Connor McCaffery Thinks Hawkeyes Could Use a Point Guard

“I feel like I’m more of the facilitator out of the (guard) group,” Connor McCaffery said. “Jordan is such a great shooter and he has that ability to move off the ball. That’s where I come in and I can play the one, feed him and run the offense.”

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Glad to hear he's put that weight back on. 6'5 210 is a solid sized guy. The fact he's already been able to do that with the rest of summer and fall to work on his game should really help him. He seemed to downplay his own shooting ability. Granted in the context of the convo he was comparing himself to JBo and not many are in his category but I think Connor can knock in 3s too maybe just not off the dribble so much. I have a feeling Fran may have to coax CM into shooting more. He seems to be a pass first guy in every sense of the term. But to have a great O you can't be turning down good looks either that your capable of hitting. Hope he doesn't play too passive and fires away when open too.
 
Some scary situations he went through! Waking up not being able to breathe and choking on your own blood after the sutures failed couldn't have been fun. Glad everything worked out and hope to see him contribute this year
 
Playing Connor at the PG and JBo at the two does nothing to improve our perimeter defense. It might marginally help our offense if JBo is having a hot shooting night.

Connor is definitely hoping to turn some heads this year and hopefully he does. I’m not personally convinced he’s even a better option at PG then Dailey. If he proves that he is I still see him near 10-12 minutes a game. Anything more than that I think you’d be starting to take minutes from Moss, Weiskamp and Dailey at the off guard spots which I don’t feel is wise.
 
NikeHawk21 said:
Playing Connor at the PG and JBo at the two does nothing to improve our perimeter defense. It might marginally help our offense if JBo is having a hot shooting night.

Connor is definitely hoping to turn some heads this year and hopefully he does. I’m not personally convinced he’s even a better option at PG then Dailey. If he proves that he is I still see him near 10-12 minutes a game. Anything more than that I think you’d be starting to take minutes from Moss, Weiskamp and Dailey at the off guard spots which I don’t feel is wise.
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Not calling you out specifically Nike, but why are people so positive that he can't play PG?
 
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If you surround Connor with 3-4 really good shooters, you could sort of put him into the Adam Emmenecker from-Drake-10-years ago or so role. That worked out pretty well for them.
 
InGoodCo said:
Not calling you out specifically Nike, but why are people so positive that he can't play PG?
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Offensively I think he will be fine at PG. From the little I saw last year he was able to use his size to get to the spots on the floor and he’s a solid passer.

Defensively from what I remember last year and what I expect based on HS tape is that he would not be able to defend quicker guards. Teams would be smelling blood in the water if him and JBo were out there together.

So when I weigh the pros and cons, I’m not positive Cmac would even be a better spell PG than Dailey. Dailey has a good looking outside shot, has the lateral quickness needed to defend quicker guards (this hasn’t fully materialized yet but according to rob he is probably our best perimeter defender). He’s likely behind Connor in terms of passing, ball security, and basketball IQ. Those things should improve some with experience.

For the nth time on this board I’ll repeat that Iowa’s issue was defense not offense last year. Interesting that not one word of defense was spoken in that article.
 
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NikeHawk21 said:
Offensively I think he will be fine at PG. From the little I saw last year he was able to use his size to get to the spots on the floor and he’s a solid passer.

Defensively from what I remember last year and what I expect based on HS tape is that he would not be able to defend quicker guards. Teams would be smelling blood in the water if him and JBo were out there together.

So when I weigh the pros and cons, I’m not positive Cmac would even be a better spell PG than Dailey. Dailey has a good looking outside shot, has the lateral quickness needed to defend quicker guards (this hasn’t fully materialized yet but according to rob he is probably our best perimeter defender). He’s likely behind Connor in terms of passing, ball security, and basketball IQ. Those things should improve some with experience.

For the nth time on this board I’ll repeat that Iowa’s issue was defense not offense last year. Interesting that not one word of defense was spoken in that article.
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Iowa is hopefully going to be playing more zone D this year to try and combat that. I'm not a fan of zone D as I think our rebounding suffers when we use it. But our man to man was beyond pitiful not just due to lack of effort but ability. That I don't see much else of a choice. You can't expect 5 star service at a 2 star hotel... What really needs to be improved on be it Iowa is in man or zone is the help D. Our guys have to be more aware and react quicker to things out there when someone begins dribble driving.
 
If you are a big guard with good hands and a good few for the game, you can be a good defender even without great quickness (think Rubio or ageing Jason Kidd). Not sure if Connor will fit that mold or not.
 
It doesn't appear that McCaffery would of offered any incentive to Carton as far as being a starter. McCaffery seems set on playing the point guard position. Iowa has been recruiting a lot of off guards and small forwards so it makes a lot of sense. Anyway, it will be interesting to see how it all works out in the future. I hope the fans will give the younger McCaffery a chance to adjust to college ball. I think he will be a lot better after a month of adjusting. I remember when he was recruiting Gessel and offered him the keys to the team. I doubt he made the same offer to Carton.
 
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InGoodCo said:
Not calling you out specifically Nike, but why are people so positive that he can't play PG?
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I will take a stab at answering your question. If he can play PG then a lot of people will look pretty silly/foolish...only on the team because he's the coach's son, not a D-1 player, not good enough to play PG at Big 10 level, not good enough defensively for Big 10 level, losing Carton is the end of the world, etc.
 
WindsorHawk said:
I will take a stab at answering your question. If he can play PG then a lot of people will look pretty silly/foolish...only on the team because he's the coach's son, not a D-1 player, not good enough to play PG at Big 10 level, not good enough defensively for Big 10 level, losing Carton is the end of the world, etc.
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I'm on record stating that I think Connor is a better get than Patrick. I'm not saying he's gonna be all B1G or anything, but I'm anxious to see what a 100% healthy Connor can do for us.
 
tksirius said:
I'm on record stating that I think Connor is a better get than Patrick. I'm not saying he's gonna be all B1G or anything, but I'm anxious to see what a 100% healthy Connor can do for us.
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That's a bit of an against the grain take. Yet I can sorta see that. I mean if CM were to hit his ceiling or close to it and say PM can't put on much weight and never gets a 3 point shot of any significance and struggles...
 
Hawkfnntn said:
That's a bit of an against the grain take. Yet I can sorta see that. I mean if CM were to hit his ceiling or close to it and say PM can't put on much weight and never gets a 3 point shot of any significance and struggles...
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Well, I'm also on record stating that PMac was the most overrated recruit in the country. (when he was ranked Top 30)
 
The key for Connor will be if he can consistently make the open shot. If he’s out there with Bohannon, Cook, Wieskamp and Garza, for instance, he’ll get plenty of open looks.
 
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