Franuary is not really a myth

HaydenHawk56

Well-Known Member
Iowa doing just enough to lose games. I think Fran made another tactical error in keeping Garza out far to long in the 1st half (even with Luka's 2 fouls). Iowa waited to long to work the ball into Garza in the 2nd half.

Again, I think it really goes back to guard play.....we just don't have that guy that consistently do it on both ends of the court.

And, rebounding today was horrible. Take your pick.....lack of speed, blocking out technique, or both.
 
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What was supposed to be a magical season for Iowa is going down the drain. Frans coaching decisions are leaving me shaking my head. Perkins and Uhlis should be in the game when it's garbage time, not at the end of the first half when Iowa is trying to put the opponent away.
 
What was supposed to be a magical season for Iowa is going down the drain. Frans coaching decisions are leaving me shaking my head. Perkins and Uhlis should be in the game when it's garbage time, not at the end of the first half when Iowa is trying to put the opponent away.
Fran is not a good bench coach. I would say below average.

You know how Deace would say you can't hide your QB in football. Well, you can't hide your coach in basketball either. At least at Iowa.
 
This is real. No doubt in my mind. Iowa, purely above Indiana, but they play like a junior high team at times.
 
What’s the record for losses by a ranked team in a season? We gotta be getting close.
I think we were clearly over ranked from the beginning of this season. I get why the rankings were heaped on us early. Garza looked like the player of the year would be a shoe in with what he was doing. We had 3 solid guys who could hurt you from deep. We have a pretty good bench with size and defensive capabilities. That being said, the rotation has changed. CJ is deadly from deep and missing him is hurting. Teams in league are solid for the most part and improving. Hawks have been figured out and we have not adjusted well.
 
I think we were clearly over ranked from the beginning of this season. I get why the rankings were heaped on us early. Garza looked like the player of the year would be a shoe in with what he was doing. We had 3 solid guys who could hurt you from deep. We have a pretty good bench with size and defensive capabilities. That being said, the rotation has changed. CJ is deadly from deep and missing him is hurting. Teams in league are solid for the most part and improving. Hawks have been figured out and we have not adjusted well.
I posted something similar in another thread. If Bohannon could be relied on to make 3s we would have at least 2 more wins and still be in it. If CJ was healthy, who knows where we would be. Sitting here with 2 big 10 losses would be a legit possibility.
 
This is real. No doubt in my mind. Iowa, purely above Indiana, but they play like a junior high team at times.

I agree that the hawks are probably better than IU, just look at their records. But IU plays tough defense.

But even with that the hawks shot a better FG%, 3pt%, FT%. But wow the energy on the boards, blocking out, anticipating rebounds was below average. IU hit the boards for a big advantage.

And IU just beat the shit out of the hawks in Assists which is a good indicator that IU players were moving better without the ball and Iowa was not getting guys open very easily for a catch and shoot basket.

I just cant understand why we cant get JoeW and JBo uncontested looks at the basket almost the whole 2nd half.
 
Why didn't Fran call a timeout after JBo hit the 3 to tie. Fran obviously drew up a play to get a 3 pt shot. Shouldve been ready to call a timeout when it went in. They obviously didnt even discuss that. Ridiculous! Iowa had 3 timeouts. Call timeout and get your best defensive line up in. Get it to OT.
 
What was supposed to be a magical season for Iowa is going down the drain. Frans coaching decisions are leaving me shaking my head. Perkins and Uhlis should be in the game when it's garbage time, not at the end of the first half when Iowa is trying to put the opponent away.

One thing that stuck out to me today was the last possession of the 1st half. We had the ball with the shot clock turned off and with around 10 seconds to go our point guard just dribbles around and doing nothing while the 4 others stand just waiting around doing nothing. No screens for a shot. No isolation. No motion with the offense. We didn't even get a shot off.

Its hard to grasp that a D1 coach, any coach on the college level would not have a clear play set up to try and get a decent look in that situation.
 
Some stats*:

Not counting his 1st season when he got Lick's sloppy seconds, Fran is 37-33 (52.9%) in February. He is 91-86 (51.4%) in Big Ten games. I'll admit that was surprised at that stat.

He has 5 of his 10 Februarys with winning records. In those 5 seasons he was:

5-3 but lost 5 of the last 6 games of January and the 1st game of March-- (6-9)
6-2 but lost the last 3 games of January--(6-5)
5-2 but lost the last 2 games of January and the first 3 games of March--(5-7)
4-3 and lost 2 of last 3 games in January and the 1st game of March--(5-6)
5-3 but lost the last game of January and the first 2 games of March--(5-6)

25-18 in his best 5 Februarys, but 27-33 when taking into consideration the end of January and beginning of March. I realize that this is cherry-picking to a certain extent, but his best stretch through these years is 6-5. Cherry-picked or not, it's not good when you take into consideration the damage it does do the conference standing, conference tournament seed and NCAA seed.

*I would not swear by these stats in court. I'm old. I will swear at the stats, through.
 
Trouble is a brewing now.

We finally shore up our foul shooting...

...We finally catch a team on a night when they can't shoot...

...and we STILL find a way.

Second chances, live ball turnovers, foul trouble.

There is no excuse for this. Our veterans have been through every possible war this conference can dish out. How can a team be so efficient on assists vs turnovers, then cough up a game where they only record five dimes?

That's not all on Indiana's defense. We're getting stagnent with our offensive
movement.

Joe T may have gotten his last chance with Fran. Another classic case of the Fran sophomore jinx, which is even more predictable than Franuary.

Keegan beware.
 

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