Improvement this season

[1977Hawkeye]

There had to be improvement. We were getting our heads handed to us. But we are a long ways away yet from a middle of the pack Big 10 team.

Now the tough part comes...not losing all the close games and just beating lower division teams. We need to start winning games, defeating upper division teams, establishing a home court advantage, and winning road games. And IMO we have to start winning games, not by just easing our preseason schedule--anyone can do that.

I judge our improvement on how we do in Big 10 play and how we place in the conference standings. That is the true judge of improvement IMO. If we water down the preseason schedule to improve our overall record but don't do much better in the conference then what have we really done?

Next year we need to establish a home court advantage by winning most of games at home--even against the upper division teams. Winning on the road for this team will still be difficult but at a minimum this team needs to begin winning at home and not just against lower division teams. We need to win at least 5 or 6 games at home next year to show improvement--at least.

I agree with this - winning more games because you watered down your OOC schedule proves very little IMO. Unless you also play a tough OOC, it's the conference standings that really show where you are at. If the team can win 7-8+ conference games next year, then I will consider that progress and improvement from a program perspective.

If we go 10-3 in the OOC, but turn around and go 5-13 in the Big Ten, is that really progress? In my opinion, no.

Looking at our remaining home games, it wouldn't surprise me if this team gets to maybe 4 conference wins, or hopefully 5 since I think all 3 of those games are very winnable. So I think 7-8 conference wins next year is the bare minimum we need to be shooting for.

If this year's team can win 4, then IMO it's reasonable to expect next year's team to win a few more than that, given that we have practically everyone back, and adding another recruiting class.

 

[ForeverHawk]

Actually Stillbuster--- the optimists had Iowa doing well this year and surprising all the negative nelly's.

It wasn't as you list at all. It wasn't until this team fell flat on its face did the optimists start saying that Iowa fans shouldn't expect anything from this year's team...that the team was young...that we should just sit back and enjoy them...blah, blah, blah all the other excuses we have heard all year long.

It was just the opposite from the optimists telling the negative nelly's as we were called among other things when we said that this year's team was not going to be very good. And when the team wasn't very good, THAT is when people like you suddenly started with your list... and just said we were negative, when we tried to tell people like you at the beginning of the year they weren't going to be any good and YOU wouldn't listen.

Now you make it sound like YOU were trying to tell US that you were saying from the get go that Iowa wouldn't be good and that isn't so at all. It wasn't until Iowa fell flat on its face out of the gate and got worse that suddenly people like you try to tell us that you were saying it all along and that simply is not true.

I can honestly say I had no expectations of winning coming into this season. Nor did I make any predictions on win totals. You can't lose your best player and another pg, come into a season with an unknown at pg and expect anything. Yes, Spank predicted Iowa would surprise, but that was his job as the basketball contributor on this site. He took a swing and missed and I can't criticize him for that. His opininon on this year is the same I have for next year and season five. I could be totally wrong, I sure hope not. With that being said, I really don't think there is anything wrong with being an optimist. Have you ever tried it......it does a body good?

By the way Stillbuster, that was one of the best posts, positive or negative that I have seen on this site as far as analyzing this team and season. Great job!

 

[urohawk]

Great Post Still...

To address Freddy's original question. I think one area that has improved a lot is our defense. The defense early in the year was terrible. Now I consider it just average. I judge this by when our defense can get setup and not when we turn the ball over and the other team gets a transition bucket. Against OSU the vast majority of their points came in transition or Evan Turner just making a great individual move. Our help defense has improved, the closeouts are better and guys aren't getting beat as quickly off the bounce. We still switch to much on the pick and roll for my taste but that appears to be Lick's strategy.

The main problem with our defense is the turnovers/bad shots create very easy opportunities at the the other end. As Still has mentioned Gatens and Payne have been the main problem but that is because both are doing to much right now. Iowa needs a go to guy to create points for himself and his teammates without the high turnover number to be successful. I hope to see more of May and Fuller doing this down the stretch.

 

[JHHawk]

So distilling Still's thesis down to the basic elements

1. its the players,not the coach.
2. its the youth,not the players

Now, Jarryd Cole said in todays paper...''we are not really that young,and I am tired of that excuse''...paraphrased.

I agree that the final verdict comes in the conference season,ultimately,altho beating quality teams in the non-conference also is very helpful.
For the players and coaches sake, I hope they make a lot more shots next year,because that seems to be Still's key factor...not making open shots generated by our offense. I still have my doubts that we are actually getting good shots, for the most part, even from the three point arc, and then also wonder...are we really a good shooting team?

