Warning: Dumpster fire in progress

[kicker22]

I would say defense is the problem, not coaching. Fran clearly taught them how to play good defense based on last year and the first 2/3 of this year. So unless Fran came up with some new method that is backfiring, I would say player effort is the problem.

While I don't think its the end of the world and am more of a believer that last night we simply played a team that was much better than us. I think the coaching is equally to blame as the players. While defesne is an issue, I think offensively its a coaching issue.

We run an unscripted offense by nature. They are generally very difficult to defend against due to the unpredicability. That said, when a defense puts the hammer down and starts locking in on us we struggle mightily to create any rythem or offensive production. I think this is why we've struggled so much in the second half lately. I think defenses are making adjustments and we're unable to adjust. IMO thats as much on the coaching/style of play as it is on the players executing.

 

[hawkforlife9]

If by some bazaar turn of events we lose the next two games... I'll be at the front of the line to step off the ledge. If this team finds a way to work itself out of the Tourney, I'll **** myself.

 

[kicker22]

Everyone talks about the BIG being this amazingly tough conference. It's definitely competitive but tough? This conference has a lot of parity...but there aren't any world beaters in this conference. Check the out of conference and tell me how many top 10 teams the conference has beaten (outside itself). There are a lot of teams that aren't good in this conference and a bunch of fairly decent teams. That's nothing to hang our hats on folks. A record of .500 in this league isn't magical for this team...it's disappointing. Had we not been so OVER hyped earlier in the season (top ten, final four talk, blah blah blah), this team would be firmly entrenched on the bubble right now, let's not kid ourselves here.

The problem with your statement is that while we don't have the teams beating OOC top 10 opponents night in and night out, our bottomfeeders are winning games. We're the only conference in America in which every team has won a minimum of 5 conference games. That says alot and further emphasises the fact that you have to come ready to play every night.

Could the difference be that we weren't necessarily over hyped early on but rather a good team that was exposed and other teams have learned how to take us out of our rythem rather than letting us run on them. And not to be that guy, but what about the way we've played in the past had you firmly set on being that solid of a team this year to label this year such a disappointment?

I bought into the hype as well as many others, but to put that on the team is our own fault. We put the team on a pedistal and gave them unreasonable expectations, its not a situation where we've played at such a high level for years and such a level of success was a given. Maybe we've just been down for so long that we fell in love with a team and wanted it so bad that we didn't see the whole picture. Maybe we're doing the exact opposite thinking this team is "a lost cause" and comparing getting beat to teams that are simply better than we are, albeit some of the loses were to teams that may not have fit that mold.

Lets all step back and accept the fact that this team may not have met the hype and may not be a team that can win BTT or NC, but at the same time lets not forget that this team is a few seasons removed from being a conference doormat and the fact is whether we're happy with it or not, things are getting better.

 

[Hawkguy314]

I've kinda viewed the everyone has 5 conference wins thing as meaning no one in the conference is that good.

 

[HawkeyeMike23]

Everyone talks about the BIG being this amazingly tough conference. It's definitely competitive but tough? This conference has a lot of parity...but there aren't any world beaters in this conference. Check the out of conference and tell me how many top 10 teams the conference has beaten (outside itself). There are a lot of teams that aren't good in this conference and a bunch of fairly decent teams. That's nothing to hang our hats on folks. A record of .500 in this league isn't magical for this team...it's disappointing. Had we not been so OVER hyped earlier in the season (top ten, final four talk, blah blah blah), this team would be firmly entrenched on the bubble right now, let's not kid ourselves here.

Well Wisconsin alone has beaten two of the top five teams in the country.

 

[JHHawk]

13 days ago Iowa was sitting there alone in 3rd at 8-4 in the league. The IU debacle completely changed the rythmn of our season. We wil have 6 games crammed into two weeks....4 of them on the road to tough venues...and throw in an extra road trip to IU that was not played.

Players and teams are creatures of habit..and our whole routine was turned upside down. If we play the IU game when they are floundering, we probably beat them...come home vs Wisky with rythmn(not one game in 2 weeks) we win that game, and we go to minny with confidence...ect.

13 days do not change a team, fundamentally. We can get this back on track, starting on Sat. Win that one, and we have some time to get ready for the final push.

Hang in there hawk fans. Fran is still the man

 

[kicker22]

I've kinda viewed the everyone has 5 conference wins thing as meaning no one in the conference is that good.

Not trying to flame then since we view it completely differently, but how do you see Wichita State right now. My opinion is that they're good, but how good is still unknown based on their level of opposition. Would you say they are totally deserving of a #1 seed based on the fact that their win loss record. I mean having 31 wins would kind of speak for itself, if I'm following you on how you view the B1G.

