Defense and Athletes

[perryhawk]

First off, defense....it clearly looks improved to this unqualified fan. That said, I think I read where we moved up (lol) to 106 in the defensive rating. 106.....not good, but it is improved. And that is reasonably steady trend with the exceptions of Depaul and Michigan be the only real stinkers.

Syracuse, Minnesota, and now ISU aren't great offensive teams but our guys are collectively playing better in my opinion.

Athletes....it's important to have good athletes in basketball (Mr Obvious)....and our team isn't very athletic with a couple of exceptions (the 2 Joe's).

That said, when a team plays smart and disciplined basketball they can clearly play above their athleticism. Minnesota and ISU were both clearly more athletic teams, and yet our guys handled both in convincing fashion.

I remember after the Depaul game I thought....holy crap we're slow and un-athletic and there's no changing that....season in the crapper....and that is obviously now a bad prediction.

So, I believe that athleticism is important...and I love when we have high fliers and guys like Cook that are explosive.....but we can win at a reasonably good level with what we have.

 

[BlackNGoldBleeder]

First off, defense....it clearly looks improved to this unqualified fan. That said, I think I read where we moved up (lol) to 106 in the defensive rating. 106.....not good, but it is improved. And that is reasonably steady trend with the exceptions of Depaul and Michigan be the only real stinkers.

Syracuse, Minnesota, and now ISU aren't great offensive teams but our guys are collectively playing better in my opinion.

Athletes....it's important to have good athletes in basketball (Mr Obvious)....and our team isn't very athletic with a couple of exceptions (the 2 Joe's).

That said, when a team plays smart and disciplined basketball they can clearly play above their athleticism. Minnesota and ISU were both clearly more athletic teams, and yet our guys handled both in convincing fashion.

I remember after the Depaul game I thought....holy crap we're slow and un-athletic and there's no changing that....season in the crapper....and that is obviously now a bad prediction.

So, I believe that athleticism is important...and I love when we have high fliers and guys like Cook that are explosive.....but we can win at a reasonably good level with what we have.

Yes, it will be interesting to see how this team does during the grind of the B1G Ten schedule.

Iowa should be competitive against anyone. If JBo feels well enough to play, I like his and Garza's leadership to win Iowa a lot of games.

No matter how you slice it, the win in LAmes last night was impressive.

 

[EagleHawk]

Athletes....it's important to have good athletes in basketball (Mr Obvious)....and our team isn't very athletic with a couple of exceptions (the 2 Joe's).

That said, when a team plays smart and disciplined basketball they can clearly play above their athleticism. Minnesota and ISU were both clearly more athletic teams, and yet our guys handled both in convincing fashion.

Holy veiled racism batman. We need to be darker, but were not, so we can be smarter and disciplined, because we're white?
CJ and Connor and Luka are not athletic? Jordan doing what he is doing playing through pain?

 

[HawkLand]

Holy unveiled stupidity EagleHawk. Give it a rest. You are trying harder to keep racism alive than racist people are.

Seems weird he pointed a white guy out as one of our athletes, yet you take his comment as needing to get darker.

 

[DodgerHawki]

First off, defense....it clearly looks improved to this unqualified fan. That said, I think I read where we moved up (lol) to 106 in the defensive rating. 106.....not good, but it is improved. And that is reasonably steady trend with the exceptions of Depaul and Michigan be the only real stinkers.

Syracuse, Minnesota, and now ISU aren't great offensive teams but our guys are collectively playing better in my opinion.

Athletes....it's important to have good athletes in basketball (Mr Obvious)....and our team isn't very athletic with a couple of exceptions (the 2 Joe's).

That said, when a team plays smart and disciplined basketball they can clearly play above their athleticism. Minnesota and ISU were both clearly more athletic teams, and yet our guys handled both in convincing fashion.

I remember after the Depaul game I thought....holy crap we're slow and un-athletic and there's no changing that....season in the crapper....and that is obviously now a bad prediction.

So, I believe that athleticism is important...and I love when we have high fliers and guys like Cook that are explosive.....but we can win at a reasonably good level with what we have.

