Case in point: ALLLLLL of Bo Ryan's Wisconsin teams. Average athletes who know how to keep everything in front of them and get in passing lanes.
This sucks
- Thread starter theboat
- Start date
Case in point: ALLLLLL of Bo Ryan's Wisconsin teams. Average athletes who know how to keep everything in front of them and get in passing lanes.
There is no doubt this roster can improve a ton as long as they make it a point to. If they are this bad at defense next year, Fran will truly be a lost cause.
lightning1
Well-Known Member
Good defense is probably 75% effort and desire, at this level. The head coach has to demand it from his players and distribute minutes according to who gives that effort. Fran hasn't shown any desire to put defense above offense, with regards to his recruiting and his line ups.
How do you expect a problem to be corrected when it starts at the top?
Fran is going to have to bench Bohannon and Cook to get the point across to the entire roster, that effort on defense is a must if you want to get minutes.
I don't see Fran doing that.
Fran needed Bohannon and Cook on offense this year. Next year, I don't think that need will be as strong. So I think both will get more breathers and more defensively minded coaching. We were rock bottom for defense this year. The only place to go from here is up.
So we agree that a lot of it can be corrected by effort. So if we have this terrible season, and Fran still doesn't do anything (it should be night and day obvious if they work hard on it this off season) then it says a lot about Fran. In past years, our defense wasn't bad as far as efficiency numbers go. I think Fran can live with "not bad". But if he can live with terrible, he absolutely has to go. We will know in the first few games if he made an effort to correct his mistake.
lightning1
Well-Known Member
Fran's gonna need his 2 leading scorers next year too. There were plenty of occasions, early in this season, to bench either of them for poor defensive effort. He never did it. That sets the tone for what is and what isn't acceptable for the whole team. That's why we ended up with the worst P5 defense.
I didn't say he wouldn't need them, I'm just saying the need won't be as strong. Even at the end of this year Fran put Bohannon on the bench for stints while Dailey went to work on defense. It started off being foul mediated, but I do seem to recall a few instances where it wasn't.
lightning1
Well-Known Member
Fran had ample opportunity to get better effort from these players, this season. He could have easily benched his starters that weren't giving maximum effort. He didn't do it. Right after the Caymans tournament was the perfect opportunity to make a case for defensive effort = playing time.
Making that point to your team takes zero practice time. It takes zero planning. All you have to do is sit down in the film room with your team, point out the lack of effort and roll out your new starting line up for the next game. I saw Bobby Knight do it in the middle of a game, at half time.
You expect me to believe that Fran is going to do this, all of a sudden?
lightning1
Well-Known Member
Coaches don't have time to coach "effort". That's an expectation that's enforced with playing time. Several of our worst defenders log the most most minutes per game. In order to change the culture of thise team's defense, Fran would have to bench Bohannon, Cook and Moss. And probably have to cut their playing time by 1/3, until that effort is there on a nightly basis.
Does anyone think Fran is willing to do that?
Does anyone think Fran is willing to do that?
It's hard to bench guys for not giving effort when no one is giving effort. I think you're minimizing the fact that kids want to win. It shouldn't take much after a year like this to push the right buttons. And I don't expect you believe shit. I never even said I believed it will happen.
Knight78
Well-Known Member
He was 13-19 in his 11th season. Four years later he won the NCAA.
There is no excuse for that in an 11th season. You should have your program established by then. Did I do it right?
Knight78
Well-Known Member
I can put my perspective answering that. In a four year sequence, Villanova: 1) lost in the 2nd round of the NCAA, 2) lost in the first round of the NCAA, 3) didn't qualify for the NCAA or the NIT, 4) lost in the first round of the NCAA. Four years like that would make the Villanova fans a bit testy, especially considering they went to the Final Four the season before this four year sequence.
That was a rebuilding year after losing Stokes and Fisher from the year before. Wright went to the Final 4 three seasons before that and already had 2 Sweet 16's and an Elite Eight prior to that so I still can't figure out why anyone would ever bring up Jay Wright or Villanova in an Iowa Basketball thread.
Knight78
Well-Known Member
Ahhhh. Excuses. He had graduations coming and didn't recruit properly, knowing he'd lose them to graduations? (Using the same reason some of the negatives here use against Fran)
1) Went 25-8 and got second place in their conference.
Knight78
Well-Known Member
I don't know. When I was on the team in college, we spent probably 75%-80% of practice time on defense. Individual defensive drills, team breakdown defensive drills and controlled scrimmage for defensive play. We rarely did an open scrimmage. Coach Levick ran his practices like clockwork, and we followed his practice schedules exactly.
So do you agree we can see a lot of improvement on defense, with the roster we have, as long as it becomes a point of emphasis? The more I think about it, the more I will completely bail on Fran if we don't see a noticeable improvement. It will be a blatant disregard for improving a weakness.
theboat
Well-Known Member
Iowa fan refers to that as the good ol’ Days.
Knight78
Well-Known Member
I would agree that we COULD see a lot of improvement on defense. It boils down to two things:
- How much effort are the players willing to put into defense? Not all but one, but EVERY player from the best one right down to the end of the bench walk-ons. Defense is a team effort, not an effort put forth by one or two guys.
- How much emphasis will the coaching staff put on defense? It would be nice if, early in the season, the coaches benched players because of lack of effort on defense. It would be nice if the coaching staff spent more time on defensive schemes, although I have no idea how much time they spend on that now it appears to be lacking.
