Uconn V ISU Thoughts

[JustRedman]

Kansas State. That is all

Not to be rude, but...
I'm not sure if you mean the Kansas State win in Manhattan negates my argument that we haven't shown anything away from Hilton...
or that you agree that we haven't had success away from Hilton with the exception of the K-State game.

Either way, K-State and Texas are our 2 impressive wins on the road. There is plenty of need for concern when your list of good wins on the road are limited to 2.

That being said, we have been soooo close to winning on the road a number of times this year. I hope we pull this one out because the UK matchup will be very exciting.

If we play up to our potential then we can win this game. We just can't afford a 5 minute drought.

 

[isuno1fan]

Texas left a horrible taste in my mouth. Do not feel good about this game at all.

 

[JustRedman]

And that is my fear. There is no reason that we should have to double down on him. In my obviously biased opinion, Drummond should be able to lock him down.

What I'm stressing is that even if Drummond can't play great defense on him, the rest of the 4 players on the court need to stay on their assignments.

Not familiar with your team, but can Drummond guard a guy the length of the court? Royce brings the ball up for us about 50% of the time.

 

[Cyclonepride]

Not to be rude, but...
I'm not sure if you mean the Kansas State win in Manhattan negates my argument that we haven't shown anything away from Hilton...
or that you agree that we haven't had success away from Hilton with the exception of the K-State game.

Either way, K-State and Texas are our 2 impressive wins on the road. There is plenty of need for concern when your list of good wins on the road are limited to 2.

That being said, we have been soooo close to winning on the road a number of times this year. I hope we pull this one out because the UK matchup will be very exciting.

If we play up to our potential then we can win this game. We just can't afford a 5 minute drought.

Our Kansas State road win shows toughness away from home. Also, even in a loss, our games at KU and MU.

I agree that we can't afford a long drought.

 

[JustRedman]

Our Kansas State road win shows toughness away from home. Also, even in a loss, our games at KU and MU.

I agree that we can't afford a long drought.

That KU loss was devastating in Lawrence. We really should have swept them. So many people were saying that Lithey wouldn't get the same calls in Ames as he did in Kansas...and they were right. I absolutely hate playing in the Phog. You rarely get a fair game officiating.

 

[Clones21]

Texas left a horrible taste in my mouth. Do not feel good about this game at all.

We usually play pretty good off of losses.

 

[madcityCY]

UConn fan coming in peace.

It seems to me that the key here is to let White get his...I don't care if he does off for 20+ as long as he keeps his assists under 3.

We have a bad habit of leaving our assignments for help defense and doubling down low. If Drummond and AO can stay out of foul trouble and match up 1 on 1 against White I love our chances. If we start doubling down low, we are going to be giving up wide open 3's all day.

Drummond has the ability to guard White 1 on 1 IMO...

You've nailed it. Against good competition, when White scores a lot, it's not good for us. He's so unselfish, that if there's an open player, he hits them. If he's scoring, it's because the guards can't get open.

A good Royce White stat line for ISU is 9 pts, 10 rebs, 8 assists. A bad Royce White stat line for ISU is 18 pts, 10 rebs, 3 assists.

Drummond v White will be very interesting. No one has shown they can keep white from the hoop with consistency all year - w/o clogging the lane, that is. A key will be if one of these guys picks up a couple early fouls.

 

[rebecacy]

Texas left a horrible taste in my mouth. Do not feel good about this game at all.

me too!!

 

[Rods79]

When I think about this match-up, I see another team with their backs against the wall: defending national champs, facing sanctions that will keep them out of the postseason for two years, lost their coach for most of the season now he is back (which was the impetus that drove them to a bid), and a whole lot of tournament experience. I really hope the team takes care of the scrappy play that most likely will result, because we really showed a weakness against that when the game was on the line against Texas. This is going to be a very tough game.

With that being said, they are already looking forward to playing Kentucky...papers/media are going to be pouring honey in their ears and even though they say "one game at a time" it is going to be hard to focus on that with the overwhelming media support for the KY/UCONN matchup. I think we may have been looking forward to playing Missouri in the Big 12 Tournament and didn't focus on the task at hand. So, let's consider this a do-over. I like that it is roughly the same tip-off time, also that it is not that far away from Iowa. Really need to take advantage of the 3 ball and mitigate any runs. If they focus on their 3pt. defense they are bound to over-correct and we need to take advantage of that through the inside.

I'll be on the edge of my seat...and grateful this isn't being playing during office hours.

 

[BigLame]

J Covan Brown > Napier, but after that all players on UCONN appear to better at every position than Texas, and they just beat us.

MIZZOU exposed our biggest weakness - getting back on defense when the other team gets the ball & pushes it full court at top speed. We have guarded 3 point shooting well, but we let too many guard get in the lane or all the way to the basket. Fully expect UCONN to really push the ball.

White at times has trouble scoring over players who are good shot blockers. Against them he is best when he puts it on the floor (on the block) and draws a 2nd defender to him. If this 2nd defender is from the perimeter, then he passes out for a 3, or if it is a post, then he tries to hit our other big w/pass.

Other item I believe UCONN will attempt is to attack Royce as a defender. Texas used a smaller, quicker guy, & this really caused some problems for us. Was surprised Barnes had this in him.

Really hope we bring our top game.

 

[oldman]

How deep of a line-up do you have with your bigs? RW can get the opposition into foul trouble, but if you have good replacements, that part won't matter. ISU really needs to concentrate on UConn, without worrying about what's after, or we'll lose. If the guys focus on the task at hand, I think it'll be a win. They can play with the best teams when they are focused, and UConn is good, but not one of the best.

