Tough day for EIU hoops hopes

[inCyteful]

I was just typing that and you beat me to it

Disappointing but I see we need to be reminded of The Rules of the World According to Hoks

Rule #1: The hoks and everything in hokdom are the most wonderful of all.
Rule #2: If the hoks are NOT the most wonderful, see Rule #1.

You might think I am being cynical but there is a real truth to that for nearly all hok fans.

 

[AuH2O]

IMO Olaseni would have thrived on a Baylor type team.

Maybe. Some of it's on Fran to have guys and a system fit together. Some of that's on a coach to develop guys. But personally, if a guy still can't shoot or make an elementary post move over each shoulder by the time he's a senior, that's on the player. That's the thing that drives me crazy when fans give a coach WAY too much credit or blame for skill development or lack thereof.

It's not Fran's fault that for 4 years Aaron White knew he was going to be held back until he can make a jumpshot, and in year 4 he still couldn't make a jumpshot. There are no secrets about what guys need to work on, they either do it to the point needed or they don't. Or crediting coaches for turning a guy (Naz for example) into a good shooter. Coaches have almost zero to do with it. The extent a coach can influence that is a 15 minute conversation on how if they want to play that's what they have to do, and an hour on mechanics and drills to ensure those mechanics happen. The other 99.99% is just work and reps.

 

[madguy30]

Well I think you've mostly nailed it on the head. Fran's awful defensively. A lot of blame gets placed on recruiting and the slower athletes we tend to recruit and it's a part but just a part. His ideology is centered around outscoring teams in a free flowing paced game he's very similar to Mike D'antoni in that regard. They would rather you give up a layup take the ball out as quick as possible and get to other end than foul the guy and make them hit free throws. That's terrible ideology imo. You lower your margin when you play and coach defense the way he does. You need to be hot every night when you play good teams. I directly attribute Fran's poor record in close games because when you're in close games all the rhythm is taken out lot of fouls, timeouts etc... and he's not great at playing strictly in halfcourt sets. The 2-3 zone we play is an embarrassment to basketball. It's fun to watch when we're winning but its hard to win big with his strategy much like D'antoni

Through the years if I watch IA play I'm usually baffled that more teams don't just go at their perimeter D on a drive just because IA 'looks' long and active.

Then they meet teams that don't care and it's a mess.

 

[CyPunch]

I think Iowa might've deserved the seed they got. 6 would've made a ton of sense too. The run in the Big 10 tournament was obviously the reason for the seeding. There were, however, a few Iowa fans on my Twitter timeline actually upset that they weren't a 4 seed. I mean come on.

I guess I didn't realize they finished with 4 Quad 1 wins. @OhioSt, @Michigan, Purdue, and I don't know what the other one would be? Indiana? 4 is more respectable than where they were at mid-February.

I'll give it to them, they made up a lot of ground resume wise the last few weeks of the season. Unfortunately, like the THT year for us, that conference tournament loses it's shine when you lay an egg in the first round. I was sick after that Ohio St loss and still think about all the talent wasted that year. It was the beginning of the end for Steve.

 

[BryceC]

Look at who's still standing. Low tempo, good defensive teams. Like I've said before, net efficiency as it is being used favors offensive teams. A high tempo, high scoring game that is competitive is still more likely to have a higher margin of victory (and thus higher PPP differential) than a close and competitive low scoring game with fewer possessions.

They should probably put a cap on the PPP differential in a given game as well to reduce the impact of beating someone by 30 instead of 20. No need to have how early you bring the end of the bench in the game have an impact on important metrics.

All this said, we'll be facing a team in our polar opposite tomorrow who is great on offense and average on defense. It'll be put to the test then for sure.

 

[BryceC]

I guess I didn't realize they finished with 4 Quad 1 wins. @OhioSt, @Michigan, Purdue, and I don't know what the other one would be? Indiana? 4 is more respectable than where they were at mid-February.

I'll give it to them, they made up a lot of ground resume wise the last few weeks of the season. Unfortunately, like the THT year for us, that conference tournament loses it's shine when you lay an egg in the first round. I was sick after that Ohio St loss and still am thinking about all the talent wasted that year.

Indiana and Purdue from the Conference Tourney doubled their Q1 wins.

