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Already won at Minnesota, but down 13 and given up over 50 for the half, at home.

I keep getting told it's not possible, but there really are fans who'd rather we lost so they could complain more.

Nobody at this point is a fan of Fran's apparent philosophy on defense. I was at the game was couldn't believe they were so poor in the first half.

Was there as well and it was quite frustrating. The first half Minn had easy looks from in the paint, a few put backs, and wide open threes all half. The second half, they slowed down in the paint, but stilll couldn’t miss from three. Minnesota’s first three 3’s in the second half were decently contested, especially two of the three were hit with a hand directly in their face. I figured Minnesota couldn’t keep up with 75-80% from three, but would it be too little, too late when they started missing and could Iowa rebound those misses for stops?


I got tired of Johnson telling his guys to get back, jumping and flailing his arms after every made basket. That got old quick.
 
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Most important part of the come back was that they really picked up the effort level in 2nd half.

Why they seem unable to do that for 40 min is the frustrating part.
 
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Most important part of the come back was that they really picked up the effort level in 2nd half.

Why they seem unable to do that for 40 min is the frustrating part.
I see it as a combination of
Garcia's injury
Getting out of full court press
Getting into half court traps
Going small w PMac in for krikke

Not sure they were actually not expending the same energy earlier but the above factors created a bigger impact from energy expended. Change of tactics and Garcia injury flipped this game.
 
I see it as a combination of
Garcia's injury
Getting out of full court press
Getting into half court traps
Going small w PMac in for krikke

Not sure they were actually not expending the same energy earlier but the above factors created a bigger impact from energy expended. Change of tactics and Garcia injury flipped this game.
I’m quickly getting to the point where I’d rather Krikke see a major reduction in minutes. Excellent offensive player - he and Freeman play well together; but good lord - I can’t think of a worse interior defender for Iowa.

There was a stretch at one point where I think Minnesota seemingly isolated and went right at him for easy buckets.

Have to give kudos to Patrick - he’s taken an unfair amount of criticism but he balled out yesterday.
 
I see it as a combination of
Garcia's injury
Getting out of full court press
Getting into half court traps
Going small w PMac in for krikke

Not sure they were actually not expending the same energy earlier but the above factors created a bigger impact from energy expended. Change of tactics and Garcia injury flipped this game.
Really, is bringing in Patrick for Krikke going small? Patrick is about the same height, can jump a heck of a lot higher, and is probably a lot quicker then Ben, motivation and energy is the main problems with Patrick.
Sure Ben has more beef but at this point in the season, I'm not sure it's all that important.
Did you see when Cam Christie a 6-6, 190lb freshman, posturized Ben at the 14:20 mark in the second half? Not much resistance from Ben, you could tell he had thoughts about vacating the area when he saw Cam barreling at him, and quickly went to the bull fighter routine, that was using his weight alright!
Some on here are saying that Riley Mulvey won't make a difference next year, there's no doubt in my mind that Riley at 7 foot would play better defense, run the floor, and rebound better that Ben could even dream of doing. You can tell that Krikke's play is wearing on me. Glad this is his only year.
 
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Fran referred to "going small" in 2nd half so he thinks PMac in for krikke is his version of that...pmac probably weighs 20lbs less.

If Riley could help us I wish he had not redshirted..god knows we need help for Owen in the paint.

If Riley could help us this year and it was Fran's call to red shirt he screwed up.

In the portal era the tolerance for rebuilding is reduced.
I expected a down year for Hawks and we are getting it but I do think the days of redshirting bigs and grooming guys for 3-4 years like les jepsen are gone. Now you let those guys develop at smaller schools and then pick them off as mature guys to fill your holes.

So, if Riley could help us win two extra games that gets us into the dance..play him.
 
Fran referred to "going small" in 2nd half so he thinks PMac in for krikke is his version of that...pmac probably weighs 20lbs less.

If Riley could help us I wish he had not redshirted..god knows we need help for Owen in the paint.

If Riley could help us this year and it was Fran's call to red shirt he screwed up.

In the portal era the tolerance for rebuilding is reduced.
I expected a down year for Hawks and we are getting it but I do think the days of redshirting bigs and grooming guys for 3-4 years like les jepsen are gone. Now you let those guys develop at smaller schools and then pick them off as mature guys to fill your holes.

So, if Riley could help us win two extra games that gets us into the dance..play him.

Personally I think Fran redshirted Mulvey as a favor to preserve a year of eligibility at a future school. Imo if he was going to contribute here he’d have shown something the last two years.
 
If Riley could help us I wish he had not redshirted..god knows we need help for Owen in the paint.

If Riley could help us this year and it was Fran's call to red shirt he screwed up.

With that said, whatever happened to Even Brauns?

I thought for sure he and Dembele would be our fallback options after Krikke and Freeman.

Dembele has gotten some significant minutes, but no Brauns.

Outside of him being just really bad...(hard to believe)...there seems to be a role for him to at least come in and bang a bit with the Edey's, Crowl's, and Mast's of the conference.

:confused:
 
Fran referred to "going small" in 2nd half so he thinks PMac in for krikke is his version of that...pmac probably weighs 20lbs less.

If Riley could help us I wish he had not redshirted..god knows we need help for Owen in the paint.

If Riley could help us this year and it was Fran's call to red shirt he screwed up.

In the portal era the tolerance for rebuilding is reduced.
I expected a down year for Hawks and we are getting it but I do think the days of redshirting bigs and grooming guys for 3-4 years like les jepsen are gone. Now you let those guys develop at smaller schools and then pick them off as mature guys to fill your holes.

So, if Riley could help us win two extra games that gets us into the dance..play him.
I think Fans might be right that Iowa would benefit from a 7f guy that can hold his ground vs some of these B1G teams, but I don't think Fran thinks that way. He doesn't seem to like to play guys for defense/rebounding if they slow down his offense. So even if Riley hadn't redshirted, he probably wouldn't play.

Given Fran routinely keeps the team at under the 13 scholarship limit in recruited players, I think Iowa can afford to develop guys....whether they will stick around and wait is different story now the portal is easily available. From a program management pov, keeping guys around/redshirting guys that you don't intend to play seems like poor management. I liked Josh Ogundule as a Hawkeye, but I don't think it made much sense to have two bigs in Ogundele and Riley that you kept around for 2 years with no intention of playing except for in desperation circumstances.
 
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