How realistic is it that Luka

InGoodCo

InGoodCo

Well-Known Member
leads the B1G in scoring this season? He's off to a tremendous start and he currently is averaging close to 6 points more then the guys trailing him. It's early, but this hot start is gonna help keep him up there and it appears Iowa is going to run their offense through him. These are weak opponents, and his game against Depaul was horrible, but I think he's gonna score a lot. He could actually do it.
 
InGoodCo said:
leads the B1G in scoring this season? He's off to a tremendous start and he currently is averaging close to 6 points more then the guys trailing him. It's early, but this hot start is gonna help keep him up there and it appears Iowa is going to run their offense through him. These are weak opponents, and his game against Depaul was horrible, but I think he's gonna score a lot. He could actually do it.
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Fair question atm. I'm just not sure about the rest of the league yet and what all they have. It looks like Garza will get all the touches and looks he can handle pretty much so I bet his floor will be 17-18 pts a game with the monster games mixed in I could see him end up around 20 or a little better just depending. BIG teams will defend him significantly better then what he's had so far so we'll just have to see.
 
Fair questions...it really depends on whether we can get North Florida and Oral Roberts into the B10. So, unlikely.

If he can average 18...that's one hell of a year. He's gonna get shots that's for sure. I'd love to see him play at this level through the B10...but I've seen some of the monsters other B10 teams have down low...and it's usually a few of them. MSU is a great defensive team already. Hell, Illinois has a few guys that will be really physical. Garza has surprised me his entire career...why would this year be any different.
 
Probably pretty decent. He’s only shooting 57.7% from free throws right now, he shot 80% last year so that’s bound to go up. On the flip side he’s shooting 60% from 3, which isn’t sustainable.

There aren’t really a whole lot of prolific scorers in the B1G this year. Maybe that Ayo kid at Illinois but I’m not sure what he’s at. Winston likes to get others involved and will probably be in that 16-18PPG range. Lamar Stevens might be one to keep an eye on.
 
I think that until he can show that he can play consistently against athletic bigs, he's going to struggle scoring at anything close to this pace once B1G play rolls around. I think we'll learn alot against the teams that are coming up.
 
SpiderRico said:
I think that until he can show that he can play consistently against athletic bigs, he's going to struggle scoring at anything close to this pace once B1G play rolls around. I think we'll learn alot against the teams that are coming up.
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I'd agree, but it's not like we haven't already seen Luka play and score against athletic bigs already. This is year 3. He's proven at this point that he can score. I just dunno that his average at the end of the year will be #1.... he's getting a tremendous head start with the OOC, but that's the case with everyone.
 
NikeHawk21 said:
Probably pretty decent. He’s only shooting 57.7% from free throws right now, he shot 80% last year so that’s bound to go up. On the flip side he’s shooting 60% from 3, which isn’t sustainable.

There aren’t really a whole lot of prolific scorers in the B1G this year. Maybe that Ayo kid at Illinois but I’m not sure what he’s at. Winston likes to get others involved and will probably be in that 16-18PPG range. Lamar Stevens might be one to keep an eye on.
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Yeah I'm not too worried about his FTs yet. He's plenty capable he'll improve that significantly. And I bet his volume will go up. I think he'll get 8 a night pretty easily of them. I think our back courts scoring will be pretty sporadic and inconsistent. So he JW and Nunge will need to able to be leaned on for consistency in that department. I think we need 40 plus from those 3 combined per game and no less to win.
 
He worked all summer developing new post moves. Remember all the stories we would hear about Woody doing that? Me either.
 
tksirius said:
If Luka had 10 more inches on his vertical, this would be his last year playing college ball. Amirite?
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If he leads the B1G in scoring almost no chance he doesn't at least test the waters anyways. He might be doing that irregardless. After all the Tyler Cook will never play in the NBA bullshit the last 3 seasons on here, I dunno know if I trust you dorks to tell me whether or not Luka can.
 
InGoodCo said:
If he leads the B1G in scoring almost no chance he doesn't at least test the waters anyways. He might be doing that irregardless. After all the Tyler Cook will never play in the NBA bullshit the last 3 seasons on here, I dunno know if I trust you dorks to tell me whether or not Luka can.
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I’m not looking for much of an argument, but did Tyler Cook prove any of those people wrong? He’s back in the G league, didn’t play much on one of the worst teams in the league. He’s far from proven he’s an NBA player in my opinion.

I googled TC’s contract, He’s making just under $80K this year. There are plenty of kids coming out of Iowa as normal undergrads who will clear that this year.

I hope he makes it. But Marble and Uthoff had cups of coffee too, but never stuck. The NBA is a beast of a league to crack, I hope TC can do it but it remains to be seen.
 
NikeHawk21 said:
I’m not looking for much of an argument, but did Tyler Cook prove any of those people wrong? He’s back in the G league, didn’t play much on one of the worst teams in the league. He’s far from proven he’s an NBA player in my opinion.

I googled TC’s contract, He’s making just under $80K this year. There are plenty of kids coming out of Iowa as normal undergrads who will clear that this year.

I hope he makes it. But Marble and Uthoff had cups of coffee too, but never stuck. The NBA is a beast of a league to crack, I hope TC can do it but it remains to be seen.
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no no, I definitely understand what you are saying....and by no means am I saying "TC made the NBA" ...but the a lot of people acted like you were on planet Mars to suggest that he could. I wasn't one of those people. I had no clue, I just read what others said. But it was pretty much a narrative for 3 seasons that TC wasn't good enough for the NBA and frankly wasn't close....and he immediately made a roster. Now, that could be because JB and his connections and blah blah blah, the point in my snark was ...if you're gonna drop superlatives on Garza's chances at the next level, maybe sit this one out.
 
