The Official Western Carolina...Who?....Game Thread

InGoodCo said:
That's not only dishonest, its a completely weak take on a team that is in the process of going 11-0 in the non con and has been ranked for 5 weeks in a row. Their only loses are to top 25 caliber opponents thus far. If you don't expect Iowa to win more than 4 B1G games this season, you haven't been watching, but I doubt you ever have.
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Take off the black and gold glasses, do you see a top 25 team and NCAA tournament team here?

I don't see a top 25 team in Iowa and I'm not sure they can win enough games to get into the tournament (so I'm iffy). These next 5 conference games could make or break us.
 
PCHawk said:
The really good thing is they kept trying on defense for the most part. I would rather them suck on offense in a second half blowout than quit trying on defense. Something new at least.
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I wasn’t too impressed with the defensive effort either. They let WCU throw it in the post whenever they felt like it in the 2H.

Again, finals week game right before the holidays so I’m not going to get too worked up about it. I’d rather play like that in that game than a game against a good opponent.
 
ssckelley said:
Take off the black and gold glasses, do you see a top 25 team and NCAA tournament team here?

I don't see a top 25 team in Iowa and I'm not sure they can win enough games to get into the tournament (so I'm iffy). These next 5 conference games could make or break us.
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I definitely see a team that can make the tournament so far. That's not black and gold glasses or a homer take. Every bracketology has them currently in the field. I haven't thought they were a top 25 team at any point, but the fact is, there resume so far deserves that when compared to their peers. Their only losses so far are to 2 top 25 teams. When is it OK for Iowa fans to feel good about this team? Is it ever.
 
NikeHawk21 said:
I wasn’t too impressed with the defensive effort either. They let WCU throw it in the post whenever they felt like it in the 2H.

Again, finals week game right before the holidays so I’m not going to get too worked up about it. I’d rather play like that in that game than a game against a good opponent.
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They did feed the post easy but they defended hard when it was in there. Maybe that was the game plan against that big dude?
 
NikeHawk21 said:
This is a good point. I think they were focusing on their half court offensive sets, and as you saw in the second half probably for good reason. For as good as an offensive team as this can be, sometimes watching their half court offense is cringeworthy.
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The sets where they were trying to have JBO run the baseline through multiple screens like Jok used to do was kind of a waste of time. JBO just doesn't have the speed or quickness to do it.
 
ssckelley said:
Take off the black and gold glasses, do you see a top 25 team and NCAA tournament team here?

I don't see a top 25 team in Iowa and I'm not sure they can win enough games to get into the tournament (so I'm iffy). These next 5 conference games could make or break us.
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This season is 1/3 of the way over and so far they are playing like a tournament team. Of our 18 remaining conference games, probably 14 of those are equivalent to ISU/UCONN/Oregon/Pitt. Those are teams we went 4-0 against and only one was close at the end.

A lot can happen the rest of the way. But if we continue to play this exact way, we are probably in the tourney.
 
PCHawk said:
They did feed the post easy but they defended hard when it was in there. Maybe that was the game plan against that big dude?
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Not sure on that.

WCU traveled about 10 times that weren’t called. They were really really bad.

Sometimes when you play teams that bad it’s hard to get into a rhythm and you play down to their level.
 
InGoodCo said:
When is it OK for Iowa fans to feel good about this team? Is it ever.
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Healzya said:
The sets where they were trying to have JBO run the baseline through multiple screens like Jok used to do was kind of a waste of time. JBO just doesn't have the speed or quickness to do it.
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More so than speed and quickness I would say it’s a size thing. Jok at 6’6 didn’t need a whole lot of room to get his shot off.

I’ve made it pretty clear that I don’t think moving JBo off the ball has proven to be that wise. He just seems lost offensively now. With that said he needs to shoot with confidence when he’s open. Seems like he’s passing up some decent looks for some reason.
 
ssckelley said:
Bracketology's are based on where they are at right now. Yes, if the season ended today Iowa would be in the tournament.
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Right, so far, at this point of the year, they "look" like a team that will be in the NCAA's. That's all we can really go off of right? I get being skeptical tho, so it's not like I am saying you're crazy...but in the same breath, me saying they look like an NCAA team isn't black and gold glasses, it's the truth.
 
PCHawk said:
This season is 1/3 of the way over and so far they are playing like a tournament team. Of our 18 remaining conference games, probably 14 of those are equivalent to ISU/UCONN/Oregon/Pitt. Those are teams we went 4-0 against and only one was close at the end.

A lot can happen the rest of the way. But if we continue to play this exact way, we are probably in the tourney.
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Only stipulation is many of those level games are going to be on the road.

