The two parts of an identity that this team has developed is great ball movement on offense and great team rebounding. If someone wants to earn minutes, they have to not detract from those two things.
line ups when the 4 players out come back
- Thread starter blood94
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Right, and a big part of that was because we lost our most efficient (and effective) guard. It’s not as though Wigginton’s efficiency went down when Babb went out.
Playing time will be harder to come by this year for everyone.
If he’s improved, perhaps. But not the Wigginton we saw a year ago that struggled with basic post feeds.
Of course we have a better chance against Arizona with Wigginton, that’s not anywhere close to being mutually exclusive with saying his minutes will go down from last year unless he’s improved. We had a better chance with Lard or Talley or Young, too, but unless those guys have improved significantly, they also aren’t playing as many minutes this year.
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IMO, this is true. Wigginton tends to put his head down when he drives. He's made up his mind and he's going to the cup or going to pull up for a jumper. He's not looking for the drive and dish or drive and dump or other open teammates / opportunities. Babb is much more aware of other teammates when he's got the ball and with the way we play (largely, as is en vogue right now with lots of teams, one-on-one, pick and roll or pick and pop sets without a lot of off-the-ball action / picks / motion / back cuts), Babb has been better for the rest of the team. I really hope I'm wrong, but I'm not convinced yet this is a Tourney team, despite all of the individual talent assembled. That said, I also think working on being a better distributor is something that can be improved with hard work and I'm hoping Wigginton really focused on that over the off-season. It would seem he'd want to do so given his projection at the NBA as a PG.
The great thing is that this team does have a pretty high ceiling, I believe. Let's hope they can get there! I have been pleasantly surprised with Jacobson's contributions and Halliburton has been better than I expected as well. Let's hope it continues!
When were you convinced in the previous 6 recent tournaments?
I can appreciate the emotional hedge of not buying in until proven otherwise, but 6 games in all metrics suggest nothing but good team ball. We haven’t been winning via individual talent.
Where do you see this team following short?
The Big 12 may be even better than last year so it’s going to be a bloodbath, but if we don’t make the tournament it’ll be a huge fail by the staff.
Well, with Niang's junior and senior teams, I came into the year feeling very certain they were Tourney teams because we had already seen the core of those teams play and produce at a high level. Same with Prohm's second year once Morris decided he would return. There probably is some emotional hedge and psychology involved in my opinion like you allude to, but I think I'm being objective.
I haven't seen ISU play against a team that is really disciplined and will slow it down. We seem to score best on the fast-break when we're out in transition. Good defensive stops and rebounding leads to that. I'm not convinced our half-court offense will be that solid when more disciplined teams force us to play that way.
To answer your question: I don't know where we'll fall short if it happens and I if I had to bet, I'd bet on ISU making the Tournament right now since we have the talent assembled to be a Tourney team.
What Wigginton brings:
- He is a great leaper so his rebounding will fit with this team well
- He can transition and is great in the open court. This team can fast break.
- He will likely have the highest 3PT FG% on the team, which this team needs.
- Late in the Shot Clock he can create his own shot
- He is a great leaper so his rebounding will fit with this team well
- He can transition and is great in the open court. This team can fast break.
- He will likely have the highest 3PT FG% on the team, which this team needs.
- Late in the Shot Clock he can create his own shot
Well, our Adjusted Offense is 18th but our Adjusted Tempo is 217, so we’re scoring well despite not exactly running a lot. For reference, last year we finished 130 in Adjusted Tempo. If we become more of a half court team in conference play, we’ll also have more options.
But nothing really suggests that will happen. It’s unlikely we will be more half court than last year, and despite the increase in competition, I don’t see us getting less stops and open floor opportunities once we get Lard, Wigginton, and Talley back. I mean, we’ve only got 8 guys right now. Getting 3 starter level players back is huge.
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The key there for Talley is he doesn’t need to shoot it 6 times a game. 1-3 would be enough to make them have to cover him. Just shoot them when you’re wide open, no need at all to shoot contested threes.
