After a disappointing 8 point win over UNO, I see your guys frustration. We should've beat that team by 30+ points. But the thing is, its just one game! Let's not get the panic meter out quite yet. It's early in the season and we got things to work on, but Fran will make those adjustments. Let's bot forget that we aren't the only team that has struggled with weaker opponents this season already. Arizona only beat Cal Poly by 11 and Florida only beat North Florida by 8. And another thing is, a couple of seasons ago we would not have won this game. We would've shut down and lost. So let's just forget this game and hope that we come out strong on Thursday.
Guys It's One Game
- Thread starter MCHawk5
- Start date
ssckelley
Well-Known Member
I remember similar reactions last year after Iowa struggled to beat teams like Central Michigan and Gardner Webb. You go over to the football forum you see some of the same people spewing the same negative crap over there.
Like I said in another thread bad teams can have a good game and I thought Nebraska-Omaha played very well. This was a veteran team they played having brought almost everyone back from last season. I am glad they struggled and still found a way to win, hopefully they work a little harder in practice. It is easy for teams to get drawn into the hype and be mentally not prepared to take on a team that was motivated to knock them off on their home court.
Like I said in another thread bad teams can have a good game and I thought Nebraska-Omaha played very well. This was a veteran team they played having brought almost everyone back from last season. I am glad they struggled and still found a way to win, hopefully they work a little harder in practice. It is easy for teams to get drawn into the hype and be mentally not prepared to take on a team that was motivated to knock them off on their home court.
HaydenHawk56
Well-Known Member
I would actually say it has been 2 out of 3 games now where the team has not performed to expectations (even though the exhibition does not count). I'm sure Iowa will be much better in upcoming games, but I do think the shooting percentage is a real concern for this team. If they can't hit their shots consistently, we can expect Iowa to keep a lot of teams in games, both good and sometimes bad. Thankfully, we have a lot of bodies to throw at teams keeping us fresher. Also, hopefully Marble can get back to being that go to person we need when we need points (or some other players can emerge).
I'm not sure what thought process Fran was going through. Maybe just giving his guys time to try to get things right on their own, but he waited until the second half to slap on the zone. That helped limit penetration. He made a point during the presser to mention that the guards were not reacting to screens appropriately.
clicheusername3
Banned
And weren't those people's concerns and reaction justified? Last year the goal of making it to the NCAA tourney was not met in case you have forgotten. The team underachieved last year and crapped their pants in big moments and games they should have won. It's the same team plus 2 guys that have exactly 2 games of CBB under their belt.
Good luck selling that.
sportstalent
Well-Known Member
So Iowa overachieved last season, especially that stellar performance at Nebraska and trickled some games down their leg that they should have won that they had leads late in?
OUTofTOWNHAWK
Well-Known Member
Fran didnt seem concerned. Look at who was playing with who. I think he knew they could kick it in gear.
I really liked the game. UNO played well and even though the Hawks didnt play well they got a close game that taught them a lot.
I really liked the game. UNO played well and even though the Hawks didnt play well they got a close game that taught them a lot.
sportstalent
Well-Known Member
You believe what you are trying to sell there? Why not pound a team they are supposed to, plain and simple?
UNO didn't really play that well, as I stated in another thread, they hit some shots, I don't see them hitting normally, but they didn't play well.
bcl20
Well-Known Member
If you are considering underachieving to be wins/losses compared to what they should have been; Iowa underachieved. They played well enough to have a better record than they did.
If you consider underachieving to be not matching preseason predictions; Iowa performed exactly as expected.
If you consider underachieving to be not matching preseason predictions; Iowa performed exactly as expected.
bcl20
Well-Known Member
UNO played well for them (not that I've watched them play before) but they did things that you wouldn't expect from a team as bad as they are supposed to be. That Carter guy got to the line time after time after time but Iowa played very poorly too. Against shorter teams we have to do every thing in our power to make the other team run a half court offense to take advantage of our length. You can't let guys from Nebraska-Omaha go the length of the court on you consistently.
I'm hoping that it was just an energy thing and not something more troubling though I saw some things that concerned me on the defensive end against Wilmington also.
1977Hawkeye
Well-Known Member
I guess it depends on who you ask, but I seem to remember most people thinking Iowa would be somewhere in the neighborhood of an NCAA bubble last year.. And that's about where it ended up. There were some on here that expected an NCAA bid, and others (myself included) who felt that NIT was a bit more likely. I think almost all of us felt that Iowa had a shot at an NCAA bid, but I'm not sure that was necessarily the expectation.. But maybe my memory is failing me.
I'll agree that Iowa had a shot at a much better record based on how it played last year but let some games get away late: MSU twice, and the road games at Minnesota, Nebraska and Wisconsin come to mind. So from that perspective, you could maybe call last year a disappointment, but that wasn't so much based on pre-season expecations as it was the changing expectations that took place during the season based on the team's play. IMO those are two different things.
It was a bit tough to swallow some of those L's last year when we started to realize what could have been last year. There was a lot of talk last season after those tough L's, compared to preseason expectations.
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Never saw one preseason media prediction that Iowa would be in the NCAAs. There may have been one here or there, but if so they were a very small minority. Also never saw any predictions close to 25 wins.
So they weren't an NCAA team which was in line with most and they exceed the largest predicted win total that I saw by 4 games. I can't find my way to the 'underachieving' label even by the most liberal definition. Personally, I thought their ceiling was about 20 games.
Good teams struggle with bad teams early on all the time. The one thing I would be concerned about is the shooting. Iowa is masterful at getting to the line but struggled on the road last year. I could see that continuing this year if the best offense is still drawing fouls because it's tough to consistently get calls on the road in CBB.
sportstalent
Well-Known Member
Because of this and your lofty expectation, it is okay to lose games that a team shouldn't because of predictions?
I never get the preseason expectations thing. Iowa State was picked 8th in the Big 12 the last 2 years, greatly overachieved based on that silly preseason ranking, but especially last season I was still a little disappointed with the results because they could have gone farther and won some of those close games.
I saw a young team struggle at times. It's what I expected going into the season.
