Just a few observations from tonight...

franstheman said:
I don't get what's so baffling about the subs.... He has a pretty set rotation. He puts in the first two of the second team (usually May and Josh or McCabe) Then puts in the other 3 at the next time out then if someone gets a hot hand or plays lockdown D they get some extra time. Then of course depending on the match-ups and foul trouble he'll give a guy a few of someone else's minutes. Not too hard to understand...
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I think a 16-0 run was sufficient to realize all these guys on the floor at the same time tonight might not be the way to go.
 
krkhawks said:
Dev- It is a luxury to have him at the line in the last few minutes. He seems like the only one comfortable taking/making free throws at the end of games. Have to give the kid some credit. He was downright awful for a handful of games there and has bounced back. If the Hawks have any chance of making the dance it starts and ends with him.

Aaron White- Does anyone else think he should inbound the ball the last 2 minutes of the game? He just cannot for the life of him make a "clutch" free throw. Don't get me wrong, I love his game but his inability to hit late free throws baffles me.

Clemmons- Thought his defense on Newbill for the middle part of the 2nd half changed the game. When he was on him he controlled him and that slowed the PSU scoring in the middle of the 2nd.

Gesell - His shot from elbow...silky. The kid is gonna be extremely good.

Eric May- Never thought I would say this but he is great in tight games. He plays calm, plays great D and always makes a good play somewhere in the late minutes.

Franny- Man he loves to save his timeouts doesn't he?
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A few more:

Shooting - It almost goes without saying, but this team still struggles to score points, either from inside or beyond the arc. If they can't get it in transition or at the charity stripe, they have a hard time getting it from beyond 10 feet. With the huge advantage Iowa had in rebounds last night, this game should not have been close. Still no go-to shooter on this team, and probably won't be.

Iso - This team also lacks someone who can reliably break down his defender and drive the basket with the shot clock winding down. It's not Dev, it's not Sapp, it's not Eric. Gessel may be the closest to that but he still has a lot of work to be viewed as reliable.

Passing - Sharp, quick movement around the horn much of the night. Nice to see. But Iowa needs to add movement (don't stand stationary) to find gaps, creases to get the ball inside to someone.

Fouls - Still too many dumb ones (eg, Woodbury getting called for the foul at the top of the post while helping to guard up top, Marble allowing the PSU player to wrap up HIS arm as that player drove to the basket late in the game. IIRC, that ended up being an and-one). Several Iowa players need to work on their hands and arms that will allow them to play aggressively without getting the foul: Woody needs to not turn his hand IN towards the opponent when he's got an arm around him down allow. Refs generally will let the arm/open hand go, but not when it looks like the hand is actually holding. Dev needs to slip clutches by opponents. Eric needs to keep his elbow further in and be careful not to push or push beyond what the refs are allowing when keeping a defender off his dribble drive.
 
(1) Unlike a few other B1G coaches recently, Fran made the right call in directing a foul with 1.5 to play.

(2) With regard to the time outs, I have a feeling that Fran will use them differently next year and that this year he is trying to get his players to mature mentally and to learn to change momentum without calling a TO.

Maybe I am wrong on the TO thing, but everything I have seen Fran do since become our coach has been purposeful. Everything from day 1. In fact, I think he scoured the message boards before his initial press conference in order to make a splash with the fans, because he hit every single buzz word on this site in his initial press conference. Every statement that he makes to the media appears to be designed to be a communication to his players.

