Olaseni Playing Well!

They track absolutely everything. I spoke with Rick Majerus once and he said he videotaped every practice from 3 camera angles. He then would go home and watch hour after hour after hour of tape. And eat. His words!
 
In many ways we caught an additional break in the fact this essentially happened the first day of practice which gives OWA a chance to really get meaningful looks and the staff a great opportunity to develop rotations that play to their individual strengths (foul trouble not withstanding). Losing Brommer or Marble a day before the season-opener could have been scary but I trust this staff to have a core of 8 or 9 ready to go come game time.
 
bpiercehawks said:
They track absolutely everything. I spoke with Rick Majerus once and he said he videotaped every practice from 3 camera angles. He then would go home and watch hour after hour after hour of tape. And eat. His words!
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Majerus. That dude lived in a hotel for years. His entire days at Utah. Nothing to do but watch video & eat. Is that guy still alive?? Seems like he should have died from a heart attack long ago...
 
This was about 4 years ago. (Majerus) He was struggling to walk, move, and talk without being winded. He's funny, intense, vulgar, and brilliant.
 
If McCaffrey thought he would get anything from Archie and Brommer, I doubt he would have pursued Olaseni with Meyer and Woodbury coming in next season. The dude runs like a 3 and has good hands--two traits we have not seen in a long time. He is no Sullinger, but I think he will turn some heads with his play this season. High ceiling for a guy that played soccer until 9th or 10th grade.
 
hawkIhoops said:
If McCaffrey thought he would get anything from Archie and Brommer, I doubt he would have pursued Olaseni with Meyer and Woodbury coming in next season. The dude runs like a 3 and has good hands--two traits we have not seen in a long time. He is no Sullinger, but I think he will turn some heads with his play this season. High ceiling for a guy that played soccer until 9th or 10th grade.
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He's still learning the game, gonna get better and better with each year. Not a stretch to say he'll get a look at the NBA (if it still exists) by the time he's a Senior.
 
hawkIhoops said:
If McCaffrey thought he would get anything from Archie and Brommer, I doubt he would have pursued Olaseni with Meyer and Woodbury coming in next season. The dude runs like a 3 and has good hands--two traits we have not seen in a long time. He is no Sullinger, but I think he will turn some heads with his play this season. High ceiling for a guy that played soccer until 9th or 10th grade.
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You serious, Clark? Even if he felt good about what he can get from Brommer/Archie, bringing in Olaseni was a good idea. Especially since Woodbury wasn't committed at the time. It's best to have three guys in that size range, who can play the 4/5, plus Basabe.

And like you said, the dude's got a VERY high ceiling. No reason to not bring him in, especially since your other two 5's are seniors.
 
He has a LOT of learning to do to be able to play consistent BB in the B1G. He may have some good games preseason, but the grind of the B1G conference play will be tough for him to be consistent game in game out. Freshmen just do not fare very well in conference play. It will take a year or two to become a good B1G center.

And next year he will have to compete with Woody for the center spot and I believe Woody will start from day one or a few games into the preseason. Olesani will be spending most of his time as a backup to Woody and Basabe. A top 50, 7'1 or 7'2 center with Woody's skills is not going to be sitting on the bench as a backup player.
 
hawkdrummer1 said:
He's still learning the game, gonna get better and better with each year. Not a stretch to say he'll get a look at the NBA (if it still exists) by the time he's a Senior.
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Yeah, it's a stretch. You can't hear positive practice reports on a true freshman and extrapolate that to the NBA.
 
I like the future options that Fran is developing. Gabe can learn and grow this year, then next year we bring in Meyer and Woodbury to rotate in and out. If Fran is going to run, we will need multiple bigs to keep up. I also like how each one complements the others. An exciting future for the Hawks!
 
"I like the future options that Fran is developing."

This is the key, not whether Olesani tears it up this year. Iowa is still building for the future and Olesani is a cog in that future.

No one should expect much of anything from Olesani because he looks good in practice. Conference play and being a freshman in the B1G is a completely different animal.

Even Woodbury will have difficult in the B1G. The difference is that he is 7'1 or 7'2 and has all the tools. He just needs game experience. There will be games where he just tears it up (even in the B1G) and games where he does not but I believe people will agree that he has the talent to be on the floor...a lot. I will be very surprised if Woodbury is not our starting center his first game and will remain so until he leaves or graduates.

Olesani still has SO much to learn and a few weeks of practice does not make him the next B1G center and shotblocker. He will be lucky if he doesn't get into foul trouble most games.

The sad part is that here Iowa has a freshman who has not played a lot of bb in his life and is still learning YET he is being talked about more than Brommer and Archie, who are seniors. Archie should never have received a scholarship from Iowa...he was barely even a project player. Brommer would not get a look from Fran if Brommer was in high school and played like he did in high school. Neither of these guys would even have gotten a look from Fran. Therein is the big difference between Lackluster's recruiting and Fran's.
 
I look at the Illini's 7'1'' sophmore Meyers Leonard as a sobering tale on young big men. He was rated at #30 in the country,and yet,he did not get on the floor much last year. Olesani was not top 150 and Woodbury is #43, so I think we have to be ready to be patient with these big guys. I look for Leonard to start to break out this year,as he does have a lot of talent.
But, it takes some time for these big guys. I remember Chris Bosh as a frosh at Ga. Tech...he was good,but not dominant.
 
Oh I don't know about that. Archie at times has showed good rebounding skills and quickness around the basket. He is lacking in confidence and free throw shooting ability. No he won't be all big ten material but he is not crippled neither. I can't argue with the fact that Fran has/is recruiting much better players than Lick. I trust Fran will get the best he can out of the players he now has and that includes Archie. We need to support all of the players regardless of what their weaknesses are. I am behind any kid who puts on an Iowa uniform and tries their best. Go Hawks!!!
 
Excellent Post, BigD, all the Hawkeyes need and deserve our support, after all they are Hawkeyes. Archie did have his moments last season, especially rebounding and defense, blocking shots. We do want to keep Archie off the free throw line, just like Wilt and Shaq.....

It is not easy to get Wilt, Shaq and Archie in the same sentence.....

:)
 
hawkdrummer1 said:
He's still learning the game, gonna get better and better with each year. Not a stretch to say he'll get a look at the NBA (if it still exists) by the time he's a Senior.
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So to get this straight, we'll have two future NBA players in our front court this year. Should be pretty easy to live up to those NIT-bubble expectations.
 
so our roster looks like this then!?

1. Bryce Cartwright
2. Matt Gatens
3. Eric May
4. Melsahn Basabe
5. Gabriel Olaseni

Reserve Players:
Roy Marble
Andrew Brommer
Zach McCabe
Josh Oglesby?

look right to everyone or!?
 
you forgot White and Archie as they both will contribute this year, Marble will spend a lot of time at the 1-2, with White getting alot of backup minutes at the 3, Archie will be either the starter or the main backup at center til Brommer get fully healthy, if Brommer can't get up to speed it will be Olaseni and Archie until one steps up and seizes the starting spot
 
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