Who else is worried?
- Thread starter ClonesTwentyOne
- Start date
Agree...and I ask because I don't know, how often did we get beat this badly on the road? I don't seem to remember getting our ***** kicked like we have...maybe I'm not remembering correctly.
We were a bad road team last year and did damn well in the big 12 tourney and NCAA.
Got beat bad at Texas, Baylor and KU, and crushed by 25 at a bad WV a year ago today.
You're not alone with short memory, most fans seem to have it lately.
@UT: Cyclones shoot 11-32 from 3 and lose by 10. Here's an excerpt from ESPN: "Against Texas, the Iowa State (14-3, 2-3) struggled to find scoring when 3-pointers misfired and couldn't match the physical presence of Holmes and Ridley in the second half." Sound familiar?
@KU: Cyclones spot KU a 30-14 run to start the game. Here's an excerpt from ESPN "Wiggins added a run-out dunk after another turnover to give the Jayhawks an 81-72 lead, and the defending Big 12 champions coasted the rest of the way to their 18th win in 19 meetings with Iowa State." KU won 92-81.
@WVU: Ugliest game of the season, Cyclones trail by 32 at one point and lose by 25.
@KSU: Cyclones other than Kane and Ejim go 6-35 from the field. KSU opens a 20-9 lead behind a 16-0 run.
@BU: Baylor closes the game on a 13-0 run in the final 4:10 to win by 13.
I loved last year's team as much as everyone else, but it wasn't all sunshine and roses on the road. This team just needs a little time to find itself. Maybe that illustrious 3 game winning streak will start Saturday. If ISU can win @OSU and @UT, everyone will forget about this loss. Going into this game I thought a win @OU might show that this team is above last year's, but it looks like we'll have to wait and see a little longer to make that assumption.
This was our toughest remaining game in a tough stretch and going into the game I saw our likely range of reasonable possibility in the final 8 games of the the season as 7-1 at best and 3-5 the worst. I still see this as true. We lost the most likely one in our final 8. Here is our expected RPI and projected seed in any of the likely scenarios for the final 7 games:
3-4 / 20-10 expected RPI 19 Seed 5/6
4-3 / 21-9 expected RPI 17 Seed 5
5-2 / 22-8 expected RPI 12 - Seed 4
6-1 / 23-7 expected RPI 11 Seed 3/4
7-0 / 24-4 expected RPI 9 Seed 3
In other words even if we don't win another game outside of Hilton in the regular season we still finish with a top 20 RPI and a likely top 6 seed. If we want a top 3 or 4 seed though we need to finish 5-2 to 7-0 at this point or get help in the B12 tourney but going into this game the difference between finishing 7-1 and 5-3 was 3 RPI spots. So not the end of the world losing the most likely one. Now we do any of the above scenarios and win a couple in KC we are a top 4 seed regardless. Hell if we only beat TCU on the road and win 1 in KC we are a top 4 seed. In other words we have a VERY good chance of being a top 4 seed. We are still in great shape to be in good position for the tourney. Mark me down as not worried and enjoying the ride!
3-4 / 20-10 expected RPI 19 Seed 5/6
4-3 / 21-9 expected RPI 17 Seed 5
5-2 / 22-8 expected RPI 12 - Seed 4
6-1 / 23-7 expected RPI 11 Seed 3/4
7-0 / 24-4 expected RPI 9 Seed 3
In other words even if we don't win another game outside of Hilton in the regular season we still finish with a top 20 RPI and a likely top 6 seed. If we want a top 3 or 4 seed though we need to finish 5-2 to 7-0 at this point or get help in the B12 tourney but going into this game the difference between finishing 7-1 and 5-3 was 3 RPI spots. So not the end of the world losing the most likely one. Now we do any of the above scenarios and win a couple in KC we are a top 4 seed regardless. Hell if we only beat TCU on the road and win 1 in KC we are a top 4 seed. In other words we have a VERY good chance of being a top 4 seed. We are still in great shape to be in good position for the tourney. Mark me down as not worried and enjoying the ride!
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So are there people around here who are under the impression ISU went undefeated last year? Do us a favor, jump ship now so we can enjoy the next 2 months.
Remember when we were 6-5 at this point last season and finished 3-6 on the road in conference?! Weird how that works.
give one year where we've been good on the road going back to Orr.
give one year where we've been good on the road going back to Orr.
I'm sorry but you are wrong. Vegas had them favored because they are a ranked home team. Those teams win regardless of opponent at a huge clip.
On the road we got our assess handed to us by Baylor, and royally by WVU.
Lost close ones to KSU, OU, Texas
Beat no ranked teams on the road.
This year we got smacked by KU an OU, lost close ones to Tech and Baylor, and beat a ranked team on the road.
Lets see how KSU, Texas and TCU go..
Pretty much the same situation this year as last year. We now have road games remaining with the the bottom half of the conference (sans OSU), if we get steamrolled by those teams then yes its time to worry.
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Last years National Champion lost 4 conference road games in the American conference, a mid major.
I'm not in the "worried" camp but I do wonder, when we're getting mauled on the defensive end like last night, why not play a zone from time to time. Put McKay by the rim and if they still get their points in the paint then at least they earned them over our best rim protector. I realize the zone would have allowed more 3s and OU might have scored 120 then, but when you're already bleeding on D it really can't get any worse.
I understand Fred strongly prefers playing man defense, but I believe we went to a zone late in the Baylor game and we didn't get scorched. Apologize if this has already been discussed and dismissed.
I understand Fred strongly prefers playing man defense, but I believe we went to a zone late in the Baylor game and we didn't get scorched. Apologize if this has already been discussed and dismissed.
Interesting idea. I think it could have been effective. Zones don't always give up more threes... It depends on how far the zone wants to extend. I would have liked to see a zone last night, now that you mention it.
Bryce has a total of 3 turnovers in the last three games, and was Big 12 Newcomer of the Week just a short week ago. Yea, total team killer I tell ya.
