Ellingson appreciation

[HawksRMe]

I was literally screaming at the TV - SHOOT THE DAMN BALL UHL! The guy was money from 3 at the top of the key last year so many times, and he's awful trying to create things on his own and throwing up wild shots and what not, but geezus man, when there isn't a defender within 10 feet of you, go ahead and get your feet set and give it a go. Not like he can't make that shot, he's proven that he can. And frankly, if he can't there is no reason for him to be out there.

I agree that I would not play him at all. I'd play Kreiner over him for one, just to see what he's got, he certainly couldn't be worse.

And cut that damn squirrels tail off the top of your head, AND stay off my lawn!

Funny, I was screaming "Don't pass the ball to Uhl or he'll shoot it!''

 

[CanadaHawk]

I think the big thing for Brady will be how he does when conference play starts. Hopefully games like this will help with his confidence going into league play. Minus Purdue at home last year he really struggled shooting last season.

This is true. Can BE keep up a 40%+ clip in conference play? And that's by itself, not counting preseason, where he's proven he can be effective. If he can, then he's going to be a valuable role player, and he will have shown that he's grown considerably since last year.

 

[crHawkeye92]

Soon as Dom finds something that works for him offensively I think his confidence will grow. Thinking back to last year when he had that stretch in the beginning of B10 play, if he could get it going what a difference it could make for this years team.

IMO, Uhl's shooting last year was a fluke. Mechanically, his shot just does not look good. It's pretty unlikely that he'll ever be a consistent shooter. If he defends and finds a way to contribute offensively, that's good enough for me. I just hope he can get his confidence back and get into a groove during big ten play.

 

[The Sleeping Dog]

Another decent game for Ellingson. Good shooting, stays perfect at the line.

 

[Buffalo43]

Brady is starting to play

Business As Usual

 

[Kurt Warner]

Brady is shooting with great confidence, you almost expect him not to miss now. If the games on the line i would love to have him on the free throw line. Good job brady

 

[Franisdaman]

I would put Ellington in over Dom any day. He has something between the ears right now. He has zero confidence in his game. If Im Fran I sit him down and figure it out.

I hate to say it, but I wouldn't play DOM at all right now. The guy looks lost and scared to be out there. Something changed from last year. He was one of our "unsung heroes" in our run in January.

Dom is not confident shooting the 3; he struggles finishing at the rim; and he turns the ball over too much, imo

 

[showtime641]

If Brady could sub in for Jbo and run the point we would have really have something there.

 

[nu2u]

Now 13 games into the season, it is indisputable that Brady has taken a big step forward this year. If there was a Most Improved Player award for the non-conference season it should be awarded to Brady Ellingson.

Ellingson is shooting 61% from the field (24/39) so far while knocking down 55% of his 3PT FGAs (13/22). The overall FG% is 15 points higher over last season and the 3PT FG% is more than 2X better his '15-16 average. Brady is a perfect 12-12 from the FT line. The stats show a major upgrade. He has improved in every statistical category over last season thus far with the exception of blocked shots which is the same (none ..room for improvement ).

He has added more consistency also. That's the biggest key IMO. Brady's shooting performance against Iowa's 5 toughest opponents during the non-conference schedule (vs. Seton Hall, Virginia, Memphis, Notre Dame, and Iowa State), while limited, was even better (5/7 71% FG%, 4-6 66% 3PT FG% over 60 total minutes). A cumulative 2/8, 1/4 two game slump against UNO and Stetson back-to-back in early December looks like an aberration, or a short term slump. He is 7/9, 3/3 since then. Brady is getting more minutes and making the most of it.

There is a down side. Ellingson's defense continues to lag. I've noticed that he occasionally loses his man on defense. He will struggle defending quicker B10 guards but I think he is improving; he needs to play smarter. Until he shows more consistency on defense I think his playing time will be somewhat limited at around 15mpg Still, he is a reliable ball handler and it looks like he is a player you want at the FT line in close games. It is highly unlikely he maintains the very good shooting percentage the rest of the way but all signs so far point to a significant advancement in his sophomore season. I hope he keeps it up.

