I hope I am wrong, but I think we are going to have a really tough time in Ames tomorrow afternoon. Hope our shooting is on!

We really need this win. ISU is in first and we can take them down. We need to be the aggressor from the beginning. We have the talent to beat them.

With KSU coming to Waco in a week, we need to re-position ourselves at the top. The KU loss was a big one.

Iowa State is always a difficult game.

ISU has been a surprise no doubt. But I still think it's a bit fools gold. Could be wrong. But I'd be surprised if they beat BU

Fritz knows the court, since transferring from Iowa State!

There is a blizzard warning in Ames tomorrow morning. I wonder how that'll affect Hilton turnout

What to expect tomorrow?

Iowa State has had a huge roster turnover from last season:

• Graduated (4) - Ashley Joens, Morgan Kane, Stephanie Soares, Beatriz Jordao (Soares and Jordao were injured most of last year).
• Transferred (4) - Denae Fritz, Lexi Donarski, Maggie Espenmiller-Mcgraw, Maggie Vick.
• Retired (1) - Izzi Zingaro.

What does that mean for 2024? Only 2 rotation players return (Ryan, Diew). Of the 9 players who get the most minutes, they have 3 Seniors, 1 Junior, and a whopping 5 Freshmen. Who are some of the key players?

• Emily Ryan - their talented, veteran PG, Emily missed the start of the season with a lower leg injury. She's now played in the last 6 games, but is working back into shape by coming off the bench and averaging 19 mins/game.
• Addy Brown - a 6'2" Freshman, she leads the team in minutes (34/game) and scores 15 PPG. Along with Booker from UT, and Nichols from KU, Addy is a candidate for Freshman of the year in the Big 12. She's very comfortable on the perimeter, she's shooting 40% from 3, but she can also post up and is collecting 9 rebounds/game. FYI, she's the younger sister of Kennedy Brown, the excellent 6'6" Senior who started her career at Oregon State, and is now at Duke. Addy was ranked #31 in last year's recruiting class, and has a very well developed game for a Frosh.
• Audi Crooks - another Freshman, an extremely unique player, and likely will make the Big 12 All Freshman team. Audi stands 6'3" with a VERY strong, and VERY wide body. Think of her as a slighly larger version of Alissa Pili, with a game that is vaguely similar. Much like Pili, Audi is a low post beast, with great power and touch, and great hands. She leads the team with 16 PPG in only 22 minutes/game, shooting a crazy 61%. She doesn't stretch to the 3 point line like Pili. Her weakness is that she carries a lot of weight; she is not in great physical condition, and is not blessed with speed or quickness. Her limited minutes are mostly due to her poor conditioning.
• Nyamer Diew - Senior Forward, she's long and lean and creates problems with her defensive reach; she is a glue player averaging 31 minutes/game.
• Hannah Belanger - Senior transfer who starts at PG with Ryan out, she leads the team with 34 made 3 point shots.
• Kelsey Joens - Freshman guard, and Ashley's younger sister.

Iowa State will probably want to slow the game down and pound it inside to Crooks. They can outsize us by putting a 6"3" and two 6'2" players on the floor, but they can't run with us. If they can get it deep on the low post to Crooks and she can make shots, they can get their defense set while we're pulling the ball out of the net. Defensively, remember that Bill Fennelly loves to throw lots of unique looks; famously thay upset us in the final game of 2020 with a triangle and 2 defense which froze out Juicy and Tea from the perimeter, and we couldn't generate enough points from Nalyssa, Lauren, Didi, and Queen against the 3 player triangle zone. They'll probably play some form of zone tomorrow, because they don't want to expose Crooks to Dre on the perimeter.

Baylor will probably want to speed the game up. We have superior speed and depth, so we want to outrun them to get easy buckets before they are back on defense, and we want to wear them out and force them to go to the 3 Freshmen bench players. We'll need to be intentional about getting a body on Crooks, Brown, and Diew to keep them off the boards. We'll need to control our emotions and maintain our poise when they change the pace by walking the ball up the floor, and when the Hilton crowd is getting loud.

On a personal note, our son graduated from Iowa State in 2021, our daughter is presently a Senior at Baylor, and I graduated from Baylor in 1986. This is always a fun game for our family, and we've made a tradition of driving the 5 hours from Madison to Ames every year when the Baylor women come to town. We bought our tickets and planned our trip for this weekend, but we're stranded in Madison due to the blizzard and crushed that we won't be there. We'll be watching from home. Sic Em!

