Fran almost cost us that one

[broth87]

What bad basketball. That should not have been that close. The constant chucking of 3s, the constant fade aways of uthoff, and making no effort what so ever to penetrate the lane or get post touches. Is the art if inside out basketball completely lost on these guys? Penetrate and kick. Post entry relocate and kick. The shooting percentages sky rocket in those instances. We do NONE of it. When uthoff attacks the basket, about a 70% shooter and by that I mean doesn't fade away and body lean is towards the hoop especially within 15 feet. But he wants to fade every damn time and he's about a 2% shooter falling away. It needs to stop. Save that for when you've truly developed an NBA game.
Fran allowed all of this. He ran sets for 3s without any inside action. He doesn't call nearly enough motion where uthoff ends up on the block and instead he gets lost on the perimeter. Woody is an effective post player and good passer. Why would you NOT wanna get him post touches and work off of him? We are capable of beating Villanova and if we play the right way and do the right things, we'll beat Villanova. Unfortunately, my guess is we'll play just like today and take stupid shots at stupid times and make lithe to no effort to establish inside out and we will get beat by Villanova. And honestly, it's on the coaching because it's basic basketball. Especially the way we've shot it over the last 6 weeks, put uthoff on the block with Jok working off him and play inside out to open the game. Very frustrating to watch right now because there's so many things we can and should be doing to make it easier on these kids that we're not.

 

[BirdistheWord]

its a shame we lost

 

[doughudd]

I'm bummed.














OK I'm over it.

 

[HawkLogic]

Woody is not a post scorer. He is opportunistic open layup guy.

 

[stillh8unlv]

You do realize those 3's and fade aways were dropping in January and this team was rolling.

 

[shoot_the_three]

Fran did everything he could to put the game away but Jok didn't convert free throws and Clemmons had a stupid foul.

 

[NorthernHawkeye]

It was actually Fran who missed all those threes.

It was actually Fran that missed all those free throws.

It was actually Fran that fouled the 3 point shot.

 

[KittlesFan2.0]

Fran must be friends with the refs - they bailed him out.

 

[blockm2]

my only coaching question is why 2 possessions in tie game in OT in the final minute and no timeout? Iowa first passed up a 2 for 1 chance with 52 seconds left to let Temple likely have the last shot. Then in the last 20 seconds they just play it straight and don't get a terribly good shot off either.

Other than that I wouldn't have any major complaints.

 

[hawkeyemark]

The OP expressed a contrarian opinion which I didn't expect much support for especially given that we won. I thought we took many stupid shots in this game as well and thought we did well to escape with a win. I didn't like our chances if the game had gone to another overtime. It has never made sense to me why we don't play inside out with a good if not great passing big man in Woodbury. We've never needed him to score but he will give you garbage points around the basket and did so at the opportune time in today's game. I would single out Uthoff as taking some particularly bad 3's in this one and it falls on Fran for not getting us to play smarter than we did.

 

[broth87]

Blind support of stupid basketball is equally as stupid. Sorry fellas. Allowing us to continue to chuck 26 3s for the game when we made 7 was stupid and a LOT of it was sets Fran called with no inside action for 3 point shots. If you guys don't understand the benefits of working inside out, if you guys can't see that we're not effective as a team shooting 3s, if you can't understand that uthoff is a better player more engaged and more effective when we get him by the basket, I can't help you. We can and should beat Villanova Sunday. If we shoot 26 3s, we'll get run off the floor. We struggled to win in overtime with 2 turnovers because of very poor shot selection, very poor shot execution, and a couch who didn't correct it but allowed it just to continue.
You all sell Woodbury short, especially his passing ability, and just the simple inside out action makes all of our guys better shooters. Again, if you don't understand the basics behind that, you don't know basketball and I can't help you.
Yes we missed free throws down the stretch but good coaching and we're never in that spot to begin with.

