olivecourt
Well-Known Member
1. Can Devyn Marble be Matt Gatens 2.0?
It would be great to have Gatens for another year, especially for his sake, but we do have another wing scorer at the ready. Gatens went for 15 ppg this year, shooting 47% from the field and 41% from 3. Can Marble reproduce those numbers even as he likely becomes the focal point of other teams' defensive schemes? I say yes. Marble isn't as good of a shooter as Gatens, but he has more ways to score. If he doesn't have to play point at all I could even see him getting into the 16-17 ppg range, especially in Fran's system. It's all on the table for Marble.
2. Can Mike Gesell replace Cartwright's production?
I am not expecting Gesell to come in and be the player Cartwright was in the NIT-- 5/1 assists:turnover ratio with scoring and a great feel for the game. Once you step back and look at the whole season, though, Cartwright's production (6 ppg, 4.8 assists, 2/1 assists:turnovers, 35% FG) matches pretty well with Jeff Horner's freshman year line (8ppg, 4.5 assists, 33% FG). There's no reason to think Gesell can't replicate something close to that.
3. Can we find a defensive answer for bulky interior players?
This is where Iowa really missed Jarryd Cole this year-- we had no one to match up against bulky but not necessarily super-skilled interior players. I'm actually not that worried about the Meyer Leonard/Cody Zellar-type players. Iowa figured out how to scheme for those guys in their second matchups, and you have to figure that the Woodbury/Olaseni combo will be somewhat useful in that regard. I am concerned about the way that guys like Ashaolu and Echenique went off on the Hawks this year. I don't think Basabe or White are the answer there. White has a ridiculous basketball IQ, and I don't see the point in trying to get him to gain 25+ pounds so he can just be a bruiser. It's going to have to be either Zach McCabe or Kyle Meyer. McCabe has to figure out the foul situation. Meyer is intriguing-- he is definitely a big dude, much more Brommer than White. If we could get McCabe to match up against these type of guys for 20 minutes with only a foul or two and Meyer to pick up the slack for 10 minutes, we might have something there.
4. Can Eric May contribute?
I know some people are writing off Eric May. I'm not ready to do that. If he's healthy, I think he could play a vital role on this team. You saw it in that little stretch he played near the end of the Oregon game-- he dove for that loose ball on the play where Ashaolu took himself out of the game and had a steal as well. He is never going to be a super-skilled offensive player, but if he could give us 15 minutes a game of solid defense, blocking out perimeter players on long rebounds, and running the floor, I think that could be huge. He shouldn't even be thinking about scoring-- maybe focus on developing one shot, like those jumpers from the free throw line area he was taking a lot of during the beginning of the year. If that isn't there, you're passing and at the ready to get back on defense.
5. With five freshmen, how long will it take to get roles established?
This is probably the key question. I think everyone would be fine with a comparable Big Ten season as long as we don't lose to Nebraska. You can't expect that we'll sweep Wisconsin again, but you can figure we can replace that by sweeping Nebraska, beating Northwestern at home, etc. The real question is the non-conference, and it's pretty clear that Iowa struggled in the non-conference because they didn't know what their roles were. Eric May was starting and the team was banking on Melsahn to be even better than he was as a freshman. Devyn was not a primary scoring option. Aaron White wasn't getting anywhere near the minutes he would get later (you think we could have used him for more than 9 minutes in the Campbell game?). These aren't criticisms of Fran-- it's just tough to know what you have with young players. It they can't figure out team roles quickly, though, it's going to be tough to beat Iowa State, UNI, or the ACC team, and we may just see another Campbell/South Dakota State-type fiasco. Let's hope that the process goes more quickly next year, and that the returning players come back healthy and at the very least able to repeat previous performance.
