Brock Harding

[HawkLogic]

Really? So you think this will be a more successful team if they sit down Perkins, Sandfort, McCaffery and Krikke? Our top four scorers and the top two rebounders. Interesting concept.

You don't have to bench all 4. Krikke and PMAC give up as many points as they score. Sandfort rebounds okay and plays harder on defense. The lineup that doesn't work is Krikke, Pmac, Sandfort, Freeman, Perkins. That clearly is a lineup that Fran is doing contortions to keep PMAC out on the floor.

Most good teams that do well in NCAA tourney are guard heavy and the two bigs are versatile defenders/strong rebounders. Most successful NCAA coaches value defense/rebounding and a ineup that would resemble what most ncaa coaches would do would be"

Bowen, Perkins, Dix, Krikke, Freeman...sprinkle in some Sandfort/Dimbele/Harding.


The Iowa squad doesn't have enough guard depth, too many lanky shooters/poor defenders/poor rebounders tweener types without position they can guard. IF Fran wins 10 B1G games with his current starting lineup that would be very surprising to me. I think 6-8 total B1G wins more likely, but we shall see.

 

[Steamboat529529]

Yea. Based on the schedule Iowa’s biggest stretch will be the next five games ending with Purdue. Need to go 3 and 2. The schedule is too tough at the end of the season for them to make a run.

 

[LukaDuka]

Probably more than one but if 3 out of the 4 are really leaving after this year, (which I doubt actually happens) then there isn't aU

Playing one upperclassman is definitely a waste, and a hindrance to improvement.

Underclassmen learn from watching and playing with upperclassmen. Needs to be a mix and balance.

 

[Franisdaman]

Yea. Based on the schedule Iowa’s biggest stretch will be the next five games ending with Purdue. Need to go 3 and 2. The schedule is too tough at the end of the season for them to make a run.

We are 8-5 overall and 0-2 in the conference.

We have a great home conference schedule. 3 of the next 5 games are at home and on the weekend. Will fans show up? I think 3-2 is do-able.

Tues Jan 2 at Wisconsin
Sat Jan 6 vs Rutgers, 11:00 am tip
Fri Jan 12 vs Nebraska, 8:30 pm tip
Mon Jan 15 at Minnesota
Sat Jan 20 vs Purdue, 1:00 pm tip

 

[Ronman]

What do you think rebuild means?

Simple concept.

To quote the old saying: "You don't throw out the baby with the bath water." Simpler concept.

 

[RocknRollface]

To quote the old saying: "You don't throw out the baby with the bath water." Simpler concept.

Simpler but not applicable if you assume that a tournament appearance = the baby and this season is not going to result in a tournament appearance either way.

We'll know within a few games which way this season is headed IMO.

Normally Frans teams always look bad in December and start to look much better in January but I'm not sure these upperclassman have what it takes to be competitive.

 

[Ronman]

I don't know how this team will finish, Perhaps some of you are right and it will be a disaster. But even Matt Painter, with all of his advantages, had a season where he finished 10th in the B1G a few years back and practically every school has had a spell so bad they replaced their coach, some more often than once, since McCaffery has taken over the Iowa program. Overall, he has done an excellent job during the regular season and has finished in the upper five of the conference, and made it to the NCAA's more often than not. Having a reloading (rebuilding) year is something he is entitled to occasionally, as is every coach.

 

[RocknRollface]

I don't know how this team will finish, Perhaps some of you are right and it will be a disaster. But even Matt Painter, with all of his advantages, had a season where he finished 10th in the B1G a few years back and practically every school has had a spell so bad they replaced their coach, some more often than once, since McCaffery has taken over the Iowa program. Overall, he has done an excellent job during the regular season and has finished in the upper five of the conference, and made it to the NCAA's more often than not. Having a reloading (rebuilding) year is something he is entitled to occasionally, as is every coach.

OK, but a rebuilding year is when you get your youner more talented guys experience so that you can build twoards the following year.

When you are playing mostly upperclassman it's not a rebuilding year. You're not building anything because it's getting torn down again at the end of the season.

If it's apparent that this isn't going to be an ncaa team by the end of January it's time to go into rebuilding mode.

 

[HoustonREDHawk]

Underclassmen learn from watching and playing with upperclassmen. Needs to be a mix and balance.

I agree. I am talking about not playing one particular upper classman more than 10 min. We need minutes from Krikke, Perkins, and Payton, mixed with Freeman, Dembele, Dix, Bowen and Harding, maybe a little Pryce.

