Iowa on the front page of FiveThirtyEight

[Luftgekuehlt67]

Spoiler: it's not great news.

Can Iowa’s High-Flying Offense Overcome Its Porous Defense?

On offense, the Iowa men’s basketball team sure looks like a national title contender. Entering Tuesday’s games, the Hawkeyes led Division I teams in adjusted o…

fivethirtyeight.com

 

[Fryowa]

As of this morning they’re back down to 79th.

 

[HaydenHawk56]

History not our side. A competent offense and defense trumps over time a one-sided affair.

 

[dahlhawk]

History not our side. A competent offense and defense trumps over time a one-sided affair.

In most sports defense wins championships.

 

[uihawk82]

In most sports defense wins championships.

Coach K and Bobby Knight agree as do some other top defensive coaches.

 

[WinOneThisCentury]

Well...the defense hasn't been the issue the past five games. Holding Michigan to 32 in the first half was impressive. Having to leave Garza out there damn near the whole game killed us...and losing Connor was big too. Connor was guarding Wagner most of the time he was in there...and he can stay in front of Wagner.

Losing Nunge is going to hurt this team badly. We just don't have a back up big like that to spell Garza and contribute. Sucks the big one.

 

[Hillcrest1981]

Give JO some minutes....

 

[trj]

Teams with good defensive guard play hurts Iowa. It forces Iowa to initiate offense further out in half court sets. This is where JoeT's struggle kill Iowa. Other than JoeT nobody can get to a spot with his handle playing against a good defensive backcourt.

I would love for Iowa to get another shot at Michigan in the Big Ten tourney title game. I think Garza plays much better against Dickinson. Wagner is a beast, but wasn't overly impressed with the rest of Michigan backcourt.