I waited till this morning

[WindsorHawk]

When you consistently lose the same way and don't change your philosophy...

I could have swore that Jok was playing in the last 4 minutes during crunch time. He was having a good night. Him being in there late looks like a change in philosophy, an adjustment, whatever...

 

[WindsorHawk]

talent vs. coaching?

a lot of people have complained about "lack of 2nd half adjustments." what this means is that after a half (or after the first time playing us), teams discovered that if you 1) get the guards back on transition d and 2) shove iowa's front line around, you beat this team.

pretty hard to make a halftime adjustment to put more beef on utoff, white, and olesani, or to suddenly allow ogs, gesell, or utoff to create their own shot against power conference defenders.

the half court offense would stall because gesell would get stuck dribbling around the 3 pt line, shooters wouldn't get the space they needed off the curls, and then they would all look to dev. also, the ball movement on the perimeter would get stagnant -- particularly gesell and mccabe would hang on to it too long to swing the ball crisply to the short corner before a zone could rotate. these are partly talent issues, partly growth issues for the sophs.

this team will be ranked at the end of next year and get past the first round of the ncaa.

This.

 

[WindsorHawk]

WOW...poll all B1G coaches I guarantee you they view Mike as our floor general!

I like Gesell but you have nothing to support this statement.

 

[WindsorHawk]

I like Fran a lot. The skill set of the players and stage of their development dictates what a coach can and can't do be it adjustments or whatever. I'm always amused by those that criticize Fran. Please tell me the coach Iowa should hire that is better, will do a better coaching job and will come to Iowa to replace Fran. That coach doesn't exist. Four straight years of improvement and some people still complain. I highly doubt anyone posting on here is so young that they can't remember the Lick years. I love Fran and his master plan!

 

[kirby]

I like Fran a lot. The skill set of the players and stage of their development dictates what a coach can and can't do be it adjustments or whatever. I'm always amused by those that criticize Fran. Please tell me the coach Iowa should hire that is better, will do a better coaching job and will come to Iowa to replace Fran. That coach doesn't exist. Four straight years of improvement and some people still complain. I highly doubt anyone posting on here is so young that they can't remember the Lick years. I love Fran and his master plan!

He is doing fine. Iowa has some good players with unique skill sets (and size). Beating a guy off the dribble, shooting on the move, etc. are things many teams have at multiple positions, but not Iowa. Outside of Marble, our guys are 1-2 dimensional. Not complete players. ISU has 3-4 guys on the court who can do multiple things for the team like hitting 3 pters or taking it to the hoop and getting fouled. Next year, I think Uthoff could bring some more dimensions (loved the crossover) and Jok and Trey D. will also be interesting. Atwood would start. No doubt. Hope he is considering Iowa.

 

[gohawkz]

We have scoring droughts because we take bad shots and we get lazy on offense. Guys who work down low never get the ball and the perimeter guys chuck it up despite being covered. Sure, at times those bad shots fall and the team hits 3s and we look good but that is no a long term plan. The best place to score and the most efficient place to score is the post and we avoid it like the plague during scoring droughts.

Agree, we have a couple of good post players and absolutely suck at getting the ball to them. That should be a strength..not only a strength but a strength that would open up everything else offensively. You see them get open down low and instead of passing it in, they just wait for a high screen that does nothing.

 

[pacoyal]

Agree, we have a couple of good post players and absolutely suck at getting the ball to them. That should be a strength..not only a strength but a strength that would open up everything else offensively. You see them get open down low and instead of passing it in, they just wait for a high screen that does nothing.

You're right. A big part of that is the correct lack of respect from the outside which is justified as we all know. Jok is a frosh, and he didn't look like it last night. He's ready to take over. Not because he had a good game. He's a shooter like Josh, but he isn't as afraid to fire. Jok will be the key for us next year, and I'm good with itt

 

[coonhawk]

Mike G was in a shooting slump for sure, but we were clearly better with him playing. Watched every minute of every game and would stand by that. Is he the best point guard in the nation? No. Is he the best point guard we have had in a very long time? I would say 100% yes. If we bring in a stud guard he will play along side Gassel.

