Iowa A Bad Match-up For Many Teams.

MelroseHawkins

MelroseHawkins

Well-Known Member
Many like to complain about Iowa's lack of a "true" point guard. Offensively speaking, for this Iowa team, it really hasn't bothered me that much as I realize this team is built differently. Iowa does not have a problem scoring points. Defensively I can agree a bit with that narrative, because, I'd take a lock down defender on my team any day of the week, especially on a team that can potentially have four players who could hit a three at a good percentage. This is Iowa. Garza can step out and hit a 3, Kreiner can step out and hit a 3, Cook not so much.

Fran has built this team to be a hard guard by opposing teams. Iowa's length poses problems, especially when they play their zone defenses, which was really active and effective against Michigan. Fran built this team to spread defenses out with the threat of 3 pt shooters at multiple positions along with a team that can have an inside presence. This is a difficult matchup for many team and opposing coaches will concur. Couple that how Iowa changes defense and they can really be a mismatch nightmare. Michigan's lack of depth at the post was proven last Friday along with their difficulty matching up with Iowa's length on the court.

It's a fun team to watch, even without that "true" point guard! It's fun watching Iowa be one of the top two scoring teams in the BIG, even without that "true" point guard! ;)
 
This team will go as far as their willingness to play defense will takes it. Period. If they decide to lock in, slide in their zone, do their own job and not try to do anyone else's, then they could make an Elite 8 run (they're just not athletic enough, I don't think, to get past that point). If not, then we could easily get Northwestern State'd by anyone....
 
MelroseHawkins said:
Many like to complain about Iowa's lack of a "true" point guard. Offensively speaking, for this Iowa team, it really hasn't bothered me that much as I realize this team is built differently. Iowa does not have a problem scoring points. Defensively I can agree a bit with that narrative, because, I'd take a lock down defender on my team any day of the week, especially on a team that can potentially have four players who could hit a three at a good percentage. This is Iowa. Garza can step out and hit a 3, Kreiner can step out and hit a 3, Cook not so much.

Fran has built this team to be a hard guard by opposing teams. Iowa's length poses problems, especially when they play their zone defenses, which was really active and effective against Michigan. Fran built this team to spread defenses out with the threat of 3 pt shooters at multiple positions along with a team that can have an inside presence. This is a difficult matchup for many team and opposing coaches will concur. Couple that how Iowa changes defense and they can really be a mismatch nightmare. Michigan's lack of depth at the post was proven last Friday along with their difficulty matching up with Iowa's length on the court.

It's a fun team to watch, even without that "true" point guard! It's fun watching Iowa be one of the top two scoring teams in the BIG, even without that "true" point guard! ;)
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Just think how good the team could be with a Cassius Winston or Carsen Edwards though. ;)
 
MelroseHawkins said:
Many like to complain about Iowa's lack of a "true" point guard. Offensively speaking, for this Iowa team, it really hasn't bothered me that much as I realize this team is built differently. Iowa does not have a problem scoring points. Defensively I can agree a bit with that narrative, because, I'd take a lock down defender on my team any day of the week, especially on a team that can potentially have four players who could hit a three at a good percentage. This is Iowa. Garza can step out and hit a 3, Kreiner can step out and hit a 3, Cook not so much.

Fran has built this team to be a hard guard by opposing teams. Iowa's length poses problems, especially when they play their zone defenses, which was really active and effective against Michigan. Fran built this team to spread defenses out with the threat of 3 pt shooters at multiple positions along with a team that can have an inside presence. This is a difficult matchup for many team and opposing coaches will concur. Couple that how Iowa changes defense and they can really be a mismatch nightmare. Michigan's lack of depth at the post was proven last Friday along with their difficulty matching up with Iowa's length on the court.

It's a fun team to watch, even without that "true" point guard! It's fun watching Iowa be one of the top two scoring teams in the BIG, even without that "true" point guard! ;)
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Scoring has never been a problem for this team, even going back to last year or the Jok year. The "true point guard" problem has a lot to do with any high school PG being able to blow by Bohannon anytime they want to.

I said this after last year but Garza (and even Kriener) being able to hit 3s will space the floor out enough to overcome the lack of an elite PG....on offense.
 
SpiderRico said:
This team will go as far as their willingness to play defense will takes it. Period. If they decide to lock in, slide in their zone, do their own job and not try to do anyone else's, then they could make an Elite 8 run (they're just not athletic enough, I don't think, to get past that point). If not, then we could easily get Northwestern State'd by anyone....
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I totally agree with the athleticism concerns, especially in games in which we struggle to get things going offensively.
 
MelroseHawkins said:
Many like to complain about Iowa's lack of a "true" point guard. Offensively speaking, for this Iowa team, it really hasn't bothered me that much as I realize this team is built differently. Iowa does not have a problem scoring points. Defensively I can agree a bit with that narrative, because, I'd take a lock down defender on my team any day of the week, especially on a team that can potentially have four players who could hit a three at a good percentage. This is Iowa. Garza can step out and hit a 3, Kreiner can step out and hit a 3, Cook not so much.

Fran has built this team to be a hard guard by opposing teams. Iowa's length poses problems, especially when they play their zone defenses, which was really active and effective against Michigan. Fran built this team to spread defenses out with the threat of 3 pt shooters at multiple positions along with a team that can have an inside presence. This is a difficult matchup for many team and opposing coaches will concur. Couple that how Iowa changes defense and they can really be a mismatch nightmare. Michigan's lack of depth at the post was proven last Friday along with their difficulty matching up with Iowa's length on the court.