 

[LukaDuka]

Harding is overmatched in Big10. Bowen should be starting and playing 20+ minutes.

 

[DewHawk]

Harding is overmatched in Big10. Bowen should be starting and playing 20+ minutes.

He is a freshman but given your repeated comments you just do not like him. Give him some time.

 

[RocknRollface]

Harding is overmatched in Big10. Bowen should be starting and playing 20+ minutes.

There are 3 guys in the starting lineup who are more overmatched than Harding.

Agree on Bowen.

 

[LukaDuka]

He is a freshman but given your repeated comments you just do not like him. Give him some time.

He is a freshman but given your repeated comments you just do not like him. Give him some time.

I don't dislike him, but I think Bowen should be starting and backed up by Dix & Harding. Bowen needs to be allowed to play through his mistakes & Harding needs a development year. Next year with Perking gone, he will get more playing time. But right now, Bowen is clearly the better option both offensively & defensively.

 

[RocknRollface]

I don't dislike him, but I think Bowen should be starting and backed up by Dix & Harding. Bowen needs to be allowed to play through his mistakes & Harding needs a development year. Next year with Perking gone, he will get more playing time. But right now, Bowen is clearly the better option both offensively & defensively.

Bowen is better overall but I'm not sure he's better at pg.

I really think he's better as the 2.

1-3 spots should just be a rotation of Perkins Bowen, Harding and Dix.

 

[LukaDuka]

Bowen is better overall but I'm not sure he's better at pg.

I really think he's better as the 2.

1-3 spots should just be a rotation of Perkins Bowen, Harding and Dix.

Bowen at shooting guard? I know that's his position when Fran plays he & Harding together, but that is not his position. He & Harding are pg's. Dix & Perkins are 2 guards & possibly the Sandforts are 2/3's. Hell PMac could possibly play the 2 or even make him a point forward & run the offense. He sure as hell isn't effective at the 3/4 spot. Put him in mismatch positions and make pg's play defense against him. IDK

 

[IllQChawk]

We might not agree who should be getting the most minutes between Bowen or Harding, but at least we all agree that there's at one Hawk player that shouldn't be getting the minutes that he is getting.
Overall when a Hawk is struggling, playing them heavy minutes will not help the team this year. I'll leave it at that.

 

[RocknRollface]

Bowen at shooting guard? I know that's his position when Fran plays he & Harding together, but that is not his position. He & Harding are pg's. Dix & Perkins are 2 guards & possibly the Sandforts are 2/3's. Hell PMac could possibly play the 2 or even make him a point forward & run the offense. He sure as hell isn't effective at the 3/4 spot. Put him in mismatch positions and make pg's play defense against him. IDK

Harding is the only real pg on the team.

Bowen is a combo guard who's game is mostly getting shots for himself with some kick outs. He doesn't look comfortable running the offense, he only looks comfortable attacking the basket.

Dix is a true 2 and all around good player.

Perkins is an undersized 3 IMO because he doesn't really handle or shoot well enough to be a 2. But he's athletic and tough.

Sandfort is a tweener 3/4 who's too slow to defend on the perimeter.

Patrick doesn't have a position or do anything well.

 

[IllQChawk]

Harding is the only real pg on the team.

Bowen is a combo guard who's game is mostly getting shots for himself with some kick outs. He doesn't look comfortable running the offense, he only looks comfortable attacking the basket.

Dix is a true 2 and all around good player.

Perkins is an undersized 3 IMO because he doesn't really handle or shoot well enough to be a 2. But he's athletic and tough.

Sandfort is a tweener 3/4 who's too slow to defend on the perimeter.

Patrick doesn't have a position or do anything well.

That's a pretty good analysis of the players you have mentioned although Perkins plays the 2 awful well.
Until Fran has had enough of the 4 players that he has surrounding Freeman, Iowa is going to struggle this year. They may struggle the rest of the year anyway, but I'm still in the opinion that Harding, backed up by Bowen, Perkins, backed up by Bowen, Dix and Pryce, Krikke, backed up by Brauns and Dembele, Freeman, backed up by Dembele or Brauns, and Payton, backed up by Patrick will give Iowa the best chance to win games going forward, but I'm also 75 and have never coached a college game in my life. so no matter if I think I know this game better then anyone else, that is probably not the case.
I do love the game and passionately look forward to it every season and I will continue to watch every game the remainder of this year come hell or high water.

 

[HoustonREDHawk]

Harding is the only real pg on the team.