 

[Cyinthenorth]

And got beat repeatedly by Hunter. Too bad Tyrese struggled to make those bunnies (other than the one where Chuckie got hurt). I rewatched the game today & caught the postgame for the FIRST time. i couldn’t believe my ears as to how they gave absolutely ZERO credit to ISU for the win (except for Huggins). That woman announcer should find another job - If anyone had any doubt that she loved Wisc & loathed ISU, that parting shot where she said “same JJ, same” was proof & also completely unprofessional.

Same JJ same...what was this in reference to?

 

[IndyClone15]

Yikes

 

[TClone99]

No one beat up on bad competition like Iowa this year. They scored 100+ 5 times against Longwood, Alabama St, Western Michigan, Maryland, and Northwestern! Credit to Fran for gaming the system but that inflated their metrics immensely. Resume said 7/8 seed, metrics said 4/5 seed.

I’m starting to believe that games like those do a team more harm than good. They certainly don’t learn anything.

 

[GMackey32]

View attachment 97165 Yikes

Okeefe4prez is a northwestern troll.

 

[kentkel]

Same JJ same...what was this in reference to?

JJ Watt is from UW. At the end of the broadcast, the studio showed JJ's reaction to the game. It was an animated Gif of Michael Scott looking dejected. So, the woman announcer basically agreed with his sentiment about the game (i.e. disappointment at Wiscy losing). Not only that, she was the first one to "rebut" Huggy's take that the Cyclones deserved to win the game. She cited all these stats from the game after Chuckie went down. Some of those things might be true. However, she never took into consideration that the game was a virtual tie while Chuckie was playing, or that he had gotten beat already by Hunter on a few plays (unfortunately we missed the bunnies/didn't take advantage of it). We had far more close-to-the-rim shots that we missed compared to UW - but the topic of missed shots was not brought up by anyone except Huggs. ALL the other idiots should be fired for such horrible takes. You know none of them have watched a single Cyclone game this year, and only looked at the Cyclone's standings in the Big 12. They all arrogantly assumed that Johnny Davis would demolish the Cyclones. Even after the game, they all were drooling over him (except Huggs). GK made Davis look like a JV player - ON BOTH SIDES OF THE BALL! Oh well, the punishment for those dunces at TBS is that they are going to have to still cover the Cyclones - suck it TBS studio announcers!!

 

[RezClone]

All this said, we'll be facing a team in our polar opposite tomorrow who is great on offense and average on defense. It'll be put to the test then for sure.

As a side note, they seem to think they are a good defensive team. Most acknowledge they are skewed a little bit more to offense, but they still see themselves as a tough defense oriented team.

Must be nice to play in the ACC this year. They lost twice to a FSU team that plays a similar style as ISU, but without the whole winning part. CFs should look at the FSU games a blueprint for tomorrow. I actually heard about this from a Miami fan.

So to Miami, I would actually like to quote Coach Paul Rhodes. Jeff Woody told a story about how CPR noticed Deon Broomfield was bundled up and shivering at one of their earlier fall practices. Deon was a freshman from Florida. The exchange went like this:

"Deon, you cold?"
"Yes, coach."
"YOU AIN'T SEEN S**T!"

 

[cyfanatic]

JJ Watt is from UW. At the end of the broadcast, the studio showed JJ's reaction to the game. It was an animated Gif of Michael Scott looking dejected. So, the woman announcer basically agreed with his sentiment about the game (i.e. disappointment at Wiscy losing). Not only that, she was the first one to "rebut" Huggy's take that the Cyclones deserved to win the game. She cited all these stats from the game after Chuckie went down. Some of those things might be true. However, she never took into consideration that the game was a virtual tie while Chuckie was playing, or that he had gotten beat already by Hunter on a few plays (unfortunately we missed the bunnies/didn't take advantage of it). We had far more close-to-the-rim shots that we missed compared to UW - but the topic of missed shots was not brought up by anyone except Huggs. ALL the other idiots should be fired for such horrible takes. You know none of them have watched a single Cyclone game this year, and only looked at the Cyclone's standings in the Big 12. They all arrogantly assumed that Johnny Davis would demolish the Cyclones. Even after the game, they all were drooling over him (except Huggs). GK made Davis look like a JV player - ON BOTH SIDES OF THE BALL! Oh well, the punishment for those dunces at TBS is that they are going to have to still cover the Cyclones - suck it TBS studio announcers!!

