Fran & Defense

B

BGOLD

Well-Known Member
We've played two solid defensive games all year against a formidable opponent, otherwise we've been torched. Is this always going to be an issue with Fran? Is he the worst defensive minded coach we've had at Iowa?
A lot of talk and 'blame' will be pointed toward the freshman and how they'll improve defensively (and they will), but we didn't defend a lot of times last year starting 4 seniors. Fran continues to go to a zone and stay in it for too long and he's been doing that since he got here. He also never uses his timeouts to stop a run. We've looked so poor much of the time this year on defense, and Fran deserves that blame, not the freshman.
His zone philosophy doesn't make any sense, nor does his insistence to have Jok guard the other teams best perimeter player.
 
We've been pretty good the last few years defensively under Fran, the problem is we graduated 4 plus defenders and replaced them with 4 minus defenders
 
I still think, that when you have players poking others in the eye, it a sign of improper positioning/body placement. Fran has never been good at teaching solid defense. Zone is what you do when you can't play man up. Defensive footwork has always been terrible.
 
Yeah last night was a damned if we do or damned if we don't in terms of if they were to play man to man or zone. If Purdue's shooters play like that all year they'll be tough. They just will. Iowa doesn't match up with them at all.
 
Hawkfnntn said:
Yeah last night was a damned if we do or damned if we don't in terms of if they were to play man to man or zone. If Purdue's shooters play like that all year they'll be tough. They just will. Iowa doesn't match up with them at all.
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Last night is just example. Seton Hall, Memphis, even UNO had their way with us. Purdue shot well, they were also wide open.
 
HawkGold said:
I still think, that when you have players poking others in the eye, it a sign of improper positioning/body placement. Fran has never been good at teaching solid defense. Zone is what you do when you can't play man up. Defensive footwork has always been terrible.
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Zone is very effective if emphasized and taught correctly
 
I am a bit puzzled in that Iowa is lauded for and Fran recruits for "long" players who can cover lanes, get to shooters...and yet, Iowa tends to give up three point shots where the shooter is in a free fire zone...so often with no one near his zip code. This doesn't make sense.
 
revkev73 said:
I am a bit puzzled in that Iowa is lauded for and Fran recruits for "long" players who can cover lanes, get to shooters...and yet, Iowa tends to give up three point shots where the shooter is in a free fire zone...so often with no one near his zip code. This doesn't make sense.
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Our guards are poor defenders and their close outs are really bad. Don't think zone is something we should do much in the future
 
Iowa has been in or around the top 30 in defensive efficiency in 3 out of the last 4 years. There are good defenders on this team who are undeveloped. It's kinda crazy how everyone forgets the first season we started MG and Woody and think that those guys just walked on campus + defenders. They lost @ Michigan that season 95-67 in a very similar fashion to last night. I'll eat my shoe if Iowa isn't a vastly improved team in all facets next season defensively and a huge part of that is the early minutes these guys are getting.
 
Experience will help...but defense and rebounding are kind of "heart" skills...which, for example, Baer had coming out of high school.

Jok is experienced, but disinterested...as another example.
 
InGoodCo said:
Iowa has been in or around the top 30 in defensive efficiency in 3 out of the last 4 years. There are good defenders on this team who are undeveloped. It's kinda crazy how everyone forgets the first season we started MG and Woody and think that those guys just walked on campus + defenders. They lost @ Michigan that season 95-67 in a very similar fashion to last night. I'll eat my shoe if Iowa isn't a vastly improved team in all facets next season defensively and a huge part of that is the early minutes these guys are getting.
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Defensive statistics are hard to judge because game tempo has so much to do with it.
 
In terms of defense...

Experienced - motivated - ability - Baer

Inexperienced - motivated - ability - Pemsl/Cook

Experienced - not motivated - ability - Jok/Williams

Inexperienced - not motivated - limited ability - ?
 
eveningnewsteam said:
Zone is very effective if emphasized and taught correctly
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Rarely is it used as a true tool. Lute Olson was one who could teach it. A team that can play high end zone is likely also able to play man up effectively. Fran has never really had teams do that. Olson's teams could play man up quite effectively.

If Fran truly was an effective D coach, we wouldn't be discussing how bad the D is over the years.
 
Hawkfnntn said:
Yeah last night was a damned if we do or damned if we don't in terms of if they were to play man to man or zone. If Purdue's shooters play like that all year they'll be tough. They just will. Iowa doesn't match up with them at all.
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If Purdue's shooters play like that all year they will win the B10 conference and give themselves a chance to make the Final 4. With that said, it isn't very likely they consistently play as well as they did last night. They were hitting everything. The defense was pretty bad, but you have to give them credit for knocking down so many shots.
 
DP5555 said:
If Purdue's shooters play like that all year they will win the B10 conference and give themselves a chance to make the Final 4. With that said, it isn't very likely they consistently play as well as they did last night. They were hitting everything. The defense was pretty bad, but you have to give them credit for knocking down so many shots.
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I missed the first 10 minutes of the game, and by then Purdue was already off to their big lead. Were they hitting contested shots during that run? Because from when I watched they were open looks, and most teams are going to knock them down. Pemsl was even out of position on a 3/4 trap and got beat on a baseball pass to Haass standing right under the hoop.
Lets not act like this is a Purdue thing. This is and Iowa thing. We've given up 90+ to UNO, Memphis, Seton Hall. That's a trend, regardless of whether Purdue just shot well last night.
 
BGOLD said:
I missed the first 10 minutes of the game, and by then Purdue was already off to their big lead. Were they hitting contested shots during that run? Because from when I watched they were open looks, and most teams are going to knock them down. Pemsl was even out of position on a 3/4 trap and got beat on a baseball pass to Haass standing right under the hoop.
Lets not act like this is a Purdue thing. This is and Iowa thing. We've given up 90+ to UNO, Memphis, Seton Hall. That's a trend, regardless of whether Purdue just shot well last night.
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It's an Iowa thing - Defense has a long ways to go and has been inconsistent all season. They've shown flashes of getting better - they've also shown the can revert
 
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