As the ISU men approach their final non-conference game, we see the Bengals are what we thought they'd be -- but not exactly what we hoped they'd become. At the beginning of the season, we looked at the roster and saw a lack of size, strength and experience up front and that's pretty much what we have seen so far this season: a team that resembles a donut with a huge hole in the middle. The Bengals are getting out rebounded by six boards a game, they have no rim protector inside and, besides the recently emerging Kyle Ingram, no offensive threat from the four and five positions. All their bigs, including Ingram, suffer from persistent foul problems, and Coach Bill Evans has been reluctant to even play Novak Topalovic (12 minutes a game) and Justin Smith (has played in only three of the last five games), two of their three biggest players. (Spencer Nicolds has apparently left the program).
None of this really comes as a surprise, although I was hoping Smith would make better use of his athletic ability and become a significant contributor in this, his third season in the program. But what we all hoped was that some of that softness in the middle would be offset by better shooting, particularly from the three-point line, more athleticism and, as a direct result, improved ball handling and perimeter defense. Unfortunately, that's not how things have evolved so far in the preseason. A look at the KenPom stat site, which measures only performance against D-1 teams, shows ISU's offensive efficiency ranking is 95.5, which ranks 305th out of 351 D-1 teams. Defensively, the Bengals' adjusted efficiency rating is 110.6, which is 330th in the nation. (The national average rating is 102.3)
The Bengals are, in fact one of the most inefficient offensive teams in the country. The Bengals' effective field goal percentage is 46.7 percent -- 254th in the nation. The Bengals are making just 43 percent of their two-point shots -- 306th in the nation, and over 5 percent lower than the national average. And while we had high hopes that the many three-point gunners recruited into the program would offset the lack of an inside offensive presence, the Bengal three-point shooters have significantly regressed in recent games, making just 34.8 percent of their treys, which is just barely above the national average of 34.3. And ISU's opponents are actually out shooting them from three, making 35.6 percent of their threes.
Shooting hasn't been the only area of inefficiency: the Bengals turn the ball over almost 20 percent of the time (242 in the nation) and their opponents are getting an offensive rebound on 34 percent of their shots (295th in the nation). All of that has led KenPom to assign ISU a rating off 336 and predict they will go 6-12 in conference play.
Of course, as they say on financial services commercials, "past performance is not a guarantee of future performance." Bengal fans can hope for development of some of the young bigs. They can wish for better shot selection and execution from guys like Telfair, Faruq-Bey and Chivichyan. And they can hope that Ingram's recent emergence continues, and he can stay out of foul trouble and on the floor. The next chance to see that development comes Tuesday night against former NBA star Reggie Theus' Cal-Northridge. The Matadors have a big front line that will test that Bengal donut hole, but CSUN is 1-6 on the road and KenPom makes it a toss up game. Come join us at Holt and watch the continued evolution of the Bengals.
None of this really comes as a surprise, although I was hoping Smith would make better use of his athletic ability and become a significant contributor in this, his third season in the program. But what we all hoped was that some of that softness in the middle would be offset by better shooting, particularly from the three-point line, more athleticism and, as a direct result, improved ball handling and perimeter defense. Unfortunately, that's not how things have evolved so far in the preseason. A look at the KenPom stat site, which measures only performance against D-1 teams, shows ISU's offensive efficiency ranking is 95.5, which ranks 305th out of 351 D-1 teams. Defensively, the Bengals' adjusted efficiency rating is 110.6, which is 330th in the nation. (The national average rating is 102.3)
The Bengals are, in fact one of the most inefficient offensive teams in the country. The Bengals' effective field goal percentage is 46.7 percent -- 254th in the nation. The Bengals are making just 43 percent of their two-point shots -- 306th in the nation, and over 5 percent lower than the national average. And while we had high hopes that the many three-point gunners recruited into the program would offset the lack of an inside offensive presence, the Bengal three-point shooters have significantly regressed in recent games, making just 34.8 percent of their treys, which is just barely above the national average of 34.3. And ISU's opponents are actually out shooting them from three, making 35.6 percent of their threes.
Shooting hasn't been the only area of inefficiency: the Bengals turn the ball over almost 20 percent of the time (242 in the nation) and their opponents are getting an offensive rebound on 34 percent of their shots (295th in the nation). All of that has led KenPom to assign ISU a rating off 336 and predict they will go 6-12 in conference play.
Of course, as they say on financial services commercials, "past performance is not a guarantee of future performance." Bengal fans can hope for development of some of the young bigs. They can wish for better shot selection and execution from guys like Telfair, Faruq-Bey and Chivichyan. And they can hope that Ingram's recent emergence continues, and he can stay out of foul trouble and on the floor. The next chance to see that development comes Tuesday night against former NBA star Reggie Theus' Cal-Northridge. The Matadors have a big front line that will test that Bengal donut hole, but CSUN is 1-6 on the road and KenPom makes it a toss up game. Come join us at Holt and watch the continued evolution of the Bengals.