Schwartz: A Player-by-Player Guide to Improving the Hawkeyes

First, kudos for the reference to one of my all-time favorite comedies.

My take:

Baer. As much as I love him, he doesn't have the skill set of Pippen or Greene, but I get your point. He needs to be the glue guy. The one that makes the big rebound or assist or shot at just the right time; a guy that gets under the skin of opposing coaches. The problem is that he already is that guy on this squad, but with an absence of consistency. How can he be more consistent? I don't have the answer there.

Bohannon. His position debate is getting a bit overplayed. He's got a mix of 1 skills and 2 skills along with some physical deficits. I'm not sure it matters what it says on paper. What he needs more than anything is a backcourt mate that can divert attention from him and make his life easier. His defensive liabilities are a gift from God. Not much can be changed there.

Cook. Two things: playing under control offensively, and understanding stance and footwork defensively. He has to want to be a great defensive player as much as he wants to be great offensively.

Dailey. Just needs reps. Probably not a real high ceiling, but a decent role player. I'd like to see Fran run some motion off screens with him inside, much like he did with Marble. Could be untapped potential there.

Ellingson. I agree that he needs to stay positive. His role should be the savvy sniper that will occasionally flash to the basket. Fran can't force him to play out of position.

Garza. Weight room. Defensive fundamentals. Weight room, and more weight room. There's a high ceiling there. Fran should have him watch about 20 hours of Kevin McHale tape.

Kriener. I think he's a bit under-appreciated. Needs to play with more thinking and less emotion.

Moss. There's not an aspect of his game that doesn't need work. Time will tell, but I just don't think he can be what Fran envisions, especially consistently.

Nunge. I'd be worried about a transfer here. Great size/skill combo, but the light needs to come on. He has star potential but I'm not sure he knows it. Seems overwhelmed right now.

Pemsl. I'm not sure I see the potential you do here. To me, he's probably about as good as he's going to get. Poor athlete but makes up for it with good post moves. Terrible defensively on the perimeter.

Wagner. Another "failure to develop" upperclassman for Fran. He might as well be working on blocking and catching for his NFL promo tape at this point.
 
My analysis and recommendations are simple. Rather than list each individual, they apply to everyone.

#1) Develop some grit and pride on defense.
#1A) Learn to play defense with intensity, effort and intent.

- Keep your head on a swivel to always track the ball and arms out to disrupt passing lanes.

- Stop hedging and over helping. You look like 4th grade girls' teams bunched in a scrum and completely out of position. It's a stupid strategy because of the inherent requirement of defensive anticipation, quickness and athleticism - all of which are lacking in the Iowa front court.

- Learn some basic physics about ball trajectory. When a shot goes up stake your position around the rim and attack the rebound. Do not leave until you have it.

- Avoid playing defense (your weakness) by extending offense (your strength) by slowing down possessions and emphasizing every possession must work inside - out. You don't need a dribble drive point if you adapt your strategy to this, you need an open shooter, which this will create and which Iowa has a lot of.

- Keep offensive position and spacing. The 5 should not be setting screens 25' from the basket. In fact, since this team struggles with basic pick and roll / entry passing, stop with the screens altogether. (Again, with the discombobulation of 4th grade girls bunched in a scrum.) Rather than open guys up with screens you open them up with inside out passing and moving without the ball.

A few player / position specifics:
- Cook, Garza and Pemsl should be on the blocks and stay there. It emphasizes their skill set (backing down, reversals, up / unders, 8-10' jumpers). They can be taught to be more aware and decisive with kick-out passes. They should be told to be more aggressive in attacking the basket, or they sit.

- Moss, JoBo, Dailey, stop trying to dribble past your defender - you all suck at it. Pass the ball inside and get your ass moving. Then do it again. Then do it again. Wear your defender out and get open to do what you are really good at doing - shooting the ball. It wouldn't hurt to learn a simple single-dribble step and step-back move to create a little space.