12au said:

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There is a blizzard warning in Ames tomorrow morning. I wonder how that'll affect Hilton turnout

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If past history is followed......probably not a lot. I think it only takes a few to be there a couple of hours early and then clone into thousands.

Bear3 said:

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Iowa State is always a difficult game.

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Especially at Hilton. I hope we beat them but it's going to be tough, I fear.

Polarbear said:

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What to expect tomorrow?

Iowa State has had a huge roster turnover from last season:

• Graduated (4) - Ashley Joens, Morgan Kane, Stephanie Soares, Beatriz Jordao (Soares and Jordao were injured most of last year).
• Transferred (4) - Denae Fritz, Lexi Donarski, Maggie Espenmiller-Mcgraw, Maggie Vick.
• Retired (1) - Izzi Zingaro.

What does that mean for 2024? Only 2 rotation players return (Ryan, Diew). Of the 9 players who get the most minutes, they have 3 Seniors, 1 Junior, and a whopping 5 Freshmen. Who are some of the key players?

• Emily Ryan - their talented, veteran PG, Emily missed the start of the season with a lower leg injury. She's now played in the last 6 games, but is working back into shape by coming off the bench and averaging 19 mins/game.
• Addy Brown - a 6'2" Freshman, she leads the team in minutes (34/game) and scores 15 PPG. Along with Booker from UT, and Nichols from KU, Addy is a candidate for Freshman of the year in the Big 12. She's very comfortable on the perimeter, she's shooting 40% from 3, but she can also post up and is collecting 9 rebounds/game. FYI, she's the younger sister of Kennedy Brown, the excellent 6'6" Senior who started her career at Oregon State, and is now at Duke. Addy was ranked #31 in last year's recruiting class, and has a very well developed game for a Frosh.
• Audi Crooks - another Freshman, an extremely unique player, and likely will make the Big 12 All Freshman team. Audi stands 6'3" with a VERY strong, and VERY wide body. Think of her as a slighly larger version of Alissa Pili, with a game that is vaguely similar. Much like Pili, Audi is a low post beast, with great power and touch, and great hands. She leads the team with 16 PPG in only 22 minutes/game, shooting a crazy 61%. She doesn't stretch to the 3 point line like Pili. Her weakness is that she carries a lot of weight; she is not in great physical condition, and is not blessed with speed or quickness. Her limited minutes are mostly due to her poor conditioning.
• Nyamer Diew - Senior Forward, she's long and lean and creates problems with her defensive reach; she is a glue player averaging 31 minutes/game.
• Hannah Belanger - Senior transfer who starts at PG with Ryan out, she leads the team with 34 made 3 point shots.
• Kelsey Joens - Freshman guard, and Ashley's younger sister.

Iowa State will probably want to slow the game down and pound it inside to Crooks. They can outsize us by putting a 6"3" and two 6'2" players on the floor, but they can't run with us. If they can get it deep on the low post to Crooks and she can make shots, they can get their defense set while we're pulling the ball out of the net. Defensively, remember that Bill Fennelly loves to throw lots of unique looks; famously thay upset us in the final game of 2020 with a triangle and 2 defense which froze out Juicy and Tea from the perimeter, and we couldn't generate enough points from Nalyssa, Lauren, Didi, and Queen against the 3 player triangle zone. They'll probably play some form of zone tomorrow, because they don't want to expose Crooks to Dre on the perimeter.

Baylor will probably want to speed the game up. We have superior speed and depth, so we want to outrun them to get easy buckets before they are back on defense, and we want to wear them out and force them to go to the 3 Freshmen bench players. We'll need to be intentional about getting a body on Crooks, Brown, and Diew to keep them off the boards. We'll need to control our emotions and maintain our poise when they change the pace by walking the ball up the floor, and when the Hilton crowd is getting loud.

On a personal note, our son graduated from Iowa State in 2021, our daughter is presently a Senior at Baylor, and I graduated from Baylor in 1986. This is always a fun game for our family, and we've made a tradition of driving the 5 hours from Madison to Ames every year when the Baylor women come to town. We bought our tickets and planned our trip for this weekend, but we're stranded in Madison due to the blizzard and crushed that we won't be there. We'll be watching from home. Sic Em!

Great work, Polarbear! Thanks for all the effort. Wish the weather cooperated for your plans.

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Idk in 15 games we've only had a rough time once

Much depends on how they respond to the loss. We have the talent to win but have not played a lot of road games & they are always tough, especially with an enthusiastic home crowd.

historian said:

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Much depends on how they respond to the loss. We have the talent to win but have not played a lot of road games & they are always tough, especially with an enthusiastic home crowd.

