Thoughts on the Roster

[BryceC]

Agree or disagree with me here, but I think we saw some evidence of some problems with the roster on Sunday. I was saying all offseason that the roster isn't really built for an uptempo game. I may be wrong but IMO Fran needs a bit of an overhaul to get the roster to his liking. As others have said, I just don't think Fran has the PG he needs on this team as of now.

That said I think this squad will improve and getting Gatens back will be an improvement. I just think that we'll see as the year goes on that this team is built for slowball and not for the kind of tempo we expect from Fran. Two things could really help this team in my opinion - a good ballhandler and an athletic big who can get back and defend the post because that is going to happen with an uptempo game.

 

[rodg12]

Those are definitely the two glaring holes right now, imo. The other thing we could use from the athletic big is rebounding.

 

[hawkeyescott]

Agree or disagree with me here, but I think we saw some evidence of some problems with the roster on Sunday. I was saying all offseason that the roster isn't really built for an uptempo game. I may be wrong but IMO Fran needs a bit of an overhaul to get the roster to his liking. As others have said, I just don't think Fran has the PG he needs on this team as of now.

That said I think this squad will improve and getting Gatens back will be an improvement. I just think that we'll see as the year goes on that this team is built for slowball and not for the kind of tempo we expect from Fran. Two things could really help this team in my opinion - a good ballhandler and an athletic big who can get back and defend the post because that is going to happen with an uptempo game.

I'm going to have to disagree, I think Cartwright will be the starting PG before we get to the Big Ten season, as he is quicker and will be fine handling the ball and seems more suited to run this type of offense as compared to Payne.

This is the perfect system for May and Gatens IMO. Basbae and Marble will flourish in this system as well. I will agree about the part with Iowa needing another big as maybe Cole isn't the best option for this type, but he is really the only option. McCabe will be fine as well IMO as he can play inside or out and run the court.

Iowa is one of the youngest teams in the country so of course we were going to see mistakes on Sunday, but I don't think it is because the players aren't suited for this type of system, more that they are inexperienced.

 

[AcctHawk99]

It was only 1 game at the beginning of the season, but I expected a bit more from the PG's than we got. Seemed like they were more concerned with keeping the pace fast and less with executing. It would have been nice to see Fran take the time to tell them they needed to relax, but again, he might have idk just didn't seem like they changed through the game. I think/hope that will work itself out as the season goes, but with a team this young and a new system it's going to take some time. Another big thing that having Gatens back will provide is another go-to scorer besides May. No one else could really step up into that role Sunday, but when he comes back that will help open up other guys to score.

 

[1977Hawkeye]

I think there are SOME players on this team that are athletic enough to excel in the uptempo style - May, Cartwright, Marble, Basable.. I might be missing someone, but that's a start. I just think we need more athletes than we have now, and that is all going to boil down to recruiting.

I don't think it's enough to just have good athletes, though. They need to be good basketball players, too. How much good will athleticism do us if our roster is very raw and don't have any skills? We need players who can put the ball in the hole.

I'm sure Fran can coach, but can he get the players he needs to be successful? Just have to wait and see how it pans out.

Lickliter did indeed leave a slow-ball roster behind, that's for sure. On the other hand, we had some success under Mr. Davis with Troy Skinner as our point guard, so I do think it's possible for this particular team to play uptempo with some success even if certain players aren't real athletic. Big question in my mind: do we have enough talent?

 

[DuffMan]

Agree or disagree with me here, but I think we saw some evidence of some problems with the roster on Sunday. I was saying all offseason that the roster isn't really built for an uptempo game. I may be wrong but IMO Fran needs a bit of an overhaul to get the roster to his liking. As others have said, I just don't think Fran has the PG he needs on this team as of now.

That said I think this squad will improve and getting Gatens back will be an improvement. I just think that we'll see as the year goes on that this team is built for slowball and not for the kind of tempo we expect from Fran. Two things could really help this team in my opinion - a good ballhandler and an athletic big who can get back and defend the post because that is going to happen with an uptempo game.

I don't think anyone expected the roster to be where it needs to be this year.

 

[1977Hawkeye]

It would have been nice to see Fran take the time to tell them they needed to relax, but again, he might have idk just didn't seem like they changed through the game.

We had 14 turnovers in the first half Sunday, and only 4 in the second half.. Or so I read. I'm sure Fran made some adjustments and got the team to settle down, because the team took much better care of the ball in the 2nd half.

 

[AcctHawk99]

We had 14 turnovers in the first half Sunday, and only 4 in the second half.. Or so I read. I'm sure Fran made some adjustments and got the team to settle down, because the team took much better care of the ball in the 2nd half.

That's a fair point. I guess I was hoping for an in-game talk as opposed to at halftime. The margin for error will be pretty small for the Hawks this year and if Fran sees something like that happening he needed to take action to correct it immediately. Cully had 2 travels in 20 seconds, then put up a forced shot the next possession. That's 3 lost possessions because of nerves in 3 of our first 4 possessions. I like Cully and think he will be just fine, but I think Fran is going to have to be very upfront and vocal with the guys (esp fresh/sophs) this year as they make the adjustment to his system.

 

[storminspank]

I'm actually ok with the Payne/Cartwright combo. They both bring completely different elements to the game. They are almost polar opposite of play. Bryce is all out, reckless, driving, slashing, go go go player on both end. Cully is a game manager, pass first type of player.

Neither of them were effective against SDSU. Both were very uptight and played scared at times. They need to step up or Iowa will be in trouble with this uptempo style.

That said, a player like Marcus Paige is just what this program needs.

 

[storminspank]

We had 14 turnovers in the first half Sunday, and only 4 in the second half.. Or so I read. I'm sure Fran made some adjustments and got the team to settle down, because the team took much better care of the ball in the 2nd half.

The reason Iowa lost the first half was because turnovers.
The reason Iowa lost the second half was because SDSU made big time shots and the Hawkeyes didn't.

 

[1977Hawkeye]

That's a fair point. I guess I was hoping for an in-game talk as opposed to at halftime. The margin for error will be pretty small for the Hawks this year and if Fran sees something like that happening he needed to take action to correct it immediately.

I would hope for that too, but if I'm not mistaken, I thought our really rough patch of turnovers was just before halftime, so it really wasn't long to wait. There's also the media timeouts every 4 minutes, and I'm sure Fran will address what isn't working well at that point as well. Also, substitutions are made at times, and hopefully players will get some coaching while on the bench.

I believe Fran was quoted as saying he would let the team play through their mistakes. So far, that seems to be the case, so I guess that's his style.. Lickliter was pretty much the opposite extreme.

 

[clicheusername3]

Those are definitely the two glaring holes right now, imo. The other thing we could use from the athletic big is rebounding.

Fuller. I've been saying all along to the people that were looking at anything over 10 wins as a given that you don't just replce that unless you have a good JUCO or a ready made replacement then we're in trouble on defense.