It would be great to have Gatens for another year, especially for his sake, but we do have another wing scorer at the ready. Gatens went for 15 ppg this year, shooting 47% from the field and 41% from 3. Can Marble reproduce those numbers even as he likely becomes the focal point of other teams' defensive schemes? I say yes. Marble isn't as good of a shooter as Gatens, but he has more ways to score. If he doesn't have to play point at all I could even see him getting into the 16-17 ppg range, especially in Fran's system. It's all on the table for Marble.
2. Can Mike Gesell replace Cartwright's production?
I am not expecting Gesell to come in and be the player Cartwright was in the NIT-- 5/1 assists:turnover ratio with scoring and a great feel for the game. Once you step back and look at the whole season, though, Cartwright's production (6 ppg, 4.8 assists, 2/1 assists:turnovers, 35% FG) matches pretty well with Jeff Horner's freshman year line (8ppg, 4.5 assists, 33% FG). There's no reason to think Gesell can't replicate something close to that.
3. Can we find a defensive answer for bulky interior players?
This is where Iowa really missed Jarryd Cole this year-- we had no one to match up against bulky but not necessarily super-skilled interior players. I'm actually not that worried about the Meyer Leonard/Cody Zellar-type players. Iowa figured out how to scheme for those guys in their second matchups, and you have to figure that the Woodbury/Olaseni combo will be somewhat useful in that regard. I am concerned about the way that guys like Ashaolu and Echenique went off on the Hawks this year. I don't think Basabe or White are the answer there. White has a ridiculous basketball IQ, and I don't see the point in trying to get him to gain 25+ pounds so he can just be a bruiser. It's going to have to be either Zach McCabe or Kyle Meyer. McCabe has to figure out the foul situation. Meyer is intriguing-- he is definitely a big dude, much more Brommer than White. If we could get McCabe to match up against these type of guys for 20 minutes with only a foul or two and Meyer to pick up the slack for 10 minutes, we might have something there.
4. Can Eric May contribute?
I know some people are writing off Eric May. I'm not ready to do that. If he's healthy, I think he could play a vital role on this team. You saw it in that little stretch he played near the end of the Oregon game-- he dove for that loose ball on the play where Ashaolu took himself out of the game and had a steal as well. He is never going to be a super-skilled offensive player, but if he could give us 15 minutes a game of solid defense, blocking out perimeter players on long rebounds, and running the floor, I think that could be huge. He shouldn't even be thinking about scoring-- maybe focus on developing one shot, like those jumpers from the free throw line area he was taking a lot of during the beginning of the year. If that isn't there, you're passing and at the ready to get back on defense.
5. With five freshmen, how long will it take to get roles established?
This is probably the key question. I think everyone would be fine with a comparable Big Ten season as long as we don't lose to Nebraska. You can't expect that we'll sweep Wisconsin again, but you can figure we can replace that by sweeping Nebraska, beating Northwestern at home, etc. The real question is the non-conference, and it's pretty clear that Iowa struggled in the non-conference because they didn't know what their roles were. Eric May was starting and the team was banking on Melsahn to be even better than he was as a freshman. Devyn was not a primary scoring option. Aaron White wasn't getting anywhere near the minutes he would get later (you think we could have used him for more than 9 minutes in the Campbell game?). These aren't criticisms of Fran-- it's just tough to know what you have with young players. It they can't figure out team roles quickly, though, it's going to be tough to beat Iowa State, UNI, or the ACC team, and we may just see another Campbell/South Dakota State-type fiasco. Let's hope that the process goes more quickly next year, and that the returning players come back healthy and at the very least able to repeat previous performance.
Seriously though, I don't think he is going to need to do that. I think you are going to have a much better Oglesby, White has a year under his belt and will hit the floor running, and you are going to have better pg play. I love Gatens but I'm not as worried as some that others won't pick up the slack. I think I answered 1&2, as for 3. yes, but it might take another year before that isn't a concern. 4. yeah he will but I don't think it will be much honestly and I hope I'm wrong there. 5. Fran knows what he is doing.