 

[And1Hawk]

Look can you write your stuff in more than one ramble on paragraph OP? Seriously. I cannot even read all of it because it's blah, blah, blah.

Did you criticize the great inbound pass that ended up going to Jok at the end of regulation that is our best FT shooter (who missed the second FT allowing them to tie it)?

You are criticizing a coach and a program that just won an opening round tourney game for the first time in at least 20 years by the way.

 

[Phenomenally Frantastic]

I'm going to do my best impression of the OP:

"I expect perfection or we suck and our coach is a buffoon!"

Okay I'm back...hey guys did you hear Iowa won?

Must be nice to play so terrible and coach so poorly and still win an NCAA tourney game!!

 

[PHXIowaClub]

I agree completely Broth. He needs to be the leader and tell his team what to do and they need to listen. He also needs to realize having the ball in Gesell's hands at the end of the game & half has cost him time and time again. It's as simple as drawing up a play or putting the ball in Jok's hands at the end. He's the only guy on this team with a killer instinct.

 

[hawkeyemark]

I'm going to do my best impression of the OP:

"I expect perfection or we suck and our coach is a buffoon!"

Okay I'm back...hey guys did you hear Iowa won?

Must be nice to play so terrible and coach so poorly and still win an NCAA tourney game!!

Sometimes you get it done in spite of yourself and you can win games when you don't play particularly well and have a flawed strategic approach. Fran as a coach IMO can just drive you crazy. He draws up really good inbounds plays and always has. He wins games and got us at least one win in the tournament but he can really leave you scratching your head and trying to figure out what we did out there.

 

[HawkPT]

I love Fran and the Hawks, but much of what broth is saying is true.

I do give Fran credit for two good inbounds plays that got Jok to the line twice. Many of his sets got open looks that didn't fall, and no Hawkeye fan should complain when Uthoff gets open looks from the arc.

However, inside-out action would be a nice and effective change, but it ain't gonna happen. I wish he would consider using a player in spot situations with 2 fouls in the 1st half, especially when the offense went anemic in a do-or-die game. And Fran has shown that he will ride Gesell until he's gone in end of game situations. And leaving 2 timeouts unused should result in a fine.

Still very appreciative of where we are compared to 5 years ago.

 

[PhantomFlyer]

Blind support of stupid basketball is equally as stupid. Sorry fellas. Allowing us to continue to chuck 26 3s for the game when we made 7 was stupid and a LOT of it was sets Fran called with no inside action for 3 point shots. If you guys don't understand the benefits of working inside out, if you guys can't see that we're not effective as a team shooting 3s, if you can't understand that uthoff is a better player more engaged and more effective when we get him by the basket, I can't help you. We can and should beat Villanova Sunday. If we shoot 26 3s, we'll get run off the floor. We struggled to win in overtime with 2 turnovers because of very poor shot selection, very poor shot execution, and a couch who didn't correct it but allowed it just to continue.
You all sell Woodbury short, especially his passing ability, and just the simple inside out action makes all of our guys better shooters. Again, if you don't understand the basics behind that, you don't know basketball and I can't help you.
Yes we missed free throws down the stretch but good coaching and we're never in that spot to begin with.

Your analysis is spot on.

I've been saying for over 2 years, Fran is a terrible in game coach. He's probably the worst in the B1G. They have a 7 footer who actually has some offensive skills and is an excellent passer and Fran refuses to run the offense through him, ever. The guards dribble from side to side and that's where their passes go so everything is a jump shot and usually contested. No driving to the rim and kicking out. Horrible. You shouldn't go through long offensive droughts where the offense looks lost when you have 2 plays with the ability of Jok and Uthoff. That's on the coaching, on Fran. He's not putting these guys in position to play their best basketball.

