Iowa seldom gets a guy with real hops. I'm talking about a guy who can get his elbows to the rim and can stop many of the blow-bys our defensively challenged team gives up. The guy doesn't need to be a great offensive player, but one who can limit a portion of the points in the paint we allow. We have some talented shooters; however, our lack of defensive talent could make it a long year in the BIG.
Fran never seems to recruit a rim protector.
- Thread starter Hawk68
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Did it look like we had talented shooters? At least from deep? Lets say the starters are Krikke, Pmac, Saucy T, Bowen, and Sandfort. When Sandfort is streaking on, he's really good. But he goes on poor streaks also and can't hit his jumper. Who else in that lineup scares anyone. We play with two starting guards who are NOT a threat with the jumper. Bowen doesn't look to have any confidence that he can knock down a jump shot. Perkins is super streaky, and both ways. Even whens he's on he's not much of a threat from the perimeter. Pmac has a good game, and then who the hell knows. Krikke has a solid mid range game, and he's creative around the hoop at least. Once again I think we can hang with most teams with out front court, but we don't have P5 caliber guard play at least not consistently. The book is still out on Harding. Dix has some game but seems reluctant to engage. Someone show me another top 40 team that is less talented at guard then Iowa right now.
So we're looking for a guy who can average about 15-20 blocks a game?
Oklahoma hit 4 3s today.
The starting front court can't guard anyone and accounted for most of the 3pt misses on wide open shots.
It's at a minimum equal blame.
Nah, just a guy that may tip a few but is a presence in the paint and makes them adjust their shots more often than not. Acie Earl didn’t have much of a vertical but he was 6-11 with long arms and made himself into a shot changer down low because he had pretty decent timing that affected a lot of shots back in the day. Just need to sew the seed and get into their heads early on.
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I think Freeman has that potential.
He at least has the length to make guys think about shooting.
He at least has the length to make guys think about shooting.
Dembele has some massive hops.
Freeman can do it.
Not the thread but both Freeman and Krikke need to start. I don't know who sits but someone. We also can't keep going 10 deep unless we are going all out on defense... which we aren't.
Freeman can do it.
Not the thread but both Freeman and Krikke need to start. I don't know who sits but someone. We also can't keep going 10 deep unless we are going all out on defense... which we aren't.
A rim protector would only help marginally.
It's coaching guys. It's not 14 years of bad defensive players
It's coaching guys. It's not 14 years of bad defensive players
Just Because a guy can jump does not mean he is a good shot blocker I would says its more about timing and quickness of jumping, not sure that wll matter though if guards or forwards let players blow buy them on defense and the big has to leave his man to gamble on d and helpout.
Oh…we ALL know who should sit…
Yes we do. But we all also know, that’s not going to happen
Frans best defensive teams were in the Woodbury/Olaseni era.
Olaseni had the athleticism but Woodbury was always in position when it came to protecting the rim. Wasn't athletic but had the size...
Haven't had anything similar since....
I think Dembele has proven he can time pretty well early in hours career but he did get posterized yesterday.
Anyway, your second point is what gets me. Teams do a great job of getting our few rim protectors out of the lane. We allow the pick and roll game to dictate everything. We usually hedge leaving Krikke/Freeman on a guard then they run something off that and attack our lack of athletes.
What has been really bothering me lately is that we seem to gamble on trying to pick off a pass instead of stopping ball. It's basically fundamentals, the most dangerous person is the guy with the ball. We are so late to help (if the help even comes at all) on the drive. We don't seem to make the player driving kick very often.
i watched a bit of the OU game this year, it’s the first I’ve seen Iowa.
If you can’t stop dribble penetration even having somebody like Mutumbo has its limits. It’s the dribble penetration I’d be worried about.
If you can’t stop dribble penetration even having somebody like Mutumbo has its limits. It’s the dribble penetration I’d be worried about.
All I have to add to this thread is immaturity. When I read "rim protector" I couldn't help but giggle.
Well yeah, that's the whole point of screening with your 5.
Every team in the world relies on help from the screeners man unless it's a zone.
There's no other way to do it.
If our guards are really bad, how does the fronline of Krikke, PMAC, Sandfort rate? I don' think you can have a worse defensive lineup than those 3.
Oklahoma two bigs were 11-14...it wasn't the Oklahoma guards that killed us. Perkins obviously had horrendous shooting game and that plus the high efficiency scoring by OKlahoma bigs meant Iowa was D.O.A.
PMAC and Sandfort it is usually feast or famine. This game vs Oklahoma Sandfort found ways to contribute other than 3pt line....what does PMAC bring if his offense isn't there? PMAC should be a bench player that comes off bench for offense.
No doubt Freeman should start. Dimbele ought to play more. Dix is pretty solid defensively. Not sure if he'll show up on offense.
Oklahoma two bigs were 11-14...it wasn't the Oklahoma guards that killed us. Perkins obviously had horrendous shooting game and that plus the high efficiency scoring by OKlahoma bigs meant Iowa was D.O.A.
PMAC and Sandfort it is usually feast or famine. This game vs Oklahoma Sandfort found ways to contribute other than 3pt line....what does PMAC bring if his offense isn't there? PMAC should be a bench player that comes off bench for offense.
No doubt Freeman should start. Dimbele ought to play more. Dix is pretty solid defensively. Not sure if he'll show up on offense.
It's lack of coaching at one end of the floor for 14 years.
I'd prefer he recruit better guards. Guys that can on ball defend the rim and close out on shooters.
Freeman is absolutely a rim protector. Had two blocks last night I think. Dembele also has shown some potential.
Freeman is a good shot blocker. According to Bart Torvik's advanced stats website, he blocks 11.4% of our opponents' two point attempts when he is in the game which is quite good (top 30 or so in the country). Dembele had some nice blocks against Quincy but hasn't had many since the real games started. One would think Pat McCaffery could block shots but he just doesn't. Our second best shot blocker is actually Perkins right now (2.8%). I'm optimistic that Chris Tadjo will also give us some of that front court bounce when he arrives next season.
Also, the OP makes a good point that shot blocking is a significant component of good defense. I did a study on this a few years back (using a cohort of 50-60 teams) and found a surprisingly strong negative correlation between shot blocking rate and opponents' two point shooting accuracy. It was in an article that I wrote for GIA before they went over to Rivals (and I don't think that website is still functional otherwise I'd share a link).
In the last few games, Dembele has been guarding opponents away from the basket, it's very difficult to block a shot while guarding someone out on the wings.
Check out Michigan’s practice. Fran doing this in practice ?
There was a guy wide open on the baseline for most of that rep so I don't know, maybe he is?
You want a shot blocker, Freeman looked pretty good to me. Also have to compliment Dix on his block, that young man has a lot of bounce.
I think we need a glass cleaner as much as a rim protector if not more! Remember the bad asses like Ed Horton, Greg Brunner, Reggie Evans who were monsters on the boards!
