A Cyclone Perspective (long)

[CyclonePower]

Hello there from a Cyclone. Figured I would come over and talk about the game. (Don't worry I'm an educated fan and not here to troll or be a Kentucky fan)

I'll start off by saying this is the match-up that nobody wanted. This is a tough out for either team and then obviously tough with Kentucky in the second round.

Things I worry about: It's been stated on here that your guards are very quick which obviously worries me as we do not have the best perimeter guard defense in Allen and Christopherson. The thing that makes me feel a little better is that we've faced Mizzou twice and they have one of the quickest teams in the country and we kept up pretty well with them both times. Post defense also worries me because Royce is not a true post player and his defense isn't the greatest.

Expect to see Chris Babb on Lamb. Lunardi has called Babb one of the best perimeter defenders in the country. He doesn't get a lot of steals or blocks but he gets up in your face and makes it very hard for anybody to shoot. Lamb will score. That's what scorers do but don't expect him to have a huge game. If Lamb is relatively quiet and Napier is going off, Babb will likely switch to him.

Royce White as you know is a very unique player. He's not a world beater but just about every coach in the Big 12 has considered him a matchup nightmare. He's very strong and although he doesn't always showcase it, he has a pretty good vertical. (I know Drummond is also a freak athlete) He will take the ball up the court a lot and if he likes who he's got guarding him will often take it straight to the hoop or will pass it off. He has incredible passing skills but often gets too crazy and usually makes 2-3 bad passes a game. He has been awful at the FT line. (no confidence) His stroke has improved but not his percentage. His misses are usually all over the place partially due to his freakishly large hands. If he can develop a mid-range jumper and better FT he could be a 1st rounder or potentially a lottery pick next year but that's a long ways away.

I look forward to talking about the game with all of you and feel free to ask me any questions about Iowa State!

 

[Rico444]

If it makes you feel better, Drummond is even worse shooting FTs, been hovering around 30% all season.

Should be a good game. Gonna come down to defending the 3. If you guys get open looks all night, we're in serious trouble. Luckily, we've been defending the 3 much better since Calhoun came back.

 

[Giddyup5]

How good are your 3 point shooters at dribble penetration? Meaning if they are ran off the 3 point line can they penetrate and get to the rim? Can they pump fake take a few dribbles and make an 18 footer?

Or are they more spot up shooters?

 

[gorbowski06]

Are you more of a half court offense or a team that thrives off of transition threes?

 

[8893]

Welcome, Cyclone Power. Step right this way; I'd like you to meet Lonny, Mohammed, Jugdish, Clayton and Sydney...

 

[AK]

How good are your 3 point shooters at dribble penetration? Meaning if they are ran off the 3 point line can they penetrate and get to the rim? Can they pump fake take a few dribbles and make an 18 footer?

Or are they more spot up shooters?

More spot up. Will use Royce to facilitate off the handoff around the perimeter, or inside-out. Christopherson will try a few drives and floaters, but other than that probably not much. Maybe McGee a few times, or Allen out of control.

 

[AK]

Are you more of a half court offense or a team that thrives off of transition threes?

Half court. Don't force a lot of turnovers D.

 

[CyclonePower]

How good are your 3 point shooters at dribble penetration? Meaning if they are ran off the 3 point line can they penetrate and get to the rim? Can they pump fake take a few dribbles and make an 18 footer?

Or are they more spot up shooters?

They can do a fake step up and take an 18 footer pretty well for the most part. But they are mostly spot-up.

 

[CyclonePower]

Are you more of a half court offense or a team that thrives off of transition threes?

I would say more of a half-court offense. We don't have a lot of transition offense because we aren't in it very often.

 

[Jaker]

does ISU play zone?? Hope not.

 

[willie99]

I have looked at ISU's schedule and I respect your team if only based on results. You guys can obviously play. If you shoot well from 3, you'll probably win.

I think we have an advantage in size, speed and athleticism, but we almost always do and still lost 13 games. JC is arguably the best tournament coach in the country, he knows how to game plan in these situations. He'll try to take the head off the snake, and make you do things you don't like doing. Once you get out of conference play, where teams know you well, his style becomes much more effective.

We seem to be jelling at the right time of year, although that's not a certainty just yet. Missing coach for the whole month of Feb did stunt our growth.

I think we will win, but I know you're very capable of beating us. Enjoy the game, just not too much

 

[Jaker]

AO, AD have to dominate Royce White

 

[Deepster]

Welcome, Cyclone Power. Step right this way; I'd like you to meet Lonny, Mohammed, Jugdish, Clayton and Sydney...

Pure gold. I knew this Animal House thing had legs. I'm gonna pound Jack like Bluto tomorrow night.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Thanks CP and AK. I can't imagine a team much more different from UConn. Our challenges defending the 3 are much worse if the guards and wings either have size or can penetrate. We tend to over-rotate and over-help on penetration, which frees up spot shooters. I expect a big rebounding advantage for the Huskies.

