Gatens = Bawinkle

K

kirby

Well-Known Member
Seriously. THey both make the open shot. Neither defend well, but Bawinkle makes better decisions with the ball. It's a toss-up right now. Matt's "defense" on Turner reminded me of the type of defense played during the pre-game lay-up drill...Also, there is a new stat we can keep track of for Matt: number of passes that result in a dunk for the opposing team.

Iowa needs to focus on the true leaders of this team going forward: Payne (tough competitor who lays it out there every night), May (ditto, and more athletic and a better shooter than Gatens), Fuller (starting to get his confidence). Gatens is a role player to them...or should be.
 
i have a ton of respect for gatens. his time with this team has been a test that i am sure he never imagined when he signed to play for iowa.
 
As a general message board rule, you are not allowed to say anything negative about Gatens. Just a heads up.

I think it's obvious that Gatens is in a sophmore slump. His decision making has really been quite horrible lately. And when his frustration shows, he is kind of a liability with this team.

If Gatens were a step quicker he would be so much more effective. Unfortunately, it is what it is. And even when he does manage to drive, defenders are able to recover and end up blocking his shot. I can't remember any player getting their shot blocked as much as Gatens.

I like Gatens. But he needs to work on his game inside the arc. And his defense and passing really need to improve. But keep in mind, every single player on our squad has a lot to work on as well.
 
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With all due respect you are an idiot. Gatens is top 15 in the league in assists. Plus he has attempted a few 2 point FG this season while Wink has attempted zero

Not to mention that wink cant guard his own shadow. And is it really fair to call out guys for not being able to guard the best player in the conference? Get real
 
I think Matt may be trying to do a bit too much, but I like the effort. He has shown some frustration but that may be because he wants the team to do better (like everyone else). He also is matched up with players who are taller (and quicker) than he is on a regular basis.

In my opinion, he is a leader on this team. I hope he continues to show the effort he has and I believe he will turn things around with his overall play.
 
burky247 said:
As a general message board rule, you are not allowed to say anything negative about Gatens. Just a heads up.

I think it's obvious that Gatens is in a sophmore slump. His decision making has really been quite horrible lately. And when his frustration shows, he is kind of a liability with this team.

If Gatens were a step quicker he would be so much more effective. Unfortunately, it is what it is. And even when he does manage to drive, defenders are able to recover and end up blocking his shot. I can't remember any player getting their shot blocked as much as Gatens.

I like Gatens. But he needs to work on his game inside the arc. And his defense and passing really need to improve. But keep in mind, every single player on our squad has a lot to work on as well.
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you make fair points but the OP compared Gatens to Wink - that is just ridiculous
 
Wow. Don't agree with this at all. Matt has been asked to do far more early in his career, and play more positions he's not comfortable with, than he or anyone else could have imagined. With the defections and relative lack of bench strength this staff has been able to produce so far, Matt has been one of the pieces holding it together, it seems to be.

I would agree he appears to have hit a sophomore slump. With some relief and help apparently coming on board for next year, I would think we'd see far better play. That assumes none of the starting 5 or 6 transfers at the end of this year.
 
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I think there is a fair point to be made here - i dont think Gatens is a "franchise player" and he will never be 1st team all big ten. Expectations for him probably were a bit high coming in. However, he does have a chance to be a very solid to good big ten player over his career

With that said even Bawinkles mom doesnt think its fair to compare him to wink
 
Gatens has a bad ankle. That hurts him quite a bit.

Matt is not a #1 option on a Big Ten team. He has more skill that Jason Bohanon, and in that system, he would have been a 1,000 point scorer at Wisconsin, too...he will be at iowa, but it will have been in a role that I dont think he is best suited for. And that's not on him.
 
Ya, comparing Gatens to Wink is...well not an intelligent comment.

I agree with the posters who say Gatens may feel pressure to do to much. Last season he had a particular skill set as well, but seemed to enjoy playing the game more. Hopefully he gets healthy and finds a way to let the game come to him.
 
I think some of the frustration towards Matt's play is the fact that I haven't seen much improvement from last season. I understand that he has a bum ankle but he only sprained that a few games ago. I think there looked to be so much promise from his freshman season but how much more potential is there in Matt's game? Has he already reached his potential?
 
ibahawkeye said:
I think there looked to be so much promise from his freshman season but how much more potential is there in Matt's game? Has he already reached his potential?
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On a team where he is the #1 option, perhaps he is not far away from his plateau. On a team where he is the #2 or #3 option, because guards can penetrate and you have bigs that have to be respected, Matt would improve immensely in nearly every statistical category, including scoring.
 
JonDMiller said:
Gatens has a bad ankle. That hurts him quite a bit.

Matt is not a #1 option on a Big Ten team. He has more skill that Jason Bohanon, and in that system, he would have been a 1,000 point scorer at Wisconsin, too...he will be at iowa, but it will have been in a role that I dont think he is best suited for. And that's not on him.
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+1, Jon. That's a good summary of Matt and what he can do.
 
kirby said:
Seriously. THey both make the open shot. Neither defend well, but Bawinkle makes better decisions with the ball. It's a toss-up right now. Matt's "defense" on Turner reminded me of the type of defense played during the pre-game lay-up drill...Also, there is a new stat we can keep track of for Matt: number of passes that result in a dunk for the opposing team.

Iowa needs to focus on the true leaders of this team going forward: Payne (tough competitor who lays it out there every night), May (ditto, and more athletic and a better shooter than Gatens), Fuller (starting to get his confidence). Gatens is a role player to them...or should be.
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Wow, just wow, do you even bother watching games or did u just pull this out of thin air
 
I loved what Gatens did as a freshman, and he's a born and bred Hawkeye. You have to pull extra hard for him to succeed.

However, I've had exactly the same thought as the OP about Gatens the last several games: He's not much different than Bawkinkel this year. Bawinkel isn't hitting a lot of his shots, and neither is Gatens. And the rest of the game just hasn't been there.

I know Gatens had an ankle sprain the day of the first Ohio State game, but watching him in warmups, he had a lot more spring in his step against Illinois. Unless he reinjured it since then, I doubt that it hampered him significantly in today's game.

I think Matt has two problems this season. One is that there aren't any major offensive threats on the team to draw attention away from him. Opponents know how well he shot it last year, and they don't help off of him or leave him alone.

The other is that Matt is a tweener. He's not big enough for SF, and he's really not quick enough for either wing spot. He plays with guts and brains most of the time, and if he gets a good opening, he can nail the three with reasonable consistency. As I sat at the Illinois game last Wednesday, I told a friend that I really hope Matt has a chance to play on a good team before he leaves Iowa. He deserves it. But he's going to need a lot of help for that to happen. He's not the kind of player who can carry a team on his own.
 
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