To me, Fran's teams often play "soft". Rutger's laid out the perfect template to beat Iowa and offset Iowa's size, length advantage and great shooting. Iowa was ranked I believe 12th in the nation in offensive efficiency and pretty much tied with Michigan St in the BIG.
Rutgers, like Mich St., got right up in the Iowa players mugs and did not give Iowa's guards any space. Michigan St. does the same when playing, with much success. Rutgers could afford to do this as they were willing to sacrifice fouls because of their depth. We've complained about Fran's depth he plays in the past as he typically could go 10 or 11 players. I realize Nunge is redshirting and Pemsl is out, but he has gone that deep in the past and could next year as well. This makes me wonder, should Iowa ramp up the physicality and be willing to sacrifice more fouls? Bang a little more or be willing to play with more contact? This clearly gets into Iowa's head when they play teams that do that. If you struggle to play clean defensive ball, maybe a team should go that route, especially with deep teams. Why the hell not? Soft play is not getting Iowa anywhere, but having a 121 rating or above in defensive efficiency.
We all know how Mich. St. gets away with a lot of contact or not every hit on the arm is called. In games, the more contact the more the refs are going to have to let go, IMO, or they are going to be blowing the whistle every other play. I think after time, it's human nature just to not see certain things after time. This is how Mich. St. can dictate how games are called.
I think many will point out that you worry that Iowa's free throw made advantage will shrink considerably or go away, but that hasn't been paying big dividends lately anyway. Iowa struggles in games where physical play is allowed.
I just think they need to play a bit more physical and a bit more scrappy, even if more fouls are called. They can't play soft anymore.
Thoughts ?