That was fun

[Eyehawk320]

Wish we could play again tomorrow. That had to feel great for the players after last year and raise the excitement for the fan base. Let’s hope Oregon and UConn go on to have great seasons in their leagues.

Positives:

-We had the advantage inside and we dominated with that. Garza looks like he’s taken another step forward

-Cmac played tremendous with passion and smarts

-Moss quietly had two solid nights. He’s an enigma, everyone wants him to be something that he’s not and go out and get 15 a night. He’s a spot up jump shooter, just enjoy watching that

-Kriener looks much stronger and should be a quality big man off the bench

-Defense! As a unit playing much better in that regard. Closing out under control and recovering much better than last year

Areas to improve:

-Turnovers. 18 more tonight. We handled the pressure okay at times but there was times where our guards couldn’t get us initiated into our offense. Cmac helps but I think we are going to need our big men, specifically Cook to relieve pressure

-Weiskamp. Had a tough tournament but I’m not too concerned. He will be a quality player for us he’s just getting his feet wet.

I'm not entirely sold on moss yet. He did hit two early 3s against Oregon but then didn't do much. Same against Uconn, then didn't do much after. I like daily a lot more. Daily is more consistent. One thing about Moss, he doesn't seem to finish at the basket. He can beat his guy on the dribble but misses a lot of layups. Daily looks like a better defender then Moss and finishes at the rim more often. Although Moss is better at shooting the 3 then Daily.

Agree with weiskamp, he wasn't that effective this tournament but was active on the boards. Not worried about him at all. He's going to have up and down moments, but when season is over, he'll have a good year

 

[deanvogs]

I think it’s clear that Connor might have helped this team last year and the record might have looked different. When Christian Williams left last year, it spun a web of shit on Fran’s plan. But he did have a backup plan, and that was Connor. Connor likely beat Williams which is why he was rumored to be leaving. Fran didn’t have a back plan for his kid getting sick. That’s unfortunate and thats tough, and a lot of Iowa fans turned on him the first chance they got. I’m extremely excited that this team might be able to get some redemption.

I wonder if having a coaches kid also disrupted some of the team chemistry last year? You know how it goes, coaches kid comes in and displaces a player, and that kid is gonna think it is because he is the coaches kid, and you might have friendships on the team that it is upsetting to them too. Fast forward a year and if you want out you transfer out, and the ones that stay have obviously gotten past any hangs up they had about the coaches kid and they can move forward as a team.

Just throwing it out, because something just seemed off chemistry wise last year as well.

 

[hawkation]

Crazy what playing defense will do for a team. Can you imagine having these stat lines over 2 games and NOT getting blown out by 20 last year? Iowa had 33 turnovers and shot 44% from the field. Those are losing numbers if you aren't playing good defense....

Agree. Some offensive stats are misleading when one team has a large lead majority of the game. I couldn't believe how many turnovers Iowa had against Uconn after watching the entire game. Iowa took some bad shots & dumb turnovers when leading +20 pts. Every time the lead was cut close to 10, Iowa answered. That's not the same team we all saw last year.

 

[atomicblue224]

Can you imagine having two parents who played Division 1 college basketball? Connor learned a lot of basketball wisdom growing up. I'm impressed with how cool he is when he is playing. I can't wait til to see two brothers playing on the same court. Iowa can easily own B1G. I have gut feelings that it's gonna be fun from now on to watch the Hawkeyes! I'm never gonna be too tired to win!

 

[HawkPrdatr40]

Can you imagine having two parents who played Division 1 college basketball? Connor learned a lot of basketball wisdom growing up. I'm impressed with how cool he is when he is playing. I can't wait til to see two brothers playing on the same court. Iowa can easily own B1G. I have gut feelings that it's gonna be fun from now on to watch the Hawkeyes! I'm never gonna be too tired to win!

Iowa can easily win the BIG?? The BIG is going to be a blood bath from what I’ve seen so far in this early season. Who ever wins the BIG Will have earned it.

 

[ssckelley]

pls remember how fun this was when we are failing down the strech and we want fran fired

Or when we look like crap against Alabama State? lol

 

[lightning1]

Can you imagine having two parents who played Division 1 college basketball? Connor learned a lot of basketball wisdom growing up. I'm impressed with how cool he is when he is playing. I can't wait til to see two brothers playing on the same court. Iowa can easily own B1G. I have gut feelings that it's gonna be fun from now on to watch the Hawkeyes! I'm never gonna be too tired to win!

 

[atomicblue224]

 

[atomicblue224]

 

[NikeHawk21]

I’m not gonna find it because you didn’t say it. I apologize and was drunk off booze and victory late last night and completely whiffed. I am sorry and apologize. I even spelled Connor’s name wrong. Can we agree that you did however grandstand all summer long about Connor’s worthiness to play at this level?

I said I thought he was more of a mid major player. After the last two games that appears to be inaccurate, however it’s two games.

Rember Pemsl freshman year? He had tons of great games, here we are his junior year and many posters around here say he’d be better suited at UNI.

