Play with a sense of urgency. There are 4 senior starters. Act like there is no way you're playing your last game. As long as the effort and intensity are there I will not complain about the results.
This was always my biggest gripe with them during the losing streak. I've always believed yes there will be nights when shots don't fall or the ball won't bounce our way but you can still win by giving it everything you got and working hard the entire game. We saw that in the Indiana game when they realized oh $h!t, we are down by 14 and it's senior night. They worked their butts off from the 10 minute mark till 3 to go.
For Iowa to be successful in the post season I believe their are 3 things that can make this team a really tough out.
1-Need to get uhtoff on track early. MOST IMPORTANT
2-The ball needs to go inside to Woodbury, he doesn't need to score overtime but it atleast needs to go in and let the defense collapse on him. He is a great passer and can get it to the open shooter. If he can get 8-10 points even better, shows teams that they have to atleast protect against it and can't sag off of him.
3- The bench needs to show up. Even if they aren't scoring they need to get rebounds, steals, blocks, the hustle plays that keep the momentum in our favor. I think with Williams showing he has some skills it helps out even more since ellingson was no threat.
Like someone else mentioned our defense is what it is at this point, offenses have figured it out and know exactly how to beat it. I personally think we are better in man anyway since it allows us to rebound better. The only thing that can fix our defense right now is hustle and intensity.
I think if the hawks can win 2 in the B!G tourney they can get on a roll and make a sweet 16 appearance and who knows maybe farther if we hit our 3's and get good bench play.
