Thoughts on Sycamores vs. Purdue

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SycamoreStateofMind

SycamoreStateofMind

The Odum Level
Supporter
To start out - what a great showing by the Sycamores fans! Many folks made the drive from Terre Haute to Conseco and I was happy with the crowd that we had at the game. Now if half of those people that drove to Indy to go to the game would actually go to the games in Terre Haute :confused:

Now the game - am I allowed to complain about the refs? Ok I will spare you all, I really have nothing to say other than this. It's a 4 point game Kelly is on the fast break elevates for a lay-up and they call him for a charge, the guy from PU was standing to the side of him - if that. If Kelly goes to the line and hits 2 your down 2. But they call charge PU comes down and scores and your down 8, 4 point swing and that was the ball game. Cost us the game IMO.

Kelly - Did a good job on Moore in the first half and then the wheels came off. For some reason he can't find the scoring touch, I am puzzled as to why? He really is going to have to step up in Valley play. Tonight wasn't his best game as a Sycamore.

Odum - I thought he did pretty well, not one of his best defensive efforts - got burnt a few times. He also came back to earth with his shooting tonight, when you got Odum shooting your 3s you got problems and he was the guy shooting them tonight.

Lathan - Other than a highlight reel dunk I wasn't really impressed with his play. He just throws the ball away to much for me, he has no idea how to play within himself and it drives me nuts. That dunk might be on SC tonight - great dunk.

Carter - Carried us late in the second half, brought us back with some great play. Thought he played as well as anyone to be honest with you. Didn't do much in the second half, had one of his best defensive plays I have ever seen him make with that block in transition.

Walker - Has got to come up with a better effort inside than that on offense. I mean who was I kidding, he wasn't going to stop Johnson tonight that guy was on a mission. Walker was out of his league today, no 2 ways about it.

Martin - Had a decent block in the first half and also had a nice layup. I acutally thought we played better with him in the game tonight than we did with Walker. I still don't think he's playing very well though.

RJ - The kid is still young, I mean just 2 years ago he was playing at Rockville High for god sakes. Dude they brought you here to shoot the 3 ball, your going to have to start knocking some of those down at some point.

Koang - Was he hurt? Why didn't he play?

Carl - Didn't shoot the ball from the floor very well tonight. He usually has a pretty nice jump shot but he was flat tonight. Not sure if it was his back or what it was? He played tough inside on Johnson in the 2nd half.

McWorther - Played pretty well actually, he plays his role and that's what I like about the kid. Doesn't try and do to much, just kinda comes in plays good D, can hit a shoot or 2. I tell you what the other week I said that Steve would be backing up Odum for 4 years, I am going to take that back. I think Steve shoots the ball from deep better than Odum. Not sure he shoots a better mid range shot though.

Overall a good game for the Sycamores, the game was much much closer than the score indicated. It was nice to meet GottaHav and a few other folks from Sycamorepride.com. Got to see many friends and family and also got several texts that I was on TV - ohhhh great! lol Oh and one more thing, Purdue is in for a long season in the Big Ten - they have no depth at all. Outside of Johnson and Moore what do they have? Not that impressed.
 

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Let's be honest here guys. Purdue is now something like 10-1, rated 17th in the country and technically this was a home game for them. (the refs might have been aware of that). The game was even until the middle of the second half and we had squandered multiple opportunities to keep it closer after that. Yes it is disappointing for sure but it was quite PREDICTABLE that eventually an over-matched team would eventually lose out to a superior team. The critics haven't been too nasty on SP but I did see some people I know well whining on Facebook about how crappy we played.

As usual, I will not make comments on X's and O's because I don't know the nuances of the game like you guys do, but c'mon, for the most part, they played at a high level most of the game against a 17th rated team and held their own for MOST of the game. I said it several times in the 2nd half that the intensity will die down because they had played their hearts out and eventually it would catch up to them.....and it did.

Refs didn't change the game but they were terrible as usual and occasionally affected the flow because of their bizarre calls. Purdue is BETTER than EVERY MVC school. Remember that. Beyond that, I will let you guys decipher every minute and pick apart the coach and the players. For me, I was proud of them.

Some good things. The Indy Alumni came out in huge numbers today, as did the hard-core from TH. The pre-game party was FIRST CLASS and attended by 300+ and EVERYONE was proud to be there. Don't underestimate the power of a GREAT event like that. Our alumni are prouder than ever to be Sycamores and that made the day worth it, no matter the outcome.

The team has work to do. Obviously, but despite being out-manned, they looked great for most of the game. Remember the positive and build on it. It was a great day to be a Sycamore and you should sleep well knowing our alumni came thru today. If that was Evansville, they would have had 20% of the fans we had there. Not too sure how many seats were sold to Sycamore nation today but it was pretty impressive. Remember the positive and be thankful that Purdue is the BEST team we will see all year.
 
SycamoreStateofMind said:
It's a 4 point game Kelly is on the fast break elevates for a lay-up and they call him for a charge, the guy from PU was standing to the side of him - if that. If Kelly goes to the line and hits 2 your down 2. But they call charge PU comes down and scores and your down 8, 4 point swing and that was the ball game. Cost us the game IMO.
Very valid point. Not the entire reason we lost but that was a VERY big play and a very bad call. Sycamores played some good ball today just not enough offensive execution to win it.
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I was there also and am still infuriated at how AWFUL the officiating was at this game. Sure it didn't cause ISU to lose, but it killed any momentum ISU ever had. Even Golden and the radio announcers could not believe how bad it was.