Is Fran the dumbest coach in the country, or just the most stubborn? He consistently takes the air out of the ball too soon, and worse, he doesn't run the offense. It's MG holding the ball for 20-25 seconds and then it's hail mary time, hoping someone breaks free or MG hits a shot (which is a true miracle). Fran doesn't just leave this stupid ball for the final shot he does it the final 5 minutes. How many times does MG have to fail before Fran realizes he's not a gamer? Put the dang ball in Jok or Uthoff's hands for the last shot, not MG. Hell, I'd rather AC had it because at least he has a small chance of making a shot.

Maybe Iowa needs to bring Lickliter in as an adviser to Fran to show him how to coach down the stretch. Oh, I know Lickliter was terrible but even his final minute management would be a step up from Fran. Fran, stop coaching during the games. Turn the game coaching to your asst coaches. They can't possibly be any worse than you. Stick to recruiting and coaching practices.

 

[bravehawks1]

Blind support of stupid basketball is equally as stupid. Sorry fellas. Allowing us to continue to chuck 26 3s for the game when we made 7 was stupid and a LOT of it was sets Fran called with no inside action for 3 point shots. If you guys don't understand the benefits of working inside out, if you guys can't see that we're not effective as a team shooting 3s, if you can't understand that uthoff is a better player more engaged and more effective when we get him by the basket, I can't help you. We can and should beat Villanova Sunday. If we shoot 26 3s, we'll get run off the floor. We struggled to win in overtime with 2 turnovers because of very poor shot selection, very poor shot execution, and a couch who didn't correct it but allowed it just to continue.
You all sell Woodbury short, especially his passing ability, and just the simple inside out action makes all of our guys better shooters. Again, if you don't understand the basics behind that, you don't know basketball and I can't help you.
Yes we missed free throws down the stretch but good coaching and we're never in that spot to begin with.

I have said the lack of inside out offense was a problem for several weeks if not months so god to see everyone else catching up. You can argue that we were making shots in January but teams have figured out this lack of effective inside offense and started pushing us on the perimeter and pushing us further out.

 

[OskaloosaHawk]

Your analysis is spot on.

I've been saying for over 2 years, Fran is a terrible in game coach. He's probably the worst in the B1G. They have a 7 footer who actually has some offensive skills and is an excellent passer and Fran refuses to run the offense through him, ever. The guards dribble from side to side and that's where their passes go so everything is a jump shot and usually contested. No driving to the rim and kicking out. Horrible. You shouldn't go through long offensive droughts where the offense looks lost when you have 2 plays with the ability of Jok and Uthoff. That's on the coaching, on Fran. He's not putting these guys in position to play their best basketball.

Is Fran the dumbest coach in the country, or just the most stubborn? He consistently takes the air out of the ball too soon, and worse, he doesn't run the offense. It's MG holding the ball for 20-25 seconds and then it's hail mary time, hoping someone breaks free or MG hits a shot (which is a true miracle). Fran doesn't just leave this stupid ball for the final shot he does it the final 5 minutes. How many times does MG have to fail before Fran realizes he's not a gamer? Put the dang ball in Jok or Uthoff's hands for the last shot, not MG. Hell, I'd rather AC had it because at least he has a small chance of making a shot.

Maybe Iowa needs to bring Lickliter in as an adviser to Fran to show him how to coach down the stretch. Oh, I know Lickliter was terrible but even his final minute management would be a step up from Fran. Fran, stop coaching during the games. Turn the game coaching to your asst coaches. They can't possibly be any worse than you. Stick to recruiting and coaching practices.

Not necessarily true. Did you not hear the on-court reporter summarize Fran during a late timeout? She said he was imploring the team to not slow things down and to continue to take it to them. If the team goes methodical in trying to get a good shot, then that's on them. But according to most, if they take a quick bad shot, they'll get crucified, too.

 

[Hawk and Awe]

Super long paragraph is not super

 

[Phenomenally Frantastic]

Some people cannot help themselves from being ultra critical and negative.

Some here could watch Iowa go undefeated regular season, win big ten tourney, and win the NCAA tournament and then bitch about the margin of winning.

I guarantee it.

