December 18, 6:00 PM vs Illinois-Chicago (-5.5/138.5) on ESPN3

[jamminjamarsmiley]

See man, see ball.

50 years ago I remember my Jr high coach saying that all the time.
Too bad I couldn't move my feet quick enough to get it done!!

Well in KF Case foot quickness had nothing to do with it... you might have provided better help side d there!!!

 

[bombay]

I didn’t notice if anyone else posted this or not but my lord, that was maybe the worst crowd I’ve seen at Redbird in my years going. There may have been smaller crowds but it was absolutely silent most of the game. There was no crowd response trying to encourage the team to come back or trying to show energy when UIC took over in the second half. Don’t interpret this as me blaming the fans this was 100% a result of the product in the court. I hope that Dietz and some of the board was there last night to see how bad things have really gotten. If there isn’t a change soon with this program that is the future of all the home games.

The Broncos, who have sold out every game for 40 years had 19,000 (looked more like 25,000) no shows for their last home game. People can watch every game on their 65" TVs and play on their phones at home. Drink their own beer. Alabama doesn't sell out football games anymore. Unless you're selling a kick-ass product, people are staying home in droves. At best, ISU is in a transition season.

 

[Redbirdfan06]

I didn’t notice if anyone else posted this or not but my lord, that was maybe the worst crowd I’ve seen at Redbird in my years going. There may have been smaller crowds but it was absolutely silent most of the game. There was no crowd response trying to encourage the team to come back or trying to show energy when UIC took over in the second half. Don’t interpret this as me blaming the fans this was 100% a result of the product in the court. I hope that Dietz and some of the board was there last night to see how bad things have really gotten. If there isn’t a change soon with this program that is the future of all the home games.

The Broncos, who have sold out every game for 40 years had 19,000 (looked more like 25,000) no shows for their last home game. People can watch every game on their 65" TVs and play on their phones at home. Drink their own beer. Alabama doesn't sell out football games anymore. Unless you're selling a kick-ass product, people are staying home in droves. At best, ISU is in a transition season.

No, it’s a concern and I bet that the athletic department is aware. This isn’t just a transition season. There is interest being completely lost in this program. And comparing it to the Broncos is a terrible comparison. What has that team done since they won the Super Bowl? People lose interest in bad products on the field or court and that’s why fans aren’t flocking to the games.

 

[bombay]

Its good to have high expectations, I guess. The fact is that the Redbirds have been to 2 NCAA tournaments since Rick Lamb & Hank Cornley played in '84-'85. Thirty-five years ago. Both tournament teams were Kevin Stallings' teams in the late nineties. I hope no one holds their breath until ISU ponies up for a miracle-worker coach, because the deck is more stacked against mid-majors now than then. I'm fine with moving on from Muller, and hope they can find that miracle worker. If only they could hire the first African-American head coach in D1 history, who could bring in some All American players.

 

[Redbird Alum 2004]

I am hoping right now that Dan feels like the players have been beat down by losses to the point that he doesn’t want to pile on much. That being said, in the post game show, He said that the Redbirds were getting good shots, they just weren’t going down - I have to disagree. Other than interior work on the block by Rey and Fisher, there were a lot of 20 foot fall away runners and those are not good shots for most teams and especially a team with one consistent shooter, Copeland. Even for him, those are difficult shots that he is not going to make all the time. I can’t believe if you watch the film that you would see most shots coming from shooters that were squared up and unchallenged- those are the “good shots” that guards should be making the 1rst pass & 2nd pass to get and also give us the ability to rebound. I do think this team will continue to improve. Horne and Reeves both made plays and appear ready to take additional minutes at point and 2 spot. I thought Fisher played his best game of year. If Birds figure out that at this D1 level, you can’t take plays off at either end, they can be competitive, if not it will be a long conference season.

Agree 100%. We take horrendous shots on offense. Last night UIC has no post players. They were one of the weakest teams in the country.

One time we run a ball screen, they switch, Fisher is posting up a 5'9" guard. Instead of throwing it in to him we chuck up a contested 3.

