2019-2020 Weaknesses

[Knight78]

I was impressed that Garza could come off of abdominal surgery in the summer and then win MVP of the 2K Classic in NYC. With the whole summer to train, he must be a few steps quicker.

This. Having abdominal surgery as he did before last season very much affected his performance. Think of it, your abdomen is affected every time you raise your arms, every time you move laterally and every time you jump; and don't even think about trying to take an offensive foul and leave your abdomen unprotected.

 

[Knight78]

Free throw shooting is going to be a weakness, especially if JBo can't go.

I disagree. We lost our two worst free throw shooters: Cook (64.4%) and Baer (63.8%). If you take into account that they shot over 1/4 of our free throws, I don't really see how we can be worse. Nunge was at 75% as a freshman. Fredrickson was a high percentage shooter in high school. Evelyn was at 76% last year. Even without Bohannon we should have at least the 74% we shot last year.

 

[HawkGold]

I disagree. We lost our two worst free throw shooters: Cook (64.4%) and Baer (63.8%). If you take into account that they shot over 1/4 of our free throws, I don't really see how we can be worse. Nunge was at 75% as a freshman. Fredrickson was a high percentage shooter in high school. Evelyn was at 76% last year. Even without Bohannon we should have at least the 74% we shot last year.

You just pointed out something big. They shot 1/4 of the free throws. Specifically Cook shot 1/4 of the ft's. Almost 2x as the next guy.. The next 2 guys. Who is going to create fouls inside now? We could lead the Big in FT percentage and be way down on Ft's. Garza played 1/4 few minutes and had half of the attempts. A number of his attempts came after ball movement (sometimes from Cook) led to a back door foul. Cook didn't get many fouls created by someone else.

 

[Northside Hawk]

I disagree. We lost our two worst free throw shooters: Cook (64.4%) and Baer (63.8%). If you take into account that they shot over 1/4 of our free throws, I don't really see how we can be worse. Nunge was at 75% as a freshman. Fredrickson was a high percentage shooter in high school. Evelyn was at 76% last year. Even without Bohannon we should have at least the 74% we shot last year.

Moss was around 80% as well, and that was down from his sophomore year. But Fran generally preferred Connor out there late in games and Moss as a FT shooter wasn't always properly utilized. I vividly remember him, however, missing some big ones in that Indiana OT game that probably got the Hawks into the NCAA's.

 

[Stanzi]

4. Athleticism
5. Speed

 

[NikeHawk21]

On Garza, I was looking back on our NCAA games and he played at an extremely high level.

16.5 PPG / 5.5 RPG / 1 BPG
63.1% FG / 50% 3P / 77.7% FT

As others have noted if he can improve his conditioning to stay on the court longer, and maybe get slightly stronger and quicker, he could be a big time player this year.

 

[PCHawk]

On Garza, I was looking back on our NCAA games and he played at an extremely high level.

16.5 PPG / 5.5 RPG / 1 BPG
63.1% FG / 50% 3P / 77.7% FT

As others have noted if he can improve his conditioning to stay on the court longer, and maybe get slightly stronger and quicker, he could be a big time player this year.

2 big time players is a pretty darn good start to a good team too.

 

[Ian Pike Hammer]

Yeah it feels like we'll need to outscore teams and hopefully force teams into TOs with our press some. Seems like our defending of the 3 pt line leaves something to be desired.

Assuming fewer turnovers [mostly from T. Cook] we should have more offensive chances and our foes less opportunities than last year. We should be more efficient this year on offense and again, assuming as a group, we can make up for his loss of scoring, it should be somewhat easier to outscore our opponents this year.

 

[NikeHawk21]

Assuming fewer turnovers [mostly from T. Cook] we should have more offensive chances and our foes less opportunities than last year. We should be more efficient this year on offense and again, assuming as a group, we can make up for his loss of scoring, it should be somewhat easier to outscore our opponents this year.

I know Cook has shortcomings that we are all pretty quick to point out, but in the interest of fairness he was also the only guy we really had that could go get a basket or draw a foul one on one when he wanted. He was a mismatch that defenses had to account for.

 

[PCHawk]

I know Cook has shortcomings that we are all pretty quick to point out, but in the interest of fairness he was also the only guy we really had that could go get a basket or draw a foul one on one when he wanted. He was a mismatch that defenses had to account for.

I think Garza could go get his own bucket about just as well as Cook. It just takes him about 3 ugly, funky, white moves to get there sometimes.

 

[Ree4]

That’s true, but on the flip side we only need to be decent on defense with our scoring ability.

The question is how do we improve our defense? Could Evelyn, CJF, and Nunge be an upgrade to Moss and Cook? I think so. Replacing Baer on that end is tough part.

I do think Garza can improve some on defense. Better conditioning, better IQ of where to be, understanding to wall up and use his size. I don’t think he will ever be great on that end but he could certainly improve.

I feel like Baer was one of the big issues we had in our zone defense. He seemed to over-rotate quite a lot leading to a lot of scrambling by the rest of the players as they chased the pass - usually ending with a wide open shooter.

