Iowa State

[Bulldog01]

If your going to continue playing zone Mick, Shaq or Clark needs be at the top

 

[Bulldog01]

Jenifer is the shortest player on court when in game. Why the hell is your shortest player trying to defend corner 3? Especially when ISU was target always take our weak side guard in paint?

 

[Bulldog01]

Do we press any more? Does Cobb get put into dog house for his poor shot selection in primetime game? Does Mick move Evans to 2? Do you consider deberry starting over Ellis?

 

[HoosierCat]

I don't think it will happen with Ellis/Deberry, but I would consider it

 

[waterhead]

There were good things that happened tonight, and if the 'Cats are satisfied with another 23-10 season or somewhere thereabout, and perhaps another NCAA win before going home in their 2nd game, then they're plenty good for that.

If they have any designs on more than that, then they're going to have to find answers for the following:

-First 4-5 minutes...
vs. Butler outscored 11-3
vs. Xavier outscored 13-3
vs. Ia. St. outscored 14-2

Is that enough to qualify as a trend against excellent teams/in losses? I'd say so. You simply can't spot Top 10 teams 8-12 point leads to start games and expect to ice skate all the way back to the top of the hill. We can argue about the closing out as well (the other common thread is that they faded late in all 3 of these games) but I personally feel like at the very least, Butler and Iowa State were truly lost in the 1st half. We see it over and over again at every level - team falls behind early, makes herculean comeback and even takes a lead, only to fall at the end - and the Bearcats are no exception.

-Dribble penetration. Oh dear Lord. This defense is a corner 3 waiting to happen. Serendipitous that the shot that sealed our fate tonight was the same shot we've been leaving wide open all year. Mick says that was Jacob's fault and I defer to the Coach but at least part of the blame IMO goes to KJ and Ellis. KJ completely vacated that side of the floor to help on a guy that hadn't even really started to drive yet, and Ellis drifted to the opposite side of the court leaving Jacob to guard Tay's guy down low. Anyway, I digress. Iowa State ran more intricate offense than I'm giving credit for, I'm sure, but to me it was a simple pro-style penetrate/kick and pick/pop system. Our "guards" can't guard the ball, and our off the ball defenders drift WAY too far from their men off that dribble penetration. Let Ellis/Clark/DeBerry deal with the penetration the way our old teams let Kenyon/Max/Hicks deal with it. OK, maybe Ellis is the only one who could deal with it like Kenyon could, but I'd rather see Tay swiping at a floater at the rim than screaming my fool head off "STAY ON YOUR MAN!!!!!" to a TV screen that refuses to respond to my commands.

Ellis and Clark vex me, man. Half the time, they look like unstoppable beasts down low on both ends; the other half, I'm scanning the court to see if they're still there. Ellis in particular blew my mind about 3 times tonight with under 2 minutes left in the game; lastly was the aforementioned drift on ISU's winning 3; firstly was that completely unnecessary travel/non-travel (we HAVE to lead the NCAA in unforced turnovers); and in the middle was the turnover on Caupain which I put squarely at Ellis' feet unless someone with a sharper basketball IQ than I have talks me out of it. It appeared to me like Ellis was supposed to roll to the basket (the end result of which would have been a dunk) but instead he just stopped - much like a receiver cutting off his route - and waited for the pass to come to him, allowing his man to cut in front of him. Now maybe I'm wrong, but looking at it 2 or 3 times it certainly looks that way to me. Just another in a line of mental miscues and unforced mistakes that add up and explode off the page when you lose by 2.

I have some opinions on Caupain (who else can handle the frigging ball outside of Troy and Jacob? Nobody that I see unless someone invents a time machine to watch Justin Jenifer in 2017) but I'll leave those for another day. Bottom line is you've had 2 winnable games against Top 10 teams, IN YOUR OWN GYM, and lost them both. Now the non-conference slate has come and gone and the biggest chances you had to build a real, quality resume that could merit a top-4 tourney seed have come and gone. Your margin for error in the AAC just got a ton slimmer - can't lose to East Carolina on the road this year - if they expect to move up the ladder and get people to take them seriously as a Sweet 16 contender or better. It's doable, and I believe they can, but it's ultimately up to them to decide who they want to be. All I can do is watch, hope, and cheer...which I will be doing.

