Thoughts on Iowa v NW

JonDMiller

JonDMiller

Publisher/Founder
I was impressed with Gesell's energy and mobility. Surprised really. Today will be the bigger test, both in level of competition as well as the soreness. His shot looked a little sideways at times, but he hit a huge trey when Iowa needed it.

Marble has really stepped his game up...or maybe he's just back to the level he was at before he rolled his ankle and hurt his toe in the same weekend practice injury before Iowa hosted Michigan State. Marble has averaged over 17ppg for the last eight games. He's still not a great shooter, may never be, but he has that 'it' when he needs it, or has of late.

I think White was mostly pretending to be hurt on that one rebound...basketball has an element of theater and Marble and White are two actors at times ;)

Iowa's strategies against zone defense have been real, real good this year. Their execution hasn't always matched the plan, but the plan is sound and that is a huge improvement over recent years.

Last night wasn't a bad bubble night for Iowa...but it all comes down to today...lose today, no NCAA. Win, and I think it's a 50/50.
 
watching the replay of white and the injury, it really looked like his elbow was about to explode. but i agree, i do believe he was overplaying that one a bit.

i too was surprised at gesell. really happy to have him back on the floor. he just makes things happen
 
White exaggerates on every play inside with contact...limbs flying all over the place. I do think that hurt a bit. He had him locked pretty good when he tried to go up for the rebound. It was bad enough that I noticed it right away when it happened and thought he could be hurt.

I think Iowa's win alone tonight gets us to 50-50. There are ton of bubble games today that could get us to 80-20 with a win if 3 or 4 of those go the right way...from our perspective.
 
I didn't think Gessell was going to play that much let alone have the impact he did. He looked great. If Iowa would have made more of the open 6 footers that were missed and free throws it wouldn't have came down the stretch the way it did. The game couldn't have gotten off to a better start. I've never seen a coach call so many timeouts like that before. He had what was it one left going into the 2nd half and burned it pretty quick too I think.
 
I know that big men are supposed to keep the ball up high, but on at least half the bunny shots that Woody misses, he could take one dribble and slam it home.

Better than doinkin 'em off the rim all the time...
 
Hawkfnntn said:
I didn't think Gessell was going to play that much let alone have the impact he did. He looked great. If Iowa would have made more of the open 6 footers that were missed and free throws it wouldn't have came down the stretch the way it did. The game couldn't have gotten off to a better start. I've never seen a coach call so many timeouts like that before. He had what was it one left going into the 2nd half and burned it pretty quick too I think.
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I've seen it before and thought he was smart to do it...outstanding coaching IMO. It's kind of like sitting your star with 3 fouls until you're so far behind you can't possibly catch up again. Having a bunch of timeouts left at the end of the game down 25 doesn't do much good. Stop the bleeding and hope the guys make some plays. It's hard to argue considering they got it under 10 a couple times...granted we were missing open 8 footers repeatedly.

Side Note - I really like Carmody and think NW is crazy if they let him go. He's a perfect fit for them and I believe they return to cellar dweller status without him. He runs a gimmicky system but that's what they need with the types of players they are able to get.
 
WindsorHawk said:
I've seen it before and thought he was smart to do it...outstanding coaching IMO. It's kind of like sitting your star with 3 fouls until you're so far behind you can't possibly catch up again. Having a bunch of timeouts left at the end of the game down 25 doesn't do much good. Stop the bleeding and hope the guys make some plays. It's hard to argue considering they got it under 10 a couple times...granted we were missing open 8 footers repeatedly.

Side Note - I really like Carmody and think NW is crazy if they let him go. He's a perfect fit for them and I believe they return to cellar dweller status without him. He runs a gimmicky system but that's what they need with the types of players they are able to get.
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Agreed. Carmody seems like a decent guy and exactly what NU needs with their high academic requirements. Looked like Fran shared some genuine thoughts with him during the post-game handshake.
 
I could not agree more on Carmody but he looked, and acted, like he was coaching as if his job was on the line last night. Weird how he was burning all his timeouts in the first half and how animated he got with the officials. Northwestern is not a team blessed with a bunch of great athletes and they, more than most teams, cannot afford injuries to key players. I was amazed how competitive Carmody had Northwestern after they lost Crawford but after they lost Swopshire it was to much.

If Northwestern is that stupid to fire a good coach that gets the most out of what he has then they will bury themselves as most of the rest of the league is stepping up.
 
JonDMiller said:
I was impressed with Gesell's energy and mobility. Surprised really. Today will be the bigger test, both in level of competition as well as the soreness. His shot looked a little sideways at times, but he hit a huge trey when Iowa needed it.

