A look at Iowa's Defense. It's been phenomenal.

[Franisdaman]

I always liked that word.

What would you say has led to the improved defense?

* The players (CJ, Joe T) we added and others (Garza, Connor, etc) simply getting better?

And/or

* Is the improved D partly due to a tighter 8 man rotation, where players get used to playing with each other?

This team and how the players are playing have surprised most everyone. And the surprises start with the improved D.

Check this out:

 

[Hawksfor3]

* The players (CJ, Joe T) we added and others (Garza, Connor, etc) simply getting better?

Generally speaking, I'd say that they are getting better defensively, not necessarily because of the shorter bench, but let me throw something out there. IMHO I believe that the defensive play of JT is inspirational to the others. When your smallest player goes out game after game hustling, staying with his man, and occasionally getting shots off a steal, or baskets off of a turnover, or getting shots for others, then how could the others just say, "Nice job" and not feed off of his energy?

The Hawks are a different team with JT out there and I think it is infectious.

 

[retrodent]

Teams are having more trouble blowing past joe and CJ to get into the lane like they have in the past

 

[Aleksei]

Smaller line up, quicker, shorter rotations.

I was never a fan of Fran substituting 4 players after a time out! I always wondered if that cost us any great recruits.

 

[icantfindausernamethatisntused]

JT is a major defensive upgrade over Bohannon. Fredrick is a defensive upgrade over Moss. Garza is a much better defender / rebounder this year.

 

[rendango]

Generally speaking, I'd say that they are getting better defensively, not necessarily because of the shorter bench, but let me throw something out there. IMHO I believe that the defensive play of JT is inspirational to the others. When your smallest player goes out game after game hustling, staying with his man, and occasionally getting shots off a steal, or baskets off of a turnover, or getting shots for others, then how could the others just say, "Nice job" and not feed off of his energy?

The Hawks are a different team with JT out there and I think it is infectious.

100% agree. It's an energy thing...It's infectious. JT has such a huge impact on the game that isn't even seen on the stat sheet. The guy runs 100 mph up and down the court and plays non-stop "in your face" defense. He also is a vital part of setting up any sort of press because of his ability to stay on the ball-handler and wreck havoc. That is his part. Then it translates to the other players because they feed off of that. JT is the gamechanger this program has needed. It is a different team with him out there.

 

[Phenomenally Frantastic]

Joe T has skills you just can’t coach.

Jimmy’s and Joe’s not the X’s n O’s.

Fran could coach JBo til he is blue in the face he will always be a defensive liability.

 

[cidhawkeye]

Guards can no longer come off screens uncontested, they can no longer stand at the top and deliver pin point passes because there was no pressure, the bigs don’t have to help and recover as much so they can stay where they belong, guards fight over/through screens better. It’s way better to watch.

 

[lonewolf52]

JT is a major defensive upgrade over Bohannon. Fredrick is a defensive upgrade over Moss. Garza is a much better defender / rebounder this year.

You are correct that Fredrick is an upgrade from Moss but SHOULDN'T be. As athletic as Moss is, he shouldve been a lights out defender.....think he was too worried about getting his points.....like during OT vs. Tennessee.

 

[Rifler]

You are correct that Fredrick is an upgrade from Moss but SHOULDN'T be. As athletic as Moss is, he shouldve been a lights out defender.....think he was too worried about getting his points.....like during OT vs. Tennessee.

Moss is just not an aggressive player...

 

[anon_qczsdwtnv6esw]

You have to WANT to play defense and take pride in it. Some guys are more about the stat sheets and individual recognition. Seemed like some of last years starters made scoring more of a priority.

 

[HawkLogic]

JT is a major defensive upgrade over Bohannon. Fredrick is a defensive upgrade over Moss. Garza is a much better defender / rebounder this year.

This year's team is better at all positions on defense and capable of playing decent man-to-man defense. Fran can play some man defense at times and not just have a sieve on dribble drive to hoop by opponents..

