So what changed?

D

DimeHawk

Active Member
I'm curious what others feel changed for this team. Is it as simple as they were shooting lights out early on and now they aren't? Did teams adjust and Iowa had no answers? I'm asking because I really don't get how it changed so much over the course of 5 weeks.

If I were to give my opinion; I'd say it's ball movement. Early on the offense seemed in such a rhythm with the ball going in and out of the post. Always an extra pass on the perimeter. Now everything looks jammed up and forced. I don't know enough to see why or how. Did teams take that away or is it a breakdown?

Just wondering what others thought.
 
There are a lot of variables. But I'm just going to mention two. We quit making shots. This means we score less. And it makes it easier for the opponent to score in transition, play looser, etc. We also quit playing as smart...unforced turnovers, dumb fouls, etc.

Edit - I think it's just shooting after looking up the shooting percentages.
 
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Below are the FG% and the 3 PT%.

MSU - 48.2 & 46.2
@ PU - 43.1 & 36.8
NE - 43.6 & 41.2
@ MSU - 43.1 & 45.5
MI - 50.8 & 45.5
@ RUT - 47.7 & 37.9
PU - 50.0 & 55.0
@ MD - 42.9 & 20.8
NW - 42.4 & 36.8
PSU - 46.3 & 35.3
@ IL - 43.1 & 40.0
@ IN - 46.0 & 38.9
MN - 42.1 & 31.6
@ PSU - 41.2 & 33.3
WI - 32.7 & 27.8
@ OSU - 40.7 & 25.0
IN - 38.8 & 42.1

We never shot below 43.1% in the 10 wins...in the first 11 games. And we never shot below 35.3% from 3 during those same 10 games. Our percentages were fine @ Indiana but they can also score and are the conference champions. Since the 1st Indiana game we have never shot over 43.1% from the field. And we have shot over 35.3% from 3 once...against the Indiana team that can score and are conference champions.
 
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For 2/3 of the season the Hawks played great team basketball. Good movement on offense, hustling on defense & taking good care of the basketball. The last 1/3 of season turnovers are up, blocked shots are down, and shot selection is poor. The unsettling part is that this is the weak part of the Hawks schedule. Injuries?
 
WindsorHawk said:
Below are the FG% and the 3 PT%.

MSU - 48.2 & 46.2
@ PU - 43.1 & 36.8
NE - 43.6 & 41.2
@ MSU - 43.1 & 45.5
MI - 50.8 & 45.5
@ RUT - 47.7 & 37.9
PU - 50.0 & 55.0
@ MD - 42.9 & 20.8
NW - 42.4 & 36.8
PSU - 46.3 & 35.3
@ IL - 43.1 & 40.0
@ IN - 46.0 & 38.9
MN - 42.1 & 31.6
@ PSU - 41.2 & 33.3
WI - 32.7 & 27.8
@ OSU - 40.7 & 25.0
IN - 38.8 & 42.1

We never shot below 43.1% in the 10 wins...in the first 11 games. And we never shot below 35.3% from 3 during those same 10 games. Our percentages were fine @ Indiana but they can also score and are the conference champions. Since the 1st Indiana game we have never shot over 43.1% from the field. And we have shot over 35.3% from 3 once...against the Indiana team that can score and are conference champions.
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You certainly can see a trend there. I wonder how much these percentages are based on getting good shots? Early on we saw great ball movement/execution = High percentage. Recently we see poor execution and ball movement = Low percentage.
 
I honestly think teams have figured out how to play against us. Sag on Clemmons and MG, make them beat you deep and get in JU and PJ's shorts. Be physical with them. Uthoff is taking a lot of fade away jump shots and seems to be tired. Even when he has open looks, it seems like he is missing more than he is making them. The bench also struggled until the Indiana. With all that said, I can't explain the defense. It's not been good several times recently. If we score mid-70s, that should be enough to win.
 
Based on what I see above 43% and 35% are the key numbers. And I have some good news. The only Big 10 teams that play worse defense than Michigan are MN (5 spots behind MI) and Rutgers. So there is reason for optimism this Saturday.
 
DJL said:
I honestly think teams have figured out how to play against us. Sag on Clemmons and MG, make them beat you deep and get in JU and PJ's shorts. Be physical with them. Uthoff is taking a lot of fade away jump shots and seems to be tired. Even when he has open looks, it seems like he is missing more than he is making them. The bench also struggled until the Indiana. With all that said, I can't explain the defense. It's not been good several times recently. If we score mid-70s, that should be enough to win.
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I don't know about sagging off Gesell. Below are 3 point percentages for the season.

