Iowa vs Illinois....Underwood's message to Iowa (it worked today)

[joelbc1]

What you have to like about rivalries is when they are competitive, they are nasty...and today's game was certainly that. Coaches and team send messages to each other and Coach Underwood sent one today. Underwood's message I believe was, that as good as you think your guy is, my "second guy" is better!
All season the battle for B10 POY has been a controversy between Ayo Dosunmu and Luka Garza......today Coach Underwood is telling anyone who listened is that Luka may be good....but my center Kofi Cockburn, is every bit as good as Luka and better, if I need him to be. He sent that message early and often in today's game. Iowa could not stop Cockburn, they really had no answer....Today Underwood's strategy worked.
Just my observation.

 

[walleye hunter16]

What you have to like about rivalries is when they are competitive, they are nasty...and today's game was certainly that. Coaches and team send messages to each other and Coach Underwood sent one today. Underwood's message I believe was, that as good as you think your guy is, my "second guy" is better!
All season the battle for B10 POY has been a controversy between Ayo Dosunmu and Luka Garza......today Coach Underwood is telling anyone who listened is that Luka may be good....but my center Kofi Cockburn, is every bit as good as Luka and better, if I need him to be. He sent that message early and often in today's game. Iowa could not stop Cockburn, they really had no answer....Today Underwood's strategy worked.
Just my observation.

IF he is given the opportunity to dictate the game.
He is even more of a bull in a china shop than Garza.

 

[Big Hawk D-Port]

I hate to say it but he looked better today. He looked like Shaquille O’Neal out there.

 

[Pepperman]

I hate to say it but he looked better today. He looked like Shaquille O’Neal out there.

he sure had a lot of easy points early. I think 2-3 dunks in 1st half or maybe even first 12 mins?

this is a legit “complaint” about Garza in some ways. He will gladly take 21 shots in a game, making just 8 and then hitting 6-7 FTs such that he gets 23-24. What if 4-5 of those FG attempts were kicked back out to some really excellent guards? That’s Illinois,

 

[iahawks10]

Luka is better than Cockburn (now). Unfortunately, Ayo is way better than anyone Iowa can throw out 2 or 3, but Illinois is good in their best 2 or 3 options. Curbello is a great 3rd option too.

Cockburn is more important to Illinois’ success than Ayo is IMO.

 

[HungryHawk]

Psh...Kofi didn’t even have a double double.

 

[24 so far]

What you have to like about rivalries is when they are competitive, they are nasty...and today's game was certainly that. Coaches and team send messages to each other and Coach Underwood sent one today. Underwood's message I believe was, that as good as you think your guy is, my "second guy" is better!
All season the battle for B10 POY has been a controversy between Ayo Dosunmu and Luka Garza......today Coach Underwood is telling anyone who listened is that Luka may be good....but my center Kofi Cockburn, is every bit as good as Luka and better, if I need him to be. He sent that message early and often in today's game. Iowa could not stop Cockburn, they really had no answer....Today Underwood's strategy worked.
Just my observation.

They have a decent backup to Cockburn, since Nunge is out we don't. So you go at Garza who you know can't foul. Simple.

Where's my cut of the money for knowing Underwood's strategy before the game started?

 

[BBHawk]

When they call it like they did today yes, Cockburn can score and defend. Let's see how that works in the NCAA Tournament.

 

[Pepperman]

Psh...Kofi didn’t even have a double double.

Picking up sarcasm (I think) but isn’t that also the point? Perhaps that’s what you mean too... Kofi has such tremendous guards he doesn’t have to score so much. Although I guess today he lacked RBs.

 

[retrodent]

I hate the bumping the defender to the rim. Should be a charge called for the violent repetitive bumps. Or just one bump allowed

 

[HoustonREDHawk]

Probably the two best centers in the country. They are different players, but both really good. The B1G might have half of the top 10 centers in the country this year.

 

[CadeHawk]

If they call 3 seconds or hell even 5 seconds in the lane on Kofi he would have had 1/2 his points. If they called all the fouls he committed 1/3 of his points.

 

[BBHawk]

I hate the bumping the defender to the rim. Should be a charge called for the violent repetitive bumps. Or just one bump allowed

Bumping is one thing. Cockburn was kneeing Luka and in his cylinder on almost every defense. That should have been called but this reffing crew was horrible.

 

[TheRealHerky]

The type of contact around the basket that was allowed to occur the entire game, along with the suspension of the three second rule, greatly favored the brutal style of Cockburn vs. the finesse game of Garza.

 

[24 so far]

Probably the two best centers in the country. They are different players, but both really good. The B1G might have half of the top 10 centers in the country this year.

