My thoughts from the NW MO State Game

B

bkim24

Well-Known Member
Nothing too exciting to take away from the game. NW MO had some size and some athletes but here are some of my observations:

1. The crowd was very nice for a Sunday afternoon game. I swear there was some Big 10 games under lick that didnt have that many people. Its obvious Iowa fans are ready for Iowa bball to be "back"

2. Marble and Basabe heads just werent in it today, and Fran got on them multiple times.

3. White is definetley not athletic enough to play the 3. With that said I bet we see a lot of him at the 4 and Mel at the 5. That group played a lot and I think they had a lot of success. We gout outrebounded when Archie was in there, so its not like were giving up a lot there. I think Fran will be tinkering with rotations until Big 10 play.

4. I think Oglesby may be a big X-factor for us this year. I think if him and Gatens are on the floor at the same time there will be a lot of open threes for the two of them.

5. May looked good, hopefully he can keep his confidence the whole year and not disappear like last year.

6. The ice cream at Carver was top notch as always. $3.50 gets you a great cone.

Thats what I took away, just an exhibition we will know more on Friday!
 
My random observations. Sorry for the rambling thoughts. I watched the first half yesterday. Archie will lose minutes left and right if he doesn't position himself better for rebounding opportunities. Josh O has the type of shot where you are surprised when it doesn't go in. Kent Mac-esque. Mel had a great frosh year; he actually seemed to play well above his skill set which is a credit to him. He's not yet great at anything, but he needs to keep the fire/passion/improvement going or he will plateau very early in his career. White will be a huge producer for us this year. The high/low passes from May into the post got me very excited. I like passing. We will get a great deal of our rebounding this year from our non-posts. May, Marble, and Gatens will more than likely be our #2 rebounder on a nightly basis. I can't yet get over the "loss" of Hubbard. Who knows how good he was, but I tend to think Fran can spot talent better than most. I was surprised with how much zone we played, but if we truly are going to be a pressing team, it's far easier to fall back into a zone. That back side of the zone is where Archie seemed lost and out of position on defensive boards. I'm going to the Bucknell/Gopher game Friday (my former player Mike Muscala is playing for the Bison) so I won't be able to watch the Hawks' first game. I'll check the site often for updates! Go Hawks!
 
bkim24 said:
Nothing too exciting to take away from the game. NW MO had some size and some athletes but here are some of my observations:

1. The crowd was very nice for a Sunday afternoon game. I swear there was some Big 10 games under lick that didnt have that many people. Its obvious Iowa fans are ready for Iowa bball to be "back"

2. Marble and Basabe heads just werent in it today, and Fran got on them multiple times.

3. White is definetley not athletic enough to play the 3. With that said I bet we see a lot of him at the 4 and Mel at the 5. That group played a lot and I think they had a lot of success. We gout outrebounded when Archie was in there, so its not like were giving up a lot there. I think Fran will be tinkering with rotations until Big 10 play.

4. I think Oglesby may be a big X-factor for us this year. I think if him and Gatens are on the floor at the same time there will be a lot of open threes for the two of them.

5. May looked good, hopefully he can keep his confidence the whole year and not disappear like last year.

6. The ice cream at Carver was top notch as always. $3.50 gets you a great cone.

Thats what I took away, just an exhibition we will know more on Friday!
Click to expand...


Were we watching the same game? Still tentative and has the ball handling skills of a decent HS freshman. Defense was solid, but he missed two dunks and his shooting was far from impressive. I get so tired of seeing him dribbling with his back to the basket. He never takes the ball off a pass and squares up to the basket. Someone of his athletic ability should have a MUCH quicker first step than he does.
 
SheagleHawk said:
Were we watching the same game? Still tentative and has the ball handling skills of a decent HS freshman. Defense was solid, but he missed two dunks and his shooting was far from impressive. I get so tired of seeing him dribbling with his back to the basket. He never takes the ball off a pass and squares up to the basket. Someone of his athletic ability should have a MUCH quicker first step than he does.
Click to expand...

