so, olaseni STILL not starting over woodbury . yeah, I went there again

smhawk said:
I've seen Woodbury be a smarter defender, but as of late I don't know if I'd say he's better defender overall. And his rebounding has not improved much, lately seems like he's been lets boards bounce of his hands too much.

Gabe is averaging 18 minutes, I wish it'd be more in the area of 25. In three of four of Iowa's loses, Gabe played 13, 11, and 14 minutes. Feel like his play on good games has earn him enough credit to let him play out of struggles.

I don't really care who starts, but if you have to, put them both in at times just to see Gabe out their more. Spacing usually isn't too good but neither is the starting fives sometimes.

Who's minutes should Gabe take to get more? Maybe Uhl, even though he hasn't done too bad.
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In two of those games (Texas [13 min], ISU [14 min]), Gabe was in foul trouble. That limited his minutes. In the other (Syracuse [11 min]), Woody was playing a much better game.
 
Having both Gabe and Woody on this team is a good thing. If anyone wants to question why I think Fran needs to find another capable big for next season's team, look no further than Nebraska last night. They struggled defending the interior once Pitchford picked up his 2nd foul and went to the bench just 3 minutes into the game. Olaseni took advantage and dominated in the next 7 minutes with 6'7" players and a young 6'10" freshman Hammond, that had 3 fouls in 3 minutes, guarding him. I was as impressed with the post feeding as I was with Olaseni attacking the Nebraska front court.

Here is the scoring from the center position last night:
1st Half:
15:40 - Offensive rebound by Olaseni over 6'7" Rivers, went back up and scored while drawing a foul on a reaching Webster. Made the FT
14:42 - Oglesby fed the ball to Olaseni who turned to his right and went up drawing a foul on 6"7' Rivers. Made both FTs
14:03 - Jok fed the ball to Olaseni who turned to his right and went up drawing a foul on 6'10" freshman Hammond. Made both FTs
13:17 - Jok fed the ball to Olaseni, Hammond reached and was called for a foul. Bonus situation, Gabe made both FTs.
8:36 - Gesell fed the ball to Olaseni who rose up to his left with a turnaround jumper and scored over 6"7' Rivers.
3:40 - Gesell fed the ball to Woody who drove to his right, went up and drew a foul on 6'6" Petteway. Made 1 of 2 FTs
2:55 - Jok fed the ball to Woody who rose to his left with a turnaround jumper and scored over 6'10" Pitchford in foul trouble.
2:03* - Gesell penetrated and found Woody for an easy 2, refs called traveling on Woody... he did not travel.

1st Half Totals - Olaseni 11, Woodbury 3 should have been 5 = 14 total from the center position.

2nd Half:
15:26 - Clemmons fed the ball to Olaseni who ended up turning right and rising up and scored over Pitchford and drew a foul. Made the FT.
14:48 - Uthoff fed Olaseni who went right and rose up drawing a reaching foul on 6'7" Shields. Made both FTs.
9:57 - Uthoff fed Olaseni who went right and rose up drawing a reaching foul on 6'2" Smith. Made both FTs.

2nd Half Totals - Olaseni 7.

The team got away from feeding the post and became 3 point happy missing more than a handful in the 2nd half. I would like to see more of the post feeding like we saw in the first half going forward. That would cause perimeter defenders to collapse towards the interior to help defend and allow for more open shots from outside. Fran's teams have struggled to consistently feed the post but last nights 1st half performance was a nice surprise.

My point of this lengthy post is that we have a solid front court this season and need to use them. Also I don't want to end up with interior defense like Nebraska in a year so Fran needs to find another big for next season or this team will have to rely solely on Woody.
 
I think Woodbury can pass it better. Other than that, I think rebounding is a wash comparing the two. Oleseni seems to get to the line more as he is more active down low. I think Oleseni playing offense puts more pressure on the D to guard him because he's an active body. Both run the floor pretty well. When I say that I'm saying I'm surprised Woodbury runs as well as he does for being 9 ft tall. Woodbury may have better D positioning.

If Woodbury doesn't play, who's going to get their shot blocked by the underside of the rim or a 6' 4" guard!?
 
People get so defensive with the Woody Gabe comparison. When a post says "Gabe is playing a lot better than Woody is right now" I think people read it as "Woody sucks".

Gabe is playing way to good right now to not give him props because people might mistake it for Woody bashing.
 
There's a lot of good things Woody does, where Gabe might not, and visa versa....Who cares who starts, it's usually who can finish in my book, and Gabe has been that man down the stretch...
 
HawkPrdatr40 said:
You honestly think Gabe Iowa's most athletic player can't be effective playing 30 minutes?
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EDIT: Saw you admitted 32 minutes is a lot.

Look, we need both guys. I agree that Gabe is playing better at the moment. I just don't think starting is very important. Gabe should get more minutes if he continues to play at this level.
 
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PCHawk said:
People get so defensive with the Woody Gabe comparison. When a post says "Gabe is playing a lot better than Woody is right now" I think people read it as "Woody sucks".

