Judging Connor on a single season is a little premature. This was his 1st year. Give him time to adapt before telling him to give up the game. Think Connor brings a lot to the game given this was his 1st full year.
Way to early starting 5 (next year)
- Thread starter hawkeye12345
- Start date
Judging Connor on a single season is a little premature. This was his 1st year. Give him time to adapt before telling him to give up the game. Think Connor brings a lot to the game given this was his 1st full year.
skinnykilmer17
Well-Known Member
Sure. I agree with a lot of this. I don't think I said he was a waste of a scholarship, but you bring up a good point. If he wasn't the coach's son would he even be getting a scholarship for, let's face it, being a part-time player? We presume he won't be putting in the hours that a one sport basketball player will this summer. Will he? At the detriment of his baseball career? He is not a good enough athlete to master both sports imo.
Again Gesell and J Bo averaged 25-30/ min as freshman. That should be the expectation for Joe T. Agree? Connor averaged 19 min/game this year. I just don't think part-time player Connor should get 19 minutes/game with a true point guard finally joining the team next year. As a sophomore Christian Williams averaged 12 min/game to freshman Bohannon's 29 min/game. Maybe Connor's minutes next year should be in that 10-12 minute range?
Again our offense desperately needs a true point guard. Imo Fran's achille's heels are: Inability to control his temper, Inability to recruit a true point guard (possibly until now), below average bench coach, and now my fear is he will be unable to objectively evaluate his son's contributions to the team. That could affect team chemistry and future recruiting.
Time will tell.
TritonHawkeye
Well-Known Member
Man relax and chill... I was only half serious. My point was on paper things look better than they have in years 4*, over a 4* over the 3 point king.
Also...you like *'s as much as the rest of us!
ModebaSan
Well-Known Member
PG- Bohannon, Joe T, CMac
SG- Moss, CJF, Dailey
SF- Weiskamp, PMac
PF- Kreiner, Pemsl
C- Garza, Nunge
Baer graduates.
Cook goes pro, but G league or Europe most likely landing spots.
To begin next season, JBo and CMac will get the most mins. at point until Joe T gets his feet wet.
Moss will start at SG backed by CJF and Dailey. JBo will slide over there from time to time.
Weiskamp and PMac on the wing. Dailey could also play here.
Kreiner and Pemsl man the PF spot.
Garza and Nunge play the post.
Overview
Hopefully Joe T and CJF brings in the ability to drive the lane and provides some defense on the perimeter. We will again have 3 pt. shooting threats with JBo, Moss, Weiskamp, PMac, Garza, and Nunge. Moss and Dailey are undervalued as defenders. When Moss' shot is falling this team is even better. I thought Dailey really showed improved play toward the second half of the season. He has length to defend, can play multiple positions, is a willing 3 pt. shooter, and his confidence is on the rise. Weiskamp is a star in the making. Pemsl, Kreiner, and Garza bring that toughness and attitude inside. And word has is that Nunge has been dominating in practices. Even if Cook leaves or stays, this team can be really special. Keys are if the freshmen and redshirts can be the missing pieces this years team lacked. Let's hope so.
SG- Moss, CJF, Dailey
SF- Weiskamp, PMac
PF- Kreiner, Pemsl
C- Garza, Nunge
Baer graduates.
Cook goes pro, but G league or Europe most likely landing spots.
To begin next season, JBo and CMac will get the most mins. at point until Joe T gets his feet wet.
Moss will start at SG backed by CJF and Dailey. JBo will slide over there from time to time.
Weiskamp and PMac on the wing. Dailey could also play here.
Kreiner and Pemsl man the PF spot.
Garza and Nunge play the post.
Overview
Hopefully Joe T and CJF brings in the ability to drive the lane and provides some defense on the perimeter. We will again have 3 pt. shooting threats with JBo, Moss, Weiskamp, PMac, Garza, and Nunge. Moss and Dailey are undervalued as defenders. When Moss' shot is falling this team is even better. I thought Dailey really showed improved play toward the second half of the season. He has length to defend, can play multiple positions, is a willing 3 pt. shooter, and his confidence is on the rise. Weiskamp is a star in the making. Pemsl, Kreiner, and Garza bring that toughness and attitude inside. And word has is that Nunge has been dominating in practices. Even if Cook leaves or stays, this team can be really special. Keys are if the freshmen and redshirts can be the missing pieces this years team lacked. Let's hope so.
NikeHawk21
Well-Known Member
If Cook goes I have to imagine Nunge is the guy playing the 4 spot. He’s a little more comfortable playing on the perimeter and can move his feet well. Let’s recall Fran tried playing him at the 3. Kriener and Garza sharing the floor is a major no-no in terms of defensive footspeed. That starting group would be in big trouble defensively.
Up until now, I haven't seen any favoritism given to Connor because his dad is the coach. And I would call it out if I saw it. Connor is no Little Lick and is a solid contributor at a position that we desperately needed somebody this past year. We had Jbo, and, well, Jbo. And we needed to get the ball out of his hands some and let Jbo play the 2. And for the most part Connor did that, being a solid bench contributor. He really did a lot of good things.
