Curious - During our scoring droughts....

[WinOneThisCentury]

Why are we not pounding the ball inside to Woodbury or posting another player? I just don't get that. If anything it increases the chances of getting fouls and probably ensures your shooters may be even more open when the miss the shots from behind the arc. We just are persistent there when we aren't scoring. White is now another option down low.

This has puzzled me about Frans style and how he handles the team when we aren't shooting well. It goes back to last year, although he may have thought Woodie wasn't the option he is now. He's really improved his offensive game this year and I think we should be patient and get him the ball down low when we are missing EVERY shot from 3 land.

 

[1977Hawkeye]

I agree with John Saunders last night that Woody needs to be more involved in the offense. He's more of finesse guy but he's got good skills and nice touch.. IMO Iowa needs to run the offense through him. He can look to score, or kick it back out to open shooters. Doing that would only lead to good things IMO. He needs lots of touches.

 

[bogeyman]

Been saying this for a couple years. He spends so much time out screening at the top of the circle but that's just not his game, he isn't real great at the pick and roll...mainly the rolling part. But he is effective when we get it to him on the left block in good position. Very rarely do we isolate him there and we are also not a good post feeding team. We need to watch the Wisky tape from last night on some of their sets on how to do this.

 

[PCHawk]

I agree with John Saunders last night that Woody needs to be more involved in the offense. He's more of finesse guy but he's got good skills and nice touch.. IMO Iowa needs to run the offense through him. He can look to score, or kick it back out to open shooters. Doing that would only lead to good things IMO. He needs lots of touches.

I agree about him being a finesse guy. Power guys don't really have off shooting nights because everything is down low with them. The problem with feeding a finesse guy like woody is we are still in danger of him having off shooting nights. When he shoots and misses, it leaves one less guy down low to rebound.

That said, on nights last night where he is on, we need to get him the ball. And we should always start with the plan of feeding him the ball to see if he's on. Because he is a finesse guy though, there will be nights where he is off and we will have to go a different direction on offense.

 

[glidinghawk]

I think Fran's philosophy is for his players to take shots when they have good looks. Iowa attempted 20 three's last night. I'd say 15 were pretty much wide open shots. They missed too many, but I don't think they'll pass up open looks as long as Fran gives them the green light to do so. I feel sorry for the opponents who don't defend the 3-pt line vs. Iowa and get burnt big time.

 

[Casey388]

I think it shouldn't just be during scoring droughts, but also a major part of our half court offense. Woody and White are playing great, and Gabe has a nice spot-up game and seems to be a little more physical than Woody. But I think we will see more feeds into the post as we continue with the season.

 

[WinOneThisCentury]

I think Fran's philosophy is for his players to take shots when they have good looks. Iowa attempted 20 three's last night. I'd say 15 were pretty much wide open shots. They missed too many, but I don't think they'll pass up open looks as long as Fran gives them the green light to do so. I feel sorry for the opponents who don't defend the 3-pt line vs. Iowa and get burnt big time.

Well, when you are having a night like last night and the nights like several down the stretch last year, you better have a different strategy to weather that storm. We have proven that we can continue to miss for a very long time...like the entire second half last night. I know getting to the free throw line is key for Iowa, but pounding the post or having the post at least touch the ball on multiple possessions when the shots aren't falling, seems pretty valid to me. We launched from 3 or off the dribble on 7-8 straight possession last night and it was ugly.

I'm hope our shooters get it worked out and find some consistency. The top teams in the B10 have guys that don't miss multiple times when they are wide open looks. We can't expect the other team to miss like NC did last night. North Carolina is not a 3 point shooting team and seemed pretty limited in the half court offense. It will be interesting to see how they do. Duke is going to destroy them.

 

[JG10Hawk]

Yes please! Run some post isolation and let Woody go to work. If the defense collapses to double team, he is a skilled enough passer to find the open man. Been saying that since the beginning of last season. Woody is a very skilled player and continues to get better with his faceup shot and high post moves. When given space he has a nice back to the basket low post game as well.

He never will be the explosive athlete people thought he should be because of his recruiting ranking and it's a shame people were so negative towards him because of that. He is definitely a skilled player that continues to improve his craft. I for one am glad he's a Hawk and am going to enjoy watching him continue to improve.

 

[sioux34]

Here is my opinion. Fran was a guard in college. He still thinks big guys are only out there to rebound and kick the ball out to the guards so they can clank more threes.

 

[OUTofTOWNHAWK]

Need better spacing to help out the post players. Michigan is really good at this as they play a lot of guards with one big man. They get better inside out shooting as a result.

 

[NEIChawk]

Woody is a good passer as well.....a little more inside out type of plays to keep the "D" honest if, and only if, we can hit 3's....We just do not have the shooters that can do that, so therefore we have to start pounding that ball inside to see if Woody can get to the basket more....I agree that he (and Gabe) have elevated their games a lot better than previous years, so why not keep that going....We have to start doing a better job at that b/c the start of the B1G will be brutal and it's important to establish something.....too many times where defenses sag off our perimeter and give us open looks, and clank, nothing.....we start improving in that area, then Woody/Gabe can have a little more space in the middle to do their thing...

 

[SnapBack2]

I would have not said this 2 years ago or even the first half of last year. Early on Woody would play too fast, put the ball on the floor immediately and get it stolen (expected for a freshman 7'er). But the game has slowed down for him, high bball IQ. Agree with everyone that the ball has to go through Woody and add in that guard penetration is necessary to break down the defense later in the shot clock.

 

[WindsorHawk]

I think Fran's philosophy is for his players to take shots when they have good looks. Iowa attempted 20 three's last night. I'd say 15 were pretty much wide open shots. They missed too many, but I don't think they'll pass up open looks as long as Fran gives them the green light to do so. I feel sorry for the opponents who don't defend the 3-pt line vs. Iowa and get burnt big time.

I agree. Fran wants his shooters to shoot when they're open. I don't just mean guys shooting threes. This includes Woody and Gabe from feet, etc.

 

[WindsorHawk]

Why are we not pounding the ball inside to Woodbury or posting another player? I just don't get that. If anything it increases the chances of getting fouls and probably ensures your shooters may be even more open when the miss the shots from behind the arc. We just are persistent there when we aren't scoring. White is now another option down low.

This has puzzled me about Frans style and how he handles the team when we aren't shooting well. It goes back to last year, although he may have thought Woodie wasn't the option he is now. He's really improved his offensive game this year and I think we should be patient and get him the ball down low when we are missing EVERY shot from 3 land.

I don't think our guys were very good at feeding the post last year. White, Woodbury, Gabe, etc. would get good post position and the pass wouldn't come or wouldn't get there...poor pass. I think it's better this year and will continue to improve. It helps that Clemmons is playing well and getting heavy minutes. He does the best job as a guard of setting up and/or feeding the big guys IMO.