Feeling better about things

[broth87]

Coming off that loss to Penn State, I didn't have a lot of optimism going into the tourney. That was a really bad loss because quite simply and frankly, we were outhustled and outtoughed by Penn State, and that didn't inspire a whole bunch of confidence in me.
BUT, it's been a good break. I think there's been a lot of silly chatter from the pundits about how Davidson is such a good shooting team and Lunardi even called them a better team, which I personally find laughable. Davidson might win the game Friday. They can shoot and that gives them a chance. But I think it's silly to call an Atlantic 10 team better than an upper tier Big Ten team, which Iowa was this year.
We have a veteran team. This is Aaron White's last go around and I really hope what happened in Chicago has sit hard in his gut. I suspect he will come out playing possessed like he did over the last 6 games of the regular season. I think our length is gonna bother Davidson a TON. They aaren't used to it and can't simulate it. I think Uthoff's energy and activity will be a big key along with White, and I think we got lock in and rotate defensively. But I think that happens and I think we handle Davidson on Friday.
I was personally very happy drawing Gonzaga for a 2nd round game. I'm not a big fan of any of the 2 seeds this year in the tourney and Gonzaga is my least favorite. They're a good team, far from great, and I think we match up really well. I think IF we win 1 game, we'll win 2 and see Iowa State in the Sweet 16. Unfortunately, I think Iowa State is a better team than we are and I don't like our chances playing them again. But I would be EXTREMELY pleased with a pair of wins this weekend. Frankly, that should be the expectation for this team.
This post was edited on 3/19 4:33 AM by broth87

 

[dawgs_04]

I'm not feeling any differently about the game itself, but I've taken on a us versus the world attitude. F&$# ESPN and the media in general for ignoring Iowa. Sports journalism is about the story line more than ever. I get that they need ratings, but come on have an ounce of integrity.
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[wondergrape]

It's always funny how that works, isn't it? Perspective is everything.

 

[icantfindausernamethatisntused]

Originally posted by broth87:


Coming off that loss to Penn State, I didn't have a lot of optimism going into the tourney. That was a really bad loss because quite simply and frankly, we were outhustled and outtoughed by Penn State, and that didn't inspire a whole bunch of confidence in me.

No we were not. We outrebounded Penn State by 15. We more than doubled their amount of offensive rebounds. We had 8 blocks to their 3. We made more free throws than Penn State attempted. We were the more aggressive team.

We lost for one reason -- we had our worst shooting night of the season. Had we shot our season average going into the game we would have won by double digits.

Every time we lose people say we were outhustled, but that simply isn't true. That's also one of the reasons I said the Penn State loss wasn't as bad as people were saying it was. I still saw an Iowa team that was hungry for a win and despite shooting 26% from the field, we were still only down by 2 in the final minute.

Unless you think the Iowa players weren't trying hard enough to make their shots, I don't see how you can fault the effort against Penn State. Sometimes your shots just don't fall.

 

[DanL53]

Originally posted by icantfindausernamethatisntused:

Originally posted by broth87:



Coming off that loss to Penn State, I didn't have a lot of optimism going into the tourney. That was a really bad loss because quite simply and frankly, we were outhustled and outtoughed by Penn State, and that didn't inspire a whole bunch of confidence in me.

No we were not. We outrebounded Penn State by 15. We more than doubled their amount of offensive rebounds. We had 8 blocks to their 3. We made more free throws than Penn State attempted. We were the more aggressive team.

We lost for one reason -- we had our worst shooting night of the season. Had we shot our season average going into the game we would have won by double digits.

Every time we lose people say we were outhustled, but that simply isn't true. That's also one of the reasons I said the Penn State loss wasn't as bad as people were saying it was. I still saw an Iowa team that was hungry for a win and despite shooting 26% from the field, we were still only down by 2 in the final minute.

Unless you think the Iowa players weren't trying hard enough to make their shots, I don't see how you can fault the effort against Penn State. Sometimes your shots just don't fall.


Good post. 90% agreement with the only thing still bugging me is giving up 48 points in the second half. Was it a result of trying to make something happen? Too much help defense, again? I'd have to watch again as during the game I was focused on screaming at the missed shots.

And maybe, those misses hurt the team's focus as well?

 

[icantfindausernamethatisntused]

Originally posted by DanL53:

Originally posted by icantfindausernamethatisntused:

Originally posted by broth87:




Coming off that loss to Penn State, I didn't have a lot of optimism going into the tourney. That was a really bad loss because quite simply and frankly, we were outhustled and outtoughed by Penn State, and that didn't inspire a whole bunch of confidence in me.

No we were not. We outrebounded Penn State by 15. We more than doubled their amount of offensive rebounds. We had 8 blocks to their 3. We made more free throws than Penn State attempted. We were the more aggressive team.

We lost for one reason -- we had our worst shooting night of the season. Had we shot our season average going into the game we would have won by double digits.

Every time we lose people say we were outhustled, but that simply isn't true. That's also one of the reasons I said the Penn State loss wasn't as bad as people were saying it was. I still saw an Iowa team that was hungry for a win and despite shooting 26% from the field, we were still only down by 2 in the final minute.

Unless you think the Iowa players weren't trying hard enough to make their shots, I don't see how you can fault the effort against Penn State. Sometimes your shots just don't fall.