It's a fun team to watch, even without that "true" point guard! It's fun watching Iowa be one of the top two scoring teams in the BIG, even without that "true" point guard! ;)
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Iowa would be a true matchup nightmare with a point guard. Sadly come March the lack of a True PG will be our demise.
 
HawkPrdatr40 said:
Iowa would be a true matchup nightmare with a point guard. Sadly come March the lack of a True PG will be our demise.
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Explain why? If you are talking about lack of a defender maybe I agree. Again, Iowa doesn't usually have an issues scoring points. Mich St. and Iowa are tops in the BIG. The lack of defense or taking a game off defensively will be Iowa's demise. It will have nothing to do with our offensive production from the Pt guard position.

https://www.ncaa.com/stats/basketball-men/d1/current/team/145
 
I guess what really sticks out about Iowa and why I think they can be a bad match-up is Iowa's length on the court, especially in the zone. Now, can that length be driven on. Yes, and that can be an issue with Iowa.
 
I would imagine there are just as many teams saying, if we only had Garza, we be in Final Four.

Can you picture the Dolph of NW or Penn State or UConn saying, look at those post players for Iowa? They have 3, we can't get one. LOL

Most teams have flaws. Can we move on? We are 20th in the nation fellas.
 
NorthKCHawk said:
I would imagine there are just as many teams saying, if we only had Garza, we be in Final Four.

Can you picture the Dolph of NW or Penn State or UConn saying, look at those post players for Iowa? They have 3, we can't get one. LOL

Most teams have flaws. Can we move on? We are 20th in the nation fellas.
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So true. I bet you there aren't a lot of fan bases going "that Iowa, they are so not athletic." or "Look at Weiskamp, just another pasty white wing for Iowa."

We have good players on this team.
 
MelroseHawkins said:
Explain why? If you are talking about lack of a defender maybe I agree. Again, Iowa doesn't usually have an issues scoring points. Mich St. and Iowa are tops in the BIG. The lack of defense or taking a game off defensively will be Iowa's demise. It will have nothing to do with our offensive production from the Pt guard position.

https://www.ncaa.com/stats/basketball-men/d1/current/team/145
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I agree that scoring points hasn’t been an issue as you say, but I would argue when you truly need them in crunch time have. Iowa weakness under Fran has shined in close games losses and the lack of a true PG has hurt us tremendously in those situations. Come March when in late game situations I want a PG that can create off the dribble and be able to break his defender down get and score or dish. IMO you not getting past the first weekend with a true PG in the NCAA tournament, trust my opinion.
 
HawkPrdatr40 said:
I agree that scoring points hasn’t been an issue as you say, but I would argue when you truly need them in crunch time have. Iowa weakness under Fran has shined in close games losses and the lack of a true PG has hurt us tremendously in those situations. Come March when in late game situations I want a PG that can create off the dribble and be able to break his defender down get and score or dish. IMO you not getting past the first weekend with a true PG in the NCAA tournament, trust my opinion.
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Have you seen how hard Garza posts up and what he does with the ball when he gets it? Screw having a 6' guy having to dribble into the lane to create when we have a 7' guy that makes it easy to get him the ball and is nasty and clutch when he gets it.
 
Northside Hawk said:
We have good chemistry on this team. Better than the Uthoff teams. Better than in some time.
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I remember thinking "no way this Uthoff team collapses like they did a couple years ago". I'm not going to make that mistake again. This team could potentially go 3-6 down the stretch. But it has a better chance of going 7-2.
 
MelroseHawkins said:
Explain why? If you are talking about lack of a defender maybe I agree. Again, Iowa doesn't usually have an issues scoring points. Mich St. and Iowa are tops in the BIG. The lack of defense or taking a game off defensively will be Iowa's demise. It will have nothing to do with our offensive production from the Pt guard position.

https://www.ncaa.com/stats/basketball-men/d1/current/team/145
Click to expand...
The problem all season is how to get the ball to our bigs. Cook gets the ball 20 feet from the basket most times, Garza will post up and if our guards are facing heavy pressure miss a lot of entry feeds. Our best post feeders are our forwards as they seem to get better looks than our guards. Now on defense, our rotation is so much better than last season it not worth talking about anymore. Except for an occasional blow by or a post seal the defense is staying in front of their assignments. Wisecamp will continue to pick off passes and our Zone is getting out on shooters without giving up uncontested layups. I'm interested to see how we play against the next quality point guard. It seems pretty telling that two of the top three teams in the league have the two best points.
 
PCHawk said:
Have you seen how hard Garza posts up and what he does with the ball when he gets it? Screw having a 6' guy having to dribble into the lane to create when we have a 7' guy that makes it easy to get him the ball and is nasty and clutch when he gets it.
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That take late in the Penn State game, for one, was as nasty and clutch as it gets.
 
dahlhawk said:
The problem all season is how to get the ball to our bigs. Cook gets the ball 20 feet from the basket most times, Garza will post up and if our guards are facing heavy pressure miss a lot of entry feeds. Our best post feeders are our forwards as they seem to get better looks than our guards. Now on defense, our rotation is so much better than last season it not worth talking about anymore. Except for an occasional blow by or a post seal the defense is staying in front of their assignments. Wisecamp will continue to pick off passes and our Zone is getting out on shooters without giving up uncontested layups. I'm interested to see how we play against the next quality point guard. It seems pretty telling that two of the top three teams in the league have the two best points.
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Actually all three. Winston, Simpson and Edwards. Look at other first division teams and you will see Cowan, Trice and MacBreyer.
 
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