This team will not be a .500 team

PCHawk said:
I'm pretty deflated right now. I had hopes that they would build of the late game wins last year and have those games more consistently. Now it's pretty obvious those few games were just a short run of playing really well. Not a sign of their average play moving up.

They have no value of a possession at either end of the court. We get the ball underneath, there are 3 people there to hammer us. They get it underneath, we have 3 people standing there watching them lay it in. We were so bad the last 2 games that we needed good shooting games to have a chance against bad teams. We should need bad shooting games for the other team to have a chance.

The first half of last game, we played bad. That should have made it a close game at half. Instead it meant we were down 20. The last 3 halfs we played average and that wasn't good enough to be better than sun 100 RPI teams. To me that makes us a sub 100 RPI team.
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Honest question. How big of a difference do think Baer would be? He's not much help in the back court, obviously. But having a garbage man like him can be the difference in close games. Sometimes. Or do you think our back court is just that limited?
 
The main thing is we can never go on a run because whenever we score, we play even worse defense. Usually you see a player get behind the defense once or twice per game. Its more like 10 or 15 against us. It is unreal how often our guys have no idea someone is back there.
 
WindsorHawk said:
Baer is far more important than many people seem to realize. And Connor will help.
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One player does not make a team. How long has it been since Iowa lost back to back games against teams of this level? Did it even happen under Lick?

Wasn’t Baer a walk on? If a program like Iowa is dependent upon walk ons then something is terribly wrong. Not saying he doesn’t have an impact but blaming this loss on his absence and on officiating is ridiculous. Neither of these programs have the money, facilities, or fan base to be on the same level as the University of Iowa. One loss can happen to a sub-level team but back to back losses? Seems so surreal to me. Still feeling stunned, numb, and in a state of disbelief.

I do want to wish everyone a safe and happy Thanksgiving!!!
 
Connor shouldn't play. Let him go back to baseball and redshirt basketball. His value with a team that's already out of NCAA at-large consideration is negligible. Play freshmen and sophs the rest of the way and take your lumps and maybe win a couple of games in the B1G tournament.
 
lightning1 said:
Honest question. How big of a difference do think Baer would be? He's not much help in the back court, obviously. But having a garbage man like him can be the difference in close games. Sometimes. Or do you think our back court is just that limited?
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I think our biggest problem is help defense. We have none of it and Baer is probably the best at it. So he will be a help. I'm definitely seeing their guards get past ours. But that's nowhere near the worst of it. They pass to a guy posting up and he scores at will. I'm talking any of their players against any of our players. It doesn't matter. Its college players against junior high players. No resistance at all.
 
lightning1 said:
Honest question. How big of a difference do think Baer would be? He's not much help in the back court, obviously. But having a garbage man like him can be the difference in close games. Sometimes. Or do you think our back court is just that limited?
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Wanna know how important Baer is? I undervalued him before the Cayman Islands and now I think we can't win without him.

Its amazing the level of intensity, the rebounds, the blocks, the steals, and the 3 pointers that Baer brings to the game. Its contagious.

It should have dawned on me earlier, but Baer was our leading rebounder last year, with Jok our 2nd leading rebounder. No wonder we can't rebound
 
mopkins said:
Wanna know how important Baer is? I undervalued him before the Cayman Islands and now I think we can't win without him.

Its amazing the level of intensity, the rebounds, the blocks, the steals, and the 3 pointers that Baer brings to the game. Its contagious.

It should have dawned on me earlier, but Baer was our leading rebounder last year, with Jok our 2nd leading rebounder. No wonder we can't rebound
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Fran does a good job of recruiting tall post players so that really surprised me. Don’t get me wrong on my previous post about Baer as he brings energy off the bench and that can be contagious. The season shouldn’t rest upon one player.

Lick had the Butler way which proved that systems don’t always work. Another very common thought process used by teams that can’t recruit at a high enough level to compete face up five on five is to play at a rapid pace with as many players as you can to wear down the opponent. The thought process is to try to level the playing field by wearing the opponent down and having fresh horses that can toward the end of the game can pull you even and then ahead. Other gimmicks is to have nothing but outside shooters.

I believe in straight up man to man playing. A rotation of nine of your best players who have a role and execute it. The rest just give breaks occasionally or play in mop up time in blow outs. How can a team ever develope chemistry when your always playing different players with different skills?