 

[NikeHawk21]

I think Garza could go get his own bucket about just as well as Cook. It just takes him about 3 ugly, funky, white moves to get there sometimes.

It’s debatable. Teams can take away post players if they want. That’s why they always say guards win in March. Now Cook obviously wasn’t a guard but he could get certain places with his dribble that Garza can’t.

I’m hopeful that Joe Wieskamp will be able to take over some of that create your own void that we lose with Cook.

 

[NikeHawk21]

I feel like Baer was one of the big issues we had in our zone defense. He seemed to over-rotate quite a lot leading to a lot of scrambling by the rest of the players as they chased the pass - usually ending with a wide open shooter.

Strongly disagree. Baer was our best defensive player by literally every metric and it wasn’t even close. He gambled some sure, but he also covered for a lot of guys mistakes with his rotations and b-ball savvy.

Baer led the team in steals, blocks, defensive win shares, defensive box plus minus, and defensive rating.

 

[Hawkfnntn]

Assuming fewer turnovers [mostly from T. Cook] we should have more offensive chances and our foes less opportunities than last year. We should be more efficient this year on offense and again, assuming as a group, we can make up for his loss of scoring, it should be somewhat easier to outscore our opponents this year.

Yeah I didn't think we were too terrible in the turnover department last yr other then just the ones we had were at terrible times and just bad ones. (Not that there's good ones) But you now what I mean. For being an uptempo team you'll live with some.

 

[N8theGr8]

It’s debatable. Teams can take away post players if they want. That’s why they always say guards win in March. Now Cook obviously wasn’t a guard but he could get certain places with his dribble that Garza can’t.

I’m hopeful that Joe Wieskamp will be able to take over some of that create your own void that we lose with Cook.

I remember Connor at his best last year could take it to the rack and was decent at drawing fouls. I'm hopeful he can build on that this year by getting a few more of them to drop then making his shots. I also hope to see at least two of Wieskamp, JoeT, Fredrick, and Evelyn creating for themselves and drawing fouls. Looking forward to seeing how the lineup looks tonight even though you never really know how things will end up until the team comes under fire.

 

[Knight78]

Assuming fewer turnovers [mostly from T. Cook] we should have more offensive chances and our foes less opportunities than last year. We should be more efficient this year on offense and again, assuming as a group, we can make up for his loss of scoring, it should be somewhat easier to outscore our opponents this year.

Have to agree with that. Cook had 92 turnovers last year to lead the team in that category. Bohannon was 2nd with 58 (Moss was 3rd with 49). Let that sink in.... your point guard who has the ball in his hands most of the time has more minutes played and less turnovers.

 

[thedukeofearl]

PMac just might surprise some folks this season. He is a natural scorer, not unlike JoeW. He is a very good passer. This is going to be an interesting team to watch. There are some intriguing combinations we cam put on the floor. Fredrick and JoeT appear to be quite capable.....

We do have a tough pre-conference schedule. I can see losses to Texas Tech, Syracuse at the Carrier Dome, @ Iowa State and Cincinnati in the Windy City.....
,

In conference I can see losses @ Michigan, @ Maryland, @ Purdue, @ Indiana, and @ Michigan State. At Carver, Maryland, Purdue will be difficult to defeat.....

That would give us a record of 19-11, which would be not too shabby....

Of course, there are other potential losses on the road in the BIG.....

 

[Hawkeyes5]

1. Defense
For the strength thread I said you could pencil in scoring as a strength every year, well the same could be said for defense as a weakness until proven otherwise. The fact of the matter is Garza and Bohannon are likely going to continue to have their issues on this end. Hard to imagine with all our newcomers we will be locked in communication wise either. I will say I think Nunge can really help us on this end as a potential rim protector and I’m excited to hear CJF looks like a quality defender. Maybe Evelyn will be an upgrade.

2. Inexperience / chemistry
Experience is a huge thing in college basketball. We do have some quality experience, but we also are going to be breaking in several new players and young players. I imagine everyone of our freshman will take some lumps.

3. Fran’s rotation management
I believe, and partially based on quotes from Fran yesterday, he has his eyes set on an 11 man rotation this year. That’s no good in my opinion. As I mentioned in the strengths thread I actually think our bench could be pretty good, but playing 11 guys is not a good strategy imo but it’s never stopped Fran before.

See 2017, 2018...

 

[Ree4]

I'm really excited about this season because there are so many unknowns and we have some shiny new pieces to figure out

 

[HuckFinn]

On Garza, I was looking back on our NCAA games and he played at an extremely high level.

16.5 PPG / 5.5 RPG / 1 BPG
63.1% FG / 50% 3P / 77.7% FT

As others have noted if he can improve his conditioning to stay on the court longer, and maybe get slightly stronger and quicker, he could be a big time player this year.

I recall reading an article that evaluated how much further a post player runs, up and down the court, as opposed to players at other positions. It was pretty amazing. Wish I could recall the source.