It’s Size…

Fryowa

Fryowa

Administrator
This team needs size, period, end of story. You cannot play with that kind of lineup in the Big Ten no matter how many Bennett Stirtzes you have. When was the last time Iowa had more than 8-10 points in the paint?

Did anyone count how many times the ball got shot out from inside 4 feet to the wing and then the shot clock winds down to a desperation three this year? Iowa has to be by far the worst team in the league for scoring inside the paint. Howard drives, and instead of going up and trying to get fouled kicks it out with 7 seconds to shoot.

You. Have. To. Have. Size. In. This. League. To. Compete.

Would BMC love to have someone with Juríc’s build? Absolutely. Can Iowa get that type of player? We don’t know. And remember, Juríc isn’t anything special…he plays for Penn State. But he’s effective enough and that’s all that counts.

Until Iowa can get a couple 7 footers at 240 lbs who can play significant minutes, the ceiling is going to be an 8/9/10/11 seed.
 
I don't particularly agree with your argument today although in general, yes. One thing that I have noticed is that whenever Manyawu gets the ball in the paint, he doesn't look to score. At all. He immediately looks to see if there is a cutter or someone posting up at the three point line. Would like to see him be able to drive in and score at least on some of those. And that does speak to what you are talking about.
 
haydensly said:
I don't particularly agree with your argument today although in general, yes. One thing that I have noticed is that whenever Manyawu gets the ball in the paint, he doesn't look to score. At all. He immediately looks to see if there is a cutter or someone posting up at the three point line. Would like to see him be able to drive in and score at least on some of those. And that does speak to what you are talking about.
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What you say about Manyawu is also true of Banks, and 50% of the time even true for Fulgueiras...they don't even look to shoot from the FT line or even turn and look at the basket. Penn St. played a 2-3 zone defense vs the Hawks for most of the game, which means there are going to be a lot of looks by a front court player at the FT line. Heiden was doing the same thing for a couple games, but the coaches obviously saw what we saw and now she is turning and shooting the elbow jumper because she can make that shot 50% of the time. Banks hit 32 straight FTs this season -- somebody telling me he can't hit 50% during the game when he's wide open from the FT line?

I mean, if the men were getting good looks after tossing it back to the perimeter it would be one thing, but like Fry said more often than not they're getting worse shots than an open look at the FT line.

(I like Hausen's effort, but no way Fulgueiras and Sage should have been sitting for the last 5 minutes of today's game.)
 
Fryowa said:
This team needs size, period, end of story. You cannot play with that kind of lineup in the Big Ten no matter how many Bennett Stirtzes you have. When was the last time Iowa had more than 8-10 points in the paint?

Did anyone count how many times the ball got shot out from inside 4 feet to the wing and then the shot clock winds down to a desperation three this year? Iowa has to be by far the worst team in the league for scoring inside the paint. Howard drives, and instead of going up and trying to get fouled kicks it out with 7 seconds to shoot.

You. Have. To. Have. Size. In. This. League. To. Compete.

Would BMC love to have someone with Juríc’s build? Absolutely. Can Iowa get that type of player? We don’t know. And remember, Juríc isn’t anything special…he plays for Penn State. But he’s effective enough and that’s all that counts.

Until Iowa can get a couple 7 footers at 240 lbs who can play significant minutes, the ceiling is going to be an 8/9/10/11 seed.
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The point in your 2nd paragraph was especially galling in this game, because I think Iowa had them in the bonus with over 11 min remaining.
 
Fryowa said:
This team needs size, period, end of story. You cannot play with that kind of lineup in the Big Ten no matter how many Bennett Stirtzes you have. When was the last time Iowa had more than 8-10 points in the paint?

Did anyone count how many times the ball got shot out from inside 4 feet to the wing and then the shot clock winds down to a desperation three this year? Iowa has to be by far the worst team in the league for scoring inside the paint. Howard drives, and instead of going up and trying to get fouled kicks it out with 7 seconds to shoot.

You. Have. To. Have. Size. In. This. League. To. Compete.

Would BMC love to have someone with Juríc’s build? Absolutely. Can Iowa get that type of player? We don’t know. And remember, Juríc isn’t anything special…he plays for Penn State. But he’s effective enough and that’s all that counts.

Until Iowa can get a couple 7 footers at 240 lbs who can play significant minutes, the ceiling is going to be an 8/9/10/11 seed.
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We owned the paint just one game ago vs OSU. But yesterday was another poor job of in game coaching. Should have been getting to the line with Penn State's foul situation.

I think that like Maryland a few weeks ago, Penn State got on a once a year heater and Ben wanted to use clock just to limit their offensive possessions. I mean Reed was hitting shots, like that one legged step back wrist flick, where it looked like he didn't even have his eyes open.

