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Hawkeye Women's BBall Season 2022-2023

Pasting this from the ISU preview thread bc I think it merits a signal boost:

Win or lose tomorrow, can we all agree to not call out any ISU players in an unnecessary, hateful fashion?
I'm only asking b/c, win or lose, ISU fans will be certainly throwing barbs at everyone on our team. No matter the outcome, they'll call Clark a ballhog, they'll call everyone else garbage, they'll call Bluder some weird ass nickname...let's remember we're the big brother (sister? :) ) here and try to rise above it.

ISU fans have clearly got an inferiority complex, but we don't have to act like we do too. Let's remember these teams are kids and lots of them are friends regardless of mascot.
 
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You call Ashley Joens "selfish" and "stupid as f***" and now want to lecture others on what to say about the players?

GFY.
She does seem to be selfish and most likely stupid, unfortunately, but my opinion of her has nothing to do with basketball or her allegiance to ISU. She is clearly very talented, if not a great role model. No one should underestimate her and no one should disparage her abilities or contributions (and just as importantly, those of her teammates). We can rehash Joens’ lack of consideration for vulnerable members of her community if you’d like, but I feel like we’ve been there, done that.

For better or worse, I think this board generally is more concerned with our own players than others…I doubt many people here even know the names of most ISU players…we’ve certainly been more critical of our own team than opposing ones this season…

But ISU fans will just as certainly have plenty to say about our personnel, regardless of the outcome. They already are being super salty on Twitter about media coverage, for example, and tweeting as though last year’s game erases the 5 years preceding. The negativity toward CC is especially harsh…calling her a loser, calling her overrated, calling her a "mistake" by Bluder...

My point is I think we all generally agree that ISU is and has always been a highly respectable program. But ISU fans…well, they just really, really hate us lol. There will be lots of bait, let’s not bite!
 
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Small thoughts after tonight:

Caitlin made some god awful decisions in the first half tonight, but completely turned things around in the 2nd half in terms of passing, shot selection, and involving her teammates in the offense. Sure felt like a sign of maturity.

We absolutely need to continue trusting Martin and Davis as secondary offensive initiators and facilitators. When we move the ball and they attack the paint, good things happen. We are soooo much harder to guard when we have perimeter options who are actually threats to put the ball on the floor as opposed to a trio of stationary spot up shooters all relying on Caitlin to get them open.

O'Grady looked better than she has all season tonight. It seems that the coaches have been tough on her so far this season, and I'd feared that it had broken her confidence. Hoping this is a turning point!
 
Small thoughts after tonight:

Caitlin made some god awful decisions in the first half tonight, but completely turned things around in the 2nd half in terms of passing, shot selection, and involving her teammates in the offense. Sure felt like a sign of maturity.

We absolutely need to continue trusting Martin and Davis as secondary offensive initiators and facilitators. When we move the ball and they attack the paint, good things happen. We are soooo much harder to guard when we have perimeter options who are actually threats to put the ball on the floor as opposed to a trio of stationary spot up shooters all relying on Caitlin to get them open.

O'Grady looked better than she has all season tonight. It seems that the coaches have been tough on her so far this season, and I'd feared that it had broken her confidence. Hoping this is a turning point!
The next progression for Clark is learning to take good shots instead of just taking shots she can make. Most of her shots in the first half are shots she can make but weren't necessarily a good shot given the circumstances. In the second half she was more conservative with her shooting and the offense benefitted as you said.

I agree with the driving part, but one caveat: Davis needs to figure out what to do once she drives. Marshall has done that this year with her floaters. Martin has developed post moves in close. Davis needs to have some move/shot once she gets into the post. Too often she dribbles in, then jumps or picks up her dribble and gets in trouble.

Czinano's foul trouble was almost a blessing tonight. It forced the coaches to keep O'Grady in long enough to find a rhythm. Not sure I've ever seen a player so reliant on confidence before. When she trusts herself, she can make an impact. When she doesn't she makes mistake after mistake. Tonight she finally got enough time to trust herself.
 
I know it's still early in the season, but given the strength of schedule, the team's statistics can't be dismissed as just non-conference fluff. The rebounding numbers to date are interesting. Iowa's current defensive rebounding rank (# 1 in the country per Her HoopStats) is by far the best it has been since the advent of advanced WBB stats in 2009-2010. This is up from 109th last season. I don't expect it to stay anywhere near # 1, but it seems like substantial improvement is real.

On the flip side, Iowa's current offensive rebounding rank (# 319) is the worst of the advanced stats era, though only a modest step down from last year (# 285), which was the previous low water mark of the advanced stats era. Iowa's defensive rating is up this year, and I wonder if that is due in part to Iowa being committed to getting back and frequently giving up on the offensive rebounding side of things. Not sure what I think of this trade, if in fact it was made.
 
