That "go to" player on the team.

[wabash909]

We simply don't have it this season and it's really starting to show.

The last 10 minutes of that game were absolutely brutal.  Nobody stepped up down the stretch.

In the past we've had that guy.  This year we don't. 

It's no suprise that the team that won last night did when they needed to make a shot.

Very frustrating.

[BMWWcat]

I would like to see out of those last 10 min. how many min. each player played.

[steve dave]

that guy was on the bench with 5 fouls

[kso_FAN]

Rodtier Martgruber.

[wabash909]

that guy was on the bench with 5 fouls

Exactly.

Last year, that guy was on the court taking and making the winning shot at the end of regulation.

[wabash909]

Rodtier Martgruber.

Yep.  Nice roll player.  Not "the guy".  This is why we don't close out games.  Because down the stretch, we've got a bunch of dudes looking around at each other wondering who is going to take the shot.

There was no doubt who was going to win it for Iowa State last night.

[kso_FAN]

Rodtier Martgruber.

Yep.  Nice roll player.  Not "the guy".  This is why we don't close out games.  Because down the stretch, we've got a bunch of dudes looking around at each other wondering who is going to take the shot.

There was no doubt who was going to win it for Iowa State last night.

The thing was he tried to score it down the stretch last night. I kept thinking we needed to get McGruder shots and we got  him 5 shots in the last 8 minutes. He's got to hit at least 2 or 3 of those.

[sonofdaxjones]

We're young . . . ya know.

[Underdog Wildcat]

I hate to bitch about refs, but I thought Gruds had a pretty solid drive into the lane there late, and White basically clotheslined him, swallow the whistle.

But yeah, it would have been nice to see Gruds knock down of his late FGAs though, Diaz had a pretty good putback after 1 of his misses, so hooray for garbage men, but thumbsdown for go to guys.

[wabash909]

I hate to bitch about refs, but I thought Gruds had a pretty solid drive into the lane there late, and White basically clotheslined him, swallow the whistle.

But yeah, it would have been nice to see Gruds knock down of his late FGAs though, Diaz had a pretty good putback after 1 of his misses, so hooray for garbage men, but thumbsdown for go to guys.

Macgruder was terrible down the stretch, regardless of being fouled or not on his last attempt.  He had plenty of opportunity to step up in that game and assert himself.  But, this has been and always will be his problem - inconsistency.  Great one game, gone the next.

There's no Jake, no Denny, no Beas.  Don't have it.

[Underdog Wildcat]

I hate to bitch about refs, but I thought Gruds had a pretty solid drive into the lane there late, and White basically clotheslined him, swallow the whistle.

But yeah, it would have been nice to see Gruds knock down of his late FGAs though, Diaz had a pretty good putback after 1 of his misses, so hooray for garbage men, but thumbsdown for go to guys.

Macgruder was terrible down the stretch, regardless of being fouled or not on his last attempt.  He had plenty of opportunity to step up in that game and assert himself.  But, this has been and always will be his problem - inconsistency.  Great one game, gone the next.

There's no Jake, no Denny, no Beas.  Don't have it.

He was ridiculously good in the clutch against Baylor and Texas, unfortunately didn't get him the ball enough down the stretch against Baylor, he was also pretty solid late against OU.

Wasn't trying to put him in the class of those others you mentioned, but they also had games when they just didn't have it late.

It's a new role for him, hopefully he can deliver in similar situations in the future.

[kso_FAN]

He was ridiculously good in the clutch against Baylor and Texas, unfortunately didn't get him the ball enough down the stretch against Baylor.

Wasn't trying to put him in the class of those others you mentioned, but they also had games when they just didn't have it late.

It's a new role for him, hopefully he can deliver in similar situations in the future.

That's fair. Its frustrating that in a game where we do get him shots (5 shots in the final 8 minutes was pretty good IMO) he can't hit any of them.

This team has had 4 games now (WVU, BU, OU, ISU) that we lost after the under 4 TO. Only UT did we win it. The frustrating thing is Frank's teams have usually been pretty good in those types of games, I'd say at least 50%. I have hopes that this will even out as the year goes on (we're going to have at least 3-4 more most likely), but I'm not sold this team can do it.

[CNS]

I am totally going to be able to move my seats way up next year w/o paying an additional dime more.   

[sonofdaxjones]

There's no "go to" guys because more emphasis is placed on "right fits" than "go to".

This isn't hard.

[Fuktard]

He was ridiculously good in the clutch against Baylor and Texas, unfortunately didn't get him the ball enough down the stretch against Baylor.

Wasn't trying to put him in the class of those others you mentioned, but they also had games when they just didn't have it late.

It's a new role for him, hopefully he can deliver in similar situations in the future.

That's fair. Its frustrating that in a game where we do get him shots (5 shots in the final 8 minutes was pretty good IMO) he can't hit any of them.

This team has had 4 games now (WVU, BU, OU, ISU) that we lost after the under 4 TO. Only UT did we win it. The frustrating thing is Frank's teams have usually been pretty good in those types of games, I'd say at least 50%. I have hopes that this will even out as the year goes on (we're going to have at least 3-4 more most likely), but I'm not sold this team can do it.

I could be mistaken but I think Frank is like 105-5 when leading at 5:00 mark...I remember it was ridiculous.  Add one more to that loss column after last night.

[Skipper44]

and the cold hard realization is this team is near the bottom of the league  when it is crunch time. Only when we play the TT and OSU's do we have the best player on the floor (Middleton at ATM is debatable), everybody else has superior options at the end of games.

