A plan at Forward

You don't think we will learn from last year? You can look at football for countless examples: often the best place to be is when no one expects much. We will be tougher than last year because of the lessons learned the year before.
 
Most teams are playing a guards the same size or smaller than Jok or Ogelsby at the 3 so I dont know that thats really an issue at all.

Im more worried about Uthoff being out quicked at that spot but hopefully he, unlike White last year, will shoot over those guys and make them pay on the other end. Uthoffs offensive game is at least much more suited for the position and he will be a matchup problem.

I don't know why Gabe will be any different at the 4 other than sometimes having to guard guys away from the basket but he has fantastic lateral mobility and I think in most cases Fran won't go with him when the other team is playing 4 guards rather Uthoff will slide down to spell White. And if Fran did put Gabe in that situation he'll have a huge reach advantage for rebounds.

No matter what I don't think we will have any issues as bad as White trying to play the 3 last year. He couldn't do anything on offense from that spot and wasn't very good on D either.

I'm not sure what Dickerson will bring but I don't think Fran would have went the juco route if he didn't think he could contribute immediately. With that said we have a returning junior PG will plenty of Big Ten experience.

So I guess I'm not sure how this pans out but I'm not sure I like them both on the floor together. From what I read on Dickerson he's quick and can penetrate but I haven't really heard of him as a scorer.

Mike's scoring hasn't been reliable up to this point and we need a scorer at one of those 2 spots.

I would prefer to go....

Mike
Jok
Uthoff
White
Woody

Dickerson backup point
Ogelsby backup 2
Jok backup 3
Uthoff backup 4
Gabe backup 5

8 man rotation and the majority of the minutes played at each players natural position
 
I'm not sure what Dickerson will bring but I don't think Fran would have went the juco route if he didn't think he could contribute immediately. With that said we have a returning junior PG will plenty of Big Ten experience.

So I guess I'm not sure how this pans out but I'm not sure I like them both on the floor together. From what I read on Dickerson he's quick and can penetrate but I haven't really heard of him as a scorer.

Mike's scoring hasn't been reliable up to this point and we need a scorer at one of those 2 spots.
I agree that we need a creator/scorer starting at at least one of the guard spots. Like I said earlier, I think 2 of the 3 of TD, MG, and Jok will start with the 3rd getting impact minutes. Trey led his team at 19.8pts/game (2/1 A/T ratio) enroute to becoming a Division I JUCO All-America. He shot the 3-ball as well as RDM and may penetrate better because of his quickness.
http://stats.njcaa.org/sports/mbkb/2013-14/div1/players/treydickerson3teg
He probably won't score like RDM but, if you're going just by the stats, you'd have to pick TD as a scorer next year over Jok and MG.
 
We're going to get destroyed by any team that's willing to defend the our transition offense.

There's no way they can be worse than last year in the half court.

We usually had 3 guys out there at the same time who couldn't do anything outside the lane and only 2 guards where as everyone else was playing 3 or 4 guards. We never fed the post to try and counter their lack of height and even that would have been difficult because there was no space in the paint to operate.

This year we should at least have 3 guys who can shoot on the floor at all times to space it out. Huge improvement. When you have spacing you can utilize the post, penetrate to collapse the d and kick for a 3 and it gives you room to cut off the ball.
 
Agree with lightning that much of this should have been tried last season and laid it out, here ...
http://www.hawkeyenation.com/forum/showthread.php?t=63475&page=2

When it became obvious that opponents figured out to defend the transition, strategy should have shifted to the other overwhelming strength -- length and size (rotation heavy on Uthoff, Gabe, White and Woody). Instead, Fran went with McCabe (the shortest and least athletic of the 4's) betting on the come that he would start hitting 3's off the break (which never materialized) and relying even more on Dev to create. While I (and a couple others) squawked about how deep his rotation went so late in the season, maybe it really wasn't the depth of rotation but the desparation (McCabe, Jok), misguided emphasis (outside shooting in transition rather than size and inside attack) / order (more Uthoff, Basabe, less McCabe) and impatience (quick hook) of it.

Gabe and Woody absolutely should have seen minutes together, with Woody at the 4 (passing and better ability to drive) and Gabe at the 5 (more athletic defense, blocked shots, more aggressively attacks the rebound and rim). There could have been a beautiful mini offense of constant hi-lo back-picks, cross-block picks designed just for those 2 to work off each other. Of course, you have to have guards willing and able to make the entry pass (quickly off the rotation pass and in the proper place) to spark that inside game -- that was (is?) a huge skill deficit.

If the strategy and use of personnel implied in this article come to be, I actually feel a bit more optimistic about a surprise season.
 