I know it's still early in the season, but given the strength of schedule, the team's statistics can't be dismissed as just non-conference fluff. The rebounding numbers to date are interesting. Iowa's current defensive rebounding rank (# 1 in the country per Her HoopStats) is by far the best it has been since the advent of advanced WBB stats in 2009-2010. This is up from 109th last season. I don't expect it to stay anywhere near # 1, but it seems like substantial improvement is real.

On the flip side, Iowa's current offensive rebounding rank (# 319) is the worst of the advanced stats era, though only a modest step down from last year (# 285), which was the previous low water mark of the advanced stats era. Iowa's defensive rating is up this year, and I wonder if that is due in part to Iowa being committed to getting back and frequently giving up on the offensive rebounding side of things. Not sure what I think of this trade, if in fact it was made.
Part of the offensive rebounding problem is philosophy. Our wings do seem to focus on getting back instead of crashing the boards. I think a bigger part is our starting lineup isn't suited for offensive rebounds.

For offensive rebounds that aren't luck based (balls that go right to a player) you usually have to beat a defender in better position to grab them. Czinano and Marshall just aren't athletic enough to do that regularly. Martin and Warnock have a slightly better chance, but they're also usually less athletic than the person guarding them.

Clark is by far the best player we have at rebounding better than you would expect from her position. Problem is, Clark is usually shooting or assisting the shot, and thus she's rarely in position to actually go for the offensive rebound.

Our offensive rebounding will improve when Stuelke can get on the floor regularly. She might be a very good offensive rebounder with the tape we've seen.

I do think we should give more credit to the team for its defensive rebounding. Clark is a big part of that, as she usually crashes the boards hard. But Czinano has improved significantly this year, and our other players seemingly have too.
 
I would like a deeper understanding of Iowa Women’s basketball. I started attending games when Lark Birdsong was coach, so I am not a new fan, but I need to learn more. (We have graduated to center court row 15 where us old folks stand up, yell a lot, and stay until the final bell.)

What are Bluder’s offensive and defensive sets, and where can I learn more? Below is a link to a video that applies somewhat to Iowa because now I recognize our “pass the ball and cut to the basket,” but with Czinano playing under the basket, the five out isn’t strictly applicable.

So shoot me some links (just throwing out labels won’t teach me much). Youtube videos aimed at junior high coaches can be good. And defense, too. I can recognize person-to-person vs. zone, but I know it is more complicated.

Putting it in specific Bluder game plan will greatly increase my understanding of the game. I don’t like screaming, “What the hell are they even trying to do out there?”

I think there could be a Basketball 101 thread that cover women’s and men’s programs.


Five Out Offense
 
We could have more offensive boards than we do if we schemed differently, but it would come at the expense of giving up more points in transition. AKA you can't have all 5 players crashing the offensive glass because if the other team gets the rebound they will just pass it up the court for a quick uncontested layup. For example, Bluder has has explicitly said that Clark isn't supposed to crash the offensive glass because she's part of our transition defense. I'm content with the few per game we are already getting at the 4 and 5 and having our guards/wings focusing energy on other areas. Our offense is already elite without relying on putbacks.

If O'Grady and Stuelke are our starting front court next season (which would most likely be the case unless McKenna takes a COVID year), I would expect us to make a more concerted effort on the offensive glass.
 
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We could have more offensive boards than we do if we schemed differently, but it would come at the expense of giving up more points in transition. AKA you can't have all 5 players crashing the offensive glass because if the other team gets the rebound they will just pass it up the court for a quick uncontested layup. For example, Bluder has has explicitly said that Clark isn't supposed to crash the offensive glass because she's part of our transition defense. I'm content with the few per game we are already getting at the 4 and 5 and having our guards/wings focusing energy on other areas. Our offense is already elite without relying on putbacks.

If O'Grady and Stuelke are our starting front court next season (which would most likely be the case unless McKenna takes a COVID year), I would expect us to make a more concerted effort on the offensive glass.
Agreed. If we change strategy on offensive rebounds the net result is probably surrendering more points in transition than we gain from the few extra offensive rebounds we get.
 
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Agreed. If we change strategy on offensive rebounds the net result is probably surrendering more points in transition than we gain from the few extra offensive rebounds we get.
Although I have hope than Stuelke can play enough minutes to somewhat improve Iowa's offensive rebounding numbers, I agree with the above take. But being forced to significantly give up on offensive rebounding highlights the needle the current team is trying to thread in making it past a Sweet 16. Abysmal offensive rebounding teams have a really hard time making it to the Elite 8 or beyond, in part because the offensive-rebound 3-point shot is maybe the best 3-point shot in the women's game. Of the 96 teams to make it to or past an Elite 8 since 2010, only 3 had a sub-200 offensive rebound rank. But Washington, with Kelsey Plum, was sub 300 when they made it to the Final Four, so it is not impossible, just exceedingly hard.
 