 

[Hawkstrat]

Mike G was in a shooting slump for sure, but we were clearly better with him playing. Watched every minute of every game and would stand by that. Is he the best point guard in the nation? No. Is he the best point guard we have had in a very long time? I would say 100% yes. If we bring in a stud guard he will play along side Gassel.

His name is Gesell, and he's not even the best PG on this team.

 

[coonhawk]

Good call spelling police. What proof do you have otherwise? What games did we win with Him riding the pine at the end of the game? Any? You have to be completely clueless about how basketball works if you think marble runs the offense better. Marble is a much better player and scorer,but not point guard. Feel free to check my punctuation and grammar. I appreciate the feedback.

 

[HawkPrdatr40]

His name is Gesell, and he's not even the best PG on this team.

lol.. So laughable not even worth responding.

 

[Skeets77]

Bingo!!! Seen this ****** over and over. Fran is a below average game manager.

This...

 

[skinnykilmer17]

I haven't posted in weeks. Just observed the train wreck with bewilderment.

My 2 cents. And let me be clear, I believe you can separate Fran the Father from Fran the Coach. He is a devoted and loving family man obviously. No question. What is still open for debate is "Will he succeed enough in the Big Ten to satisfy the masses?" It can be debated whether the program improved or regressed this year. Personally I found it interesting how long the pollsters and pundits kept believing in Iowa. I believe we only beat two top 25 teams all year. The pundits kept saying we didn't have any bad losses. But they were still losses. We just couldn't get it done in the clutch. That can't be argued. A lot of people nationally wanted Iowa and Fran to succeed. That was good to see.

The shine came off a little bit after the ejection and McCabe fiasco.

But to me Fran lost the team (too harsh? innaccurate?) not when he got ejected, but when he repeatedly called them out for their lack of toughness. You could argue he isn't mentally tough either when he seemingly devotes more time complaining about bad calls than making in-game adjustments. He lost focus during games. A perfect example- Did you see his reaction after the no travel call last night? Speraw, other assistants and some players were quick to jump in front of him and restrain him from another possible meltdown. Is that what players should be focusing on? By now we all are familiar with the pained expression on Speraw's face as he continually tries to control Fran and his temper.

I agree with an earlier post questioning why we end games with 3-4 timeouts in our pocket when they could have been used to stop another team's momentum or we could have devised something to end an extended scoring drought. How do you excuse this lack of coaching/game mangement?
It happened over and over again. Throw in the head scratching substitutions/rotations and seemingly few in-game adjustments, it was just a poor coaching performance in my opinion.

Fran and the coaches need to take a hard look at their schemes and philosphies perhaps. So much dribbling, dribbling, dribbling. Not nearly enough passing in the halfcourt set. You watch these tournament teams with the quick, crisp passing and you ask why not us? How often did we reverse the ball setting up an open shooter? There is no guarantee this improves after Marble leaves. It is the offense Fran employs. No?

Fundamentally we were shockingly poor on defense. As analysts pointed out very little communication in the zone and we never had our hands up. ?? You learn that in JV ball. Make a zone big, not small.

It is easy to blame the players for not executing or their talent being overrated. I get that.

But what I saw in these last six weeks was a team that was exhausted. Fatigued. Having zero fun. I just hope it was due to an extra long season and not due to "Coach Fatigue". Because when things are going well it can be fun playing for a coach with Fran's temperment. But it can wear you out quickly when things start going bad.

I was excited when Fran was hired and I am still rooting for him. I believe he and his staff will do the necessary self-examination and adjustments to move this program forward.

 

[Tierney]

I haven't posted in weeks. Just observed the train wreck with bewilderment.

My 2 cents. And let me be clear, I believe you can separate Fran the Father from Fran the Coach. He is a devoted and loving family man obviously. No question. What is still open for debate is "Will he succeed enough in the Big Ten to satisfy the masses?" It can be debated whether the program improved or regressed this year. Personally I found it interesting how long the pollsters and pundits kept believing in Iowa. I believe we only beat two top 25 teams all year. The pundits kept saying we didn't have any bad losses. But they were still losses. We just couldn't get it done in the clutch. That can't be argued. A lot of people nationally wanted Iowa and Fran to succeed. That was good to see.