We were lucky that UIC is an awful shooting team. They had some wide open looks they missed. The one kid airballed back to back wide open 3's. Also, if they make layups and dunks we get blown out.

Great analysis! If UIC makes all of their shots then we get blown out. I agree we would have. Also if we hit our 3's like normal they get blown out. Huh weird how that works.

 

[Brick]

I am hoping right now that Dan feels like the players have been beat down by losses to the point that he doesn’t want to pile on much. That being said, in the post game show, He said that the Redbirds were getting good shots, they just weren’t going down - I have to disagree. Other than interior work on the block by Rey and Fisher, there were a lot of 20 foot fall away runners and those are not good shots for most teams and especially a team with one consistent shooter, Copeland. Even for him, those are difficult shots that he is not going to make all the time. I can’t believe if you watch the film that you would see most shots coming from shooters that were squared up and unchallenged- those are the “good shots” that guards should be making the 1rst pass & 2nd pass to get and also give us the ability to rebound. I do think this team will continue to improve. Horne and Reeves both made plays and appear ready to take additional minutes at point and 2 spot. I thought Fisher played his best game of year. If Birds figure out that at this D1 level, you can’t take plays off at either end, they can be competitive, if not it will be a long conference season.

Agree 100%. We take horrendous shots on offense. Last night UIC has no post players. They were one of the weakest teams in the country.

One time we run a ball screen, they switch, Fisher is posting up a 5'9" guard. Instead of throwing it in to him we chuck up a contested 3.

We were lucky that UIC is an awful shooting team. They had some wide open looks they missed. The one kid airballed back to back wide open 3's. Also, if they make layups and dunks we get blown out.

Great analysis! If UIC makes all of their shots then we get blown out. I agree we would have. Also if we hit our 3's like normal they get blown out. Huh weird how that works.

Now this is really good!

 

[Bird Friend]

Seems to me that if we looked at some of the best games ISU has ever played, we could find a play here or a play there in which someone missed a defensive assignment, was momentarily selfish and took a shot rather than dumping the ball down low or kicking it back out, committed a stupid foul.

Fisher missed a defensive help assignment. Doesn't mean he sucked for that game. A player missed dishing to Fisher for a mismatch. Doesn't mean he sucked for the game. Sometimes guys are distracted by what the guy they're defending is doing and lose sight of the ball. Sometimes guys can't see the whole floor because the defender blocks their view. Or maybe the offensive player isn't sure about the pass getting to its target, so they don't make the pass. Gotta quick cherry-picking singular plays and calling it the norm.

This team was averaging 21 treys/game, but only took 14. So, obviously, they were moving the ball inside more than normal during this game. And guess what . . . they're two bigs scored 32 pts between them. The team had at least 40 points in the paint, basically 2/3 of their scoring. When's the last time that happened?

No, we didn't play well, as a team. We struggled to get things going offensively, partially because Horne and Copeland didn't have the best shooting nites. Partially because UIC was overplaying the 3 on D. But we did score the final 11 points of the game. And Copeland did hit the final shot. Should we have been in that position? No. But we were and the team came through. How often has that happened in the past 20 years? Are we a success now? No . . . we're not . . . yet . . .

Am I happy with our play? No. Am I happy we won? Yep. Is someone going to take something I said to prove their point about how bad we are or how bad we played? Definitely. C'est la vie.

 

[Chicagobirdfan]

Agree 100%. We take horrendous shots on offense. Last night UIC has no post players. They were one of the weakest teams in the country.

One time we run a ball screen, they switch, Fisher is posting up a 5'9" guard. Instead of throwing it in to him we chuck up a contested 3.

We were lucky that UIC is an awful shooting team. They had some wide open looks they missed. The one kid airballed back to back wide open 3's. Also, if they make layups and dunks we get blown out.

Great analysis! If UIC makes all of their shots then we get blown out. I agree we would have. Also if we hit our 3's like normal they get blown out. Huh weird how that works.

Now this is really good!

Never thought of it that way!