Fran Coaching Defense

[mooresville hawk]

There has been a lot of talk about Fran's inability to coach defense lately. While I agree that Fran likes freedom of movement and does not coach the grab and hold style that is popular at some B10 schools, I did think that there is some recency bias in this statement so I reviewed Iowa's offensive and defensive rankings since Fran took over in the 2010-11 season:

Season Defensive Rank Offensive Rank
2010-11 151 215
2011-12 287 54
2012-13 33 103
2013-14 60 12
2014-15 40 59
2015-16 76 35
2016-17 200 82
2017-18 308 32
2018-19 205 33
2019-20 224 18
2020-21 209 3

The above numbers come from TeamRank.com. I am sure that other sites may have different numbers, but would think the trends would be similar. Iowa definitely improved offensively very quickly under Fran and has finished the season ranked in the top 35 six of the last seven seasons. As we have all seen, the defensive side of the ball has been atrocious over the five years. They were a pretty solid defensive team from 2012-2016 though. These are the years with that were anchored by Adam Woodbury, Anthony Clemons and Mike Gesell. Aaron White, Devyn Marble, Eric May, Melsahn Basabe, Jarrod Uthoff, Peter Jok and Gabe Olaseni had large roles, but were only there for parts of this time period. This team was actually better from an offensive stand point than I had remembered.

My point in reviewing these numbers is that Iowa has been a good (not great) defensive team with Fran as the head coach and I believe that they can be again. The team coming back this year looks like they have the ability to be a very good defensive team, which does have me excited to see how the team evolves next year. I do not expect Iowa's offensive efficiency to remain as high as it has been recently, but a top 40 offense and a top 75 defense would be good to see next year. This is something we have only seen twice in eleven years since Fran came to Iowa.

 

[DodgerHawki]

There has been a lot of talk about Fran's inability to coach defense lately. While I agree that Fran likes freedom of movement and does not coach the grab and hold style that is popular at some B10 schools, I did think that there is some recency bias in this statement so I reviewed Iowa's offensive and defensive rankings since Fran took over in the 2010-11 season:

Season Defensive Rank Offensive Rank
2010-11 151 215
2011-12 287 54
2012-13 33 103
2013-14 60 12
2014-15 40 59
2015-16 76 35
2016-17 200 82
2017-18 308 32
2018-19 205 33
2019-20 224 18
2020-21 209 3

The above numbers come from TeamRank.com. I am sure that other sites may have different numbers, but would think the trends would be similar. Iowa definitely improved offensively very quickly under Fran and has finished the season ranked in the top 35 six of the last seven seasons. As we have all seen, the defensive side of the ball has been atrocious over the five years. They were a pretty solid defensive team from 2012-2016 though. These are the years with that were anchored by Adam Woodbury, Anthony Clemons and Mike Gesell. Aaron White, Devyn Marble, Eric May, Melsahn Basabe, Jarrod Uthoff, Peter Jok and Gabe Olaseni had large roles, but were only there for parts of this time period. This team was actually better from an offensive stand point than I had remembered.

My point in reviewing these numbers is that Iowa has been a good (not great) defensive team with Fran as the head coach and I believe that they can be again. The team coming back this year looks like they have the ability to be a very good defensive team, which does have me excited to see how the team evolves next year. I do not expect Iowa's offensive efficiency to remain as high as it has been recently, but a top 40 offense and a top 75 defense would be good to see next year. This is something we have only seen twice in eleven years since Fran came to Iowa.

This horse has been beaten to death over the past number of years. Just a few thoughts. The Team Rank site doesn't adjust efficiency numbers for level of competition, which does help Iowa's defensive numbers some. Last year, for example, KenPom had Iowa's adjusted defensive efficiency at 75. Which doesn't sound bad, but it will still just better than Ohio State in conference. Being just top 75 or top 100 in the country isn't that great, when all of your peers are better than you.

