Basketball isn't football. In basketball, you can basically end a game with a well timed 5 minute stretch. You can also cruise and turn it on when you need to.
This is why I really only turn on the last 5 minutes or so if basketball games. It is either over by then, or the game is just really starting. I then know if it is worth watching or not.
This is a pretty good assessment. Just like football is "a game of inches", bball is a game of "runs" -- the pendulum is always swinging. It's why you here so many coaches talking about winning a series of "4-minute games" within the game.
Unfortunately for the Hawks, their best defense is the other team having an off-night. Because they just don't have the size, depth or athleticism to play straight up man with any other B12en team, they play a lot of zone. It's the lesser of 2 evils and at least attempts to force the other team to primarily beat them with the lower %, outside shot.
Problem is twofold --
1) Being a game of "runs", the pendulum often swings toward the odds of hitting more outside shots as the game progresses.
2) No one on Iowa is very good at defense (weak mentality and intensity), let alone playing zone defense (low IQ). They lack good court awareness (cutters), play way too much help defense (i.e. leave their zone), have poor positioning to track ball movement and aren't quick enough to react / recover.
Excellent example - Michigan's 1st possession of 2nd half...
Cole leaves his lower block zone all the way to free-throw line / top of the key to (over) help on Morris. Morris fires a pass to Smotrycz in baseline corner (Cole's zone) and Cole tries to recover while Smot has wide-open look to drain the 3.
This was a repeat play early in the 2nd half. After getting stung, Iowa hedged toward the outside (leaving the zone), over-helped on Morris, allowing baseline cutters (poor awareness) into the lane and Morris exploited the interior. It was a classic breakdown of Iowa's zone by Michigan -- hit clean looks from the outside over a packed-in zone, stretch the zone, hit the cutters and pound the inside.
This has been the recipe too often for Iowa -- losing the 1st 4-minute game to open the 2nd half. Now they face a deficit in the teens and need some 3's to catch up. Problem #3 - no reliable shooters that can consistently hit the outside shot, open or not. Any comeback they can muster is too little, too late (and usually fizzles before the last 4-minute crunch-time).
The only cure for Iowa bball is Cole and Gatens to graduate, May to regain his confidence, Basabe and Marble to develop and incoming athletic size.
