NCAA Tournament for Iowa in 2013?

And to clarify, there are still 3 games that haven't been announced for Iowa, so perhaps Barta goes out and lands a few big name games. We haven't seen anything that hints at that, though. Esp considering they will be all home games for Iowa.

As far I know, here are the non-conf games set -
Iowa State
UNI
Virginia Tech
Central Michigan (and Keno Davis)
Coppin State
Norfolk State
Howard
Gardner-Webb
Cancun tourney - Two of these teams: Western Kentucky, DePaul or Wichita State.

So, again, weak schedule. Can't Campbell this one.
 
A sweep of Minnesota and Wisconsin is highly unlikely. but we need to win at home and sweep at least Nebraska and Penn State, perhaps Purdue.....

If we had beaten NW at the end of last season, we had a very good chance of making the tournament especially after beating Illinois in the B1G tournament, at least that was the talk making the rounds.....

If, a mighty big If, we go undefeated pre-conference, and break even in the Big Ten we will go to the NCAA tournament.....

Another disastrous pre-conference record will certainly diminish our prospects of playing in the NCAA tournament, however I seriously doubt that will happen this season.....

We will need quality wins in the Big Ten however. I do believe we will beat Michigan State at Carver along with Indiana and Wisconsin. They would qualify as quality wins.....

We almost made it last season, came close, a basket or two here or there and we would have won a couple more games. Perhaps we make those baskets this year....

I will go on record saying that we make the NIT no matter what.....
 
Re: You are correct...

DodgerHawki said:
it will be interesting to see if last year's games against Wisconsin (in terms of pace) were merely outliers or an indication that Fran is able to "speed Wisconsin up."

The two games Wisconsin played against Iowa were the 1 and 3 games in terms of number of possessions in a game the Badgers played all season. The first game in Madison had 68 possessions, the second in Iowa City had 63. Badgers had a non-con game against Mississippi Valley State with 68 possessions. I could have missed another game, someone can correct me if I'm wrong.

Even North Carolina, playing in North Carolina, couldn't speed up the Badgers. And Roy Williams loves to play fast. UNC and Wisky played a 58 possession game (Tar Heels won). None of the Badgers other B1G games approached the 68 possession game when Iowa won in Madison.

Even in 2010-11, when Iowa and Wisky played OT in Iowa City, that game had just 56 possessions. So either Fran figured something out in getting Wisky to go a bit faster, or Badgers were just uncharacteristically rushed. Only thing I can remember from the two games in 2011-12 related to pace is that Iowa got more transition baskets in those 2 games against Wisconsin than probably the previous 10 years combined (even off made baskets) and that Wisconsin took more early 3's in the shot clock than usual. Iowa also had an actual sizable lead down the stretch in Madison, forcing Wisky to foul and increase the number of possessions a bit more than normal.

Badgers are not easily moved out of their comfort zone, so we'll see if this is something that continues or just a blip.
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Very interesting post, food for thought.....

Good work, Dodger....

:)
 
65 percent

1) Two incoming freshman upgrade at two positions. This years team is deep enough Fran does not have to depend on the our freshman to lead the team.

2) Woodbury will not be a great shot blocker. What he will do for us is take up space. He is a immediate upgrade over Brommer. Not saying Adam will be a great defender initially he doesn't have to be. He is only going to face a couple stud centers.

3) Basabe will have a great year. he started playing better at end of year. I don't think so. Emergence of white McCabe freed mel up late in the year.
 
I try to keep in mind that we played most of last year without an effective/healthy starting pg and pf. (Cartwright and Basabe). What Fran accomplished was a magic act. When those two returned somewhat to form you saw how salty we were and it was (barely) enough to sneak us a spot in the NIT. We beat a very potent Dayton squad and looked pretty good doing it. I think Fran is really really good. I think he has more weapons this year, including a pretty decent freshman pg. I say we dance.
 
I'm not sure what to think, but I'd say about 40%. The majority of the team is coming back, which is a good thing. Unfortunately, we lost Gatens and Cartwright, so we're still going to be really young and unproven at the PG position. But Marble could probably play a little point as needed, though.

The front court, I think we'll be in pretty good shape there.

If you were to put a gun to my head and force me to predict, I'd say NIT again this year, but I expect this year's team to be at least as good as last year's team, and being a bubble team is not a reach at all IMO. I wouldn't be too shocked if the team over-achieves a bit and sneaks into the NCAA's as a lower seed.

Get back to me in December, though. We'll all have a much better feel for this year's team by then.
 
JonDMiller said:
Fran is not the first coach in the Big Ten to want to play fast...and Wisconsin has been controlling tempo for much of the Boy Ryan era.
Click to expand...

How many really try to push the pace against Wisconsin? Don't most go to a half court offense and try to beat them at their own game?
How many of the coaches that claim to want to play fast say we aren't playing fast enough now? I'm guessing not many.
Doesn't it seem Wisconsin only loses when the other team doesn't play at Wisconsin's pace?
Didn't Wisconsin's rise start when B1G teams switched to become more methodical (set the offense)? I remember teams running in the B1G 15 years ago. Maybe it is just a selective memory.

