Mike Gesell is the problem

[STILLBUSTER]

He shouldn't have said "he sucks". But other that that it was within the rules as far as I understand them. The title is probably not the best either.

This.

Just so feelings don't get hurt, next time, instead of saying "Mike Gesell is the problem", say, "The point guard is the problem" That'll make it completely vague; no one will know who you mean. It will also ensure everyone keeps a positive, unbiased opinion of that unnamed player and said player can walk around campus without public embarrassment.

 

[Niemo]

Mike has struggled and I'm sure he knows it. However, the biggest games of his career are still ahead of him. I hope he turns it on like the mike we saw against UNC and MSU.

 

[Hawk5656]

Gesell isn't the problem. I wish he would have developed more in his time here since I thought he was going to be an all conference caliber player by the end of his career after his freshman year but he's still a very solid player in the B1G. If people are complaining about our Point Guard this year they better lower their expectations for next year

 

[SteveGarvey]

Really only his shooting touch is the problem. The rest of his game is generally pretty solid.

 

[STILLBUSTER]

Will all of you please STOP using the player's name! Keeping that veil of ambiguity is imperative to preserving, both, respect for the player and the integrity of this site.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

This.

Just so feelings don't get hurt, next time, instead of saying "Mike Gesell is the problem", say, "The point guard is the problem" That'll make it completely vague; no one will know who you mean. It will also ensure everyone keeps a positive, unbiased opinion of that unnamed player and said player can walk around campus without public embarrassment.

Seriously, you sound like a participation trophy kind of guy. You don't think people can read between the lines? If you say "The point guard is the problem", people are going to know exactly who the finger is pointed to. As you can tell, I'm not one for political correctness. I'm not one to go out of my way to namecall either, but this tree hugger concept of renaming things or skirting the edge to make it not sound as harsh is just silly. We as a society come up with names, and somehow the names get degrading over time so people think we have to rename to sound better, which over time gets degrading again. I.E. Crippled morphed into Handicapped = disabled = physically challenged = whatever it is called now.

And before you go all out on me for using that example, I am very close to that population. I'm just pointing out how we in society try to trick ourselves when the meaning or what it represents never changes.

PARTICIPATION TROPHIES FOR EVERYONE

Oh, and on a side note, I like Mike Gesell and am happy he's on our Iowa team. Every player goes into a funk, it just so happens that it's happening to too many Iowa players at the same time. I can only hope my two sons grow up to be similar to the kind of guy Mike is, hard working, humble, responsible and genuine.

 

[PCHawk]

Gesell isn't the problem. I wish he would have developed more in his time here since I thought he was going to be an all conference caliber player by the end of his career after his freshman year but he's still a very solid player in the B1G. If people are complaining about our Point Guard this year they better lower their expectations for next year

Gesell is really good at changing speed and has a really good handle. Those are his strenths. Unfortunately, since he can't finish at the rim, it doesn't matter how quick he is with the ball. His weeknesses nullify his strenths. That's not a player that should be too hard to replace. That's good news for next year.

 

[PCHawk]

The other good thing about next year is our 2 point guards are vastly different from each other. This year, Sapp and Mike are really close to the same player. Next year we have a slashing 6'6" with a 7' wingspan for 1 PG and a 6'1 good shooting PG for the other. It will be easier to have one guy thrive in a match up one game and the other player thrive in a match up another game. Options are good.

 

[Hawk5656]

Gesell is really good at changing speed and has a really good handle. Those are his strenths. Unfortunately, since he can't finish at the rim, it doesn't matter how quick he is with the ball. His weeknesses nullify his strenths. That's not a player that should be too hard to replace. That's good news for next year.

Next year we will have a worse PG than we have this year

 

[PCHawk]

Seriously, you sound like a participation trophy kind of guy. You don't think people can read between the lines? If you say "The point guard is the problem", people are going to know exactly who the finger is pointed to. As you can tell, I'm not one for political correctness. I'm not one to go out of my way to namecall either, but this tree hugger concept of renaming things or skirting the edge to make it not sound as harsh is just silly. We as a society come up with names, and somehow the names get degrading over time so people think we have to rename to sound better, which over time gets degrading again. I.E. Crippled morphed into Handicapped = disabled = physically challenged = whatever it is called now.

