Thoughts on W @ Rutgers

[HuckFinn]

I think we may need to give him a mulligan on this season. I cannot imagine unexpectedly losing your dad at that age. One doesn't just flush that away and move right on with life. He showed us His potential and what we have to look forward to whenever he is able to put his life back together. Even at that he is still doing a lot of nice things out there.

What's this make, year 3 of a kick in the gut for the guy as he trys to get a season under his belt?

Your point is right on the money. I would only add that Jack has not played competitive basketball for two years. What did we think he was going to do early in this season. Good grief. Some of the guys on HN are on a constant search for a whipping boy. Connor, Patrick, JBO; the twins who would never amount to anything, claimed the recruiting experts. Garza “topped out” as a sophomore.
Oh well. I know. It’s an internet discussion board.

 

[Northside Hawk]

I think we may need to give him a mulligan on this season. I cannot imagine unexpectedly losing your dad at that age. One doesn't just flush that away and move right on with life. He showed us His potential and what we have to look forward to whenever he is able to put his life back together. Even at that he is still doing a lot of nice things out there.

What's this make, year 3 of a kick in the gut for the guy as he trys to get a season under his belt?

He will have productive games, like Iowa State. He will struggle, like Minnesota.

I can't answer for him, but I sure hope he puts personal tragedy off to the side when he's between the lines.

That's his chance to NOT think about it for a couple hours.

While that's easier said than done I think its more than likely he's still recovering from the torn ACL. Physically and mentally.

 

[bphawkeye]

Your point is right on the money. I would only add that Jack has not played competitive basketball for two years. What did we think he was going to do early in this season. Good grief. Some of the guys on HN are on a constant search for a whipping boy. Connor, Patrick, JBO; the twins who would never amount to anything, claimed the recruiting experts. Garza “topped out” as a sophomore.
Oh well. I know. It’s an internet discussion board.

Yikes

 

[Luftgekuehlt67]

Your point is right on the money. I would only add that Jack has not played competitive basketball for two years. What did we think he was going to do early in this season. Good grief. Some of the guys on HN are on a constant search for a whipping boy. Connor, Patrick, JBO; the twins who would never amount to anything, claimed the recruiting experts. Garza “topped out” as a sophomore.
Oh well. I know. It’s an internet discussion board.

I think with basketball, everything is sorta under a microscope relative to football. In basketball, the roster is so small and the Fan's physical view of the game and players is so up close and personal, it tends to get a little nasty. Over on the football side, it's the coaches and QB that tend to draw the lions share of the ire. Beyond those positions, you gotta be really screwing up consistently in obvious ways to get much message board heat on you. Basketball...in addition to the coach being a household name, even the most casual fans know/recognize the entire rotation after a game or two. That's a lot of targets. A percentage of the Iowa fan base believes the Hawks oughta win every game...if only Fran were calmer/angrier, or if Garza's feet weren't so big, or if Connor would start drilling 4 3's a game, or Toussaint got 39 mins/night, or what have you. It gets very personal.

 

[hawkdrummer1]

B1G road wins don't come easy, especially against ranked teams. Doing it with one of your starters out...even tougher.

The contributions of Ulis and Perkins couldn't come at a better time. They'll be needed deeper into the season.

Murray, what can you say. The kid is a baller. Does everything well, great instincts, hustle, cool as a cucumber. I don't think anybody anticipated how big a role he was going to play. He's going to be the glue for this team the next few years.

 

[Iceman]

Lol, finally!

I agree with your Nunge assessment - something's not right, he looks out of sorts. The most obvious thing to me is his shot isn't dropping, but he also often seems a step slow on D as well.

Obviously, first and foremost, you have to be concerned about him on a personal level - losing his dad just mere weeks ago. I hope he is doing ok and that hoops is serving a positive role in whatever grief he is going through. But you could also imagine if he's not feeling quite himself it could show up in his game.

Jack's size and skill set combo is the stuff coaches dream about. I hope he's able to hang in there and continue to develop, because we could sure use his size when we lose Garza.