I took Candace Parker's comment to mean she felt the same as JJ Watt did about how she felt when Tennessee got beat. Only my interpretation but when I heard her make that comment that was my initial interpretation...kind of like "I know how you feel JJ".

 

[BCClone]

View attachment 97165 Yikes

This guy may win the award for dumbest post of the month.

 

[kentkel]

I took Candace Parker's comment to mean she felt the same as JJ Watt did about how she felt when Tennessee got beat. Only my interpretation but when I heard her make that comment that was my initial interpretation...kind of like "I know how you feel JJ".

That very well could be the case. However, before her "Same, JJ" comment, she had just finished trying to refute Huggs after he had given credit to ISU for winning. In fact, during the post-game, she made excuses for Wiscy every time she opened her mouth, And, for as glowingly she talked about J Davis's performance in this game, you would have thought that the two were dating. Yeah, he scored 17 points - but he shot a terrible percentage. His FTs were what allowed him to get into double-figures. GK had an all-around outstanding game - that is what the topic should have been. He had steals, forced Davis into making uncomfortable shots, shot lights out & made play after play after play. If you didn't know anything about the teams or about these two players, you would immediately pick GK to be on your team after watching the game. You might have chosen Davis if you wanted to make FT shots - but that is it. I am not saying that GK is a better overall player - but he was "on" that night, & deserved some major props by that totally clueless crew.

 

[cyfanatic]

That very well could be the case. However, before her "Same, JJ" comment, she had just finished trying to refute Huggs after he had given credit to ISU for winning. In fact, during the post-game, she made excuses for Wiscy every time she opened her mouth, And, for as glowingly she talked about J Davis's performance in this game, you would have thought that the two were dating. Yeah, he scored 17 points - but he shot a terrible percentage. His FTs were what allowed him to get into double-figures. GK had an all-around outstanding game - that is what the topic should have been. He had steals, forced Davis into making uncomfortable shots, shot lights out & made play after play after play. If you didn't know anything about the teams or about these two players, you would immediately pick GK to be on your team after watching the game. You might have chosen Davis if you wanted to make FT shots - but that is it. I am not saying that GK is a better overall player - but he was "on" that night, & deserved some major props by that totally clueless crew.

I was annoyed by the female color person during the game. I felt she was over-the-top pro-Big Ten and looked her up afterward and she does work for the Big Ten Network. After the game I was most annoyed by Seth Davis...at least Huggs shut him down. Seth Davis wanted to use the excuse of the PG being injured as the explanation for UW's loss. Huggs wouldn't let him do that!

 

[BCClone]

I was annoyed by the female color person during the game. I felt she was over-the-top pro-Big Ten and looked her up afterward and she does work for the Big Ten Network. After the game I was most annoyed by Seth Davis...at least Huggs shut him down. Seth Davis wanted to use the excuse of the PG being injured as the explanation for UW's loss. Huggs wouldn't let him do that!

They hated hugs. Most of the time he looked at them like, can you be that dumb and ignorant?

 

[cyfanatic]

They hated hugs. Most of the time he looked at them like, can you be that dumb and ignorant?

Seth Davis was certainly intimidated by Huggins' presence!

 

[CascadeClone]

Look at who's still standing. Low tempo, good defensive teams. Like I've said before, net efficiency as it is being used favors offensive teams. A high tempo, high scoring game that is competitive is still more likely to have a higher margin of victory (and thus higher PPP differential) than a close and competitive low scoring game with fewer possessions.

They should probably put a cap on the PPP differential in a given game as well to reduce the impact of beating someone by 30 instead of 20. No need to have how early you bring the end of the bench in the game have an impact on important metrics.

Defense is more consistent night to night and thus more helpful in a survival game like the tournament. Offense can win you games, but it can betray you if you get off kilter or just have a bad night. Defense rarely has an off night, it keeps you in games even when your offense is off.

I would guess defensive focus teams are less likely to get upset, but idk if that is true or not.

 

[1UNI2ISU]

I’m starting to believe that games like those do a team more harm than good. They certainly don’t learn anything.

Agreed.

If only there was a league in the exact same footprint that could offer them quality competition while still having the majority of games played in Iowa City...