Don't be fooled by the negativity around here. I would say I'm on the cautiously optimistic side here. We have a veteran team of guys that can really score the ball. We lacked a true presence at the 3 last year along with any backups at the 1. Baer, the only guy capable of playing the 3, was out for multiple weeks and when he did come back, he wasn't himself. Then Bohannon played his heart out every game, but struggled with a foot issue forced to play nearly all 40 minutes in a number of games.
This year, we have Wieskamp, perhaps the best recruit of the McCaffery era, coming in to shore up the 3. Baer is healthy and has his shot back. Connor is healthy and can spell Bohannon at the 1. CJ Frederick can also supposedly play the 1 and looks like another range weapon. Literally just having the bodies to put in there on defense will make us a better team this season. That said, these guys were all embarrassed last year and have been working all off season to make sure that doesn't happen again. For a veteran version of the team that Jok almost took to the tournament 2 years back, I'm certainly taking the over on improving from Jok's senior year.
This sounds like straight Fran hyperbola.
We still won't play any defense, or defend the 3. Fran will continue to over substitute, how is having bodies to put in on defense going to help us? Fran's been playing 12 guys traditionally and we've been terrible.
You described yourself as cautiously optimistic, I'd caution you on that even. But I'd love to be wrong in this case.
I understand what you're saying about having more bodies and Fran's rotation. Last year, the results with a "full roster" were disappointing to say the least. But it wasn't full, because we only had 2 PG and 1 3 on the roster. And Fran has to take blame along with credit. Connor playing two sports being the only real backup and then having health issues was dumb. Then Baer being the only true 3 with limited athleticism really hurt when he broke his finger and had no shot after his return. Williams defended the 1 and the 3 and did it well. His departure hurt more than Fran would want to admit and it's his fault that he didn't recruit anyone else to fill those roles. Having one athletic but limited player filling key roles is dumb. But all of that doesn't affect this season. And there's nothing hyperbolic about what I said about it.
In fact, I was probably underselling it. When I said having bodies, I meant capable players. Wieskamp would likely have been a 5 star recruit had he not committed early and shut down attending most national camps. As it stands, a consensus 4 star still counts as more than just another body to put at the 3. Connor McCaffery is a guy who grew up learning the offense and has more skills/athleticism than people want to give him credit for. If you want to call bs on his 4 star top 100 ranking, that's fine as he hasn't had the chance to prove anything yet, but he'd at least be a high 3 star no matter what his name and pedigree were. These are not zero-star scrubs, they will contribute valuable minutes. Heck, even the forgotten CJ Frederick was the KY POY and a high 3 star. In a sport where one guy can put a team on his back, adding two or three capable players in positions of need is going to make a huge difference. Especially when the team is veteran and hungry.
Finally, don't buy the rhetoric on Fran being a bad defensive coach. If you're going to blame him for players being bad, you have to give him credit for when they're good. The numbers bear it out. He had us in the top 100 for 4 straight years 2013-2016 for adjusted defensive efficiency. 33th, 60th, 40th, 76th. And that was a one year jump from 287th to 33rd by adding a few first year players. If he's done it before, he can do it again.
Ree4
Well-Known Member
SteveGarvey1
Well-Known Member
He looks jacked in this picture posted in the Press Citizen yesterday:
Must be due to his baseball workouts.
Jason Rann
Well-Known Member
You probably shouldn't watch then.
I
Ian Pike Hammer
Guest
I will openly admit, I'm wildly excited about Iowa bb this year!!!!
Drakebulldog93
Well-Known Member
We need his brother to look like this...He looks jacked in this picture posted in the Press Citizen yesterday:
This isn't Cyclone Fanatic or a Husker's board, we don't always have to blindly drink the Kool-Aid. It's okay to pose a reasonable question following a 4-14 conference record regarding peoples excitement in Iowa basketball.
You were somewhat convincing until the last paragraph, 'don't buy the rhetoric on Fran being a bad defensive coach'. Fran's philosophies are atrocious, even former players of his have called him out and said they never worked on defense in practice. Most of the postgame questions posed to Fran regarding defense he somehow reverse engineers to redirect back to offense.
