Wayyyyyyy too early impressions

[deanvogs]

We have "The big 3" and then the rest. With Gesell, Marble, and White that is the core of the team. In basketball this is a winning formula, especially when you can complement the 3 with solid roll guys. You can go big with the lineup of McCabe and Woody/Olaseni. You can go small with that lineup with Clemmons and May/Basabe. You can play the matchups, but for the most part Fran will be leaving the 3 best players on the floor (Marble, White, & Gesell).

I am in now way discounting the rest of the players. Basabe will get pts and rebounds, McCabe will have games with 15-20 pts and 7+ rebounds. Woody/Olaseni will have good combined numbers. Yet I think on a night in and night out basis Marble will be 15+ pts, and White will be right there also. Gesell might not always score 15, some nights it will be 6-8 pts and 6 assists.

This teams future is bright. Last years team could have easily lost last night. How many times did we see the Hawks beat a good team, only to lose at home to Nebraska? I think with the added experience of Marble and White, throw in a dependable PG in Gesell, and then all the other players doing their parts, and you end up still winning those games easily, like last night. McCabe struggled, Oglesby barely saw the floor, but Basabe and Clemmons stepped up in big ways.

 

[storminspank]

I would certainly agree that those three are the most important players for Iowa this year.

 

[austinhawk]

Basabe's 12 foot, no hesitation jumper last night with about 6 mins to play and we were only up 3 pts was the start of a huge momentum swing. I'm glad he's shooting without hesitation.

 

[wundergrape]

I think you can throw Mel into a 1A tier. I think he's a reliable 10 pts, 6 rbs and a strong defensive presence every night out.

But I do agree, Fran is going to have to tinker with the lineup for most of every first half in order to find a hot hand. A solid core should emerge by February, though.

 

[GhostofBTT]

I think you can throw Mel into a 1A tier. I think he's a reliable 10 pts, 6 rbs and a strong defensive presence every night out.

Uh, nope.

 

[kmajhawk]

Watched most of the tOSU game following the Hokks and realized I was thrilled that Iowa now seems to have at least two PGs who can keep up with the likes of Aaron Craft and some of the other better points in the conference.

Also, Fran now seems to have some flexibility in the type of offensive and defensive squad he puts on the floor. He can go big, he can go small, whatever the situation requires as we saw last night.

I agree with Ghoastie that I was disappointed Iowa could not "dictate" the style of play to CMU last night by having a couple bigs on the floor and pounding it inside repeatedly. But a W is a W, and this team found a way to win on a night it didn't particularly defend well early and had trouble finding the cylinder much of the time.

 

[tm3308]

I think you can throw Mel into a 1A tier. I think he's a reliable 10 pts, 6 rbs and a strong defensive presence every night out.

But I do agree, Fran is going to have to tinker with the lineup for most of every first half in order to find a hot hand. A solid core should emerge by February, though.

Basabe's capable of putting up numbers like that on any given night. But to expect it from him consistently isn't reasonable. I think there will a lot of night where someone on the bench will have a night like that, but it won't always be Basabe.

More realistically, I think we can expect 6-8 points and 4 boards from Mel on a consistent basis. Sometimes he'll do more, sometimes less. He can do a lot as a garbage man, which is what he had success with as a freshman. But keep in mind that he's not going to get as many minutes as he did in 2010-11. He could be the same player and put up lower numbers.

 

[storminspank]

Basabe's 12 foot, no hesitation jumper last night with about 6 mins to play and we were only up 3 pts was the start of a huge momentum swing. I'm glad he's shooting without hesitation.

I agree, but he had practice prior, considering he missed three before it.

 

[storminspank]

Basabe is basically Charlie in "The Gang Solves the Gas Crisis"

 

[GhostofBTT]

Basabe is basically Charlie in "The Gang Solves the Gas Crisis"

The brains:

The muscle:

The Looks

The Wildcard:

 

[eveningnewsteam]

Basabe's 12 foot, no hesitation jumper last night with about 6 mins to play and we were only up 3 pts was the start of a huge momentum swing. I'm glad he's shooting without hesitation.

