Diamond Head Classic - Iowa State

[skip-zip]

We will absolutely move on, and we'll get better, and we'll win plenty of games. Everyone knows that.

It just takes the wind out of the fans' sails a bit whenever we miss another opportunity to do something of real significance. As you can see, even the Iowa State fans are amazed that we've never won one of these kinds of games, ever.

[Balsy]

I'm not ready to think about next season. I have confidence in Coach Dambrot bringing in a steady stream of talent. But after each season starts I file that away under future assumptions and focus on the present. The Zips have two tough games on the road coming up over the next few days. I want to see how resilient they are. You know, a couple of weeks ago we thought the Zips were never going to come together enough to beat anyone. Then they started beating some mid-level teams and we started getting more optimistic. Now we know they haven't come together to the point of beating the #14 team in the country at this point in the season and that makes us a little pessimistic. I don't think the Zips are done improving. Let's see how good they can get and how fast they can get there.

+1

I think a lot of people are hitting the panic button. Dare I say it: this team is better than last year's. We're winning (early) the games we're supposed to win, and losing the games we should be struggling to win. Yes it sucks, but last year we were losing games we were SUPPOSED to be winning. (Coastal, Detroit...). We have a good chance of going into conference play with a better record against better opponents than we had last year...what more could we want?

Now, hopefully the Zips won't make me eat my positive words of support.

[LZIp]

Iowa St. is a damn good team. A lot better than I had figured, honestly.

However, same old song and dance. I just want this program to have a nationally recognized win for once... It seems that we can hang with these good teams for a half (the ones we aren't supposed to beat) and then run out of gas in the 2nd half every time. I think I saw a stat we only shot 6 FTs?!

I have to give special credit to Quincy and even Harney. Quincy hustled all over the floor. I also saw a lot more hustle and effort out of Harney than usual. I don't know if his stat line reflected it, but I thought he made some plays that do not necessarily show up in the stats. You could tell that Tree was absolutely dead in the 2nd half. I can't point out anybody for really having a bad game, just as a team we did not play well. Boxing out, transition defense, ball movement, and leaving that one guy wide open for all of those 3s.

Let's win tomorrow. I'd rather face Boise than USCe. I think Oregon St has a chance to be a quality win once they get Moreland back.

[Let'sGoZips94]

Their 6'8" and 6'9" guys don't even play 10 minutes a game. Their tallest player with significant playing time is 6'7" (Tree's height).

(Insert foot-in-mouth emoji) Well, I guess my size advantage statement was false. Rebounding is all about desire and effort, as exemplified by Tree and pretty much the entire Cyclones team.

Iowa State is good. VERY good. They are much better than I thought. I had fun watching them last year, especially when I was rooting for them to take down Ohio State in the Big Dance. I had no idea how they would do this year without Chris Babb, who seemed to be one of, if not their top player last season. I will say that I am very glad DeAndre Kane is no longer with Marshall, or I would be more worried about the Marshall game coming up.

Go Zips!

[zippy5]

0 second half free throws. Wow. I don't know what happened, just decided to pack it in at halftime. It's like we didn't take one strong drive to the hoop in twenty minutes. Makes me want to pull my hair out.

[Dr Z]

Miles Simon lists the Cyclones the fourth best front court in the country behind Arizona, Kansas and Baylor. I won't argue.

This is a frontcourt that wouldn't have made this list in the preseason but has been outstanding thus far. Fred Hoiberg's starting big men of Melvin Ejim, Georges Niang and Dustin Hogue have really been dominant in leading the Cyclones to an undefeated record. Ejim was only the third player at 6-6 or under to lead the Big 12 in rebounding (9.3 a game). He’s waited for his time to shine after Royce White took the spotlight two seasons ago, and a guard-heavy team in 2012-13 led the way. In addition to his rebounding, he's a solid 3-point shooter as well as an excellent scorer around the rim.

Niang is one of the craftiest, smartest and most skilled bigs in the nation. He brings the ball up the floor at times and initiates the offense -- and he plays the center position. Around the basket he has soft hands and is very creative with his footwork, making up for a lack of athleticism. Hogue is a junior college transfer who is averaging a double-double (12.6 points and 11.1 rebounds per game). His total on the boards is sixth in the country. He can slash to the basket but makes enough 3s to keep defenses honest. He's an excellent athlete and the Cyclones’ best defender.

[a-zip]

We looked tired in the second half, plain and simple. A rough part of the schedule for the guys and a lot of travel. Things will be fine.

[tomzip]

I realize every time we play a ranked team, we're underdogs. But can we just win one? 0-26 is a record that Coppin St. should have, not Akron.

You nailed it, so tired of this. This team eventually needs to find a wing payer that can penetrate and either take it strong and score or kick it out and after the defense collapses on him wide open jump shot to whom he passed the ball to. I think Q is the only one capable of that, you could argue Harney, but he'd dribble the ball out of bounds. To my point here, even if he had this player, McAdams and Kretzer are the most likely people to receive the kick out and they are so inconsistent its sickening. Those two guys should be raining three's all day long in that scenario.

My thoughts on the season, yes we have beaten the teams we should have, so we get good grades there, the teams that we need to beat to elevate the program... 1-3. I understand ISU highly ranked, MSU on the road after a long trip, and SMU at 3am...all have valid excuses for not winning, but how long will it take to crack that ranked opponent win?

For the MAC, we will have our work cut out this year to make it to the championship. Hoping we do it again, but not as sure as I was in years past.

[GP1]

Embarrassingly lethargic second half for the Zips.

Sure was. I can take a loss because in a long season, teams lose some games. I don't like lazy play. The one thing players have 100% control over is their effort and there wasn't enough yesterday.

KD should have had a speech similar to

after the game.

[skip-zip]

You nailed it, so tired of this. This team eventually needs to find a wing payer that can penetrate and either take it strong and score or kick it out and after the defense collapses on him wide open jump shot to whom he passed the ball to. I think Q is the only one capable of that, you could argue Harney, but he'd dribble the ball out of bounds. To my point here, even if he had this player, McAdams and Kretzer are the most likely people to receive the kick out and they are so inconsistent its sickening. Those two guys should be raining three's all day long in that scenario.

My thoughts on the season, yes we have beaten the teams we should have, so we get good grades there, the teams that we need to beat to elevate the program... 1-3. I understand ISU highly ranked, MSU on the road after a long trip, and SMU at 3am...all have valid excuses for not winning, but how long will it take to crack that ranked opponent win?

For the MAC, we will have our work cut out this year to make it to the championship. Hoping we do it again, but not as sure as I was in years past.

I'd go with an 0-1 record. Detroit, St. Mary's and MTSU wouldn't be on too many people's lists of wins that would elevate a D-1 program. But still, a win against SMU or MTSU would have meant something.

[Jalapeño Zippy]

Very lazy play. 1-6 FT's and no one was driving to the rim. I didn't recognize the team that came out in the 2nd half. Piss poor effort.

[scacchoops]

For those interested, you can follow live tempo-based stats for Akron/Iowa State here. Starters are posted for both teams...

http://www.scacchoops.com/ViewHDGame.asp?hSchedule=22568