You really go nowhere without also "suggesting" improvements for Fran and this mid-major staff. It's a long laundry list covering everything from strategical emphasis to player rotations / combinations to game management. However, a good start is inferred, above.
 
There are too many problems to address, by player, in 1 off season. Some of them wouldn't be able to address in 5 off seasons.
The coaching problems can't be solved by anything less than replacing the entire staff. Fran is not organized enough to coach all of the details that he needs to, in order to be successful at this level. Most AD's with the savvy to ask the right questions in the hiring process, figure this out and don't hire him. Why do you think he was coaching in the mid majors for 25 years before Gutless Gary took the bait? How many high major jobs do you think he has applied for or put feelers out on, in that 25 years? Apparently, he's STILL putting feelers out while he's supposed to be coaching Iowa (GA Tech).
Looking back on it, I don't believe Gutless Gary found and hired Fran. I think it was the other way around. I think Fran reached out on the Iowa job opening and sold himself to Gutless. Which probably goes a long way in explaining the over all pathetic state of Iowa athletics.
 
Short and simple:

Baer. Come off the bench, be the inbound guarder in a full court press scheme. Be involved in trapping and hounding for steals. A guy good in short bursts.

Bohannon. Shooting guard.....not a point guard.

Cook. Don't get in foul trouble. Personally, maybe look for playing for a better coach/team.

Dailey. Shooting guard coming off the bench.

Ellingson. Should be playing at Coe.

Garza. "Weight room. Defensive fundamentals. Weight room, and more weight room. There's a high ceiling there. Fran should have him watch about 20 hours of Kevin McHale tape." Agree with this point by diehard....not so sure about the high ceiling with this coaching staff though.

Kriener. Wartburg

Moss. Illinois St

Nunge. Indiana St

Pemsl. Oakland

Wagner. Walk on for Ferentz

The Fran Boys.......I would have said convince dad to go somewhere else....but then we all saw the contract extension.

Joe W.......Hope you get lucky and something changes in Iowa City. Maybe take another look at your options.
 
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The above is the best answer so far. I disagree about Nunge, but the answer for at least four guys is "play elsewhere". They aren't Big 10 players and can't be salvaged without several more years like this one. Tell them there are no minutes for them here and go get every senior transfer/JuCo player with ability you can find.
 
Couldn't disagree more on his Pemsl take. Where's Pemsls potential exactly? He can't shoot outside 10 feet. He don't even try to. He has gotten better at free throws but beyond that he is exactly who he is. He's a 6-8 pts a game guy and 4 to 6 rebounds a game guy. He's not any good at defense. He's too small to defend centers and most power forwards now that he's dropped like 20 lbs. He can't run the break he's no threat in the open court. He does have some crafty moves around the basket but we can't get him in those positions enough to matter.

Baer. He's not nearly as good on D as his reputation suggests. On the ball he get's beat a lot on dribble drives and when he's guarding someone off the ball he sags off too far gambling. Gives up lots of open jumpers to the guy he's guarding because of it. He is good at gambling and coming off his guy to double someone elses and get the occasional block and deflection/steal. But he's not a Scottie Pippen type defender not even close.

Garza has done awesome. He's not a finished product but holy crap compare what he's doing to what Woodbury did his freshman year or any former center that played a lot their first year. He'll get stronger and better in time. He's too skilled not to. He plays with the most effort of anyone out there regardless of time and score of the games.

Nunge I think is oozing potential. He's really long and just needs more PT. He's a true freshman that's 3 years away from playing his best basketball. Redshirting him would have suited him really well but we couldn't do that. Not every kid that comes in is ready to be a stud day 1. That don't mean you throw in the towel on him. It is important they find a consistent role for him though. He seems a tad lost out there at times. I'd like to see them post him up now and then. Often he has 6'6 guys or shorter guarding him because of our lineup. Take advantage of it. He's the only guy that played well against OSU so hopefully that's a confidence booster

Wagner should be having his 2nd off season of playing football.. He's got no future in hoops. He could get in the NFL however with his size and athleticism. But it's his career to waste not mine. But he's been a waste of a scholarship for Fran,

Same for Ellingson. He's had like 5 good games in 3 years. Hardly worth it. I'm afraid that kid from KY they have coming in next year will be Ellingson part 2. For whatever reason Fran likes that type of one dimensional player that can shoot but can't dribble/create or play D.

