Question for ISU fans

[MNCyGuy]

I understand that. My point is, Drummond should be able to D him up fairly well. If others get lost on screens and are unable to play good defense off the ball, that's something completely different.

I'm not debating whether or not Drummond can D up White well, he probably can. I'm just pointing out that setting up others on offense is a much bigger part of White's game than trying to find scoring opportunities for himself. To a fault he will look to pass before he looks to shoot. To say "Drummond shut down insert post scorer" is somewhat missing the point.


And I don't think anyone is saying that Babb will keep Lamb from scoring at all in the game. In fact, there's probably still a good chance that Lamb will score A LOT in this game. I do, however, think it's fair to think that Babb might be a bigger pain in the *** than any other individual defender Lamb has seen this year.

 

[wright4cy]

If anyone can shut Lamb down it would be Babb He really is a great Defensive player ! I have faith in Babb though

 

[Rico444]

I'm not debating whether or not Drummond can D up White well, he probably can. I'm just pointing out that setting up others on offense is a much bigger part of White's game than trying to find scoring opportunities for himself. To a fault he will look to pass before he looks to shoot. To say "Drummond shut down insert post scorer" is somewhat missing the point.

Well, that's more on the rest of the defense than Drummond. If Drummond stays on Royce, the other defenders won't have any reason to help off of their man. We tend to overhelp when a man gets beat on the perimeter and the ball is being driven into the paint, the defense collapses, and a kickout to a wide open shooter is what has hurt us. If Drummond can keep Royce in front of him, the rest of our D should hold true. That was my point, I understand Royce White is dangerous as a distributor as opposed to a typical back to the basket 4 man.

 

[ajk4st8]

Well, that's more on the rest of the defense than Drummond. If Drummond stays on Royce, the other defenders won't have any reason to help off of their man. We tend to overhelp when a man gets beat on the perimeter and the ball is being driven into the paint, the defense collapses, and a kickout to a wide open shooter is what has hurt us. If Drummond can keep Royce in front of him, the rest of our D should hold true. That was my point, I understand Royce White is dangerous as a distributor as opposed to a typical back to the basket 4 man.

Nobody doubts if Drummond can keep Royce in front of him in the half court. Royce brings the ball up the court and is great at distrbuting on the fast break. This is where other big men from Baylor, Thomas Robinson, etc have struggled to guard him.

 

[hiwhatis]

Well, that's more on the rest of the defense than Drummond. If Drummond can keep Royce in front of him, the rest of our D should hold true.

This...I have serious doubts that Drummond will be able to stay in front of Royce on the perimeter. I certainly haven't seen any strong post defenders be able to do this all year and I don't see Andre having the lateral quickness to do it either. I understand that he is extremely athletic but speed and athleticism are not equivalent to lateral quickness. We shall see though.

 

[Wesley]

Babb is a lock down defender. Whoever he is guarding will be well under his average. He has done it repeatedly, it doesn't show up on the stat sheet but he is the top echelon of defense in college basketball. Royce you can shut down all you want. Over the season we tend to do much better when Royce has more impressive numbers in terms of assists than he does in terms of points. I'm actually hoping UConn is dumb enough to try to shut him down in terms of scoring throw some help defense at him. Posts just aren't accustomed to defending a guy who has the goal of racking up the assist instead of the basket. Can he be taken out of a game? Sure, but the thing you have to understand is that limiting Royce to 8-10 points doesn't mean you shut him down. It's all about the assists for him. He doesn't own the game with scoring. His ability to run the offense from the arc and also drive if he needs to makes him a match up headache. He'll find a guy on the perimeter open if you double him.

I'm actually more concerned if you get 3 wings going with dribble penetration. Babb will shut down one, the other 2 are concerning. Look for Babb to switch at halftime to whoever is doing damage in the first if someone is lighting us up.

Babb is Superglue in Motion.

 

[Wesley]

After looking at both message boards I am surprised how confident both fan bases appear to be. The majority of both expect to win on Thursday by a decent margin. I think it'll be a great game most likely but either team could run away with it as well.

And that statement about covers the beachfront. If Kentucky fans support us, I think our shooting will pull us through.

 

[VeloClone]

And that statement about covers the beachfront. If Kentucky fans support us, I think our shooting will pull us through.