He will get better and better. Coming off bad injury too.

 

[teachercoach]

Thought it was ballsy coaching by Fran!

How many Big10 coaches would insert 2 players (Ulis/Perkins) into a conference game, on the road, against a top 15-20 team and it's really their 1st crunch time minutes in the league.
And put in that context - they were more than solid, if not spectacular.
He'll be able to go back to that well when needed any game and keeps everyone on your team involved on a daily basis. It would be fun to watch them go at each other in practice!

Hawks are a couple FT's from being 4-0 in the league.... and a couple from being 2-2.
Life in the Big10 this year.

 

[ssckelley]

Thought it was ballsy coaching by Fran!

How many Big10 coaches would insert 2 players (Ulis/Perkins) into a conference game, on the road, against a top 15-20 team and it's really their 1st crunch time minutes in the league.
And put in that context - they were more than solid, if not spectacular.
He'll be able to go back to that well when needed any game and keeps everyone on your team involved on a daily basis. It would be fun to watch them go at each other in practice!

Hawks are a couple FT's from being 4-0 in the league.... and a couple from being 2-2.
Life in the Big10 this year.

I agree, I wasn’t surprised to see more of Ulis with Toussaint banged up and then Connor going down but Perkins? Yeah, that took balls, and I felt Perkins looked up to the challenge.

But you could see Ulis wasn’t used to playing on the first team as he passed on some looks to Garza that left my head scratching (and Garza’s). But overall they both played decent Given the circumstances.

 

[Hawkfnntn]

Winning close games are such a hair pulling thing for me. If you're looking at it from their side they have to be pissed at both the FT discrepency and how many they missed. That would piss me off if it was the other way around.

Thankfully we shot well from the line (minus JW missing that last big one) and that was huge for us. Winning road games against really good teams like that is impressive. This season is a dog fight and still just getting started.

 

[kicker22]

Always great to get a win against a ranked opponent on their floor. Wasn't our best game, but I really enjoyed it. Rutgers is a fun team to watch.

 

[Fryowa]

I think we may need to give him a mulligan on this season. I cannot imagine unexpectedly losing your dad at that age. One doesn't just flush that away and move right on with life. He showed us His potential and what we have to look forward to whenever he is able to put his life back together. Even at that he is still doing a lot of nice things out there.

What's this make, year 3 of a kick in the gut for the guy as he trys to get a season under his belt?

A little of my own perspective...

My dad died very unexpectedly at the age of 57; I was 26. And when I say unexpectedly, I talked to him at 8:30 the previous evening in a very normal conversation, and my mom showed up at my workplace at 8:30 the next morning to tell me he died.

First thing I want to say is I'm not Jack Nunge. Everyone handles those kinds of things differently and everyone grieves differently. But I will say that I know some of what he's feeling right now and I can't imagine playing basketball at all, let alone P5 basketball on TV in a year when you can't be around your family.

I was in a total fog for months afterwards. Couldn't concentrate on anything, and every morning when I woke up had a little mini panic attack because as weird as it sounds, you sort of forget that he had died and it takes a couple minutes to "remember" when you wake up. I know it sounds strange, but it happens, and the constant re-hash of it everyday runs your soul down. It's exhausting. Got to the point where I didn't want to go to bed because I knew what was coming in the morning.

so...

1) Jack is a hurting unit right now. The fact that he's even playing at all tells you how strong a kid he is. I was close with my dad similar to how I've read Jack and his old man were, and I can tell you it's a total kick in the gut that sticks with you 24 hours a day.

2) The hardest part is still coming. Right now he's where he needs to be. He's with his teammates and a great coaching staff that cares about him every day. I've always liked Fran because of how protective he is of his players and running a clean program, but seeing how he's handled this whole thing with Nunge's situation and how supportive he's been publicly makes me really not give a shit if they win anymore. It's evident he'd gladly take a bullet for any of his players and that's what matters.

