Expectations too high



JonnyGuido said:
I don't mean to be a Debbie Downer here, but I have been reading so many posts that I believe are setting unrealistic expectations for this team. I love Iowa bball but everyone here seems to have a short memory regarding our woeful shooting. That should concern everyone more than it seemingly does. Also, Marble is the guy McCaffrey is hanging his hat on, and from what I've seen and heard, this is a huge problem. I do not believe he is a team guy and I question his mental (and physical) toughness. NBA talk last summer is not a team mindset. His many 1-14 shooting performances in mostly big games against superior athletes should also be a huge concern (i dont buy the injured thing, fran wouldve never let him get killed in the media if he couldve just said he was playing hurt, it was between the ears i think). I hope I'm wrong, but I see a lot of frustration with him this coming season when we play good teams.
Click to expand...


First of all, people who try to pin the NBA-after-his-Junior-year stuff to Roy Dev don't know what they're talking about. Do you know what happened? A reporter asked him if he was good enough to get drafted after his Junior year, would he declare? He said "yeah, sure." The question wasn't, "are you going to the NBA?" nor "do you think you're good enough to go pro?" If you were good enough. Hell, I'm sure Zach McCabe would have said the same thing. I'm sure Andrew Brommer would have.

Might I add that Roy Devyn Marble is as smart, consistent and unselfish a junior leading scorer as we've had around these parts in years. I don't know where the hate comes from. I'd take him over a Gatens, Recker, Horner or Pierce any day of the week.

Second of all, you could be right about our expectations. But NCAA's next year seems about as good a bet as I've made regarding an Iowa athletics post season in about ten years. I think our expectations are right where they should be. Upper-half conference finish and a 7-9 seed in the tourney. I'd put a Ulysses S. Grant on it.
 


BasketballMan said:
Great post. But u will get ripped. marble is indeed not a team guy. I call him a ball hog. U say he's just not a team guy. Kinda the same. not to mention way to many posters are anointing uthoff before he's even played a single second of d1 ball. Same with jok. We will be good, but, people need to chill.
Click to expand...

Said the guy who bases his opinion of players' abilities on their performances in practice and not on the court.
 


JonnyGuido said:
I don't mean to be a Debbie Downer here, but I have been reading so many posts that I believe are setting unrealistic expectations for this team. I love Iowa bball but everyone here seems to have a short memory regarding our woeful shooting. That should concern everyone more than it seemingly does. Also, Marble is the guy McCaffrey is hanging his hat on, and from what I've seen and heard, this is a huge problem. I do not believe he is a team guy and I question his mental (and physical) toughness. NBA talk last summer is not a team mindset. His many 1-14 shooting performances in mostly big games against superior athletes should also be a huge concern (i dont buy the injured thing, fran wouldve never let him get killed in the media if he couldve just said he was playing hurt, it was between the ears i think). I hope I'm wrong, but I see a lot of frustration with him this coming season when we play good teams.
Click to expand...

Why do you care what others expectations are? Do you kick your dog when you get home, because he is "too excited" to see you, and you need to adjust his expectation? Do you tell your 5 year old there is no Santa, to set his expectations straight?

I'm excited for the season. I think they will be a NCAA tourney team. I don't care if you don't feel this way, why do you care that I do?
 
Last edited:


Expectations should be high but that doesn't give people cart Blanche to go ballistic about the team if it doesn't meet their expectations.
 




hawkfan33 said:
Iowa was 301st in the country and 11th in the B10 in 3 point shooting, it's going to be almost impossible for them to shoot any worse. They also were an unlucky 2-7 in games decided by 4 points or less. If Iowa simply regresses to the mean in both those categories they should be able to improve by a couple games. Iowa stayed in games last year by playing good to very good defense, with 90% of our rotation back I don't think we get worse on that side of the ball.
Click to expand...
That's not how math works. Three point shooting isn't a random variable that we were just "unlucky" at, and will eventually correct itself given enough opportunities. It is dependent on several other variables. One of which is interior offense. Will we score better in the paint than we did last year, thus opening more opportunities for shooters?

The answer is: We don't know.

Another variable is bringing in better shooters. We lost May, who shot 39.5%, and we replaced him with two guys who have never played in college. Can we expect better shooting in this scenario?

The answer is: We don't know.

In fact, there are few signs that many of the problems facing the team last year have been corrected for the upcoming year. Not to say that those are fatal flaws, because they're not, and not to say they can't be corrected, because Fran is great at developing players, but, as it stands in (almost) August, it is hard to predict any significant improvement.
 


sportstalent said:
Trying to do too much is different than being selfish...at times I thought Marble tried to do too much and his play suffered as a result at times.
Click to expand...

I agree with this and think, at times, he was even told by the coach to try and make something happen... by making something happen, it hopefully opens things up for other guys. Our outside shooting really made it tough for guys who like to drive and dish.
 


The shooting has got to improve, no doubt about that. I think it will. It can't be much worse than last year anyway, right? Hard not to improve, actually.

Another year of experience for some guys, an off-season to work on their game, some new players.. Iowa was darn near an NCAA team last year as it was, with lots of tough breaks in close games. Practically the whole team is coming back, and some players should improve.

I think it's fair to expect Iowa to be improved as a team from a year ago. Teams improving from one year to the next isn't some phenomenon that applies to all teams but Iowa..

Look, at some point, you have to start expecting better things instead of setting the bar low. That point has come. There's no reason Iowa shouldn't be an NCAA team next year, barring a horrendous run of injuries or something crazy like that.
 


OLWPAORWWM said:
That's not how math works. Three point shooting isn't a random variable that we were just "unlucky" at, and will eventually correct itself given enough opportunities. It is dependent on several other variables. One of which is interior offense. Will we score better in the paint than we did last year, thus opening more opportunities for shooters?

