Adversity

[CycloneVet]

This type of adversity is just what we needed. To be fair we haven’t played well recently. Obviously we should have won at Arizona if not for a fluke.

This will hopefully cause some soul searching among the players and a circle the wagon attitude. This in turn make them stronger and better.

Missing Milan is a bigger problem the more opposing teams scout us. He forces them to guard him on the perimeter. It also helps having Curtis in the microwave role off the bench. I love Heise and Watson but they can’t stretch the floor and keep the opposing defense honest like Milan can.

Anyway others lost this weekend. It happens.

 

[jsb]

The problems we saw Saturday have been there since West Virginia. Our guys have been tough enough and good enough to win 2 of those games. But we let ucf shoot the hell out of the ball too.

 

[Cyclonepride]

Missing a key piece that other teams have now adapted to, not playing very well, coming into a trap game off a devastating buzzer beater in a huge game. Kind of the perfect storm.

They'll find a way to circle the wagons. Might be tonight, might not be, but they'll be back with a vengeance.

 

[CapnCy]

Yeah, we know we've got the personnel to be great and have shown that. Unlike football, where a loss or two eliminates all chances for bigger things, if we can get consistent as March arrives, any game can be ours.

It is so cliche, but being a top 5 team has a target on our back each game. Maybe we were not ready for that and now coaches get to figure out what is needed.

 

[CycloneWarrior]

Need Nojus to play in the absence of Milan

 

[SoleCyclone]

Yeah, not sure to this extent. Adversity was a terrible game against West Virginia or a buzzer beater in Arizona. Its hard to imagine what happened Saturday against kstate is going to help the team.

 

[CycloneVet]

Yeah, not sure to this extent. Adversity was a terrible game against West Virginia or a buzzer beater in Arizona. Its hard to imagine what happened Saturday against kstate is going to help the team.

It may or may not help it. The best thing is there is time to fix issues.

 

[Clonefan32]

The way I look at it is we worked really hard the first 1/2 of the season go give ourselves the luxury of some leeway to fix some things in the back half. I also think it's has alot to do with transfers being from mid-majors. They haven't had to endure anything quite like conference season in a major conference. I have no doubt we will adjust and be fine.

 

[Letterkenny]

The problems we saw Saturday have been there since West Virginia. Our guys have been tough enough and good enough to win 2 of those games. But we let ucf shoot the hell out of the ball too.

We've had some problems, but I'd also say we played really well at times.

Since the Momcilovic injury:
Played really well: Kansas, Arizona
Played well enough: UCF, Arizona State
Played bad: West Virginia
God awful: Kansas State

I see many fans claiming there's a trend with us playing worse. I don't see it. I thought the Arizona game was one of the best we've played this year. That would have been a road win against he now #12 team on Kenpom. It was a similar performance to our Texas Tech win. The only difference was Texas Tech missed a couple free throws down the stretch to give us a chance, while Arizona made a miracle 3 to send it in to overtime. I thought was actually played better against Arizona than we did Tech.

Having said that, the K-State game was clearly our worst performance of the year. It's going to take more than one game for me to consider it a trend though.

 

[jsb]

We've had some problems, but I'd also say we played really well at times.

Since the Momcilovic injury:
Played really well: Kansas, Arizona
Played well enough: UCF, Arizona State
Played bad: West Virginia
God awful: Kansas State

I see many fans claiming there's a trend with us playing worse. I don't see it. I thought the Arizona game was one of the best we've played this year. That would have been a road win against he now #12 team on Kenpom. It was a similar performance to our Texas Tech win. The only difference was Texas Tech missed a couple free throws down the stretch to give us a chance, while Arizona made a miracle 3 to send it in to overtime. I thought was actually played better against Arizona than we did Tech.

Having said that, the K-State game was clearly our worst performance of the year. It's going to take more than one game for me to consider it a trend though.

True. The turnovers were a big problem against Arizona too though.

 

[bosco]

We are going to be 1-3 vs teams from the state of Kansas aren't we?

 

[SoleCyclone]

A handful of players that seem terribly tentative on offense and an obvious serious hand injury to Tamin is a major cause for concern

 

[madguy30]

Need Nojus to play in the absence of Milan

I think he's got lota of talent but what is this based on?

He got a lot of time in November and the numbers don't reflect making up much.

 

[madguy30]

I'd put the weird turnovers (not high numbers but many unforced), forcing it into the lane when it's not there etc well before the WV game.

 

[Clonefan32]

It's easy to get caught in your own little bubble, but every team has cold streaks. Basketball is such a tough sport to be truly dominant in. You can do everything right and miss shots, and you can do everything your supposed to and sometimes your opponent makes shots. It happens. It's just so much different than other sports like football where speed and physicality is always going to win out over time.

 

[spitfyr36]

TJ’s quote:
“There’s a point in the game where it was 15-to-zero points in the paint, and that’s a care, that’s a pride, that’s a fight, that’s a physical (thing). And to me, that was indicative of our effort, our energy, and us not playing anywhere near our standard.”

Dad ain’t mad, but he’s crazy disappointed

 

[Cyhig]

Really curious to see how the team responds tonight. Of course would like the "W" at AFH, but I will be contempt if the team shows the toughness, effort, and playing FOR each other. That's the backbone of TJ led squads, and it seems to have been lacking the past couple of weeks. If we can get back to playing Otzball, we will be in good shape come tournament time

 

[Cloned4Life]

We've had some problems, but I'd also say we played really well at times.

Since the Momcilovic injury:
Played really well: Kansas, Arizona
Played well enough: UCF, Arizona State
Played bad: West Virginia
God awful: Kansas State

I see many fans claiming there's a trend with us playing worse. I don't see it. I thought the Arizona game was one of the best we've played this year. That would have been a road win against he now #12 team on Kenpom. It was a similar performance to our Texas Tech win. The only difference was Texas Tech missed a couple free throws down the stretch to give us a chance, while Arizona made a miracle 3 to send it in to overtime. I thought was actually played better against Arizona than we did Tech.

Having said that, the K-State game was clearly our worst performance of the year. It's going to take more than one game for me to consider it a trend though.

Goodness, you thought the Arizona game was one of our BEST? We had 18 TO's and only 12 assists. 12-18 from the free throw line. Gave up a massive momentum swinging 16-0 run.

Yes, the dudes were tough and made some REALLY clutch plays down the stretch, and we absolutely should have won, but there were some less-than-ideal trends in that game that we've been seeing for weeks, including the lack of ball movement during scoring droughts and absolutely mind-numbing unforced turnovers, including 3 backbreakers in a row in OT.

 

[alarson]

TJ’s quote:
“There’s a point in the game where it was 15-to-zero points in the paint, and that’s a care, that’s a pride, that’s a fight, that’s a physical (thing). And to me, that was indicative of our effort, our energy, and us not playing anywhere near our standard.”

Dad ain’t mad, but he’s crazy disappointed

That's kind of the thing with Saturday. None of what we saw were things that had not happened in individual games previously. But you pair that with substandard effort and suddenly all of those issues show up at the same time, which isn't really surprising when you think about that, and will get a team beat most of the time.

Hopefully that loss lit a fire under them.

 

[cyfan92]

Here is our Torvick ratings post KU game... Basically a bubble team, trending to NIT

Here are the metrics before Milan was hurt


I may be in the minority here, but I wish this team had a bye week, not a brutally tough game in AFH tonight. Not to mention we are the host for College Gameday on Saturday and all the distractions that come with that.