Northern Iowa - 12/31/2022 - 2:00 PM - Marquee

[RedbirdSoxFan]

Born is in his 3rd year in the UNI system. He’s not a sophomore like UNI claims.

Covid year.

 

[BirdGrad2011]

Covid year.

I know but every other school like ourselves list guys their actual year. He’s a Junior. He just has potentially 2 more years.

 

[Popsto4]

Lol...I was about ready to reply the same thing. Did OP just label Born as a "role player"?? Born is a top 3 guard in the MVC, if not #1.

Lol yes I did label Born as a roll player in this sense. He’s a helluva ball player. His skill set is definitely on display. He have a deep bag offensively. The things he does we have kids trying to do, our kids aren’t there. So why not sell them into more specific rolls is my point?

 

[CaliRdBrd]

IF I was Pedon in my first year trying to rebuild a program, I would run the system I want to run and start putting the pieces where they fit best long term. You can make small compromises but stick to your plan with conviction. You will know

1. What talent needs to be retained
2. What talent needs to be brought in
3. If your plan needs to be tweeked

If Liam, Luke, Mal, and Darius are the future of the team, then play them primarily where you see them being successful in your system long term. If Liam is a piece that causes mismatches and potential feature in your program, then start defining that role within your system. I know he hurt is ankle against Eastern Michigan but why is he not starting against UIC if he is that person? If you see Mal as a shooting guard running off screens, then play him there.

The other pieces plug accordingly ..
But within your system. If you need a big than put the one that's fits your system the best and recruit the talent for long-term success.

Instead we just seem to keep rotating pieces during games and as starters. Schmidt plays well and then he starts. Sissoko doesn't play the entire year and plays well against SIUE and he starts. Sandage plays 5 minutes one game, the next game plays well off the bench and then he starts sending Poindexter to the bench. Liam doesnt start against UIC ... his ankle looked fine that game. Lewis plays poorly against UIC and he doesnt start against UNI. We have played 15 games and it feels like we are still experimenting versus working towards a plan. I think most fans are realistic about this year and more concern about the long term sucess. I think the coach is too but I think he is probably sacricing long term success trying to achieve some small success this year.

I know the message has been be ready when your number is called, but if injury or fouls are not dictating extented rotstions, it could also be interpreted as lack of confidence in those that are playing. 9 - 11 players in the first half is way too much for this part of the season.

A lot of rambling here on my part.

If I’m Pedon, I’m drinking…heavily.

 

[Popsto4]

I believe we have a PG coming who will fill the bill, maybe not next year, but definitely coming. I believe we have a post coming who will fill the bill, definitely not next year, but eventually. I believe we have a wing coming who will fill the bill, probably not next year, but eventually. We have a stretch-4 who can spread the D, but he needs to add strength/muscle. We do not have a sniper, a spot up shooter (yes, Mal might be one and Luke might be one, but I’m not yet convinced). Burford is a slasher who needs to improve his 3-pt shooting to make slashing more effective. We do not have a defensive stopper.

As I said about this team: “We play hard, but we play dumb. Frankly, there's nobody on this team willing to be THE leader on the floor. We have nobody on this team that can take over a game. We have nobody on this team we can count on to be the defensive stopper. We throw soft passes, dribble high, and run soft screens . . . and nobody knows how to use a screen to get open.”

Recruiting-wise . . . We need a good ready-to-play post player with 2+ years of eligibility. If Pedon wants to run the offense thru the post, we need a guy who fills that role. We need a true PG for next year who can fill the gap to Kinziger. Pedon also needs to decide if he wants to commit to competing next year or committing to rebuild the program with a look to the following year.

I‘d be fine with losing or releasing Petrakis, Kotov, Schmitt, and Sissoko. The first three have shown me nothing I feel can’t be replaced with much better. I love Sissoko, but he just cannot figure out how to play D. UNI ate him alive on the defensive side. Athleticism can only take him so far.

If I’m going to be really honest, Cheese is the only player on the roster I would hate to lose after this season. I believe the rest of our players are “easily” replaceable.

I believe 2 of the 3 signees so far can be really good. To expect a true first year player to step in and contribute as far as running the point can be a stretch. If finding a proven pg through the portal works I believe that’s the best option. We need guys with high basketball IQ. I hear lots of things that raise my brows honestly. There is a problem brewing in within this group. It needs to be addressed.

