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Someone show Matt...

GoSTATE71 said:
Monte Morris has been great, barely turns it over as a freshman. Matt will be good but I agree he hesitates a ton and I wish he'd just shoot some more. I think he worries about if it's a bad shot but there's been lots of times when he's open and tries dribbling instead. His basketball IQ is awesome and he'll be good he's just had a poor freshman year, gotta adjust. Also, naz has been pretty non existent lately. Monte is the 5th best player on this team and it's not close. The only time our offense has looked somewhat okay in conference play is when monte is running point
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I wouldn't even say that he's had a "poor freshman year" as you put it. It hasn't been great, but for a freshman it hasn't been poor IMO. Reality is, he shouldn't have been asked to start as a freshman if we had been building depth like we should have over the years. That isn't his fault.

He's fine. He's going to get better and better, and some day we will laugh at the idea we were even ripping on him.
 
cycfan1 said:
Watch tape of Stauskus last year. Not the same player as a freshman. There is hope.
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I really do think even Matt's harshest critics think there's plenty of hope for him. In fact, if anyone here thinks Matt won't improve drastically, post it just to prove me wrong. You don't have to explain why, I'm just curious if I'm wrong.

Really, it's more of a debate of if he should play much right now.

My opinion: I don't think we have enough depth that it would matter much to cut out Matt's minutes, even if he's on a cold streak. And since time now helps him for the future, I'm happy to see him on the court. It's not a starter/not starter debate, considering it's only minutes that matter, and he often doesn't get the 5th highest anyway. It's now averaged out to:

Matt: 23.5
Monte: 22.2
Naz: 21.5

Also I apologize for responding, I'd also like to see these threads stop in general.
 
I just shake my head at the idea that MT isn't Big 12 quality. Dude has the talent and the body for it. Like every freshman, he's getting his head around what it takes to compete at this level and when he does, look out. Hoiberg did exactly what he should have and has MT coming off the bench for now.
 
JohnnyFive said:
Jesus H another one of these threads? Raise your hand if at 18-19 you were a starting division I shooting guard for a team in a major conference? Right. Okay. Well, with that established, how would anyone here know what MT should or shouldn't do? Give it a rest. Struggling or not, he's our guy. Piling on isn't helping anyone. Not even Fred had it down after 17 games.

Rant over. Sorry, I'm just tired of seeing a new one of these pop up every other day.
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I'm not apologizing. This obsession with starting new threads to complain about Matt Thomas sucks.
 
ISpyCy said:
Is it just me, or would everybody else love for MT to go off on a team with 7 or 8 3-pointers just to shut everyone up for a little while?
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I would love to see him personally punch every one of the ****** bags in this thread in the throat.
 
cycfan1 said:
Watch tape of Stauskus last year. Not the same player as a freshman. There is hope.
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Wait, you mean players get better over time? I thought they just played like all americans right out of high school. That certainly seems to be the expectation around here.
 
Sorry. Not bashing the kid. Have said several times I like him. All I meant was for him to look to score like Staudkas (sp?) does. I really think, if he relaxed, he would be a GREAT player for us. Love his hustle. Just needs some confidence.

Not bashing him. Not questioning his playing time. Just wish he would relax. Catch and shoot.
 
im4cyclones said:
Sorry. Not bashing the kid. Have said several times I like him. All I meant was for him to look to score like Staudkas (sp?) does. I really think, if he relaxed, he would be a GREAT player for us. Love his hustle. Just needs some confidence.

Not bashing him. Not questioning his playing time. Just wish he would relax. Catch and shoot.
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I'm sure he's never heard that advice before, or any good advice on shooting really. What with a head coach that had a year with 3FG% title in the NBA? It's not even the Thomas bashing, it's just as much the constant armchair coaching of the kid that's getting old, fast. "Calm down, shoot more, play fewer minutes" repeated ad nauseum. I guess we have more veteran basketball players (/sports psychologists) on here that clearly know better than the coaching staff that I originally realized.

