Well, here we go...

[skinnykilmer17]

I disagree with all of this. We have an elite team this year and should beat pretty much anyone we play by double digits IMO. If a team is close at the end of the game then we aren't playing well. If we haven't played well for 38 minutes it seems far fetched to me to assume that Fran can wave a magic wand and get his team to suddenly flip a switch and do amazing things over the last 2 minutes. It stands to reason that when a team plays bad it's going to carry through to the end of the game. See Uthoff's 3 that was 2/3 of the way down and didn't fall.

To clarify, I literally didn't mean the last two minutes. How about the entire second half. I will explain.

Given Fran's record in close games, (read or reread this article from BHGP from December),

http://www.blackheartgoldpants.com/basketball/2015/12/15/10203934/a-closer-look-at-close-games

to really be an elite team or to maintain our "elite" status we MAY HAVE to beat teams by double digits.

Fran is 16-35 in games decided by 6 pts or less during his Iowa tenure. 2-4 this year during our "elite" season.

Every coach has their strengths and weaknesses. Few do everything exceptionally well. For example, Tom Davis was not the best recruiter but he had a pretty good feel for the game and was adept at making multiple substitutions etc. given the situation.

Fran is proving to be a pretty good recruiter and obviously has a high basketball IQ, but he just doesn't appear, to me at least, to be the best in-game coach especially coming down the "stretch". See Iowa St. as the most recent glaring example.

Regarding Maryland. Our two biggest problems in the 2nd half was our lack of outside shooting, and our inability to stop them inside. We shot 5-24 or 20% for the game from beyond the arc.. Why not try Ellingson in the 2nd half? Coming off his best game did he even play in the 2nd half?

Maryland scored 16 of their 33 pts at the rim in the 2nd half per BHGP. When Adam was on the court, Maryland rebounded 19% of their misses. While he was on the bench that number rose to 40%. Fran's answer was to continuously play Uhl who just wasn't physical enough and was getting schooled in the 2nd half, while Wagner watched from the bench. ??

One or two stops or one or two defensive rebounds by Wagner inside, or even one 3-pointer by Ellingson could have been the difference in the game.

Remember how Davis would use dead balls to substitute offense for defense? Micheal Reaves and Micheal Morgan come to mind. And not just in the last 2 minutes, although I would love to see Fran start there.

So Windsor, I hope you are correct about this elite tag. The key will be how we do in the latter half of the season in close games. Fran has to do better in those situations. Fact.

 

[PCHawk]

To clarify, I literally didn't mean the last two minutes. How about the entire second half. I will explain.

Given Fran's record in close games, (read or reread this article from BHGP from December),

http://www.blackheartgoldpants.com/basketball/2015/12/15/10203934/a-closer-look-at-close-games

to really be an elite team or to maintain our "elite" status we MAY HAVE to beat teams by double digits.

Fran is 16-35 in games decided by 6 pts or less during his Iowa tenure. 2-4 this year during our "elite" season.

Every coach has their strengths and weaknesses. Few do everything exceptionally well. For example, Tom Davis was not the best recruiter but he had a pretty good feel for the game and was adept at making multiple substitutions etc. given the situation.

Fran is proving to be a pretty good recruiter and obviously has a high basketball IQ, but he just doesn't appear, to me at least, to be the best in-game coach especially coming down the "stretch". See Iowa St. as the most recent glaring example.

Regarding Maryland. Our two biggest problems in the 2nd half was our lack of outside shooting, and our inability to stop them inside. We shot 5-24 or 20% for the game from beyond the arc.. Why not try Ellingson in the 2nd half? Coming off his best game did he even play in the 2nd half?

Maryland scored 16 of their 33 pts at the rim in the 2nd half per BHGP. When Adam was on the court, Maryland rebounded 19% of their misses. While he was on the bench that number rose to 40%. Fran's answer was to continuously play Uhl who just wasn't physical enough and was getting schooled in the 2nd half, while Wagner watched from the bench. ??

One or two stops or one or two defensive rebounds by Wagner inside, or even one 3-pointer by Ellingson could have been the difference in the game.

Remember how Davis would use dead balls to substitute offense for defense? Micheal Reaves and Micheal Morgan come to mind. And not just in the last 2 minutes, although I would love to see Fran start there.

So Windsor, I hope you are correct about this elite tag. The key will be how we do in the latter half of the season in close games. Fran has to do better in those situations. Fact.

Coaches prepare the players to win the game. Once it's close at the end, it's up to the players to win it. Coaches have almost zero impact on 1 possession games with under a minute to play. I'm sure you could ask every coach in the nation and they will tell you the same thing.

The reason Fran's record is so bad is largely due to the players on this year's senior class and the 2 classes before them. They learned how to find a way to lose close games and it snowballed. Now they just wait for something bad to happen. Almost every close loss you can point to turnovers late, defensive breakdowns late, and missed free throws. All of which the coach has no control over. You say look at the ISU game. That game was lost on back to back turnovers that Fran could do nothing about.

 

[skinnykilmer17]

Coaches prepare the players to win the game. Once it's close at the end, it's up to the players to win it. Coaches have almost zero impact on 1 possession games with under a minute to play. I'm sure you could ask every coach in the nation and they will tell you the same thing.

The reason Fran's record is so bad is largely due to the players on this year's senior class and the 2 classes before them. They learned how to find a way to lose close games and it snowballed. Now they just wait for something bad to happen. Almost every close loss you can point to turnovers late, defensive breakdowns late, and missed free throws. All of which the coach has no control over. You say look at the ISU game. That game was lost on back to back turnovers that Fran could do nothing about.