 

[IllQChawk]

Did you notice the work that C.J. Fredrick did on Brad Davison on Monday? Every time Davison was on the court C.J. was there to put the clamps on him, 6 points is all Davison managed to get in 33 minutes. That was awesome!
And this is no knock on Connor but a shout out to Fran. At around the time Iowa fell behind by 12 points at around the 7 minute mark, Fran took out Connor and put in Toussaint, that substitution changed the complexion of the game as J.T took over and energized the Iowa players and fans. Changed the momentum completely in Iowa's favor. Don't know how Fran knew J.T. would provide that spark Iowa needed at that moment but he pushed the right button at the right time. There's always a first time for everything....

 

[BaldHawk4Life]

Is there anybody else who loves that Garza gets hammered every time he touches the ball, yet never complains to the officials and just sprints back on defense in slow motion? I love watching the guy run because he works so damn hard at EVERYTHING. That is why he has made the giant leaps that he has, dude outworks everybody.

 

[DutchyFunStar]

I haven't seen the stats but I think they are better on the boards this year and cutting down on opponents second chance points.

 

[hooper56]

Did you notice the work that C.J. Fredrick did on Brad Davison on Monday? Every time Davison was on the court C.J. was there to put the clamps on him, 6 points is all Davison managed to get in 33 minutes. That was awesome!
And this is no knock on Connor but a shout out to Fran. At around the time Iowa fell behind by 12 points at around the 7 minute mark, Fran took out Connor and put in Toussaint, that substitution changed the complexion of the game as J.T took over and energized the Iowa players and fans. Changed the momentum completely in Iowa's favor. Don't know how Fran knew J.T. would provide that spark Iowa needed at that moment but he pushed the right button at the right time. There's always a first time for everything....

Good observations. I think one of Fran's strengths as a coach is he has a real good feel for knowing when to get a certain player or player combo into the game. Flow is so important and Fran mostly has a very high level sense about that.

 

[paladinhawk]

Using "phenomenal" to describe Iowa's defense is overboard, even for you Fran.

To be clear, this still isn't a great defense. The Hawkeyes’ adjusted defense, according to KenPom.com, ranked No. 77 in the country as of Tuesday. That is still third-worst in the Big Ten, BUT … it’s far better than the season-ending rankings of 123 (in 2016-17), 242 (in 2017-18) and 111 (in 2018-19).

There's about 100 minutes in the the last 3 games where Iowa defense wasn't so great, or they wouldn't have been losing those games.

I guess this my "Get off my lawn" cranky old geezer post of the week, but let's try retain a certain amount of levelheadedness. We'll be dealing with the throes of agony if the Hawk's lose tonight even though they're, what, 6.5 point dogs?

 

[HeRKeYHoPeFuL]

What would you say has led to the improved defense?

* The players (CJ, Joe T) we added and others (Garza, Connor, etc) simply getting better?

And/or

* Is the improved D partly due to a tighter 8 man rotation, where players get used to playing with each other?

I think there has been more of an emphasis on not switching 1-5, but instead only 1-4 and 3-5. This has allowed Garza to avoid getting matched up on guards outside, and kept our guards, who are, in fact, better at defense this year to hound the ball on the perimeter.

I haven't seen the stats but I think they are better on the boards this year and cutting down on opponents second chance points.

My point about Garza avoiding switches onto guards more this year has allowed him to stay in the paint more, and is one of the reasons for his increased rebounding productivity.

 

[RocknRollface]

Generally speaking, I'd say that they are getting better defensively, not necessarily because of the shorter bench, but let me throw something out there. IMHO I believe that the defensive play of JT is inspirational to the others. When your smallest player goes out game after game hustling, staying with his man, and occasionally getting shots off a steal, or baskets off of a turnover, or getting shots for others, then how could the others just say, "Nice job" and not feed off of his energy?

The Hawks are a different team with JT out there and I think it is infectious.

I don't think it's just him, CJ and Conner play defense with exactly the same attitude.

 

[RocknRollface]

Guards can no longer come off screens uncontested, they can no longer stand at the top and deliver pin point passes because there was no pressure, the bigs don’t have to help and recover as much so they can stay where they belong, guards fight over/through screens better. It’s way better to watch.

Yep we traded out two of the worst defenders in the league in JBO and Moss for two very good defenders in CJ and JoeT.

Both are very good at getting around screens.

Connor for Cook is also a big defensive upgrade. Which is sad but true.

Garza is becoming a pretty good defender around the rim too.