Putting the puzzle together

[JackJD]

I'm in Minneapolis for Christmas, watching a DVD-R of the SDSU v Minnesota men's game. I had only listened to the game on the radio when it was played. I'm impressed by what I'm seeing in the second half. We allowed ourselves to be buried in the first half primarily because the ball just would not go in the hoop. Even so, we did some things nicely.

In several games we have lost, we have moments when we play well. In the Minnesota game, we had minutes, not moments, when we played well. We played most of the Iowa State game well.

I think the puzzle is getting put together and I continue to be optimistic.

Even though I know how the Minnesota game turned out, I'm still sitting here with 7 minutes left and we're down by 7, thinking we may pull this one out. How's that for an optimist.

Just watched the really bad charging call at about 6:30 against Garrett Calahan. Wow, really a bad call. There's another one coming up, too.

Dang, there it is. 5:53 left. Kai clearly gets shoved out of bounds by Nolan...even the announcers call it correctly, BUT, the ref calls out of bounds.

Anyway, my point is this: This team is getting it together and the Iowa State game proved it. Just in time for the Summit League.

[zooropa]

Re: Putting the puzzle together

I'm still sitting here with 7 minutes left and we're down by 7, thinking we may pull this one out. How's that for an optimist.

That doesn't make you an optimist, it makes you Norwegian (remember Ole betting on the instant replay of Jan Stenrud's missed chip shot? "No way he misses that twice in a row!")

But seriously, I think the Iowa State game, the UNI game, and the Cal State-Bakersfield games were each, in their way, necessary for the development of this team:

Cal State: They proved to themselves that they could beat an overmatched team (one they should've beat last year).

Northern Iowa: They learned that they can't take any nights 'off'. I would suspect the players, knowing they beat UNI last year, had entirely the wrong attitude toward this game going into it.

Iowa State: They proved to themselves that what the simple stuff Nagy's been drilling them on all year (rebounds, steals, ball movement) works as long as you don't let up.

---

Of those three games, I'm willing to call the Iowa State game a 'signature' win because it, more than the Cal State-Bakersfield game, can be used by this team as a reference for the rest of the season and even into next. They can say "We did this in Ames and it worked."---Find the open man, hustle for rebounds, hustle for loose balls, create turnovers. Work the fundamentals...

[joeboo22]

Re: Putting the puzzle together

I don't like Puzzles.... they make my head hurt....

[ringthebells]

Re: Putting the puzzle together

I don't like Puzzles.... they make my head hurt....

That's the eggnog!

[jack43]

Re: Putting the puzzle together

JD,

I'd like to make mention one other jigsaw piece that seems to be lacking. While I only watched the Oral Roberts game this season, the impression that I left with that night was that the 'bits' were a very talented team that could shoot and keep themselves in games, but they were missing a key component: hustle. Although Oral Roberts was probably more athletic and talented, we could have one that game had we not got drastically outrebounded and out-hustled. To me, our players seemed to be going through the motions and were robotic. Besides Dale Moss, there was definetely a lack of emotion on the floor. I heard the same thing from another alum that attended the Denver U game. What this team I think needs more than anything right now is a player similar to Cody Volmer or Andy Moeller who seem to invigorate energy into the squad. If we can do that, we could be a scary opponent every night.

[JackJD]

Re: Putting the puzzle together

There were lots of minutes of hustle in the Minnesota game. While I did not see the Iowa State game, I thought I was listening to lots of hustle on the radio play-by-play. I think we're seeing it come together. Will it be there every game? It's possible. Likely? Beats me! At least it's possible.