*** Official Alabama State vs IOWA STATE Game(Day) Thread ***

[Cyinthenorth]

Fair point. I thought he would get some minutes when Hunter has been in foul trouble and we go really small.

I think at this point it is safe to say Walker is that guy on this year's ISU team that everyone feels bad for and wants to see get some run, but might just simply not be good enough. In years past, this player has gone by names such as Terrence Lewis, Zoran Talley (Senior Year version), Zion Griffin, Jakolby Long, Giorgos Tsalmpouris, etc. I feel for the kid, as I sympathized with everyone in the list I just mentioned. They dedicate years of their life to our program but don't seem to get rewarded for one reason or another. More than likely the blame lies on their own shoulders for not putting in the work, not being a team player, not trusting the process, or just plain making boneheaded decisions or not being good enough. It might be too early to lump Jaden into this category, but it seems like he's on the fast track.

 

[Gunnerclone]

I’m starting to find myself comparing this team to the ’95-‘96 team (Floyd’s 2nd year here I believe) in the sense that nobody saw it coming. Will we defeat KU in the conference tourney and go to the NCAAs? Probably not, but we sure as heck won’t finish last in the conference. I’m just going to enjoy the ride.

I know this is the media regurgitation du jour, but we could EASILY finish last in the conference. It’s actually highly likely.

 

[heitclone]

I guess my concern is tonight's shooting performance isn't just a one-off. Grill certainly started the year hot, but that will be very difficult to continue to shoot at that clip. Beyond him, I'm not sure we have anyone else who can shoot from deep consistently.

Oh, we're not a good 3pt shooting team, especially the starting 5. I just don't think we're as bad as last night. I mean if we shoot 25% as a team from 3 and make a couple of easy paint looks we missed ,we win by 25 last night.

 

[qwerty]

So 1 for 20 on 3 pointers. For those that watched the game, how many of those misses were close? That is some horrible shooting.

The good news on those: only 2-3 were what I would consider bad shots. The vast majority were open looks that just didn't go in tonight. Not saying we will stroke it at a high rate, but I for sure hope we never see another 1-20 night again. I think Grill is a passable 3pt shooter, he had open looks that just didn't fall.

 

[isuno1fan]

Exposed in what way?

We were out rebounded and shot 5% from 3 and won.

Show me one other time an ISU team did that.

Not a pretty game for certain and this team will still struggle to win1/2 its games but they are doing exactly what they need to do to have the best chance of winning. Not to mention Hunter and Brockington continue to look like 2 of the best guards in the Big XII.

I thought it was another step forward.

You named it in your response. The zone exposed our outside shooting and getting out rebounded by that small team is not a good omen.
I’ll gladly take any W but pretty sure we have some bumpy roads ahead.

 

[stuclone]

Anyone know why Walker hasn’t played at all?

He's not that good at basketball

 

[BoxsterCy]

I know this is the media regurgitation du jour, but we could EASILY finish last in the conference. It’s actually highly likely.

Yeah, we don't need to be as bad as last year, at all, to finish last.

Not a good team but not unwatchable or bad. Last year I turned them off at some point and never watched again. Am at least watching this year and we actually have a veteran player that is good and not one dimensional (Brockington) and a promising freshman.

 

[CYEATHAWK]

You named it in your response. The zone exposed our outside shooting and getting out rebounded by that small team is not a good omen.
I’ll gladly take any W but pretty sure we have some bumpy roads ahead.

It seems zone defense is our kryptonite. With that said I doubt we see very many 1-20 nights with those looks. And getting out rebounded this year was a forgone conclusion with the losses of Foster and Hinson. Don't have enough fouls to give down low to be aggressive. So best for all hands to get back on defense and keep the other team from getting theirs. Which is what it looks like they are doing.

 

[Gunnerclone]

Yeah, we don't need to be as bad as last year, at all, to finish last.

Not a good team but not unwatchable or bad. Last year I turned them off at some point and never watched again. Am at least watching this year and we actually have a veteran player that is not one dimensional (Brockington) and a promising freshman.

I think the tag line would be better if it were “we won’t go 0-fer in conference this year”. I can get on board with that. Nothing goes 0 to 100 faster than Cyclones basketball guy.

 

[MartyFine]

I know this is the media regurgitation du jour, but we could EASILY finish last in the conference. It’s actually highly likely.

Can we technically finish last in the conference if Okie St is not allowed to participate in the conference tourney?

 

[isucyfan]

We looked terrible against the zone last night, and not just because threes weren't falling. I would say a ton of time will be spent on this at practice this week.