I don't believe the team coming back will be a "very good defensive team" for a few reasons. Primary being Fran has not consistently fielded "really good" defensive teams. His best defensive team was the 2013 one, which was 24th in adjusted defensive efficiency. It's just not ingrained in who Iowa is under Fran. Fran is going to run out efficient offensive teams which don't play great defense. That is what Iowa basketball is under Fran.

 

[ObeseMuffins]

We have Jbo coming back...

 

[perryhawk]

This horse has been beaten to death over the past number of years. Just a few thoughts. The Team Rank site doesn't adjust efficiency numbers for level of competition, which does help Iowa's defensive numbers some. Last year, for example, KenPom had Iowa's adjusted defensive efficiency at 75. Which doesn't sound bad, but it will still just better than Ohio State in conference. Being just top 75 or top 100 in the country isn't that great, when all of your peers are better than you.

I don't believe the team coming back will be a "very good defensive team" for a few reasons. Primary being Fran has not consistently fielded "really good" defensive teams. His best defensive team was the 2013 one, which was 24th in adjusted defensive efficiency. It's just not ingrained in who Iowa is under Fran. Fran is going to run out efficient offensive teams which don't play great defense. That is what Iowa basketball is under Fran.

I think that the data we have would certainly support what you're asserting here. Good logic based post.

I think that it is entirely possible however, that Fran understands that this next years team is not as gifted offensively as last years team....AND that they have the athleticism and length to be really good on defense. He is hopefully thinking that he needs to capitalize on the teams strengths while developing their weakness into a strength.

All that said, it seems to me that one of the problems defensively is that players have had a hard time grasping and then consistently executing defensive rotations....even experienced teams. In order to have a successful season this next fall/winter a team that plays great defense, rebounds, presses, runs, and scores in transition is a key to a tournament birth.

The bottom line for me is that I am hopeful that this team is better offensively than I expect and is significantly better on defense....but that is tempered by the factors mentioned in both of our posts.

 

[mooresville hawk]

This horse has been beaten to death over the past number of years. Just a few thoughts. The Team Rank site doesn't adjust efficiency numbers for level of competition, which does help Iowa's defensive numbers some. Last year, for example, KenPom had Iowa's adjusted defensive efficiency at 75. Which doesn't sound bad, but it will still just better than Ohio State in conference. Being just top 75 or top 100 in the country isn't that great, when all of your peers are better than you.

I don't believe the team coming back will be a "very good defensive team" for a few reasons. Primary being Fran has not consistently fielded "really good" defensive teams. His best defensive team was the 2013 one, which was 24th in adjusted defensive efficiency. It's just not ingrained in who Iowa is under Fran. Fran is going to run out efficient offensive teams which don't play great defense. That is what Iowa basketball is under Fran.

Thank you for the feedback on Team Rank. I was not aware that they do not adjust for level of competition. The numbers Team Rank was showing were actually worse than I had expected based on what I was hearing during the season, so what you said makes sense.

I do agree that Fran has not consistently fielded a strong defensive team. I believe that a lot of it has to do with the players on the team though. I am not giving Fran a pass on this as he recruited all of the players. The team centered around Gesell, Woodbury and Clemmons were a pretty solid defensive team. The recent team centered around JBo, Luka and Joe W has not played good defense. Is this due a lack of athleticism, dedication, coaching or a combination of all three? I do not know the answer to this, but I am not placing all of the blame on Fran.

 

[BlackNGoldBleeder]

I don't think the issue is about Fran "not coaching defense." I've never been to a practice, but I'll go out on a limb and assume it's worked on all the time with assignments and adjustments gone through with each opponent. I'll also go as far to say Fran is likely competent in understanding defensive concepts and strategies and is probably capable of teaching/instructing on them just fine. Someone who has actually been to an Iowa practice can correct me where I'm wrong, but that is the assumption I'll go with until shown otherwise.

The point? It's all about the players on the court. I think many will agree the effort seems lacking too often and perhaps a point can be made about Fran not holding players accountable by benching them when they are lackadaisical on D, but this idea that Fran doesn't care or doesn't get it seems a bit ridiculous to me. I think the reality is Iowa has lacked the athleticism, especially in the backcourt, to play good defense for several years now. When the athleticism improves, which it looks like it's trending in that direction, I expect the defensive numbers to follow suit.