Also really effective switching on defense, and solid help defense without overcommitting.
Completely agree with your point, and I thought Talley showed good discipline and selection when he got more usage (and back in the grove after his injury).
Even 3 attempts/game is a lot for his likely usage. Burton was at 3.2 attempts his senior year, but just 1.5 his junior year. Monte averaged 3 or less attempts his first three years on a lot of usage. Kane was 3/gm. Hogue was under 2 attempts both years. To your point, he just needs to be a perceived threat. On a related note, I think putting him in the corner for stand-still threes doesn’t do him any favors. I think he’d be an asset handling the ball some against forwards and getting other guys 3P attempts.
He doesn’t need to improve significantly to not get his minutes reduced. I don’t know what you are smoking but it’s must be good. You think a potential late first round pick is going to be fighting for minutes?
No one has said “fighting for minutes”, but if you view that analogous to Wigginton averaging less than his 33 minutes/game from last year, sure.
Lol, we’re talking about a potential first round player, not Zion Williamson. Besides, NBA draft potential isn’t based on minutes played per game, so relax. You’re overestimating the correlation between NBA potential and minutes/gm. For example, Wigginton averaged less per game last year than DJ.
During conference play, this is what I see happening.
Heavy rotation:
LW
NWB
Shayok
THT
Lard
Jacobsen
Halliburton
Will play every game, but spot minutes:
Solo
Talley
Everyone else only plays in blowouts and WV foul fests.
Heavy rotation:
LW
NWB
Shayok
THT
Lard
Jacobsen
Halliburton
Will play every game, but spot minutes:
Solo
Talley
Everyone else only plays in blowouts and WV foul fests.
This is my view as well, provides positional balance between guards, wings, and big men, and is consistent with the various efficiency metrics that each player has demonstrated either this season or where they left things at the end of last season.
I love Solo, but Lard and Jacobson are simply better right now, and I think we are better playing four of our (very good to excellent) guards or wings. Talley can guard 1-4... but so can Nick, Shayok, THT, and Haliburton, and all of them are more of a threat to score.
We already have that switchtastic defense before Talley.
I think the main identity- coming a lot from Jacobson and Halliburton, but led by NWB and Shayok - is consistent energy and extra effort on both ends of the floor.
The key question for December is : does the energy rub off on the guys from last year, or does the complacency from last year run off on the new guys?
To be fair, we're judging Solomon based on last season. I'm sure he's worked to improve as well. The tough part for him will be getting back into the flow of things, so that's where I agree with the spot minute thing.
What's nice is that we have enough flexibility to matchup with pretty much everyone. If we're playing a big team with true posts, we can play Solo and Lard together. If we're playing stretch team, we can go with Jacobson and Talley (or Shayok).
That along with the depth as well as the length in our backcourt could make this the best defensive team since the LE days.
That along with the depth as well as the length in our backcourt could make this the best defensive team since the LE days.
Probably not popular but..
Starters:
Wiggy
Shayok
THT
Jacobsen
Lard
NWB
Haliburton
Talley
Solo
Starters:
Wiggy
Shayok
THT
Jacobsen
Lard
NWB
Haliburton
Talley
Solo
I agree, he can undoubtedly improve. He is the biggest and strongest guy on the roster, which provides him a niche against guys like Konate and Azubuike, too.
Developmental big men do tend to really start to come into their own around their junior year. I remember when we recruited Solomon that he was supposed to be a 6'6" power wing like Griffin, but turns out he came to Ames as a 6'8" post. I am sure he is still learning. Losing out on the past month of practice and game time from that really unfortunate injury has to be hurting his development, though, and he has missed time in the past, too.
He has always struck me as a high floor, low ceiling kind of guy, though. Dependable and steady, constant, but nothing really flashy or amazing. That is fine.
He is just stuck now behind (1.) a system that really only requires one post at a time, (2.) a consistent, but at a higher level, big man with an outside shot like Jacobson, and (3.) another big man who, when at his best, is one of the best to ever play the position at Iowa State. Solo is going to be a great backstop, but probably not much more this year.
