Thoughts after watching the replay

sportstalent

sportstalent

Well-Known Member
I thought UNO made some shots they probably don't normally make, so defensively, I wasn't too upset over what I saw there. Could it have been better, yes, but defense is not going to be Iowa's real problem.

On offense this team has no identity:
1. There is nobody to post-up, well, there are, but the fact that Iowa can't make open jump shots allows teams to collapse on Iowa's post players.

2. Gesell has not improved in the open floor whatsoever, he still looks totally lost on the fastbreak and when he leads, it leads to a poor shot, a turnover or having to pull the ball back out. Rarely, does it lead to points, which is very disappointing given what I saw of him prior to coming to Iowa.

3. Will Iowa's "best" players take over? Who is going to be the guy that will force the issue and take it upon himself to want to take over? The answer is nobody because Iowa doesn't have that guy.

4. Ball movement was poor and shot selection was worse. Iowa lives off of 2nd chance points and that is not going to cut it come Big Ten play.
 
1. I think Woody looks better in the post so far, but you are correct, he isn't strong enough to fight through a second player collapsing on him. Iowa needs to find a way to hit shots. Iowa's offensive identity may have emerged last night though, when Iowa really needed, Marble started driving everything to the basket.

2. People seem to forget that Gesell is recovering from an injury, he'll start to click here pretty soon.

3. I thought they did yesterday, might have waited a half too long, but Marble and White both emerged as the guys that were taking their men to the basket to get fouled. Marble had the worst shooting 15 points in the history of the world, but he stepped up and found a different way to score. White also did, but he lives at the foul line anyway.

4. I guess I disagree with this point, I thought the shot selection and ball movement were fine; when you can't make a shot, everything looks worse.

Also, Uthoff, if he isn't already, is one of the five best players on this team.
 
it was really evident in the UNO game that there still is no go-to guy. Marble was just way off for some reason, and the others were just pressing way too hard. maybe Uthoff will end of being that guy to go to, as he poses a huge match-up problem and is a much better shooter than White.

shot selection and ball movement was terrible, but i'm not as worried about that this early on.
 
I think our offense does have an identity. We're going to be a team that lives at the free throw line, especially with the new rule changes this year. White, Marble and looks like Uthoff too so far, are great at getting to the line. If our shots aren't falling, which based on the recent past they probably won't be, we are just going to have to crash the boards and drive and try to draw contact and shoot free throws.
 
Hawkstrat said:
2. People seem to forget that Gesell is recovering from an injury, he'll start to click here pretty soon.

Also, Uthoff, if he isn't already, is one of the five best players on this team.
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To your point on No. 2; he looked the same in the open floor pre-injury as well.

Uthoff, is still shaking some rust of I hope, but I agree with you. He looks the part to put someone on the bench and should be the first guy off the bench shortly. I like his game a lot and the 2-yr layoff isn't bothering him as much as I thought it would. Uthoff will be the difference maker Iowa needs when it gets to conference play, he does not appear overwhelmed by anything and looks like he knows what he always wants to do.

Iowa has some solid post players, but can't hit shots. I like Uthoff to be that guy who opens things up. White/Marble don't have all the tools to be go-to guys, I think Uthoff has them. It starts with his mentality, it is different than anyone else on the floor.
 
1.the lineup with : white , marble , Utoff , sapp and basabe , was easily the best lineup so far , thats when the game changed when this lineup was in ,
2. Jok needs to stay in the framework of the offense , his shot selection is aweful as evident of McCabe going ballistic off the bench after the the dribble baseline against 2-3 defenders and chucking up a prayer and not drawing the foul
 
We attack the hoop and are a fairly decent passing team. We also score a lot on transition. We just have to hit some open jumpers and not force up shots at times (I get tired of watching McCabe and White miss three pointers 5 seconds into the shot clock. They can hit them but not efficiently enough for me to like that shot)
 
I have a hard time being satisfied with the defensive play after watching a small school point guard routinely blow by our guards. In fact, I think the reason Omaha might have lost was because they made some dumb decisions offensively. They made a couple of lucky shots and thought they could keep doing it plus they rushed some shots early in the clock. I wasn't happy at all with the defense that game.
 
boarhawk said:
1.the lineup with : white , marble , Utoff , sapp and basabe , was easily the best lineup so far , thats when the game changed when this lineup was in ,
2. Jok needs to stay in the framework of the offense , his shot selection is aweful as evident of McCabe going ballistic off the bench after the the dribble baseline against 2-3 defenders and chucking up a prayer and not drawing the foul
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Well, on your second point, I am fine with Jok's shot selection, he gets something of a pass for being a freshman and he will get better. I like his shot a lot and his shots will fall at some point. Also, if McCabe is questioning things Jok is doing, look in the mirror, he may have scored some points, but I was very unimpressed with his game, still the same player that finds his way on the TV screen for the wrong reasons more often than not.
 
sportstalent said:
I thought UNO made some shots they probably don't normally make, so defensively, I wasn't too upset over what I saw there. Could it have been better, yes, but defense is not going to be Iowa's real problem.

On offense this team has no identity:
1. There is nobody to post-up, well, there are, but the fact that Iowa can't make open jump shots allows teams to collapse on Iowa's post players.

