Woodbury Guaranteed 4 year Start

Fairfax said:
11 points? That was probably a career high wasn't it? No it was after the 5 points he got against UNI, the 3 points against North Florida, and the 2 points against mighty Alcorn State. Same pose every time.
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It is really to bad Iowa has no Guards besides Jok that know how to make an interior pass AT ALL!
 
Woody has been one of our best players on the floor this season. The N FL game, wasn't his best night I'll admit, but he's been pretty solid all season long. So what, Fran made a promise to start him to get him to sign? He was a huge recruit, I'd like to see Fran make more promises if that's what it takes.
 
ddiction said:
I have never seen a game where Woodbury played better defense than Gabe, regardless of the level of competition.
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You're watching different games than I am. Defense is a LOT more than blocking shots, and that's about the only area where Gabe is better than Woody on defense.
 
I just think Woody like White sometimes just get passive. There are times when he clearly wants the ball then there are others when there is a clearly more dominate center in that he doesn't even want to touch the ball on the high block. Aaron White does the same. Sometimes they have stretches where they are super aggressive and want the ball then the next three possessions they are strictly there to facilitate which might explain our lack of continuity.
 
JG10Hawk said:
For those that don't know, what Woodbury does out by the 3pt line is called hedging. It's when the post player slides out horizontally towards the ball handler coming off a screen, when his guy is the one that screens for the ball handler. You do this to force the ball handler further horizontally to avoid a quick guard from flying around the screen and going straight to the basket. This allows the guard that just got screened enough time to recover and get back to the ball handler.

Woodbury is actually pretty good at this. He delays the ball handler just enough and normally has good position to deny the entry pass to his man at the same time. Most of the time he recovers getting back to his man before any damage is done. He has gotten beat a few times over the years but not very often.

Gabe was awful at this a few years ago and got beat a lot if he didn't recover in time to block his man or foul. That is why he didn't play much until the last year or so when he started to figure out angles and positioning. He still gets out of position some but has improved tremendously and that's why his minutes have gone up.

What Woodbury isn't very good at is blocking shots in help defense when a teammate gets beat to the basket either with the ball or as a cutter. Gabe is clearly better at this as can be shown by his much higher percentage of blocks. That doesn't mean Woodbury is terrible at help defense though. More often than not Woody is in position and has his hands up to affect the shot. He has stopped going for blocks all the time to avoid getting in foul trouble like he did so much as a freshman.

In other words, both post players have improved but still have holes in their game that make them a great compliment to one another. As a whole, this team has been getting pretty good production from the center spot when you combine both players. I'd say 15.9 ppg and 11.6 rpg is pretty solid for just 40 combined minutes.
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When you say Woodbury is pretty good at this....are you excluding every time he hedges too far and commits a silly blocking foul 30 feet from the basket with less than 10 seconds left on the shot clock (see his most recent foul today)?
 
KCRC said:
When you say Woodbury is pretty good at this....are you excluding every time he hedges too far and commits a silly blocking foul 30 feet from the basket with less than 10 seconds left on the shot clock (see his most recent foul today)?
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Yes, I am also including the other 6 good hedges he had.

First Half:
19:16 - Good hedge, forced Scott to reverse the ball to Thompson who made a contested 3 guarded by Uthoff.
16:09 - Good hedge, helped jar ball loose for a Gesell steal.
9:28 - Good hedge, stopped Russell causing him to pick up dribble, later Loving turned it over by traveling.
8:52 - Good hedge, forced Russell to reverse the ball, Uthoff failed on a steal attempt and allowed his man to get the ball and penetrate. Forced Woody to help and Williams received a pass for an easy dunk.
7:55 - Good hedge, stopped Russell forcing him to reverse the ball.
7:51 - Bad hedge, started out fine until he got out of position taking an extra step which led to a dumb foul out by mid court.

2nd Half:
18:42 - Good hedge, forced Scott out further and denied penetration and White came over to help Woody, like you are supposed to when you are 2 passes away in man to man defense, but got caught ball watching and didn't get back to his man. This resulted in a scrambling defense and an open look from 3. They missed the shot and Woody got the rebound.

Fran played a lot of zone in the 2nd half to help slow the ball down, help kill the clock, and force Ohio State to shoot themselves back into the game. In other words, you don't hedge while playing a zone.

Yes, Woody effed up on one of his hedges but that is the only time he did the whole game. Players are going to make mistakes and they are magnified when you are looking for something to bash a player for...
 
Good defense is played by not allowing your man to get the position he wants, something Woody does well and Gabe not so much. Blocking shots is usually a result of being out of position.

That is unless the shot being blocked is Gessel's or Clemens's, which we see way too much of any time either one drives to the basket.
 
HawkeyeTech said:
Good defense is played by not allowing your man to get the position he wants, something Woody does well and Gabe not so much. Blocking shots is usually a result of being out of position.

That is unless the shot being blocked is Gessel's or Clemens's, which we see way too much of any time either one drives to the basket.
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THIS x 10000!

I will amend it with blocking shots is also a result of helping on a driving opponent who was beat your teammate on the perimeter, but that is also predicated on the weak side forward rotating to prevent the dump-off pass... something that our forwards have had issues with in the past. If the forward is there, the driver has no options but throw it back out or put it up and most likely get it blocked - no easy dunk options.
 
Maybe it's just me but I'm glad both Gabe and Woody are Hawks. They have different skill sets. They give us 10 fouls at the 5...which we needed yesterday. I think both bring things to the table we need to be successful. I'm an Iowa fan. If we have 1 more point than the opponent when the game ends I'm happy. I'm not interested in tearing down one Hawk in an effort to elevate another.
 
I agree sometimes Woody just doesn't look interested in the game. Other times he acts like he is a leader out there. NC he pretty much played a whole game. Wish he would do that every nite
 
Since jok was inserted into the starting lineup (pat myself on the back because I figured he would become starter by the big 10 schedule or earlier) it becomes more important that Woody start as jok needs a rim protector that is in the correct position. Jok is obviously poor on defense. Which I find ok if he is paired with a good position defender as a rim protector...gabe isn't that but Woody is.

Gabe is out of position a lot. He gets blocks but he gets out of position so much it would give the guy Jok is guarding a huge advantage as he would probably beat jok and then have an out of position rim protector to deal with.

Not to mention we have good help shot blockers already in the starting lineup. Uthoff and white are good help side shot blockers that pair well with Woody as they get a lot of their blocks because he redirects a shot and they come from the weak side and block it. Their blocks would got down with Gabe in as he is out of position a lot.

i also like having a shot blocker and energy guy coming off the bench. Gabe is a shot in the arm off the bench and exactly what we need in a back up center and power forward. Plus since when has the start of the game been bad for iowa. I would be ok if someone said Gabe should start the second half because that is when he seem to need a shot in the arm.
 
Knight78 said:
You're watching different games than I am. Defense is a LOT more than blocking shots, and that's about the only area where Gabe is better than Woody on defense.
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Fran's defense is all about being out of position and still preventing the score (which it shouldn't be). Do Fran's guards provide effective defense? No. Do Fran's forwards provide effective defense? No. Pretty much every Iowa defender is out of position playing defense. They play defense with their height. That leaves the Iowa center to protect the basket when the ball gets around everyone else on defense. The, IMO, focal point of defense for Fran's teams.

This is why Gabe is needed to play more and start for Iowa: his defense around the basket and rebounding. His offense is clearly equal to Woody's and Gabe can score around the basket.
 
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