CMac

[TritonHawkeye]

What you see in the tournament is that guards who can play great perimeter defense, shoot the three, and take a defender off the dribble for an assist or a basket at the rim are a big advantage. Tell me which of these things Connor is really good at? I get that he hit a few 3's over a period of 3 games out of 34 but please don't use that. He was intentionally left open during that period because he didn't warrant being guarded. He went on to score 11 points in the final 7 games combined failing to score in 4 of them.

Recruiting...maybe it is more signing guards that can consistently get to the rack and play great D has mostly alluded Fran while at Iowa. JT and TP may actually be the two best the Hawks have had. I hope Bowen is cut from that cloth... A portal guy that checks those boxes would be huge get for next season. The risk is in losing JT but if Fran felt that his skills were irreplaceable we would have seen much more of him on the floor instead of cheering from the sidelines

 

[IamHawkeye]

Here's is the stat's from Connor in the 10 games that Iowa lost.
15.5 min, 1.5 points. Yeah he should return, Perkins 19.4 min, 9.5 points,
Ulis 14.5 min, 3.5 points, Joe T. 18.7 min, 4.3 points.
You have to have balance between the front and back court. Iowa was not even close

Stata are points only?

 

[blhawk]

For being a coaches son, PMac sure seems confused on defense.

When that coach is Fran McCaffery it's really not surprising at all. Shooting mechanics and rebounding were big misses as well

 

[IllQChawk]

Stata are points only?

What do you think, It would be an entirely different metrics, if Iowa was known as a program that played elite defense or at least tried to play defense, but Iowa, Fran, and his staff has ignored all the experts and everyone else that has complained about this program not putting enough effort into that aspect of the game.
If Iowa's guards are going to be of any value they have to score points to offset there lack of being taught defense and looking at Connor. Ulis, or Joe Toussaint they are not scorers.
That hurt Iowa this year when they played teams that double teamed Keegan, Patrick, Rebraca, or Kris because they didn't fear Iowa's guards could penetrate or consistently shoot from distance. Even Jordan had a majority of games where he couldn't or wouldn't take shots.
I hope during this off season Perkins and Ulis, improves. The addition of Bowen may help but the jury is still out on Joe T. He has had 3 year to get his offense together and it's just is not where it needs to be as a starting point guard. Just my opinion.

 

[texas twister]

Iowa was 6-of-29 from 3.

I don't know how Conner suddenly got hot shooting the 3; but, as quick as it appeared, it disappeared. Indiana would have blown out Iowa in the semis if blistering 3 shooting wasn't there.

 

[jonesy5960]

Stata are points only?

Of course other stats matter. Rebounds were the most important indicator in terms of wins and losses for Iowa this year. Connor was the least productive forward on the team with respect to rebounds in conference play and it wasn't really close. Ulis and Perkins were more productive rebounders than Connor. He was the 3rd most productive in assists but he was 4.5 fewer on a per 40 basis behind Joe. Connor is a pretty good defender but he's not disruptive in any way. As a forward he had zero blocks and was fourth in steals.

Some people are going to look at this and say I'm bashing Cmac. I'm not bashing him. All I'm doing is stating facts and statistics in response to people who say statistics don't matter when evaluating Cmac. At some point they can't be completely ignored either.

 

[Ronman]

In some games, CMac was a great asset on defense, directing traffic and often guarding much bigger players. I am not down on him at all. That said, I think it is time for him to move on and for his father to recruit (no matter where they come from) more complete players that are needed to compete in this conference and beyond. You just cannot keep ignoring your weak areas and expect to excel.

 

[Pepperman]

You just cannot keep ignoring your weak areas and expect to excel.

this, this, this.

be careful though, the other fanboys might start to turn on you!

 

[Mohawkeye]

We need three shooters, who can consistently make 3's, in the game at all time. Just looking at this past year, we started with PMac, JBo, Keegan, those were our three. Then when subs came in, it was CMac for PMac, so we lost a shooter, but also we saw Kris come in at the same time, so that put us back at three. We need that same thing next year and I don't see how that get's accomplished if CMac is a guard. I don't see that happening. If we don't get anyone out of the portal, then I see CMac coming back and playing a similar role as this year, to be a sub for his brother. I actually think CMac would have played a lot less if PMac could play defense. For being a coaches son, PMac sure seems confused on defense.

What you see in the tournament is that guards who can play great perimeter defense, shoot the three, and take a defender off the dribble for an assist or a basket at the rim are a big advantage. Tell me which of these things Connor is really good at? I get that he hit a few 3's over a period of 3 games out of 34 but please don't use that. He was intentionally left open during that period because he didn't warrant being guarded. He went on to score 11 points in the final 7 games combined failing to score in 4 of them.

