Hoops assessment

H

hawkIhoops

Well-Known Member
After watching coutnless hours of hoops the past few days, it is painfully obvious that our biggest deficiency is that we lack athletes. I have seen schools from A-Z play the past few days and honestly, I haven't seen one that I think we could beat--maybe UW-Green Bay. It seems every team, even the sketchy ones, have a couple of guys who can get their own shot, get to the rim, finish in traffic and create. When the offense breaks down, these guys figure out a way to make something happen.

I don't buy the youth excuse, because every team has freshman and sophs in their lineups. We are simply overmatched at every position on the floor (see Campbell game) and there isn't much that coaching or hustle can do to overcome this. Campbell plays Creighton and gets blown out, so while Campbell is a decent team, they aren't the VCU / Butler of last season.

Certainly nothing new here and I am not trying to pile on. Despite the coachspeak, McCaffrey realizes his guys don't measure up to the ahletes other teams have, thus the emphasis on guards in next year's recruiting class. Player development isn't really possible for some guys because they don't have a higher ceiling to reach. It's a catch 22 because our deficiencies get magnified when we ask guys to do more than they are capable of and we have no Plan B. I dread the Clemson matchup and fear another Campbell type outcome.
 


Yes, Iowa is one of the slowest teams I have seen in a long time. And this year's freshmen haven't changed that.

Next year needs to get here fast. But that year is also going to be very rough.

Expect an empty CHA for a bit.
 


CAARHawk said:
Yes, Iowa is one of the slowest teams I have seen in a long time. And this year's freshmen haven't changed that.

Next year needs to get here fast. But that year is also going to be very rough.

Expect an empty CHA for a bit.
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Regardless of hype and wins/losses, Iowa is a solid 2-3 years away from being anything but lower echelon of B1G.
 


a good football analogy would be a power run team switching to a spread offense. takes awhile because it demands a complete personnel overhaul.
 


big10fan said:
a good football analogy would be a power run team switching to a spread offense. takes awhile because it demands a complete personnel overhaul.
Click to expand...
Rich Rod=Mich=FAIL......I just hope Fran can get the guys needed to run this type of offense/defense.
 


I was and still am willing to look past the Creighton loss as embarrassing as it was because I know they are a good team and we weren't making shots and they were. That can happen. But if you are telling me we don't have the athletes to compete with Campbell I don't buy that for a second. Notice I said "compete" and not necessarily win. Again, I don't think you spend 45 minutes in the locker room after a game with your team if you really think they are giving you all they have.
 


It took you hours to come to that conclusion? I have literally watched, maybe 15 minutes of CBB this season, and I came to the same conclusion in July.
 




the center position is the weak link, hopefully Brommer get it together and Basabe get it together in time for the BT, Olaseni needs more minutes
 


I think what I've noticed so far is....

A. We are not as deep as people thought we were early on. In fact, I only see 7 or 8 players that should even be getting minutes.

B. I know Caff is in a hurry to get his system installed, but I don't think this group of players should be pressing full court...ever. We simply don't have the athletes to do it. And if we try to do it in Big Ten play, it will be pretty ugly. Stick with half court presses at this point.

C. I'd like to see more movement on offense. Oglesby and Gatens do a good job of moving without the ball, but that's about it. We need to see more screens off the ball. Although we aren't a terrific shooting team, we are capable of hitting open shots. You're not going to get a lot of open shots if your feet are cemented to the court.

D. I really like the potential in Olaseni. In a perfect world, he would have redshirted this year. But it is what it is. I think in a few years, you're going to hear "Gessel to Olaseni for 2" quite a bit.

E. Honestly, I was kind of upset that we played so much zone against Creighton when they were drilling everything from all over the court. But considering how freaking bad our man to man defense is, I really can't blame Caff. That's where our lack of athleticism is most noticeable in my opinion.

F. I got a chance to talk to one of my former coaches. He said he's probably seen Pat Ingram play 30 times at least and we are getting a good one. In fact, he predicted of all of the recruits we signed this year, he's the one most Hawkeye fans will be talking about the most next year.

Didn't get a chance to go to today's game because of a prior commitment, but I'm pretty pumped to see how we play against Clemson.
 


Did you watch the game?

EddyP said:
I was and still am willing to look past the Creighton loss as embarrassing as it was because I know they are a good team and we weren't making shots and they were. That can happen. But if you are telling me we don't have the athletes to compete with Campbell I don't buy that for a second. Notice I said "compete" and not necessarily win. Again, I don't think you spend 45 minutes in the locker room after a game with your team if you really think they are giving you all they have.
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Campbell kicking our rear wasn't a fluke. they had far superior athletes. it wasn't even real close from an athletic standpoint.
combine that with the overall lack of effort and you end up getting owned on your homecourt by Campbell.
 


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