Birds vs Bears Basketball

[Iahwk06]

Fran feels that if he gets 90 points he will win most of the time. Perimeter defense has always been bad. Fran doesn't seem to believe in the weight room

 

[Zstatman]

Fran feels that if he gets 90 points he will win most of the time. Perimeter defense has always been bad. Fran doesn't seem to believe in the weight room

Ya know, even when Fran came to IC all those years ago, his mantra was the best defense is a good offense. Down deep I agree with him. Stands to reason if you can score 90 points a game, you are going to win a lot of games. For many years I don't believe he had the players to do so. This seems to be his deepest and most talented roster. So where is the disconnect?

 

[SCHawkeye2]

I don’t think it’s a talent issue as much as a coaching issue. I could be wrong but again our defense is terrible.

It's talent issue.

 

[haydensly]

I think Freeman might be the biggest head scratcher this season. He can look unstoppable for stretches and then be flat out awful. The difference between when he's playing lazy and playing with energy is so night and day.

Freeman can score but he has moments where he just seems out of it, on both ends of the court. He is as guilty as anyone of poor defensive play. He is a decent shot blocker.

Also, he was tied for the team lead in rebounds last night - with three rebounds! That's not all on him but an indictment of the entire team.

 

[Northside Hawk]

Has there ever been a worse half of basketball in the history of Iowa basketball? Honest question.

In terms of effort....can't remember and I go back to 1979. And I cant ever remember an Iowa team getting pounded on the boards as consistently bad as this one.

In terms of quantifiable, tangible results....maybe 118-71 loss at Indiana in 1990 (had to look the score up) That team was reeling from the Ray Thompson/Brian Garner academic casualties, an uninterested Acie Earl, and a reinjured Matt Bullard and by late February had thrown the towel on the season.

 

[Northside Hawk]

Had to check back in.
Only down 30!
Maybe I shouldn't think about NIT ...
UCLA is an NIT team and this is sample?
Wow, their fans attend with enthusiasm like Iowa.
C'mon guys ... Half empty arena ... Just like playing at home.

Probably more entertainment options on a Friday night in SoCal....and more things to currently worry about.

 

[Northside Hawk]

The last two games certainly support your point regarding how hard it is to survive as a "development program".
UCLA’s top seven scorers are transfers from Oregon State, Oklahoma State, USC, Arizona, Louisville, Nevada and Utah.
All of USC’s top nine scorers played at a different school last season. Four of them are with their third different school.

USC's biggest addition was their coach. I've always been an Eric Musselman fan back to his Nevada days (see my first ever post on this site)

 

[Northside Hawk]

Ya know, even when Fran came to IC all those years ago, his mantra was the best defense is a good offense. Down deep I agree with him. Stands to reason if you can score 90 points a game, you are going to win a lot of games. For many years I don't believe he had the players to do so. This seems to be his deepest and most talented roster. So where is the disconnect?

Our best defensive Fran era team was in the Woodbury/White 2013 NiT runner up era. We played solid defense that whole run to the title game.

But like @lightning1 tried to explain many years ago, its hard to play defense when you exhaust so much energy running a Fran offense. And Fran has seldom tried to recruit the pit bull types that coaches like Bob Huggins for example tried to recruit, Painter, Izzo. Bo Ryan, John Beilein.

Look at what happened to us when we won the BTT in 2022 with the four wins in four days. The energy we exhausted on defense necessary to win caught us when we got the early Thursday draw. We had no legs and were upset by Richmond.

So now we're back to 2018 level effort. And Wisconsin is on the rise. And I won't even mention the Cyclones. I watched them win last weekend at Texas Tech on pure guts and toughness.

I wish we could win those gut check type games more often then the occasional Nebraska win, especially on the road. We don't do it consistently enough-

 

[Grady]

Get your copy of Fran's "Building a Championship Defense" video while they're still available!
Seriously. Not joking.

 

[trj]

Payton Sandfort has been inconsistent all year and now he is injured.

This team goes the way he goes. When he is playing well, the team is playing well and vice versa.

I don’t know the severity of his shoulder injury or if he is going miss time or not.

 

[trj]

Our best defensive Fran era team was in the Woodbury/White 2013 NiT runner up era. We played solid defense that whole run to the title game.

But like @lightning1 tried to explain many years ago, its hard to play defense when you exhaust so much energy running a Fran offense. And Fran has seldom tried to recruit the pit bull types that coaches like Bob Huggins for example tried to recruit, Painter, Izzo. Bo Ryan, John Beilein.

Look at what happened to us when we won the BTT in 2022 with the four wins in four days. The energy we exhausted on defense necessary to win caught us when we got the early Thursday draw. We had no legs and were upset by Richmond.

So now we're back to 2018 level effort. And Wisconsin is on the rise. And I won't even mention the Cyclones. I watched them win last weekend at Texas Tech on pure guts and toughness.

I wish we could win those gut check type games more often then the occasional Nebraska win, especially on the road. We don't do it consistently enough-

That’s just it, tho. Fran is this tough East Coast guy and it is rare his teams took on his persona. Connor had it, but he was one guy, and a role player at that.