Iowa's scoring defense ranked 317th last year and gave up an average of more than 78 PPG despite playing a dreadful non-conference schedule.
lightning1
Well-Known Member
I have to admit that I am excited for this upcoming season. I'm excited to see this new Iowa defensive team. I know how difficult it is to get a team of offensive minded players to embrace playing defense. I have had to do what Fran is trying to do and it's not easy. The very first AAU team I coached (as an assistant) was awful at team defense. It really wasn't their fault. The head coach didn't teach or practice defense. I had to convince him first and the players 2nd. It's a contest of wills to get players to buy in and I had to stay on top of them the entire season. I had a lot of headaches that summer.
atomicblue224
Well-Known Member
I expect him to be a team player. I expect him to cook cheeseburgers off the opposing teams out of B1G. Just burn to crispy cheeseburgers!
BigD
Well-Known Member
I would like to see seven assist a game which would indicate he is anticipating the double coverage and passing to the open man for the good of the team and to win the game. Expect the freshman to really benefit from this.
The difference between what you had to do and what Fran has to do is the level of athlete. I know we've argued this before, but I cant believe you think D1 athletes would be ok with not playing defense after the year they had. It's one thing if they were average on offense and bad at defense. In that situation maybe they wouldn't focus as much on it. But they were good on offense and terrible on defense. There is no hiding from what they have to do to win this year. The question is do they want to. I think of course they do. You seem to think they might not since some AAU kids you coached didn't really care that much.
Northside Hawk
Well-Known Member
You won't see either. Not from Cook. When he gets it down low he ain't looking to pass. And seven is unrealistic anyway. Jordan Bohannon has averaged 5.3 and 5.4 apg his first two seasons and those are toward the high end for a typical point guard. He'll average in the 1.5-2 range.
lightning1
Well-Known Member
I watched almost all of the Iowa players quit giving effort on the defensive end, on several occasions last season. Some of them on many occasions. Those were choices! Choices that they made! That tells me they are "OK" with not playing defense. If they weren't "OK" with it, they would have made a different choice. So, do yourself a favor and just stop. I know when a player stops giving effort. I know when players are making effort choices. As you say, there is no hiding that from me. I know what I saw. You saw it too. So, explain to me why they would choose to not give effort on the defensive end, if they weren't personally "OK" with making that choice. Your argument is ridiculous.
Northside Hawk
Well-Known Member
What's worse than the players thinking it's OK is when Fran sends the message that it's OK-by not benching the perpretrators. He finally did on at least one occasion--the second half of the the February Indiana game- but by that time it was way too late.
ibahawkeye
Well-Known Member
I actually don’t think Tyler’s scoring numbers need to go up much. I mean he’s a good enough player that he could but I think the cast will be even better this year.
It’s hard to trust Tyler when the game is on the line because at least up until this point can’t create for himself.
I hope Tyler improves in a way that helps his teammates be better. We were at our best when we had Cook, JBo and a 3rd scorer.
Garza, Moss or Joe are all good options as 3rd scorers. Scoring off the bench should be consistent with Baer, Dailey, Nunge.
Everybody knows the D needs to be better. Everybody knows Tyler Cook is our best player. My expectation for Tyler as the best player is to have a finer print in helping this team be better Defensively.
If he does that, we’ll be just fine.
It’s hard to trust Tyler when the game is on the line because at least up until this point can’t create for himself.
I hope Tyler improves in a way that helps his teammates be better. We were at our best when we had Cook, JBo and a 3rd scorer.
Garza, Moss or Joe are all good options as 3rd scorers. Scoring off the bench should be consistent with Baer, Dailey, Nunge.
Everybody knows the D needs to be better. Everybody knows Tyler Cook is our best player. My expectation for Tyler as the best player is to have a finer print in helping this team be better Defensively.
If he does that, we’ll be just fine.
lightning1
Well-Known Member
This^^^^ really illustrates the fact that PC doesn't know what he's talking about. Fran was a D-1 athlete. Fran is a highly paid D-1 Head Coach. Fran was "OK" with his players not playing defense. Otherwise, he wouldn't have played the perps. But he did.
