Right. Fran’s best defensive teams had a backcourt of Sapp and Mike G, both solid defenders. Don’t quote me, but I believe the AdjD during those years was in the high 20’s, low 30’s. We just need guys to go can actually stay in from if their man consistently. Also props to Woodbury for anchoring down the middle and being a solid rebounder.
I don't disagree with much of this, but I think Iowa has generally been pretty good on defense this year, with some brief lapses. It is addition by subtraction in the backcourt. We now have much better on-ball defense than we have had for most of Fran's tenure, and that has really helped disrupt other teams running their offense. Perkins and Ulis, in particular, cause problems for opponents with their defensive aggressiveness. Rebraca has been much better defending the interior than many give him credit, and Kris gets it done without looking like he is giving much effort. I wish we had someone off the bench on the interior to help. Our weak spot on defense, once teams get past the press is at 3. Patrick's length allows him to make disruptive plays, but he is not a good man-to-man defender. We will have to see whether this continues, when we play better opponents.
They had tons of guys with length on the best defensive teams of the Fran era.
Iowa will be far more tested than they have so far. Seton Hall didn't run much of anything. With that said, Iowa is in a much better position to keep opponents in front of them on defense than in the past 5 years. They just are. When the opponent can get into the lane easily, it takes apart anything you want to get done on defense.
The Woodbury/Gessell/Clemons years this wasn't the case. In their Soph - Senior years, they were actually rated in 40 - 80th range nationally in Defensive Efficiency.
Also, for as much as uneducated fans didn't understand the way they defended the high screen, Woodbury did it about as good as you can most nights.
Yeah, Woodbury got crap for the eye pokes and crocodile arms, but he should be a trader on the Chicago Board of Trade for how well he hedged off the high pick and roll!
Outside of injuries to key players, I see little possibility of this team losing 12 games in the regular season. I don't see them losing more than one OOC game and more than 8 in the conference for a total of 9 and I think I'm being fairly conservative.
It wasn't in the 20's but it was in the 30's a couple of years with that group. Far and away the best defensive performance of Fran's tenure. The defense took a steep dive with JBo at the point and Garza inside. Great offense but suspect defense.
Yep he almost always made the ballhandler go away from the basket.
He should have been much better with his athleticism. With that said, the best defensive ranking over the past 6 years was 77 in 2021 when Jbo wasn't playing.
Luka was great but he was a big liability on defense in some games where Iowa was beaten consistently on the pick and roll. That's not happening today with Rebraca.
IMO surrounding Luka with the best defense you could was a better path to winning than surrounding him with the most shooters you could.
Luka and his non switching to go with Jobo, CJ, ConMac on the perimeter with Wieskamp at PF is truly a defensive disaster vs Oregon and Gonzaga
Imagine if it was Luka, 3 other NBA players, ( Wieskamp, Murray, Murray) and Perkins.
Yeah. Those were some really challenging lineups from a defensive perspective to be sure. They couldn't stay with anyone on the perimeter and then no one to protect inside when they got beat. Keegan was the only truly capable defender on the floor and the only guy you saw consistently helping when the perimeter defense broke down.
Just imagine if Keegan had returned this year. This team would be a very tough out.
Fran would then still bring Kris off bench as the same rationale as last year applies. Needs that guy off bench to spell Keegan, Rebraca and PMac
I don't know. You'd still have Kris coming off the bench probably. 😊
Only in the sense that Ogundele
I think that's a bit of a reach. When the Murrays were coming off the bench they were easily the second most effective players on the team. I'm one of the few left that still sees potential in Josh and I would like to see him spelling Rebraca.. Still, this isn't a Murray situation where you do anything you can to get them on the court, especially given the fact that they can play any position at a high level with the exception of PG.
I see you and are the lone members of the Ogundele fan club
120 minutes divided among those 4 players would be a pretty impressive front court. I might agree with you insinuation that Patrick would, but shouldn't, get more minutes than Kris. Now that he has found his shot, I'm not sure that I wouldn't be giving Connor as many minutes as Patrick.
Josh will contribute this season
Simmer down Roy !! LOL I'll take your 30-point statement straight up versus Duke. Put your money where your mouth is.
Right now Connor is the better player.
No offense but nothing Josh has shown is in the same universe as the Murray's. Nothing suggests he will be a breakout player, at least not anywhere near their level.
I think they will need Josh to at least give 6-8 minutes per game of what you stated. I don't care if he can score. But they will need his body to defend big buys and provide fouls if needed. Hopefully rebound relatively well. Anymore that that from him would be a plus this year.
If Connor keeps shooting anywhere close to how he has been, he really is a very good all-around player at this point. Just watching him live and close to the action, he does so many little things well. Defensively, he cut off drives a number of times against smaller, quicker guys and he can than transition to body up and isn't afraid of bigger guys. Has always been a good passer and decision-maker.
100% agreement.....I can't remember which poster it was, but I had an exchange with someone who declared for certain that Connor could not fix his shot..that he was what he was.