 

[ABYPFCS]

I was yelling for us to foul with 4 or 5 seconds left with the 3 pt lead and not allow a potential tying shot at the end. Possibly Fran had told them to foul and Clemmons just waited too long.

 

[NorthCentralHawk]

Blind support of stupid basketball is equally as stupid. Sorry fellas. Allowing us to continue to chuck 26 3s for the game when we made 7 was stupid and a LOT of it was sets Fran called with no inside action for 3 point shots. If you guys don't understand the benefits of working inside out, if you guys can't see that we're not effective as a team shooting 3s, if you can't understand that uthoff is a better player more engaged and more effective when we get him by the basket, I can't help you. We can and should beat Villanova Sunday. If we shoot 26 3s, we'll get run off the floor. We struggled to win in overtime with 2 turnovers because of very poor shot selection, very poor shot execution, and a couch who didn't correct it but allowed it just to continue.
You all sell Woodbury short, especially his passing ability, and just the simple inside out action makes all of our guys better shooters. Again, if you don't understand the basics behind that, you don't know basketball and I can't help you.
Yes we missed free throws down the stretch but good coaching and we're never in that spot to begin with.

I agree, mostly. There was even supportive evidence during today's game that an inside out approach is effective. A couple of the more successful stretches were due to moving the ball through Woody, who had a solid all around game, final shot notwithstanding.

I just cannot bring myself to believe that the coaches aren't preaching this. Maybe they're unwilling to provide consequences (here's the bench, young man) when they get away from using the post...I certainly haven't seen Gesell, Clemmons, Uthoff or Jok sat down or not starting during this final stretch of games where they've become a one-dimensional jump shooting team.

 

[hawkguy77]

Look can you write your stuff in more than one ramble on paragraph OP? Seriously. I cannot even read all of it because it's blah, blah, blah.

Did you criticize the great inbound pass that ended up going to Jok at the end of regulation that is our best FT shooter (who missed the second FT allowing them to tie it)?

You are criticizing a coach and a program that just won an opening round tourney game for the first time in at least 20 years by the way.

Um, we beat Davidson in the opening round last year.

 

[Kurt Warner]

Some people cannot help themselves from being ultra critical and negative.

Some here could watch Iowa go undefeated regular season, win big ten tourney, and win the NCAA tournament and then bitch about the margin of winning.

I guarantee it.

I seriously doubt this statement

 

[iahawkeyes17]

Yep awful coaching to get inbounds play for jok when up 3 who is our best free throw shooter. Even worse decision to run that inbounds play where jok threw it to Mike and came back in bounds to get back on the line. Terrible coaching by Fran for jok to hit 2-4 fts and telling Clemmons to foul the guy on a 3. And the worst is for not letting the guys go into OT with a defeated attitude. Just bad coaching by him all day.

Guys we won. Who cares if there was sloppy moments a win is a win especially in the tourney. Do you think Wisconsin fans are pissed off because they score less than 50 and 20 in first half. No, why? Becau,se they won a NCAA tourney game. My advice is have a cold one and just enjoy the freaking W.

 

[And1Hawk]

Um, we beat Davidson in the opening round last year.

By 30... and we were the # 1 pick to be upset by them going in.... So what is your point?

Do you want me to list some of the first round wins of previous Iowa coaches also so you can see how that looks?

 

[hawkguy77]

By 30... and we were the # 1 pick to be upset by them going in.... So what is your point?

Do you want me to list some of the first round wins of previous Iowa coaches also so you can see how that looks?

Let me recap. You said we hadn't won a first round game in twenty years and when I pointed out we won last year you ask what my point is. I will keep it simple: we won a first round game less than twenty years ago.

 

[IamHawkeye]

I'm going to do my best impression of the OP:

"I expect perfection or we suck and our coach is a buffoon!"

Okay I'm back...hey guys did you hear Iowa won?

Must be nice to play so terrible and coach so poorly and still win an NCAA tourney game!!

