Cook's Development

I don’t know that anyone leaves a FM program a better player due to the coaching they receive. Cook has taken several steps backward this year imo.
 
Hard for me to blame the staff for Cook really.

It's easy to figure out... learn to shoot - 3's even.

Yet he never appears to have every given a F... that's why he will be playing in belgium.
 
Cook has a couple holes in his game that are so big he wouldn't have been able to develope no matter where he went. He has really bad hands and really bad reaction time. Those weren't going to get better from coaching.
 
It is no question. As posted, many times, Cook is the most misused 4 in the history of Iowa basketball.

The things he was allowed to do and / or was schemed to do have been an egregious mismatch of skill set to strategy and have undermined his personal success, as well as the success of this team.

This late season collapse is just more evidence of what I've said for years - this Staff wanders between misunderstanding and complete ineptitude when it comes to coaching, developing and utilizing bigs.
 
Did Fran watch him trying to shoot in high school? How the hell was he a four star recruit ? I watched Garza high school highlight tape and I thought no way will his athleticism work in the big ten . Does Fran even look at these players?
 
I agree that the lack of player development is a factor in late season swoons, it is very rare that a player comes out of high school with straight to NBA skill sets. Having said that, we are never going to see that type of player at Iowa, we have to hope the players we recruit will get better on their own it seems, and I just haven't seen that happen. It is almost like the philosophy is getting players that have a skill set to play in the system, let them play for 3-4 years, and hope it all meshes together. It came close this year, as it has in past years, but the desire to keep progressing just evaporates eventually if the necessary ingredient to establish cohesiveness is lacking.
 
smitharooney said:
Did Fran watch him trying to shoot in high school? How the hell was he a four star recruit ? I watched Garza high school highlight tape and I thought no way will his athleticism work in the big ten . Does Fran even look at these players?
Click to expand...

I watched Brad Lohaus and Les Jepson play in their early years and thought the same thing about their athleticism, but with coaching, it turned out OK.
 
Dadman said:
I watched Brad Lohaus and Les Jepson play in their early years and thought the same thing about their athleticism, but with coaching, it turned out OK.
Click to expand...
Lohaus was still more athletic than Garza in his early years . I never was a fan of Jepsen
 
Dadman said:
I watched Brad Lohaus and Les Jepson play in their early years and thought the same thing about their athleticism, but with coaching, it turned out OK.
Click to expand...
Yeah. But the level of athleticism for players has really changed expedentially since the 80s and 90s. Garza is athletic enough because he is crafty. But he needs to work on his floor awareness he seems to want to put the ball on the floor in traffic way too much with no awareness of the bodies around him. One on one he's a handful for pretty much anyone he's up against. You don't have to jump over guys to be good. But playing smarter and taking what's there is what the game is all about. I'd like to see him go up stronger with two hands in traffic too. He often fades away. I get why he does that because he's not confident in jumping over anyone. But he'd get his shot blocked less often and draw more fouls if he would...
 
Hawkfnntn said:
Yeah. But the level of athleticism for players has really changed expedentially since the 80s and 90s. Garza is athletic enough because he is crafty. But he needs to work on his floor awareness he seems to want to put the ball on the floor in traffic way too much with no awareness of the bodies around him. One on one he's a handful for pretty much anyone he's up against. You don't have to jump over guys to be good. But playing smarter and taking what's there is what the game is all about. I'd like to see him go up stronger with two hands in traffic too. He often fades away. I get why he does that because he's not confident in jumping over anyone. But he'd get his shot blocked less often and draw more fouls if he would...
Click to expand...
 
No arguments here, good points all. I still believe he could be an impact player, but he needs COACHING to develop his skills. To compare, I would rather start with a Garza vs a Happ, for example, and not only because foul shooting late in close games is so important. Maybe that's a bit of anti-badger bias coming through though............
 
If we had better announcers at Iowa, Cook would be more developed. Also, better officiating would help. Plus, people who comment about the Iowa coaches and players on social media hurt his and their development and success. With so much against them it is amazing they have won so many games.
 
STILLBUSTER said:
It is no question. As posted, many times, Cook is the most misused 4 in the history of Iowa basketball.

The things he was allowed to do and / or was schemed to do have been an egregious mismatch of skill set to strategy and have undermined his personal success, as well as the success of this team.

This late season collapse is just more evidence of what I've said for years - this Staff wanders between misunderstanding and complete ineptitude when it comes to coaching, developing and utilizing bigs.
Click to expand...
Fran needs to consider cleaning house in his assistant coaching ranks. He needs teachers of the game who will instruct and push players to be what they aren't yet, but could be. (Since he has a buyout and can't be replaced)
 
Title should be Cook's NON development. Fran needs to take his kids and head on down the road to a MAC school. He is out of his league here. This many years in, and he can't recruit a PG, can't recruit athletes, and boasts a whopping .500 conference record. Big deal.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Share this page

Top