First unit

[BuiltLikeWilt]

If Brommer is not fully healed from offseason surgury, it might not hurt to let Archie,Olesani get alot of minutes early ,to get them into the flow. Let Brommer come back strong towards the B1G season.Take it slow with him make sure he's healthy. We havnt had this kind of depth for a long time,and we're still better off than last year at the 5.We can get the same numbers out of Gabe and Archie that we got out of Cole last year IMOA.(not leadership)

 

[CGHawk]

It is amazing what 1 year of playing can do for you as a player... The game slows down so much and gives you much more confidence each year you have under your belt. I'm really excited to watch these guys play.

 

[big10fan]

Certainly the team got better as they gained familiarity with the system. In fact, they started out so bad, they pretty much had no choice! However, I think many of the problems that plagued the team last year will continue to haunt them this year. Smallish on the inside, no real post scorer, only one player who can get his own shot (and he isn't a great shooter), slow perimeter defense, lack of depth at PG.

The success or failure of this team lies, in my mind anyways, on how McCabe and Marble grow from last year to this year. Last year both were very, very inconsistent, but this season, if they can become reliable contributors, I think we can stay in quite a few games.

see, now that's a much more reasonable and thoughtful post, and not nearly as inflammatory as your previous post(s). thought you were going back to your old ways there, ghost.

 

[sportstalent]

Certainly the team got better as they gained familiarity with the system. In fact, they started out so bad, they pretty much had no choice! However, I think many of the problems that plagued the team last year will continue to haunt them this year. Smallish on the inside, no real post scorer, only one player who can get his own shot (and he isn't a great shooter), slow perimeter defense, lack of depth at PG.

The success or failure of this team lies, in my mind anyways, on how McCabe and Marble grow from last year to this year. Last year both were very, very inconsistent, but this season, if they can become reliable contributors, I think we can stay in quite a few games.

Iowa got bigger inside now having one legit sized Center with Olaseni standing 6-10. Also, isn't Aaron White almost 6-9? Yes, they are both freshman, but the give Iowa size off the bench that they haven't had for some time. Even Oglesby has some decent height coming off of the bench.
I don't believe the success or failure rests on Marble and McCabe, it really lies into how much Basabe keeps himself on the floor and that the bench sustain and or extend leads while on the floor. The other thing that will determine how Iowa does is Gatens, if he can start hitting the wide open shots he had last year, Iowa will be much, much better.
The true success of Iowa lies in how well they defend this year, they were not a good overall defensive team, but the 3-ball just killed them at times. If they tighten that up, they win more games.
You cannot pin the hopes of this team on two players when every player has a lot of improvement to make. Why not just say if Eric May doesn't lead the BIG in steals Iowa will be the worst defensive team in the league... If Marble and McCabe do get better then yeah, it will help Iowa tremendously, but McCabe won't be a starter, so it is confusing to pin hopes on a role player, same with Marble as he may not start.
The growth of each individual player will determine the success or failure of this team.

 

[RADMAN]

So it is basically the same line up as last year, but with a much worse center.

And people think we'll be much better this year because???

Because you are a moron!! Can't wait to read all of your BS posts again this year. Troll would be a step up for you.

 

[GhostofBTT]

Iowa got bigger inside now having one legit sized Center with Olaseni standing 6-10. Also, isn't Aaron White almost 6-9? Yes, they are both freshman, but the give Iowa size off the bench that they haven't had for some time. Even Oglesby has some decent height coming off of the bench.
I don't believe the success or failure rests on Marble and McCabe, it really lies into how much Basabe keeps himself on the floor and that the bench sustain and or extend leads while on the floor. The other thing that will determine how Iowa does is Gatens, if he can start hitting the wide open shots he had last year, Iowa will be much, much better.
The true success of Iowa lies in how well they defend this year, they were not a good overall defensive team, but the 3-ball just killed them at times. If they tighten that up, they win more games.
You cannot pin the hopes of this team on two players when every player has a lot of improvement to make. Why not just say if Eric May doesn't lead the BIG in steals Iowa will be the worst defensive team in the league... If Marble and McCabe do get better then yeah, it will help Iowa tremendously, but McCabe won't be a starter, so it is confusing to pin hopes on a role player, same with Marble as he may not start.
The growth of each individual player will determine the success or failure of this team.

