We win with Niang
- Thread starter Final42b
- Start date
Exactly. Niang plays, and ISU is favored in Vegas by 4 or 5 points instead of 1. But to sit here and say "we win with Niang" while completely ignoring the reasons ISU actually loss is ignorant. ISU probably wins that game 7 out of 10 times with Niang on the bench. Its not the reason why ISU loss.
To the OP's defense - it's not an excuse. An excuse would be saying "Oh we lost because the refs" or whatever. I tend to agree that with Niang, we could win this game for sure but obviously we'll never know and nothing is ever definite. I think the better way to put it is that if you play this game 10 times with Niang, we win more times than we lose it.
So at what point are people content to say, "you know, we lost to a better team". What if we would have won and then lose tomorrow. Would some still be saying "we win with Niang"? What if we would have made Final 4 and or NC game only to lose? "We win with Niang" still the optimal phrase for some people. At what point do some of you tip your hat and just acknowledge injuries are part of the game and say "we lost to a better team" without the Niang disclaimer?
In the NCAA tournament, you only have to be the better team once against your opponent, which in part is the beauty of the tournament when you think about it. I truly believe that ISU was better than UConn on average. I give UConn all the props in the world - they played a great game and one of their players had a career night, but anybody who's watched ISU basketball with two eyes could see how off we were all night. How many bunnies did we miss? At least 16-20+ points we missed were from absolute bunnies of a shot that we've been making all year. Some of these shots were absolutely contested by UConn so I give them credit for those but watch the game again. So many shots where we had open looks from 3 feet and CLANK.
I'm going to say it now and I don't care who agrees and disagrees with me - even without Niang, if we play this game 10 times, I'd say we win at least 6 of them. That is nothing against UConn - they are a great team, but anybody with two eyes who knows basketball knows how easy, high percentage shots we missed that we've been making all season long even against good defenses.
Just wasn't our night and I give UConn props for playing a great game but in part given the game was a 5 point game, we shot ourselves in the foot by not making easy shots we've made all year and missing too many FTs. Correctable mistakes that most games we wouldn't be doing based on the 35 other games played all year.
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It would most certainly have been a different game with Niang in there, and ISU probably would have won. But, I think you have to give credit to UCONN with their perimeter defense, especially early on. That, and the fact that their bigs were able to bottle up Melvin. Now, with Niang in there, they may not have been able to do that because they would have had to devout someone to cover Niang, but would Dustin still have gone off for 34? Maybe, because I think a lot of his performance came from his own drive from being at home, and a lot of his family and friends there.
I think ISU could have won with Niang, but injuries are part of the game. Would ISU have won the Big 12 tourney if Embiid was not injured? We will never know.
I think ISU could have won with Niang, but injuries are part of the game. Would ISU have won the Big 12 tourney if Embiid was not injured? We will never know.
I guess I see it as this "Did ISU need Niang in order to win this game?" The answer is no.
ISU could of easily won that game without Niang. Back in 2005 against UNC, it was painfully obvious that ISU was completely outmatched and there was near a zero percent chance ISU would win. Last night, ISU was favored without Niang, the Big 12 Player of the Year had a horrible game, and ISU missed 60% of its free throws. Does Niang overcome that, maybe, but does ISU NEED Niang to overcome it, no.
ISU could of easily won that game without Niang. Back in 2005 against UNC, it was painfully obvious that ISU was completely outmatched and there was near a zero percent chance ISU would win. Last night, ISU was favored without Niang, the Big 12 Player of the Year had a horrible game, and ISU missed 60% of its free throws. Does Niang overcome that, maybe, but does ISU NEED Niang to overcome it, no.