ESPN B1G Preview (Iowa picked 4th)

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SnapBack

Well-Known Member
This is the B1G basketball preview from ESPNInsider. It is written by Bradley Doolittle so I believe it is just his opinion. I'll add some comments and rankings since it's Insider.

1. Wisconsin
2. Ohio State
3. Michigan
4. Iowa
5. Michigan State
6. Nebraska
7. Illinois
8. Maryland
9. Minnesota
10. Indiana
11. Northwestern
12. Purdue
13. Penn St
14. Rutgers

Comments on Iowa...

"The loss of Roy Devyn Marble hurts Iowa, but Fran McCaffery has a deep team with the lineup versatility to keep the Big Ten's No. 2 offense scoring at an elite level. Consistent Aaron White is one of the league's best and will take on more of the offense. Junior center Adam Woodburykeeps getting better and shares minutes with senior Gabriel Olaseni, one of the nation's best offensive rebounders. Jarrod Uthoff plays wing at 6-foot-9 and has a fascinating mix of 3-point shooting and shot-blocking.
McCaffery has a potentially dynamic backcourt led by Mike Gesell, who is but a jump shot away from challenging for All-Big Ten honors. Junior college All-American Trey Dickerson is a blur and will play a change-of-pace role. Senior wing Josh Oglesby hit 40 percent on 3s. Iowa should emerge as a stronger team even without Marble and be positioned to do some damage in March."

LINK to article
 
deanvogs said:
Wow, they are pretty high on Iowa, much more so that actual Iowa fans are.
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Last season's year end collapse to go along with the departed players has caused a lot of folks to be pessimistic about the upcoming season. Throw in the near misses on the recruiting trail and people have become a bit disappointed with the momentum of the program. Nothing that a great early season showing won't fix. People will hop back on as the momentum swings back in the team's favor. I for one think the team will be good enough to make some noise this year and make the dance. If I had to bet I'd say they would finish close to last year's record and maybe a bit better if players are able to figure out their roles early on. This should be a fun season to see who emerges. I can't wait.
 
SnapBack said:
This is the B1G basketball preview from ESPNInsider. It is written by Bradley Doolittle so I believe it is just his opinion. I'll add some comments and rankings since it's Insider.

1. Wisconsin
2. Ohio State
3. Michigan
4. Iowa
5. Michigan State
6. Nebraska
7. Illinois
8. Maryland
9. Minnesota
10. Indiana
11. Northwestern
12. Purdue
13. Penn St
14. Rutgers

Comments on Iowa...

"The loss of Roy Devyn Marble hurts Iowa, but Fran McCaffery has a deep team with the lineup versatility to keep the Big Ten's No. 2 offense scoring at an elite level. Consistent Aaron White is one of the league's best and will take on more of the offense. Junior center Adam Woodburykeeps getting better and shares minutes with senior Gabriel Olaseni, one of the nation's best offensive rebounders. Jarrod Uthoff plays wing at 6-foot-9 and has a fascinating mix of 3-point shooting and shot-blocking.
McCaffery has a potentially dynamic backcourt led by Mike Gesell, who is but a jump shot away from challenging for All-Big Ten honors. Junior college All-American Trey Dickerson is a blur and will play a change-of-pace role. Senior wing Josh Oglesby hit 40 percent on 3s. Iowa should emerge as a stronger team even without Marble and be positioned to do some damage in March."

LINK to article
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Wow...I will take that finish right now, fast forward to Selection Sunday. ...gotta be a top 5 seed in the tourney.
 
I think Jok and Woody will be key not Aaron White. Aaron White will play a vitale role but he is not a go to type of player. If Woody can be a Man in the middle and Jok can consistently hit from outside then that combination could give teams fits. The supporting crew is pretty good to. The potential of this team to be great is there if players rise to the challenge. I would love for Jok to show the rest of the country why is was a top recruit at one time.
 
