C-Mac love

[InGoodCo]

Connor doesn't need to score when this team is healthy so who cares? He is punishing teams that leave him open now and that's all we ever really needed from him as far as being a scoring threat. He will never have to be a scorer during his collegiate career (unless we lose 3 or 4 starters) so my point is, who cares?

 

[hawkeyebob62]

Says the king of personal insults via various alias identities. From an old movie.... Their baaaack. You are good at it though.

No alias IDs, sorry, Ghost...er, Gold

 

[PCHawk]

Connor doesn't need to score when this team is healthy so who cares? He is punishing teams that leave him open now and that's all we ever really needed from him as far as being a scoring threat. He will never have to be a scorer during his collegiate career (unless we lose 3 or 4 starters) so my point is, who cares?

He might end up good enough to be a scorer by his senior year. It wouldn't surprise me one bit.

 

[Robowe]

Connor doesn't need to score when this team is healthy so who cares? He is punishing teams that leave him open now and that's all we ever really needed from him as far as being a scoring threat. He will never have to be a scorer during his collegiate career (unless we lose 3 or 4 starters) so my point is, who cares?

Exactly. And, if Connor was shooting/scoring more, then some folks (no names ) would say he was a selfish player. Some guys can't win not matter what - coaches' sons especially.

 

[HawkGold]

Some of you love the concept of 4th place. Want a championship? You need CM to score. Not rocket science.

Without the threat, the opponent has less court to defend.

Gee hope Fran doesnt get mad at me.

 

[InGoodCo]

Some of you love the concept of 4th place. Want a championship? You need CM to score. Not rocket science.

Without the threat, the opponent has less court to defend.

Gee hope Fran doesnt get mad at me.

lol, I'm not in love with 4th place, but if Connor was a starter on a team with Joe W, Luka Garza, Jordan B and CJ Frederick, the make up to be a B1G conference caliber champion would be there. Now, I can't say "That team would win a ship" - I can't because I don't know, too many variables, too many other things to take into account, but the pieces would be there and you wouldn't need Connor to be a major scorer to do it. Also, look at every conference champion over the years, very rarely do they have a starting line up full of 5 guys who are going to be scorers. MSU is likely to win it this year and have only 2 guys averaging double figures. Is Michigan State giving teams less court to cover? You know way too much about this game to have that take.

 

[PCHawk]

lol, I'm not in love with 4th place, but if Connor was a starter on a team with Joe W, Luka Garza, Jordan B and CJ Frederick, the make up to be a B1G conference caliber champion would be there. Now, I can't say "That team would win a ship" - I can't because I don't know, too many variables, too many other things to take into account, but the pieces would be there and you wouldn't need Connor to be a major scorer to do it. Also, look at every conference champion over the years, very rarely do they have a starting line up full of 5 guys who are going to be scorers. MSU is likely to win it this year and have only 2 guys averaging double figures. Is Michigan State giving teams less court to cover? You know way too much about this game to have that take.

No joke. We have 3 good scorers on the team. Very few have more. Not to mention our offense is plenty good to win a conference championship this year. It's very unlikely it will happen given the 2 losses without CJ. But had he not gotten hurt, I would be thinking championship right now. Connor being a better scorer is probably 10th on my wish list right now.

 

[Northside Hawk]

Some of you love the concept of 4th place. Want a championship? You need CM to score. Not rocket science.

Without the threat, the opponent has less court to defend.

Gee hope Fran doesnt get mad at me.

Uh, I'm going to put this to a stop now.

Michigan won a Natty, forget a conference title, in 1989 with Mike Griffin starting at the end of the year and averaging 2.7 points per game.

Indiana won a Natty, and went undefeated, in 1976, with Bobby Wilkerson starting and probably averaging well under ten points per game.

And I can probably name a dozen other examples of a person who started on a conference or national championship team primarily for their defense, rebounding, intangibles, leadership, anything.

Look at Kurt Rambis on those eighties championship Lakers teams. Dennis Rodman on the Bulls and Pistons. I could go all night and debunk your myths about floor coverage and offensive black holes.

Connor is a big reason why our scorers score. What's so hard to understand about that?

 

[CP87]

You can't have guys out there who are complete zeroes on offense. They don't necessarily need to fill it up, but they have to add something: screening, ball movement, canny cutting, having the intelligence to move to the right spot to deform a defense and open up space for attack, offensive rebounding, etc..

It seems to me that Connor does enough of those things that he can compliment the guys you really want putting up shots. If he was a deadeye on catch-and-shoots (40+%), that would obviously be better. But he does enough good in other ways that he is useful.