I also agree that Spank was not alone in projecting a jump in wins this year...something many of us were completely puzzled by...now, for the record, if we lose no one in the offseason,and add no one...I am just not convinced Iowa will move higher than 8th in the league next year...not because they will not be better,but because just like this year...everyone cept Michigan will also improve...which leaves us in a bad spot near the bottom again.

 

[tm3308]

Actually Stillbuster--- the optimists had Iowa doing well this year and surprising all the negative nelly's.

It wasn't as you list at all. It wasn't until this team fell flat on its face did the optimists start saying that Iowa fans shouldn't expect anything from this year's team...that the team was young...that we should just sit back and enjoy them...blah, blah, blah all the other excuses we have heard all year long.

It was just the opposite from the optimists telling the negative nelly's as we were called among other things when we said that this year's team was not going to be very good. And when the team wasn't very good, THAT is when people like you suddenly started with your list... and just said we were negative, when we tried to tell people like you at the beginning of the year they weren't going to be any good and YOU wouldn't listen.

Now you make it sound like YOU were trying to tell US that you were saying from the get go that Iowa wouldn't be good and that isn't so at all. It wasn't until Iowa fell flat on its face out of the gate and got worse that suddenly people like you try to tell us that you were saying it all along and that simply is not true.

Actually, I knew we wouldn't be very good this year. I wonder if that's because we weren't very good last year and then lost our best player? I didn't even pick up my season tickets until two weeks ago. I forgot about it early in the year, and then when we lost to T-SA I kind of just let it go. But I did get them when we started to improve, and I regret having waited so long. If there aren't any transfers, then there are a lot of reasons to be positive about next season.

 

[FreddyBrown]

I also agree that Spank was not alone in projecting a jump in wins this year...

I was one of the people who predicted before the season that there would be a jump in wins this season. Watching the quality of play in November and December shocked me back to reality. There were many expectations on which I was wrong, but the ones on which I was most wrong were how well Gatens and Tucker (when he was playing) would play. The whole thing looked wrong and out of sync from the beginning this season.

I agree that it doesn't look as bad now, but if someone sees me predicting a big jump in wins before next season (unless we go out and sign a good PG), please, slap me upside the head. For once, I'd rather be pleasantly surprised than disappointed about an Iowa basketball season.

 

[STILLBUSTER]

Actually Stillbuster--- the optimists had Iowa doing well this year and surprising all the negative nelly's.

It wasn't as you list at all. It wasn't until this team fell flat on its face did the optimists start saying that Iowa fans shouldn't expect anything from this year's team...that the team was young...that we should just sit back and enjoy them...blah, blah, blah all the other excuses we have heard all year long.

It was just the opposite from the optimists telling the negative nelly's as we were called among other things when we said that this year's team was not going to be very good. And when the team wasn't very good, THAT is when people like you suddenly started with your list... and just said we were negative, when we tried to tell people like you at the beginning of the year they weren't going to be any good and YOU wouldn't listen.

Now you make it sound like YOU were trying to tell US that you were saying from the get go that Iowa wouldn't be good and that isn't so at all. It wasn't until Iowa fell flat on its face out of the gate and got worse that suddenly people like you try to tell us that you were saying it all along and that simply is not true.

I admit, preseason, I was optimistic the team would perform better than they have. However, I think you might have your timeline mixed up a bit. The only post I've ever made offering any sort of expectation on this season was on 1/21/10, after Iowa was in a position to win at MSU. If you recall, the general mood here was more upbeat as a result of the Hawks playing competitive bball. Even then, I stated the same expectations as I did above and went on to predict 1, maybe 2 more wins on the season. Hardly optimistic.

Including me as one of the militant optimist, personally attacking the "negative Nelly's" is just innaccurate. Only in the above post, which is a response to the recent cumulative personal attacks on the Lickliters, the constant ******** about the style / system and the blatant refusal to pay attention and comprehend the facts, did I even dabble in that direction. As so many feel compelled to offer nothing but irrelevant personal comtempt toward Iowa bball -- which is really nothing more than whiny blame over "them" failing to meet their expectations -- I felt compelled to offer a realistic assessment of Iowa bball and actually support it with the facts.

As I stated, I don't care if you like / dislike this brand of bball, I don't care if you like / dislike Todd or John Lickliter, I don't challenge your right to criticize the deserving (I certainly pointed out several players, above). You, me -- we're insignificant to the success or failure of Iowa bball. What I do care about is people being accountable to their choices, words and intents and, above all, base it on some acceptable measure of the truth.

 

[MisterHappy]

2007-08 Iowa 6-12 in Big Ten Average loss by 9.8 points per game
2008-09 Iowa 5-13 in Big Ten Average loss by 8.8 points per game
2009-10 Iowa 2-9 in Big Ten Average loss by 11.6 points per game