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*****Iowa vs Indiana Game Thread*****

Freeman had the worst game of his career. Still a stud, but between whistle happy refs and over agressiveness on defense, he took himself out of game. Kelel Ware is a bad matchup for him + Indiana had a big lineup and even if he beat Ware 1 on 1, there was help defender to block shot.

Harding is great at running team, plays better defense than I expected but will get abused at times because of his size. I think he's shown enough that he deserves more PT than Boen, but woof on his shooting. I wasn't expecting him to be Pure shooter like JBO, but he's got to be able to drain an open 3 at 40 percent clip. Recently he's thrown up shots that aren't even close.

Dimbele....he ought to start over Krikke. Krikke is shooting around 25 percent from field his last 4 games....B!G competion has scouted him.
Their best group tonight was their small lineup.
 
If Fran would utilize dead balls and tv timeouts, they could play only 8 guys. He plays guys in stretches way too long.
I swear late in the second half dembele tugs on his jersey for a break. He’s playing great defense at the time and really ignited our transition game with stops and rebounds.
Fran doesn’t pull him out , then he fouls and Fran pulls him until the 4 minute mark.
Rather than play dembele with freeman Fran brings in pmac
At this point I have far more confidence in dembele’s offense than pmac’s. No reason for those rotations
 
1) Did Fran give any explanation in the postgame about why Dix was on the bench for such a long stretch in the first half? I didn't think he was in 2 foul jail but might have missed something.

2) Patrick has never been good but seems even more off this year. No energy and acts like he doesn't want to be out there. Do the kid a favor Fran and quit putting him in this situation. It's not doing him or the team any good.
 
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Freeman had the worst game of his career. Still a stud, but between whistle happy refs and over agressiveness on defense, he took himself out of game. Kelel Ware is a bad matchup for him + Indiana had a big lineup and even if he beat Ware 1 on 1, there was help defender to block shot.

Harding is great at running team, plays better defense than I expected but will get abused at times because of his size. I think he's shown enough that he deserves more PT than Boen, but woof on his shooting. I wasn't expecting him to be Pure shooter like JBO, but he's got to be able to drain an open 3 at 40 percent clip. Recently he's thrown up shots that aren't even close.

Dimbele....he ought to start over Krikke. Krikke is shooting around 25 percent from field his last 4 games....B!G competion has scouted him.
40%. lol. Look through some of iowas stats and see how many 40% three point shooters we’ve ever had.
 
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1) Did Fran give any explanation in the postgame about why Dix was on the bench for such a long stretch in the first half? I didn't think he was in 2 foul jail but might have missed something.

2) Patrick has never been good but seems even more off this year. No energy and acts like he doesn't want to be out there. Do the kid a favor Fran and quit putting him in this situation. It's not doing him or the team any good.
Dix was getting looked at by a trainer during the first half. I think he tweaked his ankle a bit.
 
I read that Sandfort said that IU came out with more energy than Iowa. I find that to be an incredible statement. Also, I don’t think that’s the first time I heard something like this from Iowa. Your back is against wall just to get on the bubble and you start the game that way? Goodness gracious.
 
No, Iowa BBall does not believe in the strength hype.
nor quick players.....we seem to gravitate towards 'pure' shooters who try their best on defense. At some point Iowa BBall needs to just emulate Wisconsin BBall if they ever want to make any deep runs in March.
 
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anyone else wondering why tf pmac was out there at the end of the game?
Yes! Many I suspect. It was both baffling and infuriating at the same time. Even my wife was questioning why "That Guy" was out there at crunch time, and he just stands out by the 3 point line. She is generally not interested in sports or b-ball, but this said a lot.
 
you mean Brock, right?
Brock is one of the few that look like they belong. I'm ok with bowen too.
Give him consistent minutes and you'll get rewarded. The pass to sandfort last night doesn't happen that often for Iowa. He misses some shots right now, big deal. It has more to do with inconsistent playing time than anything else. Shooting is about confidence as much as anything else at that level. Brock knows a missed shot or two and he's done.
PMAc/ogelsby/cmac could miss all day but all had frans seal of approval.