The shine came off a little bit after the ejection and McCabe fiasco.

But to me Fran lost the team (too harsh? innaccurate?) not when he got ejected, but when he repeatedly called them out for their lack of toughness. You could argue he isn't mentally tough either when he seemingly devotes more time complaining about bad calls than making in-game adjustments. He lost focus during games. A perfect example- Did you see his reaction after the no travel call last night? Speraw, other assistants and some players were quick to jump in front of him and restrain him from another possible meltdown. Is that what players should be focusing on? By now we all are familiar with the pained expression on Speraw's face as he continually tries to control Fran and his temper.

I agree with an earlier post questioning why we end games with 3-4 timeouts in our pocket when they could have been used to stop another team's momentum or we could have devised something to end an extended scoring drought. How do you excuse this lack of coaching/game mangement?
It happened over and over again. Throw in the head scratching substitutions/rotations and seemingly few in-game adjustments, it was just a poor coaching performance in my opinion.

Fran and the coaches need to take a hard look at their schemes and philosphies perhaps. So much dribbling, dribbling, dribbling. Not nearly enough passing in the halfcourt set. You watch these tournament teams with the quick, crisp passing and you ask why not us? How often did we reverse the ball setting up an open shooter? There is no guarantee this improves after Marble leaves. It is the offense Fran employs. No?

Fundamentally we were shockingly poor on defense. As analysts pointed out very little communication in the zone and we never had our hands up. ?? You learn that in JV ball. Make a zone big, not small.

It is easy to blame the players for not executing or their talent being overrated. I get that.

But what I saw in these last six weeks was a team that was exhausted. Fatigued. Having zero fun. I just hope it was due to an extra long season and not due to "Coach Fatigue". Because when things are going well it can be fun playing for a coach with Fran's temperment. But it can wear you out quickly when things start going bad.

I was excited when Fran was hired and I am still rooting for him. I believe he and his staff will do the necessary self-examination and adjustments to move this program forward.

Only God knows how the season would of turned out if the beam hadn't fallen in Indiana. There are lots of thoughts, but it is pretty obvious Iowa has a great coaching staff. Iowa will be a lot better team next year both offensively and defensively. They will be more athletic and I think Woodbury is going to be pretty tough in the middle. Hopefully, they can add one more great player this spring. Next year it will be a team of players that only the current coaching staff has recruited.

 

[HawkPrdatr40]

Only God knows how the season would of turned out if the beam hadn't fallen in Indiana. There are lots of thoughts, but it is pretty obvious Iowa has a great coaching staff. Iowa will be a lot better team next year both offensively and defensively. They will be more athletic and I think Woodbury is going to be pretty tough in the middle. Hopefully, they can add one more great player this spring. Next year it will be a team of players that only the current coaching staff has recruited.

1 game and a beam didn't cause this collapse. Especially the Illinois-Northwestern-Tenn games. Iowa had a chance to turn things around and right the ship but couldn't.

 

[bogeyman]

Why should Gesell have been in there particularly? In the previous 76 minutes of Hawkeye basketball he had been 0-14 from the field and not played that well. Oglesby had at least made two shots in the game.UOTE]

It Very Simple!!

Do you watch the flow of the offense when MG is at the point? I do and I think it is VERY important. I don't care if MG scores a point. 19 minutes is all he played, that is shocking to me!


In case you wondering:

Point guard (PG), also called the one, is one of the standard positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. They are expected to run the team's offense by controlling the ball and making sure that it gets to the right players at the right time.

I would agree with you that the offense definitely flows better with Mike in, even when he was struggling. Tends to stall when DRM and Clemmons take point.

 

[HawkMD2007]

When Marble was at the point, it became "I got the rock and what are you going to do about it". An occasional pass, but mostly one-on-one hoping for a foul. That worked in the pre-conference schedule. DRM (Junior) is not an elite point guard for Big 10 style play.