Despite all this we had the game in control at 67-62 late and still let it slip away. Penn State came up that huge stop when we kept the possession alive with TWO offensive rebounds and then they stopped us two more times without even putting us on the line. In those situations, when the possession is discombobulated, you gotta find a way to at least get to the line. This team shoots free throws better, which was a huge concern of mine going into the season, than when they wore Drake uniforms.

As for a Juric type player, gotta be careful there. We don't want Seth Gorney out there either. I just hope that our young bigs live in the weight room this summer and order in door dash.
 
I realize Folguerias is a stretch 4, but I thought he would have more of an inside presence than he does. Maybe next year he will.

You are hoping that Jirak can take a huge step next year.

It is college basketball in 2026, so who knows if those two will even be on the roster next year.

The one thing that you can criticize BM for would be roster construction. Everyone said that the lack of size was going to be an issue, and it has been.
 
Northside Hawk said:
We owned the paint just one game ago vs OSU. But yesterday was another poor job of in game coaching. Should have been getting to the line with Penn State's foul situation.

I think that like Maryland a few weeks ago, Penn State got on a once a year heater and Ben wanted to use clock just to limit their offensive possessions. I mean Reed was hitting shots, like that one legged step back wrist flick, where it looked like he didn't even have his eyes open.

Despite all this we had the game in control at 67-62 late and still let it slip away. Penn State came up that huge stop when we kept the possession alive with TWO offensive rebounds and then they stopped us two more times without even putting us on the line. In those situations, when the possession is discombobulated, you gotta find a way to at least get to the line. This team shoots free throws better, which was a huge concern of mine going into the season, than when they wore Drake uniforms.

As for a Juric type player, gotta be careful there. We don't want Seth Gorney out there either. I just hope that our young bigs live in the weight room this summer and order in door dash.
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Yeah, I am not sure I want those slow, plodding Purdue type bigs. You get them outside the paint and they become a huge liability.

According to KenPom, Iowa is last in the country in tempo/pace. With BM’s deliberate playing style, you probably don’t have to worry about your bigs playing outside the paint a ton.
 
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trj said:
Yeah, I am not sure I want those slow, plodding Purdue type bigs. You get them outside the paint and they become a huge liability.

According to KenPom, Iowa is last in the country in tempo/pace. With BM’s deliberate style you probably don’t have to worry about your bigs playing outside the paint a ton.
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I remember Josh Ogendule's finest hour at Iowa. In the 2022 BTT championship he was muscling Purdue Zach Edey off his spots and he was drawing Zach out of the paint on offense and actually made a couple nice passes from the high post.

If your going to play four in four in the BTT you need everyone to step up and that day Josh made the most of his opportunity.
 
Fryowa said:
This team needs size, period, end of story. You cannot play with that kind of lineup in the Big Ten no matter how many Bennett Stirtzes you have. When was the last time Iowa had more than 8-10 points in the paint?

Did anyone count how many times the ball got shot out from inside 4 feet to the wing and then the shot clock winds down to a desperation three this year? Iowa has to be by far the worst team in the league for scoring inside the paint. Howard drives, and instead of going up and trying to get fouled kicks it out with 7 seconds to shoot.

You. Have. To. Have. Size. In. This. League. To. Compete.

Would BMC love to have someone with Juríc’s build? Absolutely. Can Iowa get that type of player? We don’t know. And remember, Juríc isn’t anything special…he plays for Penn State. But he’s effective enough and that’s all that counts.

Until Iowa can get a couple 7 footers at 240 lbs who can play significant minutes, the ceiling is going to be an 8/9/10/11 seed.
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Clearly size has been a huge factor for us this year. But our outside defense allowed penetration and open 3s as well. Overall it’s a talent issue

If you think size has hurt us so far and it has better be prepared for athletic size in Michigan
 
trj said:
Yeah, I am not sure I want those slow, plodding Purdue type bigs. You get them outside the paint and they become a huge liability.
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It works for Purdue, Michigan, Michigan State, and Michigan. It even works for Penn State as evidenced yesterday with Juríc
 
Penn State was on and well rested and the Hawks were perhaps road weary and it was an early game
travel lag might have been a factor, it has been a long season

However we were not prepared for their intensity and seemed slow and out of step

This game made Penn State's season and the Hawks certainly overlooked them

Let's win this one and get ready for Michigan and the Huskers was perhaps our attitude
 
In the culda, woulda, shoulda dept I can't help but think of Duke Brennan. Remember him? 6'10" center out of Grand Canyon the Hawks tried to get out of the portal for this year. He ended up going to Villanova where he has averaged a double-double the last I heard.

I bring him up because this is the type of guy we need for next year. Even taller would be better. I'm sure 5s aren't a dime a dozen in the portal and they are probably expensive, but we need that inside prsence, two 5s would be even better.
 
