WestCoastHawk
Well-Known Member
That is all.
This team is better than last year's.
- Thread starter WestCoastHawk
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ibahawkeye
Well-Known Member
too early to tell but i hope you're right.
glidinghawk
Well-Known Member
Agreed, but not by a lot.
NEIChawk
Well-Known Member
Sometimes Gliding...all we need is to win by "not a lot" compared to losing by "not a lot"......This year we might get that accomplished....time will tell...
bcl20
Well-Known Member
There just hasn't been evidence either for or against a statement like that. I think the potential to be better is there. I think we have more players that fit the way we play. McCabe and Basabe (as much as I liked Mel) seemed undersized and Marble (as good as he was, and he was good) played more hero ball than one would like in an offense like ours. That said, there's a lot of question marks and I'm not sure we have a really good player (White may be but we'll see)
New York will show us something about this team. That's a trip that has me both nervous and excited.
New York will show us something about this team. That's a trip that has me both nervous and excited.
lightning1
Well-Known Member
I think you may be right and that's based on the fact that we don't have 4 guys standing around waiting for 1 guy to score. I also think it bares noting that White is playing the 4 and Uthoff is playing the 3.
jacknicholson
Well-Known Member
We certainly seem somewhat more multifaceted.......
atomicblue224
Well-Known Member
Is Iowa playing better defense?
Yes, the defense is better this year. And, although there isn't a player like RDM, there are more scorers and shooters. This team will be harder to stop.
RocknRollface
Well-Known Member
It wasn't that hard to forsee this team would be better IMO. I said it a bunch last spring after the meltdown.
Lack of spacing with White at the 3, caused most of Iowas problems on offense and poor offense effected their effort on D.
All you had to do was look at what Woody, Jok and Utoff did the last two games of the season to know they were all about to turn a corner.
You have to have at least 3 shooters on the floor at all times to space the floor and Iowa usally only had one or two last year.
Everything should work allot better now with people in the right spots and no loose cannon coming in and shooting every time he touches the ball.
Lack of spacing with White at the 3, caused most of Iowas problems on offense and poor offense effected their effort on D.
All you had to do was look at what Woody, Jok and Utoff did the last two games of the season to know they were all about to turn a corner.
You have to have at least 3 shooters on the floor at all times to space the floor and Iowa usally only had one or two last year.
Everything should work allot better now with people in the right spots and no loose cannon coming in and shooting every time he touches the ball.
HawkPrdatr40
Well-Known Member
It's fun to watch a TEAM play. The Iowa program lost that last season IMO and it's nice to watch them play together, not watching Iowa spread and let one person win or lose a game. IMO Fran and this staff learned an awful lot of from last season, good came from a bad situation and nobody can convince me otherwise.
glidinghawk
Well-Known Member
Sappy learned quite a lot too, and looks extremely comfortable in his starter role.
There's clearly evidence the team has drastically improved their 3 point potential this year.
Agreed. With all the bickering over which PG(s) should start, did anyone notice that White has quietly led the team in assists the past two games? I think that will be the way he stays in games on the offensive side when teams take away his transition O and block him out.
HawkeyeMike23
Banned
We've played Hampton and North Dakota St lets slow our rolls here. If we knock off Texas then maybe you can start this argument.
Iowa is a lot more diversified this year than last year. I think they are a lot better team than last year. I hope people will be saying that after the Texas game though.
1977Hawkeye
Well-Known Member
Really too early to tell for sure but I feel pretty good about the team I've seen to this point and they do seem to have a lot of weapons, which is great especially if they are all playing as a team rather than RDM (as good as he was) basically running the show..
Clemmons has been a nice surprise so far and it certainly looks like Iowa is shooting the 3 ball much better this year even though it's been just 2 games. Other than the defense obviously having to improve from where it was the end of last year, being able to hit the 3 more consistently was the other area I thought there was definite room for improvement, and so far so good on both counts.
So I agree that this year's team could be better than last year. Just have to keep doing it, and do it against legit opponents.
I don't know a lot about this year's Texas team but Rick Barnes always has a lot of talent and they're ranked 10th in the country, so it's going to be a tough game and a good measuring stick, but I also view it as an opportunity to pick up a big win.
Clemmons has been a nice surprise so far and it certainly looks like Iowa is shooting the 3 ball much better this year even though it's been just 2 games. Other than the defense obviously having to improve from where it was the end of last year, being able to hit the 3 more consistently was the other area I thought there was definite room for improvement, and so far so good on both counts.
So I agree that this year's team could be better than last year. Just have to keep doing it, and do it against legit opponents.
I don't know a lot about this year's Texas team but Rick Barnes always has a lot of talent and they're ranked 10th in the country, so it's going to be a tough game and a good measuring stick, but I also view it as an opportunity to pick up a big win.
biasedHAWKEYE
Well-Known Member
They're fun to watch and will score a ton of points. The question is will they RISE above defeat when the game's on the line or will the fans GET MAD AGAIN like last season after multiple close loses?
glidinghawk
Well-Known Member
Texas has about 4 guys between 6'8" and 6'11" and weigh 240 to 260 pounds, plus some talented guards. Watch out. The last time Iowa played a game at MSG was against a very large Baylor team with some talented guards, and the Hawkeyes lost by about 20.
