basketballjones

I'm talking about the end of the game, in crunch time - you cannot give up open 3's. We do it all the time. You can live with a tough lay-up, you cannot live with 3's.

And preferably if they set some sort of record at halftime we adjust.

At some point we're going to have to recognize that 3 points are worth more than 2 points, and we can't keep helping on the post or full helping on drives in crunch time. We give up back-breaking 3's during stretches and runs that just kill us. Maryland 68 NU 64 They run some ball screen stuff, and we completely over help on the roll man and on the driver. Instead of giving up a tough two, we give up a wide open kick out 3 to make it 71-64. Kevin Cross hits a 3, making it 67-71. So still a two possession ball game when it could be a one possession ball game. You can't give up open 3's in crunch time. I'm sorry, I just fundamentally disagree with that strategy. Switch everything and force tough shots at the rim without fouling. 3's break your back.

Actually, tbh, hilarity of your post aside - I actually am quite pleased with this season. 1. They guys have played hard and shown that they won't quit on Coach Hoiberg 2. Coach Hoiberg has demonstrated a lot of positive coaching strategies and techniques 3. We've seen that Thorir and Dachon could be incredibly useful pieces for next year 4. Our 17 year old center shows a ton of promise 5. All the tall guys sitting on the bench seem engaged and ready to go for next year 6. I like the recruits we're bringing in 7. I was right when I told all my friends that this could be a bad year, and they argued with me non-stop

We’re stealing one. NU 75 Mary 72

Agreed. Unless he's: 1. Just desperate to be on the court and feels it's never going to happen here 2. Is told he's not good enough and needs to find somewhere else 3. Has bad influences in his ear He'll be back.

Do you have inside info on this or are you just speculating?

Both of you are correct... But at the risk of being banned from the board - Coach McDermott is a really good coach, and a great person. Living in Omaha I have had the pleasure of being able to attend many of his practices. He's really, really good. Just hasn't gotten it done in March and obviously Iowa State wasn't a good fit.

Calling Roy overrated is a bit much, IMO. I won't repeat what Dean said, but he's correct. Roy is currently a victim of the current generation of kids and the landscape of the college game. He hasn't figured it out like Coach K has. You have no idea how much that pained me to say that. Roy would much rather prefer kids he's recruited and kept around for 2-4 years. This current model is not conducive to his style and strengths. I'm actually surprised that he has gone down this road like he has... it seems half-hearted and he's clearly not enjoying it. Speaking of overrated - Cole Anthony makes me vomit. Hot take - Coach K for overrated. How many times has that guy got beaten the same exact way and never adjusted? How much NBA or senior lead teams has he squandered before the Sweet 16? Dude should have double digit NCAA titles by now. He has done absolutely nothing to innovate the game. I've always heard rumblings that (before the one and done era), behind closed doors, Coach K is more Bobby Knight than Bobby Knight is. He's obviously changed. I'm slightly kidding regarding being overrated of course, but I will say that Coach K's biggest strength has always been creating an environment where players are forced to lead and buy-in. I've never heard a lot of people go, "let's run what Duke is running," etc... Underrated....... Hmmmm........ Randy Bennet - St. Mary's Buzz Williams - wherever he's at now Leonard the frickin man Hamilton - FSU, and apparently he's 71 but doesn't look older than 50 Bob Huggins - WV But my two main ones might be Mike Brey - ND and Jay Wright - Nova. Both of these guys are constantly doing things that other coaches are stealing. Wright is obviously going to go down as one of the GOATs before it's all said and done.

A lot is being made of the lack of effort and intensity being displayed tonight... While I get it and have contributed to that, that's what happens to bad teams. We have to be perfect every single game to win. Even against average to bad teams. Sustaining that level of focus, energy, and effort is nearly impossible - especially when you have a little bit of a break coming up. I know that seems counterintuitive (not bringing it when you know you have a break coming up), but I've coached A LOT of low talent teams - always happens that way. Good teams don't "bring it" every single night. Good teams find a way to win, even when everyone didn't bring it - that's why they're good. You only notice it when you lose... because you're bad, ha.

Nu 66 IA 78

Incredible write-up, Matt.

That’s a sentence I didn’t think I’d be reading.

You're 100% correct. My question would be, how many of those guys does it actually workout for? Spend a year sitting (again), potentially end up in a situation where it also doesn't work out. For every Joe Burrow there's 100 dudes you never hear of.

I'm so excited about his potential. Everything we hoped Christian Standhardinger would be?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

We're not running, "Doc Sadler's defense," by any stretch of the imagination and nor should we with the tempo we want to play. Also, Doc Sadler's defense required 3 hour long practices where 1.75 hours of it were beating the players into defensive robots, and the other 1.25 were beating them into offensive robots. Doc was brought in to help with scouting, game planning, game management, recruiting connections, and overall experience. All things he's an expert and elite at. But we won't be seeing the patented "Doc Defense" under Coach Hoiberg.

I don't see where he fits on this team next year, as far as major minutes go. If he can stay around to his Junior and Senior year, he could be a very effective player. I don't think he'll be the driver and ball handler that Burke is, but my hope is that he can become a lock-down defender of multiple guys like Burke can. But staying until that point is becoming rarer and rarer. So who knows.

If I had to try to get into @Norm Peterson's head and guess what's going on - I think I could do it pretty easily because I think he and I are at the same point with this squad. I, in my logic brain, know this is a wasted season of sorts because we just do not have the pieces and everyone is so new and inexperienced. Yet, once the game starts I can't help but notice the things they coulda/shoulda/woulda done to win. Free throws, rebounding position, silly doubles on average post players to give up 3's.... it's enough to drive a man mad. Hope you're enjoying your well earned sabbatical, Norm.

NU 73 PSU 72

He’s not making fun - he’s just not intelligent enough to name them or doesn’t put in the effort to learn them like professional commentators do.

Jesus Christ I just tweeted the same thing about Dakich. Dude shut up and chill.... guy doesn’t stop bitching, moaning, judging.

I’d give my left nut for Franz Wagner.

There's a mea culpa post coming from me regarding Thorir, that's for sure. I had definitely written him off while here. I was frustrated when he was recruited because I thought there had been multiple local guys who could do anything that he could do that we just ignored over the years. But, just being completely honest, I'm going to wait on it (I'm sure he just shrunk in his seat in defeat reading that ). This is just my opinion and evaluation, but at this point he is still just a dude taking full advantage of an opportunity to play freely on a really bad team. I applaud him for that and truly do appreciate his effort... and I commend him for taking advantage of this opportunity given to him - most don't. But, again, this is a bad team... My hope for next year - he's a glue guy that can come in and guard a lot of different guys, rebound, back-cut, and hit open 3's on a good team. And just so we're clear - I love the guy and it's been super fun watching him play this year. I am just not ready to be like, "omg we were all wrong on this dude, he's awesome!!!" *ducks and covers*

Speechless. I’ve been without words all day regarding this news. I’m an expecting father, and the vision in my head of him grasping for his daughter in their last seconds, knowing the helicopter was going down, is destroying me. I grew up as a huge MJ fan, but admittedly only caught the tail end of his career. I was in love with the “MJ attitude,” and never thought we’d see that again. But Kobe man.... dude was so fun to watch. And just a ruthless killer. I’m gonna stop cause I can’t do the man justice... RIP Kobe, his daughter, and the other humans on the helicopter. Thoughts and prayers to all the families involved.

This is going to be a battle! I think he is ours in the end.