People Don't Understand Woodbury's purpose.

[Bigtenchamp]

I do agree that at times, in various ways he has frustrated me.

However Woodbury's role (as in really most 7ft types) isn't really offense. He is a smart/tough defender who hustles.

His role is to be the enforcer out there.

He does need to play with more confidence at times on offense for sure - but that not his primary purpose.


You won't find any 7ft player among the top 25-30 leading scorers in the Big Ten last year.

7ft players that can score consistently are uncommon.

 

[RocknRollface]

You also won't find many 7ftrs that can't dunk everything around the basket either.

But yes I agree he plays an important role, especially on D.

 

[Foval21]

This is very true and the same can be said about mike gesell. Many want them to be out of this world stat stuffers. But they are just really really good players that win. They don't do many flashy things but they also don't screw up much either.

 

[burky247]

It is how Alford should have played Reggie Evans his final year. Instead of trying to roll the offense through him.

I agree Woodbury takes a lot of heat from us. Which is strange cause it is the role most of us thought he would play.

 

[glidinghawk]

Woodbury will never average 10 points a game in any of his 4 years, as some expected he would. His rebounding has improved quite a lot this year, and that's encouraging. On the other hand, this is his worst year for turnovers.

We'll see how he handles Kaminsky on Tuesday night and vice versa.

 

[RocknRollface]

Woodbury will never average 10 points a game in any of his 4 years, as some expected he would. His rebounding has improved quite a lot this year, and that's encouraging. On the other hand, this is his worst year for turnovers.

We'll see how he handles Kaminsky on Tuesday night and vice versa.

I think Woody will do fine against Kaminski, I'm more interested to see how we defend Hayes, I think you might see a little Gabe at the 4.

 

[Foval21]

I think Woody will do fine against Kaminski, I'm more interested to see how we defend Hayes, I think you might see a little Gabe at the 4.

Gabe would be very overmatched against Hayes. Woody would do better guarding Hayes. But that would leave gabe on kaminsky and that would be a problem too as frank would have him in the air fouling on every pump fake. White will need to be at the 4 and on his game defensively.

 

[sodakhawkeye]

I think Woody will do fine against Kaminski, I'm more interested to see how we defend Hayes, I think you might see a little Gabe at the 4.

Kaminski will be a tough matchup for Woody.

With that said, just watch him play once. Don't focus on the ball, but just watch him. He does so many things well. Adam is constantly talking, moving, banging bodies. Yes, he makes mistake. He is not a scorer and never will be, but he brings a ton to this team.

 

[JG10Hawk]

I think people don't fully understand the game of basketball at times... I agree with Foval, many tend to really undervalue what Woody and Mike do for this team. So many are still caught up in their recruiting ranking and think they should be All Americans or something. They were top 100 guys not top 10 recruits that are nearly always sure fire draft picks.

Mike has become a strong guard with the ball in his hands and the best on ball defender on the team. Woodbury is one of the smartest defenders on the team and is almost always in great position to box his guy out when the ball goes up. A lot of the rebounds the other players get are because he boxes his guy out.

Both have struggled scoring the ball but they are huge pieces of the turnaround Fran has done for this program. I just hope people start to cheer for them instead constantly tearing their games down because of their weaknesses.

 

[RocknRollface]

Gabe would be very overmatched against Hayes. Woody would do better guarding Hayes. But that would leave gabe on kaminsky and that would be a problem too as frank would have him in the air fouling on every pump fake. White will need to be at the 4 and on his game defensively.

In what way?

 

[RocknRollface]

Kaminski will be a tough matchup for Woody.

With that said, just watch him play once. Don't focus on the ball, but just watch him. He does so many things well. Adam is constantly talking, moving, banging bodies. Yes, he makes mistake. He is not a scorer and never will be, but he brings a ton to this team.

I've always been fully aware of what Woody does on D.

 

[theboat]

Woody has a special purpose.

 

[PCHawk]

We match up so well on Wisconsin. Woody will do a pretty good job at keeping Kaminsky in check and Kaminsky will do a good job on keeping Woody in check, but who does that benefit more? Also we have the option to go to Gabe if Woody gets in trouble. Wisconsin doesn't have that luxury. We also have Gabe to work on getting Kaminsky into foul trouble.

We could really use this win next week and with Jackson out, it's very attainable.

 

[Hawknick]

That scruffy beard center from Wisconsin is overrated. 2 years ago when Iowa. Woodbury will dominate him. 2 years ago when Iowa beat the badgers in Iowa City when Woodbury was a freshman he held him to 0 points and 0 rebounds! Aaron White had 17 points int hat game too.

 

[Foval21]

In what way?

