Is our defense better or is it the competition?

[perryhawk]

It seems like the last two quick teams that are supposed to be good three point shooting teams, have not played so well against us. I know that they missed some open shots, but it seemed like our defense did a much better job.......we did not have as many break downs, or completely missed assignments.

I remember last year in particular we seemed to leave someone open near the basket two or three times a game.....we just seem to be more on top of our assignments and our connectivity between players this year.

We will find out about our defense in the next few weeks.....but for now things look better. That said, I am not a good judge of defense.

 

[hooper56]

My answer would be our defense is better but we have to see it against better teams to know for sure. We didn’t look too shiny vs DePaul.

 

[perryhawk]

My answer would be our defense is better but we have to see it against better teams to know for sure. We didn’t look too shiny vs DePaul.

Agree 100%......IF, big IF, we can keep playing decent defense, limit turnovers, keep up the good rebounding, and then start to hit shots at a reasonable percentage I think we could be okay....but the better competition will tell us a lot.

Depaul hurt, but it could have been what was needed to get the concentration in practice on the defensive end of the floor.

 

[walleye hunter16]

Both. They haven't played anyone real tough short of DePaul thus far but they are clearly doing a much better job of communicating on the defensive end.
Disappointed to see Nunge get hurt, he needs the court time to build more confidence. He has some tools but somehow he has to get PO'd and go get his. He showed a little of that today but there is a lot more there is he lets it come out.

 

[perryhawk]

Both. They haven't played anyone real tough short of DePaul thus far but they are clearly doing a much better job of communicating on the defensive end.
Disappointed to see Nunge get hurt, he needs the court time to build more confidence. He has some tools but somehow he has to get PO'd and go get his. He showed a little of that today but there is a lot more there is he lets it come out.

Agree on Nunge......he had two good games in a row. Was on his way to a third when he tweaked his knee going down. Hopefully it's a slight strain and he gets back to action and continues to have success.

 

[hooper56]

DePaul shot the dang lights out and I am not sure it was all due to horrible defense. Hopefully it was an anomaly.

 

[ICWestfan]

TTU you is coming up and you'll know all you'll need to know after that game. As posted earlier, the next 7 games will tell you all you need to know.

 

[Hawksfor3]

.but for now things look better.

I agree that things are better. We're doing a better job of closing up the lane. We just need to be quicker to react to shooters on the wings. The 3/4 court press is looking good.

 

[SSG T]

Add on Kenpom is about 4 pts per 100poss better than last year. However, their rating is about 15 lower than last year.

For reference, their AdjO is down about 7pts, but their rating is 12 higher.

So, the nation, as a whole, is better on defense this year. Or maybe everyone is worse on offense.

 

[SSG T]

Oh, and they're actually playing a bit faster this year, but have a lower rating for tempo, so everyone sped up. Which is a good thing, because boring Bo ball is boring.

 

[Hawksfor3]

Bo ball is boring.

Absolutely!

 

[nu2u]

This is the first game I have been able to watch the Hawkeyes this year.

It appears that CJ Frederick and Joe Toussaint will be major upgrades on the perimeter. Did not see enough of Bakari Evelyn to assess his impact.

Garza had a few bocks today. IDK it could have been the competition but his footwork looks improved and he appears a bit quicker. With Nunge back in the line-up I will be surprised if Iowa does not have quite a few more blocked shots this year.

I expect it to improve but the defensive rotations and switches are slow and leaving open shooters far too often. Its early, could be a communication / chemistry issue that will work itself out.

I'd like to see more zone defense and - I doubt it will happen - full court pressure occasionally or, in the alternative, a more aggressive 3/4 press.

 

[RocknRollface]

It seems like the last two quick teams that are supposed to be good three point shooting teams, have not played so well against us. I know that they missed some open shots, but it seemed like our defense did a much better job.......we did not have as many break downs, or completely missed assignments.

I remember last year in particular we seemed to leave someone open near the basket two or three times a game.....we just seem to be more on top of our assignments and our connectivity between players this year.

We will find out about our defense in the next few weeks.....but for now things look better. That said, I am not a good judge of defense.

Our defensive personnel is improved, specifically CJ and Joe T vs JBO and Moss. That's a significant difference.

Kriener for Cook is also a big upgrade defensively. Hes pretty good at cutting off drives when someone gets beat.

We can play man more effectively now.

Garza has improved his screen defense and we are having him stay lower on the screen vs trying to hedge. This works ok because our guards are now big enough to fight through the screen, where as JBO doesn't effectively get through.

We'll still probably have to hide Garza in a zone against the good teams.

 

[RocknRollface]

DePaul shot the dang lights out and I am not sure it was all due to horrible defense. Hopefully it was an anomaly.

It was not due to bad defense. Atleast the first three fourths of the game.

Most of the 3s they hit were long shots and decently defended. We weren't getting beat by penetration much.

They did get the ball inside against the zone with some good passes.

 

[TheTruthTheWholeTruth]

Add on Kenpom is about 4 pts per 100poss better than last year. However, their rating is about 15 lower than last year.

