Mike Gesell is the problem

[PCHawk]

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.

Woody gets criticized on here because his abilities are lower than what people's expectations were. That shouldn't be allowed. Woody was always going to be this player and he performs as good as his natural abilities allow. He shouldn't be criticized because we were all dreaming of Wilt when he signed.

Gesell has been somewhere between decent and good in his career. But he has the ability to be great and for whatever reason it hasn't worked out for him. I agree with the OP's premise because he is playing so far below his abilities. He knows it. Fran knows it, and fans know it.

There are a lot of point guards that have had better careers than him and have nowhere near his ability to be great. They don't have it in them to do what he did at North Carolina. But they don't consistently underperform. If he was playing exactly the same way and didn't have his ability to be great, he wouldn't be the problem, or anywhere close to a problem. To me that's a compliment more than a critisizm. You don't see people posting about Sapp being a problem and they are pretty much having the exact same season. That tells you something.

 

[STILLBUSTER]

Ok, ENOUGH! This is completely out of hand with Mel and PC calling the point guard a ruhtard and the 'N' word. You might think I'm a purple ribbon wearing tree hugger but you're just a mean, insensitive bully.

 

[Iahwk06]

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.

I agree, I couldn't believe my ears when he said Brady needs more time.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

Ok, ENOUGH! This is completely out of hand with Mel and PC calling the point guard a ruhtard and the 'N' word. You might think I'm a purple ribbon wearing tree hugger but you're just a mean, insensitive bully.

Please post my quote of where I called anybody that. You are writing your own book here.


Oh, is this my quote you referring to? "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."

 

[Knight78]

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.

Or call in Bill Murray!

 

[HawkAssassin]

I don't necessarily think it's any one individual as few lately have played well for us.

Even though the Maryland game annoyed me when we lost, I was kind of happy after I thought about it.

I was hoping that we would learn our lessons from that game... that if a team decided to overplay the three/passing lanes we would learn how to score consistently regardless.

I don't think we've learned to cope with this and I think teams know how to play us now.

Some things aren't meant to be. I wanted to win the title but oh well.

 

[GVGiant44]

Gesell has been somewhere between decent and good in his career. But he has the ability to be great and for whatever reason it hasn't worked out for him. I agree with the OP's premise because he is playing so far below his abilities. He knows it. Fran knows it, and fans know it.

Right on. Last year, I remember a game or two when his SCORING was carrying the team - late in the game at Purdue, EVERY offensive possession was a clear-out and let Mike Gesell go 1-on-1. Whether he did a cross-over, step-back, drive or jump-shot, he was absolute money almost every time. The only way Purdue won was to put him at the free-throw line (which I've never understood how someone like that can be SO bad from there).
ABSOLUTELY he has under-performed. I think at some point it just becomes so mental, he can't shake himself from it. Too bad, because this former AAU All-American could really have been something special.

 

[Tierney]

Right on. Last year, I remember a game or two when his SCORING was carrying the team - late in the game at Purdue, EVERY offensive possession was a clear-out and let Mike Gesell go 1-on-1. Whether he did a cross-over, step-back, drive or jump-shot, he was absolute money almost every time. The only way Purdue won was to put him at the free-throw line (which I've never understood how someone like that can be SO bad from there).
ABSOLUTELY he has under-performed. I think at some point it just becomes so mental, he can't shake himself from it. Too bad, because this former AAU All-American could really have been something special.

I wouldn't really think that Gesell has underperformed. I understand the reasoning, but he has had a great basketball career at Iowa. This year he will have led the hawkeyes to three NCAA tournaments. He is in Graduate school his senior year in a pretty demanding field. Gesell and Uthoff have been chosen to all-academic teams. From everything I've read he is a good Christian that walks his faith. I'm pretty sure being a basketball star would present a lot of temptations. He is a true high level college basketball player both athletically, academically, and socially. I've enjoyed watching him for four years.

 

[PCHawk]

I wouldn't really think that Gesell has underperformed. I understand the reasoning, but he has had a great basketball career at Iowa. This year he will have led the hawkeyes to three NCAA tournaments. He is in Graduate school his senior year in a pretty demanding field. Gesell and Uthoff have been chosen to all-academic teams. From everything I've read he is a good Christian that walks his faith. I'm pretty sure being a basketball star would present a lot of temptations. He is a true high level college basketball player both athletically, academically, and socially. I've enjoyed watching him for four years.

He has underperformed on the basketball court compared to his ceiling. He definitely hasn't underperformed in life.

 

[PCHawk]

Right on. Last year, I remember a game or two when his SCORING was carrying the team - late in the game at Purdue, EVERY offensive possession was a clear-out and let Mike Gesell go 1-on-1. Whether he did a cross-over, step-back, drive or jump-shot, he was absolute money almost every time. The only way Purdue won was to put him at the free-throw line (which I've never understood how someone like that can be SO bad from there).
ABSOLUTELY he has under-performed. I think at some point it just becomes so mental, he can't shake himself from it. Too bad, because this former AAU All-American could really have been something special.