Systems suck period! A great coach evaluates each players skills and strongest attributes and then developes offenses and defenses that exploit those skills and attributes. I don’t know but there have been many, many times when Fran’s offense has looked like street ball. I am not saying he doesn’t have some set plays but a lot of the times it looks like pickup ball at the YMCA on both ends of the court.
 
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Baer is our biggest hustle guy and always seems to be around the ball on rebounds. He also led the team in steals and blocks. He will help for sure, but ultimately this team just isn't good.
 
lightning1 said:
I haven't seen them play since Chi St. So, I don't know what the problems are at present. I could guess but didn't know for sure.
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Your guesses would probably be right. Our defense doesn't even try to help unless they decide to over help. Our rebounding is horrible. Our offense would be ok if every big out there didn't think they were Pistol Pete when passing the ball. There is one "nice pass" for every 5 "god dammits".
 
BigD said:
Fran does a good job of recruiting tall post players so that really surprised me. Don’t get me wrong on my previous post about Baer as he brings energy off the bench and that can be contagious. The season should rest upon one player.

Lick had the Butler way which proved that systems don’t always work. Another very common thought process used by teams that can’t recruit at a high enough level to compete face up five on five is to play at a rapid pace with as many players as you can to wear down the opponent. The thought process is to try to level the playing field by wearing the opponent down and having fresh horses that can toward the end of the game can pull you even and then ahead. Other gimmicks is to have nothing but outside shooters.

I believe in straight up man to man playing. A rotation of nine of your best players who have a role and execute it. The rest just give breaks occasionally or play in mop up time in blow outs. How can a team ever develope chemistry when your always playing different players with different skills?

Systems suck period! A great coach evaluates each players skills and strongest attributes and then developes offenses and defenses that exploit those skills and attributes. I don’t know but there have been many, many times when Fran’s offense has looked like street ball. I am not saying he doesn’t have some set plays but a lot of the times it looks like pickup ball at the YMCA on both ends of the court.
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I do like that flashy Grinnell System though......bombs away to 100 point games!
 
BigD said:
One player does not make a team. How long has it been since Iowa lost back to back games against teams of this level? Did it even happen under Lick?
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I'd probably go with the first two games of Lick's last year when we lost to UT-San Antonio and Duquense for back to back.

Lick's first year we lost to Bradley, Utah State, Wake Forest, and Louisiana-Monroe all in a row, obviously WF isn't a mid-major.
 
Hawkalum2002 said:
I'd probably go with the first two games of Lick's last year when we lost to UT-San Antonio and Duquense for back to back.

Lick's first year we lost to Bradley, Utah State, Wake Forest, and Louisiana-Monroe all in a row, obviously WF isn't a mid-major.
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Don’t get me wrong I am in no way defending lick. Just so disappointed to lose two in a row like this when I had high expectations for this year’s squad. I feel like I have been broadsided by a freight train I didn’t even see coming.
 
The 1969-1970 season started the season 3-4 including a loss to Southern Illinois. They won the next 15 in a row, went undefeated in Big 10 play, and set the single game scoring record in the ncaa tournament. If that team could do it, this team can too.
 
The 1955-1956 team started the season 3-5. Including losing 4 games in a row before winning the next 20 and making it to the championship game of the ncaa tournament. If that team could do it so can this one.
 
lightning1 said:
Honest question. How big of a difference do think Baer would be? He's not much help in the back court, obviously. But having a garbage man like him can be the difference in close games. Sometimes. Or do you think our back court is just that limited?
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The way I see it, if Baer is such a huge loss that we can't even beat ULL and SDSU, then this team just is not very good. One player shouldn't have to carry you to that degree. All we can hope for is that they improve.. a LOT.
 
ClintonIAfan said:
The 1955-1956 team started the season 3-5. Including losing 4 games in a row before winning the next 20 and making it to the championship game of the ncaa tournament. If that team could do it so can this one.
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Point taken - but who were those losses against? I seriously have no clue if it was against good competition, or not so much..

I'd also point out that the 1996-97 team (Woolridge senior season) lost to Marathon Oil and lost a couple early games in Maui, but ended up tied for 2nd in the B10 and gave UK all they could handle in the dance.. So there's hope. I'm just not holding my breath.
 
Honestly - I don't think Baer or Connor is going to make THAT big of an impact, but they are still missing pieces. It's up to bulk of what's on the floor now to figure it out. They still can, does not look promising at all.
 
They are playing in a gym smaller than my junior high school gym. It makes a difference mentally. Playing at home with fan support will make a difference.
 
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