CBS Studio hosts: Iowa had No FIght, No Competitive Spirit

[Franisdaman]

The Iowa players admitted that Nova played harder.

From HawkCentral.com:

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Perhaps the most disappointing part for the Iowa players about Sunday’s 87-68 loss to Villanova was that — with their seasons on the line — they got beat in effort.

“They played harder than we did. They played smarter than we did,” senior Adam Woodbury said. “They deserved to win.”

Iowa didn’t play hard enough?

“That was pretty evident,” Woodbury said.

Second-seeded Villanova overwhelmed Iowa in a dominant first half that ended 54-29. Game, set, match ... season.

After the score was tied 13-13, the Wildcats unleashed separate 8-0 runs over a span of eight minutes to extend their lead to 39-21.

“We hit a stretch there in the first half where we missed three layups in maybe four possessions and were giving up transition opportunities,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery observed. “They were hitting 3s. I think that staggered us a bit. So you could say it’s energy level, but I think we just got back on our heels a little bit. Then we weren’t ourselves defensively. Then we revved it up, and we couldn’t score. So that was a frustrating eight to 10 minutes of basketball.”

Iowa point guard Mike Gesell agreed with Woodbury, his longtime teammate going back to their AAU days, that the Hawkeyes weren’t able to match Villanova’s intensity — even though they knew it was coming.

“We knew that was going to happen, but in a way it did surprise us a little bit, which is disappointing,” Gesell said. “It’s disappointing that we dug ourselves into that big of a hole, because we knew what they wanted to do.

“We got a little bit sideways in the first half, and we weren’t able to make adjustments fast enough to stop us from getting into a hole.”

http://www.hawkcentral.com/story/sp...rrod-uthoff-peter-jok-nicholas-baer/82058174/

 

[championhawk]

Seriously, you are blaming JU passiveness on MG and AC. How many times per game did JU get the ball anywhere from 15-25 feet away, look around, maybe dribble a couple times and then throw up a shot, usually a fall away. He rarely even attempted to take a player off the dribble, swing the ball through the defensive player face (watch other teams clear space with this trick) or go straight up for a jump shot. During the last ten games, it always seemed like JU would never catch the ball cleanly too, always a little bobble which just gives the other team reaction time. By all reports, JU is a nice guy, but doesn't appear to have a very aggressive presence on the court and other teams took big advantage of that

MG and AC have been terrible at getting the ball inside to JU. Every game he would be open numerous times on the block and they would be too late to the party to feed him. We also didn't run enough sets for him. Even after half when Fran said he needs to be more aggressive. Watch the last half of the season and see how our offense failed to get JU more open looks. Some games he wouldn't touch the ball for 4 minute stretches while AC and MG threw up bricks.

 

[farfaraway]

I watched Mike carefully. No doubt he is alert and works hard to make good passes. Some of his passes are even creative, in a good way. But it finally hit me watching the Nova game...Mike hesitates just a fraction of a beat, a half second or less, on his 1st pass option. He stops his progress, maybe picks up his dribble, looks...and hesitates for just an instant too long.

 

[RocknRollface]

I watched Mike carefully. No doubt he is alert and works hard to make good passes. Some of his passes are even creative, in a good way. But it finally hit me watching the Nova game...Mike hesitates just a fraction of a beat, a half second or less, on his 1st pass option. He stops his progress, maybe picks up his dribble, looks...and hesitates for just an instant too long.

Noticed this many times as well.

There was always something lacking in instincts with Gesell.

That's why I always thought he wasn't a true point guard despite the ball security and decent assist numbers.

The thing about all these seniors is that they were really roll players trying to be lead players and it just wasn't sustainable.

They needed a true lead scoring guard who could get into the lane and an athletic rebounding big to round this team out.

 

[Whinny]

One man's observation of "passiveness" is another man's "focused and in the zone." Just sayin'.