Agree with lightning that much of this should have been tried last season and laid it out, here ...
http://www.hawkeyenation.com/forum/showthread.php?t=63475&page=2

When it became obvious that opponents figured out to defend the transition, strategy should have shifted to the other overwhelming strength -- length and size (rotation heavy on Uthoff, Gabe, White and Woody). Instead, Fran went with McCabe (the shortest and least athletic of the 4's) betting on the come that he would start hitting 3's off the break (which never materialized) and relying even more on Dev to create. While I (and a couple others) squawked about how deep his rotation went so late in the season, maybe it really wasn't the depth of rotation but the desparation (McCabe, Jok), misguided emphasis (outside shooting in transition rather than size and inside attack) / order (more Uthoff, Basabe, less McCabe) and impatience (quick hook) of it.

Gabe and Woody absolutely should have seen minutes together, with Woody at the 4 (passing and better ability to drive) and Gabe at the 5 (more athletic defense, blocked shots, more aggressively attacks the rebound and rim). There could have been a beautiful mini offense of constant hi-lo back-picks, cross-block picks designed just for those 2 to work off each other. Of course, you have to have guards willing and able to make the entry pass (quickly off the rotation pass and in the proper place) to spark that inside game -- that was (is?) a huge skill deficit.

If the strategy and use of personnel implied in this article come to be, I actually feel a bit more optimistic about a surprise season.

Jok can handle pulling the trigger. He had flashes against Tennessee....He needs to see some more minutes in the rotation. Woodbury also showed something in the same game to where they can throw a few plays is way when the transition game is a no show.
 
derp derp derp derp derp... I think Uthoff needs to put on more weight and bulk up in the weight room.. duh duh derp derp.
 
Just funny how old school some people are. Basketball had changed a lot most teams don't even have a center there PF is playing center. There is zero need for a true center and a true power forward
Disagree. We were to light in the paint and couldn't stop teams in the paint. We were a good defensive rebounding team because of our length, but not beefy enough to keep bigs out of scoring position in the paint. At 6'-7" and about 215/220, MB wasn't big enough to be a PF.
 
Disagree. We were to light in the paint and couldn't stop teams in the paint. We were a good defensive rebounding team because of our length, but not beefy enough to keep bigs out of scoring position in the paint. At 6'-7" and about 215/220, MB wasn't big enough to be a PF.

But the top 4 teams above us all had smaller guys than iowa starting at the 4.

Michigan and Wisconsin were playing 4 guards.

Interior defense was not the problem last year. The perimeter defense was bad.
 
Something does not add up at the guards to me. No way do you bring in a JUCO point guard to have him back-up someone else. I see TD unless he cannot play taking the starting PG role. I see AC backing up Trey. That leaves MG, JO, Jok to battle for the 2 guard and Jok/JO maybe some at the 3 if we go small. MG just does not create for others which is a killer on the half court. His game is pulling up for a jumper.

I do not see Gabe playing much at the four even though he can. Too risky to put both big men on the floor at the same time and have both of them in foul trouble. Then we are down to playing White or Utoff in the post. Not good.

I see TD, Jok, Utoff, White & Woody as the starting lineup.
 
I'll go ahead and put myself in the "have not just completely wrote of Mike G" camp. Kids a player, and he's not going to lose his starting spot to a kid who's never played a minute of D1 ball. The fact that fans want to see that, without even seeing TD play is fun.
 
I like the idea of the twin towers or some variety of Ola/White/woody being on the floor together. When I look at Iowa next year I see offensive rebounding being a real strength and those guys could feast.
 
I'm as excited about TD as anyone... but let's let the kid even get to IC first before we pencil him in as a starter. I look at TD to be very similar to a player like Devin Brooks was last season for Creighton. He had a similar stock coming out of j/c and did contribute for the Blue Jays this season. The comparisons are pretty uncanny... but he was hit and miss and you could tell he needed a transition year. He showed flashes but lacked the kind of consistency you needed to start. He couldn't unseat their current starter and he was not nearly the player MG is. I think the sky is the limit with TD, I just think we need to look at him as a piece of the puzzle and added depth rather than a starter who's coming in to start out of the gate. Maybe I'll be wrong.... I'd love to be and TD is something special.
 
I agree. excited about TD, But anyone that thinks MG is going to roll over and give up his spot hasn't been paying attention. If he loses it TD is one heck of a catch for Fran
 
I agree. excited about TD, But anyone that thinks MG is going to roll over and give up his spot hasn't been paying attention. If he loses it TD is one heck of a catch for Fran

I don't think Dickerson will start over Gesell, but I think they will get about the same amount of minutes. Dickerson can give the Iowa team a different chemistry than when Gesell is starting. I think Fran will want the team to give 100% when they are on the floor. I doubt there will be much of a drop off between Dickerson and Gesell. Iowa is deep at off guard and I really don't see Gesell beating anyone out there. Hopefully, Oglesby and Jok will both have good years, and the guy from Wisconsin looks pretty good on film. Iowa should be a lot quicker next year.
 
I'll go ahead and put myself in the "have not just completely wrote of Mike G" camp. Kids a player, and he's not going to lose his starting spot to a kid who's never played a minute of D1 ball. The fact that fans want to see that, without even seeing TD play is fun.

I always hope the new guys are starters. It means they are better than our old guys.
 

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