If this were a bunch of 40 year olds paying at the Y, then sure. These are teenage/early 20s kids in the best shape of their lives. Simply did not play well and lost a chance to beat a good team at home.
I don't buy the tired, 3rd game in 6 days, etc. deflections
- Thread starter General Tso
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In the end we were down a couple of players. Made a difference.
Yeah, which made it an even matchup against Pissconsin. They are trash.
Still, Fran should have rested the starters at the end of the ISU game.
Well, OP is only telling 2/3rds of the story. The fact we were down our starting PG and leading scorer and rebounder might have had something to do with it - you think?
I can agree with you on this!! Wisconsin is so boring to watch or play against. Again, we didn’t shoot well and lose a close game. I’m hoping PS will get out of his slump or he simply needs fewer minutes.
Elite college wrestlers get gassed. It happens.
There were tired and beat up players out there tonight and it showed at the end.
Does that mean they need to focus a little more on their conditioning as the season progresses? I don't know.
But let's not ignore what actually happened.....
Yeah kids don’t get tired!!!! Huh!? You do realize they’re playing against other 20 year olds correct?
Iowa had the energy to score 15 points in overtime. It seems like if Fran's teams get tired, it's on the defensive end.
Unable to get any stops at all, plus a couple of turnovers in OT.
I've seen this movie too many times before.
Unable to get any stops at all, plus a couple of turnovers in OT.
I've seen this movie too many times before.
You really believe that? Connor normally plays about 23 minutes a game. Played 41 tonight. Pat played 33. Normally about 24. Kingsbury played 11 minutes and I can’t remember the last time he played meaningful minutes. Not having Murray and Ulis and giving 20 minutes to Sandfort and even 15 to Dix who just isn’t ready is huge. Don’t understand why you guys can’t understand that.
I think it was a factor. They got home at 5:00 a.m. before the ISU game and then played short handed. Love the effort tonight but cold shooting killed us.
Wahl’s three in OT was really nice and Iowa played a percentages game with the Davis kid on his three (guy is shooting very poorly this year) and lost - looked like they were more focused on trying to keep the ball out of the paint. Yes the two TO’s were killers also
The poster above is exactly right. You can’t play a team with Wisconsin’s size, let them dominate points in the paint (which is expected - we were actually pretty impressive on the boards given this size differential), lose the turnover battle, and shoot a lower percentage from them from deep and expect to come away with a win
I do actually believe that this team is better equipped to make a run in March than previous Fran teams. These boys are tough and D up, especially in the backcourt. We continue to shoot like straight booty cheeks and are right there with a chance to win throughout pretty much every game. That said, somebody needs to figure it out from beyond the arc sooner rather than later
Where is this narrative that Wisconsin had a massive size advantage on us coming from? Crowl was the only player they had that was 7’; everyone else was similar to our games.
Why can’t you have this conversation with me in one thread? Quoting my post with the exact same thing in multiple threads? It’s pretty simple. Crowl is a 7 footer, Wahl is 6’9. Iowa’s tallest player is 6’9, then Pat at 6’8 (but we all know about his strength, defense, and rebounding issues)… which leaves 6’5 Connor as the next best post defender and rebounder to defend 6’9 Wahl. If we had Murray, it wouldn’t have been much of a factor
So Rebraca matched up against Crowl, and threw several guys at Wahl, including both Patrick and Connor. Wahl plays both inside and out so it’s not like he was camped on the low block all game.
No but he got the vast majority of his points at the rim. That is a fact
Shoot poorly and have no ability to get stops, and lose. End of story.
FIFY.
To me, one of the most astonishing things about the Fran era is how completely fans have bought into the “defense doesn’t matter, we’ll outscore you” folly. It has never worked in this league or in the tourney. It isn’t currently working in this league or in the tourney. It will never work in this league or in the tourney.
It‘s way past tiresome at this point. Recruiting be damned. Don’t expect any kind of next level jump until this fatally flawed philosophy is fixed.
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I'm not one of them. Just like Iowa football and the offense, I will always insist that it's the defense that is holding back the men's basketball program. If only it was a priority to be solid on both sides of the ball. But like with Kirk, we know what we're getting with Fran and it isn't changing. I've come to terms with that.
I agree, 20 something year old kids would not be too tired to play,.. Kris and Ahron being out cost us a win in regulation...
Who are these fans of whom you speak? I don't know of any and haven't seen anyone on this or any other forum spout hogwash like that. Supporting Fran does not mean that one doesn't think defense matters. Get a clue.
I think we should’ve matched Josh up against Crowl. All Wisconsin’s posts were doing was backing us down (which is an entirely different rant altogether), and Josh is a brick wall.
Eat shit, you.
Supporting Fran for 13 seasons of the same crap can mean nothing other than people buy into his philosophy.
lol get a clue, indeed.
I was kind of surprised he didn’t get some minutes too. Seems like matchups just like this was one of the biggest reasons Josh was brought back
In a game where you are shorthanded I especially agree here. It's not like Wisconsin is an extremely quick and athletic. Their entire strategy was to get a 1 v 1 matchup in the paint and just back us down or kick it out. We didn't double much so they just kept backing us down in the paint and scoring. Josh not getting at least 8-10 minutes in the rotation was definitely odd.
Wahl probably has the best post moves in college basketball.
He scores almost all of his points in the paint.
That said I thought Connor defended him as well as you can.
Iowa lost again because they couldn't make a high enough percentage of 3s and they didn't have a pg on the floor to take care of the ball.
If we have Kris/Ulis we win this game.
Your name on this board is so appropriate. In the interest of brevity, you should just drop the "Herkle."
This is exactly what I thought. Of all games where Josh O could have lasted an extra minute or two as Wisconsin walks the ball up the floor almost every possession. Booorrriing.
Just for shits and grins I would have liked to have seen what Josh could do against Wahl,... Maybe in Madison.
Yep. And don't forget that we are allowed 13 scholarship players. However, we only have 11 on scholarship. Kris and Ahron were not available and Josh and Riley did not play. So, essentially, Fran was only comfortable playing 7 scholarship players yesterday. That is why Kingsbury, a walk on, saw 11 minutes of action.
There were 45 possible minutes for each player. These 3 could have used more breaks. We definitely missed Kris and Ahron.
44 Tony
41 Connor
38 Filip
Huh? Posters on here have been discussing for years now about how Fran's teams don't rebound the basketball and how poor they play defense. And it's been discussed that you need a top 70 defense to make the final four and an even better defense to win a National championship.
When you are sitting on 2 schollys in the transfer era you don't get to make excuses when two starters can't play. It's a horribly constructed roster and that is on Fran, guy seems to think he's the field goal whisperer and turn anyone into a scorer. He can't. Much easier to just go ballistic on the officials than take ownership I guess
If PMac would have dropped off the pass to Tony P on the 2 on 1 breakaway instead of taking it himself, fouled and then missed the FTs we win in regulation...
Josh should have played at least 5 minutes in each half, in my opinion. You are right. He is a brick wall that you don't move. And as a result, he would have forced much more difficult shots from wisconsin. It might have made the difference in regulation. I think Fran screwed up by not playing him.
I'm sure the selection committee will take that into consideration.
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