Defense travels and defense wins championships. Iowa state and TJ understand this and play to it. Fran doesn’t give a damn about defense other than some lip service once or twice a year.
Iowa State - Houston
- Thread starter Jimmy McGill
- Start date
More teams in recent years advance to the Elite 8/Final Four on the strength of their defense, than they do on the strength of their offense.
This despite the explosion of 3 and D types and guard-oriented spread the floor style of play.
It takes more effort to play defense than it does offense.
Agree but this ISU.
They are the first 2 seed to lose in the first round. Could be the first 2 seed to lose twice in the first round although D could be a better friend than O for a morning matchup.
It was actually the 4th. There were three 15 over 2 seed upsets in the '90s.
1991- Richmond over Syracuse
1994- Santa Clara over Arizona
1997- Copping State over South Carolina
Also, Arizona holds the distinction of first program to lose to 15 seeds twice, after they lost to Princeton last year.
Of course, a 15 seed has beaten a 2 in each of the last 3 NCAA Tournaments, so Iowa State certainly could make it a 4th......
If NC State hangs on to beat UNC, Iowa State has a legit shot at the last 1 seed.
And watch them become the third 1 seed to fall in the first round. They’d be the only men’s team to have a one, two AND a three seed fall in the first round.
And I’d laugh even harder if Purdue falls in the first round.
They blew their load at big XII tourney.
I will take the points whoever their second round opponent is.
Funny thing is the second round is the deepest Fran ever got and we will laugh at ISU if they don’t get farther.
“But Lick….”
I will take the points whoever their second round opponent is.
Funny thing is the second round is the deepest Fran ever got and we will laugh at ISU if they don’t get farther.
“But Lick….”
Pretty sure #1 seeds hadn’t ever lost in the Tourney until the last 5 or so years with Virginia getting shocked. I believe they won it the following year. Then I think it was Purdue either last year or the previous one.
This is not even close to being correct.
Iowa State has athletes and plays tenacious defense. They will go far in this tournament.
PEPSI.....Already found that out from Monkey.....I should have fact checked it since my source was an Iowa fan.
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I think Harvard upset Stanford in the women's tournament in the 90s, but as far as I remember that's the only time it happened. Men's side is a recent phenomenon for sure... if Purdue gets paired with a smaller, faster team with quick and accurate guards, look out.
PMac never plays hard enough to play for TJ. Have to defend and rebound which is all effort.
I want to agree, but we’ve seen in the recent past teams from the SEC and Big 12, with athletes and tenacious defense, fall short in the tourney. Maybe because the physical brand of defense they’re getting away with in the conference season is reeled in by the officiating? But I also think their inability to score efficiently shows itself. This ISU team is better offensively than they’ve been the last few years, but they are prone to scoring droughts.
We’ve seen teams get to Final Fours with defenses outside the top 45 (and most of these were likely outside the top 50 going into the tournament):
Miami 2023
Duke 2022
UCLA 2021
Kansas 2018
But in the same time frame, only two teams outside the top 45 in offense make the FF:
San Diego St. 2023
Loyola 2018
Basically, a lot of words to say “Be a complete team, but if you’re not, get hot at the right time”. Real groundbreaking analysis!
Iowa State's great defense is built on moving their feet and not pushing and grabbing. They are extremely well coached and must be working their asses off in practice. ISU will be hard to beat.
Getting hot is the key to making a Final Four run.
But winning the tournament is reserved for teams that finish roughly in the top 40 in offense, and roughly in the top 25 for defense.
One thing I’ve noticed about Iowa State this season is that once they get a lead, they rarely give it up. Their coach sold them on defense, and the team bought in. Like a Phil Parker defense at Iowa, Iowa State’s defense seems to smother opponents and eventually break their will.
People are convinced it’s Dennis albaugh because TJ is friends with his son in law.
The fact is Iowa State is in the bottom tier of NIL funds and they needed some former players to step up last year and infuse cash in the program.
Denny Albaugh and Steve Sukup can fundraise ISU crazy.
Between Albaugh and Harry Stine, the potential is there for ISU to have two absolute mega-donors.
Spooky how our minds were in the same place at the same time. I’d be concerned.
I've heard from a friend that gay Eskimos kiss by rubbing their ****s together... 🤷♂️
heard on a podcast it was Niang and Haliburton stepped in at the last minute so they could retain some players already on rosters.
We (Iowa and ISU) are hampered by Midwest practicality. The fanbases/alumni want to win, but we draw the line at forking over obscene amounts of money that ends up in the athlete’s hands.
I never said big money but better money than Iowa can offer.
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