 

[Tpguy]

College coaches aren't in the business of keeping everybody happy

 

[Aggie]

This is not in anyway a knock on the current ISU roster, but sometimes you got the great talent and other times your talent is not the best in the league. Some years getting the most out of what one has is all we should expect.
I have a good friend who has coached at different times high school football, basketball and junior high basketball. The team he was most proud of only won 7 games in high school basketball. He still believes the talent level was at zero wins. He also says it was one of, if not the most difficult year coaching. The thing he was most proud of and why he ranks that team so high is because the kids had tremendous hearts. They played as hard as they could, as smart as they could and as a team.
And I will add I have followed those kids on later in life and they all are pretty successful.

As a coach, and this is just my opinion, you have to at times adjust your approach, adjust your system and make it fit what you have in front of you. And, try to appeal to them to get as much out of them as they can do. As long as they play hard, work hard and do as best as they can, I will ask and expect no more.

We are what we are and it may take awhile to get out of the cellar, but as long as ISU basketball ball keeps heading up and trying to improve I will be satisfied with the results

Sorry rant over.

 

[Popsto4]

This is not in anyway a knock on the current ISU roster, but sometimes you got the great talent and other times your talent is not the best in the league. Some years getting the most out of what one has is all we should expect.
I have a good friend who has coached at different times high school football, basketball and junior high basketball. The team he was most proud of only won 7 games in high school basketball. He still believes the talent level was at zero wins. He also says it was one of, if not the most difficult year coaching. The thing he was most proud of and why he ranks that team so high is because the kids had tremendous hearts. They played as hard as they could, as smart as they could and as a team.
And I will add I have followed those kids on later in life and they all are pretty successful.

As a coach, and this is just my opinion, you have to at times adjust your approach, adjust your system and make it fit what you have in front of you. And, try to appeal to them to get as much out of them as they can do. As long as they play hard, work hard and do as best as they can, I will ask and expect no more.

We are what we are and it may take awhile to get out of the cellar, but as long as ISU basketball ball keeps heading up and trying to improve I will be satisfied with the results

Sorry rant over.

That’s not a rant at all and very understandable. I see the team as better than they themselves think they are. Turnovers will happen in this game. The key is to limit them as a collective group. It’s not as hard to fix as it seem to be either. It’s an old saying that you can never have too many ball handlers, I believe that’s all bull. I see this team having too man which is hard for some to see because there is not one true pg out there. Limit the pounding of the rock from our undersized bigs beyond the free throw line and there will be probably be 4 to 6 less turnovers per game. There is no way any big should be at or near the top in turnovers on a basketball team at this level. The bulk of turnovers should be coming from other positions as they should be handling the rock more. I like your post. That Coach seem to have plain and simple human feelings as we all should.

 

[DaveBird10]

As everyone has said not having a true point guard hurts but its not the end all be all. Tthey have shown the ability to not turn it over its just the repeated turnovers and repeated silly mistakes that get hard to watch consistently. If we cut our turnovers in half and just make our layups then we could win these close games.
We have good shooters but a friend sent me a statistic that we are currently 10th in the mvc in 2pt field goal percentage and a lot of those shots are layups or shots in the lane that we aren't converting. I realize you aren't going to make every shot or layup but we seem to miss far too many.
I have said this year don't take any shortcuts and try to stay on a path that Pedon envisions. We weren't going to turn this around with a 1st year head coach and guys learning new roles on a new team/system but stay the course and establish an identity. This team might not be the team that will get us over the hump but they could establish an identity for the next few years with the new kids coming in that will eventually lead us where we want to go as a program.
My only knocks on Pedon is not a consistent lineup or rotation, my 5 would be Mal, Burford, Luke, Lewis and Liam with a bench of Sandage, Knight, Sissoko and Kotov/Johnson depending on the game or situation. Petrakis I like but it seems like the last month of the season he comes in and they run a pick and pop where he settles for the 3 and then Pedon takes him out right after, the last few games we can all call that's going to happen right when Petrakis comes in. Then as we don't have a true post that coach Pedon wants I wondered why some guys stuck around with Schmidt, Kotov and Andrews were still around if they aren't the bigs that fits Pedon's style. I love that those guys are giving effort and such but if they didn't fit why are they here. I feel with Mal, Burford, Luke and Liam if we surround them with a few bigs that post up, you are then able put Liam in a true 4 spot instead of playing out of position then that is all it would take for us to improve greatly for next year, but don't turn corners keep on doing the same stuff that he envisions regardless how difficult it might be.