Being good on defense matters somewhat on having the baseline quickness or size to stop people from doing whatever they want, but Iowa has enough to be better than what they are. The 106 in the country in defensive efficiency needs context. It means there are 200+ teams worse, but within the conference (where Iowa actually has to win games) we are better than only Nebraska. And there's a good deal of space between Iowa and the next worst teams defensively (Northwestern, Indiana, Minnesota). The good news is Iowa's offense is elite, currently the best in the country according to Pomeroy. Bart Torvik's blog has a good visual representation of the Big 10 in terms of adjusted offensive and defensive efficiencies.

http://barttorvik.com/conf.php?conf=B10

My broad view is that Iowa has at times been okay defensively against teams with some holes. Iowa State is currently 34th in adjusted offensive efficiency, and Iowa held them to right at 1 point per possession. San Diego State is worse than Iowa State offensively (57th) and they took Iowa's defense apart. Same with Michigan (24th in offensive efficiency). The hideous effort against DePaul (allowing 93 points in 82 possessions) is killing Iowa's efficiency numbers as DePaul's offense is only 91st in efficiency. Iowa just has to continue to get better on that end of the floor. But kudos to the team for improving. They are 4-2 in the 7-game non-con gauntlet with a chance to go to 5-2 by beating Cincinnati. I would not have thought that possible a few weeks ago.

 

[HeRKeYHoPeFuL]

" we are better than only Nebraska. And there's a good deal of space between Iowa and the next worst teams defensively (Northwestern, Indiana, Minnesota)."

Are you looking at conference only competition? If you look at overall, we're at 96.8/100
Minnesota and Northwestern are both at 94.3/100, I wouldn't call that a good deal of space, especially considering the offensive efficiencies are so drastically different as well.

I also believe the rankings you're using are incorporating some information from last year as well, so as our defensive stats continue to improve, it means that our current year is actually even better than it seems right now.

 

[HawkLogic]

Holy veiled racism batman. We need to be darker, but were not, so we can be smarter and disciplined, because we're white?
CJ and Connor and Luka are not athletic? Jordan doing what he is doing playing through pain?

If Athletic means vertical jump beyond 36 inches and exceptional cones agility times, then no...Garza is definitely not athletic and CJ is okay, not elite by NCAA P5 standards. If Garza is "athletic" then he would be #1 NBA draft choice. Being skilled and possessing raw Athleticism are two different things.

 

[H4wkfan4life]

Holy veiled racism batman. We need to be darker, but were not, so we can be smarter and disciplined, because we're white?
CJ and Connor and Luka are not athletic? Jordan doing what he is doing playing through pain?

the REAL racists, go seeking racism.......

Who the hell mentioned skin color?

BTW you do realize 1 of the 2 "athletic" guys he mentioned is white...right? LMFAO

 

[HawkSTL]

I think CJF, Wieskamp, Joe T are all good perimeter defenders. And CJF is athletic—much more burst and lateral quickness than we’ve had on the wing in most years. Garza can’t jump, but he’s huge, moves his feet well in the paint, and is great at maintaining verticality this year. We finally have the paint defender we’ve lacked since Woodbury. CMac plays good defense against like-sized players but struggles with quick guards. And Evelyn can move his feet and tries.

Pemsl has problems defensive. Kriener seems neither good nor bad defensively.

But this group of players have a much higher defensive potential than many of our past rosters.

 

[IllQChawk]

If Athletic means vertical jump beyond 36 inches and exceptional cones agility times, then no...Garza is definitely not athletic and CJ is okay, not elite by NCAA P5 standards. If Garza is "athletic" then he would be #1 NBA draft choice. Being skilled and possessing raw Athleticism are two different things.

That is true, Iowa has experienced this these past few season, with both Tyler Cook and now Luka Garza and maybe I'm in the minority, but I'll take the more skilled player every time whether they're black or white!

 

[SoonerBeAHawk]

Now I'm curious if an Eagle Scout can meet the community service requirement by being offended on behalf of others???

 

[perryhawk]

Holy veiled racism batman. We need to be darker, but were not, so we can be smarter and disciplined, because we're white?
CJ and Connor and Luka are not athletic? Jordan doing what he is doing playing through pain?

Usually I don't respond to ridiculous posts but I feel the need to do so here. I judge athleticism on things like leaping ability, quickness, speed, strength, etc........not skin color. That is easily understood when I listed the two most athletic guys on the team...the two Joe's.

So I am left to understand that you are either not very bright?/reading comprehension?/perceptive?, or you are stupidly trying to stir up issues. If it is simple low intelligence on your part, I apologize.

 

[EagleHawk]

Usually I don't respond to ridiculous posts but I feel the need to do so here. I judge athleticism on things like leaping ability, quickness, speed, strength, etc........not skin color. That is easily understood when I listed the two most athletic guys on the team...the two Joe's.

