Well as the saying goes more than one thing can be true..
Connor McCaffery Thinks Hawkeyes Could Use a Point Guard
- Thread starter RobHowe
- Start date
I
Ian Pike Hammer
Guest
Here's what I saw in Iowa games last year [I live in Ks and can't see nearly enough gms!]. Our perimeter defense is guarding too closely. Combine that with the fact that our opponents have quicker players and the result is a blow-by down the lane and a lay-up/dunk. How many times did we see that last year??? Lay-ups/dunks are high percentage shots. Any coach in the world would rather get beat with the outside shot than points in the paint.
The problem there is the 3 point shot, the great equalizer! Still, playing the odds, it'd be better to give more room on the perimeter and deny the drive to the hoop. The nationwide average on 3 pt shooting is in the 33 to 34% success rate [someone correct me if I'm wrong]. If we cut down on allowing 5 or 6 dunks a game, our defense will improve by 10-12 points.
Granted, that still leaves the 3 point shot, but we should play the odds. That's what Vegas does.
Fryowa
Administrator
Not his fault I know, but he has a Manute Bol body in a 6’8” frame. That does not compute and there’s a reason why he’s falling down the rankings like a plinko chip. He’s also playing kids now who for the most part won’t play D-1 ball let alone Big Ten level basketball. Unfortunately I think he’s in for a huge surprise when he gets back to IC.
But I’m probably wrong because I hate the Hawks and I want them to fail I guess.
SteveGarvey1
Well-Known Member
All the more reason to offer Hutchins. He's quicker than anyone on our roster as it stands now. Watching our slow feet on defense gets old.
InGoodCo
Well-Known Member
I thought Patrick played in top 100 camps, a D1 tier AAU circuit and the USA 18 and under basketball camp? Is he going up against players who won't play D1 ball? Legit question.
HawkGold
Well-Known Member
A team without a dribble drive dimension is not consistently going to get open looks looks consistently. This team will be feast or famine.
The key will be for Conner to be able to stop quick point guards and create his own shot.
HawkGold
Well-Known Member
Patrick has way more upside on potential athleticism. I'm not confident in Fran's player development. Patrick;s upside is way higher than Michael Finke who really didn't work out but did burn Iowa one or two games. He's real similar to Tim Finke who ended up at Grand Canyon State. Conner won't be much different as a Freshman or as a Senior. Conner would be a decent addition as a role player on a decent team with a coach who can develop talent.
This team will be up and down and have a few big surprises but will get totally dismantled by well coached top level teams come crunch time.
No doubt the Hawks will be better. However, is where the Hawks are heading where fans really want to be?
InGoodCo
Well-Known Member
No probably not, but I think if Iowa fans saw a team that competed, hustled, looked like they were competent and had enough cohesion to play passable defense, that would be a step in the right direction. Make the tournament at all costs and I will be happy. Then next year you are looking at JW a year older, a huge senior class (with Cook possibly gone) and some positive mo moving forward to possible get Iowa to where they really want to be. That's the only way out of this mess, win and win now IMO.
I think most would agree PMs potential ceiling is higher than CMs. What I was suggesting was just the what ifs involved with them. I'm not familiar with Finke at all. So I can't grasp that comparison. PMs potential is based a lot on him gaining about 35 plus lbs and getting a 3 pt shot not to mention the rest of his overall game improving. He might not ever put on that much more weight while in college that's not a given for a string bean like him. He might put on 10-15 more but even that wouldn't get him to where he'd even be 200 and that's too skinny for a 6'8-610 kid if he were to keep growing. And to assume someone who currently can't shoot very well all of a sudden will from 3 isn't a gamble I'd be willing to take to Vegas on either. Never say never but odds are odds for a reason.
CM may not be the quickest guy or get his vert up to 40 inches but at 6'5 210 he doesn't have to (as nice as that'd be). If he improves his athleticism even a little and has a good 3 pt shot he'll have at worst a backup pg spot and most likely the first guard off the bench for most of his career. He's a solid ball handler and probably the smartest kid on the team based on his GPA and coaches son pedigree etc.
