Man Crush: Luka Garza

W

WinOneThisCentury

Well-Known Member
Ok...it's not really a man crush, but I'll be the first to admit that the first time I saw Garza run the floor his freshman year in one of the exhibitions...I figured he'd be lucky to score 44 points in his B10 career. He was awkward, lumbering, and appeared to have Brad Lohaus type of hops. I honestly wondered to myself whether he would be as effective as Woodbury, minus the eye pokes.

What I didn't realize is what is in this kid's heart. What he did at Michigan was truly remarkable. It wasn't just the points, it was the sheer determination...the bravado...and the moxie to say, I'm putting this team on my back, and I'll win this thing. It didn't matter who was guarding him. He had Teske exhausted after 8 minutes. Watch the tape, there is a shot of Teske red faced and sucking air like he's in the Andes Mountains. Garza was sprinting the floor the entire time.

Garza is in the best shape of his life and he feels no one can guard him. The work he has done on his strength with the lower body is incredible. There was tape of him trapping a Texas Tech player behind him and he just backed him all the way under the basket from the elbow like he wasn't there as he was battling for position. He is a beast now.

Guys like Luka Garza make it fun to watch college basketball. No one is confusing him athletically with Zion...but they are preparing for him like Zion. A tribute to a kid who works his ass off. Great story.
 
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Yeah Garza is a playing like an All-American. If our shooters ever start getting hot from the outside, watch out! On a side note, I’m sitting here watching Rutgers giving Michigan St. everything they can handle. But I bet the refs will make all the “right” calls down the stretch. (sarcasm.)
 
WinOneThisCentury said:
Ok...it's not really a man crush, but I'll be the first to admit that the first time I saw Garza run the floor his freshman year in one of the exhibitions...I figured he'd be lucky to score 44 points in his B10 career. He was awkward, lumbering, and appeared to have Brad Lohaus type of hops. I honestly wondered to myself whether he would be as effective as Woodbury, minus the eye pokes.

What I didn't realize is what is in this kid's heart. What he did at Michigan was truly remarkable. It wasn't just the points, it was the sheer determination...the bravado...and the moxie to say, I'm putting this team on my back, and I'll win this thing. It didn't matter who was guarding him. He had Teske exhausted after 8 minutes. Watch the tape, there is a shot of Teske red faced and sucking air like he's in the Andes Mountains. Garza was sprinting the floor the entire time.

Garza is in the best shape of his life and he feels no one can guard him. The work he has done on his strength with the lower body is incredible. There was tape of him trapping a Texas Tech player behind him and he just backed him all the way under the basket from the elbow like he wasn't there as he was battling for position. He is a beast now.

Guys like Luka Garza make it fun to watch college basketball. No one is confusing him athletically with Zion...but they are preparing for him like Zion. A tribute to a kid who works his ass off. Great story.
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Imagine where he would be if he didn't miss the entire off season before last year with that abdominal tumor!
 
No doubt about it. Kid reminded me of Acie Earl early on trying to get up and down the floor. And his game is sorta similar only he can shoot outside a little more. But I'll tell you what. That game against Teske should give him all the confidence in the world to stay inside more and dominate in there. What big guys besides he and OSUs Wesson will even be a challenge for him? Now teams are going to try denying him touches and double him hard. So should give our shooters more touches. That's where losing JBo in a couple games most likely will suck...
 
Thats why I always try to caution people when they judge a player based on their Freshman year. Especially for the big men and double especially for Centers. There are very few Zellers and Hansborough's that can come into the NCAA and immediately start dominating.
 
He reminds me a little bit of Doug McDermott. Certainly Doug had more of a perimeter game than Luka, but what they share in common is their ability to create angles in the post and quickly get the ball up off the backboard and in. They both consistently confound defenders (how is this guy beating me so often?).

He is quickly turning into an all-timer.....
 
WinOneThisCentury said:
Ok...it's not really a man crush, but I'll be the first to admit that the first time I saw Garza run the floor his freshman year in one of the exhibitions...I figured he'd be lucky to score 44 points in his B10 career. He was awkward, lumbering, and appeared to have Brad Lohaus type of hops. I honestly wondered to myself whether he would be as effective as Woodbury, minus the eye pokes.

What I didn't realize is what is in this kid's heart. What he did at Michigan was truly remarkable. It wasn't just the points, it was the sheer determination...the bravado...and the moxie to say, I'm putting this team on my back, and I'll win this thing. It didn't matter who was guarding him. He had Teske exhausted after 8 minutes. Watch the tape, there is a shot of Teske red faced and sucking air like he's in the Andes Mountains. Garza was sprinting the floor the entire time.

Garza is in the best shape of his life and he feels no one can guard him. The work he has done on his strength with the lower body is incredible. There was tape of him trapping a Texas Tech player behind him and he just backed him all the way under the basket from the elbow like he wasn't there as he was battling for position. He is a beast now.

Guys like Luka Garza make it fun to watch college basketball. No one is confusing him athletically with Zion...but they are preparing for him like Zion. A tribute to a kid who works his ass off. Great story.
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Great post! I especially like the “like he’s in the Andes Mountains” simile.Garza is an all time Hawkeye favorite for me.
 
