU.

I just think you're blinded by our preseason ranking. But this resume on any other team, even with the games to come, doesn't add to a resume that safely puts you in.