His second half decisions were indefensible. Played Bohannon the entire 2nd half, and Connor basically the whole 2nd half as well. How many times were those two too slow to close out on a 3 point shooter? No Perkins or Toussaint at all in the 2nd half after they played a huge part in us winning the last game? When the 11 point lead evaporated instantly, if was obvious to everyone except apparently the Iowa coaching staff that Iowa needed to get some perimeter defenders in the game.
Frans worst coached game at Iowa
- Thread starter Mitch122
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I’ve been a Fran defender but his desire to play a leagacy recruit and his son together is killing this team. Not only are they unathletic, they are lazy on defense as well.
I’ve never been more pissed at Fran than today. Just STUPID AND Inexcusable COACHING.
I would transfer if I was Toussaint
He doesn’t even play the better of his sons. While Pat still has to improve, he showed some tremendous flashes tonight.
They're lazy on D AND have slow feet... so even if they weren't lazy, they'd still be bad defenders because they're so slow getting to wide open shooters.
Ridiculous results tonight.
We play our studs with one minute left? JFC
We play our studs with one minute left? JFC
The unathletic guards that Iowa has had for several years is the primary reason that Iowa has a low ceiling to get clutch wins. They can't or won't guard on the perimeter especially when facing talented and athletic guards.
Fran told me after the game that he didn't use a timeout during the time when our 11 point lead turned into a 7 point deficit for the same reason that he didn't use one during the time when our 9 point lead over Indiana turned into a 9 point deficit....
Wait, what were we talking about again?
Wait, what were we talking about again?
Well we about lost to a terrible MSU team. Is this really a surprising loss?
NEWSFLASH-we are not that good.
NEWSFLASH-we are not that good.
Oh you know those guys over there watching that train wreck were just in a fuming rage! Absolutely the worst coached game of the entire season .
Maybe this was the starters chance to prove that they can win a game-which they didn’t. And now line ups will change? Probably wishful thinking.
I agree. These are the kind of games where players start questioning things. The players know what’s up. How do you think Joe T feels sitting there for almost 19 minutes in the 2nd while watching Connor play almost the entire 2nd half and absolutely nothing on either end? Patrick should be pissed as well. He made 1 defensive mistake in the zone and got pulled and never put back in. He was taking it hard to the basket all night. Just don’t understand.
Totally agree. I think we are a good team generally but guards, defensive stops and coaching make tourney runs. Unfortunately, those appear to be our biggest weaknesses. Not a great sweet 16 recipe. But I am very far from a basketball person.
Fran’s head was up his ass tonight. Inexcusable. I’m not worried about scoring. I’m worried about stopping it.
No, and it's not even close....Fran every year, loses multiply games he has no business in losing. His hockey lineup changes or personnel matchups are legionary among Iowa fans and I actually thought this years team could maybe overcome some of Frans looney coaching. My bad!
This is who Iowa is under Fran. We all knew the Defense was dogshit coming into the year, and I guess some were expecting a miracle, with 5 returning starters?
The ONLY difference is, we finally have a bench. A bench with some athletes sitting on it. That's been very unusual, and Fran probably doesn't know how to handle it.
Fran has a "comfort level" with these upperclassmen, and I think he believes they'll get it done late in games, but they've struggled some and recently for sure. So many things have to go right on the Offensive end when you can't play Defense.
Those dreams you had at the start of the year.........will fade more after every made 3 pointer from the opposition. We have a good team and some good players, and Luka is a great player, but they are flawed on the Defensive end and that will inevitably haunt them, as per normal. So, "It's over Johnny", but was fun for awhile.
They are entertaining though, better than Lickball for certain.
Well, the guards capable of the defensive stops are there. But Jughead Fran doesn't understand that 2 out of 3 ain't gonna cut it when the third part of that equation is sitting on his hands with his head up his ass.
how do you shoot 45% from three and only have 6 turnovers and lose? Defense.
And they had 7 more rebounds.
Same 3 %, they were slightly better from the field and the line (both teams missed 6, they shot more), same amount of turnovers I think. Stats were pretty close, but it was a 4 point game so........