Very nice post! I am disappointed in our losses for several reasons but it's not extreme because we have basically spotted these teams a large cushion to start the games but we can obviously play with them. As of right now they are probably all top 10 teams so that is saying something. We can hang with the best teams in the country.

That being said...we still have some areas for improvement such as getting off to a quick start and we need help winning tight games. Turnovers and guarding the corner 3 of course. I think Evans could be the answer for a few of those as the season goes on. If we start him...maybe we don't get down so much in the first 5 minutes. He's confident with FT's late in game and he doesn't turn it over so I think he will be one of the clutch players we need for the end of games. He doesn't seem to be easily flustered. He's smart so hopefully he can pick up on how to guard that corner 3...he's young and will only get better as we go.

I would give Evans the start at the 3 and let Shaq backup the 3 and a little at the 4. I would even play Evans/Shaq at the 2/3 a little bit

 

[lumberjack]

Thoughts

It has been a long time since I posted anything here.

There are several things that are wrong with this team that many have you have pointed out. My observations include being asleep at the beginning of games, turnovers, out hustled, allowing penetration and open shooters all over the place and what appears to be a lack of a leader with this bunch. The team can improve but something seams really broken.

The team has regressed and it is disappointing on so many levels.

 

[ZCat]

Mick wanted Troy in the middle to drive but he let himself get pinned on the sideline. Then Troy admitted postgame he thought there was less time on the clock and forced up the shot.

Thanks Jacob. But it should have never come to that. They couldn't keep up with Evans. Spread the floor drive the ball get fouled,Win the game. As you all know. I know I'm preaching to the choir. We played well. But its hard to get over this and the butler game

 

[jacobkdoyle]

Thanks Jacob. But it should have never come to that. They couldn't keep up with Evans. Spread the floor drive the ball get fouled,Win the game. As you all know. I know I'm preaching to the choir. We played well. But its hard to get over this and the butler game

Caupain choked on the last play. He knows it. He owned it. Good news for us is that it isn't too late to turn things around. This team still has a chance (if they want it) to be very good by March.

 

[cincrulz11]

Thanks Jacob. But it should have never come to that. They couldn't keep up with Evans. Spread the floor drive the ball get fouled,Win the game. As you all know. I know I'm preaching to the choir. We played well. But its hard to get over this and the butler game

It really makes no sense why Mick stopped going with the Caupain and Evans drives that got us the lead and instead called up back to back plays for Ellis, both resulting in turnovers.


Why don't you stick with what works and the other team can't stop. Ellis was out of it all game.


I mean you saw it multiple times when we spread the court and let either of those 2 guys drive on their guy. But why we then decide to clog the middle down is beyond me.

 

[waterhead]

It really makes no sense why Mick stopped going with the Caupain and Evans drives that got us the lead and instead called up back to back plays for Ellis, both resulting in turnovers.


Why don't you stick with what works and the other team can't stop. Ellis was out of it all game.


I mean you saw it multiple times when we spread the court and let either of those 2 guys drive on their guy. But why we then decide to clog the middle down is beyond me.

I agree 100%. We should have kept letting (demanding) those two drive. Good things were happening. Fouls, buckets, assists, FT's

Oh well...maybe next time?

 

[cincrulz11]

Mick is going to have to realize for this team to be what he wants it to be the offense can't go through Ellis. He's just not good enough with the ball. Let him get the majority of his points on offensive rebounds. Teams have figured out if you double him it's a turnover. When do we make the adjustment and focus on something else?

 

[bearcat23]

Evans is 6'6 and has the best first step on our team. They couldn't keep up with his size/quickness and he was a huge factor in us regaining the lead, should have given him the ball instead


And it's time he starts

Caupain made a mistake, only three losses and this team will be a favorite in conference

 

[jacobkdoyle]

It really makes no sense why Mick stopped going with the Caupain and Evans drives that got us the lead and instead called up back to back plays for Ellis, both resulting in turnovers.


Why don't you stick with what works and the other team can't stop. Ellis was out of it all game.


I mean you saw it multiple times when we spread the court and let either of those 2 guys drive on their guy. But why we then decide to clog the middle down is beyond me.

