Rewatched the 2K games

[InGoodCo]

Okay I’m ready to end this spat but would like to give an update on where I’m at on my predictions. You hedge on all your predictions which is the “safe” thing I do.

-I said Iowa could make the dance but I wasn’t willing to say they would make it.

Status: Looking like Iowa could be a tourney team but a long season. If Iowa makes the dance I will be wrong.

-I said Connor was a mid major player.

Status: looking very wrong at this point, but again the season is young as is Connor’s career. Jeremy Lin looked like an all star for a month stretch once.

-I said Garza was closer to his basketball ceiling than Nunge.

Status: Garza looked awesome. Looks to have improved his footspeed and continued his hot shooting from the end of last year. This is going to be a tough one to determine with Nunge not playing so it will be years until we can say. I never said Garza wasn’t a good player, quite the contrary, but it will be interesting to see how he stacks up in the conference.

-I said Fran needed to cut Pemsl or Kriener or both out of the rotation.

Status: By virtue of an injury that happened and Iowa played really good ball the last few games. Still a long way to go in order to determine if that is correct.

-I said Iowa would be the best three point shooting team in the Fran era this year

Status: To be determined. It flashed in the 1H against Oregon with several guys knocking them down. Didn’t need threes against UConn when we could abuse them inside. Again a theme here is that it is still super early!

As I’m sure you will help me with, we can continue to follow going forward. Hopefully when the time is right you can serve me my pile of crow on some of these.

You were just very vocal about Luka and Connor. That's all I care about pointing out. I'm moving on, but you would be busting my balls too if I said "Iowa is going to win the 2K" - Luka is going to be the MVP and Connor is going to be a catalyst to it all. We give each other shit when the other is wrong, that's the only reason I come here besides reading about Iowa and conversing with Hawk fans.

 

[meechiganhawk]

The question is, how many times did we give an uncontested shot attempt? I remember some here and there, but not very many. Last year teams got uncontested shots almost every time down the floor. Our defense was probably 90% of the reason the other teams struggled shooting. The other 10% was luck. I'll take those odds in 9 and 19 point wins.

Ding ding ding, we have winner. There were many, many contested shots in both games. The only negative to that is giving up second chance points, but unless it is a significant portion of the opponents points, it's really not something to worry about.
I will take the amount of contested shots I saw in the two games as opposed to the entire last season.

 

[PCHawk]

Am I the only one who doesn't consider someone right or wrong with predictions? When they say something like "no way connor is a Big 10 caliber player" that can be right or wrong. In my opinion, when someone says "my guess is Connor isnt a Big 10 caliber player" there isnt really right or wrong. It's just a prediction. "I doubt we make the tourney" isnt a right or wrong thing. "No way we make the tourney" is. That's how I see it anyway.

 

[InGoodCo]

I'm just BUSTING balls for bad takes, no one has ever done that to me apparently so I am not entitled to that fun.

 

[ibahawkeye]

Positives I see:

• A lot of defensive hustle
• Clogging the lane on more dribble drives
• Better interior feeds to our 4s and 5s
• CMac has demonstrated that he can play quality minutes against quality opponents

Negatives

• Sloppy offense - too many turnovers
• Still too many open 3s on the baseline because of late arriving cover (fortunately most were missed)
• Too many open baseline drives
  
  Maybe this is giving too much credit to the coaches but if you’re playing zone and going to give up some 3s you’ll take your chances in the corner. It has to be a lower % shot.
  
  Of course I’m not advising giving up open shots but it’s like anything... play the % and make them convert a tougher shot.
  
  A lot of times it’s about rotations being on time and not being late to close out on the wing skip pass but then close out under control and force the pass to the corner.

 

[GoHawks24]

Overall, I think it was pretty good take by the OP. I feel that both Oregon and UConn had pretty bad nights. But Iowa did have something to do with that at least a little bit. I just really hope this team doesn't get a big head since they've won a couple of meaningful games (and are now ranked) and forget that they have to play with 100% effort and tenacity on defense. If they keep that up, they've got a shot to have a pretty good season.

 

[lightning1]

Connor has been doing great at breaking teams down. It's not necessarily with athletic quickness, but that doesn't matter at all.

He's strong with the ball and patient. It's difficult to limit options to a guy like that. Once he stops picking up his dribble at weird times, he'll be more effective. That will come with PT.