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Abysmal offensive rebounding teams have a really hard time making it to the Elite 8 or beyond, in part because the offensive-rebound 3-point shot is maybe the best 3-point shot in the women's game. Of the 96 teams to make it to or past an Elite 8 since 2010, only 3 had a sub-200 offensive rebound rank. But Washington, with Kelsey Plum, was sub 300 when they made it to the Final Four, so it is not impossible, just exceedingly hard.
These stats are some legit shit. Very nice stuff.
 
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That's outstanding news Kyle. I have to admit it didn't look promising Wednesday night though. Kate was not putting any weight on it and she had to be helped to the locker room.
 
I would like a deeper understanding of Iowa Women’s basketball. I started attending games when Lark Birdsong was coach, so I am not a new fan, but I need to learn more. (We have graduated to center court row 15 where us old folks stand up, yell a lot, and stay until the final bell.)

What are Bluder’s offensive and defensive sets, and where can I learn more? Below is a link to a video that applies somewhat to Iowa because now I recognize our “pass the ball and cut to the basket,” but with Czinano playing under the basket, the five out isn’t strictly applicable.

So shoot me some links (just throwing out labels won’t teach me much). Youtube videos aimed at junior high coaches can be good. And defense, too. I can recognize person-to-person vs. zone, but I know it is more complicated.

Putting it in specific Bluder game plan will greatly increase my understanding of the game. I don’t like screaming, “What the hell are they even trying to do out there?”

I think there could be a Basketball 101 thread that cover women’s and men’s programs.


Five Out Offense
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Nice win last night over Minnesota. The Gophers will be a team to watch moving forward. They are very young and start 3 freshman from the Twin Cities area. They will pick up some unexpected wins this season and If they can lock down recruiting in their own state, they are going to move up in the B1G hierarchy over next couple years.

Hope Martin's injury last night isn't as bad as it looked. Not sure if TV showed a replay, but they didn't in the arena. Looked like the trainers and doctor thought it might be a broken leg initially. They were bringing out the air cast right as she was getting helped up. When she came back to the bench her shin was wrapped with ice, and they are currently calling it a bone bruise. Watching live it didn't look like she got hit in the shin, so I'm not sure what to think. Initial x-rays at the arena didn't show a break and she was scheduled to get it x-rayed again today. Hopefully it will be a short term injury.
 
Warnock’s improvement this year as an occasional driver is a welcome development. Except for a few games when she could drive around a big slow girl (e.g. Kentucky), Warnock’s drive game the past two seasons has been most notable for losing her balance and falling down. But not this year. Seems like she has learned to drive and end up with a shot rather than a flail. Her biggest strength will always be a stationary shot, but adding something to her game is a good thing for the Hawkeyes.
Wish I had a dollar for every time gabby drives, thinks about how pretty she is, stops and dibbles back outside😊. She drives me nuts
 
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Wish I had a dollar for every time gabby drives, thinks about how pretty she is, stops and dibbles back outside😊. She drives me nuts
it’s funny how women player’s appearances are such a common topic…… and I can’t recall any men’s players looks being brought up

I’m not a fan of being “overly“ woke but in this day and age haven’t women earned the right to be judged on things other than their appearance? I raised 5 daughters and from my perspective your comment makes you look extremely ignorant
 
it’s funny how women player’s appearances are such a common topic…… and I can’t recall any men’s players looks being brought up

I’m not a fan of being “overly“ woke but in this day and age haven’t women earned the right to be judged on things other than their appearance? I raised 5 daughters and from my perspective your comment makes you look extremely ignorant
This board is so gross I’ve just gotten used to it, thanks for pointing this out.
 
Yep, acl tear surgery, 2 broken noses, teeth twice and bone bruise, but keeps coming back and a leader on and off the court
Yet people on this board talk about her as though she is disposable, garbage, not worth a spot on our team.

Let’s at least try to remember what she (and her teammates) have sacrificed for our team, even if they have a bad game, don't make the Final Four, etc.
 
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it’s funny how women player’s appearances are such a common topic…… and I can’t recall any men’s players looks being brought up

I’m not a fan of being “overly“ woke but in this day and age haven’t women earned the right to be judged on things other than their appearance? I raised 5 daughters and from my perspective your comment makes you look extremely ignorant
I totally understand your point and what you’re saying, but to be fair, the vast majority of folks commenting on here are guys so the vast majority of comments on appearance are going to be about the gals. Now, I get that those comments aren’t needed but…..
 
I totally understand your point and what you’re saying, but to be fair, the vast majority of folks commenting on here are guys so the vast majority of comments on appearance are going to be about the gals. Now, I get that those comments aren’t needed but…..
Sometimes it's best to be quiet. This is one of those times.
 
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