Iowa Basketball
- Thread starter Clones21
- Start date
I agree with the OP that Iowa is going to better then people think, but let's not get too carried away. I honestly think the best high school team in the country (not Iowa) could hang (not beat) with Chicago St, they are pretty bad.
On the other hand it was the perfect season opening opponent to build some momentum and confidence.
On the other hand it was the perfect season opening opponent to build some momentum and confidence.
I checked out multiple rankings. 339 was the best they were rated. We beat Chico State last year by 41 and they are worse this year.
Iowa may be a good team but this game doesn't tell anybody that.
Here's a microcosm:
"Senior Jamill Harris, a 5-10 guard from Foreman, is the Cougars' top returning player with averages of 3.3 points and 1.5 assists per game."
gulp
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Uhmm, they return Senior Jamill Harris, a 5-10 guard, who averaged of 3.3 points and 1.5 assists per game. :smile:
This is like making a judgement after the first half of the first half of playing some FBS team that is much worse than UNI is in football.
Iowa is going to be ok. They have a good coach. I really don't think they're going to beat us this year.
Iowa is going to be ok. They have a good coach. I really don't think they're going to beat us this year.
ISR.
I was pleased with a lot of things, but there are plenty of things we need to clean up. First and foremost, our interior defense in the half-court and transition (when we weren't pressing) pretty much sucked. Gave up way too many easy opportunities down low, even if CSU did make a couple f*cked up shots. Teams like Ohio State will eat us alive if that continues. We also failed to hit on a lot of open looks from the outside. The ball movement to set up those shots was great, we just didn't execute on the back end.
I liked the look of the press. While Archie in particular gets lost in the half-court, he's pretty valuable on the press. Having a center who's athletic enough to really run the floor lets you put him on the inbounder, and that was very effective for most of the game. White was also good with this, and he got a steal or two off the inbound tonight.
Our free throw shooting thus far has blown me away. Last year, we shot just 67.55% from the line. Counting the exhibition game, the Hawks are shooting 82.5% from the line this year. That's a dramatic improvement, and an important one. Poor free throw shooting was a big factor in several our losses last year (including the ISU game). If we can keep shooting well from the line, we could give ourselves the chance to score a few upsets this year (Purdue and Wisconsin when the come to Carver are possibilities. Wisky just because we always play them tough at Carver, and Purdue because I think they're going to be pretty beatable this year.).
I was pleased with a lot of things, but there are plenty of things we need to clean up. First and foremost, our interior defense in the half-court and transition (when we weren't pressing) pretty much sucked. Gave up way too many easy opportunities down low, even if CSU did make a couple f*cked up shots. Teams like Ohio State will eat us alive if that continues. We also failed to hit on a lot of open looks from the outside. The ball movement to set up those shots was great, we just didn't execute on the back end.
I liked the look of the press. While Archie in particular gets lost in the half-court, he's pretty valuable on the press. Having a center who's athletic enough to really run the floor lets you put him on the inbounder, and that was very effective for most of the game. White was also good with this, and he got a steal or two off the inbound tonight.
Our free throw shooting thus far has blown me away. Last year, we shot just 67.55% from the line. Counting the exhibition game, the Hawks are shooting 82.5% from the line this year. That's a dramatic improvement, and an important one. Poor free throw shooting was a big factor in several our losses last year (including the ISU game). If we can keep shooting well from the line, we could give ourselves the chance to score a few upsets this year (Purdue and Wisconsin when the come to Carver are possibilities. Wisky just because we always play them tough at Carver, and Purdue because I think they're going to be pretty beatable this year.).
I don't think Iowa is that good. I think we could be on the cusp of being good, but for this year, I'm more expecting us to be competitive in just about every game, and hopefully score a few more upsets.
Basically, where ISU was last year. Far from bad, but not quite good.
I am not one that denies anything good happening over there in Iowa City. I like your coach and I'm sure you are bound to see success again. But that's not a dramatic improvement over two games. Regression to the mean...it's a *****.
I suppose this is true....Archie and Brommer haven't gone to the line yet this year:smile:
But seriously, if the team were going to make a big improvement in their free throw shooting, I'd expect to see it pretty early in the season. Seeing this improvement right out of the gate makes it much more likely that it's an improvement that's here to stay, than if it were just a random 2-game stretch in January (IMO).
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Chicago St. is the worst D1 team in the entire country, this doesn't tell us anything about Iowa. Drake destroyed Chicago st. last year and they were not a good team by any means, not saying that iowa might not have improved from last year, but this is not the game to gage that improvement.
We destroyed Drake last year, and our record wasn't great. I refuse to say our team last year wasn't any good, because I think we were two role players from being a NCAA team.
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I can understand your point. Because, honestly, my hopes for our season tend to rise and fall every time Royce White shoots a free throw.
Well, my post was meant to be taken as that we weren't good, and that we destroyed the team that destroyed the team that, a year later, Iowa just beat. I meant to add-on to your post rather than combat it.
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Which is why I'm taking the other stuff with a grain of salt (effectiveness of the press, White's performance, etc.). But free throw shooting isn't affected by the opponent. You're either good at it or you're not.
this game aside, I think many on here are underestimating Iowa. They WILL be better than people think. Fran can coach, they have a point guard that really came on last year, they have a swing man in Baasbe that improved a bunch last year too. Watch Baasbe play, he looks good doing what he is doing. I am actually very concerned about our game with them at Hilton.
I actually think it would be fun, to have both ISU and Iowa become good programs again. Of course I want to beat them every year, but I'm sick of UNI/Drake being better than ISU/Iowa.
This year, when we obviously lack a PG, at least we play them in Hilton. Next year, I think we'll be a much more complete team, so hopefully we can go 3-0 against them (Hoiber/Fran era), in Carver.
This year, when we obviously lack a PG, at least we play them in Hilton. Next year, I think we'll be a much more complete team, so hopefully we can go 3-0 against them (Hoiber/Fran era), in Carver.