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A More Physical Nunge Returns to the Court

It’s easy to forget that Nunge was a starter over Garza for a while and looked more promising. 6 double figure games in the preseason can be easy to discount because of lower competition. But that still shows scoring ability. Add significant strength to that and he could be a force to be reckoned with.
 
I look forward to seeing him on the court this year. I’m not sure adding 10 lbs of muscle changes him from a piece to a feature. I do agree the 4 is a better fit and I expect improvement, but as usual the hype machine of off season message boards creates very inflated expectations.

IMO, He’ll have games where he can excel based on match ups and others where he struggles. I’m not sure I would expect him to achieve the level of consistency to where he can be counted on to deliver against any foe.
I hope he proves me wrong.
 
I look forward to seeing him on the court this year. I’m not sure adding 10 lbs of muscle changes him from a piece to a feature. I do agree the 4 is a better fit and I expect improvement, but as usual the hype machine of off season message boards creates very inflated expectations.

IMO, He’ll have games where he can excel based on match ups and others where he struggles. I’m not sure I would expect him to achieve the level of consistency to where he can be counted on to deliver against any foe.
I hope he proves me wrong.
I think you miss read how much he's gained. The 10 pound gain was from his redshirt year to the start of camp this year. He was listed at 225 as a freshman, and there's a good chance it was less by the end of his freshman year. He's now 245 pounds per the 2019-20 roster. I guess we'll see if it's good weight, but part of his struggle as a freshman was upper body strength.
 
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It's good weight unless he needs to defend a 3 on the perimeter.


I think you miss read how much he's gained. The 10 pound gain was from his redshirt year to the start of camp this year. He was listed at 225 as a freshman, and there's a good chance it was less by the end of his freshman year. He's now 245 pounds per the 2019-20 roster. I guess we'll see if it's good weight, but part of his struggle as a freshman was upper body strength.
 
If Nunge has to defend a 3 on the perimeter we are in trouble.

Deep trouble. Fortunately I think that experiment was such a failure that there is no plan to return to it.

One of the biggest knocks on Jack's recruiting was the lack of clarity about where he would play. Well, the 3 spot isn't it. His outside shot only needs to be good enough to drag big guys out of the lane.
 
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Iowa's strength is now their big guys, but only for can play at the dame time.

Assuming none of them play the 3 position (as you are making the case for)....then how does Fran spit the 4/5 minutes? 80 minutes between Nunge, Kriener, Pemsl and Garza?

If Nunge has to defend a 3 on the perimeter we are in trouble.
 
Deep trouble. Fortunately I think that experiment was such a failure that there is no plan to return to it.

One of the biggest knocks on Jack's recruiting was the lack of clarity about where he would play. Well, the 3 spot isn't it. His outside shot only needs to be good enough to drag big guys out of the lane.
Although they’re not, I’m expecting some announcer this year to say something like, “Iowa has 3 big guys (Garza, Nunge, Kriener) who are interchangeable.” But from a basketball standpoint, they’re all close in height, weight, reach. All can post up and shoot from the perimeter. That flexibility up front to space the floor and attack in and out of the lane (while providing height and bulk down low on D) is going to be one of Iowa’s biggest weapons in the post-Cook era. And it looks to continue with Foster and Ogundele.
 
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Iowa's strength is now their big guys, but only for can play at the dame time.

Assuming none of them play the 3 position (as you are making the case for)....then how does Fran spit the 4/5 minutes? 80 minutes between Nunge, Kriener, Pemsl and Garza?
Exactly. 4 to play 80, hot hands stay in, and this drives competition up.
 
Although they’re not, I’m expecting some announcer this year to say something like, “Iowa has 3 big guys (Garza, Nunge, Kriener) who are interchangeable.” But from a basketball standpoint, they’re all close in height, weight, reach. All can post up and shoot from the perimeter. That flexibility up front to space the floor and attack in and out of the lane (while providing height and bulk down low on D) is going to be one of Iowa’s biggest weapons in the post-Cook era. And it looks to continue with Foster and Ogundele.

Hope you're right about us getting Foster and Ogundele.

My only concern with our bigs is that they'll be too slow-footed to guard the more athletic PFs in the league. But we'll see.
 
Hope you're right about us getting Foster and Ogundele.

My only concern with our bigs is that they'll be too slow-footed to guard the more athletic PFs in the league. But we'll see.
Nunge is too slow to play the 3. But he’s quicker than Kriener and a Garza/Kriener combo up front won some B1G games last year with Cook out.

If Foster wants the flexibility to play the 4 regularly and if both he and Ogundele want the freedom to pull the trigger outside, they can certainly do that at Iowa because Iowa’s got the personnel, philosophy, and history of doing so with tall skilled bigs.
 
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At the 4 IMO Nunge will be a very good player for the Hawks the next three years. I was impressed with him as a freshman playing out of position at the 3. Also, his strength was an issue his freshman year.
 
The sort of regular rotation I see is Luka getting about 30 minutes at 5 and Ryan getting all the rest of the 5 minutes. A few situations with maybe Jack at 5 but not typ
Hope you're right about us getting Foster and Ogundele.

My only concern with our bigs is that they'll be too slow-footed to guard the more athletic PFs in the league. But we'll see.

It sounds like one of the Murray boys may grow into that role, along with P McC of course.

Edit. The larger Murray twin defending the more athletic 4s. It sounds like he's growing bigger faster than his little brother.
 
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The sort of regular rotation I see is Luka getting about 30 minutes at 5 and Ryan getting all the rest of the 5 minutes. A few situations with maybe Jack at 5 but not typ


It sounds like one of the Murray boys may grow into that role, along with P McC of course.
I think Jack will play some at the 5, and may even more in 2020.
 