I am not referring to one possession games and I think coaches at this level do have a bigger impact on the game than you are implying.

The ISU game wasn't lost on the back to back turnovers. It was lost much earlier when Fran didn't react to their run(s) IMO. This is my whole point. In that game he wasn't working hard enough to stem the tide by using timeouts or designing plays or making substitutions etc etc. . Maybe that is his style but it hasn't been a winning style for him in close games. Read the link from BHGP.

Again, why not try Wagner and Ellingson in the 2nd half? Ellingson proved his mettle in the previous game against no slouch Purdue. Wagner can bang and be physical. More so than Uhl.

Do you think Fran intentionally did not play them? If so, why do you think? Or did he just let it "get away from him"? Because in the past, when a reporter asks him about a specific player not playing, (see Christian Williams for example and even Wagner), Fran will respond with something like, "Yeah, looking back I should have gotten him into the game" or " I wanted to get them into the game". We didn't hear that after Maryland, I suspect because no reporter asked it.

 

[WindsorHawk]

To clarify, I literally didn't mean the last two minutes. How about the entire second half. I will explain.

Given Fran's record in close games, (read or reread this article from BHGP from December),

http://www.blackheartgoldpants.com/basketball/2015/12/15/10203934/a-closer-look-at-close-games

to really be an elite team or to maintain our "elite" status we MAY HAVE to beat teams by double digits.

Fran is 16-35 in games decided by 6 pts or less during his Iowa tenure. 2-4 this year during our "elite" season.

Every coach has their strengths and weaknesses. Few do everything exceptionally well. For example, Tom Davis was not the best recruiter but he had a pretty good feel for the game and was adept at making multiple substitutions etc. given the situation.

Fran is proving to be a pretty good recruiter and obviously has a high basketball IQ, but he just doesn't appear, to me at least, to be the best in-game coach especially coming down the "stretch". See Iowa St. as the most recent glaring example.

Regarding Maryland. Our two biggest problems in the 2nd half was our lack of outside shooting, and our inability to stop them inside. We shot 5-24 or 20% for the game from beyond the arc.. Why not try Ellingson in the 2nd half? Coming off his best game did he even play in the 2nd half?

Maryland scored 16 of their 33 pts at the rim in the 2nd half per BHGP. When Adam was on the court, Maryland rebounded 19% of their misses. While he was on the bench that number rose to 40%. Fran's answer was to continuously play Uhl who just wasn't physical enough and was getting schooled in the 2nd half, while Wagner watched from the bench. ??

One or two stops or one or two defensive rebounds by Wagner inside, or even one 3-pointer by Ellingson could have been the difference in the game.

Remember how Davis would use dead balls to substitute offense for defense? Micheal Reaves and Micheal Morgan come to mind. And not just in the last 2 minutes, although I would love to see Fran start there.

So Windsor, I hope you are correct about this elite tag. The key will be how we do in the latter half of the season in close games. Fran has to do better in those situations. Fact.

We disagree that's fine. Your "Fact" is actually an opinion because not all of us put it on Fran. I put it on veteran players to execute. Parting comment...There won't be enough close games to say one way or the other.

 

[skinnykilmer17]

We disagree that's fine. Your "Fact" is actually an opinion because not all of us put it on Fran. I put it on veteran players to execute. Parting comment...There won't be enough close games to say one way or the other.

Blowouts it is! ☺

 

[PCHawk]

I am not referring to one possession games and I think coaches at this level do have a bigger impact on the game than you are implying.

The ISU game wasn't lost on the back to back turnovers. It was lost much earlier when Fran didn't react to their run(s) IMO. This is my whole point. In that game he wasn't working hard enough to stem the tide by using timeouts or designing plays or making substitutions etc etc. . Maybe that is his style but it hasn't been a winning style for him in close games. Read the link from BHGP.

Again, why not try Wagner and Ellingson in the 2nd half? Ellingson proved his mettle in the previous game against no slouch Purdue. Wagner can bang and be physical. More so than Uhl.

Do you think Fran intentionally did not play them? If so, why do you think? Or did he just let it "get away from him"? Because in the past, when a reporter asks him about a specific player not playing, (see Christian Williams for example and even Wagner), Fran will respond with something like, "Yeah, looking back I should have gotten him into the game" or " I wanted to get them into the game". We didn't hear that after Maryland, I suspect because no reporter asked it.

There are things a coach can do to "try" to stop runs, but the other team has players too and sometimes players make plays. You think just because we lost the game, Fran didn't do anything. I'm sure Fran was trying things the entire time but ISU is a good team and they made plays. Fran catches flack for not playing the bench more but if he did play them more and we lose a 1 point game, he's a bad coach because he likes to go too deep into the bench.

 

[BrueCrew3]

In JDM's "Instant Reaction" pod cast he stated something to the effect that nobody should have believed this team would go 18-0 for the B1G season and he's right. Iowa played its worst game of the B1G season .. lost by only 6 .. on the road .. to a top 10 team that hasn't lost a B1G game at home in like 2 years. Am I happy about the loss? NO! Am I concerned with what I saw? Again .. No. This team is on track for B1G things. It's one loss .. time to move on.

GO HAWKS!!!

 

[atomicblue224]

In JDM's "Instant Reaction" pod cast he stated something to the effect that nobody should have believed this team would go 18-0 for the B1G season and he's right. Iowa played its worst game of the B1G season .. lost by only 6 .. on the road .. to a top 10 team that hasn't lost a B1G game at home in like 2 years. Am I happy about the loss? NO! Am I concerned with what I saw? Again .. No. This team is on track for B1G things. It's one loss .. time to move on.

GO HAWKS!!!

Good point on that .