The reason I picked two players is because I think they're the two players with the most room to grow. With the experienced players, I don't think we can expect more out of them than we have already seen. Eric May is Eric May, and I don't think we will see a notable improvement in his game. I think Gatens has reached his ceiling as well. I don't think it is reasonable to expect more out of them than we have gotten so far. They're good players, but I don't predict a huge step up that would make us factors in the league.
For Basabe, I don't see him as the most important factor of our season because he is already the best player. He needs guys around him to step up.
I don't think it is reasonable to expect a huge contribution from our freshmen either. If our success or failure depends on them, then we're in bigger trouble than I thought!

 

[deanvogs]

STARTERS
-May will be much better this year, as he will be healthy. Most of May's problems last year were health related.

-Cartwright won't have a learning curve to begin the season. He should cut down on the TO, but continue to rack up the assists. If he can avg. 14 pts, 7 assists, and cut down the TO, that would be a HUGE!

-Gatens is what he is. If he can get more open looks and hit a higher % of this 3, that would help to open up the offense.

-Basabe will be our most improved. He needs to be more consistent this year. If he can stay on the floor for 30 min. a game, he will average 15 PPG and 9 RPG (would have avg. 13.4 PPG and 8.3 RPG if he play 30 min. a night last year).

-Brommer/Archie will need to provide a defensive presence down low. I loved me some Cole, but he wasn't hard to score over, and wasn't a shot blocking presence defensively down low.

BENCH
-McCabe will be nice to pull the opponents PF out to the perimeter at times. If they sag, he is a good enough shooter to hit open 3's. He really struggled against the smaller quicker SF's he was matched up against last year. I think he benefits moving to the 4 spot.

-Marble will be better at getting to the hole, and creating shots. He will still be wild somewhat, but we need another player who can contribute by getting to the hole.

-White adds depth and energy off the bench. I like the fact we will have two guys coming off the bench like this in McCabe and White. Both high energy, hard working gym rat types.

-Olesani will give us a 3rd inside presence defensively. I don't expect a lot offensively as most young inside players struggle early, but his D should be there.

I think the areas we will struggle will still be somewhat the same. I think this team will struggle defensively on the perimeter, and stopping the other team from hitting 3's, as I don't that we added any athleticism at the G spot from last year (Fran addressed this with the '12 class in Ingram and Clemmons). I think that we will struggle some scoring inside, outside of Basabe. While I like the move of McCabe to the PF spot, I don't think he will be able to score down low, I think he will do most of his damage hitting from the outside, and maybe off the dribble some. While the team has added some depth, we are still not so deep that we can withstand a bunch of injuries to our starters.

 

[STILLBUSTER]

Did anyone get to see how the first unit faired on Saturday?

Team scrimmaged in 10" periods with non-stop clock. I stayed for 2.

Surprised to see Archie with the 1's but he will not be there long. He will split time with McCabe early as he continues to learn the 4 then McCabe will become the starter. Too much upside and versatility for McCabe to not be on the floor more at the 4.

Cartwright will pick up right where he left off assist-wise (effortless) and looks like he's trying to develop a little 12-15' turn-around fade in the lane.

May is still the most athletic player on the team and looks more confident / decisive with his shot. Didn't track attempts but he stroked a couple nice baseline shots.

Basabe is the go-to guy and wants the ball. He played very aggressively on both ends (blocks on Olaseni and attacking the boards).

MG had his share of good looks (didn't create anything) but continued to struggle to hit from outside. Don't know if this is isolated or part of the problem but he took a shot from left top of key where he caught the pass and went up in one motion but looked like he pushed the ball from his palm rather than getting the shot off his fingers.