25 lbs of muscle and post skill. One of the reasons that olaseni seems to disappear versus well coached teams is that he is an easy guy to plan for. He goes for blocks and good big men that are coached well (kaminsky and Hayes) will get him in the air and in foul trouble. The lack of jumping that Woody has actually helps him against better players as he never has been a big shot blocker. He is a position defender. He tries to stay in a position of strength and use his brain and height to alter players moves and shots. It is why Woody seems to step up versus better teams and gabe seems to retreat. I like what gabe can give as an energy guy off the bench against wisky but if he is at the 4 we are in trouble. That also either moves white to the 3 or bench and we will need 35 min from him, 35 min from Uthoff, and 35 min from gesell.

 

[QuadCityHawkeye]

Sometimes he does his best work when he doesn't have the ball. That was the case last season as well. He can cause defenses/offensives to change it up, and he's an excellent passer for a big man. People like to look at stats but he does nice things that don't make it into the stat book.

Sure he frustrates me at times but I think he's getting better and will be really good as a senior.

People need to remember Les Jepsen and Bill Jones were pretty awful early on. Lepsen was on of the most uncoordinated players I've ever seen when he was a freshman and he ended up in the NBA.

Woody gets knocked a lot because he was a big recruit who North Carolina wanted. He'll be just fine at Iowa.

 

[atomicblue224]

Sometimes he does his best work when he doesn't have the ball. That was the case last season as well. He can cause defenses/offensives to change it up, and he's an excellent passer for a big man. People like to look at stats but he does nice things that don't make it into the stat book.

Sure he frustrates me at times but I think he's getting better and will be really good as a senior.

People need to remember Les Jepsen and Bill Jones were pretty awful early on. Lepsen was on of the most uncoordinated players I've ever seen when he was a freshman and he ended up in the NBA.

Woody gets knocked a lot because he was a big recruit who North Carolina wanted. He'll be just fine at Iowa.

I think he will be fine. He will be dangerous later this season.

 

[Bigtenchamp]

Woodbury will never average 10 points a game in any of his 4 years, as some expected he would. His rebounding has improved quite a lot this year, and that's encouraging. On the other hand, this is his worst year for turnovers.

We'll see how he handles Kaminsky on Tuesday night and vice versa.

Kaminksy is an interesting example...

He was a point guard in high school that had a crazy growth spurt - which is why he is such a good shooter and ball handler for a big man.

 

[RocknRollface]

25 lbs of muscle and post skill. One of the reasons that olaseni seems to disappear versus well coached teams is that he is an easy guy to plan for. He goes for blocks and good big men that are coached well (kaminsky and Hayes) will get him in the air and in foul trouble. The lack of jumping that Woody has actually helps him against better players as he never has been a big shot blocker. He is a position defender. He tries to stay in a position of strength and use his brain and height to alter players moves and shots. It is why Woody seems to step up versus better teams and gabe seems to retreat. I like what gabe can give as an energy guy off the bench against wisky but if he is at the 4 we are in trouble. That also either moves white to the 3 or bench and we will need 35 min from him, 35 min from Uthoff, and 35 min from gesell.

Gabe is listed at 2lbs heavier and 2 inches taller than Hayes.

Where did you come up with disappearing against well coached teams? I don't feel like that's accurate at all.

You just gave an explanation as to why Woody is a better defender than Gabe, that's fine but it that has nothing to do with GO or White guarding Hayes.

Obviously Gabe is bigger, longer, more physical and an overall better post defender than White. Yes he goes for pump fakes sometimes but he's still a pretty good post defender and no where near as easy to score against as you're describing. I feel like your scouting report is out dated.

So to say Gabe would struggle defensively against Hayes but a shorter smaller player would do better makes little sense.

yes white presents a mismatch on the other end, but that's not the discussion.

Obviously I wasn't suggesting to play Gabe there the majority of the game, just if White struggles or gets in foul trouble.

 

[Foval21]

Gabe is listed at 2lbs heavier and 2 inches taller than Hayes.

Where did you come up with disappearing against well coached teams? I don't feel like that's accurate at all.

You just gave an explanation as to why Woody is a better defender than Gabe, that's fine but it that has nothing to do with GO or White guarding Hayes.

Obviously Gabe is bigger, longer, more physical and an overall better post defender than White. Yes he goes for pump fakes sometimes but he's still a pretty good post defender and no where near as easy to score against as you're describing. I feel like your scouting report is out dated.

So to say Gabe would struggle defensively against Hayes but a shorter smaller player would do better makes little sense.

yes white presents a mismatch on the other end, but that's not the discussion.

Obviously I wasn't suggesting to play Gabe there the majority of the game, just if White struggles or gets in foul trouble.

Hayes is listed at 250 lbs....gabe is listed at 225. White is a better position defender which is what you need against wisky.