(02-07-2018 12:16 PM)RocketBBallFan Wrote: #3 Purdue won by 2 against Rutgers last weekend and #4 Michigan State won by 3 against Iowa last night. Granted, these games were on the road, but Purdue and MSU are so much better than Rutgers and Iowa and those games should not have been close. #14 Ohio State had a really competitive game last weekend at home against Illinois, who is not very good. The three best teams in the Big Ten had close games against the three worst teams in the Big Ten in the past week.
What is my point, you ask? Even the best teams have tough games against lesser competition. The key is that you still finish with more points than them at the end of the game.
Well no I don't ask. The talent margins are much narrower in the Big10 than in the MAC. It's one thing to lose by an average of 16 points to a team with those athletes and level of coaching, it's another in the MAC. In the MAC, it means you're a really weak team, regardless match-ups. Those Big10 teams are winning OOC against strong teams. That weak Rutgers team beat Seton Hall. They previously lost to Purdue by 30 even though Purdue has nowhere near the recruits or individual talent. They played them the time you're mentioning, 3 days before Purdue's biggest game of the year. I wouldn't even consider the analogy you're pushing.
What NIU did was run coaching circles around us. They got away with the same play, repeatedly and ours didn't even seem to catch on, that is how I viewed the game and again on replay. They may have noticed it, tried to get the players to adjust but the players even then were obviously not coached up before game to make such adjustments. I'd have to look at NIU games against other teams, see if they were doing the same thing to release German to make an opinion on how grievace the over sight but in game, that's what I saw.
Any coach that does not see that repeated straight run after a pick or ratation to a basket as a problem, even after the fact, blaming "it happens" is missing something.
You REALLY think Coach K isn't stressing exactly the point I mentioned, regardless it was one of the quicker players on theopposing team? If he isn't then someone needs to bump that "garbage" thread. I just don't feel that his team is blocking the lane or rotating to cover weakened spots after the pick.
Watch. Several times after the pick you will see Adway's man leave to make the pick and he remains standing on the side of the key instead of at the point of the pick in order to extend the ball handler's (German) approach to the basket. This gave German TWO options. Straight drive to the basket or a pass to a player in on the deal.