How will Iowa finish the conference regular season?

[NikeHawk21]

I think CJ and JT are hitting the freshman wall...not overhyped. I think Connor is solid but agree he’s often dealing with a mismatch. I generally agree with the rest.

Fran will never make defense the priority. And I’m fine with being elite offensively and average on defense. I hate Wisconsin style basketball...strictly from a fan watching the game perspective.

Generally agree with what you’re saying. My point about CJ and Toussaint was they are still freshman, and typically freshman struggle on defense. Eventually I think they can be above average defenders. CJ has been amazing this year overall, but I don’t think he’s as good of a defender as he’s gotten credit for to this point.

I don’t want to play Wisconsin style either, but can you imagine if we could just play top 50 level defense?

 

[PCHawk]

I don’t think we have a team full of pretty good defenders moreso than anything. I think we were so bad on that end the last few years we don’t really know what pretty good defenders look like.

I think Fredrick has been a little overhyped on that end to be quite honest. He’s a freshman so that’s not surprising really. Toussaint also a freshman.

In my opinion Garza is still a below average defensive player. The blocks have been a nice improvement no question as have the charges he’s drawn but he’s a liability in man to man defense. He’s the main reason we have to play so much zone.

Wieskamp gets beat off the bounce a good deal. Jumps at literally every pump fake he’s ever seen. He has the tools to be a much better defender than what he is. I’d say he’s average.

Connor tries hard but is giving up some size on that end. Kriener can’t defend 4s or the corner in our zone defense and neither can Pemsl.

Basically we have a bunch of average to below average defenders and defense isn’t prioritized at all by Fran.

Probably a good point that our guys just look pretty good on defense from comparison from recent years.

 

[Xerxes]

I don’t think we have a team full of pretty good defenders moreso than anything. I think we were so bad on that end the last few years we don’t really know what pretty good defenders look like.

I think Fredrick has been a little overhyped on that end to be quite honest. He’s a freshman so that’s not surprising really. Toussaint also a freshman.

In my opinion Garza is still a below average defensive player. The blocks have been a nice improvement no question as have the charges he’s drawn but he’s a liability in man to man defense. He’s the main reason we have to play so much zone.

Wieskamp gets beat off the bounce a good deal. Jumps at literally every pump fake he’s ever seen. He has the tools to be a much better defender than what he is. I’d say he’s average.

Connor tries hard but is giving up some size on that end. Kriener can’t defend 4s or the corner in our zone defense and neither can Pemsl.

Basically we have a bunch of average to below average defenders and defense isn’t prioritized at all by Fran.

Yep. Iowa is a little better on defense so far this season. Their national ranking is about the same as last year, 208th unadjusted this year, 205 last year, but points per possession is down slightly from last year and their B1G ranking is 12th this year and last year they were the worst defensive team in the conference. Illinois was the only team close to them.

But this is also the time of year when Fran's D has trended down so we'll see what happens to those numbers in the next few weeks.

But overall you nailed it. Iowa is such a poor defensive program that we really don't know what good D looks like at Iowa.

 

[PCHawk]

Generally agree with what you’re saying. My point about CJ and Toussaint was they are still freshman, and typically freshman struggle on defense. Eventually I think they can be above average defenders. CJ has been amazing this year overall, but I don’t think he’s as good of a defender as he’s gotten credit for to this point.

I don’t want to play Wisconsin style either, but can you imagine if we could just play top 50 level defense?

If Fran spent more practice time working on defense, our offense wouldn't be as good. That's not me saying he shouldn't do it. I'm just pointing out that having this good of an offense probably wouldn't happen if they worked more on improving the defense.

 

[InGoodCo]

I think CJ and JT are hitting the freshman wall...not overhyped. I think Connor is solid but agree he’s often dealing with a mismatch. I generally agree with the rest.

Fran will never make defense the priority. And I’m fine with being elite offensively and average on defense. I hate Wisconsin style basketball...strictly from a fan watching the game perspective.

It really is hard to remember sometimes that this team starts 1 Jr, 2 sophomores and 2 frosh plus have a completely depleted bench but it is the reality.

 

[NikeHawk21]

If Fran spent more practice time working on defense, our offense wouldn't be as good. That's not me saying he shouldn't do it. I'm just pointing out that having this good of an offense probably wouldn't happen if they worked more on improving the defense.

Some of it to me is political or motivational. How many times has Toussaint been pulled for a turnover or bad shot? How many times has someone been pulled for blowing a defensive assignment? Never.

 

[PCHawk]

Some of it to me is political or motivational. How many times has Toussaint been pulled for a turnover or bad shot? How many times has someone been pulled for blowing a defensive assignment? Never.

It's hard to know that for sure. Seeing a guy get pulled for bad defense is a lit harder for the casual fan watching from tv to notice.

 

[InGoodCo]

Some of it to me is political or motivational. How many times has Toussaint been pulled for a turnover or bad shot? How many times has someone been pulled for blowing a defensive assignment? Never.