Bowen is a combo guard who's game is mostly getting shots for himself with some kick outs. He doesn't look comfortable running the offense, he only looks comfortable attacking the basket.

Dix is a true 2 and all around good player.

Perkins is an undersized 3 IMO because he doesn't really handle or shoot well enough to be a 2. But he's athletic and tough.

Sandfort is a tweener 3/4 who's too slow to defend on the perimeter.

Patrick doesn't have a position or do anything well.

This is a pretty accurate assessment. Perkins is definitely not a PG, and the current starting lineup has very little flow, which is probably impacting Payton the most. He needs to get his shots in the flow of an offense or in a fast break dish out. He is not a shot creator. Patrick really gums up any sensible lineup, unless he comes in for a couple of 5-6 min spurts, when we should be pressing, where he is somewhat effective.

We need two guards on the floor to make the offense move, and the PG should usually be either Bowen or Harding. Perkins and Dix are the other guards, and they could actually play 3 at times, giving us 3 ballhandlers on the court.

If Fran sticks with Patrick playing 25 min, Iowa is going to be one of the four teams playing in first day of the BT tourney.

 

[LukaDuka]

There was a play where Harding had the ball on the wing & Payton Sandafort wide open in the corner, no one within 15 feet of him. Payton calling for the ball for a wide open three. Harding never even looked at him & passed it out to the perimeter. Is there some jealousy going on here? Did anyone else notice this?

I think Harding is still in belief he deserves more shots in this offense & there's some sort of jealousy here. Harding likes to score and be center of attention. Maybe it was just a fluke, but Harding doesn't miss too many wide open shooters.

 

[Franisdaman]

 

[Franisdaman]

Full text of the tweet:

Along with some veterans, Brock Harding has taken on a leadership role even as a freshman:

“They told me early on this season that this team lost a lot of leaders last year. There’s no age on leadership. If you’re a leader, it’s inside of you. And they thought that I’ve always kinda had that so they really have pushed me to use that early on. And I think I’ve gotten more comfortable with it over the season as we’ve moved along.”

 

[Buffalo43]

Future CEO

 

[Franisdaman]

 

[mro1978]

Should have started at PG all of 2024

 

[eyesofhawk]

Always love a leader and true PG on the floor.

Brock is playing well. He has some trouble finishing at the rim at times but energy and leadership add to his value

 

[Franisdaman]

Tyler is a beat writer for the Register.

 

[BirdistheWord]

Offense just flows better with him in there and he is able to get into the lane normally just about whenever he wants.

 

[BirdistheWord]

his drive and dish to Krikke was almost brilliant, I believe the pass got tipped? Was that his (and only) turnover?

 

[IllQChawk]

Harding should have had an additional 2 or 3 assists. One pass was fumbled by Ben and Patrick missed a layup he should have made and I'll have to review the game as I think there was another pass he made and was not finished, but I was more impressed with the defense he provided against Boldwin, team effort. that guy torched Iowa at happy Valley and Iowa kept him to 11. Major reason Iowa win the game. He had 0 points in the first half.
Love it when Harding is on the court buzzing around and making things difficult for the opposition.

 

[nelly02]

Harding should have had an additional 2 or 3 assists. One pass was fumbled by Ben and Patrick missed a layup he should have made and I'll have to review the game as I think there was another pass he made and was not finished, but I was more impressed with the defense he provided against Boldwin, team effort. that guy torched Iowa at happy Valley and Iowa kept him to 11. Major reason Iowa win the game.

I wish Fran was willing to play him and Perkins together more but it seems he only likes to get Brock minutes if it means Perk is on the bench.

 

[BirdistheWord]

Harding should have had an additional 2 or 3 assists. One pass was fumbled by Ben and Patrick missed a layup he should have made and I'll have to review the game as I think there was another pass he made and was not finished, but I was more impressed with the defense he provided against Boldwin, team effort. that guy torched Iowa at happy Valley and Iowa kept him to 11. Major reason Iowa win the game.

Yes, Harding’s biggest issue on D is getting posted up down low but otherwise is quite effective. Is very savvy, anticipates and hustles. Easily one of our better defenders. He will have to add some muscle (is that allowed under Fran?)

 

[BirdistheWord]

I wish Fran was willing to play him and Perkins together more but it seems he only likes to get Brock minutes if it means Perk is on the bench.

Yeah, hard to argue with minutes for Saucy, Dix, Payton and Freeman. Leaves Krikke and PMac. Who are very hot and cold, or maybe warm and cold. Brock creates so much offense, why he does not play even more is a head scratcher.

