Right! Losing vs a power 5 team on a neutral floor in a Thanksgiving tourney isn't anywhere near an all-time low,
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*** Official Virginia Tech vs IOWA STATE Game(Day) Thread ***
- Thread starter CycloneRulzzz
- Start date
I’m sticking with the guys. Looking forward to traveling up to see them. Hey, I endured a 3-win season with season tickets. Loved them then. Of course,that was 50 years ago. No place better in America to watch college basketball. Or wrestling!
I don't think that post was being overly critical or saying TJ isn't fine. It's ok to talk about areas we struggle in a respectful way and have a discussion about it
I didn't watch the game, but the issues have been pretty consistent with Otz's teams. Struggling to make the 3 and Struggling at the ft line. Both were better in the first few games, but it was the same old thing the last 2 games. Hopefully it will be a lot better as the season goes on. Certainly looks like there are a couple guys that are capable of lighting it ip from outside.
this is why I don’t like playing so many rock bottom teams to begin because I don’t think it prepares them and you can’t really tell how things are going to actually work against good teams.
I do not like the way the team is playing, even in the VCU win. The basketball IQ is severely lacking, especially when it comes to shot selection. Yesterday, Gilbert and Jones had 56 minutes and only 6 points total between them. Good lord that is pathetic. As a team, we only had 12 assists. And of course the team couldn't hit free throws. Now the good news, in both games the team showed tons of resiliency and grit. They have that. The coaches will use yesterday's game as a teaching moment for Gilbert and Jones, they were selfish quite a bit. Shows against P6 teams, which yesterday was the only one we played so far, you have to be smarter with the ball and not so reckless with shot selection. I also think Jackson should play more of CuJo's minutes until CuJo can play smarter.
Let us not forget, the Ward injury is looming large. Omaha is not good enough to come even remotely close to filling the void yet. Had we had Ward for both games, we win by a bigger margin against VCU and we get the win yesterday. Unfortunately, I don't know if we will get Ward back to pre-injury levels until maybe February. Yes, he will be on the floor in January probably, but it will take him awhile to get his conditioning, footwork, timing, and basketball skills where they were. The boys are going to have to figure it out without him.
Let us not forget, the Ward injury is looming large. Omaha is not good enough to come even remotely close to filling the void yet. Had we had Ward for both games, we win by a bigger margin against VCU and we get the win yesterday. Unfortunately, I don't know if we will get Ward back to pre-injury levels until maybe February. Yes, he will be on the floor in January probably, but it will take him awhile to get his conditioning, footwork, timing, and basketball skills where they were. The boys are going to have to figure it out without him.
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I'm definitely saying "don't panic."
Poor shooting from 3 and the line both games. There will be games like this. I'm not ready to say this is a poir shooting team.
I believe the coaching staff feels they recruited to address this. C. Jones and Pav, specifically. The first 4 games it was so easy to score. Obviously harder to do so against better teams with better defenses. It's a long season. Good coaches get their teams to improve. I expect some poor performances and some great ones. This team is not winning the Big 12, but they will play hard and I believe, for the most part, be fun to watch and cheer for.
I want him to keep getting shots in on punks whose entire game is to get someone up and jump into then though. I like that part of his game.
Edit. I should be clear. When you get faked, you crush him and make him earn 2 from the line. I do not like the guy getting the ball above their waist in that situation. I don't think Gilbert is ever going to make that mistake. I like THAT.
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I agree, you can pick up bad habits playing nothing but rock bottom teams. Guys like C. Jones and Gilbert try things against higher level teams that worked in the other games. We needed at least one team with a pulse and we didn't get that.
1) Omaha has not shown he is ready to contribute significantly to this team yet.
2) He got minutes in the first games and proved this again and again.
3) TJ was trying to win the last two games with the players that COULD contribute at this point.
4) I watched Ejim and shook my head his entire freshman campaign. Given time, young men can get better and contribute.
5) At this rate I can't see why any NBA team would draft Omaha.
6) He will get $1.5M next year to play in the G league and be a top 20 player 2 years from then.
Conclusion:
Omaha needs time to get his legs under him. He looks lost right now. Give him a little time and let him get in the lower level games before conference. He'll contribute, but just not right now.
And I will never make any money as an NBA scout, cause man, I would never pick the players they pick and win with. I like developed men with dominant game, not embryos. But, that's why they make the big bucks and I watch ISU.
2) He got minutes in the first games and proved this again and again.
3) TJ was trying to win the last two games with the players that COULD contribute at this point.
4) I watched Ejim and shook my head his entire freshman campaign. Given time, young men can get better and contribute.
5) At this rate I can't see why any NBA team would draft Omaha.
6) He will get $1.5M next year to play in the G league and be a top 20 player 2 years from then.
Conclusion:
Omaha needs time to get his legs under him. He looks lost right now. Give him a little time and let him get in the lower level games before conference. He'll contribute, but just not right now.
And I will never make any money as an NBA scout, cause man, I would never pick the players they pick and win with. I like developed men with dominant game, not embryos. But, that's why they make the big bucks and I watch ISU.
Would you rather take a bunch of L's in the non-con??
This is the way to schedule with a young team. We can't schedule like UCONN. Talk about a tough schedule. https://uconnhuskies.com/sports/mens-basketball/schedule/2023-24
To clarify since you didn't go back to earlier convo (understandable) this was reference ti the Texas tech loss at tech when we were at ttu and atill controlled our own destiny.toward b12 title. Tech was last in league.
My BAD. That was definitely a tough one. Sorry for the misunderstanding.
It's not very often that ISU plays someone really good in their first 4-5 games though.
The Feast Week tournament or last one or two weeks of November have generally been their first real test for forever with a few exceptions.
TJ is fine and is the guy, and the team still almost pulled it off with a bad game, but it's fair to look at trends dating back to last year. This next week might be a 'back to the board' type of deal.
--ISU's relentlessness on defense has been found out by teams that are able to skip pass or work it around to the perimeter for good open looks.
--In contrast, somehow in the 2020's ISU has very few consistent shooters which really doesn't seem possible.
It's a young season for a young team and hopefully they figure out a way to avoid 3 non-conference losses which is very possible imo (ATM, Iowa).
I’m pretty sure I watched us lose 18 straight in 2020-21. That feels a little worse.
I wouldn’t call us a young team. We have a lot of new players to mesh but Milan is the only freshman getting meaningful minutes. Gilbert is shooting 11% from 3 but we need his game going to the basket. IMO the biggest thing we lack now is a reliable 3rd guard, and we really need 4 guards. If Jones and Pav prove to be liabilities against high major competition I wonder if Jelani Hamilton might be able to help. The staff may have deemed him not ready but at some point I think they need to give him a shot.
Right now I find them tough to watch. Other then Lipsey everyone just seems to be trying to get their own. Really need to establish the alphas then work out how everyone else can contribute. I think the problem is if you trim the rotation after Ward returns Biliew wouldn't be in it so we're stuck with the chaos for awhile because he's going to play and eventually put it together.