Dom Uhl... nothing to say there besides he makes himself the 3rd upper classman that is a total non factor and waste of scholarship.

JBo and Cook are our two best players and it's not even close. They could be way better and more consistent with their games if they just had a better surrounding cast. Don't need to nit pick at their games a whole lot. Yes they aren't perfect have their deficiencies but for the most part they've held up their end of bargain.
 
Hawkfnntn said:
Couldn't disagree more on his Pemsl take. Where's Pemsls potential exactly? He can't shoot outside 10 feet. He don't even try to. He has gotten better at free throws but beyond that he is exactly who he is. He's a 6-8 pts a game guy and 4 to 6 rebounds a game guy. He's not any good at defense. He's too small to defend centers and most power forwards now that he's dropped like 20 lbs. He can't run the break he's no threat in the open court. He does have some crafty moves around the basket but we can't get him in those positions enough to matter.

Baer. He's not nearly as good on D as his reputation suggests. On the ball he get's beat a lot on dribble drives and when he's guarding someone off the ball he sags off too far gambling. Gives up lots of open jumpers to the guy he's guarding because of it. He is good at gambling and coming off his guy to double someone elses and get the occasional block and deflection/steal. But he's not a Scottie Pippen type defender not even close.

Garza has done awesome. He's not a finished product but holy crap compare what he's doing to what Woodbury did his freshman year or any former center that played a lot their first year. He'll get stronger and better in time. He's too skilled not to. He plays with the most effort of anyone out there regardless of time and score of the games.

Nunge I think is oozing potential. He's really long and just needs more PT. He's a true freshman that's 3 years away from playing his best basketball. Redshirting him would have suited him really well but we couldn't do that. Not every kid that comes in is ready to be a stud day 1. That don't mean you throw in the towel on him. It is important they find a consistent role for him though. He seems a tad lost out there at times. I'd like to see them post him up now and then. Often he has 6'6 guys or shorter guarding him because of our lineup. Take advantage of it. He's the only guy that played well against OSU so hopefully that's a confidence booster

Wagner should be having his 2nd off season of playing football.. He's got no future in hoops. He could get in the NFL however with his size and athleticism. But it's his career to waste not mine. But he's been a waste of a scholarship for Fran,

Same for Ellingson. He's had like 5 good games in 3 years. Hardly worth it. I'm afraid that kid from KY they have coming in next year will be Ellingson part 2. For whatever reason Fran likes that type of one dimensional player that can shoot but can't dribble/create or play D.

Dom Uhl... nothing to say there besides he makes himself the 3rd upper classman that is a total non factor and waste of scholarship.

JBo and Cook are our two best players and it's not even close. They could be way better and more consistent with their games if they just had a better surrounding cast. Don't need to nit pick at their games a whole lot. Yes they aren't perfect have their deficiencies but for the most part they've held up their end of bargain.
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Garza cannot jump. He cannot jump. He cannot jump. He is Woody light.
#1DieHardHawk said:
First, kudos for the reference to one of my all-time favorite comedies.

My take:

Baer. As much as I love him, he doesn't have the skill set of Pippen or Greene, but I get your point. He needs to be the glue guy. The one that makes the big rebound or assist or shot at just the right time; a guy that gets under the skin of opposing coaches. The problem is that he already is that guy on this squad, but with an absence of consistency. How can he be more consistent? I don't have the answer there.

Bohannon. His position debate is getting a bit overplayed. He's got a mix of 1 skills and 2 skills along with some physical deficits. I'm not sure it matters what it says on paper. What he needs more than anything is a backcourt mate that can divert attention from him and make his life easier. His defensive liabilities are a gift from God. Not much can be changed there.