 

[CookyMonster]

Yes, Harding’s biggest issue on D is getting posted up down low but otherwise is quite effective. Is very savvy, anticipates and hustles. Easily one of our better defenders. He will have to add some muscle (is that allowed under Fran?)

He's already added a ton

 

[hawkjt]

Yes, Harding’s biggest issue on D is getting posted up down low but otherwise is quite effective. Is very savvy, anticipates and hustles. Easily one of our better defenders. He will have to add some muscle (is that allowed under Fran?)

Just looking at Payton on the line last nite I was struck by how thin he is with zero definition in his upper body. It has to be by design as I know Iowa BB has a strength coach.
I have to assume they do not want PS to bulk up to avoid messing with his sweet shooting stroke?

Didn't Fran have far end bulk up his Jr year and he struggled shooting then lose the bulk and had a great shooting senior year?
Maybe it was lick.

An individual deal. Ideally Brock can add muscle without losing his shot.
Good to see him knocking a few down of late. Very nice change of pace element right now coming off the bench with his floor game.

 

[Franisdaman]

his drive and dish to Krikke was almost brilliant, I believe the pass got tipped? Was that his (and only) turnover?

yep.

17 min

1-1 from 3
0-3 from 2
......................
1-4 overall shooting

0-0 FTs

3 Points
4 assists
1 rebound

1 turnover
1 foul

 

[Franisdaman]

Yeah, hard to argue with minutes for Saucy, Dix, Payton and Freeman. Leaves Krikke and PMac. Who are very hot and cold, or maybe warm and cold. Brock creates so much offense, why he does not play even more is a head scratcher.

just an fyi on minutes last night:

37: Payton
34: Josh
28: Tony
26: Owen
22: Ben
.....................
21: PMac
17: Brock
9: Ladji
6: Pryce
......................
200 Total
==========

 

[HawkLogic]

Just looking at Payton on the line last nite I was struck by how thin he is with zero definition in his upper body. It has to be by design as I know Iowa BB has a strength coach.
I have to assume they do not want PS to bulk up to avoid messing with his sweet shooting stroke?

Didn't Fran have far end bulk up his Jr year and he struggled shooting then lose the bulk and had a great shooting senior year?
Maybe it was lick.

An individual deal. Ideally Brock can add muscle without losing his shot.
Good to see him knocking a few down of late. Very nice change of pace element right now coming off the bench with his floor game.

Harding still has to find his shot at college level, so good time for him to put on some muscle. His passing is impressive and he does have a knack for getting his shots off in the paint without being Gesselled. It is pretty clear he's passed Bowen...Bowen has the elite quickness but just doesn't seem to know what to do with the ball.

I thing Dimbele also looks interesting....Thick/STrong...not a high flier but he can rebound/defend in paint. If he has a legit 35 percent plus 3pt shot next year, that complements Freeman who definitely doesn't have a 3pt shot.

Pryce to me looks quicker on defense and better ball handler than Payton. Pryce can play some 2G like a Dix type player. We have some nice pieces but I don't think we have enough guys that play above the rim and have muscle...Perkins only guy on Iowa squad like that.

BTT will be interesting...have fun.

 

[HawkLogic]

Yeah, hard to argue with minutes for Saucy, Dix, Payton and Freeman. Leaves Krikke and PMac. Who are very hot and cold, or maybe warm and cold. Brock creates so much offense, why he does not play even more is a head scratcher.

Krikke obvioulsy had a good game vs Illini. PMAC had a couple good games before that. They are B1G scholarship worthy players, but because of their defensive weakness and lack of rebounding, they are the type of players that would both be spending more time on the bench at other schools in B!G....not combined averaging 55+ min per game.

Everytime Krikke or PMAC both have a good game, there is a new Thread about how mischaraterized/unappreciated they are. When they go a combined 2-11 with 4 rebounds ike they did vs PSU while being both 6'9, no chest beating threads. I agree, they are what they are....tailwind when they are making shots, headwind when they are missing because they don't usually play good enough on defense/boards. So Warm/Cold because the lack of defense is always there.

 

[RocknRollface]

I wish Fran was willing to play him and Perkins together more but it seems he only likes to get Brock minutes if it means Perk is on the bench.

I hate that Fran won't play 3 guards at once. It's a big reason why the defense struggles so much.

I'm tired of ragging on Patrick but my God the difference between what he brings and what Brock brings is just so glaring.