2. Gesell has not improved in the open floor whatsoever, he still looks totally lost on the fastbreak and when he leads, it leads to a poor shot, a turnover or having to pull the ball back out. Rarely, does it lead to points, which is very disappointing given what I saw of him prior to coming to Iowa.

3. Will Iowa's "best" players take over? Who is going to be the guy that will force the issue and take it upon himself to want to take over? The answer is nobody because Iowa doesn't have that guy.

4. Ball movement was poor and shot selection was worse. Iowa lives off of 2nd chance points and that is not going to cut it come Big Ten play.
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It seemed to work pretty well last season. The difference has to come in closing out games. Last night was evidence that they can close out a game.
 
2xer said:
It seemed to work pretty well last season. The difference has to come in closing out games. Last night was evidence that they can close out a game.
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It did, like against MSU, Nebraska, Minnesota and others they should have won?

Last night was no proof that they can close out a game.
 
The good think about Jok is it looks like he can get a shot whenever he wants. That's good for next year when Marble is gone. If I had a farm I would bet it on Jok ending up being better than Marble.
 
If you're really good at rebounding (like we were last year) it could absolutely cut it in the Big Ten. Basically if we don't shoot well again, can we make up for it in terms of offensive rebounding and getting to the foul line? I there is plenty of evidence that says we can.
 
PCHawk said:
The good think about Jok is it looks like he can get a shot whenever he wants. That's good for next year when Marble is gone. If I had a farm I would bet it on Jok ending up being better than Marble.
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His defense is soooooooo bad though.
 
bcl20 said:
If you're really good at rebounding (like we were last year) it could absolutely cut it in the Big Ten. Basically if we don't shoot well again, can we make up for it in terms of offensive rebounding and getting to the foul line? I there is plenty of evidence that says we can.
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Explain this to me how do you ever come to this conclusion?

Iowa was getting outrebounded by UNO, yes that is one game blah, blah, blah.

If you look at last season, your theory does not hold water as Iowa lost at least 4 conference games because they could neither shoot an open jumper, create a shot, or get that critical rebound.

Until Iowa can begin to shoot around 50% as a team from 2-pt FG's these games are going to happen, it has to get better, or Iowa will be in the NIT again. I am not jumping ship, I still expect Iowa to make the NCAA tournament, but without shooting better, they will not win tough conference games.
 
Without the rebounding Iowa wouldn't have been in position to win multiple games a year ago.

When you lose by 1 or 2 possessions there are many reasons why you lose. Most of the close losses we led late, meaning we didn't have to score to win, we had to stop. It's possible that Iowa gets in that position in multiple games this year because of rebounding (it sucked against UNO but that can happen in a one game sample size, even with good rebounding teams) and we figure out how to defend easier.

Or on offense we draw fouls late and make free throws. I recall missing some big free throws a year ago, just don't do that this year.

A go-to scorer would be nice but there are other ways to close out games. I mean, in the close losses to Nebraska or Purdue, those teams won those games and they don't really have a offensive game changer either.
 
But the argument is essentially that Iowa was good at rebounding last year. They could be even better at it this year because of a combination of optimism on my part and because things fluctuate in sports.
 
bcl20 said:
Without the rebounding Iowa wouldn't have been in position to win multiple games a year ago.

When you lose by 1 or 2 possessions there are many reasons why you lose. Most of the close losses we led late, meaning we didn't have to score to win, we had to stop. It's possible that Iowa gets in that position in multiple games this year because of rebounding (it sucked against UNO but that can happen in a one game sample size, even with good rebounding teams) and we figure out how to defend easier.

Or on offense we draw fouls late and make free throws. I recall missing some big free throws a year ago, just don't do that this year.

A go-to scorer would be nice but there are other ways to close out games. I mean, in the close losses to Nebraska or Purdue, those teams won those games and they don't really have a offensive game changer either.
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I buy this, but at the end of the day, they need a guy that can hit shots. I like Uthoff to become that guy.
 
sportstalent said:
Explain this to me how do you ever come to this conclusion?

Iowa was getting outrebounded by UNO, yes that is one game blah, blah, blah.

If you look at last season, your theory does not hold water as Iowa lost at least 4 conference games because they could neither shoot an open jumper, create a shot, or get that critical rebound.

Until Iowa can begin to shoot around 50% as a team from 2-pt FG's these games are going to happen, it has to get better, or Iowa will be in the NIT again. I am not jumping ship, I still expect Iowa to make the NCAA tournament, but without shooting better, they will not win tough conference games.
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Iowa could be both a better rebounding team and get to the line even more this year with new rules emphasis. White is truly elite at getting the line, Marble is very good and it looks like Uthoff will be able to get there as well. If the refs are consistent in the B10 and really want to clean up play, we could see a lot of games turn into free throw contests, I like our chances in those games. But to be anything beyond a bubble team, yes we will need better shooting.
 
Things I remember from the close losses; the first MSU game, Gassel makes two dumb passes on fast break opportunities. We lost the game by 4, those don't happen, the game may end differently.

The game at Wisconsin, Wisky had the flukiest three point make ever in the closing minutes that hits the front of the rim and rolls in, while Oglesby has a three go in an out at the buzzer.

Against, Minnesota we made bad decisions and turned the ball over in the closing seconds.

Against Purdue we missed free throws in OT that cost us. Right there is a combination of losses caused by either flat out bad luck, or possibly nerves. Nerves are fixed by experience which we have now.
 
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