On the women's team, Ollinger is kind of an analog. As a 4, she doesn't offer much scoring punch (just under 7 per game). But she is a good screener, smart passer, smart cutter, good offensive rebounder, etc.. She is also probably their best defensive player. There are lots of ways you can contribute to winning.

 

[Northside Hawk]

You can't have guys out there who are complete zeroes on offense. They don't necessarily need to fill it up, but they have to add something: screening, ball movement, canny cutting, having the intelligence to move to the right spot to deform a defense and open up space for attack, offensive rebounding, etc..

It seems to me that Connor does enough of those things that he can compliment the guys you really want putting up shots. If he was a deadeye on catch-and-shoots (40+%), that would obviously be better. But he does enough good in other ways that he is useful.

On the women's team, Ollinger is kind of an analog. As a 4, she doesn't offer much scoring punch (just under 7 per game). But she is a good screener, smart passer, smart cutter, good offensive rebounder, etc.. She is also probably their best defensive player. There are lots of ways you can contribute to winning.

Gold just needs to be more open minded about Connor. He may never be the scorer that Gessell was or Bohannon is but he still contributes winning plays.

Hell, even the juror in 12 Angry Men eventually changed his verdict to not guilty after evidence flowed in that the defendant was innocent, jurors changed their votes one by one, and one stubborn juror was the final holdout.

 

[HawkGold]

lol, I'm not in love with 4th place, but if Connor was a starter on a team with Joe W, Luka Garza, Jordan B and CJ Frederick, the make up to be a B1G conference caliber champion would be there. Now, I can't say "That team would win a ship" - I can't because I don't know, too many variables, too many other things to take into account, but the pieces would be there and you wouldn't need Connor to be a major scorer to do it. Also, look at every conference champion over the years, very rarely do they have a starting line up full of 5 guys who are going to be scorers. MSU is likely to win it this year and have only 2 guys averaging double figures. Is Michigan State giving teams less court to cover? You know way too much about this game to have that take.

Some of you. I said a threat. A threat.. A threat.

 

[PCHawk]

Some of you. I said a threat. A threat.. A threat.

He is a threat to score. He's just the 5th best option or so on the team. Every time he shoots, he's taking away a shot from a much better option. Until those options show they are being stopped, it's a losing play for Connor to shoot much. One team has slowed Garza down in the last month and he had a fever so who knows how much that hurt him. Give the ball to Garza until teams show they can stop him. Good luck to them.

 

[HawkGold]

Gold just needs to be more open minded about Connor. He may never be the scorer that Gessell was or Bohannon is but he still contributes winning plays.

Hell, even the juror in 12 Angry Men eventually changed his verdict to not guilty after evidence flowed in that the defendant was innocent, jurors changed their votes one by one, and one stubborn juror was the final holdout.

Dude. What dont you get. I said threat. You have heard me say he sees the floor. You have heard me say he does well at assists. Like all players he has liabilities. D is huge. He cant shoot over anyone... Where am I wrong.

Having players thinking like a coach is huge. John Lick could do those. And why JL could contribute some

The Big is wide open. Conner being a threat would make the Hawks a major contender. Teams will smother Luka eventually without it

This team could win the Big....if Conner is a threat. His shot does limit things though. Moss could shoot over people.

Snowflake disease is spreading to mid age fans.

A player having a year like Luka doesnt come oft for many teams. Need to do it yhis year.

 

[HawkGold]

He is a threat to score. He's just the 5th best option or so on the team. Every time he shoots, he's taking away a shot from a much better option. Until those options show they are being stopped, it's a losing play for Connor to shoot much. One team has slowed Garza down in the last month and he had a fever so who knows how much that hurt him. Give the ball to Garza until teams show they can stop him. Good luck to them.

No ... Just no. Hope you are right. Dont see it. If PSU or Nebby were wins... Or one I would maybe think maybe.

Dont want 4th.

 

[NikeHawk21]

Personally I don’t think either side is right or wrong in this argument. You can talk about the value that Connor brings to this team, while still mentioning or hoping that he could be a more proficient offensive player. We talked about Aaron White’s offensive deficiencies and areas we wanted him to improve when he was here as well, point being nobody is immune to it.

Do we want Connor hunting a bunch more shots? No absolutely not, we know where our bread is buttered with Garza inside and Wieskamp and Fredrick on the outside. With that said Connor is still attempting 5.5 shots per game and shooting 36.4% from the field. It’s within reason to want and hope for that number to increase. He’s increased his outside shooting numbers this year so that’s good but it doesn’t mean he can’t continue to improve and increase other areas of his game.

