My thought on that one was they liked Paxson on Key which both Aher and Lucas off the floor. He’s quicker and longer than the other options they had.

Not much to complain about, but I found something! PM put the ball in the freezer way too early. We used to do this all the time the last several years and we would blow big leads and win by 4 or 5. It’s why are metrics were never good and why we did not get the credit we deserved. This year when we were blowing teams out on the road and keeping or foot on the gas, even with a weaker schedule, our metrics were great and we got noticed. We just are not good at taking clock down to 4 or 5 seconds. We always seem to just be throwing it up in desperation. If we are going to do that, then look for a shot earlier like around 10 seconds. We only scored 23 points in the second half. This needs to be better, especially in the NCAA.

Today when we ran our offense we were getting whatever we wanted. If we make a couple of layups we would have been up 30. If ISU makes some shots they normally make, this could have turned into a dogfight and against good teams that is what happens.

Also, we did not use bench much today.

Looking ahead: who do people want to see? Advantages and disadvantages for both. Drake didn't play yesterday so they might be fresh, but they are also short-handed, and may rely heavily on a few guys today. Missouri State will have played the 2 games like us, but they also have Prim and Mosely, who can be dangerous any given night.

Wish we could all be at the Wheelhouse lifting a few to celebrate this team today. The first six minutes of the game were almost perfect even while INST was playing very well, particularly on defense. We took advantage of the little they gave us on every possession. So beautiful to watch.

I've always admired Lansing's ability to make adjustments and to fire up his defense at the start of each half. He did today too, but our ball movement was too good. He beat us 3 of 8 games in regular season during the Krutwig-Williamson-Baughman era, second only to MOST's 4-4 record against us. No one else beat us more than twice.Too bad if he goes.

Drake and Missouri State should be a good game. Missouri State had a harder time with Valpo then they should have. Mosley was on fire and it saved them. Valpo was shooting about 11% for the first 30 minutes of the game. We did a great job taking Prim and Mosley out of the mix because they lack a 3rd or 4th reliable option. Drake has some shooters still and Osefu is a tough match because he can dribble drive or shoot the three. Teams that have multiple players good off the bounce give us some trouble as we are built to switch and really don’t play much straight up on the ball defense. In the NCAA my greatest fear is a team like Illinois that multiple guys capable of driving and has 3 point shooters and a beast in the paint. I know is blasphemy to throw a compliment to Illinois but they tough to defend and losing AYO has allowed them to discover they win in a variety of ways. Don’t like their coach cuz he whines about everything, but he certainly can coach.

Coach seems to be like a jockey riding a horse....knows when to play minutes, when not to use minutes...who to put on who and who to defend who.....and in the stretch if we are behind he subs offensively ....I think Kaifes may be in the dog house...his affect has not looked great recently...and I think that is the one thing he doesnt like...He will pull you if you make a mistake but not as punishment as he always comes over and educates the person on what he did wrong, yesterday looked like maybe Kaifes had an issue with that, I also think like someone mentioned Wojik was a better defensive option plus he played with a lot of energy when he was in yesterday......I think I want Missouri St....Drake just scares me, I think they have the better coach...and also as someone mentioned....we do a great job of closing down key scorers especially if they dont have a 2nd and 3rd chair.

It's Drake tomorrow.

Why hasn't JCT posted the Loyola-Drake preview yet? Their game ended almost 5 minutes ago. Sheesh.