I do think we found some workable things there, though. I liked putting Brockington in the middle and letting him go to work. His mid-range game is so good.

 

[Cyclad]

I think at this point it is safe to say Walker is that guy on this year's ISU team that everyone feels bad for and wants to see get some run, but might just simply not be good enough. In years past, this player has gone by names such as Terrence Lewis, Zoran Talley (Senior Year version), Zion Griffin, Jakolby Long, Giorgos Tsalmpouris, etc. I feel for the kid, as I sympathized with everyone in the list I just mentioned. They dedicate years of their life to our program but don't seem to get rewarded for one reason or another. More than likely the blame lies on their own shoulders for not putting in the work, not being a team player, not trusting the process, or just plain making boneheaded decisions or not being good enough. It might be too early to lump Jaden into this category, but it seems like he's on the fast track.

First - I have no inside info.
You might be 100% correct in your assessment. I do struggle to see where he might fit in our rotation. But, my theory is that he might be in the dog house for some reason. Nothing sinister - maybe something academic. Part of me says if he was just not good enough he would be gone already.

 

[Cyclad]

Was it called 'ESPN+' back in the day when they'd feed these types of games through local channels in Iowa?

KCRG Cedar Rapids would carry ISU and KGAN would carry Iowa.

I know it was an ESPN affiliate of some sort.

I am sure you have our answer by now.
When they were on the local channels it was the Cyclone Network.
I was the President of the NEICC for many years. I worked with many radio and TV stations to try to get our games covered. Limited success. The Cedar Rapids TV people told me I needed to find advertisers if I wanted the Clones on TV. Not exactly my area of expertise . I definitely felt like they did not want to cover our games.
Anyway - I think ESPN+ is a far superior solution - even though I dislike ESPN.

 

[BoxsterCy]

Can we technically finish last in the conference if Okie St is not allowed to participate in the conference tourney?

Yes. Tournament is mostly a fan exhibition although an unexpected tourney win could earn a team an NCAA invite. Pretty rare that a P5 tourney winner isn't already in the field though. If we want to avoid last we have to win 5, 6, maybe 7 games.

 

[CloniesForLife]

Got the W. Hopefully the struggle against zone last night will give us some good learnings on how to handle it the rest of the year. That shooting was brutal.

 

[TomTreebow]

We looked terrible against the zone last night, and not just because threes weren't falling. I would say a ton of time will be spent on this at practice this week.

I do think we found some workable things there, though. I liked putting Brockington in the middle and letting him go to work. His mid-range game is so good.

I'll need to rewatch the second half but I actually came away feeling pretty good about how TJ attacked the zone. Initially we just put up and missed a handful of 3's but then they switched to attacking spots in the middle and along the baseline in the first half that brought ASU out of the zone. I'm a little fuzzy on how all the second half went down, but it seemed like there was a good plan for zone-busting after an initial flurry of open, but not made 3's.

 

[Cyinthenorth]

First - I have no inside info.
You might be 100% correct in your assessment. I do struggle to see where he might fit in our rotation. But, my theory is that he might be in the dog house for some reason. Nothing sinister - maybe something academic. Part of me says if he was just not good enough he would be gone already.

Maybe, but it takes some longer than others to admit it to themselves. Terrence Lewis spent 3 years in Ames before conceding that he wasn't a P5 player. Jaden might know in his heart that ISU is only chance to play at this level and wants to give it his best shot before conceding. This is all conjecture so take it for its worth. I could be way off. I thought he did show flashes last year that he had staying power at this level, but he still wasn't very good for an awful team.

 

[Cyinthenorth]

Got the W. Hopefully the struggle against zone last night will give us some good learnings on how to handle it the rest of the year. That shooting was brutal.

Really tough to beat a zone when you can't hit open shots

 

[Cykobabble]

Does anyone know if Brockington is one and done, or is he eligible to return next season?

 

[isucyfan]

Maybe, but it takes some longer than others to admit it to themselves. Terrence Lewis spent 3 years in Ames before conceding that he wasn't a P5 player. Jaden might know in his heart that ISU is only chance to play at this level and wants to give it his best shot before conceding. This is all conjecture so take it for its worth. I could be way off. I thought he did show flashes last year that he had staying power at this level, but he still wasn't very good for an awful team.

Not that it means a ton on a 2-20 team, but he gave us some good minutes last year as a true freshman and at least looked like he belonged on the court. I looked and he had 10 points against TCU and 14 rebounds against Kansas. I am still leaning towards it being some minor disciplinary issue, but it very well could be he just isn't able to find minutes right now. We really haven't had a game where there's "mop-up" minutes during a blowout.