I think it's more of a JT doesn't have the equity quite yet to be out there making mistakes at will. Fran has a quicker hook for freshman or players that haven't proven themselves or developed to his liking or reached a certain trust level with him and that's not gonna change just because we have a short bench. If he has another option he's gonna do it and use it as a teaching tool.

 

[cohawkeye]

This team will have a good shot at winning all the remaining home games. Most likely losing all road the rest of the way where they have an issue being competitive. Neutral courts after that and hopefully some neutral officials to make a run or 2 in the tournaments. They no doubt sucked last night with zero effort, so maybe I am a bit optimistic.

 

[NikeHawk21]

I think it's more of a JT doesn't have the equity quite yet to be out there making mistakes at will. Fran has a quicker hook for freshman or players that haven't proven themselves or developed to his liking or reached a certain trust level with him and that's not gonna change just because we have a short bench. If he has another option he's gonna do it and use it as a teaching tool.

That comment really had nothing to do with Joe T and everything to do with Fran. In my opinion throughout his career it seems like bad offense could earn you a hook, but ole’ defense doesn’t seem to.

 

[InGoodCo]

That comment really had nothing to do with Joe T and everything to do with Fran. In my opinion throughout his career it seems like bad offense could earn you a hook, but ole’ defense doesn’t seem to.

yeah, that's fair to say. But I believe in the equity thing. Players have to learn to play and be coached. They are gonna do what the coaches want them to or they are gonna sit. I just mean, he's like that in general with younger guys, specifically freshman. Turnovers and bad shots get JT a quick hook, meanwhile Ryan Kreiner can take as many out of rhythm 3 pointers as he'd like. He doesn't immediately pull Ryan.

IMO, Fran and frankly most coaches would love to RS every one if they could. JT would have been a great candidate had Jordan been healthy. But that's a death sentence in this sport anymore. You can't tell a kid your recruiting that your gonna RS them, you'll never land them and now, if you do RS them, they are gonna fing spurn ya and leave their senior season as a grad transfer.

Meanwhile Baylor is 19-1 and has like 8 or 9 guys who have redshirted. Years in the system help. Having a year to get acclimated to college, going to school, being on their own, learning to grind and having a year in strength and conditioning is fricking huge and a giant recipe for success. Plus, you learn what the coach wants out of you on the court. I wish we could have seen where Nunge was going.

 

[NikeHawk21]

yeah, that's fair to say. But I believe in the equity thing. Players have to learn to play and be coached. They are gonna do what the coaches want them to or they are gonna sit. I just mean, he's like that in general with younger guys, specifically freshman. Turnovers and bad shots get JT a quick hook, meanwhile Ryan Kreiner can take as many out of rhythm 3 pointers as he'd like. He doesn't immediately pull Ryan.

IMO, Fran and frankly most coaches would love to RS every one if they could. JT would have been a great candidate had Jordan been healthy. But that's a death sentence in this sport anymore. You can't tell a kid your recruiting that your gonna RS them, you'll never land them and now, if you do RS them, they are gonna fing spurn ya and leave their senior season as a grad transfer.

Meanwhile Baylor is 19-1 and has like 8 or 9 guys who have redshirted. Years in the system help. Having a year to get acclimated to college, going to school, being on their own, learning to grind and having a year in strength and conditioning is fricking huge and a giant recipe for success. I wish we could have seen where Nunge was going.

Yup. All good points but really not at all what I was discussing with PC. I’m talking about Fran prioritizing offense over defense, by never yanking a guy for a poor defensive effort. It’s a pretty small thing overall, but something I think is reasonable to criticize him for. Our defense over the last four season has simply been atrocious, we can blame particular players some, but Fran has to take some of the blame as well.

It’s not all gloomy though, we’ve had really good offense and have a pretty good chance to dance again this year despite being pretty young and battling a lot of injuries.

 

[InGoodCo]

Yup. All good points but really not at all what I was discussing with PC. I’m talking about Fran prioritizing offense over defense, by never yanking a guy for a poor defensive effort. It’s a pretty small thing overall, but something I think is reasonable to criticize him for. Our defense over the last four season has simply been atrocious, we can blame particular players some, but Fran has to take some of the blame as well.

It’s not all gloomy though, we’ve had really good offense and have a pretty good chance to dance again this year despite being pretty young and battling a lot of injuries.

I agree with that and I think it's definitely fair to criticize Fran for it. It doesn't seem that way to me either. Like, guys play bad D, but stay in anyways. Takes a bad shot. There's a seat.... but how do we not know that Fran's coaching in regards to JT is along the lines of "you play and provide us great D - you are killing it, but I can't have you turning the ball over and taking bad shots within the offense, if that happens you're gonna sit" ....I just don't ya know. I don't know what the kids are getting coaching wise. I think we can all agree that defense doesn't appear to be a priority, last night was a pathetic display.