Game 2: UNI vs Vermont

[PantherAlum09]

My buddy ruined the score of this game for me as I had to try and watch a replay later that night. I decided to watch anyway against my better judgement.

- The offense looked better in the first half... but it still wasn't good.
- We have 4-5 guys who can shoot higher than 30-35% from 3 on this team at least. This offense where Phyfe stands at the top of the key allows for back cuts and our guards to roll to the basket but is that really the strength of our guards? We lack the athleticism to make quality use of this style. I just don't get it
- Our shooters just are not open very much outside. I think much of that is a product of the offense we run. Defenses aren't really threatened by any of our guards driving to the basket outside of Kimmons... but he's maybe 6' and out of control most of the time.

As for the defense... These slower rotations were a thing last year as well, and Phyfe and any other big we have in the game extend way too far on the perimeter and lose their guy. Then the rest of the guys scramble and there's eventually an open 3. We are either too slow to run this style of defense or too lazy. Neither seems sustainable.

I love this school and this team, but this was my one fear with the non-conference (and we haven't even hit the meat of it, yet) that we would start slow and lose some confidence.

Jacobson is going to really have to show some coaching chops here and make some serious adjustments if we are going to start playing better. Understand your personnel and style your offense and defense towards the strength of that personnel. Great coaches adjust to their rosters.

[skydog0784]

I'd rather have Kimmons at PG breaking down the defense and getting some offensive flow going. Yea, it's definitely at the expense of turnovers but I can live with that rather than a non-existent offensive flow. IMO, those TO's aren't totally on Kimmons either, the other 4 players weren't aggressively cutting to the rack or open seams to give Kimmons and outlet pass either; as I recall.

Our offense is so predictable and stagnant. Posting up Phyfe is very effective with the occasional flash to the key can't be our only offensive scheme. If that breaks down, we're reduced to chucking it from downtown - generally speaking.

That will free up Green to focus on shooting coming off of off-ball screens and flashing to open seams within an offensive flow; that's where he flourishes. I'd have him as backup PG and only until Born returns and then have Green off-the-ball exclusively.

[Alum 99']

Honestly I'm sick of hearing the rusty crap...it's not like they haven't been playing and practicing a lot lately.....I think it's just a fans way of making excuses...there are kids playing football this year at a high level that did not play as a senior in highschool

[sivert]

Well, I am super disappointed by this start, obviously.
Thoughts:

AJ and Kimmons are very rusty. This is the biggest silver lining. The rust will come off. Both are far better players than this - they just both say out a year.

Phyfe played only half the second half vs Vermont.

We are not defending - especially from 3pt. Vermont’s 3pt% was way higher on their non contested 3s.

I don’t understand the Flow offense. I mean I genuinely do not know what we’re trying to do.
- It seems like every time we drive down, cross midline, dribble around to the shoulder 3pt area, then pass it back to the top. Which spends 5-10 seconds and gets us nowhere. Sometimes we do that two or three times.
- Nothing we do on the outside draws a double team, so yes we pass the ball a lot, but not to an open shooter because there’s never (hardly ever) an open shooter.

Ok, so as I wrote this, I realize that what were lacking is Kwadzo, Dion, Wes, etc. We need guys to drive in and make defenses move. And I realize the rusty and injured PGs are perhaps the key problems.

[BrockLesnar]

Smart move by Vermont’s coach to go small. Jake loves playing five guards even though we get demolished 70 percent of the time playing small. So we got suckered into benching our all-conference big man and actual scoring threat because somehow he becomes a liability when a 6-4 guy is covering him. So now Betz at 6-6 must be considered too big to play so he sits like McDonnell, Dahl as if there is a permanent big man’s doghouse at the end of the bench.

I agree. There needs to be times where Betz or Carter should be playing the post. This will happen frequently in MVC play. Speed has taken over the pro level for many seasons and has to an extent done the same to the college,
, high school, and middle school levels.

[Leatherhelmet]

Smart move by Vermont’s coach to go small. Jake loves playing five guards even though we get demolished 70 percent of the time playing small. So we got suckered into benching our all-conference big man and actual scoring threat because somehow he becomes a liability when a 6-4 guy is covering him. So now Betz at 6-6 must be considered too big to play so he sits like McDonnell, Dahl as if there is a permanent big man’s doghouse at the end of the bench.

[UNIpanther99]

UNI's style of play is tolerable when winning --- but absolutely miserable when losing. With Eldon we were up and we were down. Even in a down year it could be fun.

The prospect of two down years of meat-grinder basketball in a row is nauseating.

[1994grad]

I was also wondering about Betz and why he didn't play.

[BCPanther]

I have been a donor for awhile now, but I am not giving any more money to the athletic program until something changes on both the football and basketball fronts. I was disappointed (but not surprised) at the ISU loss over the weekend, but what put me over the edge was the eighth grade basketball team they put on the floor this week. Our program hasn't been relevant since the Texas A&M meltdown 5 years ago. Since then, Jake has posted exactly one winning season, yet we are paying him nearly 1 million dollars a year? We can buy losing seasons for a lot less. I appreciate what Jake has done for the basketball program, but I think he may have peaked and it might be time to move on.