In my mind there is no question that they do (granted I haven't watched the entire country every game). Garza, Cockburn, Dickinson and Jackson-Davis were first team all Big. Then you have Tre Williams, Liam Robbins and Myles Johnson. That's a pretty good crew of Big Men.

 

[BirdistheWord]

I dont recall very many games where 1. Opponent did not double Luka and 2. Their Center was able to, for the most part neutralize Luka's inside game

Due to #1, we did not get many open 3's and due to #2, Luka's conversion rate and ability to draw fouls was severely muted

 

[denmar81]

Fvck Kofi and Brad Cheat’n Underwood.

 

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

Cockburn had at least two extra fouls on Garza with his f***ing hip ride, but the officials didn't want to "interject themselves" into the game.

Sadly, I don't think we'll get to see Cock burn have to deal with that in the tournament either (unless we play them again) because I don't trust officials even outside the Big Ten to call these displacement fouls correctly.

Highly unfortunate @Fighter of the Nightman

 

[kwik44]

What you have to like about rivalries is when they are competitive, they are nasty...and today's game was certainly that. Coaches and team send messages to each other and Coach Underwood sent one today. Underwood's message I believe was, that as good as you think your guy is, my "second guy" is better!
All season the battle for B10 POY has been a controversy between Ayo Dosunmu and Luka Garza......today Coach Underwood is telling anyone who listened is that Luka may be good....but my center Kofi Cockburn, is every bit as good as Luka and better, if I need him to be. He sent that message early and often in today's game. Iowa could not stop Cockburn, they really had no answer....Today Underwood's strategy worked.
Just my observation.

Probably not. Numbers aren't close for one. Next, has Kofi ever taken a jump shot - any range - in his career?

 

[tippet1]

What you have to like about rivalries is when they are competitive, they are nasty...and today's game was certainly that. Coaches and team send messages to each other and Coach Underwood sent one today. Underwood's message I believe was, that as good as you think your guy is, my "second guy" is better!
All season the battle for B10 POY has been a controversy between Ayo Dosunmu and Luka Garza......today Coach Underwood is telling anyone who listened is that Luka may be good....but my center Kofi Cockburn, is every bit as good as Luka and better, if I need him to be. He sent that message early and often in today's game. Iowa could not stop Cockburn, they really had no answer....Today Underwood's strategy worked.
Just my observation.

He was dominant because Iowa did a poor job with help side defense on the ball screens. They also did a poor job on doubling down on Kofi. They were either late or soft on the doubles. When Kofi catches, he is not passing it out. Kofi has shown he struggles with doubles if they are aggressive and on time.

 

[Hawksfor3]

Bumping is one thing but Cockburn was thumping. When he bumped (thumped) Luka, it was like throwing a block into him. Not surprised Luka was gassed.

 

[Hawksfor3]

Probably not. Numbers aren't close for one. Next, has Kofi ever taken a jump shot - any range - in his career?

For those who think Kofi is better than Luka, he does not have the moves Luka has around and under the basket. And as you've said, he doesn't have an outside shot. His game is setting screens and being a brute force under the rim. He finally realized he's 7' tall and weighs 285.

 

[longliveCS40]

Cockburn is great but Luka got double teamed many times he touched the ball. Iowa didn't have the luxury to double Cockburn.

 

[Rambler Hawk]

Cockburn is great but Luka got double teamed many times he touched the ball. Iowa didn't have the luxury to double Cockburn.

sometimes even tripled...Our best option was Murray to help out and Cockburn probably had about a 100 lbs advantage on KM... We just had no answer besides Josh O and he actually did well in limited action.

 

[Aleksei]

What you have to like about rivalries is when they are competitive, they are nasty...and today's game was certainly that. Coaches and team send messages to each other and Coach Underwood sent one today. Underwood's message I believe was, that as good as you think your guy is, my "second guy" is better!
All season the battle for B10 POY has been a controversy between Ayo Dosunmu and Luka Garza......today Coach Underwood is telling anyone who listened is that Luka may be good....but my center Kofi Cockburn, is every bit as good as Luka and better, if I need him to be. He sent that message early and often in today's game. Iowa could not stop Cockburn, they really had no answer....Today Underwood's strategy worked.
Just my observation.

Garza gets double and triple teamed in every game. I wonder if Kofi would have gotten as many easy looks if we had put more attention on him defensively. Having said that, he is good. Half way thru the game I was thinking Garza and the other kids should smile and be more expressive after they score or after a great defensive play. TV cameras love those moments and we saw a lot of shots like that with ILL players as our kids looked more subdued.