For reference, their AdjO is down about 7pts, but their rating is 12 higher.

So, the nation, as a whole, is better on defense this year. Or maybe everyone is worse on offense.

Possibly due to the 3 point line moving back? I haven’t heard one way or another whether 3 pt% is down this year.

 

[crstuff]

It's both. Keep your head up, may only win 1 game the next Couple weeks.

 

[L. Wade Childress]

Cal Poly was 14th nationally in 3pt% coming into the game per KenPom.

 

[Hawkfan_08]

Oh, and they're actually playing a bit faster this year, but have a lower rating for tempo, so everyone sped up. Which is a good thing, because boring Bo ball is boring.

Unless you are Wisconsin/Virginia and winning.

To the rest of America- boring...

 

[SDHawkDoc]

Defense looks better on the perimeter, but really hard to say if it's going to hold up against quality competition.

The good news is we won't have to wait long to find out.

 

[Pepperman]

3-pt line moved back so that explains all NCAAM defensive scores looking better

 

[HawkTex]

TTU you is coming up and you'll know all you'll need to know after that game. As posted earlier, the next 7 games will tell you all you need to know.

Yep!

 

[The Deplorable Sleeping Dog]

Let's give C McC some credit as well. Thus far, except for that DePaul game, Connor is giving us good defensive play. CJF and Joey T are going to become a very good pair of defenders.

 

[HoustonREDHawk]

Defense seems better. On the perimeter, I think CJ is a more aggressive defender than Moss, and both JoeT and Evelyn are solid defenders off the bench. Because of the improved perimeter defense, the interior defense is better. Guards aren't breaking us down as often, and our bigs still aren't quick enough to be good help defenders. I'm still not sure what we can expect from Nunge going forward. The next few games we will definitely find out more. Is Nunge's injury minor?

 

[Hawkeyes4Life32]

I was glad we got to see a little bit of joe T and CJ playing together today. The energy they bring to the defensive end is something we have been missing for quite some time. Fredrick had his hands in passing lanes all day and Joe T did a nice job on the defensive boards. I hope Nunge has a speedy recovery but if he does end up missing some time I really hope Fran puts Joe T into the starting lineup. We have enough length that playing smaller in exchange for his quickness will help us against most teams.
The lineup of:
Joe T
CJF
Weezy
CMac
Garza

Should give us plenty of options to score and have sound perimeter defense. Kriener and Garza are definitely going to need to learn how to play together consistently if Nunge does miss time. Kriener has been solid the last few games after a slow start and I like him as a rim protector who can pound the glass and does have the ability to score down low.

 

[perryhawk]

Our defensive personnel is improved, specifically CJ and Joe T vs JBO and Moss. That's a significant difference.

Kriener for Cook is also a big upgrade defensively. Hes pretty good at cutting off drives when someone gets beat.

We can play man more effectively now.

Garza has improved his screen defense and we are having him stay lower on the screen vs trying to hedge. This works ok because our guards are now big enough to fight through the screen, where as JBO doesn't effectively get through.

We'll still probably have to hide Garza in a zone against the good teams.

That’s a really good point about Garza not hedging... I missed that until you just mentioned it. That’s a big deal in terms of Luka running out, trying to help get a stop on the perimeter (foul trouble) and hustling back to defend the post (not quick enough) and giving up a shot at the rim.

 

[DodgerHawki]

Oh, and they're actually playing a bit faster this year, but have a lower rating for tempo, so everyone sped up. Which is a good thing, because boring Bo ball is boring.

KenPom at this point of the season is still impacted by pre-season ratings. At some point in the non-con it becomes all based on this year's results, so we'll see some adjustments then. The teams Iowa has defeated so far are not good. North Florida and Oral Roberts are in the 160s, Cal-Poly and SIUE are in the 320s.

As others have said, Iowa will find out what it has here over the next few weeks.

 

[go-hawks37]

Kriener and Garza played very well together last year. Not to worried about that.

CJ, Joe T and Connor appear to be upgraded defensively. Maishe in the second group was a very good perimeter defender with length. That will be missed.

 

[Ihawkhoops]

I think the best defense for Iowa is a good offense. Move the ball, work the shot clock and get good shots. Iowa hasn't been great defensively as we all know, but it's been a bit more manageable in the half court than when teams run primary and secondary breaks and Iowa gets disconnected. This usually results in a dunk or a wide open 3. Limit these freebies and I think Iowa can stay in some games. Try to play fast and Iowa can expect DePaul results.

 

[Eternal Return]

The D wasn't the big problem against DePaul (though it wasn't good, either), it was the offense. DePaul's athleticism was noticeable--none of Iowa's guys could get open and they looked hurried and slow at the same time. DePaul "frenzied" them into a ton of turnovers and got a lot of points getting Iowa guys scrambling to switch. DePaul's athletes just locked down Iowa's offense, cut off passing lanes, hounded ball handlers, and basically just whipped Iowa's ass in every way possible. Texas Tech has similar athleticism (at least they did last year) so we'll see if Iowa's improved at all, but I won't believe it until I see it.

