Iowa assistants pleased with summer basketball workouts
- Thread starter BigD
- Start date
trj
Well-Known Member
Lol, is that an indictment on Fran? Maybe we should let Conner know why his Dad was let go.
In all seriousness…I am excited what potentially the BM era could be.
Certainly the 'defense' part of that is no surprise.
NorthKCHawk
Well-Known Member
I don't view as that way, just a different approach. Fran usually tried to go 10-11 deep, and so conditioning was not as critical, and as Fran talked about all the time, he was focused on having "fresh legs." Fran had tremendous success during the regular season given the limitations in Iowa's MBB, he just could not find any juice in March.Lol, is that an indictment on Fran? Maybe we should let Conner know why his Dad was let go.
In all seriousness…I am excited what potentially the BM era could be.
BM's approach is a shorter bench, focus on defense, and focus on valuing the basketball. That requires tough nosed kids that can play 30+ minutes night in and night out. So, there are a lot more suicides in BM's practices it sounds like. I am excited to see how it comes together in a few months.
HuckFinn
Well-Known Member
Very important point made here.
BILLYBOBSTEXAS
Well-Known Member
Agreed
thedukeofearl
Well-Known Member
Iowa men’s basketball chief of staff Jesse Shaw high-fives players during practice June 19, 2025 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa
Hold the phone, that looks like it is on The Down Low
thedukeofearl
Well-Known Member
Damn, check out the muscles on Peyton McCollum
Looks like The Hulk or does he...?
I think that's the two-in-one combo muscle.
Conditioning is always critical. There are things like OT, injuries, foul trouble, etc. so the so deep method is usually waiting for the other shoe to drop. Like what I mentioned or one or two guys just don't come around. So you play them anyway to give rest?
Give me the BM approach. Big Ten goes to 20 games then a tourney then maybe post season. Still remember the way they couldn't just wear down Richmond by the end and take that game. You'll never convince me to get on board with Fran's philosophy there.
BigD
Well-Known Member
In fairness to Fran at the time we were coming out of a program with very poor offensive scoring and fans were begging for an offensive oriented team. Fran did bring that to Iowa City and at the time it was quite refreshing after what we had just gone through. March brought teams that were able to somehow hinder Iowa's offense while the other team's offense was able to break down Iowa's less than stellar defense.
The irony that just the opposite was happening in the Iowa football program. Now if both head football coordinators can do their thing at the same time this upcoming football season this could be a season for the books.
I am actually much more optimistic about the football season despite the tough schedule, yet quietly optimistic and curious what will come of the basketball program. I have no doubt about Ben's basketball knowledge and coaching ability, but will he have the skilled players who can play at a Big Ten level?
The irony that just the opposite was happening in the Iowa football program. Now if both head football coordinators can do their thing at the same time this upcoming football season this could be a season for the books.
I am actually much more optimistic about the football season despite the tough schedule, yet quietly optimistic and curious what will come of the basketball program. I have no doubt about Ben's basketball knowledge and coaching ability, but will he have the skilled players who can play at a Big Ten level?
NorthKCHawk
Well-Known Member
My point is that every coach has different approach to conditioning based upon their style of play and coaching philosophy. One is not right or better.
For those of us that have some serious grey hair, in 1984 Legendary Coach Bud Grant retired from the Vikings and they elevated an assistant named Les Steckel. I think he was an ex marine and he ran training camp like a military boot camp. I think he gave a car away to the most in shape guy on the team if memory serves. Anyway, his approach was uber focused on conditioning and strength training. The Vikes won like 3 games that season and the guy was canned after a year.
Most of us grew up playing high school ball and I can remember two-a-days in August where we would spend hours running wind sprints in 90 degree heat. Sure, it made us tougher, but I could barely walk going into the first game. Times and science have evolved. More conditioning is not always best. Its a balance.
Gander Hawk
Well-Known Member
Gander Hawk
Well-Known Member
I thought Cooper looked a little more filled out too. It always frustrated me seeing all these skinny guys playing for Fran.
SwirlinLingerie
Well-Known Member
Basketball is a long and skinny game these days. Iowa finally got some NBA players when the Murrays showed up. I also thought Garza played way too heavy at Iowa. Hard to argue with the results, but you see how much slimmer he is these days? Man, think of if he moved like that at Iowa? He already killed it. In Fran's system, what if he got down the court a little quicker though?
Some of this is reactive, too. It's not like Fran didn't have a high quality strength and conditioning program. And if Iowa looks worn down in March, I'm sure the narrative will become the players are too muscle bound, practice is too physically demanding with a Big Ten schedule on top of it, etc...
