Will Woodbury have a Similar Impact as Zeller?

urohawk said:
I am starting to think that unless we get another wing scorer in the class from the JUCO ranks that there won't be a huge bump in wins next year. Josh O is getting worse and other than one big game in a blow out loss has done nothing. We are going to struggle with shooting when Gatens is gone. Post play should be better but Woodbury will still be a freshman.

Assuming this years team will be about 15 or 16 wins (which is better than I thought) I don't know if next year will be able to improve a lot on that. White and Marble will have to be really good next year.
Click to expand...

I think we will have guys who can make the open 3-pnter. McCabe has that ability, and JO + Dev along w/ White should all get better with their experience. At times, I am shocked at JO's ability to drive and hit the fade away mid-range shot. He will get better.

Iowa needs a guy who can drive, be strong w/ the ball and dish out for the open shot. Maybe that will be Mike Gessell. Don't rule out Clemmons yet, as he almost had a triple double in his last game and plays in one of the most competitive leagues in MI. Triple doubles in H.S. are hard to get. I also think Devyn is better w/ the ball in his hands than not, so I could see him being a better creator w/ the dribble, too next yr. Lots of options...lots of unknowns...lots of fun to watch!
 
Woody and Meyer will be a significant upgrade over Brommer and Archie.

That is all you need to know.

But let's make DA Larson make sure each gets on a summer team with at least one of their starting teammates.
 
Last edited:
I'll take the weight off of Woodbury's shoulders. I think the combination of Olesani (with a year of development), Meyer (overlooked but could be very good), and Woodbury (short arms, but a legit 7 footer with skills) will give Iowa some legit center minutes, which is something they haven't had since... Seth Gorney and Looby?

For that matter, I'm not sure if we've had a really effective center since Erk Hansen (I love Jarryd Cole, but I wish he had be able to play with a player like Hansen at center along with him). Last 7 footer with scoring skills? Probably Jared Reiner, right?

Plus you've got White, Basabe and McCabe who can all handle the scoring load at the 4, so the pressure to score won't necessarily be there either. Iowa will need from the 5 next year what they needed but they didn't get this year, some consistent production and a presence in the paint.

I'm not going to predict next year's final record, but I don't think it can be overstated how much Iowa will improve having a solid player at the center position. Imagine how good Iowa could have been this year with a solid center.

Plus don't get me started on having three legitimate point guards (if you count Marble) on the team. The 1 and the 5 are arguably the most important positions on the floor, and that's where Iowa has been weakest for years.

I do agree with Jon that next year's team will go as far as Gesell/Clemmons takes it.
 
Last edited:
If the guys coming in pan out the way Aaron White has this season we will be in the NCAA tourney next year. Add that to Marble, White, etc having another year of experience we should hit 20 wins minimum next year.
 
No way that Woody has the impact Zeller has. No knock on Woody, just that Zeller is having a special season for a 7' post player coming into the BIG10. I think he will be very valuable to the team, but won't be needed to carry the load scoring. As long as he brings rebounding and D, he will help this team improve, by allowing others to slide to more natural positions on the court. I don't think Woody needs to have a bunch of expectation heaped on him coming in.
 
CAARHawk said:
Woody and Meyer will be a significant upgrade over Brommer and Archie. That is all you need to know.But let's make DA Larson make sure each gets on a summer team with at least one of their starting teammates.
Click to expand...

Preferably Basabe. He stands the most to gain with a true center joining the team.

I think Woodbury will make this team much better. He will draw other teams best big man making life a little better for McCabe/Basabe.
 
CAARHawk said:
Woody and Meyer will be a significant upgrade over Brommer and Archie.

That is all you need to know.

But let's make DA Larson make sure each gets on a summer team with at least one of their starting teammates.
Click to expand...

Are you really still bringing up the Hubbard deal?
 
I do not think so. Zeller is better,for one thing. He was #10 overall,while Woody is #43. Zeller is more athletic,with better ball skills. Also, he was the last piece on a roster packed with 7 top 150 players,just missing a center.

Leonard was #29,and really did not make much of an impact last year,playing behind Tisdale. He took an exponential leap this year and is projected to be a lottery pick in June.

I agree that the group of Woody,Gabe and Kyle Meyer should improve our post position.

I was looking at the McDonalds AA game last year ,which was on yesterday,and I will say that Zeller looked much thinner last year at this time,so Woody has some time to add some muscle. He is built very similar to Zeller...long torso,shorter legs for a 7fter,which I like. Both have average shoulder rack,as opposed to the NBA size shoulder rack of Leonard,but acceptable. One good thing, everything I read indicates that Woody is a gym rat,a workout fiend,which means he should just keep getting better!
 
I don't think we have any idea what kind of an impact he will have until he is here. It is fun to speculate but I don't think anyone imagined the kind of impact White would have. I know I didn't.
 
EddyP said:
I don't think we have any idea what kind of an impact he will have until he is here. It is fun to speculate but I don't think anyone imagined the kind of impact White would have. I know I didn't.
Click to expand...

True enough, and also I expect us to struggle some at the beginning of the year again, as the FR figure things out.
 
Zeller is a freak, he has a pretty advanced game for how young he is that most big men don't have. I don't expect Woody to have quite the impact he is having, especially offensively, but do think that he'll contribute and help us out. Anywhere close to Zeller and I'd be ecstatic but don't expect it.

Gessell is the one I am really intrigued with. If anyone has noticed how bad our PG play has been of late, especially last night, he could have a huge impact. Its a lot to ask of a freshman PG though. Just having a PG with better handles and one that can shoot the 3 at a high percentage will really help out a ton. I hope Mike can be that kind of PG next year. PG is kind of like the QB in football, good ones just makes everyone around them better but also the toughest position to play. Just my two cents.
 
Not sure the same level but the entire 5 coming in is probably a better starting 5 than Iowa has fielded in recent years. The class in my eyes will add great depth and there won't be the need to be playing people out of position like Iowa currently has.
 
Not sure the same level but the entire 5 coming in is probably a better starting 5 than Iowa has fielded in recent years. The class in my eyes will add great depth and there won't be the need to be playing people out of position like Iowa currently has.
 
GhostofBTT said:
No. I think the physical play in the big 10 will take time to adjust to, and there will be many games when he either picks up too many fouls early, or plays soft because he doesn't want to pick up any fouls. Then there will be a handful of games where he goes 15 and 10, and there are going to be 20 threads stating "When he's a sophomore and settles down, we'll be in the sweet 16".
Click to expand...


...and they'll be right.
 
It began a long time ago. When people who were able to put two and two together realized that this team is going to be damned good damned soon. You are allowed to believe in something.
 
wundergrape said:
It began a long time ago. When people who were able to put two and two together realized that this team is going to be damned good damned soon. You are allowed to believe in something.
Click to expand...

Absolutely. But blindly believing in something might draw some criticism.
 
frank said:
Absolutely. But blindly believing in something might draw some criticism.
Click to expand...


How is believing the basketball program blind? When Woodbury is a Sophomore, our team will look like this:

PG: Gessell (soph)
SG: Marble (senior)
SF: White (Junior)
PF: Basabe (senior)/McCabe (Senior)
C: Woodbury (sophomore)

Bench:
Oglesby (JR)
Meyer (So)
Ingram (So)
Clemmons (So)
Olaseni (JR)

How is looking at this lineup and proclaiming that we'll be Sweet-16 worthy blind? If anything, you're blind if you don't see this program's potential.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Share this page

Top