Surprised no one has said this yet based on his history. I think foul trouble will be the thing that prevents him from keeping up his scoring. He averaged 12 PPG his Freshman year and 13 last year both with Cook on the floor at the same time and majority of post up touches going to Cook. I see no reason why with another 4 or 5 shots per game why he can't average 20. Unless he continues to get in foul trouble and not be able to be on the court.

Now when teams double him on every post touch we will see if he can still even get 12 to 13 shots per game which is what it will take for him to average 20 PPG
 
Garza can score against these non conference cupcakes so far. I'm waiting to see if he can take his game into this 5 game stretch coming up against Texas Tech and others. The better teams will have defenders who can match up better down low with him. They will also have better help defense available that can slow him down. Hopefully, he can continue to score down low and give other teams trouble. At some point he has to become a better passer and kick the ball out to perimeter shooters. As we grind into the Big 10 coaches will plan defenses to slow him down if he continues score at will in the paint.
 
tmess1989 said:
Surprised no one has said this yet based on his history. I think foul trouble will be the thing that prevents him from keeping up his scoring. He averaged 12 PPG his Freshman year and 13 last year both with Cook on the floor at the same time and majority of post up touches going to Cook. I see no reason why with another 4 or 5 shots per game why he can't average 20. Unless he continues to get in foul trouble and not be able to be on the court.

Now when teams double him on every post touch we will see if he can still even get 12 to 13 shots per game which is what it will take for him to average 20 PPG
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Nunge should help to take the pressure off. He was asleep the first few games and seems content to take what's there for him and use those long arms to grab some rebounds. He needs to keep upping his aggression on both offense and defense though. It will make it impossible to guard Garza if they're always watching for Nunge and Wieskamp to come from the backside and posterize them.
 
InGoodCo said:
no no, I definitely understand what you are saying....and by no means am I saying "TC made the NBA" ...but the a lot of people acted like you were on planet Mars to suggest that he could. I wasn't one of those people. I had no clue, I just read what others said. But it was pretty much a narrative for 3 seasons that TC wasn't good enough for the NBA and frankly wasn't close....and he immediately made a roster. Now, that could be because JB and his connections and blah blah blah, the point in my snark was ...if you're gonna drop superlatives on Garza's chances at the next level, maybe sit this one out.
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I mean ya people exaggerate and have hot takes on message boards. I’ve said on many occasions that TC took more heat in part because he had built the narrative that he was an NBA guy, that he was a guy that wasn’t long for school. That’s why I think people crucified him for bad days. Certainly doesn’t make those people right for doing it though.

In a way it sort of already happening to Wieskamp although not to the degree at least yet of TC. He had a bad game and instantly people were saying yeah he’s a four year guy no way he’s going to the NBA.
 
1980HAWKFAN said:
Garza can score against these non conference cupcakes so far. I'm waiting to see if he can take his game into this 5 game stretch coming up against Texas Tech and others. The better teams will have defenders who can match up better down low with him. They will also have better help defense available that can slow him down. Hopefully, he can continue to score down low and give other teams trouble. At some point he has to become a better passer and kick the ball out to perimeter shooters. As we grind into the Big 10 coaches will plan defenses to slow him down if he continues score at will in the paint.
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How many great 5's and front courts is Iowa even going to see this season? .... and again, not just speaking to you on this... but it's not like we don't already have a control here. Luka is a JR. We've seen him score in the big ten already. We've seen him score against athletic teams and bigs. He scored more then 15 points in 15 out of 35 games last season.

I don't need to wait any longer to know if Luka can score, he can against inferior non conference teams and he can against Cinci in the NCAA 1st round ...he can. That's not what we're debating here. Can he lead the league in scoring? meh, I dunno. It will be hard for him to keep that pace, but not impossible.
 
InGoodCo said:
How many great 5's and front courts is Iowa even going to see this season? .... and again, not just speaking to you on this... but it's not like we don't already have a control here. Luka is a JR. We've seen him score in the big ten already. We've seen him score against athletic teams and bigs. He scored more then 15 points in 15 out of 35 games last season.

I don't need to wait any longer to know if Luka can score, he can against inferior non conference teams and he can against Cinci in the NCAA 1st round ...he can. That's not what we're debating here. Can he lead the league in scoring? meh, I dunno. It will be hard for him to keep that pace, but not impossible.
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There are some pretty tough defensive bigs in the league this year. Tillman, Teske, and Reuvers. I actually think Garza can pull Wesson out from under the basket with his shot. Illinois has a freshman, Minny has a guy. I’m not sure if Jalen Smith plays true center for Maryland.

I guess the point of the thread is can he lead the B1G in scoring. I would say yes he can be right up there, but if he’s scoring a bunch of garbage baskets when Iowa I down 15 I don’t much care.
 
NikeHawk21 said:
I’m not looking for much of an argument, but did Tyler Cook prove any of those people wrong? He’s back in the G league, didn’t play much on one of the worst teams in the league. He’s far from proven he’s an NBA player in my opinion.

I googled TC’s contract, He’s making just under $80K this year. There are plenty of kids coming out of Iowa as normal undergrads who will clear that this year.

I hope he makes it. But Marble and Uthoff had cups of coffee too, but never stuck. The NBA is a beast of a league to crack, I hope TC can do it but it remains to be seen.
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Cook had to have been on a 10 day contract when he was with the Cavs. That's worth 47k this year. So he made that in 2 weeks which is pretty dang good.

The 80k is just the G League contract.
 
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