BigD said:
I think Jok and Woody will be key not Aaron White. Aaron White will play a vitale role but he is not a go to type of player. If Woody can be a Man in the middle and Jok can consistently hit from outside then that combination could give teams fits. The supporting crew is pretty good to. The potential of this team to be great is there if players rise to the challenge. I would love for Jok to show the rest of the country why is was a top recruit at one time.
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Agreed, we know what we're getting from White at this point. 13 and 6, great transition offense but disappearing when we play teams who can really lock you down in the half court. Going to need somebody else to get buckets in those situations.
 
Aaron White will be key if and only if he amazingly developed a jump shot this off season. I have hoped for it to show up the last two seasons and he has shown slight glimpses at best. That's not a knock on his ability because he is one of the better open court guys there is when it comes to reading the defense and finding space for a layup/dunk. It just pains me to think of what he could be if he could just develop a decent jumper and become more of a threat in the half court outside of trying to constantly drive on his defender giving him space.

If Fran is true to his word in that Woody will be getting more looks on offense, he could end up being the main key. Spread the floor and let him go to work, if nothing is there, kick it back out to one of the shooters. Yes, Jok has the potential to become that player but I'm not so sure his defense is there quite yet. If I had to bet, I'd say Uthoff will be the surprise player for this team. He has shown glimpses of pure brilliance on offense with his gliding hook shot or whatever that was and his beauty of a step back jumper. If he could find a way to be more aggressive and be a consistent contributor on offense, he just might be "the guy" to help carry this team.

That's the great thing about a new season, nobody knows who will emerge and take their game to the next level, I am giddy just thinking about the new season starting and we still have a few weeks to wait...
 
JG10Hawk said:
Aaron White will be key if and only if he amazingly developed a jump shot this off season. I have hoped for it to show up the last two seasons and he has shown slight glimpses at best. That's not a knock on his ability because he is one of the better open court guys there is when it comes to reading the defense and finding space for a layup/dunk. It just pains me to think of what he could be if he could just develop a decent jumper and become more of a threat in the half court outside of trying to constantly drive on his defender giving him space..
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This would have been germane had White stayed playing out of position at the three. But he is going to finally get to where he belongs, at the four. And I think he is going to flourish.
 
JonDMiller said:
This would have been germane had White stayed playing out of position at the three. But he is going to finally get to where he belongs, at the four. And I think he is going to flourish.
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My only question is what are his post skills like? We have hardly seen much of that since he has been playing out of position pretty much his entire collegiate career. Does he have any post moves? All we have seen from him for the most part has been put back opportunities, cutting/flashing to the lane, and driving in the half court. He will be guarded by more physically dominant players at the 4. The open jumper will still be there, probably even more now with a slower guy guarding him. So IMO my point is still relevant, whether a 3 or 4, he will still have open jump shot opportunities. McCabe had plenty of open looks from 3, Basabe had plenty of looks form mid range, you don't think White will have those same looks?
 
I like the predictoin and would l would love for us to finish there but it's a little optimistic for me. I think we'll be better with everyone involved in the offense but I prefer to know a little more before I'd believe it. It won't keep me from making a season win/loss prediction when the time comes.
 
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JG10Hawk said:
My only question is what are his post skills like? We have hardly seen much of that since he has been playing out of position pretty much his entire collegiate career. Does he have any post moves? All we have seen from him for the most part has been put back opportunities, cutting/flashing to the lane, and driving in the half court. He will be guarded by more physically dominant players at the 4. The open jumper will still be there, probably even more now with a slower guy guarding him. So IMO my point is still relevant, whether a 3 or 4, he will still have open jump shot opportunities. McCabe had plenty of open looks from 3, Basabe had plenty of looks form mid range, you don't think White will have those same looks?
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I think the big difference with White is now he will be matched up with a 4 instead of a quicker player on D. Plus if he gets the ball at 15 ft. he is 100x more dangerous. Nobody was falling for the corner 3 ball fake he tried every time he got the ball in the corner playing the 3, but if he gets the ball 15' from the basket, now the defender has to respect his jumpshot. For those 2 reasons I think White has a bigger year, doing much of what he always did, and I think White goes for 15+ a game
 
