It looked to me it was Naz's shot to take. Zaga guarded it well. They made it so Matt couldn't get the ball back and tripled Naz, he was lucky to even get the ball to Montie.
MONDAY MUSINGS: What we learned in Orlando
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It looked to me it was Naz's shot to take. Zaga guarded it well. They made it so Matt couldn't get the ball back and tripled Naz, he was lucky to even get the ball to Montie.
The final play WAS on Prohm, I love the guy but Few got the best of him. He was caught completely off guard, like he didn't know their foul count or at least did not expect them to foul. The teams's body language and poor execution on the last play showed the team was also caught off guard. He should have had two plays called, one if they called TO, one if they didn't. Prohm is a great coach, sometimes great coaches get outcoached. He made some great adjustments to get us back in the game, Few just got the better of him at the end. It happens.
The defensive improvement is so much fun to see. I am optimistic the offense will improve, but there seemed to be a lot of standing around and not much movement without the ball on the offensive end of the court. Too much one on one plays and not enough ball movement to get open shots.
It's still early and I expect that to improve though.
Probably. We know that CSP likes the point guard to 'make the play' in last second shots and when you have an All-American it makes it all the more obvious. Few and any good coach knows the same.
I'm sure as the season goes on, CSP will have multiple plays called for any of our four shot makers and we'll see them all take turns in big late game situations. MM is the AA., but we three other guys that all can make big shots.
Hmmmmm.... Like I had to repeat over and over and over and over again all season last year when the whining about defense was incessant, there's a reason for everything.
Everyone wants to play in your face defense and crash glass all game? Get used to the standing around on offense.
I believe Prohm said before the season that the practices had been focused on installing defense and the press and the staff would be using the non-con to work on offense. That would align with your thoughts.
I remember that play exactly and felt the same way. Burton was playing so hard on offense and defense trying to body up a bigger (from a mass perspective) and taller opponent and then we were asking him to go one on one and get a bucket each time down the floor offensively that I was hoping Prohm would take a time out after that one.
Will be nice to see Young hopefully continue to make strides and become a valuable big man to this team. Fun to watch them play so hard all weekend! Basketball is back
The final game against Gonzaga was epic for three primary reasons. First and foremost I feel we graduated from "me ball" to "we ball" aka team ball. We learned patience, the extra pass, and to share. For seconds we learned what we can do on defense. We can run with the best of teams no matter how big and fast or what they may throw at as. Last but not least we learned how to adjust and never, never, give up. Great show. I'm really proud of these Cyclones.
Seems like the offense is on the backburners compared to defense, and I'm quite alright with that.
The ball movement and off the ball movement will improve...last I understood, those are easier to teach than defense, and with the amount of guys ISU has that can do several things with the ball, this could be a really nice team to watch.
The ball movement and off the ball movement will improve...last I understood, those are easier to teach than defense, and with the amount of guys ISU has that can do several things with the ball, this could be a really nice team to watch.
I don't think I agree with that, especially with the apparent depth we have this year.
Late in the first half and early in the second I was counting the number of passes each team had each possession. The most ISU had was four, Gonzaga on several occasions made 8-9. I'm not ******** as Prohm has specifically said these early season practices have focused on defense and rebounding and very little offense - and they're still learning to play without Georges.
But the thing that stood out to me was when we made our run there was much more offensive flow and much better shot selection, but at the crunch time in the end we reverted back to the quick shot without running any offense. But I do think we made major strides that second half and are beginning to figure it out.
When we had to implement that little press that was the killer. That destroyed Naz physically.
I am not sure what article it was that I was reading, maybe one on CBSSports.com, but there was a line that I think is going to be a great representation of this team this year.
Paraphrasing "The Cyclones showed resilience by coming back from a double-digit lead early in the second half, but this group of cyclone seniors won't let their team give up that easily."
I think there will be a good handful of games, later on this year, where things will look downright-dismal for stretches, and our seniors will be the cornerstone of a comeback to make it a game again. These seniors have some of the best character you can find in a 22 year old student-athlete, and the toughness to will their teammates to a better performance. Really excited for the season this year after watching the team play this weekend.
Paraphrasing "The Cyclones showed resilience by coming back from a double-digit lead early in the second half, but this group of cyclone seniors won't let their team give up that easily."
I think there will be a good handful of games, later on this year, where things will look downright-dismal for stretches, and our seniors will be the cornerstone of a comeback to make it a game again. These seniors have some of the best character you can find in a 22 year old student-athlete, and the toughness to will their teammates to a better performance. Really excited for the season this year after watching the team play this weekend.
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Not saying that didn't have an effect, but you don't suppose Gonzaga talked about defending the guy that lit them up for 16 in the first half, do you? They certainly had him blanketed for the last play. Unless your name is Buddy Hield, that kind of defensive focus is going to have some bearing on how you can score (and it probably helped open up Burton in the second).
"Height does not determine heart. We've got heart" - 11/28/2016 press conference Naz Mitrou-Long
We may have lost but we played with the heart of a lion. That's going to go a long way for 2016-2017.
We may have lost but we played with the heart of a lion. That's going to go a long way for 2016-2017.
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The offense will come. These are new roles for a lot of the guys and even Seniors like Long and Thomas haven't played a ton together. Long's shot selection hasn't been great to start the year but I expect it to get better. I would bet you see a lot of offensive improvement by the time conference season hits. Also think Gonzaga's zone caused problems for ISU. They didn't attack it well the last few minutes of that game.