 

[HawkPrdatr40]

When Marble was at the point, it became "I got the rock and what are you going to do about it". An occasional pass, but mostly one-on-one hoping for a foul. That worked in the pre-conference schedule. DRM (Junior) is not an elite point guard for Big 10 style play.

Yep.. Sadly the NIT Tournament run last season while MG was on the shelf really had an affect on this season team. Fran fell back on that success we had in the NIT and saw that has a strength, he would pull MG and insert Marble at the point and felt the need to do this a lot this year. You saw it a lot at the end of the half or to close out a game.

 

[racerhawk]

I haven't posted in weeks. Just observed the train wreck with bewilderment.

My 2 cents. And let me be clear, I believe you can separate Fran the Father from Fran the Coach. He is a devoted and loving family man obviously. No question. What is still open for debate is "Will he succeed enough in the Big Ten to satisfy the masses?" It can be debated whether the program improved or regressed this year. Personally I found it interesting how long the pollsters and pundits kept believing in Iowa. I believe we only beat two top 25 teams all year. The pundits kept saying we didn't have any bad losses. But they were still losses. We just couldn't get it done in the clutch. That can't be argued. A lot of people nationally wanted Iowa and Fran to succeed. That was good to see.

The shine came off a little bit after the ejection and McCabe fiasco.

But to me Fran lost the team (too harsh? innaccurate?) not when he got ejected, but when he repeatedly called them out for their lack of toughness. You could argue he isn't mentally tough either when he seemingly devotes more time complaining about bad calls than making in-game adjustments. He lost focus during games. A perfect example- Did you see his reaction after the no travel call last night? Speraw, other assistants and some players were quick to jump in front of him and restrain him from another possible meltdown. Is that what players should be focusing on? By now we all are familiar with the pained expression on Speraw's face as he continually tries to control Fran and his temper.

I agree with an earlier post questioning why we end games with 3-4 timeouts in our pocket when they could have been used to stop another team's momentum or we could have devised something to end an extended scoring drought. How do you excuse this lack of coaching/game mangement?
It happened over and over again. Throw in the head scratching substitutions/rotations and seemingly few in-game adjustments, it was just a poor coaching performance in my opinion.

Fran and the coaches need to take a hard look at their schemes and philosphies perhaps. So much dribbling, dribbling, dribbling. Not nearly enough passing in the halfcourt set. You watch these tournament teams with the quick, crisp passing and you ask why not us? How often did we reverse the ball setting up an open shooter? There is no guarantee this improves after Marble leaves. It is the offense Fran employs. No?

Fundamentally we were shockingly poor on defense. As analysts pointed out very little communication in the zone and we never had our hands up. ?? You learn that in JV ball. Make a zone big, not small.

It is easy to blame the players for not executing or their talent being overrated. I get that.

But what I saw in these last six weeks was a team that was exhausted. Fatigued. Having zero fun. I just hope it was due to an extra long season and not due to "Coach Fatigue". Because when things are going well it can be fun playing for a coach with Fran's temperment. But it can wear you out quickly when things start going bad.

I was excited when Fran was hired and I am still rooting for him. I believe he and his staff will do the necessary self-examination and adjustments to move this program forward.

Great post. I was also bewildered with the lack of attention to fundamentals on defense as the season wore on...and on.

 

[loesshillshawk]

What a great argument, just throw out an impossible to proof assumption.

Gesell completely craps his pants when an athletic PG goes at him. WOW...I do not see that with Mike. Is that throwing out an unproveable argument? The offense stalls, and Iowa suffers. Our offense was not sluggish for 2/3's of the season when Mike was running the show??? RIght??? Fran desperately wants Gesell to be a PG, but even Fran had to adjust and go with Marble at the point. Fran did this during out late season fade away time....so if Marble was the answer at PG why did we fade away? Fran also grabbed a JUCO point for a reason. Yes he did it is called depth at the position, every program does it.

Gesell isn't going to be a leader next year, that will be Adam's job. Woodbury? Leader? He has the attitude, while Gesell will win the sportsmanship award again.