Iowa's Woodbury Developing At His Own Rate - thegazette.com

[HawkeyeHypnosis]

Iowa's Woodbury Developing At His Own Rate | KCRG-TV9 | Cedar Rapids, Iowa News, Sports, and Weather | Hawkeyes

From article:

“I feel like I’m growing each and every day so I’m happy with that,â€￾ he said. “But I think if you reach a point where you’re happy and settled with that, I think that you need to walk away. So I continue to keep gaining strides in my career, and I’m just trying to work hard every day to get better. It hasn’t always been easy, but I knew coming into this it wasn’t going to be. It takes a lot of hard work, and I’m willing to do it.


“I couldn’t care less with what other people think.â€￾

 

[Hawkfnntn]

The kid has the right attitude. Besides him improving his free throw shooting (that's an obvious one) I'd like to see him improve on when he catches the ball in an offensive rebound situation down low that he doesn't bring the ball down below his shoulders let alone dribble it. I don't know if he has small hands or if he just hasn't gotten the right grip on the ball but a few times where I've seen him get a rebound or catch a pass down on the box where he just doesn't take it up quick and strong. It's a coachable thing where once he's been in the situation more and more in games and practice where he should improve on it. I'm not worried about him. I kinda wish he could have red shirted this yr but he is who he is and in a couple yrs I think he'll be great.

 

[sportstalent]

Hard working kid who is fundamentally sound, he is going to be a monster in his career.

 

[HawkeyeMHA]

Yep he will be just fine, book it danno

 

[MeatMan]

gotta love the effort. will be fun watching him grow.

 

[vgshwk]

This will come with time but I would like him to throw it down. Better chance to make the shot and have the opposing players foul you.

 

[Briggs32]

Free throw shooting, strength and conditioning, explosiveness/leaping ability. Just imagine if he even had McCabe's ups.

 

[ILHawk]

Hard working kid who is fundamentally sound, he is going to be a monster in his career.

Hard working...yes. Fundamentals? For some reason I thought you coached before? Feet placement? Not good. Hand and arms on D? Not good. Passing? Terrific.

He will be fine as a jr/sr. Not sure how great though.

 

[BrueCrew3]

I think Woody can go down as one of the best pure centers Iowa has had. He needs to work on all aspects of the game to do that. This is his freshmen year and he has shown flashes of brilliance as well as immaturity. As he becomes more polished, he'll be fine.

GO HAWKS!!!

 

[kicker22]

There was always going to speed bumps for Woody along the way. Most players his size very seldomly match up against guys there size in high school, maybe a bit more in AAU, but it's a rarity. That takes time to get used to when suddenly you went from towering over people to individuals that are as tall but bigger and more athletic than you are. Takes some getting use to. He'll get there.

 

[franstheman]

Hard working...yes. Fundamentals? For some reason I thought you coached before? Feet placement? Not good. Hand and arms on D? Not good. Passing? Terrific.

He will be fine as a jr/sr. Not sure how great though.

Actually where Woody gets caught is on the perimeter with his hands sometimes. Other than that he does a good job hedging screens when he keeps his hands off and he does a very good job of "bodying up" in the post for a freshman.

 

[BigD]

Sounds like he played with my brothers......... no blood no foul.

 

[RocknRollface]

Hard working...yes. Fundamentals? For some reason I thought you coached before? Feet placement? Not good. Hand and arms on D? Not good. Passing? Terrific.

He will be fine as a jr/sr. Not sure how great though.

Your opinion on this is wrong. His positioning and understanding of D is excellent for a 7ft freshman.

His lack of strength and explosiveness is what prevents him from being a better player on both ends of the floor at this point.

 

[sportstalent]

Hard working...yes. Fundamentals? For some reason I thought you coached before? Feet placement? Not good. Hand and arms on D? Not good. Passing? Terrific.

He will be fine as a jr/sr. Not sure how great though.

Your dislike and criticisms are invalid...very fundamentally sound player who lacks strength and conditioning, but also plays too much in a hurry.

 

[ILHawk]

Your dislike and criticisms are invalid...very fundamentally sound player who lacks strength and conditioning, but also plays too much in a hurry.

We can disagree although last nights stats sort of speak for themselves with another starter out. over 7 foot and get 17 minutes and have so little impact? Should they save his strength and condition for say 10 minutes? Would that make a difference?

Pointing out flaws is different than dislike.

I forgot some on here wanted a marsh mellow pre season to develop the poor little Hawks. Love the Stepford Fans Forum...

 

[sportstalent]

We can disagree although last nights stats sort of speak for themselves with another starter out. over 7 foot and get 17 minutes and have so little impact? Should they save his strength and condition for say 10 minutes? Would that make a difference?

Pointing out flaws is different than dislike.

I forgot some on here wanted a marsh mellow pre season to develop the poor little Hawks. Love the Stepford Fans Forum...

I will say over and over again...you will eat your words and stats can always be used for benefit when you look at single games. Stats don't always tell the whole story...I just watch and don't ever get hung up in stats...probably the coach in me.

 

[ILHawk]

I will say over and over again...you will eat your words and stats can always be used for benefit when you look at single games. Stats don't always tell the whole story...I just watch and don't ever get hung up in stats...probably the coach in me.

I truly hope I am wrong and you are right and if I am I will apologize! and I agree about stats. but some ignore completely.

 

[LawVHawk]

I think we're all seeing -- likely the coaches, too -- that Woody has a longer learning curve than might have been envisioned for a highly-recruited 7-footer in a Midwestern, non-urban high school. That said, I still think he'll be a good one. He has shown strokes of brilliance, he runs the floor well, he has stamina, his passing his solid and his strength seems to be coming along. I don't see him giving up rebounds and held balls like he did at the start of the season.

But still many things to work on: continue adding strength, work on the free throw-shooting, work on the positioning, work on keeping the ball up above your head and take it to the basket, learn to use arms and body, not hands, to hold and create position on both ends of the floor.

 

[Billso]

I think we're all seeing -- likely the coaches, too -- that Woody has a longer learning curve than might have been envisioned for a highly-recruited 7-footer in a Midwestern, non-urban high school. That said, I still think he'll be a good one. He has shown strokes of brilliance, he runs the floor well, he has stamina, his passing his solid and his strength seems to be coming along. I don't see him giving up rebounds and held balls like he did at the start of the season.

But still many things to work on: continue adding strength, work on the free throw-shooting, work on the positioning, work on keeping the ball up above your head and take it to the basket, learn to use arms and body, not hands, to hold and create position on both ends of the floor.

Honestly, the learning curve is right where I thought it would be. I was very skeptical he'd make any impact this year. Big men rarely contribute much as frosh - even highly recruited ones - the adjustment to D1 is much tougher than for G/F positions. Many examples of NBA big men who did very little as college freshmen. Including Lohaus and Jepsen.

Now someone's going to say "but... but... Greg Oden!"

 

[HawkeyeMHA]

Just for a seven footer to adjust to the speed of the game running the court is a big deal. He prolly didn't have to run like this in hs. He is running the court, he is rebounding, he can pass, etc. I think next year you will see him get comfortable with his shot, he will be better defensively, and finish better. Combined with his attitude (being a team player and wanting to work hard) we will have a pretty good seven foot soph. I'd hate to be in the group that is overly critical of him now...