I would never play krikke unless the other team only had guys his height or shorter.
 
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Brock is one of the few that look like they belong. I'm ok with bowen too.
Give him consistent minutes and you'll get rewarded. The pass to sandfort last night doesn't happen that often for Iowa. He misses some shots right now, big deal. It has more to do with inconsistent playing time than anything else. Shooting is about confidence as much as anything else at that level. Brock knows a missed shot or two and he's done.
PMAc/ogelsby/cmac could miss all day but all had frans seal of approval.

I would never play krikke unless the other team only had guys his height or shorter.
I’ve really come to like Brock. I was pretty doubtful at first, and he does make some WTF decisions on shooting, but his passing is soooo good it just makes us a much better team. And his defense is sneaky and disruptive. He gets his hands on a lot of balls. (No jokes, please)

Completely agree on Krikke. It was so frustrating to watch him defend and rebound last night against bigger players. If he’s not hitting shots he’s really a negative.
 
Despite what LukaDuka thinks, I still like Desonte and I don't understand what's going on with his lack of playing time. Last night, because Iowa is so weak at rebounding and this is not the fault of Bowen's because if you watch the game, Iowa players all cheat toward the basket to help on rebounding allowing open shots, Desonte guarded an Indiana player under the basket and that left a wide open 3. Now at that time I'm not sure what defense Iowa was in, was it zone or man to man, it appeared to me that some of the Iowa players were playing man and some zone and that just can't happen. To his credit he was out there trying to play defense and cover up the lack of defense by the other Iowa players, but it wasn't long after that he was replaced to never see the court again.
Patrick is just a black hole, he just can't guard anyone and other Iowa players have to cover for him when he's on the floor. I'm so over Patrick and wish he would see less minutes, Iowa plays so much better when he' not in there. It would give more minutes to Bowen and others that deserve more playing time. No fire, no desire, and no toughness. Fran appears blind to that fact.
 
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Not a great game for the Hawks. Ware dominated Freeman and Krikke was not hitting anything. On defense, he is slow and probably has a vertical of a few inches. Dembele showed a little of what he could become on defense, very strong young man.

Not being able to run anything for the inside players left Iowa to resort to Tony and Payton trying to win playing "hero ball". It almost worked, but IU made the plays down the stretch and Iowa didn't, except for the beautiful out of bounds play. Patrick's pass might be the highlight of his career at Iowa. Disappointing loss, which just about kills Iowa's chance at finishing in the top half of the league.
 
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How does Fran look at Patricks stat line and film and think “this is fine”

Most likely the same reason parents of most athletes think their kid is better than they are. It’s just life.

Very hard to be critical of your own child as you normally only see the good.

The same reason most fans only see the bad calls against their team and not the bad calls against the opponent.
 
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I don't think Patrick knows what he is capable of doing, and chooses not to do more than kind of hang out on the court and occasionally drive toward the basket or take an open 3. He never really guards anyone, but with his wingspan, he could be a good shot blocker. If not for the cancer, I would find Fran's continuing to play him totally unacceptable. In fairness, the last few games, he has come off the bench, because Fran realizes how important Dix has become to the success of the team.
 
I don't think Patrick knows what he is capable of doing, and chooses not to do more than kind of hang out on the court and occasionally drive toward the basket or take an open 3. He never really guards anyone, but with his wingspan, he could be a good shot blocker. If not for the cancer, I would find Fran's continuing to play him totally unacceptable. In fairness, the last few games, he has come off the bench, because Fran realizes how important Dix has become to the success of the team.
He has come off the bench due to illness and injury.
 
How does Fran look at Patricks stat line and film and think “this is fine”
Just like this.
this-is-fine.jpg
 
I don't think Patrick knows what he is capable of doing, and chooses not to do more than kind of hang out on the court and occasionally drive toward the basket or take an open 3. He never really guards anyone, but with his wingspan, he could be a good shot blocker. If not for the cancer, I would find Fran's continuing to play him totally unacceptable. In fairness, the last few games, he has come off the bench, because Fran realizes how important Dix has become to the success of the team.
Your line of thinking is because he had cancer, it’s acceptable? I’m not following.
 