Nunge >> Pemsl more than Kriener so I think he’ll get all 26 mpg at the 4 as he’s a better 4 than Kriener and both are better than Pemsl imo because he’s shorter and can’t shoot to space the offense.
 
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The sort of regular rotation I see is Luka getting about 30 minutes at 5 and Ryan getting all the rest of the 5 minutes. A few situations with maybe Jack at 5 but not typ


It sounds like one of the Murray boys may grow into that role, along with P McC of course.

Edit. The larger Murray twin defending the more athletic 4s. It sounds like he's growing bigger faster than his little brother.

Definitely, the Murray twins have a lot of potential (I think Keegan is a bit bigger than Kris), but I'm just thinking about this coming season, when it'll be Garza, Nunge, Pemsl and Kreiner manning the post.

Unless there's an injury to one of our other bigs, or he's just playing too well to sit, I don't think Garza will average 30 min/game. Fran will want to give him breathers throughout the game because he has to push himself harder to run the floor. And since Nunge and Kreiner are both good options at the 5, I think Fran won't hesitate to rotate them so they stay fresh.
 
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Definitely, the Murray twins have a lot of potential (I think Keegan is a bit bigger than Kris), but I'm just thinking about this coming season, when it'll be Garza, Nunge, Pemsl and Kreiner manning the post.

Unless there's an injury to one of our other bigs, or he's just playing too well to sit, I don't think Garza will average 30 min/game. Fran will want to give him breathers throughout the game because he has to push himself harder to run the floor. And since Nunge and Kreiner are both good options at the 5, I think Fran won't hesitate to rotate them so they stay fresh.
I agree that Garza will be limited under 30 minutes per game. Last year he averaged 23.6 minutes per games, and unless he conditioned differently last summer I think they'll keep him between 26 and 28 minutes per game.
 
I agree that Garza will be limited under 30 minutes per game. Last year he averaged 23.6 minutes per games, and unless he conditioned differently last summer I think they'll keep him between 26 and 28 minutes per game.

I have a feeling Garza’s conditioning will be MUCH different this season than last.

Unless he has another surgery just for fun.
 
I have a feeling Garza’s conditioning will be MUCH different this season than last.

Unless he has another surgery just for fun.

Definitely, I expect he'll improve in a lot of areas, including his conditioning. But Garza himself has said that he'll never be able to run the floor going less than 100%. He's just not built that way. So, he's going to need breathers eventually. Maybe I'm wrong and he'll be fine to log 35 minutes, but I don't see it.
 
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I have a feeling Garza’s conditioning will be MUCH different this season than last.

Unless he has another surgery just for fun.
Duh. I can't believe how bad my memory is getting. I forgot all about the tumor baby he delivered.

I still think his minutes will be somewhere between 26-28, because of the intensity he plays with when he's on the floor.
 
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The decision to redshirt both Nunge and CJF was probably the best redshirt decision that has been made during Fran's tenure (Baer was also a good one).

I believe Nunge has the potential to be our most complete big man. He's a step quicker and has better elevation than Luka and Kriener, which should make him a better defender, especially as a help defender and shot blocker. On offense, Luka can score inside and out, which I hope is also true for Nunge, but I hope Nunge has a quicker first step that could allow him to be a better offensive rebounder and occasionally go around other large 4s or 5s. As some have mentioned, I think the biggest thing Nunge might need to show is an attitude on the court, like Pemsl, but with more size and ability. I like a three-man rotation at 4/5 of Luka, Nunge and Kriener, with Pemsl seeing minutes for 3-4 bursts of energy against some match ups.

I really look forward to watching how all of the pieces fit together this year. I hope I am not just looking through black & gold glasses.
 
I hope that Nunge has learned to play within his abilities. With his size and length, he needs to worry more about being in good defensive position rather than trying to recover quickly. When you are that big, slow but crafty movements are better. I never really liked Acie Earl's game all that much butI thought he got about all he could out of his ability.
 
No way Nunge is a step quicker then Kriener. The last time Nunge was on the court he was by far the slowest Hawkeye on the court.
 
Well then I totally disagree with you. Doesn’t matter what position he played. He was just slow.
 
Ryan has fairly good small area quickness. Straight ahead speed only looks fast compared to Luka. Luka also has good quickness on offense, needs to be more nimble on defense.

Recall Jack as being fairly quick and fast for a 6'11" player. Jack showed several areas of upside when he was playing around the basket sprinkled with enough 3s to drag a big defender away from the lane.

Getting eager to see Jack and the other boys with my own four eyes.
 
I agree that Garza will be limited under 30 minutes per game. Last year he averaged 23.6 minutes per games, and unless he conditioned differently last summer I think they'll keep him between 26 and 28 minutes per game.
Ok, but he is not coming into this season with a major surgery recovery. He is healthy.
 
Ok, but he is not coming into this season with a major surgery recovery. He is healthy.

Woodbury didn't play north of 30 minutes/game even as a senior, and it's not like we were loaded in the post that season. Even with Garza 100% healthy it makes sense with the depth that we have to rest him periodically to keep him fresh.
 
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It's good weight unless he needs to defend a 3 on the perimeter.
Some guys gain explosion through the training, even as they gain weight. I became much quicker as I got stronger (and heavier) in college.
If Nunge has to defend a 3 on the perimeter we are in trouble.
Chances are he'll get switched or cross-matched at some point. Hopefully his physical maturation and training gave him better tools to manage this circumstance.
 
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