3-2-1: Back on top?
Is this the year that Tom Brands gets Iowa back on top of the college wrestling world?
Tom Kakert • HawkeyeReport
@hawkeyereport
This week in 3-2-1, we look at the rise of youth on the Iowa football team, if the Hawkeye defense is elite, who starts for the Iowa basketball team, and a bold prediction for the wrestling program.
THREE THINGS WE LEARNED
YOUTH IS SERVED
One of the biggest stories coming out of Iowa’s win over Northwestern was the emergence of younger players finding a bigger role in the Hawkeye program.
The biggest story that emerged was kind of out of necessity. That was true freshman Sam LaPorta, who played a much larger role due to an injury to starting tight end Nate Wieting. LaPorta caught two passes for 43 yards and had another great catch waved off after he was decided he didn’t actually make the reception. You get the sense that LaPorta has officially carved out a larger role in the passing game moving forward.
Then there’s the story of Dane Belton, another true freshman, who has come on in the last two weeks to fill the “Cash” role on defense that was played last season by Amani Hooker. Belton looked more comfortable against Northwestern and finished his day with five tackles and did a nice job of tackling in space. How much he plays moving forward is to be determined, but it feels like Phil Parker is now officially comfortable with someone at that spot so I think we see a good amount from Belton the rest of the way.
By the way, next true freshman to watch in the final month of the season, put me down for Justin Britt. He missed the Northwestern game due to injury, but he should be back for the Wisconsin game and I think we see more of him at guard the rest of the season.
PEMSL MISSING THE FIRST TWO GAMES
We knew there would be a price for Cordell Pemsl to pay for being charged for a DUI this fall. The junior forward is coming off a redshirt year and will certainly be a factor this season in Iowa’s rotation, but it’s going to be on hold out of the gate.
During his teleconference with the media on Wednesday, Fran McCaffery announced that Pemsl will be suspended for Iowa’s exhibition game on Monday and he will also not play in the season opener on Friday against SIUE.
The news shouldn’t be much of a surprise to anyone as the two game suspension for basketball is pretty standard for a transgression like this. The interesting aspect of this is how Pemsl will fit into Iowa’s rotation this season. He’s been an effective player in the past and last year before he shut down his season, Pemsl came off the bench and really gave Iowa huge boost in their win over Iowa State.
THE MOST UNIQUE MEDIA DAY EVER
There’s generally a formula for media days at the University of Iowa. We meet with the head coach in a more formal setting and then visit with student-athletes and assistant coaches on the field, or in the case of wrestling, on the mat.
Of course, Tom Brands isn’t the most conventional guy in the world, so it’s no surprise that he would be the coach to think outside the box. Brands held media day for Iowa wrestling at Kroul Farms, which is operated by former Hawkeye football player Matt Kroul, in Mt. Vernon, IA.
As fate would have it, the weather didn’t exactly cooperate, with frigid temps and a few flakes of snow, but Brands loved every minute of it.
I also think that Brands really likes his team this year….more on that later.
Will Jack Nunge be moving into the starting lineup?
TWO QUESTIONS
ANY IDEA WHAT THE STARTING LINEUP IS FOR THE IOWA BASKETBALL TEAM?
Full disclosure off the top, I’m not someone who gets too caught up in the whole starting lineup thing.
I think the real reveal from a coach about who he thinks his best players are will be reflected in the minutes played and who is on the floor at the end of games.
Having said that, I know many of you get fixated on the starting lineup and right now Fran McCaffery hasn’t revealed his starters. However, I think we can figure out a couple of them pretty easily.
No doubt that McCaffery will have Luka Garza at center and Joe Wieskamp at the three spot. Both started last year, so it makes sense that they would be in there again this year. I think to start the season, Connor McCaffery will be at point guard. Fran McCaffery will want to get off to good starts and his son knows how to run the offense.
That leaves the shooting guard and power forward positions open. Last year those spots were occupied by Tyler Cook and Isaiah Moss. Cook is now in the NBA with Cleveland and Moss is now at Kansas after a graduate transfer.
The best guess right now is that Jack Nunge will get the start at the four spot. As mentioned earlier, Pemsl missed time due to his off the court incident and that listening to McCaffery on Wednesday, he said Nunge has been the most consistent player on a day to day basis in practice. Plus, Nunge gives Iowa another player who can stretch the floor.
The two guard will likely be C.J. Fredrick, at least early in the year. Like Nunge, Fredrick was a redshirt last season and according to McCaffery, he has been his best guard defender in practice. Now, depending on what happens with Jordan Bohannon, I could see at some point where he moves into the starting lineup at the two guard. But, it’s too early to guess if or even when that will happen.
IS THE IOWA DEFENSE ELITE?
One of the more interesting comments this week during our meeting with assistant coaches Kelvin Bell and Seth Wallace was when they were asked if the Iowa defense should be considered to be elite.
Both were pretty clear in their response…no.
While you would expect the coaches to say that, the Hawkeye defense has put up some pretty elite numbers.
They are allowing just 10.1 points per game, which is the lowest of the Ferentz era and third in the country.
They have only allowed nine touchdowns this season.
Iowa is allowing 265 yards per game, which is 6th in the country and just 87.8 yards on the ground, which is 7th in the nation.
The Hawkeyes are one of four teams in the country to not allow more than 20 points in a game this season and they are the only team not to allow a run of more than 20 yards this season.
By those numbers alone, it’s hard to say Iowa’s defense isn’t elite.
But, elite defenses also feature creating turnovers and sacking the quarterback and those are two things this version of the Hawkeyes haven’t done. Last year, Iowa sacked the quarterback 35 times. This year they have 12 with four games remaining in the regular season. Last year, the Hawkeyes intercepted 20 passes. This year they have just five interceptions.
Bell hinted pretty clearly why they haven’t created as many sacks and created those turnovers. Iowa has been giving up too many yards on first and second down, which creates tough situations on third down. They have certainly limited first downs, but they haven’t been able to pin their ears back in pass rush situations.
I’m not sure I would call Iowa’s defense elite, but I think they are certainly very good. Wallace hinted that we will find out if they are going to reach elite status based on how they perform in the final four weeks of the season and that seems to be a pretty fair way to judge them.
ONE PREDICTION
The last time Iowa won an NCAA wrestling national championship was 2010. Since then, Penn State has won eight of the last nine national titles. The drought for the Hawkeyes ends this year when Iowa brings home the national title.
Is this the year that Tom Brands gets Iowa back on top of the college wrestling world?
Tom Kakert • HawkeyeReport
@hawkeyereport
This week in 3-2-1, we look at the rise of youth on the Iowa football team, if the Hawkeye defense is elite, who starts for the Iowa basketball team, and a bold prediction for the wrestling program.
THREE THINGS WE LEARNED
YOUTH IS SERVED
One of the biggest stories coming out of Iowa’s win over Northwestern was the emergence of younger players finding a bigger role in the Hawkeye program.
The biggest story that emerged was kind of out of necessity. That was true freshman Sam LaPorta, who played a much larger role due to an injury to starting tight end Nate Wieting. LaPorta caught two passes for 43 yards and had another great catch waved off after he was decided he didn’t actually make the reception. You get the sense that LaPorta has officially carved out a larger role in the passing game moving forward.
Then there’s the story of Dane Belton, another true freshman, who has come on in the last two weeks to fill the “Cash” role on defense that was played last season by Amani Hooker. Belton looked more comfortable against Northwestern and finished his day with five tackles and did a nice job of tackling in space. How much he plays moving forward is to be determined, but it feels like Phil Parker is now officially comfortable with someone at that spot so I think we see a good amount from Belton the rest of the way.
By the way, next true freshman to watch in the final month of the season, put me down for Justin Britt. He missed the Northwestern game due to injury, but he should be back for the Wisconsin game and I think we see more of him at guard the rest of the season.
PEMSL MISSING THE FIRST TWO GAMES
We knew there would be a price for Cordell Pemsl to pay for being charged for a DUI this fall. The junior forward is coming off a redshirt year and will certainly be a factor this season in Iowa’s rotation, but it’s going to be on hold out of the gate.
During his teleconference with the media on Wednesday, Fran McCaffery announced that Pemsl will be suspended for Iowa’s exhibition game on Monday and he will also not play in the season opener on Friday against SIUE.
The news shouldn’t be much of a surprise to anyone as the two game suspension for basketball is pretty standard for a transgression like this. The interesting aspect of this is how Pemsl will fit into Iowa’s rotation this season. He’s been an effective player in the past and last year before he shut down his season, Pemsl came off the bench and really gave Iowa huge boost in their win over Iowa State.
THE MOST UNIQUE MEDIA DAY EVER
There’s generally a formula for media days at the University of Iowa. We meet with the head coach in a more formal setting and then visit with student-athletes and assistant coaches on the field, or in the case of wrestling, on the mat.
Of course, Tom Brands isn’t the most conventional guy in the world, so it’s no surprise that he would be the coach to think outside the box. Brands held media day for Iowa wrestling at Kroul Farms, which is operated by former Hawkeye football player Matt Kroul, in Mt. Vernon, IA.
As fate would have it, the weather didn’t exactly cooperate, with frigid temps and a few flakes of snow, but Brands loved every minute of it.
I also think that Brands really likes his team this year….more on that later.
Will Jack Nunge be moving into the starting lineup?
TWO QUESTIONS
ANY IDEA WHAT THE STARTING LINEUP IS FOR THE IOWA BASKETBALL TEAM?
Full disclosure off the top, I’m not someone who gets too caught up in the whole starting lineup thing.
I think the real reveal from a coach about who he thinks his best players are will be reflected in the minutes played and who is on the floor at the end of games.
Having said that, I know many of you get fixated on the starting lineup and right now Fran McCaffery hasn’t revealed his starters. However, I think we can figure out a couple of them pretty easily.
No doubt that McCaffery will have Luka Garza at center and Joe Wieskamp at the three spot. Both started last year, so it makes sense that they would be in there again this year. I think to start the season, Connor McCaffery will be at point guard. Fran McCaffery will want to get off to good starts and his son knows how to run the offense.
That leaves the shooting guard and power forward positions open. Last year those spots were occupied by Tyler Cook and Isaiah Moss. Cook is now in the NBA with Cleveland and Moss is now at Kansas after a graduate transfer.
The best guess right now is that Jack Nunge will get the start at the four spot. As mentioned earlier, Pemsl missed time due to his off the court incident and that listening to McCaffery on Wednesday, he said Nunge has been the most consistent player on a day to day basis in practice. Plus, Nunge gives Iowa another player who can stretch the floor.
The two guard will likely be C.J. Fredrick, at least early in the year. Like Nunge, Fredrick was a redshirt last season and according to McCaffery, he has been his best guard defender in practice. Now, depending on what happens with Jordan Bohannon, I could see at some point where he moves into the starting lineup at the two guard. But, it’s too early to guess if or even when that will happen.
IS THE IOWA DEFENSE ELITE?
One of the more interesting comments this week during our meeting with assistant coaches Kelvin Bell and Seth Wallace was when they were asked if the Iowa defense should be considered to be elite.
Both were pretty clear in their response…no.
While you would expect the coaches to say that, the Hawkeye defense has put up some pretty elite numbers.
They are allowing just 10.1 points per game, which is the lowest of the Ferentz era and third in the country.
They have only allowed nine touchdowns this season.
Iowa is allowing 265 yards per game, which is 6th in the country and just 87.8 yards on the ground, which is 7th in the nation.
The Hawkeyes are one of four teams in the country to not allow more than 20 points in a game this season and they are the only team not to allow a run of more than 20 yards this season.
By those numbers alone, it’s hard to say Iowa’s defense isn’t elite.
But, elite defenses also feature creating turnovers and sacking the quarterback and those are two things this version of the Hawkeyes haven’t done. Last year, Iowa sacked the quarterback 35 times. This year they have 12 with four games remaining in the regular season. Last year, the Hawkeyes intercepted 20 passes. This year they have just five interceptions.
Bell hinted pretty clearly why they haven’t created as many sacks and created those turnovers. Iowa has been giving up too many yards on first and second down, which creates tough situations on third down. They have certainly limited first downs, but they haven’t been able to pin their ears back in pass rush situations.
I’m not sure I would call Iowa’s defense elite, but I think they are certainly very good. Wallace hinted that we will find out if they are going to reach elite status based on how they perform in the final four weeks of the season and that seems to be a pretty fair way to judge them.
ONE PREDICTION
The last time Iowa won an NCAA wrestling national championship was 2010. Since then, Penn State has won eight of the last nine national titles. The drought for the Hawkeyes ends this year when Iowa brings home the national title.
