Iowa looks to rectify defensive issues that led to last year’s season-ending skid
- Thread starter HawkeyeHypnosis
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jacknicholson
Well-Known Member
That and getting the team chemistry back are essential to the success of the season. I am certain that the factors that led to the demise will be corrected. It has to be on the teams' mind, and I am certain that Fran and staff have analyzed the situation to the Nth Degree. I predict and anticipate improvement. We will have no trouble getting Devyn's points back.....
Tough D, similar to Maury John's Bellybutton Defense will rule, hopefully.....
"When he filled out a faculty questionnaire in September of 1965, Maury John was asked to list his special interests.
He wrote two words with his ink pen: Basketball Defense.
John and sticky man-to-man defense will forever be linked. It became known as belly-button defense.
What was belly-button defense? John taught belly-up, face-to-face defense, with an emphasis on total ball denial, especially on the wing. He also stressed weakside help. He wanted to make it difficult for the opponent to get an offense started in a half-court set.
The epitome of belly-button defense was Pulliam, who always drew the opponents' best offensive player and often took him out of the game.
"The best story I can remember is the great Sam Williams at Iowa," Teeter said. "We were playing them in Des Moines. Dolph denied him to a point in the second half where Sam literally quit. He just walked the length of the floor and sat on the bench while the game was going on. Dolph followed him to the bench."
Drake went to the Final Four in the 68/69 season and played UCLA with Lew Alcinder, losing 85-83. Jabbar said that it was one of the toughest games in his career, college or pro. The Bulldogs demolished North Carolina in the consolation game, scoring 107 points on them and winning by at least twenty points....
Re-animate the Belly Button D.....
I guess Maury John's teachings stay with you throughout your life. I played against Dolph in a YMCA pickup game when I'm guessing he was around 40 years old. I think Dolph worked as hard in pickup game as he did in the '69 final four.
John and sticky man-to-man defense will forever be linked. It became known as belly-button defense.
What was belly-button defense? John taught belly-up, face-to-face defense, with an emphasis on total ball denial, especially on the wing. He also stressed weakside help. He wanted to make it difficult for the opponent to get an offense started in a half-court set.
The epitome of belly-button defense was Pulliam, who always drew the opponents' best offensive player and often took him out of the game.
Re-animate the Belly Button D....
I actually see this team likely playing lots of zone. Great height, but not the fastest laterally. This team is plenty athletic in the open court, but moving the feet side to side in Belly Button D remains to be seen if they could sustain that. The zone was tough inside last year, but they had trouble getting to the three point shooter in time, at times.
From an offensive standpoint, I think there are plenty of ball handlers to make the half court offense more effective than it was last year, but I believe the key will be if people can confidently step up, take, and make an outside shot consistently.
T
Tough D, similar to Maury John's Bellybutton Defense will rule, hopefully.....
Dude, you realize you need athletes who can actually get their belly button in front of the other guy's belly button to do this right. It would be more like belly button to hip to free throw line with this Iowa team. That was back in the days of slow guys playing against slow guys.
The team was absolutely lost in a zone last year. These guys can play man defense. They were a good defensive team in 2012-2013 and a lot of those guys are still here and are a couple years older. I don't know what happened last year to the defense.
Gesell
Clemmons
Oglesby
White
Gabe
Woody
These guys all played decent to good minutes 2 years ago and played solid defense.
HawkeyeMHA
Well-Known Member
Well that's fine but that won't be our problem this year. The problem this year is going to be the same as the year before last. Will we have anyone that can score on their own with the **** clock running down? I am skeptical that we will have that person
This team does not have the footspeed to go strictly with man to man. But we have to mix and match better. Vs Minny, they just out-ran us...so quick. Same with IU. We are not quick and it is hard to stay in front of quick guys, when you are slow. Eric May made a big diff on defense as he could handle those wing guys who are quick....like Ray Rice. We will need to mix it up to keep the guessing.
MiniMoeHawk
Well-Known Member
White and Gabe got worked in the zone and were out of position several times. Hopefully they fix the details because they have the potential to be strong defensively.
Um, the guys that can play man D aren't still here. Seriously, you are looking at this team as good man D team, really? I see a team with a bit of length, but that is severely limited in lateral quickness. Look at this group and tell me who is going to defend man to man on a quick 3. Beyond that, Gesell gets dominated by stronger, quicker guards and Ogeslby has never been good on rotation. Sapp barely even played last year.
The heart and soul of the 2012 defense is GONE.
jacknicholson
Well-Known Member
The 107 points scored on North Carolina for third place in the NCAA tournament proves your point....
I watched every Drake home game at Vets that season, the teams were not exactly walking the ball down court....
jacknicholson
Well-Known Member
jacknicholson
Well-Known Member
The half court defense must be improved. In the open court we can run with the majority of teams under Fran's system.....
The way we beat Michigan was denying Staukaus the ball, that worked well in a 20 point victory against the team that lost by 3 to Kentucky in the Elite Eight....
jacknicholson
Well-Known Member
The team did seem to run out of gas at the end. The trips to Europe could have had an effect on the team in various ways. I think there was more than one aspect to the demise, which seriously blemished the excellence of the team that was 19-5 and ranked number 10 at one point, I believe that was the record at one time. Even during that run, the problems holding onto a lead and throwing the game away were troubling. We led most of the teams we played all year until the final minutes. At Michigan we were soundly beaten although we were only behind 5 points at halftime, and only lost by 12 points. We were behind by 10 to Wisconsin at Carver at halftime, lost by 5. Other than that we were ahead every game at halftime, sometimes by 10 points. At halftime we were tied with NW at Carver at the end of the season.....
