*** Official #8 IOWA STATE vs #16 Kansas Game(Day) Thread ***

jbhtexas

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At this point, why would it hurt to play Nojus? Sure, he's inexperienced but I have more confidence in his ability to get a bucket and create more offense than Heise or Chatfield.
The second half last night was basically a 20-point lead for KU. A couple of times, around the 12-minute mark and 8-minute mark, the lead was over 20 points, in AFH. What would it have hurt to give Nojus 5 minutes to see what he can do? I don't understand.

But I also don't understand the thinking behind running the starters to the end of 30-pt pre-con blowouts either.
 
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NoCreativity

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What did Nojus show you to make you think he will succeed right now? He was not that good against the “buy” teams. Confident, sure, but defensively he was not good and he also didn’t make shots. So this seems more like a “backup qb” situation than anything else from the Nojus lovers.
He hasn't shown anything because he hasn't been given the chance. What did Watson show before the last couple weeks? He looks like a good bench player out there now when given the chance.

You don't know that his defense would be worse. I don't think Heise is playing good defense right now either. He's constantly getting picked on by their best shooters when he's out there and Saturday he made a nice steal then promptly lost it right back on a fast break that could have swung momentum.
 

AllInForISU

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He hasn't shown anything because he hasn't been given the chance. What did Watson show before the last couple weeks? He looks like a good bench player out there now when given the chance.

You don't know that his defense would be worse. I don't think Heise is playing good defense right now either. He's constantly getting picked on by their best shooters when he's out there and Saturday he made a nice steal then promptly lost it right back on a fast break that could have swung momentum.

That’s offense. ;)

I get what you’re saying, I wouldn’t mind seeing Nojus out there for a couple minutes run in games like yesterday and Saturday but in a regular rotation unless he really stands out as better than Heise.

Also, I think we both got crucified for saying Heise looked bad against TTU. I would have loved to be wrong, and I’m sure you would have too, but here we are.
 
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Clonefan32

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yet Zeke Mayo isn't have any issues with the transition up to Big 12 play.....not to say that there aren't growing pains from the level of competition increase but other teams have transfers who contribute right away

Sure, but he was also the top player in his own conference. I think that's a little different scenario than what we have with our 4 mid-major transfers.
 

Clonefan32

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We aren't running an offense.
We aren't staying true to the defense.
We're chucking up trash late in the shot clock.
We aren't focused.

How do you get a shot clock violation when you're down 20 with five minutes left? Have some urgency.....

This ain't a Milan thing. This is a mentally weak team.

Caleb Love ruined us.

So how does this "Caleb Love ruined us" theory actually play out? Because of that one shot we just quit caring? We got to the locker room and decided to collectively pack it up and quit on the season? As one of our players rises for a jumpshot does he have flashbacks to the vision of Love celebrating his made shot?

That was a painful loss but to suggest it's the cause of these last 2 performances is silly. The reality is we've had a tough stretch of games, with Milan out and no one stepping up in his place there's no room to operate on the offensive side of the floor, and it's going to require a combination of Milan coming back and some offensive creativity from out staff to get this sorted out. You can't have a successful offense at this level with 3 non-threats on the floor. It's just not possible. There's nowhere for anyone to go.
 
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iseedit

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What did Nojus show you to make you think he will succeed right now? He was not that good against the “buy” teams. Confident, sure, but defensively he was not good and he also didn’t make shots. So this seems more like a “backup qb” situation than anything else from the Nojus lovers.
Nojus is the closest thing offensively to Milan as we got. He's not going to shoot the ball as good, he's probably not going to defend as good but what he will do is be a threat to shoot a 3, be a threat to drive, he's got a good pull up jump shot. All that pulls a guy out of the lane to defend him. Opens things up to our other main scorers.

I still think it was a mistake not to replace Milan 100% with Nojus and then use Watson for size. If TJ would have kept everyone's role and rotation the exact same as pre injury Milan, guys would be playing 30min avg instead of 38-40. That'd be huge right now physically and mentally. Someone is playing bad and they're not coming off the floor to be coached. Things fester and it snowballs. I think we got the bottom part of the snowman about built.

No way you can switch things up now and expect anything different. Guy's confidence are hurting. Things will change eventually, it's just tough to watch until it does.
 

rosshm16

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Someone is playing bad and they're not coming off the floor to be coached. Things fester and it snowballs. I think we got the bottom part of the snowman about built.
I had a good chuckle at this analogy!
 

1SEIACLONE

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Him and Heise have scored a combined 5 points in the last 4 games. We can't continue running them out there if they are zero threat to even score one basket per week.
Not only are both of them not scoring, they are not even looking to shoot the ball. Both had plenty of oppoturnities last night to shoot, they passed them up and KU would not even guard them until they got into the paint.
 