 

[SSG T]

KenPom at this point of the season is still impacted by pre-season ratings. At some point in the non-con it becomes all based on this year's results, so we'll see some adjustments then. The teams Iowa has defeated so far are not good. North Florida and Oral Roberts are in the 160s, Cal-Poly and SIUE are in the 320s.

As others have said, Iowa will find out what it has here over the next few weeks.

Oh, I agree. When everyone was saying how tough SIUE was, I was trying to point out that they're pretty bad, because they are. None of the teams they've beaten is good...none of them.

 

[HoustonREDHawk]

Lot of new faces at Tt, but as long as they keep their coach, they are going to be a very good team. This will be one of the tougher teams Iowa plays, probably the toughest outside the B1G.

 

[perryhawk]

Comparative scores and comparing teams against who we've played isn't a good analysis for a lot of reasons....but it's a lot of what we have right now. We will have a lot more in the next few weeks.

That said, our defensive effort vs Cal Poly seemed to be stronger than what Creighton did with them (86-70 I think) vs (85-59 Iowa).

That said, I realize Cal Poly could have been more tired against the Hawks, injuries, etc....style of play....

I just know that after watching that game I feel better about where Iowa is at. I believe that this Iowa team has improved quite a bit since the Depaul game...I also believe that we have to make more steps forward against these higher quality teams to be close to where we want them to be.

Honestly, at this point I don't expect them to beat TT, I am simply hoping that we are competitive. Then keep improving at a pace like it appears we have since the start of the year. If that happens I think we could still have a decent season.

For those that want to jump on this type of reasoning: "We can't be satisfied with mediocrity" etc etc....save it. I am not satisfied. I want us to be a strong team that going into a game with TT, that's what I think we should be. Regularly in the top 25 and often times a team that has to be considered a threat to beat anyone. That said, I know that we lost a lot from last year....most of it unexpected. If we had our guys back from last year it's pretty easy to see that we could be a strong team.......Moss instead of Bakari, JBO running the point and hitting 3s.....not to mention if Cook was our PF...but they left.

 

[ZumaHawk]

That’s a really good point about Garza not hedging... I missed that until you just mentioned it. That’s a big deal in terms of Luka running out, trying to help get a stop on the perimeter (foul trouble) and hustling back to defend the post (not quick enough) and giving up a shot at the rim.

It seems to me I still see Garza hedging and working his butt off to get back and defend his man. It's not all the time but it seems to happen. When he doesn't hedge things are waaay better.

 

[Jizzer]

CJF is about 10 x's the better defender that Moss was for starters. I love Bohannon's shooting, but Defensively he's been on the average side of things. I don't think it's a coincidence that we have been better defensively, by those two things alone.

 

[Iowa210]

Defense is better but still bad. Good Big Ten teams are going to have their way with the Hawks this year.

 

[Jizzer]

Defense is better but still bad. Good Big Ten teams are going to have their way with the Hawks this year.

Yeah, but those good big ten teams will have their way with everyone's defense.

 

[David1979]

The defense has been pretty bad. 125th or something like that on Ken Pom. But the offense has been great.

 

[srams21]

Oh, I agree. When everyone was saying how tough SIUE was, I was trying to point out that they're pretty bad, because they are. None of the teams they've beaten is good...none of them.

North Florida is a decent low major team.

They lost to Florida by 15, us by 15, and Creighton by 9.

 

[SDHawkDoc]

The defense has been pretty bad. 125th or something like that on Ken Pom.

I'm not a guy that likes to watch defensive dogfights; I stopped watching most big ten games during the time when they were playing first to 50 wins.

But, the D does still need to improve significantly. They're no longer the 242nd "best" defense in D1. That's a positive. But 125 is still at or near the bottom of the B1G. They need to get themselves into the top 75 or so on D without a big drop off on the other end of the court. It's a matter of those few extra stops in a game that could get them over the hump.

 

[Mohawkeye]

I was glad we got to see a little bit of joe T and CJ playing together today. The energy they bring to the defensive end is something we have been missing for quite some time. Fredrick had his hands in passing lanes all day and Joe T did a nice job on the defensive boards. I hope Nunge has a speedy recovery but if he does end up missing some time I really hope Fran puts Joe T into the starting lineup. We have enough length that playing smaller in exchange for his quickness will help us against most teams.
The lineup of:
Joe T
CJF
Weezy
CMac
Garza

Should give us plenty of options to score and have sound perimeter defense. Kriener and Garza are definitely going to need to learn how to play together consistently if Nunge does miss time. Kriener has been solid the last few games after a slow start and I like him as a rim protector who can pound the glass and does have the ability to score down low.

I like this idea as well. So long as we aren't playing a team with a lot of size, I think CMac can guard a 4 and it give us a lot of ball handling as well. Heck, CMac is even hitting the 3 this year, if he can keep that up and hit that short jump shot like he did against Cal Poly then he will be a tough match up for most 4s.