Connor hit 34% from the 3 for the season, after an atrocious start. You have to count all the shots, not just the misses. That's exactly in line with what he shot in 2019-2020 when he wasn't playing injured, so I think that is pretty representative of what should be expected of him. Not great, but ok. He's always had a high assist to turnover ratio. He's always shot reasonably well from the FT line.

He didn't score a lot in the last 7 games because he wasn't playing a lot of minutes and wasn't asked to score. Seemed to work out really well for us, did you want him shooting more? I think maybe some people are a little bitter about losing the NCAA game and it skews their reasoning & evaluation of the season. I certainly don't want him playing 30 minutes a game (he averaged 17 this year), but I think his experience & leadership will be needed and, frankly, there's no one else on the team I'd rather have handling the ball with a lead in the last 3 minutes of the game.

 

[ObeseMuffins]

He has a spot on next year's team.

 

[Pepperman]

He has a spot on next year's team.

I think the question has to be the size of that spot though. 5-7 mins total would be fine while somebody with superior overall skills is catching his breath or in foul trouble. Somehow I think he will end up with a lot more floor time, which is a shame.

 

[Bulldogs1974]

Connor hit 34% from the 3 for the season, after an atrocious start. You have to count all the shots, not just the misses. That's exactly in line with what he shot in 2019-2020 when he wasn't playing injured, so I think that is pretty representative of what should be expected of him. Not great, but ok. He's always had a high assist to turnover ratio. He's always shot reasonably well from the FT line.

He didn't score a lot in the last 7 games because he wasn't playing a lot of minutes and wasn't asked to score. Seemed to work out really well for us, did you want him shooting more? I think maybe some people are a little bitter about losing the NCAA game and it skews their reasoning & evaluation of the season. I certainly don't want him playing 30 minutes a game (he averaged 17 this year), but I think his experience & leadership will be needed and, frankly, there's no one else on the team I'd rather have handling the ball with a lead in the last 3 minutes of the game.

take out two games and he's at 24% from three, I'm guess that's more of who he really is as a 3 pt shooter. That skews things. I'll believe what my eyes and stats told me for 32 games rather than 2. What I will say is that when he wasn't shooting well, he stopped.
People often say ulis and joe t aren't great scorers, but how the heck would we know. If they shot 2 three pointers and missed, they were getting yanked. It is incredibly hard to shoot if you know you have to make one of the first 2.
ulis took 2 three point shots in 3 games, never more than that. In 2 of those 3, he was 50%.
Joe t, only shot 10 three's in an 11 game stretch. How do you find any rhythm or consistency?
I'm not saying they are great shooters but 33% (which is attainable for both of them) is serviceable for guards the can play defense and penetrate.

 

[iahawks10]

take out two games and he's at 24% from three, I'm guess that's more of who he really is as a 3 pt shooter. That skews things. I'll believe what my eyes and stats told me for 32 games rather than 2. What I will say is that when he wasn't shooting well, he stopped.
People often say ulis and joe t aren't great scorers, but how the heck would we know. If they shot 2 three pointers and missed, they were getting yanked. It is incredibly hard to shoot if you know you have to make one of the first 2.
ulis took 2 three point shots in 3 games, never more than that. In 2 of those 3, he was 50%.
Joe t, only shot 10 three's in an 11 game stretch. How do you find any rhythm or consistency?
I'm not saying they are great shooters but 33% (which is attainable for both of them) is serviceable for guards the can play defense and penetrate.

Take out the three Purdue games and he leads the team by a decent margin at .407 (minimum 10+ attempts).

 

[Bulldogs1974]

Take out the three Purdue games and he leads the team by a decent margin at .407 (minimum 10+ attempts).

You might have a point if he didn’t make a three in 22/34 games. That was the norm the two games were the exception.
Furthermore, many of the threes he shot vs Purdue we’re with a center guarding him from the middle of the lane and absolutely no one guarding him.

 

[jonesy5960]

You might have a point if he didn’t make a three in 22/34 games. That was the norm the two games were the exception.

He averaged 2.5 points per game and we've got people on here arguing what a great percentage he shot. Can't make this shit up. If he scored 6 points all season on 2 of 3 shooting they'd be calling him the greatest 3 point shooter in basketball history. 🙄

 

[hooper56]

I don't think it spells lazy recruiter. Like most fathers, Fran wants his sons playing for him. It's not any more complicated than that.

You guys would have a tough time keeping up with Fran’s schedule. He is putting in 18-20 hour days when he is out recruiting and is absolutely relentless. Was told by a player that once he is recruiting you he will come to see every one of your games. Few coaches will do that. Calling Fran Lazy is really dumb.

 

[jonesy5960]

You guys would have a tough time keeping up with Fran’s schedule. He is putting in 18-20 hour days when he is out recruiting and is absolutely relentless. Was told by a player that once he is recruiting you he will come to see every one of your games. Few coaches will do that. Calling Fran Lazy is really dumb.

Is English a second language for you? What was my first sentence?