And before you go all out on me for using that example, I am very close to that population. I'm just pointing out how we in society try to trick ourselves when the meaning or what it represents never changes.

PARTICIPATION TROPHIES FOR EVERYONE

Oh, and on a side note, I like Mike Gessell and am happy he's on our Iowa team. Every player goes into a funk, it just so happens that it's happening to too many Iowa players at the same time. I can only hope my two sons grow up to be similar to the kind of guy Mike is, hard working, humble, responsible and genuine.

Wait so you're telling me when people needed to think up a name for mentally handicapped, they didn't say "let's think up the most offensive name ever. I got it! Re******!"

 

[WindsorHawk]

I can't quote all of the nonsense in this thread because I'm not interested in making 3 pages of posts in 1 thread. And I'm not going to knock anyone on the team. They're Hawks and they are 1 win away from my projected result in conference play.

Of course my expectations increased based on how we started conference play. But I've watched way too much basketball to write off what's left of the season. Alford had a very good team until Recker got hurt. I think they lost 7 in a row to end the season. Then they won the Big 10 Tournament.

And we still have the same guys we had to start the conference season. Some of them are simply struggling. I feel like I'm watching the movie Space Jam. We have to get our talent back.

 

[WindsorHawk]

I am not throwing anyone under the bus. And I am definitely not being critical of any player on the team. But I have a simple question. Would you play a guy that's shooting these percentages?

FG - 37.8%
3 Point - 23.5%
FT - 72.2%

How about a guy that's shooting these percentages?

FG - 35%
3 Point - 42.9%
FT - 75%

They seem pretty comparable to me.

 

[PCHawk]

Mike Gesell is smart as **** and athletic as ****. That's a good combo. I think he'll be ok.

 

[WindsorHawk]

I am not throwing anyone under the bus. And I am definitely not being critical of any player on the team. But I have a simple question. Would you play a guy that's shooting these percentages?

FG - 37.8%
3 Point - 23.5%
FT - 72.2%

How about a guy that's shooting these percentages?

FG - 35%
3 Point - 42.9%
FT - 75%

They seem pretty comparable to me.

These are the stats over the last 5 games. The 1st guy is Uthoff. The 2nd guy is Gesell.

I think the majority of our struggles dome down to 1 thing. When we were "Elite" Uthoff was shooting 50% from the field, 47% from 3 and 84% from the line...approximate numbers since I'm going from memory.

When Uthoff plays like a Big 10 POY candidate and All American candidate we're really good. When Uthoff is averaging 19.2 points per game (over the last 5) on shot volume alone we're just another Big 10 team. Uthoff has exactly 3 weeks from yesterday to find his A game or we're in trouble. If he can find it by Sunday we may still get a share of the conference championship and a 2 seed...playing in Des Moines and Chicago.

Again, it is not my intention to put any player down. If Uthoff continues the way he's been playing then we're in trouble. But I'm still glad we had him this year. The first half of the Big 10 season was exciting and fun.

But I don't believe that Uthoff no longer has basketball skills. I don't think he's a middle of the pack Big 10 player...as his recent stats suggest. I think he's still elite. I want to see him hang 30 points on Ohio State and rediscover himself. Then Gesell and Clemmons will start getting open drives to the basket again. Woodbury will get wide open shots at the rim. Uhl will get uncontested 3 point shots. Baer will get open driving lanes and outside looks. Jok will still be good. And Jok's better now than he was earlier in the season. Which means Iowa with a good Uthoff may very well play at a higher level than Iowa has at any point thus far. I'm still sniffing around for a Big 10 Championship...maybe a Big 10 Tournament Championship as icing on the cake.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

Wait so you're telling me when people needed to think up a name for mentally handicapped, they didn't say "let's think up the most offensive name ever. I got it! Re******!"

Ironically, way back when, the term ******** was completely acceptable "medical" term and had specific meaning. The true definition is =

less advanced in mental, physical, or social development than is usual for one's age.​

So it had a medicinal meaning it represented. The term retardation didn't have a negative connotation until over time society deemed it degrading to individuals, hence, eventually having a negative connotation.

It is one of those words that has lost it's true meaning, so much, that now people can't even type it in a message board without using &*$($. We live in a quirky society.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

It's gotten so bad, that it even autocorrects ********* in a message board.

