Despite loss, I'm sold

And yes, I am probably overreacting to a bad team in his first couple of games as a coach. I just miss winning games and am venting a little.
 
The Hawks had a chance to really make it interesting at the end but they had no answer for Holloway. If Holloway played for the Hawks, we easily win the game. Point guard play is so critical to a teams success and right now our pg's are playing very poorly. If Archie can continue to play as he has the past 2 games, we can at least compete in the post area with Archie/Cole/Brommer. Our pg's really need to step up for us to have a chance.
 
Archie was a revelation. He is our only post player with enough size and moves to be able to do more than throw the ball off the bottom of the rim. We are going to have play him and Brommer a lot and hope they continue to develop.

If May and Gatens played that poorly against a quality opponent last year, we wouldn't have cracked 50 points. I was encouraged to see that second unit bring us back a little bit in the second half. Get Gatens and May rolling and we could be decent.
 
I love the style, just need the horses to run it. That remains to be seen, but I think Fran will be able to snag one or two, and that's really all you need to get the ball rolling.
 
Despite having a horrible 1st half, I think the 2nd half spark has to be credited to Bryce Cartwright. The coaching staff made nice 2nd half adjustments, but Cartwright got loose and starting making some nice moves to get to the rack which opened up a lot of opportunities for easy put backs. RE: Archie's stats. I think the team as a whole really loosened up in the 2nd half and just decided to stop thinking so much and let the game come to them.

That being said, we really lack legitimate playmakers right now. Other than Cartwright no one could create the space needed to get to the paint most of the game. There were a lot of desperation toss ups around the hoop that just magnified our inability to create with much more physical and athletic defenders. Cartwright will have to continue to make moves to the bucket to draw defenders. The next key will be to find the open player, which was missed quite a few times last night. I think it will come though once the team gets a few more games under it's belt. I wouldn't be surprised if Cartwright earns a spot in the starting rotation soon, though his defense will have to be a little more consistent.

I love the fight in this team, and the coaching staffs defensive philosophy is exciting. The offense will come with better athletes, but this team will still be fun to watch grow despite my fears that they may not win any more games than they did last year.
 
Recruiting is the name of the game. If Fran cannot get better talent in,we are doomed. He must get the Iowa natives to stay home,and then find some athletes out of state to supplement the roster. Long uphill battle,but I think he can coach'em up if he gets the players.
 
I'll have to take people's word for it since I am unable to watch the games. The youth and switching of playing styles will lead to some very uneven play this year. At times they'll show flashes of what is to come and at others you'll be thinking "here we go again."
 
JHHawk said:
Recruiting is the name of the game. If Fran cannot get better talent in,we are doomed. He must get the Iowa natives to stay home,and then find some athletes out of state to supplement the roster. Long uphill battle,but I think he can coach'em up if he gets the players.
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If Coach can create some buzz around the league thanks to his style of play, the crowds show up again, and the team starts to put together some wins it will help recruiting. CHA used to be one of the greatest places to play in the country and can be that way again. If coach can get the fans to come it will help with the recruiting. Would you rather play at the Breslin Center with the Izone or CHA with only a few thousand not real excited fans there?
 
The league isn't going to care about out "fast paced" style of play when it elicits 20 turnovers a game and no fast break points against low D-1 level teams.

I understand that to us, watching us try to get to the basket and do stuff is kind of a novelty considering it hasn't happen in a few years but other teams do this too (as in it's what good basketball teams do).

Finally trying to play smart basketball but doing it poorly because you have bad players isn't going to get people to Carver.
 
bcl20 said:
The league isn't going to care about out "fast paced" style of play when it elicits 20 turnovers a game and no fast break points against low D-1 level teams.

I understand that to us, watching us try to get to the basket and do stuff is kind of a novelty considering it hasn't happen in a few years but other teams do this too (as in it's what good basketball teams do).

Finally trying to play smart basketball but doing it poorly because you have bad players isn't going to get people to Carver.
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For what it's worth, we only had 10 TO's last night. I think we only had 2 in maybe the last 13 mins. That's not too shabby. Combine this stat with the fact that we're getting nearly 15-20 more possessions/game than last year and I'd say we're taking decent care of the ball. Especially given how young our guys are.
 
JHHawk said:
Recruiting is the name of the game. If Fran cannot get better talent in,we are doomed. He must get the Iowa natives to stay home,and then find some athletes out of state to supplement the roster. Long uphill battle,but I think he can coach'em up if he gets the players.
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I feel like a broken record here, but I must say. People really believe that Iowa hasn't recruited well, the problem has been keeping them there.
Ok, looking at 2011 you have Top 150 Josh Oglesby signed and you have a player in Aaron White that was an MVP in an AAU tournament. I don't think that is too shabby right now. Keep in mind that Oglesby will play the 2 and 3 and White will play the 3 and 4, that is called versatility. Does Iowa need a 6-9 guy that can just board and block shots, doesn't every team? That kind of player will come, it may be as early as this spring.
What Iowa has is a very good foundation of youth and a couple quality upperclassmen that are leaders. Once Iowa gets more players that know how to play the game Iowa will be back to a winning program, if the players stay. I don't see that as an issue with Fran whatsoever. Player development and teaching will get you very far and Iowa has such an experienced and dedicated staff that this will happen. It may be a couple years before Iowa really wins, but look at the experience these freshman are getting and we only lose Cole.
The one thing in recruiting Iowa does need is a player that turns into "that guy" who just changes the program, it doesn't have to be a 4 or 5-star kid, it just has to be the right kid. Who knows it could be White or Oglesby, we don't know, but it could also be Basabe.
 
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