Kenpom has us at 35, which normally would be a tournament team, however 35th is good for 9th place in our league. Sitting with an 0-2 conference record and a schedule that doesn’t do us a whole lot of favors it’s going to be an absolute grind. I think we will have to turn it up a notch to make the dance, and we are certainly capable.

I’m pretty happy with the results so far but if I look at how we have played I guess I’m not super convinced. I think we’ve looked like crap against UMKC, GB, Pitt, MSU, WCU and quite frankly didn’t play very well against Wisconsin. That’s 5 or 6 games out of 11 we haven’t played well, I don’t think that’s suistanable in the B10. Again we can and will improve but how much will be the question.

Gun to my head right now I’d probably still say this is a NIT team, however I think college b-ball is down a ton this year in general.
 
ssckelley said:
I don't want to come off as a negative Nancy but I don't think we are worthy of our top 25 ranking either. I hope I'm wrong but I wouldn't be surprised if Iowa started 0-7 in Big Ten play. Iowa has a decent team but the Big Ten is up this year and it will be a struggle for them to reach the NCAA tournament. The teams Iowa beat to get that ranking were not as good as everyone thought they were.
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Moving forward. Garza has to stay on the court and be a 30 minute guy every night. He has to avoid the silly fouls that put him on the bench. Ryan Kreiner, this is your time. Cordell isn't there to help. You want to be a man in the B1G, time to give us fifteen-eighteen strong minutes a night. Maishe, we need you, son. Teams like Michigan sometimes play four guards. Isiah, keep doing what you've been doing since Iowa State. You're an upperclassman now. Jordan, embrace your new role. It's for the good of the team. You will still get plenty of opportunities to show your B1G experience. Joe W., don't let these moments get bright. Keep giving us ten a night and you're fine. Fran, don't be a wallflower when a taut game comes down to executing one or two possessions. Make them your possessions of the night.

It's all right there. Steal a couple on the road, get to 11 or 12 B1G wins, and see how it plays out. Play with the intensity, emotion, and passion that you head man claims he coaches with.
 
PCHawk said:
The really good thing is they kept trying on defense for the most part. I would rather them suck on offense in a second half blowout than quit trying on defense. Something new at least.
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Yeah, cuz we have almost a whole conference season to "stop" playing defense :)
 
NikeHawk21 said:
I wasn’t too impressed with the defensive effort either. They let WCU throw it in the post whenever they felt like it in the 2H.

Again, finals week game right before the holidays so I’m not going to get too worked up about it. I’d rather play like that in that game than a game against a good opponent.
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Ohio State was losing at home to Youngstown St (#289 in RPI) last night at halftime. It happens. I am not saying Iowa is a great team, but this is the hard part of the season to try and grind through with lesser opponents, low crowd energy (and actual people :)) and the holidays. Get the wins, get some work in, and get to conference play.
 
InGoodCo said:
Right, so far, at this point of the year, they "look" like a team that will be in the NCAA's. That's all we can really go off of right? I get being skeptical tho, so it's not like I am saying you're crazy...but in the same breath, me saying they look like an NCAA team isn't black and gold glasses, it's the truth.
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The resume’ right now is that of an NCAA tournament team.

The eye test as I just mentioned in my previous post could probably be debated. We’ve looked really good at times, and we’ve looked pretty crumby at times.

I do think college basketball is down this year. Purdue ranks 17th in the Kenpom, I’ve watched them a few times and was very unimpressed. Villanova is top 20 and they’ve lost to Furnan and Penn. Got abused by Michigan at home.

With that said unfortunately the B1G and Iowa’s schedule just does not do us a ton of favors. Like I’ve said before, if we get to 10 wins in conference, we will have earned our ticket into the dance.
 
NikeHawk21 said:
Only stipulation is many of those level games are going to be on the road.

Kenpom has us at 35, which normally would be a tournament team, however 35th is good for 9th place in our league. Sitting with an 0-2 conference record and a schedule that doesn’t do us a whole lot of favors it’s going to be an absolute grind. I think we will have to turn it up a notch to make the dance, and we are certainly capable.

I’m pretty happy with the results so far but if I look at how we have played I guess I’m not super convinced. I think we’ve looked like crap against UMKC, GB, Pitt, MSU, WCU and quite frankly didn’t play very well against Wisconsin. That’s 5 or 6 games out of 11 we haven’t played well, I don’t think that’s suistanable in the B10. Again we can and will improve but how much will be the question.

Gun to my head right now I’d probably still say this is a NIT team, however I think college b-ball is down a ton this year in general.
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We've looked bad against one p5 school. 2 if you count Pitt which you certainly can. I think Pitt played great that game more so than we played bad, but they kind of go hand in hand. In also not going to put much stock in how they played against non p5 schools because that's a completely different game. In my opinion we are pretty close to exactly 50/50 on making the tourney.
 
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