WBB: **** Iowa State vs. No. 4 UCONN- 7:30 PM FS1 GAME THREAD ****
- Thread starter ZorkClone
- Start date
Wouldn't say no one. I was happy with a top 10 ranking but history has shown me that while I love what Bill has built here when it comes to great expectations in wbb I need to see to believe. I was was thinking more the 20-25 range.
The high ranking was built off how we ended the season both in KC and NCAA's plus the incoming group which so far hasn't turned like it has for us in mbb.
We’ve evolved! Now we get mad at opposing coaches after a 30 point beat down, not the refs!
Classic Fennelly recruit. Gal dying to be a Cyclones. Easy get. She’s not ready to play at this level, yet thrown to the wolves. Can’t help her confidence. Wilson another easy get as I think we were get only Power 4 (although I like her game). Other than Brown (not including Audi since she’s local) our recruiting has not been good. Too many developmental players and we frankly aren’t good at doing that.
I think some people need to remember or realize that in women's basketball, there are the top teams, and then a huge gap, and then everyone else. It will take lightning in a bottle to bridge the gap in any given year.
I think this team is good enough to go on to a successful season, but they do need to get the momentum turned around and regain their swagger.
I think this team is good enough to go on to a successful season, but they do need to get the momentum turned around and regain their swagger.
This is my biggest concern with Coach BF. I've admittedly only noticed it recently and I don't watch any NCAA WBB other than Iowa State, maybe players just don't develop as much as they do in the men's game, but our players recently don't improve much from year to year.
None of the returning players this year have added anything major to their games.
Ryan has been the same player for five years.
Ashley Joens added that stepback-three I guess, but the biggest thing that improved her game was her usage increasing after Carlton graduated.
Lexi was the same player for three years, if anything her shooting regressed.
What we're doing in the offseason and the S&C need a good hard look if you ask me.
I think most people ( me for sure) are victims of unrealistic expectations. I thought we were going to be very good. So did the pollsters, hence our ranking. IMO - much of that was due to the Stanford game, and certainly Maryland to some extent. Stanford rendered Crooks mostly ineffective, but Ryan played like a possessed woman. I have never seen her play like that before, and it appears never will again. We were destroyed by two of the best teams in WBB. All we have proven is we are not elite. UNI and Iowa are solid teams, but not great. The B12 is not very strong this year. I expect we will finish upper middle of the pack. We needed a cupcake schedule to build some confidence. So, I must recalibrate my expectations. Like most teams we have flaws - some fixable, some not. I (we?) had high hopes. I will readjust and move on.
Go clones!
The problem is Bill never fires anybody. We have had the same staff for many years, and it has resulted in stagnation. This is a big reason I really hope Billy doesn't just get the job of Bill retires, he will likely keep a lot of the same staff when some of them really should go.
I'd love to see us recruit an athlete.....aside from our lack of ball movement and a very basic game plan, the things that really separate the UConn's and South Carolina's of the world is that their players are athletic.....they're not all tall, but they can jump, they have more speed and better agility.....all those things are hard to overcome.
That said, our game plan still sucks.
Hiring Billy would be the worst thing JP could ever do. I really don't think he'd be that dumb to go that route.....that said, love Billy, but please literally anyone externally not already involved in the program.
Iowa State is an attractive job. Not many places with the fan support we give toward the women's team and while the Big 12 is not on the levels of the SEC or Big Ten in wbb, it's still one of the better conferences in college basketball, even on the women's side.
the silver lining in these blowout losses is that those are by far the best teams we'll play all season long. We know we're not on their level at all, but the Big 12 is definitely a conference where we can still make some noise....although K-State and TCU seem to be playing really good basketball right now
Iowa State has had a stable situation, support from the AD, and fan attendance in the top ten for 20+ years.
Shouldn't they be one of those teams?
I'm worried that these blowouts will have a negative effect on our confidence. Our early conference season is fairly easy so I'm hoping we can get our groove back with a few decent wins.
We'll all know more around 6pm Saturday what this team and coaches are made of. On the road to start Conference play and a chance to get a plus 1. Go Cyclones!
ISU is never going to be able to get the recruits those teams do and the state of Iowa does not produce enough high quality recruits and half of those we do produce go to EIU.
I would guess looking at their recruiting rankings teams like UCONN and S. Carolina have a better 2nd team they can throw out there, then most schools have starting.
When you are getting 2/3 of the top 10/15 recruits each and every year like the top schools are, then you are at that level, which we will never be.
It's a money thing I think.
Look at men's NCAA basketball and how quickly the "blue blood" likes of Duke/UNC/Kansas/Kentucky became less dominant when all of a sudden everyone can pay their players above-water and the transfer rules became much less restrictive. Women's teams can of course do all this too but there's just nowhere near the money that's available in the men's game. So I think you're still seeing the majority of the top players concentrated largely on the same three or four "traditional power" teams.
It has less to do with money, those schools are paying players also, in the fact that in men's hoops, the best players are not sticking around but going into the league. UNC had Michael Jordan for 3 seasons, now he would be a one and done. That is the difference, the woman have no place to go, what was Clark making $250,000 in the WNBA.