I dont think we were watching the same game. Unless you are talking about Stubbs and not may
 
May had a decent line, but he's the same unnatural player he has always been. Look for him to struggle against better competition.
 
Hawkstrat said:
May had a decent line, but he's the same unnatural player he has always been. Look for him to struggle against better competition.
Click to expand...


This. I don't understand why he can't improve his ball-handling to the point where he at least has a move or two that he can take someone, anyone, off the dribble.
 
SheagleHawk said:
This. I don't understand why he can't improve his ball-handling to the point where he at least has a move or two that he can take someone, anyone, off the dribble.
Click to expand...

note -- I watched the game on the web feed.

With May, people want to think of him as having a big "upside" because he's a good overall athlete. The assumption is made that he can learn instincts and some improved fundamentals, and then become a good player. Such an assumption involves another, namely, that the player has the ability to learn.

The talent no one talks about is the ability to process and learn from coaching. Some guys, they just don't get much better. Also, general athletic ability does not translate into sport-specific ability. There are some fine athletes in the MVC, for instance, who are not terribly good basketball players.

May will probably get a little better, but he'll still be the same basic model -- same with Marble and McCabe.

I still think this will be a pretty bad team. I'm not sold on Mel as a dominant 4 yet, and with White at the 5 we have yet another guy playing out of his natural position.

When the incoming class are sophs, we'll have a chance to be good. Not before then.
 
Lots of basketball players can never quite handle the ball that well. If it was easy there would more great ball handlers.
 
Cydkar said:
Lots of basketball players can never quite handle the ball that well. If it was easy there would more great ball handlers.
Click to expand...


Good lord, I'm not looking for Pete Maravich here. I just can't believe his ball-handling has not improved to the point where he can occasionally take someone off the dribble.
 
I watched the game as well. We will be better this year, but this is a 15 to 17 win team, best case. The real improvement will not start until the next recruiting class comes in.

We simply are not athletic enough right now to compete in the Big Ten. I see 10 non-conference wins and 6 Big Ten wins.
 
I'm sorry but going to disagree on May. He can still continue to improve and I believe he will but to say he is the same as last year is unfair. On Sunday he drove the left at least three times using his left hand which did not happen last season. He also had his head up and eyes looking down the court as he brought the ball up the floor which is also progressing when compared to last season. What you don't see yet is May doing an impression of Gatens and willing his way clear to the block as yesterday he settled for an 8ft jumper but what we don't know is whether or not that is what the staff prefers him to do. I would encourage everyone to remain patient as I believe the game is just starting to slow down for him similar to say CJ Fed the past football game. Some guys need a little more time in the system.
 
i thought this was basketball not track, lets get off the I hate Marble and McCabe kick, both are just entering their Sophamore seasons, so i am going to take a wild guess you are basing you statement of being able to mprove off the play in a exhibition,you really need to get another sport to follow
 
SheagleHawk said:
Good lord, I'm not looking for Pete Maravich here. I just can't believe his ball-handling has not improved to the point where he can occasionally take someone off the dribble.
Click to expand...

Rhashon Clark was a great athlete who never learned how to dribble. Some guys just don't have that talent.
 
Brad Lohaus did not come into his own until his senior season. There is still plenty of time for May to learn and develop.
 
storminspank said:
Who was a McD AA?
Click to expand...

Dragon seems to be wrong a lot of the time.


You are not a true Mc Donalds All American unless you play in the real MDAA game which is on ESPN and is special invite. I think the last actual Iowa player to meet this criteria was Chris Kingsbury and before him Kenyon Murry.

I had said from day one even with Matt Gatens it is pretty hard by the time you are 18-19 to get substantially better as a ball handler. The guys defending you in college are better athletes as well so even if you get a tad bit better it might still not be good enough to consistently beat guys off the dribble. The other issue you face is at the college level guys get taller around the basket too, so you better figure out a way to finish at the rim.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Share this page

Top