The ISU crowd was unbeleiveably good. I never, in a million years, expected that many ISU fans to be there, AND they were MUCH louder than the Purdue fans.

Looking ahead, the first 6 MVC games are VERY winable games for ISU, but we're gonna need Carl at 100% and Jordan Printy back.
 
ISU played pretty well today, IMO, the turnovers just killed us late in the game. We take away all those TO's and it's a totally different game.
 

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Also one thing to add. I am a big Odum guy but is anyone else second guessing why people think Odum is heads and shoulders above Mcworther? Mcworther is the better defender, quicker player, and shoots better. Odum has a better mid range game and a better abilty to create for others but maybe the home town kid has been crowned the Point Guard of the future too quickly. Either way it is great to have competition at the position, it will only make them both work harder.
 
I was very proud to be a Sycamore today. Our fan turnout was fantastic! I do wonder how many were season ticket holders that had the ticket added to their season ticket package.
 
Fouls and turnovers??? Sure there were too many of both and the officiating was questionable but our offense went dead cold down the stretch and no one sees that as a concern but me? Great defensive effort. That's what kept us in the game, but offensively I was disappointed and have been a few times now. As I noted earlier, Richard and Lathan scored half our points. I want to see more contributed by everyone else.
 
bent20 said:
Fouls and turnovers??? Sure there were too many of both and the officiating was questionable but our offense went dead cold down the stretch and no one sees that as a concern but me? Great defensive effort. That's what kept us in the game, but offensively I was disappointed and have been a few times now. As I noted earlier, Richard and Lathan scored half our points. I want to see more contributed by everyone else.
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No, we definitely need more shooters on this team. I've been saying it all season.
 
Not just shooters but more people who can create their own shot and don't just stand outside waiting for someone to get it to them for a three attempt. Guess that's also part of the motion offense, but I'd like to see more movement without the ball. Work to get open and when you have an open shot be confident. We missed several wide open shots today that clanged off the front and backs of the rim.
 

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We were ripped by the refs. I talked to several HS refs and one local head HS basketball coach after the game and I said we were ripped and they all agreed but they also added we missed alot of shots. Mind you as others have said we played a good game but I did not think we would win. However at half time I was about to change my mind. Coach Painter indicated we ISU wanted the game more than Purdue and given our turnovers it might have been a different outcome. Also I don't think we went into the Paint and made Johnson play defense. Walker got no help defending him either. It looks like we have more work with our outside shooters and need more help off the bench especially with our big's. What a dunk by Lathan. Optimistically I think we will see a great conference season and will be a threat for being number one in the MVC.
 
SycamoreStateofMind said:
Lathan - Other than a highlight reel dunk I wasn't really impressed with his play. He just throws the ball away to much for me, he has no idea how to play within himself and it drives me nuts. That dunk might be on SC tonight - great dunk.
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I try to steer clear of ripping the guys on our team, but I have to agree with SSoM's thoughts on Lathan. I appreciate that Lathan is playing hard and trying to make things happen, but there's a very thin line between agressiveness and carelessness. When he reels himself in and gets control of his game, he'll be a huge asset. But for now, I get a little nervous every time he touches the ball.

Aside from that and the loss itself, I was generally pretty pleased. Our crowd was great and the team played hard from start to finish. Looking forward to the start of MVC play.

Also enjoyed the pre-game alumni reception. Good turnout, and it was nice to finally meet a few of the Sycamore Pride folks.
 
...back at you XTXC! By the way, if the total attendence was 7600, we had 30% of it, and if our band was there, we would have dominated the house. We certainly won the "party"~
 

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The problem with the refs is they killed our momentum. Every single time we came roaring back and looked like we were going to step on Purdue's throats, they'd absolutely make a horrendous call and put the kibosh to it.

Yes, we missed shots, but you seriously have to wonder what would have happened had they not influenced the game so heavily. For a conference that prides itself on tough, physical basketball, it sure seemed like Purdue had none of it and every time we exerted it, the refs would squash it or turn a blind eye to Purdue's elbows, moving screens, etc. One more what if just for the fun of it... If Jajuan Johnson would have went up to Bloomington a couple years ago, this game would have been ultra ugly.
 
SycamoreStateofMind said:
Walker - Has got to come up with a better effort inside than that on offense. I mean who was I kidding, he wasn't going to stop Johnson tonight that guy was on a mission. Walker was out of his league today, no 2 ways about it.

RJ - The kid is still young, I mean just 2 years ago he was playing at Rockville High for god sakes. Dude they brought you here to shoot the 3 ball, your going to have to start knocking some of those down at some point.

McWorther - Played pretty well actually, he plays his role and that's what I like about the kid. Doesn't try and do to much, just kinda comes in plays good D, can hit a shoot or 2. I tell you what the other week I said that Steve would be backing up Odum for 4 years, I am going to take that back. I think Steve shoots the ball from deep better than Odum. Not sure he shoots a better mid range shot though.
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Walker is doing ok for his first year. He should get better. I think he'll be fine in the valley.

RJ is shooting .455 and .400 on 3's. He's doing ok too and will get better.

I like McWhorter's game. He can do a lot and doesn't make many mistakes.
 
I never heard so much bull that our players had a "chip on their shoulders" as they ddin't get to play on a big 10 team.

The Big 10 = Big Heads
 
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