Seth over at Double-T Nation was kind enough to answer some questions about Saturday's matchup with the Texas Tech Red Raiders. Why should you care? Because Seth is one of five Big 12 bloggers up for a CFB award. So he probably knows some stuff.
Give me the early take on Pat Knight.
So far so good. Personally, I love what he brings to the table. He's more involved with the students, is actively visiting with student organizations to get them to come to the game and Texas Tech actually now has pre-game introductions. On the court, I think the players are a little more willing to shoot the ball, especially Alan Voskuil, who can be deadly from outside. I also think that PK has settled on a definite rotation, which I think has helped the continuity of the team. And yes, I think that RMK was right in giving PK the chance to coach the rest of the season. I'd rather him take his lumps now rather than later.
Much like you haven't seen much of ISU, I haven't seen a whole lot of Tech. What will the offensive and defensive styles be on Saturday?
On offense, you'll see the same thing that you've always seen, a motion offense, tons of screens and jump-shots. Surprisingly, on defense, PK has played a lot more zone defense (in particular a 2-3 zone), in fact, I might go so far as to say that he's playing zone defense a third of the time. PK is also not opposed to switching up those defenses, which I think can slow an opponent, but because ISU has a proven post player, I wouldn't be surprised to see quite a bit more zone if Hubalek gets some easy buckets.
Tech looks to be a solid home team. What will the atmosphere be like on Saturday? Will anyone care about Iowa State?
The crowd will probably be small, but loud. RMK had a tough time of getting fans to the arena, which is why PK has spent so much time getting back to the students, trying to get them to come to the game. The fans in Lubbock seem to be a fickle group, although Texas Tech has shown a propensity to win at home, and they just aren't coming to the game. It's a little disheartening and something that I hope changes soon.
The Raiders looks to have solid guard play out of guys like Zeno, Roberson and Voskuil. With ISU's relative inexperience at point guard, do you expect to have another good game out of your guards?
I hope so, otherwise you can expect a Texas Tech loss. Roberson, the freshman point guard, has been good most of the year, went into a small slump and then broke out against Colorado. He's usually good for 12 a game, one way or another. Zeno has been pretty steady all year and would also expect him to get his 16 points, especially at home where he's more aggressive driving to the bucket. I'm really interested to see if ISU decides to focus on Voskuil, who's just been on fire the last few games (19-35 from the field and 10-16 from the 3-point line). If ISU can slow Voskuil's roll, then I think ISU has an excellent shot of getting a road win.
What's going to go down on Saturday? Got a prediction?
Because Texas Tech has been so good at home, I'll go ahead and predict an 8 point Texas Tech victory. I've now jinxed the team.