Starting 5 for Iowa: The Hawkeye State

[InGoodCo]

That is a nice list of 8 Iowans over the past 20 years who were solid players. Now do the same with Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Indiana, and Ohio. You will find the number of talented bball players in those states is exponentially higher. For that reason, we have to bring in out of staters just to stay on par with the rest of the league.

Next year's wonderful all Iowa team will be projected to be between 7th and 9th in the Big 10. If that is what you strive for, then your expectations are too low.

For a guy with the word law in your tag line, you always say some of the dumbest stuff on this site. Iowa, for it's size and population, produces more d1 players than other similar sized states. Don't buy it? Check out this link

http://mode.github.io/blog/2014-01-21-basketball-hometowns/index.html#

and a lot of them, like a lot that have been listed Barnes, Mcdermott, Paige, Tuttle, Uthoff are all conference type guys. If Iowa can own the state consistently, they are going to be winning 20+ games and dancing every season.

 

[trj]

I worry you may be right about him at the defensive end. His lateral ability just isn't that great. That said if a guy plays smart he can compensate for that. He has the size and length to be a decent defender so long as the effort is there along with playing smart.

Agreed.

I expect he'll be more then just a catch and shoot guy at the offensive end. He showed glimpses last year of trying to go to the hole some. He's doing it in the prime time league too. Besides just keeping the defense honest and taking what they give you he's just such a darn good free throw shooter he needs to try and get there more. I think the competition of the new guys Moss, Flemming, Ellingston etc I think he'll have to improve or see his mins go down.

Agree to disagree. I do not think he will be anything more than a catch and shoot guy. He lacks a overall explosive first step and doesn't have the athleticism and quickness to compensate for it. He will occasionally catch people on his hip and be able to turn the corner on some guys, but he won't be able to do it consistently and against good defensive teams. If he is getting 20-25 minutes a game all I am asking for is 40% or better FG%.