Hmm. Maybe I'm Off My Rocker but.....

[Tierney]

1. Woody was a plus defender due to positioning and hard work. You're right his lack of foot speed did cause problems at times and his short arms and limited jumping weren't ideal.

2. MG and Sapp were both pretty solid perimeter defenders. That aspect will be missed. Offensively, I think they are both replaceable.

3. About JU I very much agree. I started noticing how much he was loafing on D, just about the time we started our free fall. He thought he could make up for it with his shot blocking but that is not always the case. Maybe he was thinking more about being an AA and going to the NBA.

Side note: Jok has improved his defense every year. Let's hope that continues this year.

It seems that the coaches have a lot more to work with this year to improve the teams defense, especially on the interior. Woody was the only real big guy with any kind of bulk last year. A lot of they guys they have now might be inexperienced, but they have some athletes with length and bulk.

 

[BigD]

Got me thinking, who is the last great PG we had? Man, we have to go back a ways. Horner was pretty good, I wouldn't call him elite as a PG but solid. Boy its been awhile since we had a real difference maker in that spot when you think about it. Imagine how good Fran's transition offense would run with a guy like Ulis (I know I know we must move on ) . Just saying. Can't believe we haven't been able to find a guy.

It's been the misssing ingredient. Kinda like a BLT without the tomato.

 

[FirstDownHawkeyes]

This will be the 7th year in a row that Iowa has had more talent on the roster than the year before. THAT is remarkable and eventually will lead to a breakthrough season. Oh, and 2018-19 will be an 8th year...

 

[docholihawk]

I think if we're going to go to the NCAA tournament we are going to have to run and run and run. We are loaded with athletes who have length. We are deep. We should be able to exhaust teams. I think Jok will repeat his stats from last year and possibly improve them. I think Jok will be the team leader early on but I expect Tyler Cook will eventually become the leader and we will go as far as he takes us. Some people look like leaders from the first time you meet them. Cook won't be looking to overtake Jok as captain, it's just the way he carries himself.

 

[BigD]

What I like about Cook is his aggressive nature in attacking the rim.

The key I think to the success of this team will be the consistency of everyone as a unit. We need at a minimum of three consistant scores who can put up double figures every game and two or three that can consistently put up 8, 9, or 10 points a night.

This will help keep things more open for Joc on the outside and Cook on the inside. It opponents are able to focus just on Joc and Cook then it's going to be rough going.

Edit; I just read Fran's comments on the other thread posted and I see he attributes last seasons collapse to a lack of balances scoring. Which was my point about Joc and Cook needing help for this season to be successful. I can easily see Baer being one of those guys. I would also throw in Uhl and Jones into that mix of being a ten point or more player offensively. If all five of those guys can do that then COOKie Monster will be having a lot of fun taking it to the can.

 

[TJHawkeye]

Everybody seems to have forgotten Baer in this discussion. He had good numbers last year and will be a better scorer and rebounder this year. Jok is not all by himself.

 

[blubberhawk]

I could see it, but 3 of those guys haven't played major college basketball at all. You just don't know right now with them.

If I was an opposing coach I wouldn't pay any extra attention to Jok, I'd just put my best defender on him and have them play as tightly as possible on him, and make him drive. He'd have to prove to me he can consistently make shots after putting it on the floor before I'd make any changes there.

On the flip side, we knew what we had with the seniors including the big guy in the middle that will no longer be cluttering up the floor. It may take a little time but Iowa will be a better team without the dead weight we were obligated to play.

 

[NikeHawk21]

What I like about Cook is his aggressive nature in attacking the rim.

The key I think to the success of this team will be the consistency of everyone as a unit. We need at a minimum of three consistant scores who can put up double figures every game and two or three that can consistently put up 8, 9, or 10 points a night.

This will help keep things more open for Joc on the outside and Cook on the inside. It opponents are able to focus just on Joc and Cook then it's going to be rough going.

Edit; I just read Fran's comments on the other thread posted and I see he attributes last seasons collapse to a lack of balances scoring. Which was my point about Joc and Cook needing help for this season to be successful. I can easily see Baer being one of those guys. I would also throw in Uhl and Jones into that mix of being a ten point or more player offensively. If all five of those guys can do that then COOKie Monster will be having a lot of fun taking it to the can.

Agreed good points. The thing about last year was to some of us it appeared MG and Woody had no interest in making themselves scoring threats.

This year I think Jok will be somewhere in the 18+ PPG range, with Cook as the clear second option. Then you have a bunch of guys in Uhl, Baer, Jones, Moss, Wagner, and Williams as tertiary options. I think any of those guys can score 10 pts on any given night. It's funny, when I made that list, I was thinking did I miss anybody, we have quite a few options. Probably could throw Jordan and Brady in the mix as well.

 

[Tierney]

Agreed good points. The thing about last year was to some of us it appeared MG and Woody had no interest in making themselves scoring threats.

This year I think Jok will be somewhere in the 18+ PPG range, with Cook as the clear second option. Then you have a bunch of guys in Uhl, Baer, Jones, Moss, Wagner, and Williams as tertiary options. I think any of those guys can score 10 pts on any given night. It's funny, when I made that list, I was thinking did I miss anybody, we have quite a few options. Probably could throw Jordan and Brady in the mix as well.

Daily, Kriener, and Pemsl probably could score ten points or more if they were given the minutes. I doubt the freshmen other than Cook will be given enough minutes to be potent scorers. They will probably score their points though.

 

[TheIowaHawkGuy]

As an Iowa fan I've just learned to not have high expectations and will keep it that way. Iowa has a way to exceed expectations during a season only to completely implode those by season's end. They break your heart. They could very much be better than expected but I'll wait to see results first but given what we've seen from Iowa in the past consistently I wouldn't count on it. Would be great to see Iowa basketball be that Cinderella team from out of nowhere shock college basketball for once. Tired of either not meeting expectations or meeting low expectations when there aren't any. It's never exceeding them and maintaining that.