FM is a lazy game day coach. He just sits there and does his game plan line substitutions. He either will not or does not have the ability to adapt to the game conditions with his player substitutions and/or game strategy.
If you’re giving up 81 (IU) and 89 (WTF?!) (OSU) pts at home, you’ve got a defense problem.
A bad one: https://barttorvik.com/?sort=AdjDE&...=0&venue=All&type=All&mingames=0&quad=5&rpi=#
58 spots worse than the second worst team in the league. I mean....come on.....To think that a team can win a league title with D efficiency numbers like that is comical.
A national title? lol Delusional.
Guards control the college game. Even more so when the lights get bright and hot in the tourney. The guards that get playing time at Iowa are soft and slow.
To win at the highest level, you have to be able to get stops when your shots aren’t falling. Iowa can’t do that.
Period.
A bad one: https://barttorvik.com/?sort=AdjDE&...=0&venue=All&type=All&mingames=0&quad=5&rpi=#
58 spots worse than the second worst team in the league. I mean....come on.....To think that a team can win a league title with D efficiency numbers like that is comical.
A national title? lol Delusional.
Guards control the college game. Even more so when the lights get bright and hot in the tourney. The guards that get playing time at Iowa are soft and slow.
To win at the highest level, you have to be able to get stops when your shots aren’t falling. Iowa can’t do that.
Period.
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Good point but their positioning, anticipation, and toughness are all lacking too so I'd say it's both. Just an amazingly poorly coached defensive basketball team. I have zero confidence in fran's defensive knowledge but I thought with the entire world knowing that was our achilles he could improve these guys. Wrong. Izzo would have 2 losses max with this roster
This is it. Period, end of story. It's why I said from the start of the season Iowa wasn't a likely contender for a conference title or Final 4. You can play the best offense in the country (and literally Iowa is playing offense at an historic pace) but if you can't guard teams you will be okay/good, but not good enough to win big.
The thing is, the lack of speed/athleticism is part of it, but not the whole story. It is impossible to be as good as Iowa is on offense without at least a baseline level of athleticism and height. No, Iowa is not Baylor in terms of length and athleticism, but neither are they UNI. To be this bad on defense means that the scheme/coaching is poor or the effort is poor, likely both.
So Iowa is "fun to watch" because they can score points, but no threat whatsoever to be among the best teams in the league or country.
Totally agree. It’s not total lack of athleticism because as you said we can’t be #1 in offensive efficiency if we had terrible athletes. Which leads us back to coaching/scheme. I’ve never understood our zone. For whatever reason our bottom guy comes up way to high, almost equal to the guy on top of the zone, leaving the corner wide open. At that point we expect Luka or Nunge or whoever to be able to cover 15 feet to get out to the corner. It just doesn’t work. We would be better off playing man, giving up a few more 2’s and 5-6 less 3’s. Just my opinion. Zones are just to easy to get open shots anymore, which is why most teams play man.
I am probably repeating what people have already said, but I came here to vent a minute and then get on with my day.
We start the game in man with a group that cannot play MTM. JBo is not quick enough, Connor is as bad at defense as he is at scoring, Luka is big but slow footed and has to be careful of fouls, Joe W can defend when he decides to, and Keegan is good or if healthy CJ is adequate. Basically the "ok" defenders have no chance of covering up for the inadequacies or laziness of the rest.
Then our zone. Good lord it is embarrassing. Guys in the system 3 or 4 or 5 years act confused. It doesn't take much to get our guys out of position. When we have our worst defensive team out there like Franny did most of the second half it takes 2 maybe 3 passes to get a guy a wide open look. We appear to play zone like an undisciplined JV team.
Then when it comes to desperation time Fran puts 5 new guys in who can defend, but most of whom haven't played little/none the second half. The same guys who helped win the game two nights ago when Connor and Jbo were kept on the bench the second half. What's that tell you- he frickin knows like everyone else who watches the first group has zero chance of stopping anyone, we just hope they miss as the path to victory.
I hope we win a bunch of games going forward, but at the moment its the same type of hope Fran has that the opposition won't score at will.
