I'll hold my judgement until we play some teams with a pulse.
There is no evidence to suggest that Iowa will play top 1/2 of the big ten defense.
Iowa defense ranked #61 per KenPom (as of Mon Dec 2nd)
- Thread starter Franisdaman
- Start date
There is no evidence to suggest that Iowa will play top 1/2 of the big ten defense.
Different team , some different skills but imo , rebounding is still going to be the key. Hawkeyes need to do better still at that.
Well, I’m holding judgment too, but to say there is no evidence is obtuse.
I mentioned this elsewhere but it's worth bringing up here as well. There are some statistical anomalies with the defense right now:
They are forcing turnovers on 23.3% of opponents' possessions (16th in the country).
Their opponents FT Rate (FTA/FGA) is only 0.202 (6th in the country).
They are allowing their opponents to shoot 26.9% from three point range (21st in the country).
Will the turnover forcing and three point defense continue against better competition? How long will Traore be out and how devastating will his injury be to our defense?
There are also some defensive categories where we've been terrible:
Our opponents are collecting offensive rebounds on 30.8% of their misses (219th in the country) and making 54.8% of their two point attempts (279th in the country).
Both of those numbers are very disturbing when one factors in the quality of opponents we have played. The two point defense is particularly weird because we are blocking 14.3% of our opponents' two point attempts (32nd nationally). Shot blocking and two point defense correlate with each other so we are currently a major outlier there. Is this a fluke? Can it be fixed? Personally, I think that when Freeman is around the basket, he's a very effective rim protector but there are too many plays where he is away from the basket - the other team sets a ball screen, Freeman hedges hard, the opposing guard gets past him (often splitting bt Freeman and the screener), and now Freeman is trailing the play and we don't have anything defensively at the rim. I'd like to see us try drop coverage with Freeman on ball screens instead of the hedging.
They are forcing turnovers on 23.3% of opponents' possessions (16th in the country).
Their opponents FT Rate (FTA/FGA) is only 0.202 (6th in the country).
They are allowing their opponents to shoot 26.9% from three point range (21st in the country).
Will the turnover forcing and three point defense continue against better competition? How long will Traore be out and how devastating will his injury be to our defense?
There are also some defensive categories where we've been terrible:
Our opponents are collecting offensive rebounds on 30.8% of their misses (219th in the country) and making 54.8% of their two point attempts (279th in the country).
Both of those numbers are very disturbing when one factors in the quality of opponents we have played. The two point defense is particularly weird because we are blocking 14.3% of our opponents' two point attempts (32nd nationally). Shot blocking and two point defense correlate with each other so we are currently a major outlier there. Is this a fluke? Can it be fixed? Personally, I think that when Freeman is around the basket, he's a very effective rim protector but there are too many plays where he is away from the basket - the other team sets a ball screen, Freeman hedges hard, the opposing guard gets past him (often splitting bt Freeman and the screener), and now Freeman is trailing the play and we don't have anything defensively at the rim. I'd like to see us try drop coverage with Freeman on ball screens instead of the hedging.
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