Negatives

Some of the worst defense I have ever seen in watching Iowa basketball. Defense is an honor thing, a want thing, a band of brothers mentality of if your guy gets passed you, then I have your back. That was non existent last night.

Free Throw shooting can be impacted by nerves, fatigue and poor release point. I think we will see improvement in this area.
 
The only problem is our best player was atrocious on defense. In a perfect world, Fran could have sat him down and made a point, but then who would have scored? Jok will have to give a better defensive effort than that if he wants to get back to the NCAA tournament. If not, he will score a lot of points and probably get 1st Team Big 10, but we will lose a lot of games.
 
Jok has a chance to make the tourney all 4 years. I wonder who the last player was to do that at Iowa.
 
No, Woody is not missed. The inside game of Cook / Uhl was incredibly more productive than Woody ever was, even with Gabe. Yes, Cook played matador, A LOT, but, the way the game was being called, Woody would've fouled out midway through the 2nd.

Woody has zero athleticism compared to Cook / Uhl. This will come in handy because, unfortunately, it looks like they're continuing to hedge out of position. (I've just come to accept this as (a bad) part of Fran's defensive strategy / style.) So, use what you have to offset the poor positioning. Teach these guys recovery angles and how to get off your feet to block from behind / challenge shots. That's about the most you'll get from them on D but, given their length and agility, they could still bring a lot more than Woody could dream of.
I'm not talking about offense, I am simply talking about defense.

No question Cook>>Woody on the offensive end
 
He played 5 minutes and was 1-1 from 3. LOL OKAY
Yes, he was 1-1, but it was on a wide open transition basket as I recall. In the half court set offense he has trouble getting open enough to get his shot off. So as others have stated he is basically your role player that you can't count on to average anywhere near 8-10 points a game. He may go off occasionally, but most often he will probably be under 6 points a game. Moss' upside definitely is higher and therefore should receive more minutes.
 
Yes, he was 1-1, but it was on a wide open transition basket as I recall. In the half court set offense he has trouble getting open enough to get his shot off. So as others have stated he is basically your role player that you can't count on to average anywhere near 8-10 points a game. He may go off occasionally, but most often he will probably be under 6 points a game. Moss' upside definitely is higher and therefore should receive more minutes.

If Moss was better he'd get more minutes. It's disappointing he's not there yet because I had high hopes for him
 
Yes, he was 1-1, but it was on a wide open transition basket as I recall. In the half court set offense he has trouble getting open enough to get his shot off. So as others have stated he is basically your role player that you can't count on to average anywhere near 8-10 points a game. He may go off occasionally, but most often he will probably be under 6 points a game. Moss' upside definitely is higher and therefore should receive more minutes.

Most backup shooting guards are only going to get a handful of points per night and occasionally go off for a bunch. I think I agree that I would rather see Moss tho. He could end up really good in the future and if he ends the year behind Ellingson, he will probably leave.
 
If Moss was better he'd get more minutes. It's disappointing he's not there yet because I had high hopes for him

Fran did at least say post game that Moss should have gotten more minutes. That's at least a little bit of hope that he is close.
 
1. Defense (pretty much embarrassing IMO)
2. Bench? (At this point I think the only guy I trust on the bench is Wagner, and even he didn't get into any rhythm. That's the Brady I expected we'd see when the games got tougher. I'd like to see more Moss)
3. FT shooting( well hopefully that will improve)
4. PG play. (Quite frankly, that's not enough out of Williams and Jordan. I think we need to see more Williams and he need to look to score more)
5. 3rd scorer (still looking for him)


The defense is all you need to say. Interior defense. Seton Hall had 50 points in the paint vs 24 for the Hawks. And they did most of that with a 6-2 guy, a 6-4 guy & a 6-6 guy. Ugh.

Offensively, our interior play was not good at all. Way too many missed shots. And several opportunities to drive to the basket that were not taken(Williams).

This should all change considerably throughout the year. Quickly, hopefully. The tapes from last night showed enough to learn off of...for the year.
 
Fran did at least say post game that Moss should have gotten more minutes. That's at least a little bit of hope that he is close.


These first several games will be tough. Fran has to play most everybody, just to see what they can do "under the lights". And there are a lot of bodies to play... They also need to see what combinations will work. Although most of that will be in practice, playing the real thing is definitely different than practice.
 
The good news is that it's going to get easier...Virginia, Notre Dame, and Iowa State...cake walk. I would just like to see our guards stay in a defensive position, they are way too upright against guys like Carrington. Honestly, I would have liked to see us play a zone with Williams, Baer, Wagner, Uhl, and Cook. With our length, you could give the perimeter guys a couple of feet of space to stop penetration and still contest the shot. Fran never listens to me though.
 
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