 

[mooresville hawk]

I don't think the issue is about Fran "not coaching defense." I've never been to a practice, but I'll go out on a limb and assume it's worked on all the time with assignments and adjustments gone through with each opponent. I'll also go as far to say Fran is likely competent in understanding defensive concepts and strategies and is probably capable of teaching/instructing on them just fine. Someone who has actually been to an Iowa practice can correct me where I'm wrong, but that is the assumption I'll go with until shown otherwise.

The point? It's all about the players on the court. I think many will agree the effort seems lacking too often and perhaps a point can be made about Fran not holding players accountable by benching them when they are lackadaisical on D, but this idea that Fran doesn't care or doesn't get it seems a bit ridiculous to me. I think the reality is Iowa has lacked the athleticism, especially in the backcourt, to play good defense for several years now. When the athleticism improves, which it looks like it's trending in that direction, I expect the defensive numbers to follow suit.

I agree with this and it does mystify me. Playing good defense does seem to be about effort and concentration. I do not think that Luka, JBo, Joe, Connor and CJ lacked in toughness or desire in general. Do they just not care about defense or do they just not have the ability to play good defense? It seems like it is more the latter with this team.

 

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

We have Jbo coming back...

National Championship.

 

[2432Hawk]

I like the idea of Fran assisting Frank Martin on the East Coast All Star teams.

 

[DodgerHawki]

Thank you for the feedback on Team Rank. I was not aware that they do not adjust for level of competition. The numbers Team Rank was showing were actually worse than I had expected based on what I was hearing during the season, so what you said makes sense.

I do agree that Fran has not consistently fielded a strong defensive team. I believe that a lot of it has to do with the players on the team though. I am not giving Fran a pass on this as he recruited all of the players. The team centered around Gesell, Woodbury and Clemmons were a pretty solid defensive team. The recent team centered around JBo, Luka and Joe W has not played good defense. Is this due a lack of athleticism, dedication, coaching or a combination of all three? I do not know the answer to this, but I am not placing all of the blame on Fran.

I think we're largely saying the same thing. The coach is responsible for the players he brings into the program, as well as how they are coached and what they focus on. So ultimately, it is all his responsibility.

 

[iowa surfer]

There has been a lot of talk about Fran's inability to coach defense lately. While I agree that Fran likes freedom of movement and does not coach the grab and hold style that is popular at some B10 schools, I did think that there is some recency bias in this statement so I reviewed Iowa's offensive and defensive rankings since Fran took over in the 2010-11 season:

Season Defensive Rank Offensive Rank
2010-11 151 215
2011-12 287 54
2012-13 33 103
2013-14 60 12
2014-15 40 59
2015-16 76 35
2016-17 200 82
2017-18 308 32
2018-19 205 33
2019-20 224 18
2020-21 209 3

The above numbers come from TeamRank.com. I am sure that other sites may have different numbers, but would think the trends would be similar. Iowa definitely improved offensively very quickly under Fran and has finished the season ranked in the top 35 six of the last seven seasons. As we have all seen, the defensive side of the ball has been atrocious over the five years. They were a pretty solid defensive team from 2012-2016 though. These are the years with that were anchored by Adam Woodbury, Anthony Clemons and Mike Gesell. Aaron White, Devyn Marble, Eric May, Melsahn Basabe, Jarrod Uthoff, Peter Jok and Gabe Olaseni had large roles, but were only there for parts of this time period. This team was actually better from an offensive stand point than I had remembered.

My point in reviewing these numbers is that Iowa has been a good (not great) defensive team with Fran as the head coach and I believe that they can be again. The team coming back this year looks like they have the ability to be a very good defensive team, which does have me excited to see how the team evolves next year. I do not expect Iowa's offensive efficiency to remain as high as it has been recently, but a top 40 offense and a top 75 defense would be good to see next year. This is something we have only seen twice in eleven years since Fran came to Iowa.

