Iowa St., Mon., Nov. 24, 4:30p, TruTV / 1050 AM

[Beasts of the East]

I think this team has some enormous talent and has yet to find its way in leveraging that into consistent high level play.

Yesterday we were susceptible to drive and dish for wide open 3's when defenders collapsed on the ball. Darling also got isolated a few times on defense against quicker, stronger quards. We will become a better defensive team, I'm pretty sure you can count on that.

On offense we are sloppy at times and we don't know yet how to feed the hot hand. Sellers started torching the nets when spotting up for catch and release, but his biggest shot was a jumper off the dribble in traffic that missec at a critical point late.

Iowa State is a very good team so no embarrassment there. We are way more athletic than they are, but they were more disciplined.

In terms of calls for video reviews i was literally right behind their bench. We have a couple of guys who immediately review the play on laptops and within a couple of seconds show Mas their screen if they feel we should challenge. It's clear we won't challenge on an eye test, and only if we are pretty sure on video review that it will get overturned.

Great back and forth game, and always in a 1 point game (really 3) there is plenty of room to question ref calls and coaching decisions.

We will get better.

 

[McClancy88]

Are there still official's reviews the last couple minutes, or are they gone with the coach's challenge now?

 

[stjohnnie75]

Yielding second chances by failing to defensively rebound bit us in rear twice v solid teams, Bama and ISU. Learn from it quickly. A short time ago Rick railed about absence of guard rebounding. Between Ian and Joson yesterday they had zero. Not exempting front line guys either at crunch time yesterday. As they say, rebounding is about effort.

So true. On one play Grant Hill said Darling was out positioned for a rebound but if you look at the tape he was boxing out his man and the guy Sanon was guarding was able to step in and grab the rebound.

 

[MJDinkins]

I wake up expecting to see all of my teams lost. Still a bummer. We will likely fall outside of the top 25 and this will be remembered by the selection committee. Pitino build a strong OOC schedule debut hasn’t delivered.

Gman, we're not falling out of the top 25 with a win today and tomorrow. Baylor is in KenPom's top 20, and that'll be considered a solid win at this juncture.

If we win our next two, and get wins versus Ole Miss and Kentucky then all is well.

 

[Section3]

So true. On one play Grant Hill said Darling was out positioned for a rebound but if you look at the tape he was boxing out his man and the guy Sanon was guarding was able to step in and grab the rebound.

Recall that moment and thinking he is “window shopping”

 

[dk423]

Gman, we're not falling out of the top 25 with a win today and tomorrow. Baylor is in KenPom's top 20, and that'll be considered a solid win at this juncture.

If we win our next two, and get wins versus Ole Miss and Kentucky then all is well.

My angst, aside from the roster construction, is having the resume be better than a 4 seed before Big East play. It requires wins against Baylor and Ole Miss, and then depending on the opponent tomorrow, probably a split between the next two.

 

[MJDinkins]

My angst, aside from the roster construction, is having the resume be better than a 4 seed before Big East play. It requires wins against Baylor and Ole Miss, and then depending on the opponent tomorrow, probably a split between the next two.

I hope with a win today; we end up playing a ranked team tomorrow or right on the outside of the top 25.

 

[Section3]

Yielding second chances by failing to defensively rebound bit us in rear twice v solid teams, Bama and ISU. Learn from it quickly. A short time ago Rick railed about absence of guard rebounding. Between Ian and Joson yesterday they had zero. Not exempting front line guys either at crunch time yesterday. As they say, rebounding is about effort.

Attitude needs to be like the playground 3-on-3 when losing meant having to wait an hour for your next “winners”

 

[Redenbacher]

My angst, aside from the roster construction, is having the resume be better than a 4 seed before Big East play. It requires wins against Baylor and Ole Miss, and then depending on the opponent tomorrow, probably a split between the next two.

Yeah, UConn last season had a disastrous OOC tournament in Maui, where they went 0-3. But then followed it up by beating then-ranked Baylor and Gonzaga. We'll need to do similar if things don't turn around in Vegas.