To me it is easier to score if the D isn't ready rather then your offense being set.
 
The Wisky games are great examples, IMO, of the mental aspect of the game. The at Wisky being the best example: We were ready to execute the gameplan. Hence, Jumping out to a quick lead, pushing off of misses etc.
On the other hand, Wisky felt like they were in for a cakewalk. They were lazy in transition and "quick shot" the ball. They made zero effort to exploit their huge interior advantage; they showed zero concentration by missing 3 after 3.
Anyone who has ever coached knows how games go when " your team isn't ready."
I think we will have Wisky's full attention next year; they will try to pound us inside and slow it down, and they probably will do it much more effectively than last year.
But, that still doesn't mean they will beat us ( see OT game from Fran Y1).
 
storminspank said:
And to clarify, there are still 3 games that haven't been announced for Iowa, so perhaps Barta goes out and lands a few big name games. We haven't seen anything that hints at that, though. Esp considering they will be all home games for Iowa.

As far I know, here are the non-conf games set -
Iowa State
UNI
Virginia Tech
Central Michigan (and Keno Davis)
Coppin State
Norfolk State
Howard
Gardner-Webb
Cancun tourney - Two of these teams: Western Kentucky, DePaul or Wichita State.

So, again, weak schedule. Can't Campbell this one.
Click to expand...


ISU,Western Ky,WSU and Norfolk St all made the NCAA tourny last year.
Coppin,Va Tech and UNI made the NIT.

This is a much better schedule than last year.
Not as many bottom feeders either.
 
Iowa will have wisconsins full attention with the Uthoff transfer anyway. It doesn't mean Iowa can't beat them. Wisconsin will have a good team, but they aren't the greatest team in college basketball. The team that won the ncaa tournament last year had a lot of true freshmen on it. I suppose wisconsin will have Iowas attention too.
 
JonDMiller said:
Fran is not the first coach in the Big Ten to want to play fast...and Wisconsin has been controlling tempo for much of the Boy Ryan era.
Click to expand...

Once more, how many teams do you think have tried to make Wisconsin play their style of play or speed them up over the last 15 years? Pretty much every team goes in with that idea in mind. Do you think Tom Izzo at MSU has never tried that tactic? Do you think Thad Matta has never tried that?

Generally good defensive teams don't slow a game down by their offense, they slow it down because they make it harder for the other team to score as well. The opponent is using just as much of the shot clock as Wisconsin.

The instances where you see Wisconsin getting out of their game plan and having higher possession games are when the outside shooting is abysmal and they are playing from a significant hole. Case in point the Iowa game vs. Wisconsin last year. Look at the stat line, Wisconsin was something ridiculously bad from 3-point range 3-25. Many of those shots were good open looks. When they aren't falling and you get behind you are forced to abandon your tendencies (not dissimilar to a running team in football being forced to go to the pass when behind in score). It is rare that a team is going to shoot 3-25 from three point range.

So yes, I think the pace of play that you saw in Madison was an anomaly.
 
JHHawk said:
ISU,Western Ky,WSU and Norfolk St all made the NCAA tourny last year.
Coppin,Va Tech and UNI made the NIT.

This is a much better schedule than last year.
Not as many bottom feeders either.
Click to expand...

How many RPI Top 50 are in that schedule? Very few.
 
I wasnt expecting a tourney appearance but with frans new contract, its now time to produce results.

I think there is a 40% chance we make the tourney. We will end up with over 20 wins but sos will be bad.
 
Iowa won't try and change wisconsins style. They will find ways to attack wisconsin with their running style. The Iowa coaching staff will come up with a good game plan.
 
Tierney said:
Iowa won't try and change wisconsins style. They will find ways to attack wisconsin with their running style. The Iowa coaching staff will come up with a good game plan.
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Yeah, I believe it was the Wisconsin, maybe the Minnesota game that while they were making a comeback, after they made a basket, Aaron White beat everyone down the floor and received a pass for a dunk shot that took the heart out of the opponents and the crowd. You could hear a collective moan and see dismay on their faces. It was a magnificent moment.....

Last year we beat the opposition down the floor many times after a made basket, this season I believe it will happen more frequently.....
 
jacknicholson said:
Tierney said:
Iowa won't try and change wisconsins style. They will find ways to attack wisconsin with their running style. The Iowa coaching staff will come up with a good game plan.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I believe it was the Wisconsin, maybe the Minnesota game that while they were making a comeback, after they made a basket, Aaron White beat everyone down the floor and received a pass for a dunk shot that took the heart out of the opponents and the crowd. You could hear a collective moan and see dismay on their faces. It was a magnificent moment.....Last year we beat the opposition down the floor many times after a made basket, this season I believe it will happen more frequently.....
Click to expand...

Seeing a goofy red head dunk will sink the ship of many future Iowa opponents.
 
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