Brock Harding More Comfortable in Year 2

Hawkfnntn said:
Well it kinda is saying something. I assume you consider JBo a pg and say what you want about him he sure did some things out there. I'm rooting for the kid I'm all about how he plays. I just hope he can hit from outside consistently and D up to an effective enough level to justify playing him alot.

Now JBo played a ton despite his defensive deficiencies and that was cause dude could shoot. So if BH can do that better then he's shown so far I think that'll go a long long way towards him playing more. Sure his handles and passing is great but he's gotta be able to knock em down too.
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You either need to be pretty good at everything or truly great at one thing to be on the court. JBO was a great scorer. It more than made up for his deficiencies on D. I would take JBO back in heart beat.

I think Harding can be more of a 5-tool player. He has shown skills across the board. We shall see. If he is that, we should see it come forward this season.
 
First let me say that no one loves the Hawks more than I do. Fifty years of following the team including sitting in my bedroom listening to who radio at age 13, and hearing names like Bruce Sky King, Dick Pathe, Tommy Normon, and eventually a young Ronnie Lester ( one of the greatest guards in several decades).

I know it may have been a meaningless NIT games last year in Utah, and maybe the players were flat but it was just hard to bear to be there at the game. The lack of team speed on defense was just hard to watch. It’s been pretty much lacking since Fran got here with the exception of when Woodbury played his junior and senior year. Offense very good, defense very bad.

That last game nothing looked good on either front on defense or offense. Now again maybe the players were tired from a long season. Even Fran seemed disconnected in the game, not much out of him even when the officials were missing obvious calls.

I sat in my car after the game just shaking my head. I understand the typical optimism that comes with each new year. Hopes of players stepping up above what was achieved the previous year. That has to happen for Iowa to make it to the NCAA. If it doesn’t happen then we will enjoy another NIT bid. The just my honest opinion of what I see on the court. Can Harding be a difference maker. One of you mentioned it. He has to be able to at least play defense at a reasonable ability. If our starting center gets in foul trouble then what???? I don’t even want to think about that. Who is behind him that can even play a reasonable center.

Gawd, I hope I am wrong.
 
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BigD said:
First let me say that no one loves the Hawks more than I do. Fifty years of following the team including sitting in my bedroom listening to who radio at age 13, and hearing names like Bruce Sky King, Dick Pathe, Tommy Normon, and eventually a young Ronnie Lester ( one of the greatest guards in several decades).

I know it may have been a meaningless NIT games last year in Utah, and maybe the players were flat but it was just hard to bear to be there at the game. The lack of team speed on defense was just hard to watch. It’s been pretty much lacking since Fran got here with the exception of when Woodbury played his junior and senior year. Offense very good, defense very bad.

That last game nothing looked good on either front on defense or offense. Now again maybe the players were tired from a long season. Even Fran seemed disconnected in the game, not much out of him even when the officials were missing obvious calls.

I sat in my car after the game just shaking my head. I understand the typical optimism that comes with each new year. Hopes of players stepping up above what was achieved the previous year. That has to happen for Iowa to make it to the NCAA. If it doesn’t happen then we will enjoy another NIT bid. The just my honest opinion of what I see on the court. Can Harding be a difference maker. One of you mentioned it. He has to be able to at least play defense at a reasonable ability. If our starting center gets in foul trouble then what???? I don’t even want to think about that. Who is behind him that can even play a reasonable center.

Gawd, I hope I am wrong.
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I expect Mulvey to be a serviceable backup center.
 
NorthKCHawk said:
You either need to be pretty good at everything or truly great at one thing to be on the court. JBO was a great scorer. It more than made up for his deficiencies on D. I would take JBO back in heart beat.

I think Harding can be more of a 5-tool player. He has shown skills across the board. We shall see. If he is that, we should see it come forward this season.
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I thought from what I remember seeing of Harding in HS that he was a good shooter and could hit long jumpers off the dribble. I think he can get that part of his game going at this level too he's capable. Sometimes that's a rhythm thing and in limited mins and opportunities that can be tough to do at this level. Hopefully with more mins he can do exactly that. Cause based off what he showed last yr if I'm a team scouting him I'd lay off him and make him beat me from outside for now. We know he can blow by guys and setup teammates he's shown that.
 
BigD said:
First let me say that no one loves the Hawks more than I do. Fifty years of following the team including sitting in my bedroom listening to who radio at age 13, and hearing names like Bruce Sky King, Dick Pathe, Tommy Normon, and eventually a young Ronnie Lester ( one of the greatest guards in several decades).

I know it may have been a meaningless NIT games last year in Utah, and maybe the players were flat but it was just hard to bear to be there at the game. The lack of team speed on defense was just hard to watch. It’s been pretty much lacking since Fran got here with the exception of when Woodbury played his junior and senior year. Offense very good, defense very bad.

That last game nothing looked good on either front on defense or offense. Now again maybe the players were tired from a long season. Even Fran seemed disconnected in the game, not much out of him even when the officials were missing obvious calls.

I sat in my car after the game just shaking my head. I understand the typical optimism that comes with each new year. Hopes of players stepping up above what was achieved the previous year. That has to happen for Iowa to make it to the NCAA. If it doesn’t happen then we will enjoy another NIT bid. The just my honest opinion of what I see on the court. Can Harding be a difference maker. One of you mentioned it. He has to be able to at least play defense at a reasonable ability. If our starting center gets in foul trouble then what???? I don’t even want to think about that. Who is behind him that can even play a reasonable center.