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Your line of thinking is because he had cancer, it’s acceptable? I’m not following.
From a purely coaching perspective, it is not acceptable. I am trying to put myself in Fran's shoes, as both a coach and a father. Fran is in a tough position. If Patrick continues to come off the bench, that is an improvement, although Bowen now seems to be the player losing minutes. and it is impacting his play. We will need Bowen the next few years, and I thought he was playing pretty well before the demotion in minutes.
 
I was talking about an unguarded open 3pt shot.
I would agree with this in theory, if:
a. you got to play consistent minutes. These guys without Fran's union card never know what will get them pulled.
b. got to attempt more than 1-2 a game.

Hard to be a consistent shoot with inconsistent pt.
 
I would guess he isn't back to 100% from his ankle yet, since he was listed as questionable for Indiana. When he is 100%, I will be shocked if he is not starting.
Hope you are wrong. Iowa is clearly a better team with Tony and Dix starting in the backcourt, and Freeman, Krikke and Payton in the frontcourt, although if Krikke continues to struggle on offense, his defense is awful. Problem is that Patrick plays little or no defense, except at the point of the press.
 
Hope you are wrong. Iowa is clearly a better team with Tony and Dix starting in the backcourt, and Freeman, Krikke and Payton in the frontcourt, although if Krikke continues to struggle on offense, his defense is awful. Problem is that Patrick plays little or no defense, except at the point of the press.
I do too. The small lineup the other night played really well.
 
I would agree with this in theory, if:
a. you got to play consistent minutes. These guys without Fran's union card never know what will get them pulled.
b. got to attempt more than 1-2 a game.

Hard to be a consistent shoot with inconsistent pt.

NBA stats I've looked at show roughly a 6% drop off in 3pt shooting percentage between a guarded 3 (2-4 ft) and and open 3. I use NBA stats because they're easier to find.

My point with Harding is for him to be a above average B1G PG, he has to be a good enough shooter to hit an open 3 at 40% clip. His blended shooting when including guarded 3's would obviously be less. Payton S. leads the team at around 39% clip. I don't expect Harding to be as good a 3pt shooter as that but I expect him to be an above average 3pt shooter,so North of 33%.

Last year we saw CMAC an absolutely terrible career 3pt shooter hit around 35% of his 3's----most of them wide open and unguarded. Harding needs to be a better shooter than CMAC was during his career.

Your point about Harding is going to have difficult time being a good 3pt shooter as a Freshman and playing infrequently is valid. However most good shoooters I've seen might not hit their 3pt shot, but it is at least somewhat close. A lot of Hardings recent shots are way off which is dissappointing. He does have a better dribble drive game than I expected given he is tiny. His passing is fantastic and his defense is surprisingly good.
 
NBA stats I've looked at show roughly a 6% drop off in 3pt shooting percentage between a guarded 3 (2-4 ft) and and open 3. I use NBA stats because they're easier to find.

My point with Harding is for him to be a above average B1G PG, he has to be a good enough shooter to hit an open 3 at 40% clip. His blended shooting when including guarded 3's would obviously be less. Payton S. leads the team at around 39% clip. I don't expect Harding to be as good a 3pt shooter as that but I expect him to be an above average 3pt shooter,so North of 33%.

Last year we saw CMAC an absolutely terrible career 3pt shooter hit around 35% of his 3's----most of them wide open and unguarded. Harding needs to be a better shooter than CMAC was during his career.

Your point about Harding is going to have difficult time being a good 3pt shooter as a Freshman and playing infrequently is valid. However most good shoooters I've seen might not hit their 3pt shot, but it is at least somewhat close. A lot of Hardings recent shots are way off which is dissappointing. He does have a better dribble drive game than I expected given he is tiny. His passing is fantastic and his defense is surprisingly good.
Harding is shooting 30% from 3. Give him steady minutes maybe that goes up. PMAC is shooting 26% from 3, and he will have no problem getting minutes.
 
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