And he's not having a bad year for a freshman, by far. As pointed out earlier, he has the 11th best 3FG% among freshmen that have shot more than 30 threes, and has made more per game than any previous ISU freshman not named Jake Sullivan. What, did you expect the second coming of upperclassman/NBA Fred Hoiberg in Thomas's first season? By the way, if the name Conner Frankamp rings any bells, he's shooting 26% from three so far this year.

I'm sick of the "confidence" narrative, too. How do you all know his (or any player's) personal mental state with such certainty? I guess we also have a bunch of body language experts on here, too.

I think, as pointed out previously, the equal time between Thomas, Long, and Morris in the rotation seems about right. I agree that Morris has been playing above his age so far, but he can't play 40 minutes, especially as the backup point, and he's admitted as much that he's still getting used to being a shooter. Long and Thomas (and maybe SDW, in time) are still the best options for grooming the next Christopherson/Babb/McGee, and it's just going to take playing time to reach that level.
 
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ISpyCy said:
Is it just me, or would everybody else love for MT to go off on a team with 7 or 8 3-pointers just to shut everyone up for a little while?
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I'm pretty sure that'd make it worse.
 
These are pretty simple numbers, but they give a basic idea of how recruits ranked around Matt Thomas are doing this year. Most of these guys are on teams that aren't doing as well as ISU. Matt is #54.


#50 - 1.8 PPG, 6.0 MPG
#51 - Redshirt
#52 - 6.2 PPG, 13.0 MPG
#53 - Prep School
#54 - 6.3 PPG, 23.0 MPG
#55 - 2.2 PPG, 12.0 MPG
#56 - 5.7 PPG, 13.6 MPG
#57 - 7.3 PPG, 5.9 RPG, 15.4 MPG
#58 - 2.4 PPG, 11.4 MPG
#59 - Redshirt

You can see who the are here:

Yahoo Sports: Rivals.com Ranking - Rivals150 for the class of 2013
 
Matt isn't playing extremely well, but he also hasn't been eased in like nearly every other guy from #50-#59.
 
Per cyclones.com Thomas is 6-3 200lbs. (DeAndre Kane is listed at 6-4 200lbs.) Maybe Thomas should take a page out of Kane's playbook. Drive to the rim! ...Confidence doesn't need to come from 23 feet away.
 
Why are we telling him how to play bball? I am sure he knows what needs to be done to improve his game. He is only freshman!!! Why is he the only one needs to improve his game? What about Ejim's dribbbling? Niang's defense?

Maybe it's time for us to rally behind him and cheer louder instead of criticizing his game.
 
This. Threads like this make me pine for the days when the only social media was the post-game call-in show.

TurbulentEddie said:
I'm sure he's never heard that advice before, or any good advice on shooting really. What with a head coach that had a year with 3FG% title in the NBA? It's not even the Thomas bashing, it's just as much the constant armchair coaching of the kid that's getting old, fast. "Calm down, shoot more, play fewer minutes" repeated ad nauseum. I guess we have more veteran basketball players (/sports psychologists) on here that clearly know better than the coaching staff that I originally realized.

And he's not having a bad year for a freshman, by far. As pointed out earlier, he has the 11th best 3FG% among freshmen that have shot more than 30 threes, and has made more per game than any previous ISU freshman not named Jake Sullivan. What, did you expect the second coming of upperclassman/NBA Fred Hoiberg in Thomas's first season? By the way, if the name Conner Frankamp rings any bells, he's shooting 26% from three so far this year.

I'm sick of the "confidence" narrative, too. How do you all know his (or any player's) personal mental state with such certainty? I guess we also have a bunch of body language experts on here, too.

I think, as pointed out previously, the equal time between Thomas, Long, and Morris in the rotation seems about right. I agree that Morris has been playing above his age so far, but he can't play 40 minutes, especially as the backup point, and he's admitted as much that he's still getting used to being a shooter. Long and Thomas (and maybe SDW, in time) are still the best options for grooming the next Christopherson/Babb/McGee, and it's just going to take playing time to reach that level.
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"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat." - Theodore Roosevelt
 
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