Hope is Cool. D is KEY to sweet 16 and BEYOND.

 

[mooresville hawk]

Hope is Cool. D is KEY to sweet 16 and BEYOND.

Last year definitely was prove to anyone who doubted how important it is to play good defense as our third ranked offense was bounced in the second round of the tournament.

 

[Raptorpeeps]

Last year definitely was prove to anyone who doubted how important it is to play good defense as our third ranked offense was bounced in the second round of the tournament.

So was Illinois’ 8th ranked offense and 7th ranked defense.

The point is well taken though. Few final four teams have ranked outside the top 15 in adj D. You are just never going to win a conference championship or go deep in the tourney unless you can stop teams from scoring when your shots aren’t falling. It just is never going to happen.

There is no “grab and hold” style in the Big Ten. Outside of Michigan State, which is physical to the point of being in your face dirty, it really doesn’t exist.

There are teams that will get after you on D and teams that won’t. Iowa, under Fran, has been in the latter category pretty much exclusively. Ask any B1G player over the last ten years who were the toughest defensive teams they played against, and Iowa will simply not be mentioned.

It’s not about schemes and isos or even “athleticism.” More than anything else, defense is a culture. Iowa has never had that identity. Period.

Purdue is probably the best example of this in the Big Ten. No matter who is on their roster, you are going to face the same thing — a team that is in your shirt for forty minutes. Wisconsin and Illinois under Underwood also provide good examples of different styles but the same use of culture. No matter who is on their roster, it is going to be hard to score on those teams. Michigan State ... also has a defining culture — gooning it up without any sense of shame.

Iowa’s culture is trying to outscore you. Always has been under Fran. It’s mostly very fun to watch until you catch a game like Oregon or Purdue two years ago... and if you don’t mind never winning any titles.

 

[SDHawkDoc]

Agree that there is a team philosophy component and Fran has not seemed to be of the mind that defense is as important as offense. But, I do think that his most recent squad had physical ability deficiencies, relative to their competition, that make it more difficult to overcome. While I would question Bohannon's effort on D at times, the fact remains that he is significantly overmatched almost all the time when it comes to playing man D and stopping his guy. Connor, likewise, is frequently simply outmatched. Putting 2 guys in your starting lineup with little chance of staying in front of their men on D is a pretty significant deficit. Luka was admirable in his effort, but he was in all honesty an average defender at his very best.
You don't have to have all top end athletes to have a good defensive unit. But, there is a threshold that any individual player needs to be above as far as physical skills or they become a liability. Hopefully JBo and Connor will see much less of the floor as the rest of the roster is looking more promising as to that level of physical skill threshold. So, while the offensive numbers will almost surely drop the defense has at least a chance to be significantly better.

 

[perryhawk]

Agree that there is a team philosophy component and Fran has not seemed to be of the mind that defense is as important as offense. But, I do think that his most recent squad had physical ability deficiencies, relative to their competition, that make it more difficult to overcome. While I would question Bohannon's effort on D at times, the fact remains that he is significantly overmatched almost all the time when it comes to playing man D and stopping his guy. Connor, likewise, is frequently simply outmatched. Putting 2 guys in your starting lineup with little chance of staying in front of their men on D is a pretty significant deficit. Luka was admirable in his effort, but he was in all honesty an average defender at his very best.
You don't have to have all top end athletes to have a good defensive unit. But, there is a threshold that any individual player needs to be above as far as physical skills or they become a liability. Hopefully JBo and Connor will see much less of the floor as the rest of the roster is looking more promising as to that level of physical skill threshold. So, while the offensive numbers will almost surely drop the defense has at least a chance to be significantly better.

100% agreement with this.

I think that the point made by Raptor about culture and the mention of philosophy by SDDoc are both legit......I do think that Fran has demonstrated that his teams (in some years) have played decent defense. Athleticism and buy in with individual players are two elements that would appear to be very important as well and represent a decent explanation as a bridge between a lack of culture/approach and years where defense has been respectable.