The answer is: We don't know.

Another variable is bringing in better shooters. We lost May, who shot 39.5%, and we replaced him with two guys who have never played in college. Can we expect better shooting in this scenario?

The answer is: We don't know.

In fact, there are few signs that many of the problems facing the team last year have been corrected for the upcoming year. Not to say that those are fatal flaws, because they're not, and not to say they can't be corrected, because Fran is great at developing players, but, as it stands in (almost) August, it is hard to predict any significant improvement.
Click to expand...

What's your point? You could say the same thing about expected improvement on the exact points you were trying to make... just saying.
 


OLWPAORWWM said:
That's not how math works. Three point shooting isn't a random variable that we were just "unlucky" at, and will eventually correct itself given enough opportunities. It is dependent on several other variables. One of which is interior offense. Will we score better in the paint than we did last year, thus opening more opportunities for shooters?

The answer is: We don't know.

Another variable is bringing in better shooters. We lost May, who shot 39.5%, and we replaced him with two guys who have never played in college. Can we expect better shooting in this scenario?

The answer is: We don't know.

In fact, there are few signs that many of the problems facing the team last year have been corrected for the upcoming year. Not to say that those are fatal flaws, because they're not, and not to say they can't be corrected, because Fran is great at developing players, but, as it stands in (almost) August, it is hard to predict any significant improvement.
Click to expand...

I don't know for sure either, but regarding May, he was not a player that we were leaning on heavily to provide a lot of offense. You can also look at players like Clemmons and Gesell, who were freshmen last year, and who might also improve their outside shooting quite a bit this year.

Also Woodbury, I look for him to come back stronger and have an easier time finishing in the paint this year as well. The game should start slowing down for him some.

Oglesby might improve. McCabe was something like 40% from 3 two years ago and dropped off last year.. Maybe he will bounce back.

So while we lost May, and it's probably not fair to expect too much from freshmen, I think there are other opportunities to pick up the slack elsewhere on the team.
 


JonDMiller said:
Marble is a team guy. There are times when he takes a lot of shots and things might be better if he didn't, in general. Then again, when you look at the fact that he was the only guy last year who could consistently create his own shot, and there are times when that is necessary and Iowa shoots it so badly that there is plenty of help in the lane if he does drive, he is more contested.

Marble's fine, and I think you're trolling.

The outside shooting for this team could have meant the difference in three for four games last year, and Iowa is in the dance and 24 reg season wins.
Click to expand...

I disagree with the statement that Marble "consistently created his own shot." The fact that he can't "consistently create his own shot" will keep him out of the NBA.
 


1977Hawkeye said:
I don't know for sure either, but regarding May, he was not a player that we were leaning on heavily to provide a lot of offense. You can also look at players like Clemmons and Gesell, who were freshmen last year, and who might also improve their outside shooting quite a bit this year.

Also Woodbury, I look for him to come back stronger and have an easier time finishing in the paint this year as well. The game should start slowing down for him some.

Oglesby might improve. McCabe was something like 40% from 3 two years ago and dropped off last year.. Maybe he will bounce back.

So while we lost May, and it's probably not fair to expect too much from freshmen, I think there are other opportunities to pick up the slack elsewhere on the team.
Click to expand...
I agree 100%. There are opportunities, but I don't know how much of it is to be "expected". There are a lot of maybes there. I'd like to think Gesell becomes a much better shooter, which opens up the inside, but Oglesby's regression and his broken hand make me hesitate my enthusiasm slightly.
 


OLWPAORWWM said:
I agree 100%. There are opportunities, but I don't know how much of it is to be "expected". There are a lot of maybes there. I'd like to think Gesell becomes a much better shooter, which opens up the inside, but Oglesby's regression and his broken hand make me hesitate my enthusiasm slightly.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Alot of maybes there.. I suspect some players will improve their shooting.. Others won't.

I've been out of the loop for a while, but is Oglesby's broken hand a recent thing? His shooting hand?
 


1977Hawkeye said:
Agreed. Alot of maybes there.. I suspect some players will improve their shooting.. Others won't.

I've been out of the loop for a while, but is Oglesby's broken hand a recent thing? His shooting hand?
Click to expand...

I must have been unclear. Gesell broke his non-shooting hand I believe.
 




Two years ago, the team was terrible defensively. Last year it was a strength of theirs. Last year we couldn't hit the ocean from 3 pt land, this year I think we will see significant improvement. Fran knows what his teams weaknesses are, and he corrects them quickly.
 


OLWPAORWWM said:
Another variable is bringing in better shooters. We lost May, who shot 39.5%, and we replaced him with two guys who have never played in college. Can we expect better shooting in this scenario?

The answer is: We don't know.
Click to expand...

What is the ratio of dunks to jump shots in the 39.5%.
 


OLWPAORWWM said:
That's not how math works. Three point shooting isn't a random variable that we were just "unlucky" at, and will eventually correct itself given enough opportunities. It is dependent on several other variables. One of which is interior offense. Will we score better in the paint than we did last year, thus opening more opportunities for shooters?

The answer is: We don't know.

Another variable is bringing in better shooters. We lost May, who shot 39.5%, and we replaced him with two guys who have never played in college. Can we expect better shooting in this scenario?

The answer is: We don't know.

In fact, there are few signs that many of the problems facing the team last year have been corrected for the upcoming year. Not to say that those are fatal flaws, because they're not, and not to say they can't be corrected, because Fran is great at developing players, but, as it stands in (almost) August, it is hard to predict any significant improvement.
Click to expand...

Well yes obviously we don't know yet, no one can predict the future. I would be willing to wager a significant amount of money that Iowa shoots better from 3 this season than they did last year. Are you up for that?
 




You must log in or register to reply here.


Latest posts

Share this page






Top