Gawd, I hope I am wrong.
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We do have 4 or 5 mew guys coming in this year too. Along with the 4 freshmen last year, that's a lot of pieces that have a chance to upgrade us from last year. If 2 of last year's freshmen make a big jump, 1 incoming freshman plays like a starter, and 1 transfer plays like a starter, we will have a very good team. I think the least likely of those things to happen is a transfer playing really well.
 
Hawkfnntn said:
I thought from what I remember seeing of Harding in HS that he was a good shooter and could hit long jumpers off the dribble. I think he can get that part of his game going at this level too he's capable. Sometimes that's a rhythm thing and in limited mins and opportunities that can be tough to do at this level. Hopefully with more mins he can do exactly that. Cause based off what he showed last yr if I'm a team scouting him I'd lay off him and make him beat me from outside for now. We know he can blow by guys and setup teammates he's shown that.
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One thing about that is he was missing everything the first half of the year and shot pretty well in the last half. You could just tell by his shot he was a lot more confident. He's definitely not Bohannon, but he's not sophomore year Connor either. I don't think you can leave him open.
 
PCHawk said:
One thing about that is he was missing everything the first half of the year and shot pretty well in the last half. You could just tell by his shot he was a lot more confident. He's definitely not Bohannon, but he's not sophomore year Connor either. I don't think you can leave him open.
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I don't think so either. It's just a if you're gonna pick your poison against him sort of thing so far that's what you'd live with. Playing up on him and forcing him to do what he does best seems like the wrong move to me. If teams do that a lot we'll see lots of ally oops to Freeman, Tadjo and Treyore and Harding will have lots of assists.
 
Hawkfnntn said:
I don't think so either. It's just a if you're gonna pick your poison against him sort of thing so far that's what you'd live with. Playing up on him and forcing him to do what he does best seems like the wrong move to me. If teams do that a lot we'll see lots of ally oops to Freeman, Tadjo and Treyore and Harding will have lots of assists.
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Im-gonna-need-some-help GIFs - Get the best GIF on GIPHY
 
PCHawk said:
We do have 4 or 5 mew guys coming in this year too. Along with the 4 freshmen last year, that's a lot of pieces that have a chance to upgrade us from last year. If 2 of last year's freshmen make a big jump, 1 incoming freshman plays like a starter, and 1 transfer plays like a starter, we will have a very good team. I think the least likely of those things to happen is a transfer playing really well.
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I hope you are right also. It’s hard to keep up on Iowa recruiting out here in Utah.
 
I have heard rumor of Utah looking at the Big Ten. They have had a good football program for a couple of years and would be a nice addition. Also I would get to go to the games when the Hawks are in town.

It doesn’t sound like something that will be immediate but maybe a few years down the road.
 
Hawkfnntn said:
I don't think so either. It's just a if you're gonna pick your poison against him sort of thing so far that's what you'd live with. Playing up on him and forcing him to do what he does best seems like the wrong move to me. If teams do that a lot we'll see lots of ally oops to Freeman, Tadjo and Treyore and Harding will have lots of assists.
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Not to racial profile here, but I think Harding being white is going to make a lot of players underestimate his quickness. Especially this year before he's a known commodity. I don't think many players are going to look at him with fear in their eyes thinking he's going to blow by them. It's not just a white thing either. He's small with a baby face. Players underestimating him will probably help his cause a lot next year.
 
PCHawk said:
Koch's kid is supposedly an elite shooter. The other dude was called the best rebounder in the class by one recruiting service. Seems really athletic too. That's about all I know about the incoming freshmen.
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That’s more than I know, thanks for the insight.
 
PCHawk said:
Koch's kid is supposedly an elite shooter. The other dude was called the best rebounder in the class by one recruiting service. Seems really athletic too. That's about all I know about the incoming freshmen.
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Yeah Koch is being looked at as a taller Joe Wieskamp kinda sorta.. If that ends up being the case that'll be awesome. Tadjo looks like Tyler Cook reincarnated. I don't think he has much range on his shot but he's got hops and can defend and rebound.
 
PCHawk said:
Not to racial profile here, but I think Harding being white is going to make a lot of players underestimate his quickness. Especially this year before he's a known commodity. I don't think many players are going to look at him with fear in their eyes thinking he's going to blow by them. It's not just a white thing either. He's small with a baby face. Players underestimating him will probably help his cause a lot next year.
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I think tape gets out fast on guys and he put some out last yr already. The BIG coaches all will know what he's all about I would think. But anyone that hasn't seen him yet really could do that pretty easily.
 
As I have stated many times…I don’t know if BH is a starter getting 25+ minutes a game or a role player getting 12. I need to see more before I automatically annoit him the starter.

The best thing BH has going for him right now, is that he has really good chemistry with Freeman. You can tell they have played a lot of basketball together. Freeman is better when Harding is on the court.
 
Watched Harding and Thelwell match up for a short while at practice yesterday. They went at it pretty good and it looked fairly even in the short sample size. Drew has a lot of experience with Harding probably having more room to grow as a player.

It doesn't matter who starts, Iowa needs effective play from the position. And if those guys struggle, Fran will not hesitate to move Dix over there again.
 
trj said:
As I have stated many times…I don’t know if BH is a starter getting 25+ minutes a game or a role player getting 12. I need to see more before I automatically annoit him the starter.

The best thing BH has going for him right now, is that he has really good chemistry with Freeman. You can tell they have played a lot of basketball together. Freeman is better when Harding is on the court.
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ding ding ding.

This may be the clincher for Harding starting. Connor started solely because he was the best post feeder in the game and Garza was a generationally great scorer from the center position. The combination was too good to not play even if Connor suffered from a few deficiencies like not being able to hit the broad side of a barn from beyond 6 feet.

If this team is going to be anything but average, Owen Freeman has to become an all-conference type player. His chances of doing so increase with Harding on the court.
 
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