2018-19 MBB Open Thread

[sevelev711]

The thing is, people are looking for something to be mad at, and right now, there's nothing to be mad at, except for Croft not playing. It's human nature, people like to be mad at things. But most of media day was like a wet dream for this board. All our injured players will be healthy before the season starts, we're going to play a more up-tempo offense, we're gonna shoot more threes and make more threes, the only piece of bad news is Croft.

[clenz]

I think (and hope) this is wrong. Most of us didn't fully know the situation, and media simply reported that he's suspended with no explanation. That just didn't sound good. Yes there are a couple people here who seem to doubt what you and BC say, but I think most of us trust it and want the kid to be successful - and not just in basketball. Myself, I enjoy your and BC's posts. At the end of the day, based on what you guys say about his hometown Croft probably needs the fan support more than anybody else. Let's just hope he gets his academic issue figured out and is able to stick around.

Jake has publicly stated they were aware of the academic redshirt issue from day 1. He said that at media day. People saw the word suspension and decided to ignore anything else on it.

It is exactly what I said about Croft not even getting a chance before people are writing him off.

[CyCarp]

Jake has publicly stated they were aware of the academic redshirt issue from day 1. He said that at media day. People saw the word suspension and decided to ignore anything else on it.

It is exactly what I said about Croft not even getting a chance before people are writing him off.

I'll agree with you on people talking about him never seeing the floor when they first heard about him being ineligible. That was ridiculous, but I think the suspension is different. A lot of us didn't see the entire press conference, and I haven't seen a single article that fully explained the situation - and I've read probably 5 articles from Media Day. We made the assumption that he was able to practice with the team with the academic redshirt. I still think it was a reasonable assumption, since a normal redshirt is allowed to practice. It never even occurred to me that this would be considered a suspension. I've never heard of an instance where a kid wasn't allowed to practice, even with incoming kids - below is an article about an academically ineligible freshman at Colorado who was able to practice. At the end of the day, I'll admit hearing suspension made me think something else had happened, I'm glad to be wrong though.

http://www.buffzone.com/mensbasketba...-cu-basketball

[clenz]

There are two types of non qualifier due to academics. the rule, and link to the rule book has been posted in our forum pretty recently


Unless something else comes out about Croft, which I guess is possible as I don’t follow him around campus all day every day - or ever - I’m done with the topic, and will focus on the players who will see the court this year.

[sevelev711]

Alright, let's change the subject from a guy who's going to redshirt this year to the upcoming team. What do you all think of what Jacobson said/implied about going up tempo on offense, while still trying to do stall ball on defense? If it works, it'll be something that they write about in history books. Problem is that it's really hard to flip tempo from possession to possession, and it could turn into a track meet pretty quickly. It sounds like the kind of strategy that will turn every game into a game of runs, some for UNI, some for the opponents. What do you guys think?

[clenz]

Stall ball defense?

wut?

[sevelev711]

Stall ball defense?

wut?

Whatever you want to call it, the pack line variation that we use. My point is that the current defensive style isn't typically thought to mesh well with the offensive style that Jacobson apparently wants to bring to the table.

[in_the_stands]

IIRC, last time Jake talked about going up-tempo when we had Deon and Wes in '13-'14, the results weren't what was hoped for (16-15). The season after that, when we went back to more of a half-court game, was better But all different faces now except for Lohaus, so we'll see.

[Neighbor]

Whatever you want to call it, the pack line variation that we use. My point is that the current defensive style isn't typically thought to mesh well with the offensive style that Jacobson apparently wants to bring to the table.

two completely different things. They key to look for is, do we send a guard in to rebound every shot or does everyone retreat for defense? If we have no one crashing the boards it will be the same type of system.

[sevelev711]

two completely different things. They key to look for is, do we send a guard in to rebound every shot or does everyone retreat for defense? If we have no one crashing the boards it will be the same type of system.

Well we certainly got a guy to take care of the former, and based on his production last year and the way Jacobson was talking on Wednesday seems to imply that it's the option they're going to go with.

[BCPanther]

I think a lot of us are confusing tempo with efficiency.

The reason the uptempo didn't work is because we had very inefficient guards so more possessions were a bad thing. AJ and Ty are very efficient offensive players as are Berhow and Phyfe. I actually think this will work just fine and we won't have to sacrifice defense.

[kochrab]

I think a lot of us are confusing tempo with efficiency.

The reason the uptempo didn't work is because we had very inefficient guards so more possessions were a bad thing. AJ and Ty are very efficient offensive players as are Berhow and Phyfe. I actually think this will work just fine and we won't have to sacrifice defense.

Nailed it. You could have the fastest, most athletic players in all of college bball, but if they can't produce it doesn't matter. This team seems built for speed and scoring. Should be interesting to see if it pans out that way.

[ronfitch]

Nice writeup about AJ in the Register on Friday:

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/sports/college/northern-iowa/uni-panthers/2018/10/17/northern-iowa-panthers-basketball-aj-green-ben-jacobson/1669935002/

Love this quote:

“This is what I’ve wanted to do since I was little,” AJ said. “Ali (Farokhmanesh) was on Sports Illustrated. I want to be like that someday. It’s exciting and motivating to know that I’m here now and can make it happen. It’s not going to come easy, but it’s really cool."

[sevelev711]

Mizzou's best player is out for the year with an ACL injury. The makeup of the Paradise Jam changes quite a bit with that, though UNI wouldn't feel its effects until the third day.

[BCPanther]

Mizzou's best player is out for the year with an ACL injury. The makeup of the Paradise Jam changes quite a bit with that, though UNI wouldn't feel its effects until the third day.

Saw that and it probably makes ODU the favorite on that side of the bracket. That Missouri team wasn't deep to start with and they just lost their best player.

Penn remains the key to our entire non-conference schedule. A loss to them and we end up with a 300+ game down there which doesn't do us any good.