Cook. Two things: playing under control offensively, and understanding stance and footwork defensively. He has to want to be a great defensive player as much as he wants to be great offensively.

Dailey. Just needs reps. Probably not a real high ceiling, but a decent role player. I'd like to see Fran run some motion off screens with him inside, much like he did with Marble. Could be untapped potential there.

Ellingson. I agree that he needs to stay positive. His role should be the savvy sniper that will occasionally flash to the basket. Fran can't force him to play out of position.

Garza. Weight room. Defensive fundamentals. Weight room, and more weight room. There's a high ceiling there. Fran should have him watch about 20 hours of Kevin McHale tape.

Kriener. I think he's a bit under-appreciated. Needs to play with more thinking and less emotion.

Moss. There's not an aspect of his game that doesn't need work. Time will tell, but I just don't think he can be what Fran envisions, especially consistently.

Nunge. I'd be worried about a transfer here. Great size/skill combo, but the light needs to come on. He has star potential but I'm not sure he knows it. Seems overwhelmed right now.

Pemsl. I'm not sure I see the potential you do here. To me, he's probably about as good as he's going to get. Poor athlete but makes up for it with good post moves. Terrible defensively on the perimeter.

Wagner. Another "failure to develop" upperclassman for Fran. He might as well be working on blocking and catching for his NFL promo tape at this point.
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Garza cannot jump. He cannot jump. He cannot jump. He is Woody light. He cannot jump.

J Bo has very few pt guard skills. He just doesn't.

Cook is hindered on D because of the limitations of his supporting cast. His D is not a problem with a decent D coach.

Kreiner just isn't D1. Pem has good post moves? Seriously? He moves and then what?
 
Hopefully they will be better next year. If the players aren't conference level players then that's the coaching staffs fault. If the players are conference level players and haven't developed then that's the coaches fault. It will be interesting to see how they do next year. Fran has had enough time at Iowa to do better than what he is doing this year. Maybe the early injuries were the cause.
 
Based on observation the style of offense that McCaffery wants to play this season and future seasons does not work with the current roster. In turn that is contributing to the defensive break downs. It could be attributed to a number of factors with the current roster but mostly it comes down to asking the current players to fit into an offensive system they cannot succeed with given deficiencies with the guard play.

The juniors and seniors on the team never developed. Baer and Wagner can give you some good minutes but Iowa needed more from this group. Unfortunately it can't be fixed. Fortunately some of the teams at the top of the conference will be graduating a number of players and some will opt for the NBA draft. There is some hope with improving guard play and current players hitting the weight room.

I remain optimistic.
 
I stopped reading when the author didn’t mention anything about Cook needing to improve defensively.

Individual players need to improve and I think some of them will, but I don’t know that that will fix our issues.

The real issue here is the roster construction. I would argue that Cook, Pemsl, Garza, and Kriener can really only guard 5s, and they are all even below average at that. Fran refuses to see this, and in his defense Cook, Garza, and Pemsl are three of our better players, so he wants to get them play time.

Realistically I’d like to see Nunge at the 4, Cook and Garza would be a platoon at center and Cook could take a few minutes at the 4 throughout the game. I even think next year with Weiskamp coming in Baer can even play minutes at the 4. I may sound like a broken record but basketball is going small. Many of the 4 men in this league are guys you’d like to see Baer guarding (Vince Edwards, Lamar Stevens, Duncan Robinson, Copeland, Huerter?-not really a 4 but Md starts 4 guards basically). Our backcourt/wing spots would consist of Bo, Moss, Dailey, Weiskamp, and Baer.

Fran doesn’t seem to see this and it doesn’t appear likely that he’s going to change. At the very least what that lineup does is it makes us a much quicker team. You can’t be a terrible defensive positioning team (we are), AND slow (we are), that leads to horrendous defense like we’ve seen all year. Unfortunately it looks like more of the same going into next year.
 