I'm curious about the ISU defensive style, is it an agressive man, passive man, zone, or something else?

 

[CyclonePower]

Thanks CP and AK. I can't imagine a team much more different from UConn. Our challenges defending the 3 are much worse if the guards and wings either have size or can penetrate. We tend to over-rotate and over-help on penetration, which frees up spot shooters. I expect a big rebounding advantage for the Huskies.

I'm curious about the ISU defensive style, is it an agressive man, passive man, zone, or something else?

I wouldn't consider it a passive man but it's also not an aggressive man. Babb is about the only one one the plays real aggressive defense and he's really good at staying out of foul trouble.

 

[SubbaBub]

Welcome, Cyclone Power. Step right this way; I'd like you to meet Lonny, Mohammed, Jugdish, Clayton and Sydney...

There you are....Kent.

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk

 

[Giddyup5]

More spot up. Will use Royce to facilitate off the handoff around the perimeter, or inside-out. Christopherson will try a few drives and floaters, but other than that probably not much. Maybe McGee a few times, or Allen out of control.

Thanks

We need run them off that 3 point line. Even if its wild close out, I prefer that with the risk of giving up a driving lane or closer jump shot.

Defense needs to be smothering. I don't want them even attempting more than 12 3's....thats how well we need to defend that line. Give up anything else but just cover that **ing line. If we do, we win.

 

[Deepster]

Thanks CP and AK. I can't imagine a team much more different from UConn. Our challenges defending the 3 are much worse if the guards and wings either have size or can penetrate. We tend to over-rotate and over-help on penetration, which frees up spot shooters. I expect a big rebounding advantage for the Huskies.

I'm curious about the ISU defensive style, is it an agressive man, passive man, zone, or something else?

NEIDERMEYER!? DEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Dogbreath2U]

Thanks CP and AK. I can't imagine a team much more different from UConn. Our challenges defending the 3 are much worse if the guards and wings either have size or can penetrate. We tend to over-rotate and over-help on penetration, which frees up spot shooters. I expect a big rebounding advantage for the Huskies.

I'm curious about the ISU defensive style, is it an agressive man, passive man, zone, or something else?

Neidermeyer.......dead man walking. Needs some serious loyalty adjustment.

 

[Walker11]

Expect to see Chris Babb on Lamb. Lunardi has called Babb one of the best perimeter defenders in the country.

Very informative post but I most point out that no self respecting forum allows player analysis from Joe Lunardi to slide without mention.

Lunardi is pretty good at guessing the seeding but I would be surprised if his ridiculous toupee wearing douchey self has played 3 minutes of basketball in his life.

The question I have is if your team has experienced any chemistry issues during the season. I was very interested to see how this ISU team would turn out during this year because of the their accumulation of talented transfers who had (perceived) attitude or behavioral issues.

 

[AK]

Thanks CP and AK. I can't imagine a team much more different from UConn. Our challenges defending the 3 are much worse if the guards and wings either have size or can penetrate. We tend to over-rotate and over-help on penetration, which frees up spot shooters. I expect a big rebounding advantage for the Huskies.

I'm curious about the ISU defensive style, is it an agressive man, passive man, zone, or something else?

Iowa State will rebound well. They had the rebound advantage in most of their last games I'm pretty sure. Including vs. Mizzou and Baylor. It seems ISU is laxidasical sometimes and that's when they give up a bunch of offensive boards. But since they were one and done in the Big 12 tourney, I can't imagine them anything except fired up to play Thursday.

 

[jsb]

Thanks CP and AK. I can't imagine a team much more different from UConn. Our challenges defending the 3 are much worse if the guards and wings either have size or can penetrate. We tend to over-rotate and over-help on penetration, which frees up spot shooters. I expect a big rebounding advantage for the Huskies.

I'm curious about the ISU defensive style, is it an agressive man, passive man, zone, or something else?

Iowa State's defense isn't agressive or passive.

Hello there from a Cyclone. Figured I would come over and talk about the game. (Don't worry I'm an educated fan and not here to troll or be a Kentucky fan)

I'll start off by saying this is the match-up that nobody wanted. This is a tough out for either team and then obviously tough with Kentucky in the second round.

Things I worry about: It's been stated on here that your guards are very quick which obviously worries me as we do not have the best perimeter guard defense in Allen and Christopherson. The thing that makes me feel a little better is that we've faced Mizzou twice and they have one of the quickest teams in the country and we kept up pretty well with them both times. Post defense also worries me because Royce is not a true post player and his defense isn't the greatest.

Expect to see Chris Babb on Lamb. Lunardi has called Babb one of the best perimeter defenders in the country. He doesn't get a lot of steals or blocks but he gets up in your face and makes it very hard for anybody to shoot. Lamb will score. That's what scorers do but don't expect him to have a huge game. If Lamb is relatively quiet and Napier is going off, Babb will likely switch to him.