Marble has really stepped his game up...or maybe he's just back to the level he was at before he rolled his ankle and hurt his toe in the same weekend practice injury before Iowa hosted Michigan State. Marble has averaged over 17ppg for the last eight games. He's still not a great shooter, may never be, but he has that 'it' when he needs it, or has of late.

I think White was mostly pretending to be hurt on that one rebound...basketball has an element of theater and Marble and White are two actors at times ;)

Iowa's strategies against zone defense have been real, real good this year. Their execution hasn't always matched the plan, but the plan is sound and that is a huge improvement over recent years.

Last night wasn't a bad bubble night for Iowa...but it all comes down to today...lose today, no NCAA. Win, and I think it's a 50/50.
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Exactly. I liked the way Iowa was attacking that zone last night - just couldn't find anyone that could consistently make a 10 foot jumper in the middle of that zone. But that was there all night, and the Hawks knew it. Just gotta execute and make the shots.
 
JonDMiller said:
I was impressed with Gesell's energy and mobility. Surprised really. Today will be the bigger test, both in level of competition as well as the soreness. His shot looked a little sideways at times, but he hit a huge trey when Iowa needed it.

Marble has really stepped his game up...or maybe he's just back to the level he was at before he rolled his ankle and hurt his toe in the same weekend practice injury before Iowa hosted Michigan State. Marble has averaged over 17ppg for the last eight games. He's still not a great shooter, may never be, but he has that 'it' when he needs it, or has of late.

I think White was mostly pretending to be hurt on that one rebound...basketball has an element of theater and Marble and White are two actors at times ;)

Iowa's strategies against zone defense have been real, real good this year. Their execution hasn't always matched the plan, but the plan is sound and that is a huge improvement over recent years.

Last night wasn't a bad bubble night for Iowa...but it all comes down to today...lose today, no NCAA. Win, and I think it's a 50/50.
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Agreed, they were content last night to take their time, work the ball around the perimeter, burn some clock, then go inside. They had good look after good look from that 5'-8' range but McCabe and Woody just could not finish. I thought they should have went with Basabe more in their or White. But I was very happy with the fast start and while we never really put them away, the game was never in doubt.

Now, on to the Spartans!
 
We missed a lot of shots inside of 10 feet....this game could've been a 25 point blowout and a chance to rest some guys.
 
LawVHawk said:
Agreed. Carmody seems like a decent guy and exactly what NU needs with their high academic requirements. Looked like Fran shared some genuine thoughts with him during the post-game handshake.
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Obviously NW is at a little bit of a disadvantage due to the academic standards. But it's not an insurmountable hurdle. Duke, Vandy and Stanford do pretty well. And NW does pretty well in football.
 
RE: White acting.

As they were shaking hand, White shook hands with his off hand (left) with the coaches (keeping that right arm dangling) and then switched over to this right hand for the players.
 
Will White get Academy Award? No , I think we should stop showboating and play gawd darn real basketball and We're not Wisconsic.
 
FCAS said:
Obviously NW is at a little bit of a disadvantage due to the academic standards. But it's not an insurmountable hurdle. Duke, Vandy and Stanford do pretty well. And NW does pretty well in football.
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Coach K has a handful of presumptive admits per annum. Carmody does not. The kids on that team have admissions standards that are equivalent or better than the top 250 or whatever kids at Iowa who get the Presidential Scholly or whatever it is. In football you can scheme around deficiencies in most games if you have a good coach (unless you are just way undermanned), but in basketball you just can't (see, e.g. Todd Lickliter). The Jimmy's and Joe's in basketball are so much more important. And if you think about Iowa football for instance, you can Doyleize a 2 star and make him a first round draft pick, but the number of 2 stars in basketball who will ever see an NBA court is miniscule.
 
nationalchamps said:
We missed a lot of shots inside of 10 feet....this game could've been a 25 point blowout and a chance to rest some guys.
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The minutes last night were still limited pretty well. Both White and Marble each played 33 minutes, but outside of that nobody else played more than 23 minutes. Everyone's legs should be just fine come gametime tonight.
 
Fatigue shouldn't become a factor until tomorrow. That's when our depth comes into play. Of course we play guys 40 minutes tonight if that's what it takes because we have to have this one and I think the players really want this one.

I get nervous about certain games and other games just feel like they're going to go well. I'm not at all uptight about tonight's game. I know we'll give a big effort...have every game this year. I think we will leave it all on the floor and I'm not sure Michigan State is that invested in this particular game. I know they're good and want to win but we're also good and have to win. I'm feeling real good about it.
 
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