Hawkfnntn said:
What big guys besides he and OSUs Wesson will even be a challenge for him?
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There are some athletic Bigs in the conference this year. Garza is a big boy and can muscle/finesse his way around but he could struggle against dudes that can out jump. Jalen Smith from Maryland, Mike Watkins from penn State, Cockburn from Illinois to name a few.

Haarms from Purdue, Reuvers from Wisconsin....etc. Seems like every team has a solid big man this year.
 
mopkins said:
There are some athletic Bigs in the conference this year. Garza is a big boy and can muscle/finesse his way around but he could struggle against dudes that can out jump. Jalen Smith from Maryland, Mike Watkins from penn State, Cockburn from Illinois to name a few.

Haarms from Purdue, Reuvers from Wisconsin....etc. Seems like every team has a solid big man this year.
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For some reason I thought Smith from MD went pro. Darn it... Garza's big thing to me is fouls. Keeping him out of foul trouble early and hopefully getting the other bigs into it. Although he really needs to start knocking down his FTs better. He's off to a rough start with that. But besides that he's been an absolute monster and well on his way to All America status if he can maintain it.
 
Stanzi said:
He has turned into what I thought Woodbury would be and then some.
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Woodbury from day 1 at Iowa you could see he just didn't have the skill set offensively. He was a good defender for a big though. Moved his feet at that end and communicated well. He just had no explosion in his legs to go up with the ball in the paint. Garza has been watchin Kevin McHale tapes or something because he's got a lot of post moves and nice touch down there. All things Woodbury never had or developed.
 
Hawkfnntn said:
Woodbury from day 1 at Iowa you could see he just didn't have the skill set offensively. He was a good defender for a big though. Moved his feet at that end and communicated well. He just had no explosion in his legs to go up with the ball in the paint. Garza has been watchin Kevin McHale tapes or something because he's got a lot of post moves and nice touch down there. All things Woodbury never had or developed.
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Woodbury was a strong dude. Every year I was waiting for him to show up with a go to move...you know a baby hook...or a Chamberlain finger roll...or something. He played hard...but he was way average offensively. He played defense and rebounded though.

Garza has done some serious work offensively in the summers. He's got a great mid-range game now too. It's not only the post moves...the mid range stuff is serious. You have to guard this dude everywhere.
 
Hawkfnntn said:
No doubt about it. Kid reminded me of Acie Earl early on trying to get up and down the floor. And his game is sorta similar only he can shoot outside a little more. But I'll tell you what. That game against Teske should give him all the confidence in the world to stay inside more and dominate in there. What big guys besides he and OSUs Wesson will even be a challenge for him? Now teams are going to try denying him touches and double him hard. So should give our shooters more touches. That's where losing JBo in a couple games most likely will suck...
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Maybe teams will copy the Michigan game plan. Let Garza have his and guard the perimeter. It worked for Michigan that plus our defense was Fran like again that game. If our perimeter guys can't take people off the dribble when guarded tight out there that strategy will continue to work especially when the defense is a no show. Probably not many teams will be able to match the speed and quickness that Michigan could out there. So there's hope.
 
Well MNs big guy was pretty good too. You can't subtract his TOs but without those he had a heck of a game himself. Thankfully all his TOs and his teammates being cold as ice helped us out. How we went from giving up 103 to 52 is beyond me. But such is basketball
 
Garza talks like a leader, acts like a leader, makes the personal sacrifices of a leader, takes personal ownership of his play, and has an understanding of "team." Iowa has lacked leadership on many levels. With Garza and Touissant, well, leaders have arrived.
 
1980HAWKFAN said:
Maybe teams will copy the Michigan game plan. Let Garza have his and guard the perimeter. It worked for Michigan that plus our defense was Fran like again that game. If our perimeter guys can't take people off the dribble when guarded tight out there that strategy will continue to work especially when the defense is a no show. Probably not many teams will be able to match the speed and quickness that Michigan could out there. So there's hope.
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I would think so too. MN didn't do a good job of that so much. But getting quick shots in transition is what got us rolling. That's exactly what we need more of with JW. Garza was very workman like. We didn't try to force it in to him over and over like I thought we might. Really let the flow of the game be what it was. He's such a team guy too. He don't care if he gets 10 20 or 30. He is just going to fight till game is over. Love him
 
I was born in 1980... but I think Garza is the best big man Iowa's ever had. Most of the time we get one that looks to have talent and they barely get better by their senior year.
 
Hawkfnntn said:
No doubt about it. Kid reminded me of Acie Earl early on trying to get up and down the floor. And his game is sorta similar only he can shoot outside a little more. But I'll tell you what. That game against Teske should give him all the confidence in the world to stay inside more and dominate in there. What big guys besides he and OSUs Wesson will even be a challenge for him? Now teams are going to try denying him touches and double him hard. So should give our shooters more touches. That's where losing JBo in a couple games most likely will suck...
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Teams are gonna try to prevent the interior pass to Garza, we need a steam of cutters and Garza needs to quickly diagnose the double team and kick out the ball. INSIDE out the ball and push on transition as Garza is sprinting down the court on every possession. I was high on Garza from the beginning and thought he could be a star. A lot of posters were saying pass but he had something special that caught my eye.
 
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