47.1 Uhl
43.1 Baer
41.6 Jok
39.5 Gesell
39.2 Uthoff
31.2 Clemmons

Uhl and Baer were taking & making more 3's earlier in the conference season. It was good to see Baer take (and make) a couple against Indiana.
 
WindsorHawk said:
I don't know about sagging off Gesell. Below are 3 point percentages for the season.

47.1 Uhl
43.1 Baer
41.6 Jok
39.5 Gesell
39.2 Uthoff
31.2 Clemmons

Uhl and Baer were taking & making more 3's earlier in the conference season. It was good to see Baer take (and make) a couple against Indiana.
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I think Gesell's percentage is just fine, he just doesn't shoot a lot of him. He is averaging 1.3 attemps per game and making .5 of them. That's not a big threat, so teams are backing off of him and cluttering things up. You basically have 2 guards who aren't much of a threat to score from deep and I don't need to get into Woodbury's offensive prowess. So that puts a lot more pressure on Jok and Uthoff. As I mentioned earlier, we need the bench to produce and they did against Indiana. We played well enough to win that game, but Indiana was on fire early and we could not execute down the stretch again. We can't do the same thing over and over at the end and expect different results. That's all I'm saying. Whether it's a timeout, or a different combo of players or something. That's up to the guy who makes a lot of money to figure out. After losing 5 games like this I would expect something to change.
 
What I've noticed also that earlier in the year, nobody knew many of our bench, that they really weren't tested very much, so it's good to see Baer & Uhl make shots, but, it seems like lately they aren't as aggressive. Baer did drain two crucial 3's the other night, but seems a little reserved to shoot it. I simply think that Iowa is pressing too much w/in their offense, doing too much of one thing and not so much in another area. On offense, a shooter (or rather a scorer) will always be able to get the ball in the hole. On defense, we're lacking aggressiveness on the rebounding and moving our feet, thing that we've noticed early on in the season. When you are relying on certain players to do certain things that worked early, you will be doomed...other players have to make up for that, so the defense is remaining honest...

Maybe it's a confidence factor, or lack thereof....
 
DimeHawk said:
I'm curious what others feel changed for this team.

Just wondering what others thought.
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What ever it is it's a real thing, because this skid looks almost identical to the one 2 years ago. I believe it could be mental and I also believe it involves stamina. Both hit in February. Fran should in this off season check with a nutritionist etc. regarding the effects on a body. I believe if he hasn't already, sit down with each player with a list of questions. Ask each player the same question. Compile the results and see if mentally their is a common thread. If it's on him then change. The only thing I noticed on him is that this skid and the skid 2 years ago there were alot of moments when an angry Fran was very visible.
 
dlbrandt said:
What ever it is it's a real thing, because this skid looks almost identical to the one 2 years ago. I believe it could be mental and I also believe it involves stamina. Both hit in February. Fran should in this off season check with a nutritionist etc. regarding the effects on a body. I believe if he hasn't already, sit down with each player with a list of questions. Ask each player the same question. Compile the results and see if mentally their is a common thread. If it's on him then change. The only thing I noticed on him is that this skid and the skid 2 years ago there were alot of moments when an angry Fran was very visible.
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Big difference: 2 years ago Fran's son was diagnosed with cancer.

But the commonality seems to be that when we get hot, we are easy enough for teams to figure out and adjust to, while WE don't seem to re-adjust quickly, if at all.
 
If Uthoff was shooting the same from 3 (remember he was draining deep 3's and contested 3's early in the year so it's not like they're defending him different out there) and the same percentage of contested fade away jumpers, we would have been up by double digits late in almost every loss we've had. That's not the only difference but it's the main one.

All the other small differences are the difference between beating MSU by double digits and what could have been a double digit win at Penn State if Uthoff maintained his pecentage. We were always going to be a bubble team with a decent Uthoff.

Also I don't think other teams figured us out because I refuse to believe Izzo couldn't figure us out but Tom Crean did.
 
Uthoff was looking like the runner up national player of the year a couple weeks ago. Since Maryland he's been playing like 2nd team Big 10 at best.
 
I think it is clear that the blueprint for beating the Hawks is well known. Rough up Utah and deny the ball to Jok. The rest takes care of itself.
 
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