Your expectations of the freshmen are way too high. If you thought that they five freshmen would take Iowa back to the promise land then you really need some help. Iowa is pretty much right where everyone expected them to be. There's just disappointment that they were very close to exceeding those expectations. You say that Iowa is barely better than the worst teams (glass half empty guy), I say Iowa is barely worse then the best teams (glass half full guy). Depends on how you look at it, but Iowa is still right where most thought they'd be.
Reality Check: Where Exactly is Iowa Basketball on the Improvement Meter
Your expectations of the freshmen are way too high. If you thought that they five freshmen would take Iowa back to the promise land then you really need some help. Iowa is pretty much right where everyone expected them to be. There's just disappointment that they were very close to exceeding those expectations. You say that Iowa is barely better than the worst teams (glass half empty guy), I say Iowa is barely worse then the best teams (glass half full guy). Depends on how you look at it, but Iowa is still right where most thought they'd be.
HawkeyeMHA
Well-Known Member
Yeah, über doober
tednugentfan
Banned
More scoring options. Getting 0 offense from Oglesby, Clemons, Woodbury and McCabe really limits our ability to stretch defenses and recover from nights when Marble, Gesell etc., aren't on, or D'ed up.
Oglesby = 4.8 ppg (shooting like dog-crap, won't argue that)
Clemmons = 4.4 ppg
Woodbury = 4.8 ppg
McCabe = 6.0 ppg
TOTAL = 20.0 ppg
Not exactly zero offense.
NEIChawk
Well-Known Member
Klondike53226
Well-Known Member
Living a life without faith is pretty bleak. Especially when you see the signs, but refuse to be patient.
sportstalent
Well-Known Member
Agree with this.
I don't get how anyone could be disappointed with the freshman.
The players I am most disappointed in are Marble, White and McCabe.
Marble - Still hasn't figured out the whole shooting consistently thing and doesn't appear much stronger than last year.
White - No post moves whatsoever and no outside game to speak of. I like the way he plays, all out all the time, but effort and career highs against the likes of PSU isn't helping Iowa against the top half of the conference.
McCabe - He shot 44% for 3-pt range last year, 28% this year and people are okay with it. Every stat, except FT, is down, including fouls and he is only playing 2 mpg less this year. Overall FG% is down 15% from last year. He plays hard though, so it is easy to look past...
The guys I have been thrilled with are Basabe, May and Olaseni.
The freshman are far from the problem with this team.
atomicblue224
Well-Known Member
I The guy i have been pleased with is MG. I think he's trying very hard for freshman and i`m glad we have AC. They will be experienced and battle tested by the time they're done.
BasketballMan
Banned
I'm struggling with your Marble and White comments.
Marble top 10 scorer in the BIG. Not exactly chump change. Has he been up and down? Sure, but not so sure he deserves the comments you made of him.
White is arguably the best all around 4 in the BIG. Near top 10 in scoring. Top 10 in rebounding. Modest improvement over freshman year. Doesnt help that Fran cant figure out where to play him between the 3 and 4. My gut says a solid summer of knowing he's gonna play the 4 and you'll see much improvement with the post moves.
Basabe is the definition of inconsistent.
May and Gabe agree with you completely.
hawkdrummer1
Well-Known Member
Did we improve this year? Yes. Considering the influx of young talent was it a big improvement? No. Acceptable...but not great.
Had we won 2 of those games we should/could have... we'd be on track for the tourney, and consider it a nice step forward.
As such...Fran still has something to prove.
Had we won 2 of those games we should/could have... we'd be on track for the tourney, and consider it a nice step forward.
As such...Fran still has something to prove.
KirkNOTCharisma
Well-Known Member
I don't know if it was mentioned at all prior to me here as I didn't bother reading all the comments, but I remember Jon posting an entire article before the season about how not to get too excited about Woody for at least a year. I'm trying to hold off on being too harsh on the lanky sum'***** until next year once conference play starts.
For whatever reason, I just had hoped Marble would have stood out more. Maybe it's just me, idk. I know as BBMan pointed out he's still top 10 scoring in the B1G, but he just hasn't jumped out at me as much as I was expecting. Maybe it's because I see other players on other teams making super athletic plays and I'm expecting him to wow me when that's just not our game.
Disagree I see an Iowa team that gets scared and tight as the game us close at the end of regulation(every time). I don't see that changing, either you have players that can handle it when things get tight or you don't and right now Iowa doesn't at all. That is some on the coach but mostly on the players, either you got it or you don't....and right now Iowa still bottom feeder in B1G and are really lucky some of the teams below them didn't have key players this year or yikes it really would have been an ugly B1G season/
No we didn't improve from last year to this year...
We're doomed forever!! We'll never get better!!
This is one of the most hysterical posts I have seen. Unless you are talking about lottery pick type players, just about nobody is the type of players you are talking about in their freshman year. Nobody. Look what Indiana's vaunted team was like when they were younger. They were getting shellacked and frequently.
Now their top five are Jr, Jr, Sr, Sr, So.
And the Sophomore comes from one of the top basketball families in the nation and was a five start recruit.
Unless you have that one or two and done lottery pick type player, you want to ease them in and let them get their feet wet. Fran has not had this luxury until this year. Unfortunately, he didn't have it with all the freshmen. However, it will pay off in the long run for MG. But he is not a lottery pick or even an NBA type player. Nonetheless, that doesn't mean he can't turn into a very strong Big Ten PG by the time he is done.
Agreed, since when did experince not make a difference
Leading candidate for dumbest post of the day.
sportstalent
Well-Known Member
BBM...how can you disagree with Marble/White?
1. Scoring also counts non-conference games, not just Big Ten games, also what team in the Top 5 has Marble shot good against and Iowa was competitive?
2. White is a good player who gets points in transition, dunks against poor defenders and offensive tip backs. What shooting number has he improved on? He is shooting 26% from 3-pt range and some want him to shoot more from there...points, assists, free throw % and rebounds are all up minimally, but think if he had any kind of a mid-range shot. I like White, but with all the talk about how much the Iowa players dedicate themselves in the offseason I thought White would have came back with either a low post move, or a 12-ft jumper.
Basabe and May have been the two players on the roster who have maximized what they do really well. If Mel isn't hitting his 12-ft jumper, or scoring period, he isn't disappearing on the other end, or with his effort on the glass. May has accepted who his is and plays within himself, he rarely forces things and honestly, I wish the rest of the roster would look at these two players and take a look in the mirror and try and maximize what they individually do best and stick with it.
My last point there is exactly why mid-majors upset the big boys in the tournament, but also and I will get hammered for this, but look no further than Wisconsin for an example withing the Big Ten. Why do they do what they do? Yes, we can complain about their style of play all day, but the fact is their players do what they do best and they lose to teams that are just better, they rarely beat themselves, but at the same time they are a team that is very susceptible to upsets and are a target of most to lose early in the tournament based solely on match-ups.
SteveGarvey
Well-Known Member
Don't watch much basketball huh?