 

[clicheusername3]

13 days ago Iowa was sitting there alone in 3rd at 8-4 in the league. The IU debacle completely changed the rythmn of our season. We wil have 6 games crammed into two weeks....4 of them on the road to tough venues...and throw in an extra road trip to IU that was not played.

Players and teams are creatures of habit..and our whole routine was turned upside down. If we play the IU game when they are floundering, we probably beat them...come home vs Wisky with rythmn(not one game in 2 weeks) we win that game, and we go to minny with confidence...ect.

13 days do not change a team, fundamentally. We can get this back on track, starting on Sat. Win that one, and we have some time to get ready for the final push.

Hang in there hawk fans. Fran is still the man

When has he asserted himself as the man previously? With the super awesomeness of a deep NIT run last year?

 

[SpiderRico]

13 days ago Iowa was sitting there alone in 3rd at 8-4 in the league. The IU debacle completely changed the rythmn of our season. We wil have 6 games crammed into two weeks....4 of them on the road to tough venues...and throw in an extra road trip to IU that was not played.

Players and teams are creatures of habit..and our whole routine was turned upside down. If we play the IU game when they are floundering, we probably beat them...come home vs Wisky with rythmn(not one game in 2 weeks) we win that game, and we go to minny with confidence...ect.

13 days do not change a team, fundamentally. We can get this back on track, starting on Sat. Win that one, and we have some time to get ready for the final push.

Hang in there hawk fans. Fran is still the man

Typically I would agree with you. However, given the other things that occurred, I don't think the change in game time hurt as much as those things. Here are how I see the issues, in order of most damaging:

1. Losing another heart breaker to a ranked team (Wisconsin), at home, when we had a lead and were still fighting for a share of the BTT.
2. Outside distractions following the Wisky game - Zach losing his composure and tweeting fans to SAFO, McCaffrey telling a "fan" to go root for another team, Twitter Ban.
3. The change in schedule as a result of the metal flashing falling in Bloomington.

 

[PCHawk]

13 days ago Iowa was sitting there alone in 3rd at 8-4 in the league. The IU debacle completely changed the rythmn of our season. We wil have 6 games crammed into two weeks....4 of them on the road to tough venues...and throw in an extra road trip to IU that was not played.

Players and teams are creatures of habit..and our whole routine was turned upside down. If we play the IU game when they are floundering, we probably beat them...come home vs Wisky with rythmn(not one game in 2 weeks) we win that game, and we go to minny with confidence...ect.

13 days do not change a team, fundamentally. We can get this back on track, starting on Sat. Win that one, and we have some time to get ready for the final push.

Hang in there hawk fans. Fran is still the man

This is exactly what I'm thinking. Those 3 games killed us. Winning is contagious and so is losing. If we win those 3 games we are looking at a 2 seed in the big 10 tourney and I would be still bummed about what might have been without all the close loses.

We are good enough to beat anyone but we just aren't built to beat MSU at their place. Every team has weaknesses and ours is physical play. The good thing is there is no way we play them in East Lansing during the tourney.

 

[1hawkeye1]

#3 is to blame

 

[PCHawk]

Typically I would agree with you. However, given the other things that occurred, I don't think the change in game time hurt as much as those things. Here are how I see the issues, in order of most damaging:

1. Losing another heart breaker to a ranked team (Wisconsin), at home, when we had a lead and were still fighting for a share of the BTT.
2. Outside distractions following the Wisky game - Zach losing his composure and tweeting fans to SAFO, McCaffrey telling a "fan" to go root for another team, Twitter Ban.
3. The change in schedule as a result of the metal flashing falling in Bloomington.

Gotta agree here too. But we wouldn't have had to worry about losing to Indiana because of all that because it would have already been played. There is also a really good chance we don't play a puss poor 1st half against Wisconsin if we weren't coming off 1 game in 2 weeks. We will never know for sure obviously but I just hope this doesn't continue into the tournaments. Hopefully they will feel like its a fresh start because that's exactly what it will be.

 

[SpiderRico]

#3 is to blame

Ask yourself this question, though....If we had managed to pull out the Wisconsin game in the end....are we having this conversation? In my opinion, we aren't, which is why I think the loss to Wisconsin is the main reason why we are where we're at.

 

[Sparky]

I'm sorry OP, but THIS is a dumpster fire.

What we watched last night was a breakdown in game plan perpetrated by Fran's lack of game plan going into the 2nd half.