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NoCreativity

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Nojus is the closest thing offensively to Milan as we got. He's not going to shoot the ball as good, he's probably not going to defend as good but what he will do is be a threat to shoot a 3, be a threat to drive, he's got a good pull up jump shot. All that pulls a guy out of the lane to defend him. Opens things up to our other main scorers.

I still think it was a mistake not to replace Milan 100% with Nojus and then use Watson for size. If TJ would have kept everyone's role and rotation the exact same as pre injury Milan, guys would be playing 30min avg instead of 38-40. That'd be huge right now physically and mentally. Someone is playing bad and they're not coming off the floor to be coached. Things fester and it snowballs. I think we got the bottom part of the snowman about built.

No way you can switch things up now and expect anything different. Guy's confidence are hurting. Things will change eventually, it's just tough to watch until it does.
That probably would have worked out better than what's going on now, but TJ decided after Maui and about 20 minutes of game time that Nojus wasn't going to play this year.
 

NoCreativity

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Not only are both of them not scoring, they are not even looking to shoot the ball. Both had plenty of oppoturnities last night to shoot, they passed them up and KU would not even guard them until they got into the paint.
Hence why our offensive metrics are in free-fall. They basically have to play 4-5 when those two are out there, which makes things more difficult for the guards.
 

CyGuy5

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Not only are both of them not scoring, they are not even looking to shoot the ball. Both had plenty of oppoturnities last night to shoot, they passed them up and KU would not even guard them until they got into the paint.
There was a point in the game where Heise got the ball and immediately passed it to Jackson, who clearly was not ready for the ball. The way he looked at Heise was the most “WTF are you doing?” I’ve ever seen
 
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1SEIACLONE

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Hence why our offensive metrics are in free-fall. They basically have to play 4-5 when those two are out there, which makes things more difficult for the guards.
I was thinking the same thing last night, we are basically playing 4 on 5. The ball is sticking, we are getting to much dribbling that gets us nowhere and everyone is trying to do more to make up for it. 3 of 21 from three, 11 of 20 from the FT line. We look lost on offense, and teams are taking advantage of that fact. When we double down in the post, teams are looking to kick it out to the open guy, and our bigs are trying to play bully ball and back the guy down. Sometimes they need to do it, but we are doing it way to much and the ball is not being passed to the open guy for a better shot.
 

madguy30

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Last season the team had a tendency to flinch a bit in some situations including the Sweet Sixteen.

Many of those players are on this team and last night was a continuation of that vibe and it really has been there starting in the OT last week.

Everything's great and everyone's getting along when you're winning despite some not great trends. Add in some injuries and/or players not at 100% and things and a couple of weird losses and it can get very real.

Aside from phisical limitations that are issues for getting good looks, I don't know who the main leader is in the group. Is there one? Someone may need to emerge in that role or the ship can really take on water.
 

Cyclonepride

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Last season the team had a tendency to flinch a bit in some situations including the Sweet Sixteen.

Many of those players are on this team and last night was a continuation of that vibe and it really has been there starting in the OT last week.

Everything's great and everyone's getting along when you're winning despite some not great trends. Add in some injuries and/or players not at 100% and things and a couple of weird losses and it can get very real.

Aside from phisical limitations that are issues for getting good looks, I don't know who the main leader is in the group. Is there one? Someone may need to emerge in that role or the ship can really take on water.
They're a tough group of kids, but from what I can tell, they're mostly happy go lucky or soft spoken. Leaders by example. Nothing wrong with that at all, though sometimes you do need that really vocal leader to point out things between timeouts.
 

drmwevr08

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Nov 25, 2006
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So how does this "Caleb Love ruined us" theory actually play out? Because of that one shot we just quit caring? We got to the locker room and decided to collectively pack it up and quit on the season? As one of our players rises for a jumpshot does he have flashbacks to the vision of Love celebrating his made shot?

That was a painful loss but to suggest it's the cause of these last 2 performances is silly. The reality is we've had a tough stretch of games, with Milan out and no one stepping up in his place there's no room to operate on the offensive side of the floor, and it's going to require a combination of Milan coming back and some offensive creativity from out staff to get this sorted out. You can't have a successful offense at this level with 3 non-threats on the floor. It's just not possible. There's nowhere for anyone to go.
The first non Milan games were better though it seems. Even ASU and UA were. Its definitely trending down, which seems odd. I would have hoped they'd figure more out as they went, not get worse.
 

Cy4Lifer

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When some of you became Cyclones or Cyclone fans, you forgot that loving the Cyclones is like loving your spouse. For BETTER or for WORSE. I’m sure that was in the small print somewhere!

Have faith, Coach TJ, his staff, and the team can get things turned around!

Go Cyclones!
 

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