Anyone Still On Their Soapbox?

[HuckFinn]

I think Fran made some poor coaching moves last night.

He didn’t get Garza any rest despite Kriener and Pemsl having good nights. It showed up at the end when Garza ran out of steam.

He left Pemsl in inside two minutes when Kriener had the hot hand on offense, Pemsl turned it over.

He saved his two timeouts for the fouling portion at the end of the game instead of using them to draw up a set for a bucket when the game was slipping away and Iowa had several bad possessions in a row.

Fran is fine he’s done very well this year but I think he made some poor coaching decisions last night. Still we could have won the game if Wieskamp would have showed up. Both things can be true.

Geez. Nice hindsight.

 

[HuckFinn]

I am b/c they have the horses to finish. We don't. I do agree with 1H1 about JT. Winston kept blowing by Evelyn like a thief in the night. JT's only going to get better and last night I thought he did a great job against Winston in the 1st half. Winston wasn't going to let the Iowa Hawkeyes win. If Winston didn't have the hot hand, Henry or Watts would have scored more than they did. HORSES (and not the kind you see at the carnival) is what we need

We don’t have the horses to finish? Really?

 

[NikeHawk21]

Geez. Nice hindsight.

You’re right I’m the first person in history to question a coaches moves throughout a game after the game was over.

 

[Northside Hawk]

It was going to be very difficult to keep Garza from getting gassed (and he was gassed, look at how many times he was knocked to the floor them last ten minutes). Kriener was in early foul trouble and I believe a foul on him early in the second half was inadvertently assigned to someone else (some in the game thread questioned his fouls)

Then Cordell had some leg issue that briefly sent him to the locker room. He was probably far less than 100% when he was playing.

Hopefully Fred is back Saturday and we at least revert to normal rotations.

 

[Northside Hawk]

Garza was tired at the end. I’m not going to argue those saying timeouts could have been used to rest him. But those suggesting Kriener or someone else should have been in the game saw a different game than the one I watched.

Kriener was in foul trouble. And the someone else was Till. Fran tried that and quickly realized the game was going to get away from us if he remained in the game. Tired Luka gave us the best chance IMO. If he gets more rest I think the game is lost well before the last 5 minutes.

I do think playing Toussaint over Wieskamp the last 5 minutes would have given us the best chance. But I want to win the war (NCAA games) not the battle (maybe beat MSU). Pulling a guy whose confidence is in the tank may not have been the best long term move. Fran knows the psyche of his guys better than I do. And Fran only has so many options. I’m confident we win with CJ.

Side Note - PSU has a tough game tonight. Then they have to travel to Iowa City for a morning game Saturday. This one is setting up nicely...unlike several recently that set up well for our opponents.

I hope Rutgers takes them into quadruple overtime tonight.

 

[ATLHawkeye]

I wish Fran wouldn't have told JW to miss all of those shots! What was he thinking?

 

[WVHawk]

When your second leading scorer only has 2 points off free throws and your third leading scorer is out with an injury not many at a place like M St

 

[Northside Hawk]

I am b/c they have the horses to finish. We don't. I do agree with 1H1 about JT. Winston kept blowing by Evelyn like a thief in the night. JT's only going to get better and last night I thought he did a great job against Winston in the 1st half. Winston wasn't going to let the Iowa Hawkeyes win. If Winston didn't have the hot hand, Henry or Watts would have scored more than they did. HORSES (and not the kind you see at the carnival) is what we need

Watts, the freshman, stepped up and knocked down a big three pointer late. If he rims that it's a probable run-out the other way. May have been the dagger of the game.

 

[MWS604]

It's a head scratcher to me how anyone can complain at this time about the team or the coach. We are 10-7 in the most evenly matched conference in the country. We almost won at Breslin despite all of the injuries and JW struggling on offense. Who really knows if different coaching decisions would have helped or hurt. We are almost certainly a lock for tourney - which was more than I thought was possible after that dreadful loss to DePaul at the start of the season. Put me in the happy camper category.

 

[chucktownhawk]

We don’t have the horses to finish? Really?

Huck, not when the games tight and on the line, and on the road. Just sayin. We should've had that game.

 

[STILLBUSTER]

Fran's coaching/lineup decisions did NOT cost us this game. Michigan State did. We ran the same sets late in game that have led to numerous victories this season and Sparty was equal to the task.

It sucks when two teams play tough, hard nosed basketball and only one can win. Just ask Rutgers, Wisconsin, Illinois and Minnesota, who were tough against us but not tough enough at the end. Sparty shut us down the same way we shut those teams down.

It was easily our toughest loss since the Pa!estra. Now, and I posted this yesterday, we can't let it linger to our next game and come out flat, or we',re dealing with a spiral at the worst to of the year. Still lots to play for. And no one knows that more than the bespectacled red face on the bench.

I’ll respond to u same as last nite...
Certainly give Sparty it’s due - their guy got hot and stepped up and Hawks got Izzo’d at crucial time. However, I believe there’s no defending Pemsl getting 20+ mins vs Krieners 18 and Evelyn getting 27 vs Joe Ts 22.

Kriener arguable played his best game of the year, on both ends:
18 pt, 7 fg, 1blk, 1stl, 1 to. Pemsl: 3 pt, 8 rb, 1blk, 2 to.
Pemsl was solid, by his standards, but Kriener was outstanding - hitting from everywhere, impactfing them on D, drawing fouls. He shoulda taken 6 to 8 mins of Pemsls.

Evelyn was decent scoring but JoeT had a similarly productive box line and is so much more of a diverse threat to drive, dish, score and draw fouls. He works a defender and is a better defender.

Look, we’re both stating facts. U give Sparty more credit during crunch times, I think Frans personnel decisions had as much or more of an impact on Hawks success during crunch times. So we agree to disagree. It’s no big deal and not worth calling out in a dedicated thread.

Now, I’ll be done so H-Finn can do another round of hollow, condescending drive-bys.

 

[chucktownhawk]

Huck is pretty good at that

 

[HuckFinn]

You’re right I’m the first person in history to question a coaches moves throughout a game after the game was over.

No, you are not. I have been doing it for years!

 

[PCHawk]

I think our team ran our of gas against San Diego State and Penn State. I think last night was a combo of MSU making some plays and the officials swallowing their whistles. The team that loses the close game doesn't always "not have the horses". I think this team has shown plenty of times that they have the horses. Our 2nd best horse sucked last night or they might not have even been close enough to take the win. Our horse sucked, but we did have him.