Marble ran at 2 / 3 with the 2's. He wants to just take over a game so badly. Good that he's confident and aggressive, bad that he's still a bit out of control. Key will be to develop consistent pull-up shot -- and know when to use it or attack in the lane -- and coach him to play within himself and understand his role.

That's what I saw but it's all a grain of salt because only 20" worth of scrimmage time.

 

[oroko]

Brommer is out due to a knee strain will miss the next three weeks, White will miss 2 weeks due to straining his thumb, and i disagree about the talent, Cartwright led the league in assists, we have 3 players that earned Freshman All BT team honor, w have 1 that is on the spreseason 2nd TEAM all BT not too many teams can come close to that, to say this team lacks talent knows nothing about the word talent, we have 5 players that have started, 4 of which will be in the starting lineup this year,we have quality depth for the 1st time in years

The obsession with this is incredible.

 

[MisterLucky]

If Basabe wasn't a post scorer, what was he?

 

[Firehawk11]

I think the first unit will be better. Becasue we can rotate 9-10 players now without much dropoff. If we have a Gabe and Aaron playing we can still have 3 experienced players on the floor. I think our first unit will be better because: 1) We will head into the season with a point guard with a season of experience under his belt. I don't know that we will see a point or assist increase over last year. I don't think we need a increase in his offensive stats. Overall, we will see better decision making and fewer turnovers and better defense. 2) Matt will finally just be able to play his position. He has been out of position since he arrived on campus. To his credit he never complained and done his best. I'm sure Matt is well aware he is not the most creative off the dribble and has trouble finishing around the rim at this level. Matt shoots better when we have a lead, so I think he has his best three point shooting year of his career 3) I do not know if Eric has made HUGE strides in his game. Obviously incredible athlete, great kid. However, we had to lean so heavily on him for scoring in the nonconference we really beat him up. I think his largest improvement will come from the fact I think we can manage his minutes better this year. 4) Melsahn 5) We will have many able bodies to rotate in at the 5 position. Not saying any of them will be spectacular. However we should have enough depth at the 5 now so we don't have a huge drop off defensively when one gets in foul trouble. 6) Schedule is favorable 7) Top to bottom the BIG will not be as talented as it was last year. 8) Bench-White, Marble, McCabe, Oglesby, Olaseni, Archie-I have read posts about each one of these players and why they should start. That puts us 11 deep. I can not remember the last time we were able to go 11 deep. I think we can have a really nice year this year.

 

[ibahawkeye]

Im a little disappointed that marble isnt starting. I guess im one that is high on his ability and thought he brought more to the floor than may. Hopefully its cuz may is healthy and improved his game so its a good thing for the team. If may hasnt improved his ball handling i think marble will be in a starting role by conference play.

 

[GhostofBTT]

Im a little disappointed that marble isnt starting. I guess im one that is high on his ability and thought he brought more to the floor than may. Hopefully its cuz may is healthy and improved his game so its a good thing for the team. If may hasnt improved his ball handling i think marble will be in a starting role by conference play.

I certainly think Marble has more upside than May, and I would prefer that he play more minutes. I think May was becoming a liability on defense, and he would be better suited to the bench "hustle" player than a full timer.

 

[Tmoney12]

Maybe Marble doesn't start so he can be fresh when we need him to backup BC. I can bet that Roy Jr. will get plenty of burn.

 

[Firehawk11]

I'm with you. Exactly why I think we are going to be much better. I also think Marble will be starting. I think Fran's First Unit may be a little senority respect in the preseason.

 

[Dragonhawk]

Marble is the best option as the 6th man, he can play 3 positions and will more than likely back up Cartwright, this can only help with his ballhandiling, and decision making, as i feel he will finish his career at the 2 spot, the 3 spot will end up being held down by May and White

 

[DesMoinesHawki]

I think we will be better. A year under their belt in Fran's system. Yes, we still need better talent on the roster but we are getting there. We lost a lot of close games last year -- which is promising because at least we were in a lot of key games. I think we will see progress ... Will be curious to see how we do at the center position ...