And I think what he is doing is working.
 
eveningnewsteam said:
I think a 16-0 run was sufficient to realize all these guys on the floor at the same time tonight might not be the way to go.
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Agreed. That is my only problem with Fran of late is I feel like he leaves certain lineups on the floor way to long. When he has Clemmons, Ogs, May, Gabe and I forget the other we really don't have any scoring options and definitely no one that can even get to the line really. And that is when PSU went on that 16-0 and really allowed them to stay in the game. He stuck with that lineup too long, and has done several times recently. I think its a bad idea to have White, Marble and Gessell all out at the same time. Our offense just stalls completely (not saying its great with those guys in but better than the latter). Even if struggling, if White or Marble are in they can at least maybe get to the line.
 
eveningnewsteam said:
Another observation, those ESPNU announcers made Hawk Harrelson sound neutral.
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I wrote to ESPN this morning listing what I thought were several examples of poor work by the announcing team, and also asking what their camera guy was thinking not following the last heave by PSU with less than a second left. I think time had run out by the time the PSU player launched it. Had he made it, I hope the stripes would have wanted a review. And either way, ESPN would have had a highlight shot for the week. I'm sure ESPN gets thousands of notes a day and I doubt anything comes of it. But it felt good to let them know I thought it was a weak effort last night.
 
theobserver said:
I wrote to ESPN this morning listing what I thought were several examples of poor work by the announcing team, and also asking what their camera guy was thinking not following the last heave by PSU with less than a second left. I think time had run out by the time the PSU player launched it. Had he made it, I hope the stripes would have wanted a review. And either way, ESPN would have had a highlight shot for the week. I'm sure ESPN gets thousands of notes a day and I doubt anything comes of it. But it felt good to let them know I thought it was a weak effort last night.
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Its ESPNU, not really worth the time.

OK4P made some good points after the Hawks game at NU about ESPNU.

Bristol knows nobody but the respective teams fans are going to watch the game, so why would they go after decent announcing/analysts when that will just cost them more money? We were all going to watch the game regardless of who was calling it.

ESPN knows that.
 
ESPNU would be better off going the same route that horse and dog racing betting channel goes. No announcing and flash the numbers on the screen once in awhile.
 
Look at JO's playing time this way...

#1--He's spelling the others (i.e. the true scorers), so when they come in, they're fresh, so
#2--He's really not in there as a primary scorer, thus
#3--When he does score, it's an added benefit.
 
Seth53 said:
Look at JO's playing time this way...

#1--He's spelling the others (i.e. the true scorers), so when they come in, they're fresh, so
#2--He's really not in there as a primary scorer, thus
#3--When he does score, it's an added benefit.
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You sure about #2? If he is not the primary scorer when he is on the court then why does he shoot the ball so much? He launched 8 shots last night in only 14 minutes.
 
ssckelley said:
You sure about #2? If he is not the primary scorer when he is on the court then why does he shoot the ball so much? He launched 8 shots last night in only 14 minutes.
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Most of them IIRC were pretty open shots. You can't really fault him if he's a 'shooter' and taking open looks. It's too bad they aren't falling.
 
Section136 said:
1) No calling out players. You can be critical of situations and circumstances, but posts along the lines of 'Player X Sucks' won't be tolerated. Violators may be banned
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Sorry man maybe I should phrase it like this. What does everyone think of a guy going 1-6 night in and night out? Or, What does everyone think of a guy going 32-118 on the year? Does that help any team you are on? Does missing 86 threes help the team. Just a "situation" that I am wondering about.
 
JOs shots were good. Like it or not they are going to need him. He has so many shots that are halfway down. Im with Fran on this one and JO needs to keep shooting.
 
OBhawk said:
Sorry man maybe I should phrase it like this. What does everyone think of a guy going 1-6 night in and night out? Or, What does everyone think of a guy going 32-118 on the year? Does that help any team you are on? Does missing 86 threes help the team. Just a "situation" that I am wondering about.
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Much better because it's a discussion with some thought, not just school yard 'this person sucks' or they are crap. That;s disrespectful to the effort they are giving
 
I have this feeling that either later this year, or next year (if he's still around) Oglesby is going to go on a major hot streak and we're going to love this dude.
 
bcl20 said:
I have this feeling that either later this year, or next year (if he's still around) Oglesby is going to go on a major hot streak and we're going to love this dude.
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I really hope your right. I just dont see it happing.
 
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