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Brock Harding

It’s unfortunate but Fran has checked out. Plays his son too much and not building the key freshmen for later. We are in a real bad spot right now and I don’t see it gettin better anytime soon.
 
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It’s unfortunate but Fran has checked out. Plays his son too much and not building the key freshmen for later. We are in a real bad spot right now and I don’t see it gettin better anytime soon.
The current starting lineup isn’t going to fly in the big ten. Start Brock. Tony slides to the two. Payton, Freeman, and Krikke. It’s too easy so obviously won’t do that.
 
It’s unfortunate but Fran has checked out. Plays his son too much and not building the key freshmen for later. We are in a real bad spot right now and I don’t see it gettin better anytime soon.
What are you talking about. He's playing the freshmen more than he has ever done in the past. He's moved Owen into the starting lineup. Grow up. My God, what did the Mccaffrey family ever do to you? I know you believe you are the guru of basketball coaches, but you aren't paid the big bucks to make the decisions. Your posts sound like a five-year-old whining about not being able to eat cake for breakfast every morning.
 
What are you talking about. He's playing the freshmen more than he has ever done in the past. He's moved Owen into the starting lineup. Grow up. My God, what did the Mccaffrey family ever do to you? I know you believe you are the guru of basketball coaches, but you aren't paid the big bucks to make the decisions. Your posts sound like a five-year-old whining about not being able to eat cake for breakfast every morning.
Pat needs to be on the bench far more than he’s on the floor. Everyone besides fran and apparently you can see that. Pretty damn comical after getting absolutely drubbed by purdue and isu he doubles down by starting 3 guys out of position when the logical move is replacing pat with owen. 19 turnovers against isu and his decision is…play more bigs with no pg on the floor? 🤣
Like your post says, we aren’t paid the big bucks to make the coaching decisions…well Fran IS and he’s decided it’s more important that his son is on the floor 25mpg than to be competitive.
 
Brock is going to be a great player and a fan favorite. He's a baller! 12 assists and 4 steals for a true freshman is pretty nuts. Fran played him 30 minutes last night and it paid off.

I usually care more about minutes than who starts, but I think putting him in the starting line-up and moving Perk to the 2 would be a good move.

p.s. I have been hoping that PMac would explode for his senior season and fill up the stat sheet. Certainly not happening yet, and at this point it doesn't look like it will.
 
Here’s the thing. We don’t know what we have in the freshman really. We’ve seen the most of Freeman, but very little consistently of Ladje and Brock. Why not give them 30 minutes a game together against big ten teams, those three??? We know what we have in the other six guys that get minutes. Best case scenario the old guard takes us to a bubble ncaa spot and most likely the NIT. Roll with the three freshman and see what we got.
 
As the season moves along, it is going to be harder and harder for Fran to keep the freshmen off the court. Owen is their best pivot player, and Brock is their most gifted PG. Dembele who missing last night, could become a really strong power forward , on both ends and the boards, if he just gets minutes. Pryce hasn't caught up to this level of play yet, but there is no reason to believe he won't. We all know whose minutes need to shrink the most...

Add in the two very talented players in the next class, and Dix and Bowen, that is a promising team for the next few years.
 
What are you talking about. He's playing the freshmen more than he has ever done in the past. He's moved Owen into the starting lineup. Grow up. My God, what did the Mccaffrey family ever do to you? I know you believe you are the guru of basketball coaches, but you aren't paid the big bucks to make the decisions. Your posts sound like a five-year-old whining about not being able to eat cake for breakfast every morning.
Some are too critical of Fran, but when you watch Patrick standing flat footed watching the action at times, especially anywhere near the basket, it is hard to know why a coach would not sit his butt on the bench until he demonstrates he is a full-time participant. In the second half he threw a stupid cross court pass and didn't move at all as the opponent took it down for a layup. He frequently is 10-15' away from the basket watching others battle on the boards... He makes positive plays, but it must be discouraging for some of the other players losing time to him. Fran isn't nearly as forgiving to any other players. Ask JoeT, who left.
 
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It’s unfortunate but Fran has checked out. Plays his son too much and not building the key freshmen for later. We are in a real bad spot right now and I don’t see it gettin better anytime soon.
Well, Patrick does graduate after this year, so it might be “gettin better” next season. 😉
 
As the season moves along, it is going to be harder and harder for Fran to keep the freshmen off the court. Owen is their best pivot player, and Brock is their most gifted PG. Dembele who missing last night, could become a really strong power forward , on both ends and the boards, if he just gets minutes. Pryce hasn't caught up to this level of play yet, but there is no reason to believe he won't. We all know whose minutes need to shrink the most...

Add in the two very talented players in the next class, and Dix and Bowen, that is a promising team for the next few years.

Ladji has a nice looking shot, too. He doesn't have the minutes or the reps but he's shooting 35.7% from three (5-14). He's also got 6 offensive rebounds, 17 defensive rebounds, 6 assists and 8 steals.

 
After last game, he's growing on me. Watched the Hawks live in San Diego & he wasn't very impressive. Oklahoma guards abused him. But Oklahoma is very good. Hopefully he's grown from that & he turns out for the Big10 season
 
After last game, he's growing on me. Watched the Hawks live in San Diego & he wasn't very impressive. Oklahoma guards abused him. But Oklahoma is very good. Hopefully he's grown from that & he turns out for the Big10 season
Last game is a totally different level of competition than the B1G.
 