If Mick thinks Caupain is one of the best guards in the country, then he needs to unleash him. I think he has more the past couple games. And I think we'll continue to see more of those drives, more high ball screens, and less traditional post ups with anyone not named DeBerry as we finish out this year.

 

[Bearcat_NTS]

If Mick thinks Caupain is one of the best guards in the country, then he needs to unleash him. I think he has more the past couple games. And I think we'll continue to see more of those drives, more high ball screens, and less traditional post ups with anyone not named DeBerry as we finish out this year.

Agreed. After that opening stretch, they really didn't try to post up Ellis much. They only did it two times and he scored on both. I would much rather see him get into the flow of the game before we start feeding it to him. First possession of every game we should stick Cobb in the corner and run a high ball screen for Troy to attack on the same side of the floor.

 

[L-T]

Our team has no reliable go-to guy. That's a big issue. Iowa St. seemed to have any number of guys capable of going to in the clutch. There's nobody on our team who gives you a high level of confidense with the ball in their hands like SK did as a senior. We have no lights-out shooters, no guys with extreme quickness, no inside players who you can count on, etc.

Troy's decision making at the end was atrocious. Before he launched his airball, he looked right at Evans, who was open. At least in that game, Evans was a somewhat reliable option, but Troy didn't give him the chance. I think Evans could have gotten inside and given a better chance to at least extend the game to OT. Clark missed a fairly easy put-back, and Cobb missed a shot he should probably hit. With a veteran team, it's amazing that there is nobody you can reliably go to, which is probably why these games that go down to the wire will always be iffy. I hope that in future seasons (or maybe even later this season) Evans will be that guy we can count on. We're badly in need of some true "stars" in this program, who can step up reliably at crunch time.

 

[waterhead]

Moving forward solving/helping the TO problem. You have roughly four groups...these are rough averages to make categories

Group A...1.5 per 40 minutes (Caupain, Evans)
Group B...2.0 per 40 minutes (Clark, Cobb, DeBerry)
Group C...2.5 per 40 minutes (Thomas)
Group D...3.5 plus (Ellis is near 4, Moore 5, Jenifer 3.5, and KJ is close to 5 in his last 6 games)


OK so Jenifer and Moore aren't getting many minutes in big games so we really don't need to adjust their minutes.

We need to give as many minutes as we can to group A and B and less from group D. It's time for Evans and DeBerry to play more.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

Ellis should be able to get a double-double without having a single play run for him. His Norfolk State line of 5 Points 11 Rebounds 5 Assists 2 Steals 3 Blocks was great. And he missed an alley oop so he could've had another easy 2. He'll make money as a basketball player by being an all-around clean up big. And that's how he seems to work best for us at this point.

We just need to keep evolving. Keep finding the right balance.

 

[BearcatSpaniard513]

Game is on the line with less than 2 minutes to go and Ellis travels then misses the easy pass from TC under the basket. How does he still not understand what a travel is? It blows my mind

 

[BearcatSpaniard513]

We need to give as many minutes as we can to group A and B and less from group D. It's time for Evans and DeBerry to play more.

Evans is going to be GOOD. He probably has the prettiest and smoothest jumper on the team. Less and less Shaq the deeper we get hopefully and I would love to see Evans starting within the first couple conference games.

 

[L-T]

Ellis should be able to get a double-double without having a single play run for him. His Norfolk State line of 5 Points 11 Rebounds 5 Assists 2 Steals 3 Blocks was great. And he missed an alley oop so he could've had another easy 2. He'll make money as a basketball player by being an all-around clean up big. And that's how he seems to work best for us at this point.

We just need to keep evolving. Keep finding the right balance.

Ellis is the most disappointing to this point in the season (Clark is a close second). I expected an NBA quality center this year. On the postgame interview, Mick said he is a lottttttttt better than what we have seen. I think this season really hinges on whether or not he plays to his potential, or he continues to be what we've seen to date. I think since we don't have the natural shooters and creators on this roster, that it is critical that our inside guys play to their potential. Only then will we open up higher percentage opportunities for everyone else, and just an extra second or two of time and/or space might be all we need. But, we can't get there without Evans or Clark playing better.