I'm not saying I'm putting the farm on those things being fact I'm just saying I could see it happen and wouldn't be surprised if it did. Or Maybe PM starts gaining weight like Robert Gallery did and by his junior year he's the white Lebron James. Who knows...
RobHowe
Administrator
He'll get open looks. Plenty of offensive options on this team on which opponents will concentrate. He'll need to knock down those shots. He'll also help with ball movement.
HawkGold
Well-Known Member
It's hard to tell. The shot he has just isn't what you'd expect for a D1 player (OK there are some good one's with bad looking shots). However, it is so low that it takes inches off his height. Patrick will never be able to get away with his dribbling in the Big. Lot's of turnovers coming to learn from.
I do think when this team gets totally dismantled like what happened in the last Dance (OK is was Villanova), it will sour the fans. This team has "dismantle me" written all over it. The Hawks for sure will get better. Not sure if they'll get to a bunch of ways tie for I almost got there will do it if the dismantlings happen.
Btw, M Finke was more developed than PM at this point. Tim was highly rated about the same at times as PM, but his dad being a former Big athlete and a HS BB coach I think understood the score and guided him to Grand Canyon State, a team in need of players and trying to make a jump to bigger times. Both brothers will be there since M Finke left IL where he just didn't do much, except for a game or 2 against the Big Team with the terrible perimeter D.
HawkGold
Well-Known Member
It will happen at times for sure, but not against motivated good teams. Inside/out and good ball movement teams are fun and there is the Cook under will be fun at times, but my suspicion is we will see some terrible terrible blow outs with really low scoring at times in the 40s and 50s.
Teams need a dribble drive dimension.
You need to attack the rim and deform the defense to generate good looks. Some teams do it via dribble-drive. But you can also do it with a legit back-to-the-basket post threat. The former approach is much more common these days, but the latter still works if you can find someone with that back-to-the-basket skill set. You also need your post players to have good hands, awareness, and passing skills, which is probably why the dribble-drive approach is more common (easy to find those skills in a guard than in a post). It seems like some combination of Cook's and Garza's post games plus Bohannon's defender being afraid to drift should create good looks for other Hawks.
In the ideal situation, you would have the ability to deform the defense with a threatening penetrator or post player, and then have players who can hits 3s or attack aggressive closeouts themselves. On that side of things, the Hawks seem to have potential in Wieskamp, CMac, Moss, and Dailey (and maybe Nunge and Baer?). But that potential needs to be realized at some point, and of course, there are no guarantees that will happen.
HawkGold
Well-Known Member
We'll see.
did some spot checking
IU = 1
PSU = 0
Maryland = 1
Nebraska = 3
Those are the teams the Hawks are chasing.
Adam
Well-Known Member
Ya I'm not expecting Iowa to get shut down offensively too often. I am however expecting 7-10 games where we are struggling to keep someone from hanging 100 on us.
RobHowe
Administrator
Agree. If the defense isn't markedly better, it won't matter how much we score.
It's going to have to come from being better connected and team defense. Roster still is void from having strong individual defenders.
Ree4
Well-Known Member
Teams can run players off screens, pick and roll or as CP87 said, a good post player. You don't have to have a point guard that can beat his defender 1v1 to be effective on offense. With the motion that we run, quick/accurate passes would be more effective than dribble drives. Of course it would be nice to have a PG like that, but it isn't required. I don't think anyone else has ever said this about Iowa, but I feel that the defensive end is where we need to improve.
eveningnewsteam
Well-Known Member
I like Connors game. Under control, decent length, smart and he understands how to play. Like Rob said, he will be left open and needs to knock some shots down to keep the D honest. He will help Iowa
People on here act like our one weakness is the one area you have to be good at, reguardless of what that weakness happens to be at that point in time.