So I am left to understand that you are either not very bright?/reading comprehension?/perceptive?, or you are stupidly trying to stir up issues. If it is simple low intelligence on your part, I apologize.

I guess I just don't see how you can say, other than Halliburton, that ISU is "Clearly more athletic" than Iowa, unless you are talking skin color. Nothing about that game said that they were more athletic than us. Nothing. We dominated them from start to finish.

 

[perryhawk]

I guess I just don't see how you can say, other than Halliburton, that ISU is "Clearly more athletic" than Iowa, unless you are talking skin color. Nothing about that game said that they were more athletic than us. Nothing. We dominated them from start to finish.

There are multiple positions where they’re more athletic. Jacobson is clearly more athletic than Pemsl, right?

 

[perryhawk]

There are multiple positions where they’re more athletic. Jacobson is clearly more athletic than Pemsl, right?

Condit is more athletic than either of our post players.

 

[perryhawk]

Condit is more athletic than either of our post players.

Are ANY of their guards slower afoot than Connor?

 

[pocha444444]

Holy veiled racism batman. We need to be darker, but were not, so we can be smarter and disciplined, because we're white?
CJ and Connor and Luka are not athletic? Jordan doing what he is doing playing through pain?

You're trying too hard.

 

[pocha444444]

I guess I just don't see how you can say, other than Halliburton, that ISU is "Clearly more athletic" than Iowa, unless you are talking skin color. Nothing about that game said that they were more athletic than us. Nothing. We dominated them from start to finish.

So only the more athletic team can win? Playing team ball has nothing to do with it? Did you not notice how stagnant Iowa State's offense was? Way to completely ruin a thread with your stupidity.

 

[CrescentHawk]

I think defense at this level is a combination of athleticism, communication and desire. I believe this team has the foundation to be decent defensively.

 

[Packer54]

I’m a realist. Iowa will play a stretch of games where they play solid defense. Then they will play a game like Michigan on the road. I think sometimes they get caught up in a positive offensive groove and forget the other half of the game. Not blaming but those should be in game adjustments. Some of it is just slowing down sometimes on offense when you feel the pace getting too quick with a real talented team.
Our offense is fine,,,,,and we shouldnt need to score 90 to win. We have have a great inside game which will help the outside game. Also the more people move without the ball like CJ they better they will get on offense....and they will need to do this going forward as teams try to drop down on Garza more.
They CAN play better defense. They just can’t be baited into a race horse games with real athletic teams. The potential is there

 

[Hans81]

First off, defense....it clearly looks improved to this unqualified fan. That said, I think I read where we moved up (lol) to 106 in the defensive rating. 106.....not good, but it is improved. And that is reasonably steady trend with the exceptions of Depaul and Michigan be the only real stinkers.

Syracuse, Minnesota, and now ISU aren't great offensive teams but our guys are collectively playing better in my opinion.

Athletes....it's important to have good athletes in basketball (Mr Obvious)....and our team isn't very athletic with a couple of exceptions (the 2 Joe's).

That said, when a team plays smart and disciplined basketball they can clearly play above their athleticism. Minnesota and ISU were both clearly more athletic teams, and yet our guys handled both in convincing fashion.

I remember after the Depaul game I thought....holy crap we're slow and un-athletic and there's no changing that....season in the crapper....and that is obviously now a bad prediction.

So, I believe that athleticism is important...and I love when we have high fliers and guys like Cook that are explosive.....but we can win at a reasonably good level with what we have.

CJ Fredrick is quite athletic and quick.

 

[HoustonREDHawk]

The only thing I didn't see mentioned in what makes a player a better defender is court awareness and ability to react. For example, Connor is slow, at least for a perimeter player, but he makes up for that lack of foot speed with his ability to see plays and react quickly.

Iowa is MUCH better defensively this year (based solely on my experienced eyeball test). We are still limited on the interior, but our perimeter defenders are significantly better IMO and that helps our interior defenders, who aren't very good at help defense. Luka is effective around the basket because he is relentless and physical. He is a horrible help defender, and Fran needs to figure out how to cover for Luka in the pick and roll. Kriener is strong and very solid around the basket, and better than Luka in help defense. I am concerned about Cordell, because anyone can go around him like he is standing still and he seems to have very little elevation. I hope this will improve over the next few games, or Fran needs to consider keeping him on the end of the bench. Connor has proven he can make up for his lack of size by being quicker, smarter, and even tougher than most of his bigger opponents at the four. He might face some big match up problems against some teams, but that could work to Iowa's advantage on the other end...