So what can you say after Drake game?

1) Count me as a happy idiot that thought Drake could be a big problem for Iowa (I apologize if I worried any little boys)
2) The game was close with a ton of lead changes in the first half.
3) Drake lost by 1 ON THE ROAD at Minnesota (RPI 36). They played Iowa (RPI 186) on a neutral court.
3) Please show me where any poster on this board said Drake was going to shred Iowa as I haven't been able to find it.
Iowa has tons of problems with smaller guard oriented teams and Drake is a smaller guard oriented team with a lot of experience and they are flat out moving at a rate of speed that Iowa is nowhere near right now. I don't know if CMac is ready to play 30 mins yet and I am not sure how healthy JBo is, but if Drake comes out like they did against Mn, look out.
Drake did look pretty good. I wish Iowa had their PG. They better be quick against Iowa. They have no size.
Timmer and Woodward
Shut down Timmer and Woodward or McMurray will kill you. The 4 Drake guards had 16 assists to 5 to's in Williams arena. I am just sayin', only an idiot thinks Drake is an underdog in this game.

This was the narrative Pre-Drake, including posts from you. You may not have said Drake’s guards will shred Iowa, but you certainly implied it.
 
People are so dramatic.
Just look at the football board. After the Penn State game people were posting how Iowa would likely run the table to a rematch with Penn State in Indy. A few weeks later after losses to MSU and NW and posters were saying Iowa wouldn’t win a game the rest of the year. As with most things the answer probably lies somewhere in between.
 
My thoughts on the game: Yeah, Drake stinks so it doesn't mean a lot in terms of sustained success this year, but Iowa easily handled a team they should have, which you want to see. They did a good job of playing to their strengths (inside game) and kept going to the well. Good. Scratch where it itches.

Iowa's inside game looked good (albeit against a small team), but I think the back court obviously remains an issue. Too much penetration allowed and not a ton of offensive firepower out there other than the occasional made 3. Outside shooting doesn't appear to be a strength unlike a couple years ago with Jok and Uthoff filling it up. Gonna have to find a way to keep pounding the ball inside to have success IMO, but I expect a lot of opposing D's to pack it in and force us to beat them from the perimeter, until we prove that we can.
 
  • RPIs have been used to keep the Hawkeyes out of tourney when we finished .500 or better in the B1G. Some may think they can judge teams more objectively, but the NCAA uses this as a criterion
  • Iowa turns the ball over A LOT. Even against Drake, we had 14 turnovers. However, Drake had 25+ TOs. What I have seen is that turnover margin is the key stat in our win/loss record
Yes, the NCAA has used RPI in the selection process in the past. If I recall they are using it less and less now as it is a very flawed metric.

If people want to continue to use RPI as a metric to judge teams, they are likely to be completely wrong, just as they were with Saturday’s game. Vegas lines usually come in pretty close to the KenPom predicator, and as we know Vegas usually gets it right.

To your point about the turnovers, I agree. That has been the biggest issue this season, and one that I don’t think anyone really predicted. It wasn’t a glaring issue last year, and I’m almost positive that Jok led our team in turnovers. I think it’s actually a product of playing so many bigs, however most of the posters around here think it’s because our guards stink. It’s probably a little of both.
 
Here's a hot take. Turnovers and free throw shooting are killing us.

Team ranks:
FT% - 309th
Turnovers - 282nd

Iowa's ranks are actually decent in almost every other major stat.
 
My thoughts on the game: Yeah, Drake stinks so it doesn't mean a lot in terms of sustained success this year, but Iowa easily handled a team they should have, which you want to see. They did a good job of playing to their strengths (inside game) and kept going to the well. Good. Scratch where it itches.

Iowa's inside game looked good (albeit against a small team), but I think the back court obviously remains an issue. Too much penetration allowed and not a ton of offensive firepower out there other than the occasional made 3. Outside shooting doesn't appear to be a strength unlike a couple years ago with Jok and Uthoff filling it up. Gonna have to find a way to keep pounding the ball inside to have success IMO, but I expect a lot of opposing D's to pack it in and force us to beat them from the perimeter, until we prove that we can.
I disagree about the outside shooting. I think that can be one of the strengths of this years team. I think during a recent Iowa game they said we were like 2nd or 3rd in the B1G for 3 point shooting.

15-16: 8.1 made 3PG / 37.4%
17-18: 8.5 made 3PG / 38.3%

Now smart money would say those numbers will go down this year during the B1G season, however let’s recall that Baer has only played in 6 games, and the majority of his minutes were probably going to Wagner or another big while he was out.

With Nunge now playing primarily at the 4, and Baer playing heavy minutes at the 3, I think Iowa becomes a solid 3pt shooting team (which is why I said we should move Nunge down to the 4). You have a lot of options starting with Bohannon, Moss, and Baer as your top 3, but you also have Dailey and Ellingson off the bench, and Nunge. Sprinkle in a few from Kriener, Garza, and Mccaf, and you’re looking at a pretty good 3pt shooting team.

The most important thing will be getting guys open looks, which will come from TC dominating inside and getting more stops on the defensive end that will allow us to run.
 
All true. I did see better ball movement on offense but again Drake did not have big guys inside to stop a lot of high low passes. Cant get much info from this game. Drake's quick guards were still able to penetrate which is not good. As for ISU yes, their quick guards got to the rim alot against UNI but I thought the hawks were in position to win in Ames and Iowa didnt even play that well up there. Not sure how good the Big 12 is but if Iowa can almost beat ISU at AMes when Iowa not playing great that doesnt bode well for ISU.