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Hard to win when Sarah only has 3pts and Bella 4pts. We looked disorganized and didn't seem to have that firepower that leads to wins. Everyone but Aijah & Dre seemed hesitant to shoot the ball. Need to get home, watch film, and get out of this funk. We are WAY better than the last 2 games. On a good note, UT lost to KSt and was outplayed most of the game

boatergal said:

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historian said:

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Much depends on how they respond to the loss. We have the talent to win but have not played a lot of road games & they are always tough, especially with an enthusiastic home crowd.

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Hard to win when Sarah only has 3pts and Bella 4pts. We looked disorganized and didn't seem to have that firepower that leads to wins. Everyone but Aijah & Dre seemed hesitant to shoot the ball. Need to get home, watch film, and get out of this funk. We are WAY better than the last 2 games. On a good note, UT lost to KSt and was outplayed most of the game

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I think it got to the point they probably were afraid to guard anyone closely. Every time they did they got whistled. And that screwed up our rotation. Need to learn to play when the game is called as it was. We got the large lead but several already had 2 fouls and were on the bench and the lead evaporated. I would agree on your comment on the shooting. It seemed that we were passing up shots that we have taken earlier in the year.

Can't coach 6'6", but I would think that would be one of the highest priorities for the portal. We can't drive into that and the defense pretty much knows it. We did have a couple of easy baskets when Madison was in the game, throwing into the free throw area drawing the big girl out and then hit Madison under the basket. I assume ISU made some type of adjustment to stop it or they just started letting us shoot from the free throw line. We hit a few but missed a lot. When we don't have that threat the defensive center can play closer to the basket and it shuts off the drives of the guards.

We now have two losses, but we have already played the three toughest road games we have in conference (perhaps WV left, but the jury is still out on them). The winner of this conference is not going undefeated. Just too many good teams with different, but similar talent levels.

blackie said:

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boatergal said:

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historian said:

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Much depends on how they respond to the loss. We have the talent to win but have not played a lot of road games & they are always tough, especially with an enthusiastic home crowd.

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Hard to win when Sarah only has 3pts and Bella 4pts. We looked disorganized and didn't seem to have that firepower that leads to wins. Everyone but Aijah & Dre seemed hesitant to shoot the ball. Need to get home, watch film, and get out of this funk. We are WAY better than the last 2 games. On a good note, UT lost to KSt and was outplayed most of the game

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I think it got to the point they probably were afraid to guard anyone closely. Every time they did they got whistled. And that screwed up our rotation. Need to learn to play when the game is called as it was. We got the large lead but several already had 2 fouls and were on the bench and the lead evaporated. I would agree on your comment on the shooting. It seemed that we were passing up shots that we have taken earlier in the year.

Can't coach 6'6", but I would think that would be one of the highest priorities for the portal. We can't drive into that and the defense pretty much knows it. We did have a couple of easy baskets when Madison was in the game, throwing into the free throw area drawing the big girl out and then hit Madison under the basket. I assume ISU made some type of adjustment to stop it or they just started letting us shoot from the free throw line. We hit a few but missed a lot. When we don't have that threat the defensive center can play closer to the basket and it shuts off the drives of the guards.

We now have two losses, but we have already played the three toughest road games we have in conference (perhaps WV left, but the jury is still out on them). The winner of this conference is not going undefeated. Just too many good teams with different, but similar talent levels.

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I still believe!

Agree with need for a mobile post player. Lety may become that player, but we need to bring a post player in to groom for the future too. Missing that post player is pretty obvious now. Ayoka Lee really gave UT fits. She looked agile and quick for a tall post player.

Fennelly reloaded very well. He lost a lot of good players, but not all, and gained two very talented freshman. Neither Brown or Crooks played like freshman.

This is 1 game I wish Kendra Gillespie was still on the team. Needed some beef on Crooks. Can't believe all the touch fouls on us v Crooks. We certainly don't get the benefit of the whistle.

We need to attack the rim more. We get in there and then kick out for a 3 and teams are playing for that now. Today would have been a great game to attack the rim and then dump off to the other side for an uncontested layup. Crooks is way to slow to pivot and alter that shot. I don't remember that once today.

Agree with your post! Crooks is good close in to basket, but if you make her move, you can get to the basket. She takes up a lot space but doesn't move that well.

We could sure use a Bill Brock about now to teach a youngster like Letty. She just needs some solid coaching.

Pretty sure our posts are getting good coaching. Development takes time. No one can give that.