Royce White as you know is a very unique player. He's not a world beater but just about every coach in the Big 12 has considered him a matchup nightmare. He's very strong and although he doesn't always showcase it, he has a pretty good vertical. (I know Drummond is also a freak athlete) He will take the ball up the court a lot and if he likes who he's got guarding him will often take it straight to the hoop or will pass it off. He has incredible passing skills but often gets too crazy and usually makes 2-3 bad passes a game. He has been awful at the FT line. (no confidence) His stroke has improved but not his percentage. His misses are usually all over the place partially due to his freakishly large hands. If he can develop a mid-range jumper and better FT he could be a 1st rounder or potentially a lottery pick next year but that's a long ways away.

I look forward to talking about the game with all of you and feel free to ask me any questions about Iowa State!

Babb is really good on defense. Lamb may get his points, but he'll have to take a ton of shots to get them. If he is willing to pass it off to someone else, then you might be successful.

Iowa State is actually BETTER when Royce doesn't score much. He will make some passes that will have you wishing he was yours even with the bad FT shooting and the sometimes crazy passes.

I have no idea how the game will go. Iowa State laid a fairly large egg last week in the conference tournament. That has a lot of us worried. But up until then we had played very, very well.

 

[ISU92]

Thanks CP and AK. I can't imagine a team much more different from UConn. Our challenges defending the 3 are much worse if the guards and wings either have size or can penetrate. We tend to over-rotate and over-help on penetration, which frees up spot shooters. I expect a big rebounding advantage for the Huskies.

I'm curious about the ISU defensive style, is it an agressive man, passive man, zone, or something else?

Babb will face guard Lamb and possibly switch to Napier if he's going off. A good example of this is in out victory vs Baylor, Pierre Jackson had something like 30 pts halfway through the second half, and Babb switched to him after shutting down Quincy Miller the first 30 minutes. Our other guards will switch on screens and aren't great one on one, but Chris Allen is a very good help defender.

Post defense isn't great, but Ejim does well for only being 6'6".

We've very little zone all year.

 

[AK]

"The question I have is if your team has experienced any chemistry issues during the season. I was very interested to see how this ISU team would turn out during this year because of the their accumulation of talented transfers who had (perceived) attitude or behavioral issues."

Chemistry issues it seems at the beginning of the year. Team seems to be gelling now though. The only one people will say has some issues is Chris Allen. He has a tendency to take a bad shot now and then, or try to force the offense. Has been better as of late after being told off by Hoiberg, IMO. Allen will be huge for ISU in the tourney because of his Final Four experience, we just hope he's not trying to show the world his talents on the stage and instead will play into his role that has made ISU successful.

Otherwise, it seems to me as an ISU fan people are playing their roles. Christopherson will sometimes force a drive, or a bad pass by Royce, but none as frustrating as Allen's shots (I'm sure you'll see a few). Babb has been cold of late so hopefully he can come out of his slump and shoot the ball better. People have been saying his D takes a lot out of him.

Edit: sorry I don't know why but the quote thing was all messed up so just bolded the quoted post.

 

[jsb]

Very informative post but I most point out that no self respecting forum allows player analysis from Joe Lunardi to slide without mention.

Lunardi is pretty good at guessing the seeding but I would be surprised if his ridiculous toupee wearing douchey self has played 3 minutes of basketball in his life.

The question I have is if your team has experienced any chemistry issues during the season. I was very interested to see how this ISU team would turn out during this year because of the their accumulation of talented transfers who had (perceived) attitude or behavioral issues.

The transfers and chemistry. Early in the year, things were pretty ugly. They lost a game at Michigan and to the two mid-major Iowa schools. They also looked poor against a bunch of inferior teams. Sometimes they were unselfish to a fault. Honestly, I thought it was because they wanted to win TOO much and panicked whenever something went wrong. If you had asked me in December what the future held, I would have been thrilled at an 8-10 record in conference play.

But something switched as soon as they played their first conference game. They started playing really, really well. They won some games and pulled out some close ones. They started believing they would win. They worked extremely hard and Hoiberg has said that the focus of the team has been incredible. They were able to lock up the 3rd seed in the Big 12 by not losing any games they really shouldn't have. After watching 7 years of poor Iowa State basketball, this team has been a joy to watch. And the one thing that is easy to forget is that Iowa State doesn't have a true point guard or really a true big man that starts. To be 22-10 and 12-6 without those two key pieces is pretty great.

As far as the transfers go, the strategy can be considered a GREAT success. Two of the players (Allen and White) were dismissed from their teams. White has been a good student and good off the court (from everything I've heard). He's approachable and appreciative of his second chance. I've heard nothing but good things about him. He's really an interesting kid. If you get a chance to watch an interview with him or read some of the articles about him, do it. It's hard not to like the kid after hearing him talk. Allen has been great as well. He was on the All-Academic Big 12 second team. The other two transfers (Babb and Booker) were never any sort of 'trouble' to begin with, but both have done great. Part of the credit goes to the players and part goes to Hoiberg who has handled them extremely well. I can say that I am proud of all of them.