Recruiting is the biggest problem in my opinion. Jake just announced on Twitter that he signed another kid from Cedar Falls High School. I get that our recruiting budget is probably smaller than other schools, but signing another kid from Cedar Falls just looks downright lazy to me. Even AJ, who was supposed to light the program up, has been a dud for the most part. I like the kid a lot but he hasn't produced. I lost count of how many free throws he missed last night. We need to look outside the state for talent and start using the transfer portal more, as ISU has successfully done in the past. The days of having home-grown kids on campus for all five years of their career is over and we need to keep up with the times. We need to take some risks on kids from bigger schools who couldn't quite make it into a P5 lineup but still want to play.

The team in its current form is not disappointing. It's embarrassing.

I don't hate most of this post but the bolded is a big ol' whiff.

Freshman of the Year, Player of the Year, 2x All Conference, Regular Season Title, NIT bid at worst for the postseason that was canceled, just shy of 1200 points in 2 years.

I have no earthly idea what more anyone could have expected from him unless he was somehow magically able to heal his own hips by the power of gray skull.

As for the recruiting of Cedar Falls, Campbell is a great get, going to be a really nice player here and a little different than we've had before. Courbat and Wolf, yeah, jury is definitely still out on those two.

[QCPanther05]

I have been a donor for awhile now, but I am not giving any more money to the athletic program until something changes on both the football and basketball fronts. I was disappointed (but not surprised) at the ISU loss over the weekend, but what put me over the edge was the eighth grade basketball team they put on the floor this week. Our program hasn't been relevant since the Texas A&M meltdown 5 years ago. Since then, Jake has posted exactly one winning season, yet we are paying him nearly 1 million dollars a year? We can buy losing seasons for a lot less. I appreciate what Jake has done for the basketball program, but I think he may have peaked and it might be time to move on.

Recruiting is the biggest problem in my opinion. Jake just announced on Twitter that he signed another kid from Cedar Falls High School. I get that our recruiting budget is probably smaller than other schools, but signing another kid from Cedar Falls just looks downright lazy to me. Even AJ, who was supposed to light the program up, has been a dud for the most part. I like the kid a lot but he hasn't produced. I lost count of how many free throws he missed last night. We need to look outside the state for talent and start using the transfer portal more, as ISU has successfully done in the past. The days of having home-grown kids on campus for all five years of their career is over and we need to keep up with the times. We need to take some risks on kids from bigger schools who couldn't quite make it into a P5 lineup but still want to play.

The team in its current form is not disappointing. It's embarrassing.

[Mill1634]

It wouldn't have made a difference in regards to a win or loss yesterday, but I was surprised to see no James Betz yesterday. I like the way he plays, and I know Tuttle is a big fan. Seems like he fell out of the rotation for some reason, especially with Phyfe sitting as much as he did which surprised me. The lack of another true big on this roster outside of Phyfe is an absolute killer.

When Vermont went small in the 2nd half, which they did for like 15 minutes, it would've made sense to bring Betz in as he can keep up athletically with a small ball 5, but can still do some things down low on offense. Plus, I doubt Vermont was going to double Betz like they were doing to Phyfe everytime he got a post touch.

[1994grad]

Phyfe was struggling with the double teams at the top of the key in the second half and had a few turnovers and for whatever reason our coaching staff simply gave up on him in the second and put him on the bench. It's mind boggling that he was 4-4 in the first and we never found him inside again in the second or that we didn't do something that exposed their over rotation to him and made them pay with someone else getting looks.

Vermont was playing small much of the night so it looked like Phyfe could have dominated more than he did. I have been very impressed with his play, we just need to use him more. Maybe it is a conditioning issue too.

[UNIAlum95]

I have been very impressed with Phyfe, but have wondered why seems to not be on the court or scoring as much during the second half. This just is an observation, and I may be wrong on this. I was also happy with AJ's scoring last night and felt that he had the opportunity for quite a bit more, didn't seem to shoot as much as he did in years past.

Phyfe was struggling with the double teams at the top of the key in the second half and had a few turnovers and for whatever reason our coaching staff simply gave up on him in the second and put him on the bench. It's mind boggling that he was 4-4 in the first and we never found him inside again in the second or that we didn't do something that exposed their over rotation to him and made them pay with someone else getting looks.

[1994grad]

I was at both games and I am disappointed as well, but then again, I am not as negative about our future as most of the people posting. I do realize these losses impact our at large bid, but I still have hope for improvement. After watching last night, there was no doubt Vermont was the better team. They seemed to win with ease. I am very excited to have Bowen back in the line up soon. I think he will help draw some attention from the defense to open up shots for AJ and Berhow.

I am wondering if Jake is second guessing all of the five and five play they have done in practice now that we have not played well during the first two games.

I have been very impressed with Phyfe, but have wondered why seems to not be on the court or scoring as much during the second half. This just is an observation, and I may be wrong on this. I was also happy with AJ's scoring last night and felt that he had the opportunity for quite a bit more, didn't seem to shoot as much as he did in years past.

Hopefully we can continue to clean up our turnovers, make more free throws and have get Born with 15 plus points a game in the very near future.

[UNIAlum95]

I would venture that it would be a mistake to undershirt our three true Freshman in terms of the big picture. No season ending injuries occurred. We sink or swim with the 11 experience players. However, our at large chance would have a loss limit. I'd say about 8 losses on selection Sunday. So, we now, need to go 16-2 in MVC play to realistically be at 8 losses at the end. Early losses always add maximum pressure.

I don't see a conceivable way you pull a redshirt without injury. It just makes no sense. You have enough bodies, you have enough experience, the coaches have to get their crap together and get it organized on the court.