 

[Kurt Warner]

Didn't cockburn suck the first time we played them? I don't really remember him doing much at all. Today he looked like a totally different player

 

[Sett1997]

I hate to say it but he looked better today. He looked like Shaquille O’Neal out there.

How is his jump shot and three pointer? He's not even on the same planet as far as an around player like Luka is.
When allowed to commit 15 fouls a game, yeah, he looks pretty bad ass.

 

[RocknRollface]

If they call 3 seconds or hell even 5 seconds in the lane on Kofi he would have had 1/2 his points. If they called all the fouls he committed 1/3 of his points.

Thats a legit point, zero 3 seconds called and you could call it nearly every time down on Kofi. There were some possessions that were agregious.

Other than that, we can't cry about him being bigger and stronger than Luka. He did to Luka what Luka does to most people.

 

[joelbc1]

The type of contact around the basket that was allowed to occur the entire game, along with the suspension of the three second rule, greatly favored the brutal style of Cockburn vs. the finesse game of Garza.

In defense of the refs.....when was the last time a 3 sec call was made in the normal ebb and flow of a game? Big guys stay in the lane as long as they are able.....Not saying it is alright to do so...just saying players do what they are allowed to do....I remember a couple of 3 sec calls back in 1969 tho...

 

[RocknRollface]

Didn't cockburn suck the first time we played them? I don't really remember him doing much at all. Today he looked like a totally different player

He looked great today because Iowa played man defense.

The previous 3 meetings Iowa has played mostly zone.

The book is out on Iowas man defense now. Put Luka in a screen every time.

Today was the perfect example of why it will be very difficult for Luka to stick in the nba. Screen defense. He just can't move quick enough.

If you have a great guard like Ayo and a big athletic guy who can finish on the roll its really tough for Iowa to defend with Luka on the court.

Its why Fran started going back to zone some this game.

 

[RocknRollface]

In defense of the refs.....when was the last time a 3 sec call was made in the normal ebb and flow of a game? Big guys stay in the lane as long as they are able.....Not saying it is alright to do so...just saying players do what they are allowed to do....I remember a couple of 3 sec calls back in 1969 tho...

Usually its only called when the action is directly focused on the guy in the lane.

 

[joelbc1]

Didn't cockburn suck the first time we played them? I don't really remember him doing much at all. Today he looked like a totally different player

He got into early foul trouble and sat out much of the first half I believe....Underwood is another coach who, if you get 2 fouls in the first half, you are sitting...

 

[CyberJJ]

I hate the bumping the defender to the rim. Should be a charge called for the violent repetitive bumps. Or just one bump allowed

interesting as there were some obvious displacements yesterday, yet that is also part of Luka’s game using his size and strength to back players down. The real strength of his game is establishing early deep position, but he “bumps his way down” often too.

 

[joelbc1]

Usually its only called when the action is directly focused on the guy in the lane.

Honestly, when was the last time 3secs was ever called? A guy damn near has to break a leg in the lane to even be noticed..I have seen it called a couple of times this season in HS and maybe 4 or 5 times on TV...The rule was made when no one had big men...it was the George Milan rule originally...and George played a long, long time ago..

 

[kwik44]

Honestly, when was the last time 3secs was ever called? A guy damn near has to break a leg in the lane to even be noticed..I have seen it called a couple of times this season in HS and maybe 4 or 5 times on TV...The rule was made when no one had big men...it was the George Milan rule originally...and George played a long, long time ago..

Not sure how much you have watched, but Luka has been called a couple times this year, maybe one or two more I missed.

 

[joelbc1]

Not sure how much you have watched, but Luka has been called a couple times this year, maybe one or two more I missed.

Well then, he needs to move out..I honestly just can’t recall it ever being called..but I an
M sure it is...

 

[Johnsoda123]

What you have to like about rivalries is when they are competitive, they are nasty...and today's game was certainly that. Coaches and team send messages to each other and Coach Underwood sent one today. Underwood's message I believe was, that as good as you think your guy is, my "second guy" is better!
All season the battle for B10 POY has been a controversy between Ayo Dosunmu and Luka Garza......today Coach Underwood is telling anyone who listened is that Luka may be good....but my center Kofi Cockburn, is every bit as good as Luka and better, if I need him to be. He sent that message early and often in today's game. Iowa could not stop Cockburn, they really had no answer....Today Underwood's strategy worked.
Just my observation.

My observation was the announcers were saying Coburn because they didn't want to say Cock burn.

 

[icwesthawk]

That is how it's pronounced

 

[Hawkfan_08]

Garza's all around game is better than Kofi but Kofi is still an elite player.

 

[joelbc1]

My observation was the announcers were saying Coburn because they didn't want to say Cock burn.

You sound like my brother...