 

[ibahawkeye]

Regarding this team... I think there’s a lot of us who were optimistic but then the redshirting of Nunge seemed to be odd timing and many of us saw him as a guy who would help, especially on D which we knew was the area the team needed to improve most.

Then you play 2 games against lesser competitor and not look great.

I said this was a tourney team but then after last year and watching the first 2 games I thought my prediction was probably a fan’s hope more than maybe talent.

What I saw in NY that’s changed my mind back to the original prediction...


1) We now have some quality non con wins and ranked so we’re in the position of playing our way out now

2) Tyler Cook is a completely different player on both sides of the ball. He gives us the ability for any of 4 guys to get a rebound and lead a fast break charge.

3) Connor’s IQ can more than make up for any lack of talent that I thought he might have had which I was wrong on as well.

3). Kriener - I’ve always been high on him and I think that both he and Luka’s games are similar styles so we’ll always have a 5 on the floor that can stretch the floor and work inside. Nunge redshirting isn’t a big deal as though I thought originally.

4). Weiskamp seems fine on D. I had no concerns with his game on O but freshman typically have a learning curve and on D and the intensity every play are probably the 2 biggest learning curves but I think Joe is well poised to handle. Helps he has an experienced team around him as well.

 

[tmess1989]

Positives I see:

• A lot of defensive hustle
• Clogging the lane on more dribble drives
• Better interior feeds to our 4s and 5s
• CMac has demonstrated that he can play quality minutes against quality opponents

Negatives

• Sloppy offense - too many turnovers
• Still too many open 3s on the baseline because of late arriving cover (fortunately most were missed)
• Too many open baseline drives

I think most of the open baseline 3s and baseline drives are due to our guys playing help defense because the on ball defender got beat. This year they are quicker at helping and quicker at getting back after helping. Which, limits the amount of wide open shots. I do see improvement with on ball defense, but still getting beat too often. The help defense and effort have really helped make the defense look better so far this year.

Their is increased effort defensively and on the glass this year but I think another thing that helps is having two more guards that can be trusted in the rotation and play solid defense.

They won two games against good teams but I want to see that level of effort more consistently before I say they will finish in the top half of the conference. Gotta also take better care of the ball.

 

[thedukeofearl]

In today's game, if a good shooting team is hot, there is little another team can do to stop it, other than hinder it a bit. Made three pointers in streaks are difficult to beat, no matter the defensive philosophy or effort. It is early in the season, even good teams are finding their shooting touch.

That said, Iowa seems interested in defense, which is an "effort" theme. We all became tired of Iowa players jogging back on D, inability to move the feet, "forgetting" to have the hands up, not hanging down, heads hanging, little emotion, etc.

Connor and Wieskamp are two new additions that seem to take fundamentals to heart and take pride in defense and being in the right place most of the time. Who from last year did this? Baer?

Cook does seem inspired, so far. He is our athlete so that is a good sign.

Of course, still lacking that guy who can break a defense down with athletic quickness but Iowa can win a lot of games with the type of game they can play, if it is inspired play, streaks of made free throws demoralize an opponent.

"Connor and Wieskamp are two new additions that seem to take fundamentals to heart and take pride in defense and being in the right place most of the time. Who from last year did this? Baer?"

They are both savvy players who understand the game both are all over the floor, around the ball. On D they go to help out and contest the play. They make everyone else better. Baer was the best player we had on D last season, for certain.....

Tyler's D has vastly improved. He is active and stays with his man, throwing him off stride. The entire team seems to understand how to play D now. Something I never thought possible. I was looking for improvement but not to this degree. They play much better D than the other teams at MSG. If this continues, this really will be the special season that we are starting to believe will happen.....

 

[thedukeofearl]

If we are winning holy crap we'll be deserving of a good ranking. This group is unselfish and I really like their shot selections. To me that's the players playing smart and coaching. Their drawing a ton of fouls getting in the bonus early and making a really good % of them. Things that make teams really tough to beat. One of the best things about it is we have like 3 guards that can shoot 88% or better from the line. Plus our bigs aren't bad them. (Garza is great at them) So late in games when teams have to play the foul to stop the clock game it won't work on us. It's a coaches dream scenerio

Three outstanding free throw shooting guards that Fran has in the last minutes of the game every time.....

