Yeah, I can't remember exactly what you said back then or when you said it (it was overly negative, though), but I do know that I'm usually one of the more realistic and even positive people in these threads when I need to be.

I already know that McLemore is an incredibly good college basketball player/probable top 5 pick in the NBA draft. I knew that before this game and nothing he did today was in any way surprising to me. What I took from today more than anything else was more laziness and underachievement for the second time in a week from this team and that shouldn't be happening in mid-January at this stage. Especially at home on a court where the team has won 100 of 101 games due to the immense advantage there. I'm sorry, but I simply can't help posting what I'm feeling after this kind of game (frustration and some level of relief). If it was a better team performance and McLemore went off like today, I might be more likely to join in on the celebration. But not today.

Considering Royce seems to have completely lost his mind and isn't even willing to report to the Rockets or their NBDL team to the point that they suspended him without pay, yeah, it seems he would have been better off staying in college. It's too bad because he is (was?) a very interesting prospect.

Maybe you should start posting more positive stuff, because what I remember is only negative stuff from you. Not that you don't post positive, because I think you posted something good about Tharpe after the OSU game, but you should post more of it :)

I was very negative on the team before the season started. We had T-Rob, and that was it. Withey was an unknown quantity, and Tyshawn hadn't turned the corner yet. When we played Kentucky, though, I knew we would end the season in the top 10. After the Duke game, I knew we were going to be able to make a deep run in March. I knew that Bill coached good defense, but last year was just amazing, even by Self's standards. He coached his ass off last year.

Fair enough.

Self told him to bank the three just to keep it interesting, plus it will make for a good highlight.

Speaking of Tharpe, his poor play over the last two games has coincided with this mini-slump. Seems he's an important aspect of this team playing to its potential.

Yes, I remember. Many were negative at the beginning of last season, but I wasn't. Believed in the talent level all along.

And, to come full circle, that's why I'm not too bothered about tonight or Temple.

In Bill I trust.

Sure. But without effort, talent by itself doesn't get you where you want to go. Last year's team never really had a problem with that as both TRob and Tyshawn were really driven to reach the goals they set for themselves. This year's team is still dealing with it (although they have even more talent and potential than the '11-'12 team).

WUT LOL

I hadn't heard any of that.

I honestly believe a lot of the "laziness" on the team stems from Johnson. He just seems way too airheaded at times....

ISU would have definitely won if Steele Jantz played basketball.

great win

I just happened to catch Bill's thoughts on the radio in passing, but his comment here was especially poignant. Talent and scheme don't really do much without effort.

He went on to say that he didn't know (in a less dumbass way than Crennel) why they were acting fatigued. He said they didn't play many games, and while they've been practicing everyday, they hadn't been "long".

Either way, we have games like this every year, and maybe Self's comments are BS, but they seemed candid. And putting 2 back to back games like this together has be a bit worried.

Optimistically though, they did find some energy in the last 45 seconds and in overtime. Maybe they've woke up and turned a corner. The other optomistic thing is even at say 60% (maybe less) of what they can do, they came in and beat a decent team that came in and threw some haymakers. That says a lot of the talent and scheme they have (after they stopped having Withey cover Niang or whatever his name was).

It seemed like in the second half, he had the most intensity.

But I will say he isn't performing very well in some situations. I don't think he's cut out to be a pure point. I get kind of excited when Tharpe comes in at point and EJ switches to the 2. But it typically doesn't work out well because if Releford goes out, the Releford-Tharpe defensive shortfall is enormous. If McLemore goes out, the efficiency/explosiveness gained from EJ being at 2 is offset by McLemore going out.

Another optomistic thing I saw was our Tharpe-EJ-Releford-McLemore-Withey lineup against the 4 guard set was goddamn solid. We were able to just flat turn the heat up on them. Outside of Tharpe, if they go 4 guards, the speed and length of the other 3 are goddamn tough.

Last year, that wasn't an option. Either you lost a shitload of offense with TRob going out, or a shitload of defensive safety net with Withey going out. That's pretty huge, maybe not in Big 12 play as much, but a lot of teams try to spread us out and offset our (usually Bad Ass) big guys.

if only tharpe could figure out how to play Defense.