We start the game in man with a group that cannot play MTM. JBo is not quick enough, Connor is as bad at defense as he is at scoring, Luka is big but slow footed and has to be careful of fouls, Joe W can defend when he decides to, and Keegan is good or if healthy CJ is adequate. Basically the "ok" defenders have no chance of covering up for the inadequacies or laziness of the rest.
Then our zone. Good lord it is embarrassing. Guys in the system 3 or 4 or 5 years act confused. It doesn't take much to get our guys out of position. When we have our worst defensive team out there like Franny did most of the second half it takes 2 maybe 3 passes to get a guy a wide open look. We appear to play zone like an undisciplined JV team.
Then when it comes to desperation time Fran puts 5 new guys in who can defend, but most of whom haven't played little/none the second half. The same guys who helped win the game two nights ago when Connor and Jbo were kept on the bench the second half. What's that tell you- he frickin knows like everyone else who watches the first group has zero chance of stopping anyone, we just hope they miss as the path to victory.
I hope we win a bunch of games going forward, but at the moment its the same type of hope Fran has that the opposition won't score at will.
The defense was pathetic, Bo dropped to the free throw line then would run at guys after they shot the ball. I am sorry but Bo is just waiting on defense to go down and shoot the ball. The offense has become stagnant, let Toussaint play with the starters, give them someone that can move, can defend, can create. We were better last year with an athlete on the floor at point. Fran and his hockey subs are just stupid, a good coach mixes the groups of young and old, not Fran. Change things up, as usual here we are in February and everyone has figured out our lame offense and pathetic defense.
You could argue this is his worst coached year based upon talent... his failure to pull the ripcord till
Its too late has cost the team at least 3 losses and you could probably make an argument for all 5. And i dont blame the players... 100% on Fran and the staff. Poor use of TOs... poor use of the bench... piss poor all around. We saw a 12 minute scoring drought without the sniff of a TO... We’ve seen guys get dusted to the rim without any accountability/substitution.
Some nights you just get beat... but, i think you could honestly analyze our Big losses and say, “WTF, they were given away. “ and looking at the Zaga loss, hawks were in that fight until we stuck a defensively deficient 2 guard on a top 5 pick...
And what a giant slap in the face to the younger guys who have proven themselves...
Its too late has cost the team at least 3 losses and you could probably make an argument for all 5. And i dont blame the players... 100% on Fran and the staff. Poor use of TOs... poor use of the bench... piss poor all around. We saw a 12 minute scoring drought without the sniff of a TO... We’ve seen guys get dusted to the rim without any accountability/substitution.
Some nights you just get beat... but, i think you could honestly analyze our Big losses and say, “WTF, they were given away. “ and looking at the Zaga loss, hawks were in that fight until we stuck a defensively deficient 2 guard on a top 5 pick...
And what a giant slap in the face to the younger guys who have proven themselves...
So I’m confused. Is Connor a Jr or Sr? I’d really like to see an entirely new backcourt next year. If he comes back and continues to play 28-32 minutes a game next year we are bound to lose some of our bench guys. Can’t wait to see a rotation of Joe T, Ulis, Frederick and Perkins. At some point Fran has to also suck it up and play man to man like 95% of the other teams in the country. It’s called coaching.
Play Bo about 25 minutes a game, not 20 minutes a half. His offense does not come close to overcoming he lack of defense and stupid turnovers. He can not feed the post and loves to dribble. We need a creator that can move the ball and give the offense tempo.
Yep, no other coach is going to be willing to let defense slide like Fran does.
Just about every other coach in the league would be in title contention with this group.
But the minute distribution would be drastically different.
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anon_b29nm7v7dwp6r
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I actually agree with many points in this thread but not on man to man being some all ending savior. I believe it Iowa played man with this same group it would reap similar results. The zone as Fran plays it does have some issues, but the biggest issue is some of the starters are lazy on defense....and that’s gonna be a problem no matter what your scheme is
I want to see different personnel on the floor and man defense being played, especially when Garza is on the bench.
But even when he is on the floor I think you have to try some man.
This zone is giving up so many 3s that its not worth the trade off of protecting Luka.
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