You should see OP's posts on the wrestling forum.

 

[Run&Blade]

Fran's record in tight games speaks for itself. The players change year after year. The coach is the same.

 

[And1Hawk]

Let me recap. You said we hadn't won a first round game in twenty years and when I pointed out we won last year you ask what my point is. I will keep it simple: we won a first round game less than twenty years ago.

You are correct .. I just mis-typed as I meant first back-2-back opening round wins in like 20+ years... Which I posted in another thread. My apologies.

 

[seseroy]

Blind support of stupid basketball is equally as stupid. Sorry fellas. Allowing us to continue to chuck 26 3s for the game when we made 7 was stupid and a LOT of it was sets Fran called with no inside action for 3 point shots. If you guys don't understand the benefits of working inside out, if you guys can't see that we're not effective as a team shooting 3s, if you can't understand that uthoff is a better player more engaged and more effective when we get him by the basket, I can't help you. We can and should beat Villanova Sunday. If we shoot 26 3s, we'll get run off the floor. We struggled to win in overtime with 2 turnovers because of very poor shot selection, very poor shot execution, and a couch who didn't correct it but allowed it just to continue.
You all sell Woodbury short, especially his passing ability, and just the simple inside out action makes all of our guys better shooters. Again, if you don't understand the basics behind that, you don't know basketball and I can't help you.
Yes we missed free throws down the stretch but good coaching and we're never in that spot to begin with.

With layup skills of even a junior high player, we're never in that spot to begin with. If you look hard enough, have a preconceived agenda, ignore all other facts of the game, you will certainly seem to find what you are looking for. Don't worry, as you get to be an old f..k like myself, you gain a bit more wisdom in your arguments.

 

[farfaraway]

By 30... and we were the # 1 pick to be upset by them going in.... So what is your point?

Do you want me to list some of the first round wins of previous Iowa coaches also so you can see how that looks?

.
I think the point is you made an inaccurate statement and were called on it. You could have stated this was a rare and important win without saying something inaccurate. Why be huffy when you were properly corrected?

 

[hawkguy77]

.
I think the point is you made an inaccurate statement and were called on it. You could have stated this was a rare and important win without saying something inaccurate. Why be huffy when you were properly corrected?

He explained and apologized, no harm done.

 

[luvmyhawks]

You know, i am super pumped we won, and am thoroughly enjoying it. However, broth does make some good points.

Seriously, iowa was a much better team than temple. That should have been a 10-14 point win.

For the life of me, i will just never understand why the offense doesnt go through woody more often. Adam just does not get the credit he deserves around here. He is probably the smartest player pn this team and a great passer. Run the damn offense thru him. It looks much better when they do, which is rare.

With that said. I live fran and am happy that we ard at least relevant again.

 

[broth87]

Some people cannot help themselves from being ultra critical and negative.

Some here could watch Iowa go undefeated regular season, win big ten tourney, and win the NCAA tournament and then bitch about the margin of winning.

I guarantee it.

Show me where I'm the guy regularly bitching after games. I didn't post much all season. But I do know basketball. Coached it for a lot of years and still do. Calling repeated sets for perimeter looks when we weren't hitting shit yesterday was stupid. That's on Fran. Refusing to get uthoff isolated on the block and around the basket where he's FAR more effective was stupid. The constant fall away shots by uthoff, they need to go. Save that crap for the NBA. And not using our center in the block who is an excellent passer and smart player to help our guys who were struggling, the inside out action, was stupid. I'm a HUGE Hawkeye fan, every bit as big as any of you. Being disappointed in what I'm seeing and being disappointed that I don't feel like our coach will put us in the best position to beat Villanova tomorrow when I persist believe it is a very winnable game does NOT make me any less of a fan than any of you.

 

[Herkuleez]

I declare Fran 75% at fault for us almost losing that one; and the refs get 85% of the blame for Temple actually losing...........

