Hawkeye Practices

H

hawkjunkie

Well-Known Member
Curious, does anyone know if we practice on the Carver floor ever, like we used to before the practice facility was built?? I have always heard that shooting in a big arena takes some getting used to, compared to a closed gym, like our new team facilities.


Shooting under the lights is not working for this team, unfortunately.... Yet they drain shots like mad in practice... and against heated competiton, as has been stated by the coaches. Frustrating. I am surprised Fran still has hair!


Just trying to search for answers as to why this team "doesn't have it under the lights", yet tears it up in practice...?
 
That's a good thought but I don't think it's too big of a factor. With players playing year round starting at a young age, they have been exposed to hundreds of different venues by the time they arrive on campus. Most have played in state tournaments, camps, etc in wide open arenas like Carver. I could see it being an issue for some freshmen maybe but Iowa plays mostly upper classmen that have experienced games at plenty of big arenas.

I'd say it's more of a confidence issue come game time than anything.
 
It is definitely a confidence issue, especially when a couple of the players are shooting over 50% from the 3pt line in practice....just reaching for something, as this shooting is driving me crazy...
 
hawkjunkie said:
It is definitely a confidence issue, especially when a couple of the players are shooting over 50% from the 3pt line in practice....just reaching for something, as this shooting is driving me crazy...
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It's not just you, it's driving me nuts as well... I'm a numbers guy and hate looking at the shooting numbers this team has posted thus far.

FG% (42.0%) - 236th in the nation, 13th in the Big Ten
3P% (30.3%) - 272nd in the nation, 13th in the Big Ten
Effective FG% (47.0%) - 257th in the nation, 13th in the Big Ten
True Shooting % (51.7%) - 220th in the nation, 12th in the Big Ten

Note:
*Effective FG% includes that 3 point shots are worth more than 2 point shots in the formula.
*True Shooting % includes 2 point shots, 3 point shots, and FTs attempted and made in the formula.
 
I think they all need a sphincter massage in my humble opinion. It appears there is way to much tension and stress when they are shooting. Loosen up guys...and let it fly carefree and easy with some touch for once.
 
I'm suspicious that the reason our shooting looks good in practice is because it's against our defense.....
 
I think the most likely explanation is that it is harder to shoot in games than in practice. Being a good shooter doesn't translate to all levels of basketball.

The speed of the game affects shooting. The less athletic you are, generally, the more react to athletic close outs. Faster game pace does not help less athletic shooters. So I think its very reasonable to conclude that guys like JO or Uthoff can routinely hit shots in practice situations (they approximate but don't replicate game speed) but not shoot as accurately in the game when an athletic wing is closing out on him.

This is probably even more true for JO who runs around like maniac oftentimes to even get a shot off.
 
The frustration on missed shots is mounting up in me with every missed wide open shot. At the beginning of the year when we played crappy teams, it didn't bother me at all when we were missing. Now we are 11 games in and I freak out about a wide open miss when we're up 20. It's just so old watching brick after brick. If it's affecting me this much (which is ridiculous) I can't imagine what it's doing to the team.
 
Its in their heads. Fran and the team need to be able to mentally push through. JO is the leader. Its easy to see that its in his head he comes in and has that look of here we go again.

Mentally JO is a bad shooter. Physically he is a great shooter. I think he will turn the corner we just need it to be sooner than later.
 
JG10Hawk said:
It's not just you, it's driving me nuts as well... I'm a numbers guy and hate looking at the shooting numbers this team has posted thus far.

FG% (42.0%) - 236th in the nation, 13th in the Big Ten
3P% (30.3%) - 272nd in the nation, 13th in the Big Ten
Effective FG% (47.0%) - 257th in the nation, 13th in the Big Ten
True Shooting % (51.7%) - 220th in the nation, 12th in the Big Ten

Note:
*Effective FG% includes that 3 point shots are worth more than 2 point shots in the formula.
*True Shooting % includes 2 point shots, 3 point shots, and FTs attempted and made in the formula.
Click to expand...

I think those numbers are skewed because of the number of dunks Iowa gets in a game. They probably rank worse than what the percentages show. Maybe when Oglesby and White graduate the team won't over think their shooting and just shoot. Its probably like some mental disease. Personally I think White is probably just a poor shooter, and Oglesby is a guy that gives everything he has and it effects his shooting. Oglesby probably works to hard for his shot to become natural. When he hurt his foot last year, and couldn't give a 100%, he shot a lot higher percentage. The results fall back on the coaching.
 
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I think the team definitely has something. I don't know of any teams that work harder than Iowa. If they would learn to relax maybe their shooting would improve. It could be an off shoot of the coaches always stressing defense and running and not letting the players own personalities in the game. With the influx of athleticism coming in next year it will probably be easier for the players to relax.
 
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Tierney said:
I think those numbers are skewed because of the number of dunks Iowa gets in a game. They probably rank worse than what the percentages show. Maybe when Oglesby and White graduate the team won't over think their shooting and just shoot. Its probably like some mental disease. Personally I think White is probably just a poor shooter, and Oglesby is a guy that gives everything he has and it effects his shooting. Oglesby probably works to hard for his shot to become natural. When he hurt his foot last year, and couldn't give a 100%, he shot a lot higher percentage. The results fall back on the coaching.
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Oh my god you're right. Teams that are at the bottom of shooting percentage stats suck and probably never dunk. We actually dunk quite a bit. I wonder how much further we fall if you could eliminate dunks from the statistics.
 
It's food for thought anyway... It'd be one thing if it was just JO or just MG that was struggling. But really other then Gabe who's playing better and shooting better then where we thought they would?
 
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