Hawkeyes Revert to Old Ways in Loss at Ohio State

[seepig]

I have a physical cringe every time I remember this is the same team except for one player that was one win away (and with a 10-8 Big Ten record should've been in anyway) from the NCAA Tournament last year. It can be argued "Well we lost Peter Jok" but although Jok was the best player he actually had a low plus/minus and the team played very well without him.

It boggles me that this team has an incredible shooter (Bohannon) yet seems to run few plays to get him open looks. It boggles me that this team has a great inside player who shoots a high percentage (Pemsl) yet demoted him and runs no plays through him.

Tyler Cook shoots WAY too much. I'd love to see the advanced analytics on him because it seems he hardly passes. He's not playing for this team; he's playing to pad his stats and make an early entry into the NBA Draft. Have fun in the G League, bro.

Garza, Nunge and Cook are horrible interior defenders. They get beaten for easy layups so many times I can't even count.

I think the biggest difference between last season and this is that an opposing team that decides to pester Bohannon shuts down the entire Iowa offense. We have no other good ball handlers. During several close losses (most notably Nebraska and Michigan State), why the ball wasn't in Bohannon's hands during the final critical moments is inexplicable.

And think about this: in the Big Ten alone, there are at least four teams (Nebraska, Minnesota, Northwestern, Penn State ... and you can make an argument for Rutgers being the fifth) that have PASSED Iowa in overall program success during McCaffery's tenure. (Nebraska is 10-4 in league play, for cripes' sake! Nebraska!) Say what you want about Mr. Davis and Steve Alford, but they almost always had the Hawkeyes in or very near the Top 25.

The difference is Miles went out and did something about it after his team's unacceptable season in last year. He just got rid of kids and brought in others to replace them. As a parent that would make me cringe but then again it's the Coach's fault who we have or don't have on the bench. Memo to Fran, no pressure big boy but your sons better be the answer otherwise we've wasted alot of $ on tickets and belief. We've also wasted all of our patience on Gary Barta. It's time the boosters with the money get a clue.

 

[theboat]

Ohio State had mercy and went to its bench and scored two points in the final 5 minutes of the game. Otherwise, it would have been the seventh time Iowa allowed at least 90 points in the Big Ten game.

It's the defense. We all see it. To not see it, is to be in denial.

I can tell you 2 people who don’t see it.

 

[1hawkifan]

Ohio State had mercy and went to its bench and scored two points in the final 5 minutes of the game. Otherwise, it would have been the seventh time Iowa allowed at least 90 points in the Big Ten game.

It's the defense. We all see it. To not see it, is to be in denial.

Unfortunately Fran doesn’t think so. He still believes the offense is to blame.

 

[homes]

SMFH

Yeah, Fran, that's it, the offense was inept. Perhaps the least self-aware quote of the year from Franny. If by poor offense, he means Iowa didn't score more points than OSU, then he's dead on. But then, by that rationale, he'd be right about the other 10 losses in the Big Ten this year, not to mention the 4 non-conference games they dropped. If the offense had just been better (and by better, I mean, had scored more points than the other team), Iowa would be undefeated.

See, with this mindset from the top guy, I don't see how Iowa will improve next year. Weiskamp better come in and average 30+; no pressure, kid.

 

[CJHawkeye]

See, with this mindset from the top guy, I don't see how Iowa will improve next year.

We won't be meaningfully better next year. We'll be technically better, in all likelihood, as in more wins, but it will still be god awful with embarrassing blowouts and no post season.

 

[NikeHawk21]

We won't be meaningfully better next year. We'll be technically better, in all likelihood, as in more wins, but it will still be god awful with embarrassing blowouts and no post season.

The amount of blowouts the last few years has been embarrassing. Blaming “youth” for guys playing soft is just lazy at this point.

 

[NikeHawk21]

Iowa played their best offensive game against MSU pounding the ball inside to Cook. They never threw him the ball against OSU and Fran didn’t run any good sets to get him involved.

It was also a perfect example of why benching a guy with two fouls in the first half is a terrible strategy. Not only did OSU build the lead up to 10 by halftime, our best player never got into the flow of the game because of it.

Figure it out Fran.

 

[revkev73]

When you are sitting on 3 conference wins in the middle of February...why sit anyone with fouls...

 

[smitharooney]

When you are sitting on 3 conference wins in the middle of February...why sit anyone with fouls...

And when this season is a complete wash why limit Nunge’s minutes? This coaching staff is clueless in developing players

 

[revkev73]

Fran is in a mental rebuilding year...

 

[revkev73]

What concerns me, aside from the hideous performance, is when I look at Fran during the games...he has that "I have no idea what to do" look on his face...that is not good to see in your #1 leader...with a secretly, recently, enhanced contract.

 

[CJHawkeye]

What concerns me, aside from the hideous performance, is when I look at Fran during the games...he has that "I have no idea what to do" look on his face...that is not good to see in your #1 leader...with a secretly, recently, enhanced contract.

He's clearly given up. Not that I want him ranting and raving on the sidelines but he doesn't even get angry at shitty calls and horribly lazy playing. He sits down about 90% more than he did this time last year. Totally done with this season.