 

[Popsto4]

That lineup is one that I want to see as week honestly, with Sissoko sprinkled in with more minutes if he can not put himself into foul trouble. It have to be extremely hard on Pedon as it’s his first head coach job. If we can get more rolling to the rim from Liam in the high pick and roll would work wonders on the offensive end as well. There’s just not enough action in that set at the top of the key. I do believe that lineup will have less turnovers as well

 

[Redbird28]

My thing is every shot isn’t a good shot. Too many of these kids take bad shots. If that’s not being pointed out then it won’t change. Luke and Mal need to be on the floor more and the rotation needs to be reeled in. We’re losing close games way too often. Once again Batman needs a Robbin. Who’s our Batman when we’re loaded with Robbins?

We had a Batman, but he plays for Kentucky now. We also had a PG, but he plays for Arizona State now. That said, there's no sense in lamenting who is no longer here.

Pedon needs to figure out a way to make this work, and that starts with putting the players that are on the roster right now in the best position to succeed.

They also need to figure out their defense, because it was highly suspect on Saturday, and somehow we still managed to only lose by 6 points. Convert the 3 missed bunnies down the stretch and it could've been a different outcome.

Anyway, from where I sat in the student for a day section it was pretty clear that the first things we need to do are to fix the defense and cut the turnovers in half.

 

[Aggie]

That’s not a rant at all and very understandable. I see the team as better than they themselves think they are. Turnovers will happen in this game. The key is to limit them as a collective group. It’s not as hard to fix as it seem to be either. It’s an old saying that you can never have too many ball handlers, I believe that’s all bull. I see this team having too man which is hard for some to see because there is not one true pg out there. Limit the pounding of the rock from our undersized bigs beyond the free throw line and there will be probably be 4 to 6 less turnovers per game. There is no way any big should be at or near the top in turnovers on a basketball team at this level. The bulk of turnovers should be coming from other positions as they should be handling the rock more. I like your post. That Coach seem to have plain and simple human feelings as we all should.

He worked for me for eleven plus years. His favorite saying was “if we cannot do the little things right, how do you expect to do the big things”

 

[Popsto4]

He worked for me for eleven plus years. His favorite saying was “if we cannot do the little things right, how do you expect to do the big things”

I like the guy by his words and don’t even know him. It sound like he have values for life figured out kudos to him and hope he is doing well.

 

[Popsto4]

We had a Batman, but he plays for Kentucky now. We also had a PG, but he plays for Arizona State now. That said, there's no sense in lamenting who is no longer here.

Pedon needs to figure out a way to make this work, and that starts with putting the players that are on the roster right now in the best position to succeed.

They also need to figure out their defense, because it was highly suspect on Saturday, and somehow we still managed to only lose by 6 points. Convert the 3 missed bunnies down the stretch and it could've been a different outcome.

Anyway, from where I sat in the student for a day section it was pretty clear that the first things we need to do are to fix the defense and cut the turnovers in half.

I think we’re playing pretty hard on defense, of course it need to get better. They just need to figure out a way to compete for 40 minutes. Falling behind is always an uphill battle from that point. Pedon is doing well for what he have in this team. The players themselves also need to start holding teammates accountable for missed defensive assignments and turning it over. If they could cut the turnovers in half I bet the record would be somewhere around 10-5 right now. That’s on the players to do themselves. Just gotta be smarter and stronger with the ball is all it takes.

 

[Aggie]

I like the guy by his words and don’t even know him. It sound like he have values for life figured out kudos to him and hope he is doing well.

He is retired enjoying life and helping his son as an assistant coach during high school football season

 

[Hamdonger]

If we can get more rolling to the rim from Liam in the high pick and roll would work wonders on the offensive end as well.

100%. If Liam could operate a little more often and a little more effectively from 15 feet in...that duality opens everything up and our season turns the corner.

 

[Hamdonger]

He worked for me for eleven plus years. His favorite saying was “if we cannot do the little things right, how do you expect to do the big things”

When Ryan came in...the first thing he talked about was keeping simple concepts simple and more than anything...doing the little things right.

 

[Hamdonger]

They just need to figure out a way to compete for 40 minutes. Falling behind is always an uphill battle from that point.

This alone...we'd probably have 3 or 4 more wins. If we could consistently come out quicker, this year would look a lot better now and the next 2 months.

 

[Bird Friend]

College coaches aren't in the business of keeping everybody happy

But you were in the business of hoping people were crappy, amirite?

 

[Redbird28]

At the end of the game - yes I stayed until the final horn - the entire team got together at midcourt and looked down to our end. It was super awkward, but I think what they were doing was waiting for the pep band to play the school song and they were going to sing it? Unfortunately for them the band had already packed it in and they were having none of it. So, the team just kind of sauntered off towards the locker room.

Is Pedon trying to get them to sing it after every game regardless of a W or L? If so, they might want to get the band on the same page.