Good post. 90% agreement with the only thing still bugging me is giving up 48 points in the second half. Was it a result of trying to make something happen? Too much help defense, again? I'd have to watch again as during the game I was focused on screaming at the missed shots.

And maybe, those misses hurt the team's focus as well?

It was a combination of poor defense (I believe PSU scored 3 straight buckets to open the half on layups/dunks) and the fact that PSU got hot from the outside (at one point they made 7 of 11 jumpers).

We gave up 7 layups or dunks in the second half which is way too much (especially considering Iowa only made 15 shots the entire game). Most of these came either in transition or were quick hitters as PSU scored most of their points in the second half within 10-15 seconds of getting the ball. In general the tempo in the second half was much faster than in the first half.

A lot of our struggles defensively in the second half can be attributed to our poor offensive shooting. When we aren't making baskets we can't set up our full court press or half court traps. This had really kept PSU out of rhythym in the first half. Additionally some of our turnovers and long rebounds on missed shots led directly to PSU points at the other end.

 

[buttermypancakes]

Originally posted by icantfindausernamethatisntused:

Originally posted by broth87:


Coming off that loss to Penn State, I didn't have a lot of optimism going into the tourney. That was a really bad loss because quite simply and frankly, we were outhustled and outtoughed by Penn State, and that didn't inspire a whole bunch of confidence in me.

No we were not. We outrebounded Penn State by 15. We more than doubled their amount of offensive rebounds. We had 8 blocks to their 3. We made more free throws than Penn State attempted. We were the more aggressive team.

We lost for one reason -- we had our worst shooting night of the season. Had we shot our season average going into the game we would have won by double digits.

Every time we lose people say we were outhustled, but that simply isn't true. That's also one of the reasons I said the Penn State loss wasn't as bad as people were saying it was. I still saw an Iowa team that was hungry for a win and despite shooting 26% from the field, we were still only down by 2 in the final minute.

Unless you think the Iowa players weren't trying hard enough to make their shots, I don't see how you can fault the effort against Penn State. Sometimes your shots just don't fall.

But that doesn't fit the narrative. Don't you realize it's always toughness and hustle that causes losses. There is no way we should have been up at half against PSU with the way we were shooting it but our hustle and toughness on defense led to the 8 point lead.

 

[BDJHawk]

Besides being our worst shooting game, it also felt like our worst passing game. Too many slow, telegraphed, unfocused passes. Need the crisp, focused passing game we are capable of!
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[DanL53]

Originally posted by icantfindausernamethatisntused:

It was a combination of poor defense (I believe PSU scored 3 straight buckets to open the half on layups/dunks) and the fact that PSU got hot from the outside (at one point they made 7 of 11 jumpers).

We gave up 7 layups or dunks in the second half which is way too much (especially considering Iowa only made 15 shots the entire game). Most of these came either in transition or were quick hitters as PSU scored most of their points in the second half within 10-15 seconds of getting the ball. In general the tempo in the second half was much faster than in the first half.

A lot of our struggles defensively in the second half can be attributed to our poor offensive shooting. When we aren't making baskets we can't set up our full court press or half court traps. This had really kept PSU out of rhythym in the first half. Additionally some of our turnovers and long rebounds on missed shots led directly to PSU points at the other end.



Thanks! I completely "fanned out" watching the Penn State game and was convinced it was all about the shooting. Then someone pointed out the defense in the second half and I was at a loss to explain it.

Big Game, couldn't focus on the away from ball stuff I guess.

 

[NI hawk]

Originally posted by broth87:

Coming off that loss to Penn State, I didn't have a lot of optimism going into the tourney. That was a really bad loss because quite simply and frankly, we were outhustled and outtoughed by Penn State, and that didn't inspire a whole bunch of confidence in me.
BUT, it's been a good break. I think there's been a lot of silly chatter from the pundits about how Davidson is such a good shooting team and Lunardi even called them a better team, which I personally find laughable. Davidson might win the game Friday. They can shoot and that gives them a chance. But I think it's silly to call an Atlantic 10 team better than an upper tier Big Ten team, which Iowa was this year.
We have a veteran team. This is Aaron White's last go around and I really hope what happened in Chicago has sit hard in his gut. I suspect he will come out playing possessed like he did over the last 6 games of the regular season. I think our length is gonna bother Davidson a TON. They aaren't used to it and can't simulate it. I think Uthoff's energy and activity will be a big key along with White, and I think we got lock in and rotate defensively. But I think that happens and I think we handle Davidson on Friday.
I was personally very happy drawing Gonzaga for a 2nd round game. I'm not a big fan of any of the 2 seeds this year in the tourney and Gonzaga is my least favorite. They're a good team, far from great, and I think we match up really well. I think IF we win 1 game, we'll win 2 and see Iowa State in the Sweet 16. Unfortunately, I think Iowa State is a better team than we are and I don't like our chances playing them again. But I would be EXTREMELY pleased with a pair of wins this weekend. Frankly, that should be the expectation for this team.
This post was edited on 3/19 4:33 AM by broth87

Good post!

 

[unIowa]

Their tallest player is 6'7", Iowa is going to roll these guys.

 

[unIowa]

Originally posted by unIowa:

Their tallest player is 6'7", Iowa is going to roll these guys.

Bumping my awesomeness.