Need a to start strong again just like the Houston and TCU games. Big win at home coming, Cyclones 74-65!
*** Official Kansas State vs #23 IOWA STATE Game(Day) Thread ***
- Thread starter CycloneRulzzz
- Start date
Listened to WAY too much K State stuff this morning. Here's my main takeaways:
NEGATIVES (by their own admission)
-They don't have a true PG, or even really any ball-handling guards.
-They want to play fast because of their shakey guard play. Sure, they are sloppy at times in transition, but they don't have the guards to win in the half court
-They have an average defense. They don't consider themselves overly skilled either.
- Had favorable early schedule that ends today. Realistically, going 2-5 in their next 7 games would be more or less a W.
POSITIVES
-Jerome Tang is not Bruce Webber
-Team is mentally tough. Seem to be Winners. Don't seem to realize they aren't very good.
-Have played up to better competition for the most part.
-Have shot the ball best when needed and usually answer runs. Sneaky clutch more than they are consistent.
-A lot of their turnovers are from rushing in transition and trying to get early shots, which is in line with their chosen style of play.
-For lots of reasons they are kind of playing with house money right now and can kind of just go play with minimal pressure, comparatively speaking.
***EDIT: To our EMAW lurker friends, before you get too butthurt, this is coming from your OWN media sources, not me.
Unlike most of the Big 12, I have admittedly only watched a minimal amount of KState so far this year, along with OK State and WVU. I'll let you hypothesize as to why.
And yes, we no longer hold AAU status, and I apologize for my predictably poor grammar resulting from my Iowa State education. Where does this shameful truth leave our humble little institution in relation to your school, again?
NEGATIVES (by their own admission)
-They don't have a true PG, or even really any ball-handling guards.
-They want to play fast because of their shakey guard play. Sure, they are sloppy at times in transition, but they don't have the guards to win in the half court
-They have an average defense. They don't consider themselves overly skilled either.
- Had favorable early schedule that ends today. Realistically, going 2-5 in their next 7 games would be more or less a W.
POSITIVES
-Jerome Tang is not Bruce Webber
-Team is mentally tough. Seem to be Winners. Don't seem to realize they aren't very good.
-Have played up to better competition for the most part.
-Have shot the ball best when needed and usually answer runs. Sneaky clutch more than they are consistent.
-A lot of their turnovers are from rushing in transition and trying to get early shots, which is in line with their chosen style of play.
-For lots of reasons they are kind of playing with house money right now and can kind of just go play with minimal pressure, comparatively speaking.
***EDIT: To our EMAW lurker friends, before you get too butthurt, this is coming from your OWN media sources, not me.
Unlike most of the Big 12, I have admittedly only watched a minimal amount of KState so far this year, along with OK State and WVU. I'll let you hypothesize as to why.
And yes, we no longer hold AAU status, and I apologize for my predictably poor grammar resulting from my Iowa State education. Where does this shameful truth leave our humble little institution in relation to your school, again?
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ISU plays in arguably the best major basketball conference in the country, so it stands to reason that these teams have some of the more skilled players in college MBB. As such, it is reasonable to expect those skilled athletes will make a good percentage of wide open shots.
Again, in conference play, ISU is 8th in 3pt defense. Continually leaving shooters open on a less-talented opponent (i.e. pre-season) seems to work out fine. It doesn't seem to work as well in conference.
The other issue is that a less-talented opponent is not able to move the ball well enough to exploit the trapping defense. Many of the conference teams are able to do that.
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I like how Rulzz has us at 14-3 record. I'm with him. I refuse to accept that BYU loss.
Do we know what KSU was shooting like before conference play started? Has it improved or worsened?
I think ISU struggles with getting shots off as well compared to the other B12 teams from what I've seen.
If this is true, and assuming Lipsey doesn't play and/or is limited, I'd really like to see Otz sick CuJo on him and see if he is prone to turning the ball over. Also, if their guard play and distribution is shaky, this is ABSOLUTELY a game where we put Hasan, Watson and Cujo out there together as much as possible and trap the **** out of them. Those 3, in addition to Milan and Gilbert/Jones is probably the best lineup to use for this in terms of defensive ability, length, and not a total cluster of offensive inability, Could be a game, much like TCU, where will demolish them with forced turnovers.
I'm definitely not going to miss Keyontae Johnson or Markquis Nowell from last year's Elite Eight team! We can't go undefeated at the Hilton this year without winning this one. ISU -7.5 but don't forget your nut cup!
Yeah they have been shooting better lately but that usually just means they will come back down closer to their average soon.
That doesn't make sense. So playing against lesser teams deflated KSU's shooting stats?
Against Top 100 opponents, we are giving up 34.6% on threes. That is in the 150's for D1 and 8/14 in the conference.
VCU, Va Tech, OU, and BYU games we got torched from 3. (1-3)
Compare that to the Iowa, Houston, and TCU games where they made 8, 7, and 6 total against us. (3-0)
Only the A&M game is this not true, and that was our third game in three days at a neutral site.
At home, last years team was 1-4 against Big 12 teams who made 8 or more threes. (K-State being the only win).
I went ahead and pulled up stats vs Quad 1 teams and got the below for Big 12 conference members.
What really stands out here is turnovers, they are TERRIBLE at both turning the ball over and creating TOs, and they are also a poor defensive rebounding team (worse than us). The numbers also show they are EXTREMELY efficient at shooting the ball, especially from 2 but also from 3.
This only reinforces my belief, and what their fans say about themselves, that we should really go with the pressure and lineup that induces a lot of TOs. That plays into their weakness while also reducing their shots, where they have been very good. If we force a bunch of TOs and get the crowd involved this could be a massacre.
To be fair, the Valley and the A10 have just as good of shooters. Heck, even the Summit and America East have plenty of high percentage snipers, no doubt. Not trying to be a ****, and I acknowledge my rant is 100% gonna come off that way:
We play this way to take away front side drives and paint touches. We also can't just let the best athletes in "amateur" sports just run their stuff like an AAU scrimmage, put the ball on the deck, attack the rim at will, and set up shop in the paint whenever they want.
playing straight up and not "over-helping", you are just going to get beat 9 times out of 10. Players are too good now, especially when you are Iowa State and will be outgunned physically more often than not. This is why we do it, and I'm 100% on board.
Watch some Big Ten "defense" and tell me the offense isn't just running their stuff like it's a walk through... screening and cutting, driving with impunity. You can catch the same defensive display at the local Y.
I never really appreciated the difference until Green and Otz changed the way we play, and I don't even know if I could stomach going back. At least we dictate. At least we disrupt. At least we control what we can.
Well K State is averaging 32% on the season, so if they are shooting 36% in conference then they are definitely shooting better in conference than the non-conference schedule. Without doing the math I would guess around 30% in the non-con.
Sometimes teams and players get better at things as the season progresses.
Making my first game at Hilton since 2013. It's been a while.
Eh, most times you are who you are when it comes to shooting. Improve in an off season, sure. But if you suddenly start shooting better over the last five games when you were shooting poorly in the first 12 it's much more likely you are just on a hot streak and likely to come back to earth soon.