Hawkeyes: State of Basketball

[bumper52]

Well, it isn’t looking real promising right now. I’ve watched a lot of Ohio State bb this year. They generally are very patient on offense; usually using 20-25 seconds of the shot clock. Not needed against the Hawks. Two passes, kick out for wide open uncontested threes. I don’t get it. We cannot defend. And there was no need to heavily concentrate guarding down low last night. And we still did not have the ability to get out and defend the perimeter. Same with Sparty. Until the bench came in with some energy and guarded. Where was the bench last night? Oh, they were on the bench...lol. Very poor use of personnel. We score 85 points....that should be enough to win most games. Not with this group. Even offensively, we have been inept. We have Garza numerous times setting a screen 25 feet from the basket for a guard that can’t blow by anyone. We don’t run much of anything. We set “air” picks and have 3 guys standing around and watching. This team has gone south in a hurry. Teams have figured us out. And we have no answer. With this stretch of games we need to be utilizing the bench more. Not with 2 minutes left in the game to foul. Very disappointing. I really feel it won’t get any better. Hope I’m wrong.

 

[Loveblackandgold]

Well, it isn’t looking real promising right now. I’ve watched a lot of Ohio State bb this year. They generally are very patient on offense; usually using 20-25 seconds of the shot clock. Not needed against the Hawks. Two passes, kick out for wide open uncontested threes. I don’t get it. We cannot defend. And there was no need to heavily concentrate guarding down low last night. And we still did not have the ability to get out and defend the perimeter. Same with Sparty. Until the bench came in with some energy and guarded. Where was the bench last night? Oh, they were on the bench...lol. Very poor use of personnel. We score 85 points....that should be enough to win most games. Not with this group. Even offensively, we have been inept. We have Garza numerous times setting a screen 25 feet from the basket for a guard that can’t blow by anyone. We don’t run much of anything. We set “air” picks and have 3 guys standing around and watching. This team has gone south in a hurry. Teams have figured us out. And we have no answer. With this stretch of games we need to be utilizing the bench more. Not with 2 minutes left in the game to foul. Very disappointing. I really feel it won’t get any better. Hope I’m wrong.

Pretty spot-on analysis. I don’t see this team ever becoming better defensively. We have seen too many teams have a field day with uncontested 3’s. The only good news is, we have the talent to outscore most. It is no coincidence we have lost three of our last four games with Fredrick either not playing or very limited minutes. Fredrick is a weapon from outside and requires attention defensively. With him out, teams sag Garza and let CMAC and Murray shoot any time they
please from the 20 ft. or more. Notice the turnaround last night was when Nunge came in and poured in three surprising threes. OSU had no answer. My hope is Fredrick can heal and quick, otherwise Fran needs to cut down CMAC’s minutes and bring in someone who brings a challenge to defenses, maybe his brother? Not giving up hope, but I am with most every poster on this board right now, this is not the year Hawkeye fans should be expected to digest mediocrity.

Also not trying to pin this on CMAC, kid is a bulldog and plays hard nosed basketball. He bleeds black and gold, but if we are not going to play defense then we need all the offense we can muster.

 

[Ihawkhoops]

Good posts. I have voiced the same frustrations in years past but it was more directed at recruiting i.e. the guys on the bench were not very good. This year it is actually more frustrating because of who Fran isn't playing and what they are capable of. You look at the teams Iowa has lost to and their coaches played a lot of people situationally and stuck with the mix that was most effective. This concept is lost on Fran. He could have the Fab 5 coming off the bench and he would go back to the starters.

To acknowledge that you should have played Joe T. and Perkins more two days after the bench saved your ass from going 0-4 in this stretch against a pretty pedestrian MSU team is baffling. When you can't adjust your coaching style to your talent, you aren't giving the team the best chance to win.

 

[iowa surfer]

Good posts. I have voiced the same frustrations in years past but it was more directed at recruiting i.e. the guys on the bench were not very good. This year it is actually more frustrating because of who Fran isn't playing and what they are capable of. You look at the teams Iowa has lost to and their coaches played a lot of people situationally and stuck with the mix that was most effective. This concept is lost on Fran. He could have the Fab 5 coming off the bench and he would go back to the starters.

To acknowledge that you should have played Joe T. and Perkins more two days after the bench saved your ass from going 0-4 in this stretch against a pretty pedestrian MSU team is baffling. When you can't adjust your coaching style to your talent, you aren't giving the team the best chance to win.

Leopards do not CHANGE their SPOTS. Fran's DNA says no Defense. It is what is..Go Hawks

 

[LarryMullenJr.]

All of these are very accurate. I personally am ready for Fran to move on. Not a create-a-website or shout-from-the-mountains sort but just the acceptance that we'll never get to where we all want to get to with him.
I know we aren't a Duke, Gonzaga, etc. where we just reload and every year starts with realistic hopes of national championships and contending for conference championships is just a given. We're a "catch a good run" sort of program, but I just feel with Fran, what we're seeing is as good as our runs will get. You CANNOT get to the top without defense, or just the "we'll just score more points than you" plan. After this many years, we know what we have in Fran. They are fun to watch (most times), and miles better than watching a Lickliter team, but this is a 5th place in the conference, second round exit program as long as he's here.

 

[24 so far]

All of these are very accurate. I personally am ready for Fran to move on. Not a create-a-website or shout-from-the-mountains sort but just the acceptance that we'll never get to where we all want to get to with him.
I know we aren't a Duke, Gonzaga, etc. where we just reload and every year starts with realistic hopes of national championships and contending for conference championships is just a given. We're a "catch a good run" sort of program, but I just feel with Fran, what we're seeing is as good as our runs will get. You CANNOT get to the top without defense, or just the "we'll just score more points than you" plan. After this many years, we know what we have in Fran. They are fun to watch (most times), and miles better than watching a Lickliter team, but this is a 5th place in the conference, second round exit program as long as he's here.

It sure appears that way. I like Fran overall I guess, and I love the up tempo style of play, but you can do that Offensively and still play some Defense along with it. It DOES happen. Honestly with any Defense whatsoever this team likely sits at #3 Nationally and at worst tied atop the Big Ten. But, if my Aunt had balls........

 

[blhawk]

All of these are very accurate. I personally am ready for Fran to move on. Not a create-a-website or shout-from-the-mountains sort but just the acceptance that we'll never get to where we all want to get to with him.
I know we aren't a Duke, Gonzaga, etc. where we just reload and every year starts with realistic hopes of national championships and contending for conference championships is just a given. We're a "catch a good run" sort of program, but I just feel with Fran, what we're seeing is as good as our runs will get. You CANNOT get to the top without defense, or just the "we'll just score more points than you" plan. After this many years, we know what we have in Fran. They are fun to watch (most times), and miles better than watching a Lickliter team, but this is a 5th place in the conference, second round exit program as long as he's here.

What was Duke before Coach K or Gonzaga before Mark Few? It's all about the coach. I know he's going nowhere and has done enough to have solid job security for awhile but it's just hard to get excited about a program that is consistently that bad on defense. This was the first year I had genuine optimism coming into the season and then I read an article about our defensive stats under Fran and readjusted my expectations. I guess if you have to suck on one side of the ball i'm glad its defense as these games are super entertaining but this is why Fran has never won anything significant here. Compared to the Lick era this is a dream so I won't be calling for anyone's job and i'll watch every game the rest of the way but not holding my breath to make it past first weekend of NCAA as usual. And thoughts drifting to football, as usual

 

[Letsgohawks411]

shit show since '87.