Fran needs to send a message. These two played 35 and 33 minutes respectively and got 5 rebounds between them. We can’t win with that kind of energy. They should be our leaders but they aren’t getting it done.
Bench Payton & Dix
- Thread starter Mohawkeye
- Start date
Who will provide 50% of the offensive points.
He seemed a bit lost on defense. Several of the 3's made from the corner by SC he was out of position to defend.
Shot was going up and he was 4-5' away from defending the shot to me.
Shot was going up and he was 4-5' away from defending the shot to me.
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I would start them, but give them, and anyone else who plays defense like it is a time to rest before playing offense, a quick hook if they are being lazy on defense. I just don't get it, but more importantly, they don't seem to get it. Playing tough defense does not mean you have to sacrifice playing up tempo on offense. I would ditch that half court press altogether. It doesn't do that much to disrupt the other team, and often puts Iowa in catch up in half court. Let's face it, they're a step slower than many of the guys they play against, so they need to spend time ahead of the ball, not chasing. This is in general; I didn't see most of the game last night, fell asleep, and caught the very end, noted the score, checked the box score, and it appears that the same mistakes, at least by the numbers, are being made.
Pryce played 23 min and had 4 rebounds, which was 2nd highest on team after Freeman.
Dix is averaging 3.5 rebounds per game. He's 6'5 and the 3rd tallest starter. JoeW used to average 6.6 rpg as Junior playing same position.
Dix needs to get stronger and put more effort on the boards, but he is the best player on team. Harding had Zero rebounds and Thelwel only 1.
Freeman has to do better than 6 rebounds which he had vs USC.
It seems to me we are playing too many skinny or short ( or both) guys that are below the rim players. Fran apparently wants to play small ball but he doesn't have the right small ball athletes and doesn't demand enough out them or teach them how to defend/rebound well enough to be competitive.
The Fran offense of course, is Top Notch.
Pryce got 4 rebounds in 22 minutes. If everyone else rebounded as well then we would have won. His defense was no worse than the rest of our guards. They got owned physically.
Stop blaming the players for not doing what they aren’t capable of doing and blame the coach for recruiting a team full of guys with the same skill sets and weaknesses.
Dix is probably the best defender on a team that can't play defense. Makes sense.
There is nothing to rebound because most of their wide open looks went in lol
Well USC shot 65%, 37-57 so not many rebounds to be had. Iowa snagged 16 defensive boards out of 20 missed shots. I think defense was more of a problem than rebounding. But then again, if you play better D they miss more shots. Do we give up more offensive rebounds, probably.
Hell if PMac had the rebounding stats of Dix or Payton, we might build a statue.
He’s averaging more rb’s than Dix and about the same as PS this year. Per 40 for career much higher than Dix. Better start building that statue.
Sorry OP,.. but the title of this thread is down right stupid.
They’re no worse, physically, than Dr Tom’s players. No excuses. Re the f’ing bound.
I think it's more philosophical then it is the caliber of athlete on the floor. Shot goes up and the guards/forwards are all running out already, it's how we get the ball down the floor so quick. However, that leads to less people crashing the boards and more offensive rebounds. Not a big fan.
Dix is not a small forward, he's more of an off guard. We play small because we only have 5 reliable shooter, which makes us vary short.
Don't care what Fran thinks, last night because 3 of our starters were smaller then any of USC starters, we should have started in a zone and stuck with it for most of the game. USC took advantage off everyone on the starting lineup except Owen, I still wish Fran would use Mulvey more but after 15 games that's evidently not going to happen anymore this season.
Opponents that have a experienced big point guard and other big guards are going to take advantage of Iowa's Harding, Dix, and Thelwell as long as they play man to man. Iowa's starters should play exclusively zone for the rest of the season.
I think their motivations aren’t prioritized for rebounds. I’m 5’6” and I can get 2 rebounds in 34 minutes just by standing in the right place. They need to retrain their brains and habits.
Defense and rebounding are much more about want-to and positioning than they are about skill sets.
Dix and Thelwell are fine against larger guards. Harding not so much.
Want-to and effort can only get you so far.
You don’t recruit shooters like Dix and the Sandforts and then complain they don’t hit the glass and play D against the athletes they’ll face in the B1G. They simply can’t compete, and you put them in a position they can’t win.
You need one, maybe two of those guys, but not all 3. That has been Fran’s issues in many years: he gets guys with similar skill sets and doesn’t fill out his roster with guys that complement each other.
Not every guy has to be a shooter, you need big uglies to rule the paint and eat glass in the B1G, as well as an athletic guard who can drive a ball handler nuts. He refuses to recruit guys like that.
You need a diverse portfolio, and Fran doesn’t believe in that. I’m hoping he follows Jack and joins the rest of the fam in Indy next year.
I don't think it's the players, it has to be the way they're being coached. If the players weren't following the plan of the coach, the coach would surely start swapping players on the court and letting them know who wasn't doing what was expected. But it doesn't really matter who's on the court, the other team always has open shots. The only way we win is by hoping the other team doesn't shoot well. And that works for home games but not for away.
The box score shows Iowa with 16 defensive rebounds and USC with 9 offensive rebounds. They got a couple offensive rebounds off missed FTs and also must have gotten a few offensive rebounds in which they weren't able to get up another shot.
Meanwhile Iowa got 4 offensive rebounds to 28 defensiver rebounds by USC, which is a pitiful offensive rebounding percentage.
I agree the main problems was Iowa giving up too many high quality shots and USC making them. However Iowa was also not rebounding very well on both offensive and defensive sides. IN the end, Hawks are too small, below the rim, not quick, not enough effort, not enough emphasis by the coach in regards to defense and rebounding.
The UCLA game will be interesting. A win at UCLA would be quad 1 win and we'd have gotten 1 out of 2 on road, which is a good outcome.
In the lineup Dix, Thelwell, Harding --> Dix is a "3" and expected to rebound. Same as JoeW when he played the "3."
3.5 rebounds per game is not much for a guy that is 6'5.
I would agree Dix should be 2G, Thelwell PG, and Payton at the "3". Harding can come off the bench for Thelwell.
Who cares what he’s averaging at Butler? They are so bad they should be putting up stats. Dix and Payton are averaging way more rebounds this year than Pmac did for Iowa last year.
What ever happened to the phrase follow your shot and go get your missed shot. I have yet to see a hawkeye follow there shot. That just basic basketball.
BirdistheWord
HB Legend
Everyone on the team is sufficiently athletic to play defense and rebound. Their want-to and positioning are lacking. Thelwell is the only one who consistently makes the effort.
BirdistheWord
HB Legend
Not against USC - more effort would have helped but we were overmatched athletically and by height. Just a terrible matchup.
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