Early thoughts on Iowa State Friday…
- Thread starter Blair_45
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They are actually a little better version of Mississippi State. Very good defense. Not so good offense. Play slow. Mediocre shooting percentages (as opposed to MSU's awful percentage from three). Good rebounding, especially offensively.
I like that Pitt is going back to a venue that they are familiar with and that they just played at a week ago in Greensboro. Jeff Capel the way he coaches will remind them of the horrible feeling and taste they had in their mouths the last time they were on this floor with Duke last week and I feel that will only motivate this gutsy tough Pitt team to play that much better on Friday. I think this gives Pitt maybe not a overwhelming advantage over Iowa State having played their last week so soon but I definitely think it won’t hurt them either in terms of having a little bit of a chip on their shoulder and some extra motivation.
Will start three guards. Deep team even with one of their guards, Grill, leaving the team late in the year. Curious if Otzelberger shortens his bench in the tournament.
They are a really good defensive team. Hopefully coming off playing Mississippi State can get Pitt ready.
They are a really good defensive team. Hopefully coming off playing Mississippi State can get Pitt ready.
We know how well being a really good defensive team works out in the NCAA Tournament!
Yeah... similar scouting report to MSST, but a SLIGHTLY better shooting team.
We're going to need JB to play the whole game this time, no stupid fouls.
I think ISU presses a little more than MSST did... so another important game for Nelly to protect the ball.
And hopefully 3 more days is enough for Fede. GDG needs to play 15-18 minutes, not 37.
This is a simple formula. Pitt has struggled with fast, athletic, talented teams that stretch us on the floor with tempo (Duke, WVU, Michigan, VCU).
Thankfully, ISU's style is much closer to UNC, Virginia and Miss St.
Hopefully the magic can continue, ISU is good, no doubt but it's an incredible feeling to have even an iota of hope.
Thankfully, ISU's style is much closer to UNC, Virginia and Miss St.
Hopefully the magic can continue, ISU is good, no doubt but it's an incredible feeling to have even an iota of hope.
Have to guard Kaulscheur he can really shoot it. Holmes is a good player from st bonny. Pg Lipsey can't shoot at all but very good ball handler. Pitt can def win this game. H2p
Their fans seem to be pretty confident. This was the initial post, and the ones after it were only doubling down.
Some nuggets:
Some nuggets:
- BartTorvik had them winning by 2. They won by 1
- BartTorvik has them as #85
- NET is 67
- 4 Q1 wins
- 1 Q1 loss
- 1 Q4 loss
- KenPom is 77
- AdjO is 24
- AdjD is 142
- Notable loses:
- WVU by 25
- Michigan by 31
- Notable wins:
- Northwestern by 29
- North Carolina by 1
- Miami by 3
- They have SIX WINS in the VERY average ACC by 3 points or less.
- Using BartTorvik...a loss to Pitt would be our worst loss by a LOT. Texas Tech is our worst loss and they are #54. Pitt is #85.
How come they use UNC and not NCState or Virginia as our best wins….
Just saw this on Action Network:
- The Iowa State aggressive defense fouls at the highest frequency among all tournament teams. Pittsburgh could potentially take advantage, as the Panthers sit in the top-50 nationally in free-throw percentage. The Cyclones also struggle at the line themselves.
As a side note,this will be the second all time meeting with Iowa State.The last being in Dec.1981.Pitt won that game.
Another encouraging note from Action Network (not about this game per se, but of the seeding):
Everybody loves the No. 12 over No. 5 upset, and No. 11 seeds actually have a winning record in the first round since 2010, including 3-1 last year. However, those are the easy upsets to pick.
Everybody loves the No. 12 over No. 5 upset, and No. 11 seeds actually have a winning record in the first round since 2010, including 3-1 last year. However, those are the easy upsets to pick.
This game has the feel of a very close game for most of it, again. This time, I think ISU pulls away at the end for close to a double digit win. I hope I'm wrong because I have Pitt in my brackets and because I just want Pitt to win. Not getting a good feeling about it, though.
Pitt posters blasting me with insults in 3...2...1...
Pitt posters blasting me with insults in 3...2...1...
Guess Iowa State suffered their worse loss of the year against this horrific Pitt team. I’ve never seen a team shoot so horrible. They were absolutely pathetic in this game .
The difference is that Sibande fell down after he got fouled. Hinson didn't get fouled, kicked his leg out to try to draw contact (which he is not allowed to do), and then fell down as if he got fouled in an attempt to get a call.
So I guess the difference is that one of them was a flop and the other one was not.
I know they can't shoot. But I also think Pitt's defense might have had something to do with that. We played some pretty good defense and rebounded pretty well tonight.
Some articles out there about how Iowa states wonky rim in the first half played into that big 22-2 deficit and their offensive struggles (shooting only 29% in the first half).
They shot 17% on the normal rim in the 2nd half. If the rim wasn’t busted, they might not have scored 30.
They shot 17% on the normal rim in the 2nd half. If the rim wasn’t busted, they might not have scored 30.
They're reminding me of those John Chaney teams at my other alma mater. Win ugly, with smothering defense.