The end of that Purdue game was amazing. His average performance shouldn't be anywhere near as far away from that as it's been. But it is and as unfortunate as it is for us, it's way more unfortunate for him. It should be able to be discussed on a message board tho. If you can't discuss that, what's the point of one?

 

[brozley]

Have to agree with OP. MG is awful. No real improvement in his 4-yrs. Small, hesitant to shoot. Short-arms almost every jump shot (they always clank off the front of the rim). IN close games, likes to dribble out shot clock 40-ft from basket. O-for-career on front-end of 1-and-1's. And 0-for-career in FT attempts in last 2:00 of close games.
Saves his best games for the Towson State's of the world. Will be blistering-hot those games.
Quit possibly the most un-clutch player in the history of a program that invented the word choke.

you speak some truth, but it's Coach Fran that is fully responsible for playing a guy like that.
btw, the kid plays hard and is not a trouble maker, we should be aiming this at coach.

 

[PCHawk]

Please post my quote of where I called anybody that. You are writing your own book here.


Oh, is this my quote you referring to? "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."

I'm pretty sure he was joking.

 

[proudhawkfan21]

This about the most asinine thought of the basketball season. You are going to blame one guy for a team who has over achieved now coming back down to earth? Do you watch the games? The only problem I ever have with gessell is when he dribbles baseline with no idea of a plan. He is a good shooter....so he doesn't always finish at the rim..it's a threat AT the rim and everyone else should be crashing the boards. I think the real problems are cold shooting, unimaginative offense, no rebounding and teams are getting back and stopping our transition game. Mike does an outstanding job of managing the game, taking care of the basketball and can make shots out to 18 feet consistently. Blame the team, not Gessell at the moment.

 

[trj]

This about the most asinine thought of the basketball season. You are going to blame one guy for a team who has over achieved now coming back down to earth? Do you watch the games? The only problem I ever have with gessell is when he dribbles baseline with no idea of a plan. He is a good shooter....so he doesn't always finish at the rim..it's a threat AT the rim and everyone else should be crashing the boards. I think the real problems are cold shooting, unimaginative offense, no rebounding and teams are getting back and stopping our transition game. Mike does an outstanding job of managing the game, taking care of the basketball and can make shots out to 18 feet consistently. Blame the team, not Gessell at the moment.

At best he is a good shooter who lacks confidence.......I personally wouldn't label him as a good shooter. Go back and read the exchange between Melrosehawkins and PChawk in this thread it really is an accurate assessment of what Gessell is.

 

[mbchawk]

How about using some of the timeouts in the 2nd half, that Fran took to the locker room after the game was over. Try and stop Wiskys momentum, get some rest for your players and set up a play to score to break a shooting drought (which Fran is very good at). Every other coach in the country uses their timeouts to try to gain an advantage when it is needed.

 

[ColumbusHawk]

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.

In the four conference defeats, Uthoff shot 30.5% from the field, 23.1% from three & 72.4% from the line. In contrast, in the eleven conference wins, Uthoff shot 44.4% from the field, 42.3% from three & 83.9% from the line.

 

[PCHawk]

In the four conference defeats, Uthoff shot 30.5% from the field, 23.1% from three & 72.4% from the line. In contrast, in the eleven conference wins, Uthoff shot 44.4% from the field, 42.3% from three & 83.9% from the line.

Well there you have it. If Uthoff is going to be a decent player, Iowa is going to be a decent team. If he's going to be a Big 10 player of the year, Iowa will be a great team.

 

[Foval21]

The problem is simple and not what people think. The team is deferring to uthoff and jok too much and they are playing too much one on one hero ball. They are dribbling to jump shots and not attacking the rim enough and they are not moving without the ball for catch and shoot situations. Gesell isn't the problem he is actually the one playing the best guard defense and he isn't turning the ball over. His assist numbers are down because people aren't hitting shots when he gets it to them.

 

[Tierney]

He has underperformed on the basketball court compared to his ceiling. He definitely hasn't underperformed in life.

I'm sure Gesell is smart enough to realize that basketball isn't life. There isn't a basketball player that hasn't underperformed to his potential. Nobody is perfect. I think Gesell has done a great job at the University of Iowa. Basketball is part of his life but hopefully basketball isn't his life.

 

[Tierney]

The end of that Purdue game was amazing. His average performance shouldn't be anywhere near as far away from that as it's been. But it is and as unfortunate as it is for us, it's way more unfortunate for him. It should be able to be discussed on a message board tho. If you can't discuss that, what's the point of one?

There really isn't a point to a basketball message board.