My rotation next year would look something like this:

JBo 30 / Dailey 10
Moss 25 / Dailey 10 / Weiskamp 5
Weiskamp 20 / Baer 15 / Dailey 5
Nunge 25 / Baer 10 / Cook 5
Cook 20 / Garza 20

JBo 30
Cook 25
Moss 25
Baer 25
Weiskamp 25
Dailey 25
Nunge 25
Garza 20

That’s an 8 man rotation. Pemsl and Kriener used in foul trouble situations. No minutes for Cmac. Granted this is all a pipe dream because we know Fran won’t do it, but I legitimately think that team could be a bubble NCAA type team. Plenty of 3 point shooting, Cook and Garza providing the interior punch. Rebounding would be a question mark so we’d need Cook and Garza to improve there. Would need huge strides defensively from a lot of guys. I should have got into coaching :rolleyes:
 
HawkGold said:
Garza cannot jump. He cannot jump. He cannot jump. He is Woody light.


Garza cannot jump. He cannot jump. He cannot jump. He is Woody light. He cannot jump.

J Bo has very few pt guard skills. He just doesn't.

Cook is hindered on D because of the limitations of his supporting cast. His D is not a problem with a decent D coach.

Kreiner just isn't D1. Pem has good post moves? Seriously? He moves and then what?
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I saw Garza dunk with two hands last game. He's dunked more this year then Woody did his whole career just about. Is Garza going to be the next Tyler Cook in regards to his leaping ability? No he's not. It's something he can work on and get better at. He reminds me of a young Acie Earl. He wasn't an athletic marvel either but he could play basketball. Granted he was a ton better at blocking shots then Garza is so far but if Garza works at it he can be a damn good player.

JBo is going to smash assist records at Iowa. Iowa's had some really good ones. BJ was damn good obviously but he also had Roy Marble, Kevin Gamble, Ed Horton etc etc to pass to that were really good as well. JBo is going to pass him pretty easily in that regard. So if passing and shooting 3s aren't considered pt skills I don't know what is.
 
The article is a bust when it fails to even remotely suggest that any of the players are not B1G roster material. Soft Iowa sports media afraid to call a spade a spade in every situation presented to them whether its this or coach speak bullshit or a lying AD.
 
eyekwah said:
Based on observation the style of offense that McCaffery wants to play this season and future seasons does not work with the current roster. In turn that is contributing to the defensive break downs. It could be attributed to a number of factors with the current roster but mostly it comes down to asking the current players to fit into an offensive system they cannot succeed with given deficiencies with the guard play.

The juniors and seniors on the team never developed. Baer and Wagner can give you some good minutes but Iowa needed more from this group. Unfortunately it can't be fixed. Fortunately some of the teams at the top of the conference will be graduating a number of players and some will opt for the NBA draft. There is some hope with improving guard play and current players hitting the weight room.

I remain optimistic.
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This. Put me in the 'roster construction' category. No one complements the other on this roster. You have a bunch of guys with similar skill sets. Either you need some serious player development between now and November or you will have to run some dudes off. I am hoping for the former and not a fan of the latter, but I do not see any other options.
 
Fran has recruited size and with size comes a slow team. All season long we have seen players smaller just blow by us. We have seen quicker guys wide open along the perimeter just abuse us with the long ball. Hawks have to find a combination of players who can match up to smaller quicker teams. With current roster that Fran has now, that's a long shot at best.
 
Hawkfnntn said:
I saw Garza dunk with two hands last game. He's dunked more this year then Woody did his whole career just about. Is Garza going to be the next Tyler Cook in regards to his leaping ability? No he's not. It's something he can work on and get better at. He reminds me of a young Acie Earl. He wasn't an athletic marvel either but he could play basketball. Granted he was a ton better at blocking shots then Garza is so far but if Garza works at it he can be a damn good player.

JBo is going to smash assist records at Iowa. Iowa's had some really good ones. BJ was damn good obviously but he also had Roy Marble, Kevin Gamble, Ed Horton etc etc to pass to that were really good as well. JBo is going to pass him pretty easily in that regard. So if passing and shooting 3s aren't considered pt skills I don't know what is.
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Nice explanation
 
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