So again you can talk about all the good things Connor does for this team while still mentioning that improved and more proficient offensive play would improve this team as well.

 

[hawkation]

Connor doesn't need to score when this team is healthy so who cares? He is punishing teams that leave him open now and that's all we ever really needed from him as far as being a scoring threat. He will never have to be a scorer during his collegiate career (unless we lose 3 or 4 starters) so my point is, who cares?

I agree. He doesn't need to score. That's the issue. Stop dribbling the ball into 3 defenders in the lane. Stop shooting unless you're wide open. A fade-away shot isn't used when you're wide open. It seems like every other shot Connor takes is a fade-away.

I know he only dribbles into traffic 1x or 2x a game lately but it's an uneccessary turnover. Catch, penetrate & dish. Repeat.

This may come off that i am hating on Connor but I think he's an intelligent player. Offensively, I hold my breath everytime he shoots. I am done on this subject. Go Hawks.

 

[NikeHawk21]

One of the interesting stats for Connor this year is that last year in conference play he attempted 2 free throws a game in just over 17 minutes of play time. This year in over 31 minutes of play time he’s attempting only 1.3 free throws per game. So despite a huge increase in minutes he’s getting to the line a lot less. There are some factors there with the biggest probably being he has the ball in his hands less, especially at the end of games. I do think opponents and officials probably for that matter realize that when Connor is coming in there he’s looking to get fouled as well, so they've adjusted time that.

Another interesting stat is in conference play Connor is shooting just 23.8% from 2pt range on 3 shot attempts per game. Now 3 shots isn’t that many but I do think he can and will improve that number by finishing a little better around the hoop and hitting a few more of those mid range shots.

Again, I’m just pointing out the numbers. It’s apparent that Connor effects the game in so many ways that don’t show up on the stat sheet (Nic Baer like), but I do think he can improve a bit on those numbers of getting to the free throw line and making a higher percentage of his 2pt shots, and both those things will ultimately help Iowa hoops which is a good thing for all.

 

[NikeHawk21]

Connor doesn't need to score when this team is healthy so who cares? He is punishing teams that leave him open now and that's all we ever really needed from him as far as being a scoring threat. He will never have to be a scorer during his collegiate career (unless we lose 3 or 4 starters) so my point is, who cares?

On many nights he doesn’t need to score for us to be successful and for him to play well, but on some nights he might. As long as he’s going to get a few shots he could make some more I would say.

It’s not a zero sum game. Iowa can still be a highly proficient offensive team without a ton of scoring from Connor, but they could be even better with some more proficient offensive play from him. Connor doesn’t need to score to be a positive player, but he could be even better with more proficient offensive play.

 

[HuckFinn]

Some of you love the concept of 4th place. Want a championship? You need CM to score. Not rocket science.

Without the threat, the opponent has less court to defend.

Gee hope Fran doesnt get mad at me.

No, he will not. He will just ignore you, which makes good sense.

 

[Northside Hawk]

Dude. What dont you get. I said threat. You have heard me say he sees the floor. You have heard me say he does well at assists. Like all players he has liabilities. D is huge. He cant shoot over anyone... Where am I wrong.

Having players thinking like a coach is huge. John Lick could do those. And why JL could contribute some

The Big is wide open. Conner being a threat would make the Hawks a major contender. Teams will smother Luka eventually without it

This team could win the Big....if Conner is a threat. His shot does limit things though. Moss could shoot over people.

Snowflake disease is spreading to mid age fans.

A player having a year like Luka doesnt come oft for many teams. Need to do it yhis year.

Moss couldn't shoot over people in pressure situations. I doubt he could have hit that cold blooded three that CJ hit. His floater against jNW to set the stage for JBo was pretty much the extent of his clutch play. You couldn't even trust him on the line in the clutch.

Teams are already smothering Luka. And teams are paying for it.

To even think about the conference we are going to have to go into East Lansing and win. Won't be easy.

Connor is a threat...a threat....to do so many more things to occupy a defensive player mind than merely shoot, making him more dangerous than an Isaiah Moss...or even a Chris Kingsbury. Defenders knew Isaiah was no threat to move without the ball and little threat to pass or rebound. The defensive assignment on a player like that is so much easier than on a player like Connor it isn't even funny.

Connor is a major threat out there. To move without the ball, to post feed, to set up shooters, to rebound. What don't you get?