My thoughts from Shirts/Skins

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iahawk20

Well-Known Member
Was great to see some Iowa hoops yesterday, even if only a scrimmage. Obviously, only a scrimmage so hard to get a real solid read on guys like you would in a real game but nonetheless here were my thoughts.

Basabe- Did not play, watched on the side in street clothes

Cartwright- Looked as we saw last season, shots were not dropping as much as one would like but Bryce os clearly a leader of this team

Gatens- Smooth sums it up. Matt really played well and was knocking down the three ball. No question he was the best player on the floor.

Marble-Good to see him and BC matched up a lot. I expected Marble to look stronger based on the things I have heard. He is still VERY lean and has to get stronger. His shot seemed improved but he just needs to add weight IMO. I do expect improvement from last season but will be shocked if it is significant.

White-WOW, just wow! This kid was IMPRESSIVE. I absolutely believe the hype. He is physically ready, has a smooth shot, and will make an immediate impact on day 1. I truely believe this kid has a chance to be very good and I am trying to tone down my thoughts with only seeing a scrimmage but he looks nothing like a true freshman.

May- Probably the most impressive of anyone. May really looked good and was very physical. His three ball was smooth and looked much more confident that what we saw last season. He took it to the rack numerous times and no matter who was on him, he was able to get to the basket. I am really looking forward to seeing him play this season!

Brommer- Was not impressed with Andrew, of everyone he appeared to be the least conditioned player and despite arriving late seemed a tad out of shape.

Olsasani- This kid runs the floor extrremely well, it blew me away really. He has no problem getting up and down the court and should do very very well in an up tempo situation. He looked to have softer hands that I expected. Seemed very solid around the basket. Finished very well inside and blocked numerous shots on defense. I could easily see him being a 10 pt/10 rebound guy this season. Outside the paint, pretty raw looking shot, would not expect him to do much outside the paint.

Oglesby- Physically a long way to go. Beyond his shot I am not sure where we will see a huge benefit from him this coming season.

McCabe- Similar to May I saw a player with a lot of potential and increased confidence. He is physically a tough looking kid and his shot looked pretty fluid. I expect we will see a much more consistant Zach this season, mostly as his confidence should be much better.

Archie- He will fill a need on defense and rebounding, that will be about it. Had a nice dunk but his hands are rough. He had trouble catching the ball numerous times. Devon will be a good guy to slide in and eat up some minutes inside.
 
McCabe has changed his body this off season..Brommer is probably behind in conditioning as he is recovering from an injury that sidelined him a few months in May-June
 
I think 10 & 10 is a little optimistic on Olaseni's part....he may make the kind of impact someday, but as a true freshman with fairly limited offensive skills/moves, I don't think he will come anywhere close to 10 pts (or 10 rebounds, either). I think a 6 pt, 5 reb type of season would be a great start for Gabe.
 
Good write up, thanks for the review. Looking forward to see what the squad looks like...the biggest single shortcoming in the Alford era IMO was a lack of player development - I have high hopes the Mac era is going to be a much different story in that department.
 
iahawk20 said:
Was great to see some Iowa hoops yesterday, even if only a scrimmage. Obviously, only a scrimmage so hard to get a real solid read on guys like you would in a real game but nonetheless here were my thoughts.

Basabe- Did not play, watched on the side in street clothes

Cartwright- Looked as we saw last season, shots were not dropping as much as one would like but Bryce os clearly a leader of this team

Gatens- Smooth sums it up. Matt really played well and was knocking down the three ball. No question he was the best player on the floor.

Marble-Good to see him and BC matched up a lot. I expected Marble to look stronger based on the things I have heard. He is still VERY lean and has to get stronger. His shot seemed improved but he just needs to add weight IMO. I do expect improvement from last season but will be shocked if it is significant.

White-WOW, just wow! This kid was IMPRESSIVE. I absolutely believe the hype. He is physically ready, has a smooth shot, and will make an immediate impact on day 1. I truely believe this kid has a chance to be very good and I am trying to tone down my thoughts with only seeing a scrimmage but he looks nothing like a true freshman.

May- Probably the most impressive of anyone. May really looked good and was very physical. His three ball was smooth and looked much more confident that what we saw last season. He took it to the rack numerous times and no matter who was on him, he was able to get to the basket. I am really looking forward to seeing him play this season!

Brommer- Was not impressed with Andrew, of everyone he appeared to be the least conditioned player and despite arriving late seemed a tad out of shape.

