Close losses...

[HawkeyeWalker]

A little different take on this topic. Yes, the number of close losses looks bad, and many of them were heart ripping brutal.

Maybe it is an "issue". But you can look at it a different way. We were competitive in every single loss this year. If I recall correctly, we did not lose a game by more than 8 points, and most were by 6 or less with a few by 3 or less.

Yes, a loss is a loss, they all suck. And yes, we "folded", "choked", "melted", etc, etc a few.

For those comparing this "collapse" to the one a couple years ago, I disagree, if for nothing else other than the margins of loss, having a chance to win inside of a minute to play in every loss but 1 or 2, and the fact that the overall quality of opponents is higher.

Do I believe the team has played well over the last 6 games, no I don't. But I haven't questioned effort like I did 2 years ago.

I typically don't buy into the mental thing, but it's fair to say confidence of the players is down.

I didnt ever believe we were going to sustain a top 5-8 rating, although this team did show they could play at a top 15 level. Don't know if they'll bounce back, but a single win could do wonders.

It's been a tough 6 games.

Go Hawks.

 

[GrandpaHawk]

I would also add that this is on the coaches,all of our games that we loss were under the 5 minute mark.Its up to the coaches to call the right plays and get the right personnel groups on the floor.They need to call timeouts when the players act confused like they have been late in the games.Even though we have senior leadership sometimes they need to be reminded about the shot clock and situation late in games.Maybe our coaches need to go to other successful Universities after the season and get some insight on how they handle timeouts and manage a game with less than 5 minutes left.Just a Thought

 

[PCHawk]

Doing everything perfect as a coach obviously doesn't guarantee victory. But I'm curious what pecentage of winning or losing a close game people think is on the coaches. I think a 1 possession game is at least 90% on players making plays at 10% at best on coaching decisions.

 

[PCHawk]

A little different take on this topic. Yes, the number of close losses looks bad, and many of them were heart ripping brutal.

Maybe it is an "issue". But you can look at it a different way. We were competitive in every single loss this year. If I recall correctly, we did not lose a game by more than 8 points, and most were by 6 or less with a few by 3 or less.

Yes, a loss is a loss, they all suck. And yes, we "folded", "choked", "melted", etc, etc a few.

For those comparing this "collapse" to the one a couple years ago, I disagree, if for nothing else other than the margins of loss, having a chance to win inside of a minute to play in every loss but 1 or 2, and the fact that the overall quality of opponents is higher.

Do I believe the team has played well over the last 6 games, no I don't. But I haven't questioned effort like I did 2 years ago.

I typically don't buy into the mental thing, but it's fair to say confidence of the players is down.

I didnt ever believe we were going to sustain a top 5-8 rating, although this team did show they could play at a top 15 level. Don't know if they'll bounce back, but a single win could do wonders.

It's been a tough 6 games.

Go Hawks.

You don't buy into the mental thing? Sports are probably 50% mental 50% physical.

 

[bogeyman]

I actually would like to know what kind of mental training they do for the team. Most teams bring in a mental guru or some person to help out before the season. We seem tense at the end, Clemmons 2 missed free throws and air ball of a 3 pointer kind of showed that. The ability to control the mind and breathing are what separate the big time players from the rest.

 

[HawkeyeWalker]

You don't buy into the mental thing? Sports are probably 50% mental 50% physical.

I didn't express my thought well. I absolutely believe in the mental aspect (I am a golfer). It was a poor choice of words on my part.

 

[PCHawk]

I didn't express my thought well. I absolutely believe in the mental aspect (I am a golfer). It was a poor choice of words on my part.

Yea golf might be 80% mental.

 

[Stanzi]

You don't buy into the mental thing? Sports are probably 50% mental 50% physical.

Basketball is 90% mental and the other half is physical.

 

[NEIChawk]

^^ ah, yes, the old Yogi Berra quote ^^

Maybe I shouldn't speak of Yogi around these parts, too soon?

 

[HaydenHawk56]

I think the close losses are both on players and coaches. Exactly what percent to put on each is hard to say without knowing for sure what goes on in practice sessions. But, my one clear visable knock on the coaches is not using their timeouts at the end of the game. Clearly, these players need guidance and don't free lance very well on their own.

Which, perhaps is also reflected in the team schemes on offense. They play a motion offense that is dependent on reading, reacting, moving, and spacing. If you don't have a mentally strong team that plays together as one, maybe this is not the best offense for them. It especially looks worse when they are not hitting their shots. Maybe they need to diversify and bring in some more set plays and patterned sets along with using their motion offense. They could use some different wrinkles. However, personal wise it stinks they don't have a big man who has the size, uses his size, and can score consistenly on the inside. Stinks that they don't have guards who can't consistently hit at a decent clip when they are open and miss their free throws in crunch time.

Defensively, it is hard to say if it is an effort thing, a health thing, a mental thing, a lack of speed thing (physical), a scheme thing, or all 5. But, they sure do leave a lot of shooters open on the perimeter in their zone defense and their help defense is horrible on the baseline. Seems like Iowa is running/lunging at shooters quite a bit.

But, a coach/teacher can only do so much. They can lead a horse to water, but they can't make them drink it. They do have to execute. Sometimes coaches can get far to much credit for wins and far to much criticism for losses.

But, I do think Fran moving forward needs to use his timeouts with his current roster (and in the future until they can prove otherwise) in close games at the end. He needs to also recruit and upgrade his post players and guards. Throw some more wrinkles in on offense and I think mabye we can start getting over the hump in these close games.

Personally, I just don't think these players generally (senior/junior class) have it in them when the going gets tough.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

Not many teams can say all losses were under 8 pts. I hate the losses, but this won't be a huge negative factor when seeding Iowa in the tournament. In the first part of the BIG season, Iowa was winning by average of 15 points.

Hopefully they can put a nice win together in Ann Arbor Saturday night & have a nice BIG tournament to get it worked out. If that happens, the close losses won't be a huge factor when seeding them.

 

[STILLBUSTER]

You don't buy into the mental thing? Sports are probably 50% mental 50% physical.

At this level, the physical - athleticism and skills - is more presumed; it's the mental toughness -- determination, intent, focus, confidence -- that separates great from good / good from average. Similarly with coaching; the higher the level, the more the game and player management take importance over skill development. After all, once you practice the sets and the spacing, all that's left for a coach to do is push the right buttons, figure out the right combos, at the right time. You can't teach height or athleticism, you can only try to motivate it to perform and put it in the best position to succeed.

80/20 - mental / physical. I'm surprised you went so low, PC, considering it's so consistent with you attributing this meltdown to the players' lack of execution, performance and focus.

 

[PCHawk]

At this level, the physical - athleticism and skills - is more presumed; it's the mental toughness -- determination, intent, focus, confidence -- that separates great from good / good from average. Similarly with coaching; the higher the level, the more the game and player management take importance over skill development. After all, once you practice the sets and the spacing, all that's left for a coach to do is push the right buttons, figure out the right combos, at the right time. You can't teach height or athleticism, you can only try to motivate it to perform and put it in the best position to succeed.

80/20 - mental / physical. I'm surprised you went so low, PC, considering it's so consistent with you attributing this meltdown to the players' lack of execution, performance and focus.

Winning close games is for sure mostly mental. I agree that talent is mostly a given but all talent isn't equal in D1. Since there are a lot of close games in a season, I will up it some from 50/50. Not as high as you went tho. I'll go 60/40.