But like I said, the hardest part is still coming. There will come a day in the next few moths when he's not surrounded by his team or family, and doesn't have basketball to distract him. Those are the hard parts. Similar to how most of you have probably experienced in some form or another, the first few days after a death aren't the hard ones. It's when everyone goes home and it's just you and the walls.

Jack will get through this and be a better basketball player than he is right now. And he deserves as long as it takes.

 

[Ree4]

A little of my own perspective...

My dad died very unexpectedly at the age of 57; I was 26. And when I say unexpectedly, I talked to him at 8:30 the previous evening in a very normal conversation, and my mom showed up at my workplace at 8:30 the next morning to tell me he died.

First thing I want to say is I'm not Jack Nunge. Everyone handles those kinds of things differently and everyone grieves differently. But I will say that I know some of what he's feeling right now and I can't imagine playing basketball at all, let alone P5 basketball on TV in a year when you can't be around your family.

I was in a total fog for months afterwards. It happened at the beginning of winter when there really wasn't anything to do outside the house, and for some reason I had no interest in fishing. Couldn't concentrate on anything, and every morning when I woke up had a little mini panic attack because as weird as it sounds, you sort of forget that he had died and it takes a couple minutes to "remember" when you wake up. I know it sounds strange, but it happens, and the constant re-living of it everyday runs your soul down. It's exhausting. It got to the point where I didn't want to go to bed because I knew what was coming in the morning.

so...

1) Jack is a hurting unit right now. The fact that he's even playing at all is a testament to how strong he is. I was close with my dad similar to how I've read Jack and his old man were, and I can tell you it's a total kick in the gut that sticks with you 24 hours a day.

2) The hardest part is still coming. Right now he's where he needs to be. He's with his teammates and a great coaching staff that cares about him every day. I've always liked Fran because of how protective he is of his players and running a clean program, but seeing how he's handled this whole thing with Jack's situation and how supportive he's been publicly makes me really not give a shit if they win anymore. It's evident he'd gladly take a bullet for any of his players and that's what matters.

But like I said, the hardest part is still coming. There will come a day in the next few moths when he's not surrounded by his team or family, and doesn't have basketball to distract him. Those are the hard parts. Similar to how most of you have probably experienced in some form or another, the first few days after a death aren't the hard ones. It's when everyone goes home and it's just you and the walls.

Jack will get through this and be a better basketball player. And he deserves as long as it takes.

This might be the best post you've made here.

 

[Hawkfnntn]

Your point is right on the money. I would only add that Jack has not played competitive basketball for two years. What did we think he was going to do early in this season. Good grief. Some of the guys on HN are on a constant search for a whipping boy. Connor, Patrick, JBO; the twins who would never amount to anything, claimed the recruiting experts. Garza “topped out” as a sophomore.
Oh well. I know. It’s an internet discussion board.

Yeah I mean to expect true freshman to be difference makers the first 10-15 games of their careers is asking a lot. And we have as veteran group as anyone out there. We are fortunate that PM and Murray are both able to contribute some let alone to the extent that they are.

PM beat cancer and had to put on a bunch of weight. He's still probably not at where he'll end up at size wise in a couple yrs. I bet the medicine he's on kicks his ass as much as anything. Murray is borderline a phenom he's killing it. He'd be starting and doing big things for many other programs right now. Glad we have him. (just think his bro may be pretty similar once he gets more of a chance there's just such depth on our squad everyone can't play

 

[Fryowa]

PM beat cancer and had to put on a bunch of weight. He's still probably not at where he'll end up at size wise in a couple yrs. I bet the medicine he's on kicks his ass as much as anything.

Not making light of his health whatsoever and I'm sure he'd trade his situation in a heartbeat, but can you imagine having free reign to eat all the steak, chicken, milk, tuna, and carbs you wanted? I mention those things because obviously he isn't getting told to stock up at McDonalds and Kwik-Star, but holy crap...

Talk about opposite problems from what most people have.

