#12 WSU @ #18 UNI - Game Thread

[ShockTalk]

It's simple game really... you have make shots. When WSU struggles from the outside, they will have a good chance of losing; just not enough down low to compensate (Michael Scott). Most knew this would be the issue this season. I'm still hoping that Shaq can add more punch at some point; I'm personally tired of Evan starting, but I get why he does. Still a great chance of winning the league (maybe winning out), and getting about a 4 seed at the very best. I don't see a deep run in the tourney; would be happy if they won a game.

I've been on this for some time, however, I'm not saying Evan should play less and yes, Gregg's little pinky knows more about basketball than I.....I'm just being an armchair coach.

We have played a lot of games in the Valley where Evan can handle the 4 position, but why do it? So we win by 15-20 and not 20+. SM, RK, and RN (not yet sold on Tom, sorry) need all the time they can get with the other starters. The other part with Evan is that I prefer him coming off the bench when Tekele or Ron or Fred go to the bench. With Evan at this roll, we still have the experience, defense, and grit coming in when one of the others go out. Our defense and experience doesn't suffer and Evan is playing a position where he just might feel more comfortable scoring from.

Keeping DC, SM, RK, and RN in a more rapid front court rotation could keep them more fresh and possibly with fewer fouls for any one individual. It may not have made any difference in the UNI game, but no one fouled out. Just how much more time might we have gotten out of DC and SM?

[im4wsu]

They had a hot night shoting and we had a frigid night.

Had we been "held" to UNI's normal 2-pt and 3-pt percentages of 48.%7 and 30.8%, we would have had 6.6 more points.
Had they shot only the maximum of their normal and what we allow normally, they would have had 12.2 fewer points.

Combined this is 18.8 points difference.

[SHOCKvalue]

They made a video, mostly about the WSU game, partly about their all-time program high 14th ranking as of 02/02 poll:

(Earplugs are recommended, unless you have the musical taste of a trailer park resident.)

#NotASuperBowlQuestionMark

I'm a fan of UNI getting their crap together and fielding a solid team, even if it means an L every now and again, but the mentality above is so small-time it is embarrassing.

[WstateU]

They made a video, mostly about the WSU game, partly about their all-time program high 14th ranking as of 02/02 poll:

(Earplugs are recommended, unless you have the musical taste of a trailer park resident.)

#NotASuperBowlQuestionMark

I'm a fan of UNI getting their crap together and fielding a solid team, even if it means an L every now and again, but the mentality above is so small-time it is embarrassing.

Yikes, I just wasted another 5 minutes of my life; this gives “It’s All About the Drake (D+)” a run for its money.

[SHOCKvalue]

Also available is a commemorative panoramic picture, in case UNI fan wants to memorialize a regular season home win over a conference mate with the same record as your team. SMH...

http://www.replayphotos.com/northerniowaphotos/mcleod-center-print/university-of-northern-iowa-mcleod-center-commemorative-panorama_1373487.cfm

[WuDrWu]

Good for them. They kicked our ass. You should celebrate the biggest regular season win and arguably the 2nd biggest win in the history of their program.

Maybe they'll put up a few billboards. :)




February 28, 2015

[Dan]

How long have we been talking about "The Battle of New Orleans"?

[ShockerEngineer]

How long have we been talking about "The Battle of New Orleans"?

That's a good point, but.. We play UNI 2-3 times per year, we didn't refuse to play them for decades and then they beat us. lol. Also, it was the regular season, and not for a spot in the elite 8.

I really can see both sides of the argument. We complain about KU fans looking down on us, and then sometimes sound like we're looking down on others, like this.

EDIT: I'll make an exception for Missouri St's countdown clock.. They were really asking for it with that one.

[WuShock16]

February 28, 2015

This. The ONLY remotely good thing about WSU losing that game (and getting popped pretty good in the process) was that it will make the return game VERY interesting. In his blog, Haertl said that some of the journalists up in Cedar Falls were gloating that the torch is being passed. Yeah...we'll see what happens when the crowd support shifts by about 17,000 people...and you have 3G and his crew with memories in their heads from the debacle that was the first game.

[WuShock16]

I have no issue with the panoramic shot...other than that my team totally sucked in that game. I have a great picture from the stripe game against Indiana State that will be donning my office wall hopefully sometime soon. Nothing particularly special about that game, other than a solid beatdown over a decent foe and the crowd looked amazing!

[RoyalShock]

It's clear to me who the people on this board are who have very little understanding of how athletic contests are decided. Saying our guys just didn't "want it enough" or "weren't good enough leaders" yesterday is malarkey that sports journalists use to fuel their narratives and sell their writing. Sometimes you just get beat. Sometimes you just can't make enough plays, no matter how much you try. It's called variance. I love our guys, but they're not perfect. They have off nights, just like we have bad days at work and school.

Back to your regularly scheduled programming.

I don't aspire to be an apologist for any journalist, but I think the reason sports journalists use phrases like that is because they've been hearing coaches use them in press conferences for a very long time.

[Dave Stalwart]

I have no issue with the panoramic shot...other than that my team totally sucked in that game. I have a great picture from the stripe game against Indiana State that will be donning my office wall hopefully sometime soon. Nothing particularly special about that game, other than a solid beatdown over a decent foe and the crowd looked amazing!

Nothing special about that game other than we were making history going undefeated. UNI beating WSU and making a picture has a little more "super bowl" on it because it's just another game against WSU. Our ranking is what made it special. They just made a picture to basically commemorate our ranking. :) yes they did make history for themselves, but why was it history? Our ranking...and it wasn't for a conference title, wasn't for national history and wasn't a special game for any reason other than us being way better than the rest of the MVC

[Kel Varnsen]

I don't aspire to be an apologist for any journalist, but I think the reason sports journalists use phrases like that is because they've been hearing coaches use them in press conferences for a very long time.

Touche. It's just one of my pet peeves, when anyone refuses to try and think critically with regards to the reason why a team lost.

[WuShock16]

Nothing special about that game other than we were making history going undefeated.

I think I know what you mean in that we were in route to going undefeated although nothing is mentioned about that on the picture's caption. The game I have was in January. There is another picture of the PERFECTION game.

[Dave Stalwart]

I think I know what you mean in that we were in route to going undefeated although nothing is mentioned about that on the picture's caption. The game I have was in January. There is another picture of the PERFECTION game.

Crap! Well I tried. I just really wanted to make a jab and I didn't want to stop and worry about facts :)