Olsasani- This kid runs the floor extrremely well, it blew me away really. He has no problem getting up and down the court and should do very very well in an up tempo situation. He looked to have softer hands that I expected. Seemed very solid around the basket. Finished very well inside and blocked numerous shots on defense. I could easily see him being a 10 pt/10 rebound guy this season. Outside the paint, pretty raw looking shot, would not expect him to do much outside the paint.

Oglesby- Physically a long way to go. Beyond his shot I am not sure where we will see a huge benefit from him this coming season.

McCabe- Similar to May I saw a player with a lot of potential and increased confidence. He is physically a tough looking kid and his shot looked pretty fluid. I expect we will see a much more consistant Zach this season, mostly as his confidence should be much better.

Archie- He will fill a need on defense and rebounding, that will be about it. Had a nice dunk but his hands are rough. He had trouble catching the ball numerous times. Devon will be a good guy to slide in and eat up some minutes inside.
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Hawk20, do you think you would add "smooth" to AW's description? He plays like the game is in slow motion to him, like it is just easy for him. This young man is going to be good. Yes it was just a Fieldhouse type of pickup game, where a lot of players can look good, but I was impressed as well of White. He will be good - this year.

Gatens was smooth as well. He is going to have a good-to-great year. As will May, I believe. Eric could beat out Marble for that starting spot at the 3. Tho Marble does look good, too.

You are right on Olaseni, he can run and run well. Have him concentrate on defense & rebounding, to start his Hawkeye career, and the rest will come to him. Brommer needs to run the stairs, and then run them again.

McCabe has packed on some pounds. Does the coaching staff want him to put on the weight and focus on the 4 position mainly? AW schooled him on the D side a few times, but Zach had his moments on O as well. He will do fine this year.

THis is going to be an interesting season, to say the least. They will be more fun to watch than any Hawkeye team, going back years. I said before that we would be a tourney team with a down B1G, then backed off after Hubbard left... Coach is right, in that if we could afford to lose a player at any position, it was at Hubbard's spot. I think I am going to be a homer, again, and say that we will be a tourney team. Cartwright needs to stay healthy. Brommer/Olaseni/Archie will need to play some good D tho. The rest of the positions will be good enough to get the job done. All that, plus we have Fran...
 
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Thanks for the update, Iahawk20. I feel the same way you do DM. This is going to be a very interesting year, excitement is returning to Carver under Fran's leadership.
 
I think 10 and 10 would be optimistic for O if this was his senior season. The list of players averaging ten boards for Iowa is pretty short. Hell I don't think Bowen averaged ten, and he had a long NBA career based solely on his defense and rebounding.

Besides Mel is going to eat up too many boards for O to get near ten.
 
actually being a true center and playing under the basket 8-10 rpg is not that unrealistic, as for the point, ft's will be a big part of his scoring, and from all i've heard is that Olaseni is a very good ft shooter, and that alone could increase his playing time, and getting dunks and garbage pts can push him into the 8-10 ppg range
 
Dragonhawk said:
actually being a true center and playing under the basket 8-10 rpg is not that unrealistic, as for the point, ft's will be a big part of his scoring, and from all i've heard is that Olaseni is a very good ft shooter, and that alone could increase his playing time, and getting dunks and garbage pts can push him into the 8-10 ppg range
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Don't forget his 4-5 blocks per game
 
jackl said:
Dragonhawk said:
actually being a true center and playing under the basket 8-10 rpg is not that unrealistic, as for the point, ft's will be a big part of his scoring, and from all i've heard is that Olaseni is a very good ft shooter, and that alone could increase his playing time, and getting dunks and garbage pts can push him into the 8-10 ppg range
Click to expand...
Don't forget his 4-5 blocks per game
Click to expand...

LOL
 
when the games begin then everybody can make up their mind, although those that only look for the *'s by their names will constantly find fault with his game
 
Dragonhawk said:
when the games begin then everybody can make up their mind, although those that only look for the *'s by their names will constantly find fault with his game
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Listen here pal, I've seen the guy play a half dozen times in the PTL so I'm hardly only looking for stars. Secondly pointing out a prediction of ten and ten for a raw true freshman isn't finding fault with his game, its being realistic.

I'm quite confident no freshman in the history of Iowa basketball has averaged ten boards, and we've had some pretty talented players come through.
 
10 & 10 won't happen. In fact, I'd bet a lot of money that the number of 10 & 10 games can be counted on one hand...if the counting begins at all. That said, I like what I've seen from him.
 
1st off i am not your pal, 2nd i am saying the possibility is there for him to do so on the pts and rbds, its very possible for him to do it just as easily as not, but in your thinking there is no way he can is way off, the PTL is not the place to judge him as it his a shooters game and very loose in stucture, we shall see how he does in a controlled envirement
 
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