Gabe is playing way to good right now to not give him props because people might mistake it for Woody bashing.
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I think you may be right to an extent. I think it is most likely because there are so many that constantly bash Woody and people are tired of it, including myself. That said, Gabe played a tremendous game last night, major props to him. This team is fortunate to have 2 guys that can play the 5 spot. Without one of them this team would lack depth like Nebraska and struggle to consistently defend the interior when fatigue and foul trouble come into play.
 
I don't have a problem with Gabe coming off the bench. He seems to thrive in that spot, especially this year so far. Besides, I think it would be pretty cool to see him win the 6th Man of the Year award, which he is a lock for if he keeps his play at this level. When was the last time a Hawkeye won that?

Edit: Doug Thomas in 2006
 
JG10Hawk said:
I think you may be right to an extent. I think it is most likely because there are so many that constantly bash Woody and people are tired of it, including myself. That said, Gabe played a tremendous game last night, major props to him. This team is fortunate to have 2 guys that can play the 5 spot. Without one of them this team would lack depth like Nebraska and struggle to consistently defend the interior when fatigue and foul trouble come into play.
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Oh, you mean Iowa basketball 5-6 yrs ago.
 
As much as I would have no issue if Gabe did get a start, I also love the fact we have his offensive productivity in the later stages of the half when the likes of White & Uthoff are getting a rest. I am personally rooting for Gabe to pull in that 6th Man award and could you imagine the legend status he would be if some NBA team decided to take a chance on the big fella?

Given some of the current shooting struggles just where would you see getting any sort of consistent offense if you had a 3-5 minutes spell with the following? I say let our EuroBeast continue to do his thing on the offensive glass as I think we can all agree there would be a few misses.

Gesell, Clemmons, Oglesby, Uhl, Woody
 
WindsorHawk said:
I disagree. I played organized sports. I didn't feel like a scrub when I didn't start. I didn't feel superior to the other guys when I did start.

I also know when I coached my players didn't feel like scrubs when they didn't start. If a player feels like a scrub when then don't start then that's on the coach. I'm pretty confident that Fran doesn't make his players feel like scrubs when they don't start.
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And if a player feels like a scrub because he doesn't start then it's quite possible because mommy/daddy are telling him that he's better than the starter and his coach doesn't know anything.
 
JonDMiller said:
One of the most overrated things in sports is who starts. the 'best' five players don't always start...certain people have personalities who are better in one place or another. Me, I'd rather play more minutes.
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I disagree Jon, all players want to start. Period.
 
I'd recommend watching the post game interview with Gabe. He says everyone has bought into their roles and that it's his personal goal to be the B1G 6th man of the year. Loved that comment. If a team buys into their roles then they can become special. People put too much stock in a starting 5. See Manu with the spurs and James Harden when he was with the Thunder.
 
I think that Woody has struggled this year with his confidence, which is odd since he played so great against Syracuse, Texas, and UNC. He has the lowest FG% of his 3 years so far. He is also avg. more TO per game than he ever has as well (1.9 TPG).....which is crazy hi considering he isn't a player with the ball in his hand much. He has the 5th highest TO% (turnovers per 100 plays) at 25% in the B1G.

On the flip side Gabe is having his best year, and he is gaining confidence each and every game it seems. He is shooting 12% better from the field than Woody (58% vs 46%) and is active around the basket.

I hope Woody figures it out, as this team needs him more than last years team did. He has got to stop turning the ball over, and start being more aggressive down on the block. Who cares if you get blocked, catch the ball in the post and then turn and shoot.
 
GVhawk10 said:
I'd recommend watching the post game interview with Gabe. He says everyone has bought into their roles and that it's his personal goal to be the B1G 6th man of the year. Loved that comment. If a team buys into their roles then they can become special. People put too much stock in a starting 5. See Manu with the spurs and James Harden when he was with the Thunder.
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Anyone with any PR sense would say publicly that he is comfortable in his role, regardless of how dissatisfied he might be privately. Would you honestly expect him to say, "Yeah, I think I deserve to start and I don't know why Coach doesn't understand that" or "Most of us are happy in our roles except for a few crybabies"... the safe answer to give to the press is that everyone is happy in their roles, that there is excellent team chemistry, etc. I'm not saying there isn't excellent team chemistry or that Gabe isn't comfortable coming off the bench... I'm just saying that you can't learn anything substantive about it from a press interview because almost everything comes out sugar-coated.
 
DDThompson said:
And if a player feels like a scrub because he doesn't start then it's quite possible because mommy/daddy are telling him that he's better than the starter and his coach doesn't know anything.
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When I was coaching HS basketball, that was my experience. The parents of one player had him brainwashed to the point that he wouldn't contribute off the bench because he believed he should be starting. His points came mostly against second team opponents and I found his scoring invaluable, but when he started he disappeared. So I put him back as a top sub and his parents convinced him to stop playing hard until he started, no matter how much I tried to convince him otherwise.
 
Part of basketball is putting together groups that compliment each other. When iowa subs and guys like white and uhl and gesell leave the court the athleticism goes down on the court. When Woody comes out we increase the athleticism. Gabe gives the back ups the athleticism and scoring they need. Woody compliments the starters better because he excels at position defense and passing. He fits with them better as he can help them in ways that gabe is deficient. But the back ups need a shot blocker at center to help their deficiencies on defense. Plus they need a center who has more of a scoring attitude as they are more of role players.
 
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