As far as his baseball career, everyone says he has more upside there. But if you were 20 years old, loved to ball and had the opportunity to play both sports I bet you would do it too. So I can't blame him for wanting to play both. Would he be a better player if he focused on one sport? Probably, but he is so young he has time to figure that one out.
I just think Fran knew he needed a backup point guard, one that wouldnt be a drama queen and be a solid contributor off the bench. I really dont think Connor cares if he gets 5 minutes or 20 minutes, he will do what he is asked to do and we need people like that. So I bet minutes are wide open for Joe T, as it based on what his skills are, and none of us right now know that. But remember, even after this upcoming year and if Joe T is awesome, we will still need a backup point guard as Jbo is gone. Maybe we recruit one, maybe we don't, but we wont know that either.
I also agree with you about Fran. He needs to be a better leader and learn what he needs to do to get the most out of his team. I may be totally wrong here, but I feel like in a lot of our blowouts, a better coach would know how to challenge his players to play tougher and play with more intensity. And he needs to atleast pretend he cares about playing defense.
skinnykilmer17
Well-Known Member
NikeHawk21
Well-Known Member
I believe they are a great pair actually. Nunge doesn’t mind playing on the perimeter to give Garza room to operate. On defense I think Nunge will help Garza out with rim protection, as that is an area Garza struggles.
To me Kriener is too slow to play the 4 for extended minutes. I think he stays in his role as Garza’s backup for 15 minutes or so.
Fryowa
Administrator
Nunge has put on a bunch of muscle and from some sources, a little height. Garza has shown an ability to shoot this year (numbers-wise even better than Cook).
Flip that Nunge/Garza thing around, because if anything Garza as the smaller of the two needs to be on the perimeter. This is the first time I can remember Iowa having a legit big man along the lines of a Michigan/Purdue/Wisconsin in god knows how many years. Not a skinny Woodbury-type big, but an actual 7 footer with some lead in his ass.
Forget about Garza as a center, put him and Nunge on the floor together and we can finally have some of the nice things we've always wanted.
I think it goes back to when they had those two and Cook out there with Nunge playing the 3.. It didn't work very well. I think any combination of the 2 out there can play just fine though.
NikeHawk21
Well-Known Member
Wow. Absolutely not.
Garza is one of the better back to the basket post players in the conference. You want to move him away from the hoop because Nunge might have a 7’0 next to his name compared to a 6’11 for Garza? Ward at Michigan State is 6’9, so it’s really not all about height.
Nunge isn’t a back to the basket player to begin with so that’s another problem with your theory. Jack is more of a face up post man.
That is one of the dumber things I’ve seen posted in quite some time.
Here's to hoping you're right. His offer list didn't look that impressive.
NikeHawk21
Well-Known Member
It’s kind of a damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Tons of posters on here complain that every mid major team has guards better than ours, then we sign a kid with mostly mid major offers and then probably the same people questioning his height or whether he’s that good.
Ultimately it only matters what he does when he gets here. Offer lists and star rankings go out the window. Aaron White didn’t have many offers. The hope with Joe T is that he was an under the radar guy who is a late bloomer, there was certainly some positive noise about him during his season this year. He made a run at NY Mr basketball I think and his tape looks intriguing. Hopefully he goes down in the Aaron White Devyn Marbke category when all is said and done.
skinnykilmer17
Well-Known Member
Nike, do you know how hard Fran or his assistants recruit the Chicagoland area? Only Moss and Hutton come to mind. Who am I missing? Any thoughts?
NikeHawk21
Well-Known Member
They went hard after Charlie Moore who went to Cal but is now at Kansas. Sounded like some “handlers” got involved and Fran moved on.
Honestly those 3 probably left a sour-ish taste in their mouth so it doesn’t seem to be that big of a priority. Moss turned out okay. They are or were pursuing Tyler Beard a guard for the 2020 class who is a Chicago kid. Would be a good get and at one time we sat pretty well with him. Doesn’t seem like they focus on individual areas as much as football more so trying to find the right players in each class.
I don't want my comments to be confused with complaining about star count, recruiting website rankings, etc. I think that's all a BS industry that's grown with the internet and doesn't serve much purpose (kind of like fan messageboards...?). Like everyone else, I'm simply curious to see how good he'll be when he steps on the court next year.
NikeHawk21
Well-Known Member
Agreed. I wasn't interpreting them that way either FWIW.
I think you are forgetting that JBo was literally the only real option at PG his true freshmen year. The same was basically the case for Gesell. Sapp was in the same class as Gesell so they split the PG minutes. I think it would be great if Toussaint came in and played well and contributes 15 good MPG but to expect 25 to 30 mins from a true freshmen at a position where there are two returning players seems like asking a lot. I do think that CMac will be relegated to more of a 5 to 10 MPG role next year unless Toussaint isn't ready or we have an injury. Let's just not expect the kid to come in and be a major contributor from day one. To me if you get 25 to 30 mins per game you are a major contributor.
It's just a different situation than when Gesell and JBo were true freshmen.
