Player by Player Progress Report

CJSHawk

Well-Known Member
Mike Gesell- While I'm still optimistic about Gesell's future he has some work to do. He didn't shoot the ball well this year and that has to get better if he's going to become the player we want him to. His shot looked flat to me and needs more of an arc. I'm not sure he can get faster and quicker, but he needs that too. At times this year he looked a step slow.

Aaron White- Somehow, someway the coaching staff needs to figure out how to make White more effective in a half court offense or he will continue to frustrate Iowa fans. In transition White is elite, but in a half court offense he's average and that's being kind.

Adam Woodbury- After a difficult start to the season Woody's development was impressive. If the Tennessee game was a glimpse of his future then his future is bright. I also thing Woody displayed a mental toughness a lot of his teammates lack. He received a lot of criticism early in the year and instead of curling up in the fetal position he fought through it and shut a lot of people up to end the season.

Jarod Uhtoff- The skill to be an excellent basketball player is there in spades. However, he looks disinterested far too often. Someone has to get in this kid's head and get him playing with an edge or his potential will not be realized.

Peter Jok- He's clearly a skilled offensive player who needs to learn to play defense at the B1G level. I don't think he's going to be ready to replace Marble's production next year, but he's got to be a part of solving that problem. He needs to get stronger too.

Josh Oglesby- It was nice to see him regain his shooting touch this year. However, I think the Oglesby we saw this year is the Oglesby we'll see next year. A good shooting off-the-bench role player. The two position at Iowa would really benefit from an impact off season transfer!!

Gabe Oleseni- Given his lack of experience playing organized basketball Oleseni's development has been impressive. He was our best offensive rebounder this year. However, as Reggie Miller pointed out, he's got to get stronger if his development is going to continue. It's too bad he didn't redshirt his freshman year.

Anthony Clemmons- I think it's fair to question his future with the program considering the coaching staff recruited a JC player at the point guard position.

The Iowa basketball program needs to add one or two impact players this spring. I would love the coaching staff adding a scorer at the off guard position and a power forward. We'll see.
 
White is well below average in half court.

Gabe, Uthoff and Ogelsby - just so inconsistent.

Gabe had a 3 game stretch mid big ten season that he looked to be the best player off the bench.

Josh had a couple games he was on fire as expected from a shooter but other games he plays 25 minutes and attempts 3 shots and goes scoreless. Guys like him can't do that because the rest of his game is incomplete.

Uthoff- good in non con and BTT... Bad the rest of the year and still a tweener like White.
 
White is well below average in half court.

Gabe, Uthoff and Ogelsby - just so inconsistent.

Gabe had a 3 game stretch mid big ten season that he looked to be the best player off the bench.

Josh had a couple games he was on fire as expected from a shooter but other games he plays 25 minutes and attempts 3 shots and goes scoreless. Guys like him can't do that because the rest of his game is incomplete.

Uthoff- good in non con and BTT... Bad the rest of the year and still a tweener like White.

Uthoff has a lot more skills than White
 
Uthoff has a lot more skills than White

Yes he has better ball handling skills but I still dont' see a guy getting to the rim. and he's still a tweener and he struggled pretty much the entire Big ten schedule minus a couple games. I still see a guy who passes up shots. Against Tennessee, in the 2nd half Uthoff had an opportunity to take 2 good shots yet he passed them up and the possession ended in a fade away by Marble... course Marble takes the heat but it was really Uthoff that put him in that position.

In Big Ten play, Uthoff went 7-21... so he shot 33% He was at 22% prior to going 3-3 against NW in the tourney and he only attempted 40 all year.

I would just prefer to play 3 guards who can all shoot the 3 ball and penetrate. But I don't want to play Josh and Jok side by side because of Defense.
 
Yes he has better ball handling skills but I still dont' see a guy getting to the rim. and he's still a tweener and he struggled pretty much the entire Big ten schedule minus a couple games. I still see a guy who passes up shots. Against Tennessee, in the 2nd half Uthoff had an opportunity to take 2 good shots yet he passed them up and the possession ended in a fade away by Marble... course Marble takes the heat but it was really Uthoff that put him in that position.

In Big Ten play, Uthoff went 7-21... so he shot 33% He was at 22% prior to going 3-3 against NW in the tourney and he only attempted 40 all year.

I would just prefer to play 3 guards who can all shoot the 3 ball and penetrate. But I don't want to play Josh and Jok side by side because of Defense.

White is the king of passing up on shots. So not following you Iba?
 
Without a DOUBT.. and I think some people forget that this was his first year playing at this level. With that said I'm all smiles!!!!

He's definitely a better ball-handler and shooter, but I'm not buying the "first year playing" excuse. The kid is 3 yrs removed from high school. He's played the majority of these guys in AAU before even getting to college. Then he's had 3 yrs at 2 different B1G schools scrimmaging them everyday. I wasn't expecting to avg 15 and 8, but I also wasn't expecting him to be so non-existent either.
 
White is the king of passing up on shots. So not following you Iba?

I don't think starting White or Uthoff at the 3 is a good spot and I don't think we have the answer on the roster today which is why I'm concerned about next year.

It may be the toughest position to find because it's almost a hybrid in the fact you need the size/strength along with the guard like skills in handles and being able to play d on guys that can penetrate.

Uthoff lacks the strength to go big and lacks the quickness to drive or penetrate.

He would need to use his height to shoot over smaller defenders but as I pointed out his outside shooting hasn't been terrific.
 
Yes he has better ball handling skills but I still dont' see a guy getting to the rim. and he's still a tweener and he struggled pretty much the entire Big ten schedule minus a couple games. I still see a guy who passes up shots. Against Tennessee, in the 2nd half Uthoff had an opportunity to take 2 good shots yet he passed them up and the possession ended in a fade away by Marble... course Marble takes the heat but it was really Uthoff that put him in that position.

In Big Ten play, Uthoff went 7-21... so he shot 33% He was at 22% prior to going 3-3 against NW in the tourney and he only attempted 40 all year.

I would just prefer to play 3 guards who can all shoot the 3 ball and penetrate. But I don't want to play Josh and Jok side by side because of Defense.


We play alot of teams that have 3 decent guards who can penetrate and it gives the hawks fits sometimes.

But we also dont run the same high ball screen and weave type offense that some teams do. We usually run the curl cuts and screens with the ball handler/PG dribbling lookign to pass to those cutters or look for an open player.

If we can get to the point of having shooters on the floor then two penetrating ballhandling guards are enough. Look at MSU and Wisky, they have 4-5 shooters on the floor most times, the hawks are well short of that

Next year it will be great if uhtoff, jok, Josh O, gesell, dickerson, can hit consistently from the outside. this will open up the curl cuts and everything for drives to the basket.
 
I would just prefer to play 3 guards who can all shoot the 3 ball and penetrate. But I don't want to play Josh and Jok side by side because of Defense.

I agree completely with this. We need to recruit some wings, like the rest of college basketball. Uthoff and White are both tweeners, and both probably best classified as stretch 4s. Uthoff has a better shot and can play on the perimeter a little better. Neither can penetrate without a direct lane. Neither can move laterally well enough to guard a true perimeter player. And athletic 6 ft 5 wings can guard these guys easily with superior quickness and enough strength to body them out of post position.

White is perfect stretch 4. And if Uthoff can improve his traffic rebounding he also fits well there. Both would be able to penetrate better against bigger players too. But, we have no wings other than Josh and Jok, and both appear a little lacking in lateral defensive quickness.
 
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