Harty: Uthoff shouldn’t be considered a disappointment

From article: "Fans are looking for people to blame and for reasons to explain why Iowa has lost five of its last six games. Uthoff seems to be an easy target for those who expected more from him."

Who out there is blaming Uthoff for the late season skid? I understand that Harty is "defending" Uthoff, but from who? Harty writing this article is the equivalent of pushing someone down then helping them up and dusting them off.
 
I am not "blaming" Uthoff for anything, but I think it would have helped the team if he had not seemed to disappear down the stretch.. Iowa needs contributions from whoever can provide them.

It's easy to post Uthoff's season averages and make conclusions about the type of year he had, but if you look at his game log for the season:
Jarrod Uthoff Stats, News, Videos, Highlights, Pictures, Bio - Iowa Hawkeyes - ESPN

Sure, it's not surprising to see his stats come down some in league play when competition gets tougher, but we're talking about a guy who was pretty regularly scoring in double figures, and then seemed to start fading. It almost feels like Uthoff regressed as the season went on, and that's what has me scratching my head.

I still believe in him and look for a very good season out of him next year, but he's got to find the edge that he had earlier in the year.
 
Uthoff's season has gone similar to the teams season in that it started off well and the early success created lofty expectations and as of late has begun to disappoint.

I think Uthoff is a unique player but my personal opinon of him is that he is a tweener so one of two things needs to happen for him to get out of the tweener position:

A) He needs to become a sharp shooter from distance. He's got the 6'9" heighth and he shoudl have no problem raising above smaller defenders. However in conference play he is shooting 22% from 3.

B) He's going to have to add strenght so he can play the 4 position and be able to bang down low.

I would say he has a better chance of accomplishing A because he's already had multiple years to add strenght and he still has so far to go and I'm not sure time or frame to get there.
 
Who in the world would think that Uthoff was a disappointment?

This is insane. Everybody has gone insane.
 
ibahawkeye said:
Uthoff's season has gone similar to the teams season in that it started off well and the early success created lofty expectations and as of late has begun to disappoint.
Click to expand...

Which begs the question what happens if Fran stuck with him and didn't take those minutes away since the game at Michigan. He still is one of our better options off the bench, because the bench isn't that deep.
 
The Daily Communist Reader needs to do something to drum up readership.

Uthoff is not considered a disappointment as an individual by Hawk fans with more than half a brain.

This teams defensive effort the past month and their inexplainable collapses in close games - now that is a disappointment.

It's not about one individual.
 
I could see JH developing into a Matt Bullard type player. Dude could shoot! I think JH is a couple inches shorter though. JH is maybe more athletic?
 
Biggusblockus said:
The Daily Communist Reader needs to do something to drum up readership.

Uthoff is not considered a disappointment as an individual by Hawk fans with more than half a brain.

This teams defensive effort the past month and their inexplainable collapses in close games - now that is a disappointment.


It's not about one individual.
Click to expand...

I wonder if Harty ever wrote about a real disappointment like J.R. Angle?
 
IMO Uthoff has been a disappointment in the respect that when you look at him you can see the talent but he's faded considerably as the season has progressed. Most of his stats were accumulated against weak no conference competition. look at his last 5-6 games. He's not done anything.

This is Uthoff's first season playing but you can't look at him as a freshman. This is his 3rd season post high school. He's worked with two different major college programs, multiple offseason conditioning programs, foreign trips, etc. it's not like he's been sitting in a closet the past 3 years on bags of ice
 
Thanks Harty, I was so disappointed with Uthoff for not being an all big ten player off the bench in his 1st year of actually playing. You've changed my opinion. :rolleyes:

No, I did not even read the article. The title itself is a reach.
 
Linesetter said:
IMO Uthoff has been a disappointment in the respect that when you look at him you can see the talent but he's faded considerably as the season has progressed. Most of his stats were accumulated against weak no conference competition. look at his last 5-6 games. He's not done anything.
Click to expand...

He is sruggling on a struggling team. I think he'll make some definite improvements next year. He really needs to be stronger with the ball. I think he will be. He has good hops, rebounds well, and can block shots. I think we will see him shoot more threes next year, and drive the ball harder to the hoop. He looks slow afoot, but he does have a quick first step. He's a good FT shooter, so I hope he can get to the line more often next year.
 
Linesetter said:
IMO Uthoff has been a disappointment in the respect that when you look at him you can see the talent but he's faded considerably as the season has progressed. Most of his stats were accumulated against weak no conference competition. look at his last 5-6 games. He's not done anything.

This is Uthoff's first season playing but you can't look at him as a freshman. This is his 3rd season post high school. He's worked with two different major college programs, multiple offseason conditioning programs, foreign trips, etc. it's not like he's been sitting in a closet the past 3 years on bags of ice
Click to expand...

Agreed, he's a top 150 player who had two years of practicing, lifting, acclimating to the college game under two very good coaches. I don't think expecting more out of him than 4.9 ppg and 3.0 rpg in B10 play is unreasonable. But he's still got two more years, so hopefully he learns from his first run through the B10 and comes back improved and more aggressive next season.
 
Needs to hit the weight room.
Definitely faded down the stretch, but then again so did the whole team.
I'll give him a pass this year, he is young.
 
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