This is one year where a home and away game with ISU would do wonders.

[WindsorHawk]

Fred Hoiberg is a very, very good offensive coach. He does a great job of having the floor spaced offensively which can be hard to do in college basketball due to lane and ball side of the floor clogging which happens quite often in college basketball. You can play zone in the NBA but you are not allowed to sag/load as much as you can in college basketball.

I saw if first with the way Fred used Royce White as a point forward who faciliated the offense. I thought they would struggle when White left but Niang stepped in and ran a lot of the action as a poor mans White. This year Fred is posting up Kane a lot and clearing out players so teams can not double team him too often.

Close games can go either way and a lot of factors can go into it. But with Niang, Ejim, and Kane ISU can run sets in close games to get those guys shots or fouled. Ejim and Niang have a lot of game and NCAA tournament experience. Kane is a 5th year senior who has seen a lot of game action as well. I guess you can say ISU will start to lose close games but they do have a lot going for them if they stay healthy.

I don't really disagree with anything in this post. I want to add that there has been a critical 3 down the stretch which has certainly helped the Cyclone cause in some of these games. These shots won't fall every time.

I will make this observation. An elite team can play down to the wire and pull out wins. However, elite teams aren't in this situation all that often...game isn't that close. I posted (in another thread) an 8 game gauntlet Iowa State has coming up starting with their 2nd conference game. I'm interested to see how they fare in that stretch.

 

[MiniMoeHawk]

ISU is going to cruise through the Big 12 schedule and get the #2 seed in the dance...And then lose to Hampton in their first game.

 

[ICHAWK]

I don't really disagree with anything in this post. I want to add that there has been a critical 3 down the stretch which has certainly helped the Cyclone cause in some of these games. These shots won't fall every time.

I will make this observation. An elite team can play down to the wire and pull out wins. However, elite teams aren't in this situation all that often...game isn't that close. I posted (in another thread) an 8 game gauntlet Iowa State has coming up starting with their 2nd conference game. I'm interested to see how they fare in that stretch.

Iowa State is not an elite team. Iowa state does not have elite talent on their team either, Kane might be the only guy who gets a sniff at the NBA if he is lucky to be an undrafted free agent who ends up on the right team. He is a 6'4 or 6'5 PG who is 210 pounds so there might be some intrigue to NBA teams. Otherwise ISU is a well coached team with guys who have multiple skill sets. They are only going to blow out teams if they are hitting the three ball very well.

I don't know how many "elite teams" exist in college basketball. It's really hard to call a team elite this early in the year as well. A team like Kansas could be elite by year end if they get better PG play. Their PG have not shot the 3 ball well enough to open things up. Wiggins needs to gets a bit more selfish as well. Wiggins defers too much probably and who knows if he gets more assertive while playing his one year of college basketball.

I always first look at teams with NBA first round projected top 20 pick players to look for teams who could be elite/make it to the elite 8. But it takes that talent to produce, but that type of talent can be dangerous if the player can put it together. That type of talent can take over at key times to seal wins in close games.

I would consider ISU a very solid team. I think Iowa is a solid team as well. Neither team has an elite level player but they are both solid teams capable to making the NCAA tournament and wining a game or two.

 

[WindsorHawk]

Iowa State is not an elite team. Iowa state does not have elite talent on their team either, Kane might be the only guy who gets a sniff at the NBA if he is lucky to be an undrafted free agent who ends up on the right team. He is a 6'4 or 6'5 PG who is 210 pounds so there might be some intrigue to NBA teams. Otherwise ISU is a well coached team with guys who have multiple skill sets. They are only going to blow out teams if they are hitting the three ball very well.

I don't know how many "elite teams" exist in college basketball. It's really hard to call a team elite this early in the year as well. A team like Kansas could be elite by year end if they get better PG play. Their PG have not shot the 3 ball well enough to open things up. Wiggins needs to gets a bit more selfish as well. Wiggins defers too much probably and who knows if he gets more assertive while playing his one year of college basketball.

I always first look at teams with NBA first round projected top 20 pick players to look for teams who could be elite/make it to the elite 8. But it takes that talent to produce, but that type of talent can be dangerous if the player can put it together. That type of talent can take over at key times to seal wins in close games.

I would consider ISU a very solid team. I think Iowa is a solid team as well. Neither team has an elite level player but they are both solid teams capable to making the NCAA tournament and wining a game or two.

We're drifting apart with this post...not going into specifics. It's all good.

 

[slickwillard]

ISU is going to cruise through the Big 12 schedule and get the #2 seed in the dance...And then lose to Hampton in their first game.

You son of a *****. Have they ever had a run again? I never heard of them till that game and havent heard of them since.