 

[dee]

The roster is unfortunately flawed. But it's clear we're going to beat a lot of teams with our athletes. The two biggest issues on this team are: 1.) lack of another true point guard. You need a QB and at the college level, PG is the most important positon on the court, period. 2.) Lack of another true big man (6'10+). In the B12, Iowa St is considered to have average size but nothing crazy. And even they kinda took it to us on the boards (even though the stat line says they only won the rebounding battle by 3). If you watched the game they were beating us to loose balls and rebounds when it counted most. We needed to keep Vince or get another true big. In March Madness when the Johnnies get out of Big East play, the teams are a different animal and we've seen that against Bama and yesterday. And then Gonzaga, for example, takes it to a whole different level and took Bama to the woodshed yesterday because they were too big inside for Bama to handle which is saying something. Teams like Florida are as big if not even bigger than the Zags.

So all in all, this team will get better but don't expect a crazy deep run in March. The roster is not built the right way. Missing a few key pieces unfortunately. I still think they finish 14-6, 15-5 in the BE and end up with 20+ wins and a 5 or 6 seed in the big dance but I think most of us on here expected more out of this season.

 

[dk423]

Yeah, UConn last season had a disastrous OOC tournament in Maui, where they went 0-3. But then followed it up by beating then-ranked Baylor and Gonzaga. We'll need to do similar if things don't turn around in Vegas.

I know I've been very negative but it's because I know the team is good & we should be better. This is also why I wanted one more tough game. The more cracks you have at a legitimate Q1/top 25 win, the better.

 

[dee]

Yeah, UConn last season had a disastrous OOC tournament in Maui, where they went 0-3. But then followed it up by beating then-ranked Baylor and Gonzaga. We'll need to do similar if things don't turn around in Vegas.

We cant beat any ranked team. We can only beat the meatballs

 

[Knight]

The big turnover of players is taking time to gel. Much to our frustration.

 

[mjmaherjr]

I’ve seen so many roster construction posts I’m starting to think there is a second game watch party at Home Depot that I don’t know about

 

[CBA69]

I read most if not all of the posts and I can't recall any mention of Prey's invisible game. According to the boxscore, in 10 minutes he had 2 points, 1 assist, no rebounds, no blocks, no steals, 1 turnover and a -3 rating. I seem to recall on one play he ran his man into the corner where Ian was standing and being guarded resulting in a double team and an Ian turnover. I agree the guards have to rebound better but Prey was a no show.

 

[weathermannyc]

I read most if not all of the posts and I can't recall any mention of Prey's invisible game. According to the boxscore, in 10 minutes he had 2 points, 1 assist, no rebounds, no blocks, no steals, 1 turnover and a -3 rating. I seem to recall on one play he ran his man into the corner where Ian was standing and being guarded resulting in a double team and an Ian turnover. I agree the guards have to rebound better but Prey was a no show.

He also missed a switch or help rotation a couple of times and was quickly pulled.

 

[lawmanfan]

We cant beat any ranked team. We can only beat the meatballs

Dee - it's nice that you're in midseason form (and welcome back) but please remember there is no need to post the same thing in different variations repetitively.

 

[bamafan]

Dee - it's nice that you're in midseason form (and welcome back) but please remember there is no need to post the same thing in different variations repetitively.

In fairness I believe it is the first time he used the descriptive term “meatballs” in reference to teams we are capable of beating.

 

[matmi03]

I know I've been very negative but it's because I know the team is good & we should be better. This is also why I wanted one more tough game. The more cracks you have at a legitimate Q1/top 25 win, the better.

Agreed. Problem is once BE play begins the only cracks will be against UConn. Hopefully the cracks at Baylor, Ole Miss and Kentucky (and whoever our third game in Vegas is) provide some wins.

 

[Joedib]

Sadly, we actually could have easily won this game with a little more celebral play in the second half. We began the second half with two consecutive turnovers and ended it with a coach's decision not to use his last time out to set up a play with a team still not playing with a known playbook. I think the coaches need a come to Jesus moment and not to just genuflect to Pitino during games!

You saw the press conference where coach said it was “stupid” to raise this time out issue because they already had two time outs in last minute? One was an injury time out. Implication was he had already called the last offensive play. So why give Iowa time to plan or change defenses. He also said Iowa was difficult to inbounds ball on. So on this matter of judgment and discretion, I would not criticize Pitino. At all. Hindsight worthless.