 

[clicheusername3]

Ask yourself this question, though....If we had managed to pull out the Wisconsin game in the end....are we having this conversation? In my opinion, we aren't, which is why I think the loss to Wisconsin is the main reason why we are where we're at.

I love these kinds of posts. We didn't, so we are.

 

[OKHawk]

I'm sorry OP, but THIS is a dumpster fire.

What we watched last night was a breakdown in game plan perpetrated by Fran's lack of game plan going into the 2nd half.

That's about right...that's about what I saw from this group last night in the 2nd half.

 

[OKHawk]

The problem with your statement is that while we don't have the teams beating OOC top 10 opponents night in and night out, our bottomfeeders are winning games. We're the only conference in America in which every team has won a minimum of 5 conference games. That says alot and further emphasises the fact that you have to come ready to play every night.

Could the difference be that we weren't necessarily over hyped early on but rather a good team that was exposed and other teams have learned how to take us out of our rythem rather than letting us run on them. And not to be that guy, but what about the way we've played in the past had you firmly set on being that solid of a team this year to label this year such a disappointment?

I bought into the hype as well as many others, but to put that on the team is our own fault. We put the team on a pedistal and gave them unreasonable expectations, its not a situation where we've played at such a high level for years and such a level of success was a given. Maybe we've just been down for so long that we fell in love with a team and wanted it so bad that we didn't see the whole picture. Maybe we're doing the exact opposite thinking this team is "a lost cause" and comparing getting beat to teams that are simply better than we are, albeit some of the loses were to teams that may not have fit that mold.

Lets all step back and accept the fact that this team may not have met the hype and may not be a team that can win BTT or NC, but at the same time lets not forget that this team is a few seasons removed from being a conference doormat and the fact is whether we're happy with it or not, things are getting better.

So I disagree with you on a number of points. First, just because everyone has 5 wins doesn't mean squat. It could easily mean that this conference is very mediocre outside of a couple of teams. In terms of expectations--EVERYONE was expecting us to make a tourney appearance this year after last year's NIT run. The way I see it, we are BARELY going to slide into the tourney...which isn't some grand accomplishment by the way. Unlike many fans, I don't come into the season with some pre conceived notion of how good we are or how far we'll go until I see the product on the court. You can't tell me that after the Battle for Atlantis and the next several weeks after you didn't realize how good this team could be. Unfortunately, they have gotten worse since that time period. Iowa is too content with the half court and not as focused on running and gunning (which is what made them so dangerous early on). Fran is too content to settle into the half court offense--this is a CURSE for Iowa because outside of Marble we have nobody that creates their own shots, or can score at will. Our strength lies in our ability to get the defensive stop and break into transition. AND...when you can't get a defensive stop because your guys are so confused and out of place (missing assignments badly), it's tough to get into transition.

 

[WindsorHawk]

So I disagree with you on a number of points. First, just because everyone has 5 wins doesn't mean squat. It could easily mean that this conference is very mediocre outside of a couple of teams. In terms of expectations--EVERYONE was expecting us to make a tourney appearance this year after last year's NIT run. The way I see it, we are BARELY going to slide into the tourney...which isn't some grand accomplishment by the way. Unlike many fans, I don't come into the season with some pre conceived notion of how good we are or how far we'll go until I see the product on the court. You can't tell me that after the Battle for Atlantis and the next several weeks after you didn't realize how good this team could be. Unfortunately, they have gotten worse since that time period. Iowa is too content with the half court and not as focused on running and gunning (which is what made them so dangerous early on). Fran is too content to settle into the half court offense--this is a CURSE for Iowa because outside of Marble we have nobody that creates their own shots, or can score at will. Our strength lies in our ability to get the defensive stop and break into transition. AND...when you can't get a defensive stop because your guys are so confused and out of place (missing assignments badly), it's tough to get into transition.

I'm not sure why anyone cares. You're a troll. You haven't been around all season and you suddenly show up today and every post is negative. Nice try but I'm not responding to any of your nonsense.

 

[OKHawk]

Oh and one more thing. Somebody needs to talk to McCabe ASAP--once you get the take down you don't give up an escape. You have a 2-0 advantage...need to start building some riding time.

 

[OKHawk]

I'm not sure why anyone cares. You're a troll. You haven't been around all season and you suddenly show up today and every post is negative. Nice try but I'm not responding to any of your nonsense.

Cry me a river Timberlake, I didn't start posting for your approval. So let me get this straight...unless I waste my life away on these message boards all season I'm not a true fan. Gotcha. Who's the real troll friend.