Garza is 15-17 from the line. With him in the game at crunch time, nobody is going to want to foul anyone, and will pay the price to do so. Our team FT% is .784. That is almost 8-10 free throws made.....

Outstanding and will pay huge dividends throughout the season.....

 

[revkev73]

"Connor and Wieskamp are two new additions that seem to take fundamentals to heart and take pride in defense and being in the right place most of the time. Who from last year did this? Baer?"

They are both savvy players who understand the game both are all over the floor, around the ball. On D they go to help out and contest the play. They make everyone else better. Baer was the best player we had on D last season, for certain.....

Tyler's D has vastly improved. He is active and stays with his man, throwing him off stride. The entire team seems to understand how to play D now. Something I never thought possible. I was looking for improvement but not to this degree. They play much better D than the other teams at MSG. If this continues, this really will be the special season that we are starting to believe will happen.....

Concur...one wonders why fundamental defense was non existent the past years.

 

[Adam]

Concur...one wonders why fundamental defense was non existent the past years.

I can sum it up for you.

Fran said "hey guys, defense is important. Make sure to bust your ass on defense"

Players said "Sure coach"

Then they learned. Now they listen. I still fault Fran for not getting through to them last year and blowing a season.

 

[Hawkfnntn]

Three outstanding free throw shooting guards that Fran has in the last minutes of the game every time.....

Garza is 15-17 from the line. With him in the game at crunch time, nobody is going to want to foul anyone, and will pay the price to do so. Our team FT% is .784. That is almost 8-10 free throws made.....

Outstanding and will pay huge dividends throughout the season.....

It's one of the bigger close game deciding things in college hoops. How many times have teams that are behind are able to make a comeback and why? Usually you can point to missed free throws in the last 2-3 mins of games as being blatantly obvious. If we have a 3 possession lead on anybody in the last 2 mins of a game the only way we lose is by turning it over. Fran just needs to coach up our guys on how to get the ball inbounded and we'll be all set (Sure way easier said than done but hey..)

 

[revkev73]

I can sum it up for you.

Fran said "hey guys, defense is important. Make sure to bust your ass on defense"

Players said "Sure coach"

Then they learned. Now they listen. I still fault Fran for not getting through to them last year and blowing a season.

Coaching/Leadership 101

 

[meechiganhawk]

Concur...one wonders why fundamental defense was non existent the past years.

Iowa had Gabe and Adam that could either clog the lane, Woodbury, with his size or a rim protector that contested a lot of shots.
The most significant impact both of them had on the Iowa program was on the defensive end.

 

[Northside Hawk]

I think it's Garza who's really helping Cook. Garza has picked up where he left off the last six games of last year. Opposing teams have been forced to pick their poison.

Connor is going to have the same effect on Jordan. Connor is going to take an enormous amount of pressure off Bohannon.

 

[GotTimDodge]

By the end of the year, both Oregon and UConn could very well be playing far above Iowa's level at that time.
We probably did catch them on bad nights.
8 years of Fran, you gotta allow for a collapse at some point.

That said, something DOES feel different now at least.
Let's hope it lasts.

 

[PCHawk]

By the end of the year, both Oregon and UConn could very well be playing far above Iowa's level at that time.
We probably did catch them on bad nights.
8 years of Fran, you gotta allow for a collapse at some point.

That said, something DOES feel different now at least.
Let's hope it lasts.

I remember when Uthoff's team got to 3rd, there was talk about a possible collapse again. A lot of people thought that they were too mature of a team and too good to fall apart. I guess it's easy to think that when you're watching a team play really good. After the way they played in New York, it's also hard to invision a collapse, but I'm not going to trust it until the end of the year. I remember telling my wife it's a done deal we were playing in Des Moines. Ended up not even being close. That one still hurts because our tournament path location wise couldn't have set up better.

 

[earlkoppelman]

Overall, I think it was pretty good take by the OP. I feel that both Oregon and UConn had pretty bad nights. But Iowa did have something to do with that at least a little bit. I just really hope this team doesn't get a big head since they've won a couple of meaningful games (and are now ranked) and forget that they have to play with 100% effort and tenacity on defense. If they keep that up, they've got a shot to have a pretty good season.

Agree 100% Time for Hc and Staff to do their job. Communication seems so much better.On "same" page. Look forward to next game. Defense needs mucho communication. It can be done. Like AW and 50-50 balls "legal" fight..