 

[blhawk]

When you look at the players Fran brings in you just can't say that defense is anything but an afterthought in his program. Looking at our defensive technique/execution and the numbers hammers that home. But the offense is good enough that the program has become above average and thats all that really matters at Iowa. Could be much worse I suppose. I'll tune in to watch them play as I always have but won't be baffled when they struggle to fill Carver

 

[RocknRollface]

There has been a lot of talk about Fran's inability to coach defense lately. While I agree that Fran likes freedom of movement and does not coach the grab and hold style that is popular at some B10 schools, I did think that there is some recency bias in this statement so I reviewed Iowa's offensive and defensive rankings since Fran took over in the 2010-11 season:

Season Defensive Rank Offensive Rank
2010-11 151 215
2011-12 287 54
2012-13 33 103
2013-14 60 12
2014-15 40 59
2015-16 76 35
2016-17 200 82
2017-18 308 32
2018-19 205 33
2019-20 224 18
2020-21 209 3

The above numbers come from TeamRank.com. I am sure that other sites may have different numbers, but would think the trends would be similar. Iowa definitely improved offensively very quickly under Fran and has finished the season ranked in the top 35 six of the last seven seasons. As we have all seen, the defensive side of the ball has been atrocious over the five years. They were a pretty solid defensive team from 2012-2016 though. These are the years with that were anchored by Adam Woodbury, Anthony Clemons and Mike Gesell. Aaron White, Devyn Marble, Eric May, Melsahn Basabe, Jarrod Uthoff, Peter Jok and Gabe Olaseni had large roles, but were only there for parts of this time period. This team was actually better from an offensive stand point than I had remembered.

My point in reviewing these numbers is that Iowa has been a good (not great) defensive team with Fran as the head coach and I believe that they can be again. The team coming back this year looks like they have the ability to be a very good defensive team, which does have me excited to see how the team evolves next year. I do not expect Iowa's offensive efficiency to remain as high as it has been recently, but a top 40 offense and a top 75 defense would be good to see next year. This is something we have only seen twice in eleven years since Fran came to Iowa.

Anyone who has watched realizes that Fran does not demand defense and will not sit a good offensive player for lack of effort on D.

That said, Iowa can obviously be a good defensive team when the players come in as good defenders.

Gessel, Clemons, Woody and Uthoff all came in knowing how to play defense and more importantly wanting to play D.

This years group is the best collection of defenders Fran has had.

Keegan is probably the best defender I've seen at Iowa since his dad and I'm going to assume Kris is similar.

Perkins, Toussaint and Ulis are all good, motivated defenders.

This team has excellent potential and im really hoping they don't get derailed by having a guy on the court who just wants to get shots up.

 

[RocknRollface]

I don't think the issue is about Fran "not coaching defense." I've never been to a practice, but I'll go out on a limb and assume it's worked on all the time with assignments and adjustments gone through with each opponent. I'll also go as far to say Fran is likely competent in understanding defensive concepts and strategies and is probably capable of teaching/instructing on them just fine. Someone who has actually been to an Iowa practice can correct me where I'm wrong, but that is the assumption I'll go with until shown otherwise.

The point? It's all about the players on the court. I think many will agree the effort seems lacking too often and perhaps a point can be made about Fran not holding players accountable by benching them when they are lackadaisical on D, but this idea that Fran doesn't care or doesn't get it seems a bit ridiculous to me. I think the reality is Iowa has lacked the athleticism, especially in the backcourt, to play good defense for several years now. When the athleticism improves, which it looks like it's trending in that direction, I expect the defensive numbers to follow suit.

Its all about not demanding defense.

They had the athleticism to be good on D, it just sat on the bench all year.

When you set a precedent that lack of effort is ok as long as you make shots it filters down.

 

[BlackNGoldBleeder]

Its all about not demanding defense.

I conceded this was a fair criticism.

They had the athleticism to be good on D, it just sat on the bench all year.

I 100% agree.