[CNS]

and the cold hard realization is this team is near the bottom of the league  when it is crunch time. Only when we play the TT and OSU's do we have the best player on the floor (Middleton at ATM is debatable), everybody else has superior options at the end of games.

What bothers me the most is that giving up 10 pt leads in the last 4 min of games is about metal toughness as much as anything and mental toughness is usually as much of a frank-team trademark as physically raping people on defense.  Really gives the impression of a loss of control.  Not going all the way there yet but a few more double digit lead meltdowns will get me there fast.

[kso_FAN]

and the cold hard realization is this team is near the bottom of the league  when it is crunch time. Only when we play the TT and OSU's do we have the best player on the floor (Middleton at ATM is debatable), everybody else has superior options at the end of games.

What bothers me the most is that giving up 10 pt leads in the last 4 min of games is about metal toughness as much as anything and mental toughness is usually as much of a frank-team trademark as physically raping people on defense.  Really gives the impression of a loss of control.  Not going all the way there yet but a few more double digit lead meltdowns will get me there fast.

How many 10 point leads have we lost in the last 4 minutes? Or even in the 2nd half?

[bigwillie20]

and the cold hard realization is this team is near the bottom of the league  when it is crunch time. Only when we play the TT and OSU's do we have the best player on the floor (Middleton at ATM is debatable), everybody else has superior options at the end of games.

What bothers me the most is that giving up 10 pt leads in the last 4 min of games is about metal toughness as much as anything and mental toughness is usually as much of a frank-team trademark as physically raping people on defense.  Really gives the impression of a loss of control.  Not going all the way there yet but a few more double digit lead meltdowns will get me there fast.

How many 10 point leads have we lost in the last 4 minutes? Or even in the 2nd half?

Maybe not 10 point leads down the stretch or towards the end of the game, but there have been a few games where we get 6-7-8 point leads and proceed to waste possessions and throw the ball away or do some other stupid crap when we could build a double digit lead.  Maybe not, I dunno, just seems like we do though 

[JKEYS]

I hate to bitch about refs, but I thought Gruds had a pretty solid drive into the lane there late, and White basically clotheslined him, swallow the whistle.

But yeah, it would have been nice to see Gruds knock down of his late FGAs though, Diaz had a pretty good putback after 1 of his misses, so hooray for garbage men, but thumbsdown for go to guys.

Macgruder was terrible down the stretch, regardless of being fouled or not on his last attempt.  He had plenty of opportunity to step up in that game and assert himself.  But, this has been and always will be his problem - inconsistency.  Great one game, gone the next.

There's no Jake, no Denny, no Beas.  Don't have it.

I think by year's we'll have a good idea what happens at the end of close games.  Angel drives.  If it clogs he dishes (hopefully) to 'grudes.  Angel is the only guy who can creative off the dribble, and Rodney is at his best in catch and shoot situations.  Maybe not one guy...but two decent options?  

PS - I miss Jake alot right now...

[Skipper44]

and the cold hard realization is this team is near the bottom of the league  when it is crunch time. Only when we play the TT and OSU's do we have the best player on the floor (Middleton at ATM is debatable), everybody else has superior options at the end of games.

What bothers me the most is that giving up 10 pt leads in the last 4 min of games is about metal toughness as much as anything and mental toughness is usually as much of a frank-team trademark as physically raping people on defense.  Really gives the impression of a loss of control.  Not going all the way there yet but a few more double digit lead meltdowns will get me there fast.

They haven't been 10 point leads but WVU, BU and last night have all been games where it felt we had the game where we wanted it and then failed to close.  Add in the ridiculous free throw shooting in the UT game and it looks like this team has huge mental issues late in close games.

How many 10 point leads have we lost in the last 4 minutes? Or even in the 2nd half?

[kso_FAN]

Maybe not 10 point leads down the stretch or towards the end of the game, but there have been a few games where we get 6-7-8 point leads and proceed to waste possessions and throw the ball away or do some other stupid crap when we could build a double digit lead.  Maybe not, I dunno, just seems like we do though  

Yes, we've done that a bit this year, more than we're used to under Frank.

But we haven't blown double digit leads besides yesterday. Against WVU in the last 10 minutes our biggest lead was 4. Against Baylor we were actually down by 8, came back to lead by 4. Against OU, biggest lead was 3. Last night our biggest lead in the last 10 minutes was 7.

I do agree that WVU, BU, and ISU were all games that we seemingly had control of and blew it. OU was worse.

[michigancat]

I think the lack of a player that can create his own shot (or at least offense off the dribble) is a problem all of the time and not just at the end of games.

*And yes, Angel is that player

[CNS]

Maybe not 10 point leads down the stretch or towards the end of the game, but there have been a few games where we get 6-7-8 point leads and proceed to waste possessions and throw the ball away or do some other stupid crap when we could build a double digit lead.  Maybe not, I dunno, just seems like we do though  

Yes, we've done that a bit this year, more than we're used to under Frank.

But we haven't blown double digit leads besides yesterday. Against WVU in the last 10 minutes our biggest lead was 4. Against Baylor we were actually down by 8, came back to lead by 4. Against OU, biggest lead was 3. Last night our biggest lead in the last 10 minutes was 7.

I do agree that WVU, BU, and ISU were all games that we seemingly had control of and blew it. OU was worse.

I need to back off my meltdown

[michigancat]

We held on against OSU, too.