Long season. Let’s see how it all plays out, the last two games were great, but we have no idea what any of the teams in the 2K Classic will be like in two months.

 

[InGoodCo]

I said I thought he was more of a mid major player. After the last two games that appears to be inaccurate, however it’s two games.

Rember Pemsl freshman year? He had tons of great games, here we are his junior year and many posters around here say he’d be better suited at UNI.

Long season. Let’s see how it all plays out, the last two games were great, but we have no idea what any of the teams in the 2K Classic will be like in two months.

You’re wrong and you’ll face that soon enough, so I guess there’s no need to rush to the crow. I’m not putting ya on blast, but I want you to admit it. You’ve been bullish on Garza too and I think your takes on him have sailed. I appreciate when people can admit they are wrong but its so hard, especially after mentioning that Connor was a mid major player on nearly every thread of the off season. Like you would bring that up on a discussion about Cook. You’d bring up Connor wasn’t good enough for the B1G on discussion about iowa football. I’m gonna enjoy you walking that back now. Iowa is gonna lose some games this year, and Connor is going to have some bad ones, he’s a first year guy who still has a ton of growth..... that’s still not gonna prove you’re right about him because you’re not. Maybe he was ranked where he was because he’s good.

 

[InGoodCo]

I said I thought he was more of a mid major player. After the last two games that appears to be inaccurate, however it’s two games.

Rember Pemsl freshman year? He had tons of great games, here we are his junior year and many posters around here say he’d be better suited at UNI.

Long season. Let’s see how it all plays out, the last two games were great, but we have no idea what any of the teams in the 2K Classic will be like in two months.

Also, I should add that I say this to you in the friendliest way possible. I don’t think you’re dumb or that you don’t know what your talking about or should be shunned or shamed. It’s just fun and discussion and I think Connor has plenty of flaws.... but he’s also got a swagger and is smart and tough. He hasn’t been good enough for Iowa fans from the get go, he knows what’s up with that.
Being right is over rated and everyone’s been wrong on here before. I’ve been wrong about plenty, doesn’t mean shit. I appreciate your opinions on Iowa sports and that’s why I engage with ya. I’m pretty happy with Iowa’s start as ya can tell, but I still know they’re gonna break my heart. Ultimately I know your a fan and want them to win too.

 

[NikeHawk21]

You’re wrong and you’ll face that soon enough, so I guess there’s no need to rush to the crow. I’m not putting ya on blast, but I want you to admit it. You’ve been bullish on Garza too and I think your takes on him have sailed. I appreciate when people can admit they are wrong but its so hard, especially after mentioning that Connor was a mid major player on nearly every thread of the off season. Like you would bring that up on a discussion about Cook. You’d bring up Connor wasn’t good enough for the B1G on discussion about iowa football. I’m gonna enjoy you walking that back now. Iowa is gonna lose some games this year, and Connor is going to have some bad ones, he’s a first year guy who still has a ton of growth..... that’s still not gonna prove you’re right about him because you’re not. Maybe he was ranked where he was because he’s good.

The word I believe you are looking for is “bearish” on Garza. Although that’s not really true either but I guess at this point you’re on a roll. I said he’s closer to his basketball ceiling than others. That hasn’t been proven inaccurate, Garza was really quite good last year which I already said and he’ll be a great Hawkeye which I already said. We had a major size advantage against UConn and took advantage of it, which was awesome.

I’ve already said in multiple threads that Connor has been really impressive so far. I’m not ready to anoint him just yet but as a Hawkeye fan I certainly hope his strong play continues. I’m fully expecting and hoping to have my crow but it’s a long season. I think of it a little like baseball, sometimes these guys burst onto the scene hitting unbelievable numbers, but after awhile the pitchers get the book on them and they cool down. In a way that could happen to Connor if he’s not knocking down outside shots guys might just sag off of him and hurt the spacing. I also don’t think he will continue to average 7 FT attempts per game. Who knows, I do think his strength from the guard spot and post entries will continue to be a positive for Iowa.

I’d also like to point out I might be right about a few things as well. One of my biggest narratives the last year has been that Iowa needs to play smaller and cut down on the big man rotation. By virtue of the Nunge redshirt and Pemsl injury Fran had no choice but to do that, and we played two pretty solid games in NYC.

 

[1977Hawkeye]

Frans best team he has had at Iowa was the Gesell Woodbury uthoff team that got beat in ncaa tourney . This team would kill that team

Whoa there. That team was pretty darned good.. for a while. Depends on if we're talking about the January version of that team, the one that blew out MSU in East Lansing, or the February/March version that couldn't even beat Penn State. Two totally different teams.

Great start for sure, but think a few people need to pump the brakes a bit and not get so carried away. We've seen a lot of great starts to seasons.. But as we've found out all too well, a good November hasn't always translated into February and March.

Not trying to be a buzzkill, but I've been pantsed by iowa basketball way too many times the past 20 years. So I have to stay in cautious optimism mode.