 

[kceasthawk]

I agree with this and it does mystify me. Playing good defense does seem to be about effort and concentration. I do not think that Luka, JBo, Joe, Connor and CJ lacked in toughness or desire in general. Do they just not care about defense or do they just not have the ability to play good defense? It seems like it is more the latter with this team.

As others have pointed out it comes down to the athleticism. Looking at the five you mentioned. Joe W was PROBABLY the only one of the group who would have a shot at being as athletic night in and night out as his counterpart, and even he, not on some nights. The other guys, Luka, Jbo, Cmac, and CJF were more often then not LESS athletic then the man they were guarding. This makes it damn near impossible to play solid mam to man unless the team plays exceptionally well as a unit, switching etc... and even then will still fall prey to issues athletically....

 

[perryhawk]

Anyone who has watched realizes that Fran does not demand defense and will not sit a good offensive player for lack of effort on D.

That said, Iowa can obviously be a good defensive team when the players come in as good defenders.

Gessel, Clemons, Woody and Uthoff all came in knowing how to play defense and more importantly wanting to play D.

This years group is the best collection of defenders Fran has had.

Keegan is probably the best defender I've seen at Iowa since his dad and I'm going to assume Kris is similar.

Perkins, Toussaint and Ulis are all good, motivated defenders.

This team has excellent potential and im really hoping they don't get derailed by having a guy on the court who just wants to get shots up.

I think this is generally true however I have seen Fran call a timeout and ream players out for a lack of effort on defense.... the only thing I’ve seen on offense is when a guy makes to many or dumb turnovers and gets yanked....if I remember correctly?

 

[blockm2]

As others have pointed out it comes down to the athleticism. Looking at the five you mentioned. Joe W was PROBABLY the only one of the group who would have a shot at being as athletic night in and night out as his counterpart, and even he, not on some nights. The other guys, Luka, Jbo, Cmac, and CJF were more often then not LESS athletic then the man they were guarding. This makes it damn near impossible to play solid mam to man unless the team plays exceptionally well as a unit, switching etc... and even then will still fall prey to issues athletically....

plenty of relatively unathletic teams can play very good defense night in and night out. I mean maybe you get burned in a few matchups against the absolute best, but that's not that often. Teams like Loyola-Chicago, St Marys, Utah State, and St. Bonnie all mentioned to finish the season in KenPom's top 20 of defense. Hell Northwestern and Nebraska finished top 40.


Fran is just not good at coaching defense. Some of that is probably tactics/techniques, some of that is probably emphasis in that he won't pull a guy off the court with a mistake, some of that is personnel choices. But it's hard to pretend that no other coach could get better defense out of the same players on the court. John Beilein struggled with D for years and then he outsourced it to assistant coaches that were better at it and saw immediate and staggering improvements on that end of the court while he focused on coaching the offense.

 

[RocknRollface]

plenty of relatively unathletic teams can play very good defense night in and night out. I mean maybe you get burned in a few matchups against the absolute best, but that's not that often. Teams like Loyola-Chicago, St Marys, Utah State, and St. Bonnie all mentioned to finish the season in KenPom's top 20 of defense. Hell Northwestern and Nebraska finished top 40.


Fran is just not good at coaching defense. Some of that is probably tactics/techniques, some of that is probably emphasis in that he won't pull a guy off the court with a mistake, some of that is personnel choices. But it's hard to pretend that no other coach could get better defense out of the same players on the court. John Beilein struggled with D for years and then he outsourced it to assistant coaches that were better at it and saw immediate and staggering improvements on that end of the court while he focused on coaching the offense.

Absolutely correct.

There is, what I would call, an indirect correlation between athleticism and defense but its not a 1 to 1 relationship.

Theres ways to be a good defender without being a great athlete and athleticism alone does not produce good defense.

Instintcs and IQ are the number one factors in team defense IMO.

 

[NevadaHawk]

I think most basketball fans would agree that Bobby Knight was a pretty good coach. Not always a good person and good citizen but, the man could coach. I heard him say in an interview we teach a new player the DEF in defense before they step on the court. Lute Olsen used to emphasize playing good defense. I would like Fran to put more emphasis on it