Yeah, I don't know how any Cyclone fan can be overconfident after watching this team lay an egg against Tejas. There are really no patsies in the dance. Especially in the 8/9 game.

 

[Doc]

Lateral quickness does not a good defender make, especially if you are a 6'11" freshman used to banging inside. I don't doubt that Drummond has the tools, but I doubt whether he is fundamentally sound enough to defend a guard in a 270 lb body on the perimeter.

That being said, Royce could have a good game, and Lamb could have a bad game, and we could still lose by 10.

 

[Big_Sill]

Why is it that ISU fans are convinced that Babb will shut down Lamb but on the same hand no one can cover White???

As to Lamb, he seems to get his points regardless of who is covering him, The Big East does play some tough defense, I have never seem Babb play so you guys might be right but I would be very interested in conversation that tells me why you consider Babb to be a super defender, like who else has he shut down and how that player compares to JL.

Also White, From what I see he's a tough match up, But Calhoun in the past has had success designing game plans, think Elton Brand and Shaq, Also as far as White bringing ball up I would assume that Uconn is not pressing so it doesn't matter.

Other than Babb shutting down Lamb how do you see ISU defending Napier and Drummond without fouling etc

I see this game as a Tossup, that is Uconn could play well and still Lose,, I just don't get the Lamb will be totally shut down but no one can stop White? seems a little naive, no?

IMO the fact that you think Drummond will be guarding Royce means you don't fully understand Royce's game.

 

[JRE1975]

What I like about the tournament is that teams like ISU and UCONN have to see teams they are not used to playing. I think this will be one of the best first round games this year.

 

[kingcy]

Royce White to Rick Barnes, "why did you put him on me coach, you know he cannot guard me". Barnes back to White, "No body can guard you"

 

[kingcy]

. If Drummond can keep Royce in front of him, the rest of our D should hold true. That was my point, I understand Royce White is dangerous as a distributor as opposed to a typical back to the basket 4 man.

That is the problem no player has been able to do that all year. When White is facing the basket can do so many things. His weakness is when he posts up.

 

[Giddyup5]

IMO the fact that you think Drummond will be guarding Royce means you don't fully understand Royce's game.

Its not just gonna be Drummond. Roscoe Smith will get 10-15 minutes on him as well.

 

[isulive2train]

He will understand 5 minutes into the game.

 

[BCClone]

I don't know uconns team much at all, but if Drummond guards the post player, he will be on ejim. Royce is out past the 3 point line and booker generally plays out like a wing. We play a pro style offense, but without a post. Drummond will need to be able to come out and guard outside the 3 line, unless uconn plays a one man zone.

The guy babb guards does score points, but they have to generally take twice as many shots. This disrupts the rest of the offense, due to the scorer forcing things and not being squared up. I think bubu and McGhee might be seeing more minutes, if their guards are quick.

 

[SCarolinaCy]

Royce,

Just elliminate the stupid turnovers.

 

[Cyclonefan89]

Royce,

Just elliminate the stupid turnovers.

i wouldnt call his turnovers "stupid"
i mean if you're an assist guy you have to try and make some tough passes. ill agree the start of the texas game royce made some really bad passes, but remember tinsley led iowa state all time in turnovers until we had mike taylor come play for us

 

[CYCLONECORY]

I don't know how much better Lamb is this year over last. He was scoring in bunches in the toruney last year, obviosly he wasn't drawing the top perimiter defender like he will be this year. I can honestly say if they ball screen Lamb a lot, our screen and roll defense is so bad Lamb might be at the rim the entire night. I think Lamb is going to score, however my biggest concern would be keeping their Bigs off the offensive glass. That white center from Texas made us look bad, these guys will be twice that talented!

 

[gwoodclone]

I haven't seen much of UCONN this season (watched a few minutes of Harvard, Villanova, and second Syracuse game), so I guess I can't comment much on their team.

I think it will be a good game, though. We've clearly been the better team this season, but we all know that doesn't mean everything. We had a better season than Texas but still lost to them twice. Calhoun is also an experienced coach who knows how to win in the tourney, and has a very talented team.

Like I said, I don't know enough about UCONN to comment on matchups. But if our guys learned from that last game and come out like we did against Baylor, both times against KU, or at KSU, we should win on Thursday. If we play like we did against Texas, it will probably get ugly.