Brock has pass first point guard skills that I am not sure we have seen in decades. (Iowa)

He is undersized. Yes.
But he has a moxie and grit to him that is unique.

Long way to go to start comparing to someone like JoBo, but Brock's effort and toughness on the defensive end already seem better.

He is exciting and guys seem to LOVE playing with him because he gets them the ball for scoring opportunities.
 
Brock has pass first point guard skills that I am not sure we have seen in decades. (Iowa)

He is undersized. Yes.
But he has a moxie and grit to him that is unique.

Long way to go to start comparing to someone like JoBo, but Brock's effort and toughness on the defensive end already seem better.

He is exciting and guys seem to LOVE playing with him because he gets them the ball for scoring opportunities.
Not sure he's really a pass first pg. After avg 25 pts a game in HS, he likes to score. He seemed to hunt shots in past games. But agree, this last game he upped his passing and showcased his skills. Especially liked his ability to pass with the left hand. Not many can do this even at D1 level. How he fares in Big10 will be the real test.
 
Not sure he's really a pass first pg. After avg 25 pts a game in HS, he likes to score. He seemed to hunt shots in past games. But agree, this last game he upped his passing and showcased his skills. Especially liked his ability to pass with the left hand. Not many can do this even at D1 level. How he fares in Big10 will be the real test.
He's actually left handed, it's his right hand he has worked hard in passing both ways effectively!
 
Brock has a chance but I'm not sold yet. He certainly makes some great plays and plays with anticipation. His turnover rate isn't terrible at 20% but it could get better - sometimes those anticipation passes don't work out. I was surprised to find that, during the games that I've tracked (all high major opponents + Arkansas State and North Florida), that we score 1.16 points per possession when Bowen is in the game but only score 1.00 points per possession when Harding was in the game. We allow 1.20 points per possession when Bowen is in the game and 1.17 points per possession when Harding is in the game.
 
Iowa fear based offense, relying on shooting more than penetration and kick will certainly limit turnovers but it will also kill you when you don’t shoot well and play defensive oriented teams.
We have high assist to turnover ratios because there is very limited driving/penetration by our guards. Fran likes tall/long armed guys to make shooting and passing easier rather than have the kind of point guards you see on other teams. That’s just Fran’s strategy. It is what it is but it leads people to believe it means way more than it really does.
Dante Bowen is top 5 in the nation in assist to turnover ratio and Harding is #45. Does anyone think that makes Bowen better than Harding. If Fran believed that he wouldn’t have benched a top 5 guy in that category. It’s ok to have a few more turnovers if you have a pg that can penetrate and raise everyone’s fg %.
 
Iowa fear based offense, relying on shooting more than penetration and kick will certainly limit turnovers but it will also kill you when you don’t shoot well and play defensive oriented teams.
We have high assist to turnover ratios because there is very limited driving/penetration by our guards. Fran likes tall/long armed guys to make shooting and passing easier rather than have the kind of point guards you see on other teams. That’s just Fran’s strategy. It is what it is but it leads people to believe it means way more than it really does.
Dante Bowen is top 5 in the nation in assist to turnover ratio and Harding is #45. Does anyone think that makes Bowen better than Harding. If Fran believed that he wouldn’t have benched a top 5 guy in that category. It’s ok to have a few more turnovers if you have a pg that can penetrate and raise everyone’s fg %.
I feel like Bowen is sitting due to his lack of outside shooting more than anything else.
 
Iowa fear based offense, relying on shooting more than penetration and kick will certainly limit turnovers but it will also kill you when you don’t shoot well and play defensive oriented teams.
We have high assist to turnover ratios because there is very limited driving/penetration by our guards. Fran likes tall/long armed guys to make shooting and passing easier rather than have the kind of point guards you see on other teams. That’s just Fran’s strategy. It is what it is but it leads people to believe it means way more than it really does.
Dante Bowen is top 5 in the nation in assist to turnover ratio and Harding is #45. Does anyone think that makes Bowen better than Harding. If Fran believed that he wouldn’t have benched a top 5 guy in that category. It’s ok to have a few more turnovers if you have a pg that can penetrate and raise everyone’s fg %.
Bowen is very good at penetrating. His finishing hasn't been great, but he can get to the rim. I think Harding can as well, but he's too small to be effective at the rim.
 
I feel like Bowen is sitting due to his lack of outside shooting more than anything else.
He shoots 30% from three not far from most of our players. Far worse have and do play.
Bowen is very good at penetrating. His finishing hasn't been great, but he can get to the rim. I think Harding can as well, but he's too small to be effective at the rim.
He’s our best finisher. That says a lot.
 
He shoots 30% from three not far from most of our players. Far worse have and do play.

He’s our best finisher. That says a lot.
Bowen is currently at 25% from three point range (3/12) and is also (4/19) on long 2s. I agree with you about him being our best option at driving to the hoop and finishing there. I wish Fran would play him more too.
 
Bowen has made a big step forward from last year, in part because he transformed his body. Needs to look for his outside shot more and shoot in rhythm. He doesn't make mistakes, why is a positive, but maybe should be a little more aggressive on offense. Decent defender, which makes him pretty good on this team.
 
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