Tuesday, January 04, 2005
ISU goes down at Xavier
ISU's road woes continued with a loss to Xavier. I'm not sure what the exact record is but I can only think of two road wins over a major conference team in the last three years, Iowa and Florida State. Pretty bad.
It played out like so many of those other road games during that stretch. I'm settling into my chair to watch the Cyclones get going on the road. Usually the game is following some big win at home and I'm thinking a road win can really get things going for them. Then the game starts and the other team jumps out early. Well, in this case it was really early because they led 1-0 before the game even started due to a technical foul for not turning the starting lineups in early enough. Things look great so far.
The game continues and I start to get concerned because the same things that always plague them are happening again. Missed layups, lazy defense, NO blocking out, poor rebounding. I keep hoping that they'll wake up and make a run. Sometimes they do and it turns out to be a single digit loss and other times it goes in the opposite direction. Tonight was a little of both because they tried to make a run but every single basket to cut it to 7 or 9 was immediately followed up with a possession allowing 3 or 4 offensive rebounds or a wide-open three or a fast break layup. It's getting so old. I really feel like I could just tape one of the games and watch it over and over. Boston College, Kansas State, Baylor, Nebraska, Iowa, Northern Iowa, Xavier, it doesn't matter who it is. They have been capable of putting up a good, solid effort against a good team like Kansas last year or Iowa this year but the norm is still a lazy effort with sloppy basketball.
The team really needed this win for a potential NCAA bid but with the way they lost that is more of a pipe dream than anything else. There's still a lot of basketball to play but the team has looked inspired in two, maybe three games. I thought they really played well against Drake, Iowa, and Virginia. In all of the other games they were coasting against a nobody or getting their asses handed to them. Where is the emotional leader on the team? Curtis wears his emotions on his sleeve on the court but he can look like one of the worst offenders when it comes to playing below your potential.
Obviously the team is missing Vroman and Sullivan a lot. Rebounding and outside shooting have been atrocious so far. Stinson seems content to jack up fall-away threes when he doesn't feel like driving in, Neal either never sees the floor or can't hit when he does play, Homan still thinks he can shoot from downtown despite his 1-6 performance so far, Blalock's shooting a decent 39%, Davis is hitting 56% but has only attempted 9. Obviously there are no serious deep threats on the team which can kill you in the college game.
The team seems to have no concept of blocking your man out when the shot goes up. I understand that it's difficult in a zone but Cage was all over the boards yesterday and Xavier had a ton of 2nd and 3rd chance points. Honestly they remind me of a junior high team when 3 guys (usually the two guards are looking for the fast break) stand there with their arms up when somebody slices through for an easy putback.
If the team doesn't find some heart it's going to be another season of thrilling home victories, frustrating road losses, and a date in the NIT.
It played out like so many of those other road games during that stretch. I'm settling into my chair to watch the Cyclones get going on the road. Usually the game is following some big win at home and I'm thinking a road win can really get things going for them. Then the game starts and the other team jumps out early. Well, in this case it was really early because they led 1-0 before the game even started due to a technical foul for not turning the starting lineups in early enough. Things look great so far.
The game continues and I start to get concerned because the same things that always plague them are happening again. Missed layups, lazy defense, NO blocking out, poor rebounding. I keep hoping that they'll wake up and make a run. Sometimes they do and it turns out to be a single digit loss and other times it goes in the opposite direction. Tonight was a little of both because they tried to make a run but every single basket to cut it to 7 or 9 was immediately followed up with a possession allowing 3 or 4 offensive rebounds or a wide-open three or a fast break layup. It's getting so old. I really feel like I could just tape one of the games and watch it over and over. Boston College, Kansas State, Baylor, Nebraska, Iowa, Northern Iowa, Xavier, it doesn't matter who it is. They have been capable of putting up a good, solid effort against a good team like Kansas last year or Iowa this year but the norm is still a lazy effort with sloppy basketball.
The team really needed this win for a potential NCAA bid but with the way they lost that is more of a pipe dream than anything else. There's still a lot of basketball to play but the team has looked inspired in two, maybe three games. I thought they really played well against Drake, Iowa, and Virginia. In all of the other games they were coasting against a nobody or getting their asses handed to them. Where is the emotional leader on the team? Curtis wears his emotions on his sleeve on the court but he can look like one of the worst offenders when it comes to playing below your potential.
Obviously the team is missing Vroman and Sullivan a lot. Rebounding and outside shooting have been atrocious so far. Stinson seems content to jack up fall-away threes when he doesn't feel like driving in, Neal either never sees the floor or can't hit when he does play, Homan still thinks he can shoot from downtown despite his 1-6 performance so far, Blalock's shooting a decent 39%, Davis is hitting 56% but has only attempted 9. Obviously there are no serious deep threats on the team which can kill you in the college game.
The team seems to have no concept of blocking your man out when the shot goes up. I understand that it's difficult in a zone but Cage was all over the boards yesterday and Xavier had a ton of 2nd and 3rd chance points. Honestly they remind me of a junior high team when 3 guys (usually the two guards are looking for the fast break) stand there with their arms up when somebody slices through for an easy putback.
If the team doesn't find some heart it's going to be another season of thrilling home victories, frustrating road losses, and a date in the NIT.
# posted by Ben @ 10:23 PM 
