Thomas starting is fine, but all of the guards not named Kane need playing time to develop. Morris, Long, and SDW all have things they are better at and should see (on average) as much time as Thomas. Now that we have live action to base decisions on, it looks as though the staff is going to even up the development time.
Should Morris Start Over Thomas?
- Thread starter isucy86
- Start date
As the OP, I find it hilarious that some posters feel a thread asking for a friendly sports discussion doesn't have a place on a sports board. I thought that was the whole purpose of sites like Cyclone fanatic! Bringing a schools fans together to voice our OPINIONS. Since when do we all have:to think alike? Just because we are undefeated, doesn't mean there is no room to get better as a team. This isn't about Thomas playing poorly, it about who allows the team to play at its highest level. I would think the staff keeps this stat, I would be curious to see the point differential during each players time on the court.
Agreed isucy86. I hate the cop out of "I trust CFH" or "Hoiberg knows what he is doing" as an end all to any discussion. Of course we trust CFH and realize he knows more about basketball and his team than any of us. I'm guessing the coaching staff has had many discussions on the topic of the 5th starter. It definitely wouldn't surprise me to see it tweaked as we have never started the same line-up all year (not counting the first two games with Ejim out).
Ummmm so you want 2 point guards on the court at the same time with Morris & Kane? If they both need a breather at the same time, who do you put in as the point guard then?
It doesn't seem wise at all to have them both on the court at the same time unless its at the end of the game for free throw shooting.
It doesn't seem wise at all to have them both on the court at the same time unless its at the end of the game for free throw shooting.
Kane can play the 1-4 and they have played side by side quite a bit already effectively. That combo is going to be strong for us going forward in the back court. Kane personally prefers to play off guard with the freedom to bring it up when he sees an opportunity
I agree, the rotation is working out well. I actually was originally against sending Long to the bench, but it makes sense to have have Thomas there with the big 4. Even though he hasn't had big games, he is still providing spacing with the threat of the three. When Kane or Niang are in, and certainly both, there's little need to have Morris or Long, the other primary ballhandlers in. When Kane and/or Niang go out it's good to have Long or Morris in to provide more ball handling and offensive aggressiveness.
I know I've said this before in other threads, and this isn't mean to criticize Thomas, Morris, Long, and SDW, but notice that is our backcourt besides Kane. The lack of experience and dependable shooting back there is one of the big weaknesses of this team. We're good, really good, really gritty, but somebody is going to exploit that inexperience, defensive mistakes, and inability to truly threaten the outside and clear things up inside at some point this season. Hogue, Ejim, and Niang are warriors, and it is refreshing to see a Hoiberg team that plays low first, but some help outside would really help them.
Having one of those upperclassmen guards of the past few years (Babb for defense/shooting, Scottie for shooting, McGee for shooting, Lucious for ballhandling and slashing, Allen for slashing and driving) would probably transform us from a 4-seed-ish team right now into a 2- or 3-seed--particularly Babb to d-up the best opposing guard, and he wasn't a bad shooter in his own right. Our current young guards will grow, learn, and play like that someday, but there's just so much youth there right now. Someday Naz will be that level of shooter and stopper, Morris will be a dependable ballhandler and slasher, and Thomas will be the "utility man" that does all of these very well. They're just not there yet, unfortunately.
Having one of those upperclassmen guards of the past few years (Babb for defense/shooting, Scottie for shooting, McGee for shooting, Lucious for ballhandling and slashing, Allen for slashing and driving) would probably transform us from a 4-seed-ish team right now into a 2- or 3-seed--particularly Babb to d-up the best opposing guard, and he wasn't a bad shooter in his own right. Our current young guards will grow, learn, and play like that someday, but there's just so much youth there right now. Someday Naz will be that level of shooter and stopper, Morris will be a dependable ballhandler and slasher, and Thomas will be the "utility man" that does all of these very well. They're just not there yet, unfortunately.
Morris may be better than Thomas right now but he's not as ready to start based on what position he plays. MM will be a very good PG but we are better off with DK running things and having MM and NL come in aggressive off the bench. He has an attitude almost like Tyrus had last year, he is just more likely to drive than put up 3's, we need that off the bench. In that role, I think you can see MM get more and more confident every game.
Get ready for debates like this for the next few years. A guy like Naz Long will likely at best be a 1 year starter in his career. Like other ppl have already mentioned, minutes will be what matters.
Get ready for debates like this for the next few years. A guy like Naz Long will likely at best be a 1 year starter in his career. Like other ppl have already mentioned, minutes will be what matters.
ISU's best basketball team had 2 capable point guards starting, Horton and Tinsley. There was also Stinson/Blalock, and Thigpen/Bayless. Sure in each case one of the guys was clearly a better point guard than the other, but having 2 guys who can handle it that well on the floor at the same time is a huge plus. I do think a better starting 5 would be with Morris in instead of Thomas, but I don't have a problem with the lineup with Morris spelling Kane or playing with him because Morris still gets 20 min/game. I have no doubt both Morris and Thomas will be big time players over the next few years, they are only going to get better, a lot better.
I just saw a tweet from Iowa State showing Matt Thomas is the only freshman in the conference ranked in the top ten of 3 point shooting percentage at 9th overall. So MAYBE he's not as bad as some people are making it out to seem...
I'm not sure what people expect out of him. He had been pretty good for a true freshman. He has has four guys that start with him that are going to be taking a majority of the shots. He rarely turns it over.
Thomas's assist to turnover ratio is ridiculously low. I'm not concerned of him turning it over when he's handling the ball.
Thomas needs to A) Shoot more. He passes up far too many open looks. Maybe he is used to getting WIDE OPEN like you can in HS or AAU, but that's not going to happen in major college basketball B) severely improve his defense. Right now, to say he is a defensive liability may be generous. I am ok with him starting, but he should not be seeing more minutes than Morris and Long at this point.
Thomas was the primary scorer and defensive key for opponents on his HS team so he rarely got WIDE OPEN looks. He was constantly having to rise up over someone or create his own shot.
I agree with the shoot more sentiment but not necessarily that he's a defensive liability (or if so ,that much more than long). I look at it this way, he's seeing an average of about 4 more minutes a game than long over the past 5 games and probably a bit more than that with Morris. Is that really a huge deal? In my eyes, no. Especially since each player brings a different skill set to the table and Fred will utilize each players skill-sets differently to match up/exploit certain opponents lineups.
If there's one thing we've seen is that Fred favors exploiting mismatches as opposed to trying to react to other teams lineups. If there's a way that he can put a line up on the floor that makes the other team do something their not used to, he's going to do it whether it be, running with Morris and Kane on the court and using Kane down low or as a slasher, or using Kane as a point and having MT on the floor because he can exploit something on someone else, or having Long out there for a different reason.
Thomas starting may be the best move, but he makes Long look like Babb on defense. Nevertheless, if you notice when this thread started, Thomas was seeing quite a bit more time. He is starting to see less time. All of our young guys need development time, but as far as splitting up PT amoungst the young guards, I think the return on investment will be greater for Long, MM, and SDW.
Not a one other than possibly SDW shows promise on D, so I think the first one that can show the ability to put the ball on the floor and get to the basket and finish needs the nod. Naz feasted on bad teams from long range, but no one is consistently hitting the spot up three. We need a slasher not named Kane.
I'm not either, I was speaking more in general terms of starting 2 PGs.
Last edited: