A different-difference from last years team

[perryhawk]

I've been thinking about this for a couple of weeks now and then some more this morning...I'm on the run but I wanted to post this.

Last years seniors, all four of them, good guys and good players. Woody could get a little chippy as did Uthoff and Sapp on rare occasion. That said, they were all Iowa nice. They really didn't show a lot of attitude on the court.

This years team is a different story in the attitude department. Pemsl is the first that comes to mind. He's a take no Shizzzz kind of guy. He seems pretty willing to talk with the opponent in pretty strong terms. Differently, but on the same topic, JB and and Moss both have some attitude as well. Not the crap talking sort, but the competitive "not gonna back down" "not afraid to take a big shot" kind of attitude.

Each of these guys have quite a bit of confidence for freshman.

Pete has always had no doubts about his shooting ability.

Long story short when you combine the mind set of these guys, I think its a move in the right direction. I think that it is an element that we either haven't had enough of, almost to the point of not at all.

I like it.

That said I don't condone and don't want to see poor sportsmanship, and there is a fine line.

I will also state that I am no basketball expert...just some thoughts and would enjoy hearing others thoughts on this topic.

 

[hawkeyeguy69]

I like the attitudes on this team. Some of that would have gone a long way last year....

The defense needs to pick up. And it is getting better. I thought the D was much better last night, than say the Seton Hall game. Still a long ways to go, but it was a night & day difference from earlier in the year. And we have a long ways to go. Which gives me hope!

Continue to focus on the defensive effort, bring back Jones & Cook, and this team will win some game. It will be a fun season.

Now, bring on UNI!

 

[Kurt Warner]

Agree 100% op

 

[hawk-i bob]

good thread...was yapping with DanL a couple years ago about some of the closes losses we had (against some really good B1G teams)....just seemed we would get to a point (crunch time I guess)...where things would happen against us...whether it was toughness or just dumb luck..

so I agree ... there does seem to be a tougher skin with some of these guys...and yes the freshman. I look at Moss...he didn't shy away from his drives...Uhl (he made a hell of a move last night but didn't finish..was almost like he went all shy)...hey if Baer can stick his nose in...Dom can.

Please don't reply with the UHL bashing...heard enough of it...just brought it up because I think teammates can rub off each other.

Last night was a great win...but how we won hopefully is the start of some more....WE WANT SOME MORE.

 

[anon_i8nzeu2gbf0ba]

You nailed it, OP. That lack of gumption is what bothered me the most about the last few years. For the most part, the Hawkeyes lacked that edgy attitude that makes the difference between good and great, between winning and losing. And you don't have to be jack***es like ISU to have that edge. I'm not a big fan of trash talk, but I do like to see Iowa players stand up for themselves and their teammates.

So yes, I think you're right, OP. Hawkeye fans look like they may have a bunch of guys who ain't gonna take it anymore. Like ISU learned last night, you better get the hell off the Hawkeyes' court from now on.

 

[DanL53]

Great post perryhawk.

Those guys who won us 89 games set us up pretty well for the future? They did far more for the current team than all the complainers and lemon suckers could do in 1,000 years of critiques.

That's the next step as far as I'm concerned, becoming a fan base that believes when we are 4-5 and a young team that we could, not for certain, but COULD beat an Iowa State and that our coach does his job quite well.

When that happens, I believe the mirror will reflect a solid program.

 

[hawk-i bob]

a Hawkeye program that has a culture...interesting.

 

[mikesright]

I'd like to see us figure out how to close games better than what we've been doing. Last night was a step forward in that regard...to a degree. We still turn it over way too much and don't effectively run offense.

 

[BBHawk]

I was wondering if any leaders would emerge. I think that has been addressed...

 

[hawkeyeguy69]

I was wondering if any leaders would emerge. I think that has been addressed...

Pemsl, Bohannon and Baer.

 

[BBHawk]

Pemsl, Bohannon and Baer.

And Moss. and Jok. and Cook. and Wagner.

A lot of guys stepping up and taking owner ship this year.

 

[hooper56]

I've been thinking about this for a couple of weeks now and then some more this morning...I'm on the run but I wanted to post this.

Last years seniors, all four of them, good guys and good players. Woody could get a little chippy as did Uthoff and Sapp on rare occasion. That said, they were all Iowa nice. They really didn't show a lot of attitude on the court.

This years team is a different story in the attitude department. Pemsl is the first that comes to mind. He's a take no Shizzzz kind of guy. He seems pretty willing to talk with the opponent in pretty strong terms. Differently, but on the same topic, JB and and Moss both have some attitude as well. Not the crap talking sort, but the competitive "not gonna back down" "not afraid to take a big shot" kind of attitude.

Each of these guys have quite a bit of confidence for freshman.

Pete has always had no doubts about his shooting ability.

Long story short when you combine the mind set of these guys, I think its a move in the right direction. I think that it is an element that we either haven't had enough of, almost to the point of not at all.

I like it.

That said I don't condone and don't want to see poor sportsmanship, and there is a fine line.

I will also state that I am no basketball expert...just some thoughts and would enjoy hearing others thoughts on this topic.

Don't sell yourself short, you watch a lot of hoops and like anyone else you notice things. I think you are on to something here. I think Fran has gone out of his way to recruit toughness. It is no secret that some of our past teams were lacking in the toughness dept. I remember in White's sr year Fran screaming "toughen up" as teams roughed us up and stole the ball.

 

[DanL53]

Don't sell yourself short, you watch a lot of hoops and like anyone else you notice things. I think you are on to something here. I think Fran has gone out of his way to recruit toughness. It is no secret that some of our past teams were lacking in the toughness dept. I remember in White's sr year Fran screaming "toughen up" as teams roughed us up and stole the ball.

In fact it was two years ago about this time wasn't it that Fran talked a lot about toughness, and even the Northern Florida Coach, or some such team, had some kind but choice words for our guys to quit hanging our heads and play like they'd been taught. Know their roles, etc.

Flash forward to now and I think Wagner, Pemsl....ahhh, just about all our guys are gamer types. At least we were last night. Now the trick is to bottle that and bring it every night.

 

[The Sleeping Dog]

Other than a pull up jumper didn't you always assume Mike Gesell was going to miss? He would completely lose his mind in close games. You get the feeling that Bohannon is going to make the big shot and he's a 90% free throw shooter. Mikey G senior year was his best at 73% from the line, down in the 60s for most of his career and really poor in the final 5 minutes his whole career. Loved the kid's hustle, effort and huge contribution to turning the program around-a true Hawkeye in the best sense of our tradition. But Bohannon is going to be much better. He is already more confident and decisive, and far better shooter, than Mike at the same age. Pemsyl and Cook are both far more aggressive than any of the big men that the Hawks have had under Fran, or at least other than Woody. Pemsyl and Cook are years ahead of Woody on the offensive end at this point in their careers.

This season will be a tough learning experience for the youngsters. We're already starting three freshmen, and that could very soon be four. As Uhl's time diminishes in favor of Cook and Pemsyl, the Grizz and maybe even Kriener we are basically a one senior, three sophs and six freshmen team. Wagner, Baer and even Ellingson are getting better, and none of them even start. I hate to get optimistic but these boys seem to have a more focused and competitive mindset.

The core of our starters are three ESPN 4* players (Cook, Moss, Bohannon). Pemsyl was obviously well known but committed so young and had the injury bug so no one looked at him. Big steal. Even high on Kriener. Baer's a sophomore and he's going to be in the running for 6th man of the year this year. Like I said, get crushed every time get my hopes up but it is hard to be indifferent to this group.

 

[DanL53]

Other than a pull up jumper didn't you always assume Mike Gesell was going to miss?.

For some reason, I've never lost my optimism that any shot, for any of our guys, will go in. I do recognize a bad shot when it's taken. And Gesell seldom took a bad shot. The worst I would say is he wasn't more than a surprise attack shot creator, and wow did it make for some struggles when we went with the one out, four deep, last second look. Same look Maryland uses. I've seen many posters complain about it. Haven't seen the answers other than the expected, "Someone else should shoot!"

Actually, regarding Pemsl, he was ranked in Rivals top 150 for a time before his injury problems. And the week he committed to the Hawkeyes, Wisconsin was trying to get him to come up for a visit. Thankfully, Cordell grew up a Hawkeye fan and committed.

Change of subject. Recently this board was bombarded with Clones posting how they don't want Iowa guys that won't contribute on their team.

Pemsl
Bohannon

Bet they'd take them now. And Kriener has shown much promise as well. And the McCaffery guys, Conner and Patrick? And Joe Wieskamp?

You Clone fans, just keep underestimating Iowa talent. Don't change a thing!

 

[And1Hawk]

We are only one unexpected loss from everyone going back into freak out death con 5 mode. This team is still extremely young and learning how to win on the job. Expect the unexpected all season.

I have long thought though that Woody, MG, Uthoff, Sappy, etc. did a truly outstanding job of maximizing everything they had from a play standpoint but some of their limitations either physically, mentally or both would show up in late game situations or down the stretch in seasons. After they graduated I wanted to see this next group of players play for a year or two to see how they handled these same situations before drawing any wide sweeping conclusions about Fran's teams do X and Y. Those guys played a ton of games, won a lot and did great things but were major participants in the low points also.

You have guys like Jok and Bohannen who are going to put up the shot in late game situations without fear or hesitation and regardless of if they are 8-8 or 0-8 they put it up with the confidence they know it's going in. Moss, Pemsl & Cook the same way taking it to the rim. I think we will see a different mentality develop collectively with some experience.

 

[HawkLogic]

Fran was always writing end of game checks that Gesell's limited ability could not cash.

Gesell was a role player thrust into role of team's go to guy in crunch time by Fran. The PG is normally that guy, but Gesell didn't have a good 3pt shot, was smaller guy and easy to guard in perimeter, was mediocre FT shooter, and teams relished a chance to swat his shot when he went ISO, because they knew the drive to the right hand was coming at end of the clock.

Uthoff and Jok were studs, we just lacked a guard that could create is shot or a center that you could post up. Pemsl, Moss, Bohannon, Cook all would have helped last year's team.

 

[DanL53]

Fran was always writing end of game checks that Gesell's limited ability could not cash.

Gesell was a role player thrust into role of team's go to guy in crunch time by Fran. The PG is normally that guy, but Gesell didn't have a good 3pt shot, was smaller guy and easy to guard in perimeter, was mediocre FT shooter, and teams relished a chance to swat his shot when he went ISO, because they knew the drive to the right hand was coming at end of the clock.

Uthoff and Jok were studs, we just lacked a guard that could create is shot or a center that you could post up. Pemsl, Moss, Bohannon, Cook all would have helped last year's team.

But did Fran have another account to draw on? We'll never know. I recall one time he changed things up and had McCabe take a three........

Anyway, a thought, what if we beat some teams that talent wise were that much better than us, but we clobbered 'em quick enough, and hard enough, they couldn't wake up and catch up. But when we did wake 'em up, if we didn't have the point margin to survive they could too often catch up and beat us?

It's one thing to outplay a team. But if that team has more talent and suddenly decides to act like it? I think this may be a partial answer not only to lost leads and close game losses, but to end of the season struggles as well.

Solution, more talent. And thankfully our guys over the last several years put us in a better position to go out and get it.

 

[hawkeyeguy69]

Other than a pull up jumper didn't you always assume Mike Gesell was going to miss? He would completely lose his mind in close games. You get the feeling that Bohannon is going to make the big shot and he's a 90% free throw shooter. Mikey G senior year was his best at 73% from the line, down in the 60s for most of his career and really poor in the final 5 minutes his whole career. Loved the kid's hustle, effort and huge contribution to turning the program around-a true Hawkeye in the best sense of our tradition. But Bohannon is going to be much better. He is already more confident and decisive, and far better shooter, than Mike at the same age. Pemsyl and Cook are both far more aggressive than any of the big men that the Hawks have had under Fran, or at least other than Woody. Pemsyl and Cook are years ahead of Woody on the offensive end at this point in their careers.

This season will be a tough learning experience for the youngsters. We're already starting three freshmen, and that could very soon be four. As Uhl's time diminishes in favor of Cook and Pemsyl, the Grizz and maybe even Kriener we are basically a one senior, three sophs and six freshmen team. Wagner, Baer and even Ellingson are getting better, and none of them even start. I hate to get optimistic but these boys seem to have a more focused and competitive mindset.

The core of our starters are three ESPN 4* players (Cook, Moss, Bohannon). Pemsyl was obviously well known but committed so young and had the injury bug so no one looked at him. Big steal. Even high on Kriener. Baer's a sophomore and he's going to be in the running for 6th man of the year this year. Like I said, get crushed every time get my hopes up but it is hard to be indifferent to this group.

One has to consider all of the services for rankings. Some have better scouting reports on players, than others. Cook was the only universal 4 star. Moss was close. Bohannon down further. All have shown potential and should be great contributors for the Hawks the next 3-4 years. Love it!

Pemsl would have been a 4 star had he not been hurt. Even with the injury he probably should have been, if anyone had seen him play last year. His early commitment and the injury put him in the shadows. But if you had watched him play last year, you would know what I am talking about. Running down the court end to end with the ball, and finishing or dishing, the guy was legit and he was probably only playing at 80%. He was a steal.

I would say of all the newbies (I'm including the 2nd year Moss in this), Pemsl was the one that I was most eager to see. Or at least neck & neck with Cook. Followed by Moss, Bohannon and the others. I would include Williams in that too. Hopefully he can turn it up some, as I think he has the skills, just not the attitude/aggressiveness.

 

[perryhawk]

I have to add Baer to the list of guys with some real fire and that mental approach that, so far, has allowed him to play at a higher level in last years Villanova game and then of course ISU.