 

[TheIowaHawkGuy]

Still concerned we don't have a PG who can break down the defense consistently and kick out to those shooters though. We have to find a way to get our shooters open. One of our achilles heels, perhaps the biggest, has been the long scoring droughts we have gone on in close games on since Fran took over. Hoping we can find that guy who can at least penetrate and draw a foul or whatever it takes to stop those spurts where we just can't score. Maybe Cook can if the PG can't, but I have no idea until we see them play this year. Team is definitely intriguing, I think an NCAA berth would be a pleasant surprise and the future after that looks very bright. Whenever Fran finds that stud PG he's been longing for, look out, we'll be a top ten team for sure.

Great post. I would also say that Fran's teams tank at the end of the season give me worry that with so many freshmen on this team contributing this will happen again given they hit that "freshmen wall." I'm excited for the future however. Iowa will be a legitimate contender in a couple years.

 

[UncleHawk]

Agreed good points. The thing about last year was to some of us it appeared MG and Woody had no interest in making themselves scoring threats.

This year I think Jok will be somewhere in the 18+ PPG range, with Cook as the clear second option. Then you have a bunch of guys in Uhl, Baer, Jones, Moss, Wagner, and Williams as tertiary options. I think any of those guys can score 10 pts on any given night. It's funny, when I made that list, I was thinking did I miss anybody, we have quite a few options. Probably could throw Jordan and Brady in the mix as well.

I like the scorers behind Jok and Cook, who I agree are likely to be the 1st and 2nd options. However, I'd like to see one of the other scorers emerge as a clear 3rd option. But it needs to be a shooter to take pressure off Jok and Cook. Then the offense could be more more potent than last year.

 

[NikeHawk21]

I like the scorers behind Jok and Cook, who I agree are likely to be the 1st and 2nd options. However, I'd like to see one of the other scorers emerge as a clear 3rd option. But it needs to be a shooter to take pressure off Jok and Cook. Then the offense could be more more potent than last year.

Maybe that's why Fran has talked so much about Dale Jones scoring. Could be a plus if our 3rd scoring option was potentially coming off the bench. Instant offense.

I was really hoping Moss was going to be that guy but haven't heard a whole lot about him.

 

[UncleHawk]

Maybe that's why Fran has talked so much about Dale Jones scoring. Could be a plus if our 3rd scoring option was potentially coming off the bench. Instant offense.

I was really hoping Moss was going to be that guy but haven't heard a whole lot about him.

As the season goes on, I think Dale becomes more prominent off the bench. As a regular 3rd shooting option, early on its probably got to be Uhl or Baer.

 

[Tierney]

Wagner has worked on his shot a lot since last year, and he has said he is confident in it. Cook looked good shooting in the prime time league. I think Iowa has a lot of guys that can score. I can see Ellingson hitting his shot this year. Iowa seems to have a lot of guys that can loosen the other teams defense up. Hopefully, it will be a lot easier for them to score than last year. I enjoyed watching Woodbury, Gesell, and Clemmons, but they weren't great offensive threats. It seems like once teams figured out the Iowa offensive shortcomings the last few years, they were not very effective in the last half of the year. Iowa seems a lot deeper and more flexible offensively this year. It remains to be seen how it all shakes out. I see Williams, Jok, Wagner, Uhl, and Cook starting. All five guys can take the ball and drive to the basket, and all five have the ability to hit the open shot. I think the Iowa coaching staff can use them to put a lot of pressure on the other teams defense. None of the five seem to be of a timid nature.

 

[longtimer]

..... I think Iowa may be a better or healthier team this year with the freshman newcomers than they were with the seniors that have left. I think overall the total quality of the players have improved.

I could see Jok being just as productive as last year once teams figure out they can't just key on him. If you have Cook, Jones, Bohannon, Baer that can sink them from behind the arc, teams will not be able to just shut down Jok like they think. I think the committee behind the arc looks really good.

 

[longtimer]

I dont think you are off your rocker but are leaning quite a bit

 

[Hawk5656]

They are going to be better both offensively and defensively than last year. They are undefeated until someone beats them. On a given day they will be able to defeat anyone. All of these statements are true until they are proven to be false. If you think you have a pretty good team, that is what waiting for the seaon to start is all about. Nobody knows how the team will perform overall. I like to think they are pretty talented, especially the point guard position. What will make the team great will be the coaching.

We lost 4 of our best defenders from last season and replace them with a lot of unknowns. Not sure why you think we are going to be better defensively this year. I mean it's possible but I'd say it's unlikely

 

[NikeHawk21]

We lost 4 of our best defenders from last season and replace them with a lot of unknowns. Not sure why you think we are going to be better defensively this year. I mean it's possible but I'd say it's unlikely

I think this years roster is much better built to press and zone which are two things Fran has really liked to do in the past. We have more length and more athleticism than we've had.

Fran made a point of mentioning Williams as a really good perimeter defender at Iowa Media Day, so maybe the drop off there won't be too bad.

I'm still not sure how we are going to try and handle Happ, Thomas Bryant, and Haas in the post though.

 

[Hawk5656]

I think this years roster is much better built to press and zone which are two things Fran has really liked to do in the past. We have more length and more athleticism than we've had.

Fran made a point of mentioning Williams as a really good perimeter defender at Iowa Media Day, so maybe the drop off there won't be too bad.

I'm still not sure how we are going to try and handle Happ, Thomas Bryant, and Haas in the post though.

Mike and Sapp were really good perimeter defenders. I'm not sure Bohannon and CW can defend quick guards like those two could. CW has more length but this will be new to him and Bohannon is undersized