 

[Cyclonepride]

How deep of a line-up do you have with your bigs? RW can get the opposition into foul trouble, but if you have good replacements, that part won't matter. ISU really needs to concentrate on UConn, without worrying about what's after, or we'll lose. If the guys focus on the task at hand, I think it'll be a win. They can play with the best teams when they are focused, and UConn is good, but not one of the best.

That's the real bright side that I see. This team plays to its competition, and drawing UConn will make sure that the team is pumped up and ready.

 

[Rods79]

Not to be rude, but...
I'm not sure if you mean the Kansas State win in Manhattan negates my argument that we haven't shown anything away from Hilton...
or that you agree that we haven't had success away from Hilton with the exception of the K-State game.

Either way, K-State and Texas are our 2 impressive wins on the road. There is plenty of need for concern when your list of good wins on the road are limited to 2.

That being said, we have been soooo close to winning on the road a number of times this year. I hope we pull this one out because the UK matchup will be very exciting.

If we play up to our potential then we can win this game. We just can't afford a 5 minute drought.

We never beat Texas on the road...making our most impressive road win against Kansas State...our list is actually 1. Another reason that damn Texas game leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Had some close calls though against Kansas and Missouri though, which were encouraging.

 

[Giddyup5]

Not familiar with your team, but can Drummond guard a guy the length of the court? Royce brings the ball up for us about 50% of the time.

I get what your saying. He's your "point forward"

But how dangerous is a guy 50 or 30 feet from the hoop? All that tells me is that you have an effective answer to full court on the ball pressure.

 

[Cyclonepride]

I get what your saying. He's your "point forward"

But how dangerous is a guy 50 or 30 feet from the hoop? All that tells me is that you have an effective answer to full court on the ball pressure.

Imagine a guy who is 6'8", 270 lbs, can take one of your guards off the dribble, and probably passes as well as anyone in college basketball today. That is Royce White.

 

[Giddyup5]

How deep of a line-up do you have with your bigs? RW can get the opposition into foul trouble, but if you have good replacements, that part won't matter. ISU really needs to concentrate on UConn, without worrying about what's after, or we'll lose. If the guys focus on the task at hand, I think it'll be a win. They can play with the best teams when they are focused, and UConn is good, but not one of the best.

PG- Napier- will play 35+ minutes a game
SG- Lamb - will play 35+ minutes a game
SF- Roscoe Smith 6'8 SF/PF hybrid. Great defender and on the boards. He is brings the toughness and intangibles to our team. If he is playing well, our team generally is playing with a lot of energy and toughness. Can guard 1-4.
PF- Oriakhi
C- Drummond

Of the bench we bring Boatright who plays 30 minutes a game usually because hes a dynamic player. He reminds me of a young Kemba...gonna be a stud in a few years. So we tend to play a lot of 3 guard line ups.

On the front court, when we take Drummond or AO out (foul trouble or breather) we bring in Tyler Olander. TO is a 6/9 225 white kid. Not the best athlete but he is good at passing from the high post and making the open shot. Personally, I hope he doesn't play much this game because he doesn't sound like a great match up against your perimeter guys.

The other thing we do is shift Roscoe Smith to the 4 when we go to a 3 guard line up which I think is the way to go. Scoe can guard versatile big men past the 3 point line and smaller players who are 1 dimensional shooters.

Our other bench player that may see time is Giffey. He is 6'6 and can play the 2 or 3. Really a glue guy that is a pretty good spot up shooter. If he sees more than 10 minutes something isn't going right.

So to answer your question, we have tons of back court depth. With regards to the front court, if one of Drummond or AO get into foul trouble we have Roscoe Smith to slide into that position and not really miss a beat. Now if we have 2 of our front court players into foul trouble and have to play Olander extended minutes..we may be in trouble.

 

[Giddyup5]

Imagine a guy who is 6'8", 270 lbs, can take one of your guards off the dribble, and probably passes as well as anyone in college basketball today. That is Royce White.

Imagine a guy who is 6'11 270 that moves like a gazelle and has drawn physical comparisons to Dwight Howard and Amare Stoudamire.

If we were talking about offensive skill than Drummond is nothing to go gaga about. But if we are just talking about defensive ability, the ability to play 1 on 1 defense he is an absolute freak.

 

[tazclone]

I get what your saying. He's your "point forward"

But how dangerous is a guy 50 or 30 feet from the hoop? All that tells me is that you have an effective answer to full court on the ball pressure.

He is pretty effective with the ball in his hands. If you leave your big on him, he will take them to the hole and either score, get a foul call, or force help. If help comes, he will find the open man. If you switch a smaller quicker player to guard him, then he will find the mismatch and post up down low. He is a tough matchup.

Better question for you is how well are Drummond and Oriakhi at defending dribble penetration becasue ISU will spread the floor for White and force one of those two to defend him on the ball

 

[Cyclonepride]

Imagine a guy who is 6'11 270 that moves like a gazelle and has drawn physical comparisons to Dwight Howard and Amare Stoudamire.

If we were talking about offensive skill than Drummond is nothing to go gaga about. But if we are just talking about defensive ability, the ability to play 1 on 1 defense he is an absolute freak.

If he's going to guard Royce out high, he'd better be.

 

[tazclone]

Imagine a guy who is 6'11 270 that moves like a gazelle and has drawn physical comparisons to Dwight Howard and Amare Stoudamire.

If we were talking about offensive skill than Drummond is nothing to go gaga about. But if we are just talking about defensive ability, the ability to play 1 on 1 defense he is an absolute freak.

We won't post White up on him. How good does he defend dribble penetration because he will have to do that against White.