Be honest. When he took that you had to be like "oh no". I was

 

[tm3308]

Be honest. When he took that you had to be like "oh no". I was

I really wasn't. IIRC, at least one of his earlier misses rolled in and out. That 12-15 footer was something Cole developed under this coaching staff, and I think Basabe may be getting to that point, too. I certainly don't think that's going to be a money shot for him (it wasn't for Cole, either), but it'll be a good shot for him when they give it to him.

 

[wundergrape]

Basabe is basically Charlie in "The Gang Solves the Gas Crisis"

I believe you're thinking of Zach McCabe, spank.

I think we'll see a consistent Mel this year. You all are free to disagree with me...as obviously you do.

 

[tm3308]

I believe you're thinking of Zach McCabe, spank.

I think we'll see a consistent Mel this year. You all are free to disagree with me...as obviously you do.

I think we'll see a consistent Mel this year, too. I just don't think it's going to be at as high a level as you think it will be. I just don't see his minutes and role allowing for 10 and 6 on a consistent basis.

 

[LG210]

I was really happy to see Gesell and Clemmons knocking down some outside shots. Poor shooting has really hurt Iowa over the last 5 years. It did in the first half last night, too, but we hit some in the second half. I like that Fran seems to be getting guys in that can shoot from the perimeter.

 

[racerhawk]

I was really happy to see Gesell and Clemmons knocking down some outside shots. Poor shooting has really hurt Iowa over the last 5 years. It did in the first half last night, too, but we hit some in the second half. I like that Fran seems to be getting guys in that can shoot from the perimeter.

I was, too. I knew that Gesell was worthy of the hype, but it was really nice to see how Clemmons played, too. He was smooth, and appeared calm. I think he'll develop into a really good player.

I know there will be growing pains, and it's so easy to get ahead of myself with expectations. I know this team will probably look bad at times, but the potential is so good, and so different than Iowa the last several years. I love how quickly you can bring talent on board in Bball (as opposed to Football).

 

[bcl20]

I think we'll see a consistent Mel this year, too. I just don't think it's going to be at as high a level as you think it will be. I just don't see his minutes and role allowing for 10 and 6 on a consistent basis.

I agree with this. He and may are going to be solid, energy bench players for us, at least they have been thus far.

 

[Foval21]

The reason we couldn't dictate match ups last night wasn't the offensive end from my view. As I watched our wings (marble and white) consistently were getting beat off the dribble. So fran went with a unit he felt could defensively hold up. I think this will be the case most games. We will go with the best defensive match up because pretty much every grouping we have will have people that can run and score. We needed gesell and clemmons to shut down the dribble drive. As white and marble aren't good on ball defenders.

 

[Thawki]

Basabe's capable of putting up numbers like that on any given night. But to expect it from him consistently isn't reasonable. I think there will a lot of night where someone on the bench will have a night like that, but it won't always be Basabe.

More realistically, I think we can expect 6-8 points and 4 boards from Mel on a consistent basis. Sometimes he'll do more, sometimes less. He can do a lot as a garbage man, which is what he had success with as a freshman. But keep in mind that he's not going to get as many minutes as he did in 2010-11. He could be the same player and put up lower numbers.

In his freshman year he was a 13 point and 7 board guy in 18 Big Ten games. Do you not think he can get back to that this year? Do you think that was a fluke an the real Basabe was what you saw last year? Because he was fairly consistent his freshmen year, I would say.

 

[GhostofBTT]

In his freshman year he was a 13 point and 7 board guy in 18 Big Ten games. Do you not think he can get back to that this year? Do you think that was a fluke an the real Basabe was what you saw last year? Because he was fairly consistent his freshmen year, I would say.

The real Basabe is what you saw last year.