If you are a KenPom guy, and there are a lot of them on the board, all 10 Big 12 teams are in the top 60 and ISU is dead last in the conference.
 
If you are a KenPom guy, and there are a lot of them on the board, all 10 Big 12 teams are in the top 60 and ISU is dead last in the conference.

Of course we love KenPom, it claims we're a top 75 team!!

RPI:

Some+idiot+in+my+math+class+the+other+day+said+_9493185c451270134e55599e2659813e.gif



KenPom:

giphy.gif
 
Well there's your problem using RPI to judge the quality of opponent. UAB is 110 in KenPom, Drake is 195. UAB is our best win by far.

That's the trouble with having 5 different metrics to rank a win. But ... I like where you're at and agree with you. Thanks for pointing it out.
 
Yes, the NCAA has used RPI in the selection process in the past. If I recall they are using it less and less now as it is a very flawed metric.

If people want to continue to use RPI as a metric to judge teams, they are likely to be completely wrong, just as they were with Saturday’s game. Vegas lines usually come in pretty close to the KenPom predicator, and as we know Vegas usually gets it right.

People said this last year, but it remained the best predictor of who did and did not make the tournament. It will probably remain that way until the NCAA releases their new metrics next season.
 
People said this last year, but it remained the best predictor of who did and did not make the tournament. It will probably remain that way until the NCAA releases their new metrics next season.
BryceC is correct. They said the were using it less but it was glaringly obvious it is still what they are using to make the majority of decisions.
 
This was the narrative Pre-Drake, including posts from you. You may not have said Drake’s guards will shred Iowa, but you certainly implied it.
You said "where are the posters
This was the narrative Pre-Drake, including posts from you. You may not have said Drake’s guards will shred Iowa, but you certainly implied it.

I said "IF" THE DRAKE GUARDS PLAY LIKE THEY DID AGAINST MINNESOTA, LOOK OUT. Do you not understand the word IF? My post was in reference to 2 talk show regulars that seemed to be giving Drake no chance to win even after the Minnesota game. There is a big difference between WOULD and COULD.
 
People said this last year, but it remained the best predictor of who did and did not make the tournament. It will probably remain that way until the NCAA releases their new metrics next season.
That may be the case, but aren’t we arguing two different things here? People are talking about the NCAA tournament selection (which by the way is done at the end of the year), and we are talking about comparing teams on the floor right now.

Prior to the Drake game someone mentioned that Iowa’s RPI was above 200. If someone actually believes that there are 200 college basketball teams better than Iowa, than they are absolutely moronic and I have no use in discussing with them and that is exactly why the RPI system is extremely flawed. Did you know that Towson currently ranks 33 in the RPI, which ranks ahead of Miami and Gonzaga?

C’mon people! The RPI is garbage, especially at the beginning of the year. Wake up.
 
Clearly hyperbole, but the point remains. Just makes me laugh reading threads from Hawkeye posters claiming they wish we had Drake’s guards (yes there were posters saying this), only to play them and completely blow the doors off of them.
it's a team game. So, wishing we had one or 2 of Drake's guards, has nothing to do with winning or losing the game. I'm sure Drake wishes they had 1 or 2 of our bigs. They might have blown our doors off, if they did. Just makes me laugh, the lengths some posters will go, to be the apologist victim.
 
The conference slate is still favorable and we should win the next 3 all at home.

So I'll go with 3-0.
Next 2 conference games against Mich & OSU but both at home. I'll take a split- 1-1.
Then on the road to Maryland, IL and Rutgers. I'll go with 1-2.
3 out of the next 4 at home... I'll go with 2-2 against Purdue, Wisconsin, Nebraska and Minnesota
Penn St/Mich State - 0-2
Next 3 on the road.. 1-2
Finish up with Minny & Northwestern - I'll go 1-1

I have them at 8-9 to end the year so pretty close to .500
I see 6 wins left on the schedule. 3 or 4 conference wins. Maybe 5, if we get some bounces.
Michigan - Toss up, slight edge to Michigan
OSU - Loss
@ Maryland - Loss
@ILL - Win
@ Rutgers - Loss
Purdue - Loss
Wisconsin - Toss up, slight edge Iowa
@ Nebraska - Loss
Minnesota - Toss up.
@ Penn St - Loss
MSU - Loss
@ OSU - Loss
@ Michigan - Loss
Indiana - Loss
@ Minnesota - Loss
Northwestern - Win
 
it's a team game. So, wishing we had one or 2 of Drake's guards, has nothing to do with winning or losing the game. I'm sure Drake wishes they had 1 or 2 of our bigs. They might have blown our doors off, if they did. Just makes me laugh, the lengths some posters will go, to be the apologist victim.
I agree it is a team game.

My point was really in reference to the thread where people were saying we could use their guards, to which I still maintain is funny. What I responded to that, is for the most part there is a reason these guys are mid major players.

I watched the game Saturday, and I’m not sure I’d take any of their guards. Sure I’d probably take Timmer over say Ellingson, but I wouldn’t take him over Bohannon or Moss. Even so Timmer would not fix any of the issues people currently have with our guard play. Their other guards wouldn’t get court time on Iowa in my estimation.

Here is a look at Timmer vs B1G opponents the last two games:
6/24 FG - 25%
3/12 3s - 25%

Again, for the most part there is a reason these guys are mid major players.

Btw I am no apologist, I call Fran on many things. But I also will call other posters on blatant BS like saying we need Drake’s guards.
 

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