 

[broth87]

Yep awful coaching to get inbounds play for jok when up 3 who is our best free throw shooter. Even worse decision to run that inbounds play where jok threw it to Mike and came back in bounds to get back on the line. Terrible coaching by Fran for jok to hit 2-4 fts and telling Clemmons to foul the guy on a 3. And the worst is for not letting the guys go into OT with a defeated attitude. Just bad coaching by him all day.

Guys we won. Who cares if there was sloppy moments a win is a win especially in the tourney. Do you think Wisconsin fans are pissed off because they score less than 50 and 20 in first half. No, why? Becau,se they won a NCAA tourney game. My advice is have a cold one and just enjoy the freaking W.

You don't get it. Yes those were good play designs and no shit Fran can't make the free throws for them. The point is that all of it that led up to that point was bad basketball. 1/18 to end the game from 3 yet that's where our attack stayed. It was ridiculous. There's no excuse for being in a 3 point game with 2 minutes left when your team has committed ZERO turnovers. Do any of you even realize how ridiculous that is? We did NOT play a smart basketball game on either side of the court. And I'm blaming it on the sets that were called, when we employed what defense, and a total lack of adjustment in game to what was happening. If we use uthoff and woody on the block, let Clemmons slash off them, and have our shooters spot up around them, I think we win going away from temple. We were the better team. But instead, Decosey and temple attacked the lane over and over and over and either scored or kicked for higher percentage looks while we'd go down and huck 25 footers or run sets for Jok to shoot 3s without ever making an effort to penetrate the lane.
Guys the essence of basketball is the lane. You protect it defensively and keep them out. You penetrate it and exploit it offensively to get the highest percentage looks. It's basketball 101. If you give up the lane defensively, bad things happen. That's how we played much of the 2nd half yesterday.
When you break down defenses and access the paint either through penetration or post touches, great things happen offensively. We did none of that in the 2nd half yesterday.
We will get beat by 20 by Villanova if we play like that tomorrow. If we play smart basketball and work percentages, get uthoff on the block and use woody and play off of them, I think we beat Villanova.

 

[Ihawkhoops]

Agree on free throws and awful foul by Clemmons. It is painful to watch these guys in late game situations. Fran talks about getting 'good shots' all the time, but I don't call a 25 foot 3 under extreme duress a good shot. I lost track of how many consecutive possessions it was Jok or Uthoff bombing under 5 minutes, but outside of Clemmons' drive, I think pretty much all of them. Uhl is about the only match up problem we can create, so use him to drive and kick or get to the basket. I want to believe Gesell is due for his 1 per month good shooting game.

 

[LifelongHawk]

Angry insults and ridiculous hyperbole (blind support of stupid basketball?) make the probability of rational discussion low, but I'll engage one topic, inside out basketball.

Fran did make an effort to get Uthoff the ball on the block, without question, rewatched game and identified baseline screens, diagonal cross screens, high low sets, all to get Uthoff on the block.

As to Woody, guess you all forget what happened the first 50 times we tried to run the O through him on the block, can only imagine the practice evidence. Just not efficient offense.

Getting to the rim and dishing requires players quick enough to go around their defender. We ain't got em. Yet. It's pretty much been Fran's biggest challenge from day 1, nobody (Cartwright exception, and Dev sort of) can beat his guy off the dribble consistently.

You can lecture about basketball knowledge to ones that disagree, but Speraw and Dillard and Fran know some ball too. Without a break down dribble drive guy(s), you have to rely on motion and sets. And often, have to rely on guys making shots. Transition is your best opportunity to get good shots. Pretty much Iowa's offense, which may change with Ulh, Moss, Cook, Williams, Wagner et al., but its our best chance now.

Iowa had 0 points at the 17:28 mark of the first half, then scored 19 points in 3:08. 7 for 7, 5 threes. No real point, just thought it amazing. Maybe point is simply that our prospects in huge part depend on making shots, period.