 

[PCHawk]

These are the stats over the last 5 games. The 1st guy is Uthoff. The 2nd guy is Gesell.

I think the majority of our struggles dome down to 1 thing. When we were "Elite" Uthoff was shooting 50% from the field, 47% from 3 and 84% from the line...approximate numbers since I'm going from memory.

When Uthoff plays like a Big 10 POY candidate and All American candidate we're really good. When Uthoff is averaging 19.2 points per game (over the last 5) on shot volume alone we're just another Big 10 team. Uthoff has exactly 3 weeks from yesterday to find his A game or we're in trouble. If he can find it by Sunday we may still get a share of the conference championship and a 2 seed...playing in Des Moines and Chicago.

Again, it is not my intention to put any player down. If Uthoff continues the way he's been playing then we're in trouble. But I'm still glad we had him this year. The first half of the Big 10 season was exciting and fun.

But I don't believe that Uthoff no longer has basketball skills. I don't think he's a middle of the pack Big 10 player...as his recent stats suggest. I think he's still elite. I want to see him hang 30 points on Ohio State and rediscover himself. Then Gesell and Clemmons will start getting open drives to the basket again. Woodbury will get wide open shots at the rim. Uhl will get uncontested 3 point shots. Baer will get open driving lanes and outside looks. Jok will still be good. And Jok's better now than he was earlier in the season. Which means Iowa with a good Uthoff may very well play at a higher level than Iowa has at any point thus far. I'm still sniffing around for a Big 10 Championship...maybe a Big 10 Tournament Championship as icing on the cake.

This post is spot on. Uthoff's production is what made us elite. If he can get back to what we were doing, we will be better than what we were since Jok went from good to elite.

 

[BGOLD]

Mike Gesell may be A problem but not THE problem. Seems that Uthoff has gone stone cold and/or forcing his shot. Between Gesell, Clemmons and Woody, not a lot of offense there, either. Yes, I have to give a wink and a nod to Woody's 18 rebounds, but they need him to get the ball and look to score a little more often than he does IMO, even though I realize he'll never be a big scorer. Can't just shoot jumpers all game long. Sometimes Woody gets the ball down there and doesn't even look at the rim - just kicks it back out.

The bench is not helping AT ALL right now - that was the big difference in the game last night, in my eyes. Wisconsin had great bench production, and Iowa pretty much either had to ride their starters into the ground or get buried with the reserves in there. Not good.

That second paragraph is also the thought that keeps me up at night - Outside of Jok, meet your 2016-17 Hawkeyes. Hope these guys really step it up next year, including some of those we haven't seen yet (Moss, Hutton, Cook, etc.) or it's going to be a long season.

The worst part about this is that Fran thinks he needs to give the bench more opportunities and named Ellingson by name in the post game interview.
Agreed that we need more offensive production from Baer and Uhl then what we've been getting of late, and Wagner should play more in spurts to provide Woody a breather. Those 3 guys are the only players we should be bringing off the bench though, they're the only 3 who have been productive in conference play.

 

[PCHawk]

Ironically, way back when, the term ******** was completely acceptable "medical" term and had specific meaning. The true definition is =

less advanced in mental, physical, or social development than is usual for one's age.​

So it had a medicinal meaning it represented. The term retardation didn't have a negative connotation until over time society deemed it degrading to individuals, hence, eventually having a negative connotation.

It is one of those words that has lost it's true meaning, so much, that now people can't even type it in a message board without using &*$($. We live in a quirky society.

Words sound more harsh depending on how offended the group of people get. There is no difference between ginger and the N word but since black people for the most part get offended and red heads don't, I can say ginger with no worries but I cringe when I type "the N word". We definitely live in a quirky society.

 

[HawkeyeWalker]

This.

Just so feelings don't get hurt, next time, instead of saying "Mike Gesell is the problem", say, "The point guard is the problem" That'll make it completely vague; no one will know who you mean. It will also ensure everyone keeps a positive, unbiased opinion of that unnamed player and said player can walk around campus without public embarrassment.

Although I absolutely agree. It still wouldn't change the fact the both the title and premise is also inaccurate. Gesell hasn't been great, but he's far from "the" problem. I would say MG has been playing the point guard position above avg...overall. in many systems, the pg isn't a scorer.