deanvogs said:
I think the big difference with White is now he will be matched up with a 4 instead of a quicker player on D. Plus if he gets the ball at 15 ft. he is 100x more dangerous. Nobody was falling for the corner 3 ball fake he tried every time he got the ball in the corner playing the 3, but if he gets the ball 15' from the basket, now the defender has to respect his jumpshot. For those 2 reasons I think White has a bigger year, doing much of what he always did, and I think White goes for 15+ a game
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I see your point. That said though, he will still have to prove he can hit that 15 footer. He has had several opportunities from that range through the years and almost always decided to drive on his guy and try and draw the foul. I guess that is why I believe in order for him to emerge beyond what he has been, he has to be able to hit the open jumper. That includes 3s, and more importantly mid range ie from the the free throw line and beyond.
 
JG10Hawk said:
I see your point. That said though, he will still have to prove he can hit that 15 footer. He has had several opportunities from that range through the years and almost always decided to drive on his guy and try and draw the foul. I guess that is why I believe in order for him to emerge beyond what he has been, he has to be able to hit the open jumper. That includes 3s, and more importantly mid range ie from the the free throw line and beyond.
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True, and only time will tell. I left off one other factor, and that is the Sr. year factor under Fran. When Iowa has had a clear leader that is becoming a Sr. they have stepped up and increased the PPG by 2 PPG.

Marble went from 15 to 17 PPG
Gatens went from 12.6 to 15.2 PPG

I think White does much the same, and will go from 12.8 PPG to 15+ PPG
 
JG10Hawk said:
My only question is what are his post skills like? We have hardly seen much of that since he has been playing out of position pretty much his entire collegiate career. Does he have any post moves? All we have seen from him for the most part has been put back opportunities, cutting/flashing to the lane, and driving in the half court. He will be guarded by more physically dominant players at the 4. The open jumper will still be there, probably even more now with a slower guy guarding him. So IMO my point is still relevant, whether a 3 or 4, he will still have open jump shot opportunities. McCabe had plenty of open looks from 3, Basabe had plenty of looks form mid range, you don't think White will have those same looks?
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I completely agree, I don't understand why people think he's going to all of a sudden dominate if he's at the four. He will be guarded by a bigger guy who will play off him until he proves he can knock down that elbow extended jumper, he's not going to be able to drive around guys who are playing off of him. He also has shown very few post moves aside from drawing fouls, which in itself is a good skill, and hasn't exactly been eager to bang down low in really physical B10 contests. Whether he plays the three or the four, he's going to struggle against good teams in the halfcourt unless he has an improved jumper.
 
I think Iowa is better this year than last also. I'm able to look past the late season collapse and see a pretty dynamic team. Iowa will finish with a better record then 2013-14.
 
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I haven't seen enough to know who will be our "guy" this year as Marble was last year. I don't think it will be White, but I think he will be a very good leader (we need this). I think our go to guys will be a combination of White, Uthoff and Gesell. Jok will score, Oglesby will have games, Woody will be solid, but we need those three guys to play with consistency.

An area that I think Fran needs to exploit is our frontcourt vs the rest of the conference. Woody, Olaseni and White will be one of the better frontcourt's in the B1G. Take a second to thing of who they won't match-up well against? Wisconsin, Purdue (pretty much only Hammons), OSU will be ok defensively down low, but there isn't much else. If you get Dawson for MSU in any foul trouble I think they will struggle mightily down low. For us to exploit these match-ups Fran is going to have to do his job and coach the offense to run through our bigs. We also need to hit open shots from the perimeter to keep the defense honest. I think this will be a big opportunity for us this year.
 
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