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trj said:
I realize Folguerias is a stretch 4, but I thought he would have more of an inside presence than he does. Maybe next year he will.

You are hoping that Jirak can take a huge step next year.

It is college basketball in 2026, so who knows if those two will even be on the roster next year.

The one thing that you can criticize BM for would be roster construction. Everyone said that the lack of size was going to be an issue, and it has been.
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Yeah he's not been as advertised for the most part. He's kinda slight and isn't strong enough to be a presence inside. And due to that he just doesn't even try to mix it up in there all that much. He'd much rather play outside and either catch and shoot or dish from out there. Occasionally he'll drive and put the ball on the floor. He's had a couple highlights from doing that. But he can't make a living at it in this league.
 
Northside Hawk said:
I remember Josh Ogendule's finest hour at Iowa. In the 2022 BTT championship he was muscling Purdue Zach Edey off his spots and he was drawing Zach out of the paint on offense and actually made a couple nice passes from the high post.

If your going to play four in four in the BTT you need everyone to step up and that day Josh made the most of his opportunity.
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Ogundele was a crowd favorite within my group text with high school buddies. I totally thought he was on his way to a great career after that game. Size, good hands, quick feet. Riley Mulvey came into that game and had a moment too. I think he blocked a shot (and also looked confident enough that he jacked up a bad three). My buddies and I were texting about the super fun twin towers we were going to have moving forward, even joking about nicknames they could have. We dreamed of Iowa having a great student section and those two becoming cult figures. We wanted Mulvey to lean in and go headband, wrist bands, rec specs and knee pads. And do a fun little dance with Ogundele every time one of them blocked a shot.

It did not materialize.
 
Northside Hawk said:
I remember Josh Ogendule's finest hour at Iowa. In the 2022 BTT championship he was muscling Purdue Zach Edey off his spots and he was drawing Zach out of the paint on offense and actually made a couple nice passes from the high post.

If your going to play four in four in the BTT you need everyone to step up and that day Josh made the most of his opportunity.
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OMG big Josh O... I remember that too. I think he had a 3 pt play too. He had a 3-5 minute stretch of really good basketball against Edey.
 
T
SwirlinLingerie said:
We wanted Mulvey to lean in and go headband, wrist bands, rec specs and knee pads. And do a fun little dance with Ogundele every time one of them blocked a shot.

It did not materialize.
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Love rec specs. Any player who wore those instantly went to my top 5 list no matter what.

But the holy grail was Kurt Rambis wearing off-the-shelf glasses that you'd pick up after your bi-annual appointment at Eye Mart in the 80s. How a big man could just go out and play NBA ball looking like a dude who sold mattresses and not get the frames broken and stabbed in his face was beyond me. I wear glasses after I get home from work and doing anything that has an even remote chance of bumping my glasses makes me take 'em off.

God I miss 80s/90s NBA, man. My hope is it'll have a renaissance of sorts after the James/Durant primadonna type players retire but I'm not holding my breath. NBA needs bad boys again playing defense, it needs scorers again, it needs to call traveling, it needs a real all star game, and it needs to punish tanking. Make the draft a full lottery, make players who sit out sit out a mandatory 4 games, and make it an 8 team playoff. Top 3 from each conference and 2 wild cards who get in with a 3 game series. None of that will ever happen though thanks to the CBAs.
 
Was never sure about the Trey Thompson redshirt esp. when we needed the depth, the fouls, the height. Not sure where he is actually. Said he was 220 then was sick and lost 10 pounds but has gained 20 overall so 6'8" and 230 would be nice and coach said he can do it on the offensive side. Defense is not as complicated and can be learned with baptism by fire. Not sure he is best served in practice when he may have still go out there in the real games and size of the opponents that can't be replicated with what we have and he may have a second learning curve because it is just not the same.

Also not sure about redshirting in this NIL era anyhow. You came in needing players including ones with some size and why chance annoying the guy. Probably figures he will get playing time and contribute some early. He had some bigger schools give some late offers but playing time here earlier had to be a draw to come here but then you come here and sit when we can use him and he just needs to work on his defense, apparently is offensively capable and not scrawny that he can't go out there and mix it up. Cooper Koch's size on paper but looks stronger in the upper body.

Hate leaving something in reserve and not putting it all out there. Would he have made a difference? we can't know but possibly he would especially now down the stretch as he could have gotten he feet under him, shown improvement and this team has fought hard but is wearing down and shown it needed more horses than it has. The #2 player in his state and 59th overall shouldn't be overwhelmed here and while young is not a project. Probably had a nice game and a few moments in him and even would have helped us win one of the games like PSU at this point of the season.
 
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