 

[Hawkfnntn]

Not making light of his health whatsoever and I'm sure he'd trade his situation in a heartbeat, but can you imagine having free reign to eat all the steak, chicken, milk, tuna, and carbs you wanted? I mention those things because obviously he isn't getting told to stock up at McDonalds and Kwik-Star, but holy crap...

Talk about opposite problems from what most people have.

No doubt. I'm more similar to him though. I was a skinny mofo I was the same size from 17 to almost 30. And even then I only gained a little bit gradually. Now that I'm 40 I have the dad body look to me and not sure I have the will power to slow it down haha.

 

[Luftgekuehlt67]

Not making light of his health whatsoever and I'm sure he'd trade his situation in a heartbeat, but can you imagine having free reign to eat all the steak, chicken, milk, tuna, and carbs you wanted? I mention those things because obviously he isn't getting told to stock up at McDonalds and Kwik-Star, but holy crap...

Talk about opposite problems from what most people have.

Ha, no kidding. I had to go on Weight Watchers a few months back. I actually really like it, I'm down about 15 lbs and only about 2 lbs above my goal weight as of this AM. It's just an app that lets you track points, which I find helpful. You also can earn extra points for exercising, which I like. Obviously, that can be a slippery slope because you don't want to be in the situation where you have to run 30 mi/week to stay at a healthy weight, but the reality is the more you exercise the more you need to eat, so I think you just have to find your own equalibrium. I also employ 1 cheat day a week where I eat whatever the hell I feel like. I still log the points.

If I followed WW to the letter, I think I'd be really skinny but also miserable. They really try to starve you out which I'm not going to do because, among other things, I don't feel like being hungry all the time. I eat somewhere in between where I was pre WW and where WW wants me to be and have steadily shed pounds - maybe 15 or so over 3 months.

I'd highly recommend checking it out. It costs money, but if you are like me and find the points tracking to be helpful/intuitive, it can really work I think.

In PM's case...He's a 19 yr old, 6'8", underweight D1 basketball player. Yeah, I can imagine some calories are being consumed!

 

[Dadman]

I am on "weight watching" right now, sort of, I am watching how fat I am until my annual physical this coming Friday, at which time I will probably actually be on WW! Not to make light, but this whole business of staying home and working remote has not had a good impact on my weight. Too close to the fridge, and the beer tastes too good..............

 

[Luftgekuehlt67]

Same - WFH makes snacking way too easy.

We didn't have a scale in our house for a while, so I sorta conveniently "lost track" of my weight. We had a new scale delivered July 23rd. I bravely stepped on suspicious I had gained but hopeful it wasn't too extreme. I was +20 lbs over my (admittedly arbitrary) target weight. Whoops. I made some half hearted changes and took off maybe 3-5 lbs over the next few weeks, but had clearly plateaued. Then I had my yearly physical (which I had also let lapse for a few years - dumb) and had cholesterol numbers that were borderline (and on the wrong side of the border). Whoops again. Started WW at the end of Sept and now as of this AM I think I'm about +1.5 lbs over my target.

I had an intermediate lab check in a few weeks back and my cholesterol was down something like 17%, which I was pleased with. I plan to stick with WW and absolutely under no circumstances skip my yearly physical ever again. That might not work as a motivator for everyone, but the way I'm wired having that yearly check in where I know I'm going to have my "score" shoved in my face keeps me honest. I am extremely squeamish around doctors, hospitals, etc, so the more I can do to avoid needing one the better.

 

[thedukeofearl]

honestly we should be 4-0 in the big ten... minny game should have never been a loss.

When someone comes off the bench and makes 8-9 threes

And they make 25-29 free throws

It would be almost impossible to win

We certainly came Very Close

Within one free throw of winning despite the overwhelmingly difficult circumstances

 

[thedukeofearl]

Michigan's schedule looks like a cake-walk. Iowa is going to need to win as much as it can on the road (and protect home court).

Yeah, Michigan plays The Hawks, Rutgers and Illinois once each in Ann Arbor

Lucky MotherFuckers

They look very good, borderline Dirty play