Basabe's comments in the Gazette.

While the team showed a lot of heart in the second half, Iowa did play pretty soft offensively in the first half. And the poor first half is what really beat them, although the free throws certainly didn't help matters.
 


Great comments and leadership from Mel.

You can be soft when it comes to shooting, running your offense and making free throws.

Fran duly noted this as much of the problem in the loss to O (aho) ST.
 


Sometimes when I respond to threads like this, I don't even know where to start. Mel did NOT call out his team mates in any kind of individual manner: Did you not see the word "we" in his statement? Although free throws were something you could point to and say, "...wow, if we had hit at a 75% rate, which I think is around our average, we may well have won a big game." But, his observation that Iowa went "soft" at times during the game was right on. Next, whoever said that Mel is not a recognized leader on this team must not have seen very many games. Here is a kid who, granted, had a not untypical sophomore slump last year. He took responsibility for his poor performance, he has accepted his role of coming off the bench after being a consistent starter, and has injected a heck of a lot of energy into several games this year. If you don't think the other players appreciate this as well as his leadership skills, you are nuts. He is articulate, smart, candid. I personally like the fact that different players take a leadership role at different times. I have seen our two great freshman guards do it; I have seen Whitey do it; I have seen RDM do it, as well as McCabe and definitely, in spite of all his detractors, I have seen Eric May do it. Frankly, I think Fran could start Mel B. since our frosh center is really struggling...but, I don't think Fran wants to shake his confidence and Mel seems fine with his role.
 


storminspank said:
I am soft. :(

Now it will affect my posting all day. You got into my head. No way I can lead the board in number of posts for the remainder of the day.
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If it ups your game, great, but I think you know you were not the target of my call out.
 


doclee said:
Sometimes when I respond to threads like this, I don't even know where to start. Mel did NOT call out his team mates in any kind of individual manner: Did you not see the word "we" in his statement? Although free throws were something you could point to and say, "...wow, if we had hit at a 75% rate, which I think is around our average, we may well have won a big game." But, his observation that Iowa went "soft" at times during the game was right on. Next, whoever said that Mel is not a recognized leader on this team must not have seen very many games. Here is a kid who, granted, had a not untypical sophomore slump last year. He took responsibility for his poor performance, he has accepted his role of coming off the bench after being a consistent starter, and has injected a heck of a lot of energy into several games this year. If you don't think the other players appreciate this as well as his leadership skills, you are nuts. He is articulate, smart, candid. I personally like the fact that different players take a leadership role at different times. I have seen our two great freshman guards do it; I have seen Whitey do it; I have seen RDM do it, as well as McCabe and definitely, in spite of all his detractors, I have seen Eric May do it. Frankly, I think Fran could start Mel B. since our frosh center is really struggling...but, I don't think Fran wants to shake his confidence and Mel seems fine with his role.
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plus 1 and well said.
 


Yeah, Mel made a general comment, that, as he often does, is not personal and slightly off-base. Being soft had nothing to do with the L to osu, unless by "soft", he means,

"For CHR!ST sake! Me and my slimes attempted 18 more shots than the other team. How's about we actually make a couple for a frickin' change!!"

This team is not soft. They are simply crappy shooters!!
 


kmajhawk said:
Mel's comments will have absolutely no effect; he is not the leader on this squad. Not sure who it is this year -- probably RDM
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RDM leads in points per game, that is about it unless he is a leader in practice and off the court. Unless you see or know something the rest of us don't.
 


The team showed more toughness last night than in their previous road games against ranked teams, but missing free throws at the end of a game beacause you are tired or it's a pressure situation shows a lack of mental toughness. They were tougher last night, but not quite tough enough in all areas.
 




Well said,Mel. It was not ''calling out'' teammates as much as a rallying cry to play mentally tougher on the road. The refs let OSU play physical in the first half,and the Hawks were pushed around a bit,and missed shots. I think they have shot very tight on the road vs Michigan and OSU....time to loosen up and make a few.
This was nothing that any teammate would take issue with,imo.
 




storminspank said:
Let's keep it in context... Mel wasn't calling anyone out.



“We have a good enough team, and we definitely thought we should have beat this team,â€￾ Basabe said. “To me it’s an opportunity lost because we were being soft and not because they beat us, not because they just shut us down or because they had more talent than us."


“When you lose games being soft, that’s unacceptable.â€￾



Plus you have to know how Mel is when he is talking to reporters. He's very laid back and just speaks his mind freely.
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If anything, OSU played soft, since they seemed to get bored in the second half and quit playing.
 


I would say if they generally like each other and get along it will be positive for the team. If in the other hand there are already problems this will make it worse.
 


dave3912 said:
RDM leads in points per game, that is about it unless he is a leader in practice and off the court. Unless you see or know something the rest of us don't.
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Who do you see as the leader of the team, the Aaron Craft-type of player who is huddling up teammates after a foul or getting on someone who is struggling or just absorbed the hard foul and looks ready to retaliate?
 


storminspank said:
Let's keep it in context... Mel wasn't calling anyone out.



“We have a good enough team, and we definitely thought we should have beat this team,â€￾ Basabe said. “To me it’s an opportunity lost because we were being soft and not because they beat us, not because they just shut us down or because they had more talent than us."


“When you lose games being soft, that’s unacceptable.â€￾



Plus you have to know how Mel is when he is talking to reporters. He's very laid back and just speaks his mind freely.
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Absolutely nothing wrong with Mel saying this, quite frankly, it seems overdue.

He said the right thing there, but as I stated before, where Iowa needs its upperclassmen the most is being spokeman for their coach and saying things that show the freshman their belief in Fran and getting everyone to play together.

Mel is correct, Iowa doesn't play through contact whatsoever. It isn't often Iowa gets and 1's, or make shots in traffic.

When Marble finally started to react to excessive contact, the refs had to make a call, he got two calls at the end of the game.
 


I couldn't see this game, but he's right. Being soft let MSU win. Being soft let Wisconsin make a comeback.

With ZERO gimme games in the conference schedule this team needs to figure that out and realize the game is 40 minutes long.
 








sioux34 said:
Mel called out his teammates for being soft after the OSU loss. Is this going to have the desired effect of bringing a little more toughness to the team (which it obviously needs) or cause a rift in the team?

I would like to think the team would step up and meet Mel's challenge, but I'm not sure. It is hard to predict when dealing with young egos.
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Good to see that he cares. Sounds a little like what a team leader should do. Maybe he has been encouraged by the head man to start fulfilling that role?
It is quite obvious, though, that Iowa can't beat the good teams in the league with Marble playing poorly. Iowa had close losses to Indiana and OSU that could well have been wins with any kind of contribution by Marble.
 


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