 

[johnnashhawk]

Bump for Brady

 

[CentralIAHawk]

In reference to his defense, did you notice that when Fran was asked about BE, he glowed about his DEFENSE. That caught my attention, and makes me remember that one of the reasons that Fran used to play JO beyond when most fans wanted him on the floor was his defense. It makes me wonder if most of us don't really know what we are looking at when we are assessing defensive skill.

Likely we are all focusing on stuff that we were taught in HS ball, or stuff that we think is good. And that likely isn't the stuff that Fran is looking for.

Also, I know that many of us notice the opponent guard penetration, as that is what the commentators talk about quite a bit. However, it looks to me like we are playing some zone this year that makes allowances for guard penetration and plays a little bit non-traditional in that regard. I wonder if Brady might be one of the faster guards at catching on to those types of things?

Go Hawks!

 

[HawkLogic]

If Brady could sub in for Jbo and run the point we would have really have something there.

Yes, that would be great, but I don't see it happening. He does give us an extra sub that can make FTs to close games though.


Ogelsby had a pretty decent Junior year shooting wise. I don't think Ellingson success as 3pt shooter is assured, but he does seem to be much better at mid range shooting and has a runner. Also he doesn't have as slow a release as Ogelsby. Ogelsby tended to fade backwards on his shot which hurt his consistency .

Optimistically, Ellingson may be significant 3pt shooting upgrade. Not to say Ogelsby was bad overall, he just wasn't a consistent 3pt shooter at B1G level.

 

[The Sleeping Dog]

Sometimes Brady's spectacularly obvious defensive lapses or mistakes might make his overall defensive play seem worse that it is. There was one play, right top of key area where he just left his strap on the floor and another where some Delaware kid was left open for a three in the right corner, Brady's part of the zone. Those two bad plays stand out as memorable but when I think about it the rest of his defensive play was fairly solid.

 

[kceasthawk]

I am a bog Dom Uhl supporter, his athleticism and his ball handling. If Uhl can learn to finish penetration, he will be unstoppable. It will come.

I don't know how Uhl will finish out his career at Iowa, but Fran stands behind his guys, almost to a fault. The last year and a half so many here portrayed Brady as the next Ogelsby. Now we have posts about how well he's playing. Its hard for some guys to ever get in the flow, when they play spotty minutes. I'm hoping for the best case scenarios, where next year Uhl is the next Hawk senior, who goes out with a big senior year. He has the athletic skill to do it.

 

[Bulldogs1974]

If Brady could sub in for Jbo and run the point we would have really have something there.

This will never happen. He is not even close to being quick enough.
He had had a solid non conference season but he only had 16 point against the top 6 teams we played.
I have confidence he can knock down open shots, however, much like ogelsby I have no confidence in his ability to shoot curling around screens. He would be awesome with a pg that can penetrate or inside out from the post.
Point being let's see how he does against the conference teams.

 

[buttermypancakes]

This will never happen. He is not even close to being quick enough.
He had had a solid non conference season but he only had 16 point against the top 6 teams we played.
I have confidence he can knock down open shots, however, much like ogelsby I have no confidence in his ability to shoot curling around screens. He would be awesome with a pg that can penetrate or inside out from the post.
Point being let's see how he does against the conference teams.

I agree that BE has not performed his best against top level competition but his ability to read screens finish at the rim and in the mid range is 100x better than Ogelsby. I still only want BE playing 8-10 minutes a games. He can be a productive role player which is great. Ogelsby couldn't even do that.

 

[showtime641]

This will never happen. He is not even close to being quick enough.
He had had a solid non conference season but he only had 16 point against the top 6 teams we played.
I have confidence he can knock down open shots, however, much like ogelsby I have no confidence in his ability to shoot curling around screens. He would be awesome with a pg that can penetrate or inside out from the post.
Point being let's see how he does against the conference teams.

Agreed. I really did mean it though, if we could sub out Jbo for a breather and give Ellingson 10 minutes running the point we would have another element to this team. Unfortunately, having both Jbo and BE on the court at the same time hasn't worked out very well so far.