We had proven that we could play with everyone on our schedule last season. Then almost every game we would gradually let the opponent back into the game, eventually holding on to win somehow. We should have beat Villanova and Iowa State, we Had them but gave it away. I have to believe that solid D and decision making at the end of close games will the the main focus this season. We have a ton of experience dealing with that problem. What are the odds of Mike G, an 80% free throw shooter his rookie year missing two at the end of the ISU game. Someone at the game said the crowd was the loudest he had ever heard when Mike was attempting the free throws. Not an excuse, but a ton of pressure.....
I hesitate to mention this because I loved Devyn and all the games he won for us, but sometimes I wonder if his handling the ball at the end of close games, dribbling around for 25/30 seconds, acquiring at least a double team the entire time, and then attempting a desperate shot. We really did not have another finisher to rely on, other than Josh if he was hitting the threes throughout the game.....
Despite our very tough preconference schedule, I have a feeling that we will work the problems out and get that elusive quality that separates the wheat from the chaff, Chemistry and unselfish teamwork....
There is solid evidence that we have improved under Fran's guidance every year and no reason not to expect the same this year....
Totally random thoughts from a chronic Homer....
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1977Hawkeye
Well-Known Member
One thing I noticed a lot last year (and probably also in previous years, I would suspect) was the disparity from behind the arc. In a lot of our losses, the team was typically something like -10 or more in the 3 point game. The OT loss to MSU last year in Carver, I thought Iowa made 3 threes, but gave up something like 10-12. That's at least a 21 point disadvantage. Gotta defend and also MAKE the three point shot a lot better.
Sure, Iowa may also have an edge in the paint or at the FT line to help make up for that, but it just seems like Iowa is always at a decided disadvantage in this aspect of the game. It's been a severe liability.
Would help if the team would close out games, though. The last couple years, the team lost games where it was tied or had the lead inside the last 5 minutes so many times I can't remember them all. There could be a "mental toughness" issue, too. Other teams make plays in crunch time, and Iowa can't seem to.
Sure, Iowa may also have an edge in the paint or at the FT line to help make up for that, but it just seems like Iowa is always at a decided disadvantage in this aspect of the game. It's been a severe liability.
Would help if the team would close out games, though. The last couple years, the team lost games where it was tied or had the lead inside the last 5 minutes so many times I can't remember them all. There could be a "mental toughness" issue, too. Other teams make plays in crunch time, and Iowa can't seem to.
jacknicholson
Well-Known Member
Developing mental toughness is crucial. It certainly can be done. Would have liked to see Aaron kick the Villanova player in the nose and then stick his finger in his eye the following half....
They have to concentrate and play smart the entire game, especially the last 5/6 minutes. The ability is there and i do believe Fran and the staff will make it manifest itself.....
It also seemed like players who were shooting 10% from beyond the three would have a field day against the Hawks....
Developing mental toughness is crucial. It certainly can be done. Would have liked to see Aaron kick the Villanova player in the nose and then stick his finger in his eye the following half....
They have to concentrate and play smart the entire game, especially the last 5/6 minutes. The ability is there and i do believe Fran and the staff will make it manifest itself.....
It also seemed like players who were shooting 10% from beyond the three would have a field day against the Hawks....
White has said that what he loves about Dickerson is the speed he can bring to the defense. Clemmons has lost some weight to increase his speed and conditioning. Woodbury, White, and Olesani have all put on a few pounds and I doubt to many people will be pushing them around. I don't think Fran will be to concerned with his offense the first few practices. Jok is reportedly in better condition, and Oglesby had a foot injury that slowed him last year. Iowa should be pretty tough this year.
Knight78
Well-Known Member
That and getting the team chemistry back are essential to the success of the season. I am certain that the factors that led to the demise will be corrected. It has to be on the teams' mind, and I am certain that Fran and staff have analyzed the situation to the Nth Degree. I predict and anticipate improvement. We will have no trouble getting Devyn's points back.....
Tough D, similar to Maury John's Bellybutton Defense will rule, hopefully.....
"When he filled out a faculty questionnaire in September of 1965, Maury John was asked to list his special interests.
He wrote two words with his ink pen: Basketball Defense.
John and sticky man-to-man defense will forever be linked. It became known as belly-button defense.
What was belly-button defense? John taught belly-up, face-to-face defense, with an emphasis on total ball denial, especially on the wing. He also stressed weakside help. He wanted to make it difficult for the opponent to get an offense started in a half-court set.
The epitome of belly-button defense was Pulliam, who always drew the opponents' best offensive player and often took him out of the game.
"The best story I can remember is the great Sam Williams at Iowa," Teeter said. "We were playing them in Des Moines. Dolph denied him to a point in the second half where Sam literally quit. He just walked the length of the floor and sat on the bench while the game was going on. Dolph followed him to the bench."
Drake went to the Final Four in the 68/69 season and played UCLA with Lew Alcinder, losing 85-83. Jabbar said that it was one of the toughest games in his career, college or pro. The Bulldogs demolished North Carolina in the consolation game, scoring 107 points on them and winning by at least twenty points....
Re-animate the Belly Button D.....
Love the reference to the great Drake teams and Maury John. I remember hearing a joke that used Maury John on Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In and thought "Wow, Drake has really made the mainstream!"
If Maury John married Olivia Newton-John they'd have a kid named.............. John John-John.
