He didnt want to talk about offense and basically said bad shooting had nothing to do with the game they lost to NW by 14. He blames their loss entirely on their readiness and defensive performance. When was the last time we heard Fran go off and rip into the defensive effort after a game?
Izzo's presser
- Thread starter jonesy5960
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After the Gonzaga game when asked about why the team abandoned the zone and went to man-to-man. Fran said "because our zone defense was horrible" or something like that.
Obviously, you aren't a Fran fan, because Izzo's press conferences have zero to do with Fran or Iowa basketball. Fran answers questions pretty damn directly. We lost to the top-rated team in country by 11, when we couldn't throw it in the ocean from 3, and now you are looking for someone to vent on.
Iowa's defense, especially in transition does need to get better if we want to win the B1G. We also need to complete each defensive stop with a rebound, which was a huge problem against the Zags. The Hawks are not the only team that will look bad on defense against them.
Yesterday.
I actually am a Fran fan. He has built an elite offensive team. I like this team a lot and still think it's got a great shot at a deep run this year but a lot of that is because they have a generational offensive force in Garza. I want Fran to be successful and to be successful you need to model success. MSU and Wisconsin are consistently good over the last 10 years and at the end of almost every year they rank near the top of the league in defensive efficiency. Iowa's defense hasn't been subpar the last several years. It has been terrible. Bottom of the conference bad. They don't need to be the best but they can't be bad. Everyone knows that Iowa doesn't have the athletes that some other teams have, but a lot of defense and rebounding has to do with emphasis, effort and preparation. If a player is getting beat down the court during the game he probably needs to sit. If he is continually out of position on defense he probably needs to sit. If someone is continually losing out on 50/50 rebounds he probably needs to sit. IMO the attitude and the emphasis around defense needs to change for Iowa to be consistently successful not just for this year, but going forward. It starts from the top and if Fran can find a way to up the defensive intensity with this team there are no limits.
He did not. He answered one question about why did he go to a man to man and he responded because the zone was terrible, which it was. It was not a point of emphasis. He spoke at length about the bad shooting night they had and how good Gonzaga was. None of this is incorrect. They did shoot bad and Gonzaga is very good but defensive let downs were not in any way a point of emphasis in his remarks.
Iowa doesn't need great defense to win a title this year. They just can't play bad defense.
Defense is never Fran's emphasis. That's the whole point. A good defensive team CANNOT be cultured and achieved without continuous teaching and emphasis. There is no other way.
Not a hater here. Love Fran's offense and thouroughly enjoy this team. But Fran's philosophy is what it is. Most coaches would be insulted to be called an "offensive coach". But Fran readily admits to being just that. The D will improve some over the course of the season. But it will never be great. Just going to have to keep outscoring people.
And please stop mentioning the rebounding people. Rebounding is almost completely a RESULT of defense. NO team can rebound effectively when their opponent is constantly in the lane. It's not about scheme. It's not about help and rotations. Actually GUARD the guy in front of you. Move your feet with proper angles and anticipation. Keep your man from penetrating and breaking down the defense and everything else will pretty much take care of itself
Not a hater here. Love Fran's offense and thouroughly enjoy this team. But Fran's philosophy is what it is. Most coaches would be insulted to be called an "offensive coach". But Fran readily admits to being just that. The D will improve some over the course of the season. But it will never be great. Just going to have to keep outscoring people.
And please stop mentioning the rebounding people. Rebounding is almost completely a RESULT of defense. NO team can rebound effectively when their opponent is constantly in the lane. It's not about scheme. It's not about help and rotations. Actually GUARD the guy in front of you. Move your feet with proper angles and anticipation. Keep your man from penetrating and breaking down the defense and everything else will pretty much take care of itself
I am getting to sensitive about the defense thing. I apologize. I think overall we will have a pretty good year. But I have given up on Iowa playing anything close to even average defense.
So what you're saying is you would be happy to lose every game as long as we were the best defense team in the conference and only the 7th best offensive team. Some people are never happy. Bet you're a perfect husband and father. All your kids must be straight A students???
Sorry, I just get tired of all the bitching and we're only #3 in the nation.
Yeah. That's what I said. I would be happy if Iowa lost all their games but played the best defense in the conference. And no, I'm sure I'm not the perfect father or husband. I will leave that to you. My kids are close to straight A's so I'm proud of that.
You know what I get tired of? People who don't try to understand what they are commenting on. If you're going to reply to a comment that you are quoting you should read it first. Take a moment to understand it and then, if you like, provide a response that has some modicum of truth or logic as opposed to some emotional blatherings about the person you're responding to. Your reply was devoid of the former and heavy on the latter.
Almost all rebounds are made below the level of the rim. Being a good rebounder has far more to do with effort, positioning, and timing. Positioning can be worked on, I'm not sure effort and timing will change much. They are both pretty intrinsic.
Considering MSU would have still lost if they made their average 3 pointers and FTs, and Iowa could have won by 10 if they had hit their averages, not a comparison
I think you're wrong about that but you're missing the point anyway. This isn't about one game. Izzo is a first and foremost a defense minded coach. He understands that shooting success is to a great extent related to the skill and effort put in outside of the game itself. Some games shots just aren't falling and there is little from a coaching or player perspective that can fix that. It has little to do with the effort on the court. That is why he places so much emphasis on defense. That's the culture they have there whether he has a group of gifted defensive players or not. You play tough defense or you don't play. Iowa fans complain about MSU's style of defense all year every year. Iowa is an elite offensive team but that alone likely won't win a championship. There is a reason Iowa is near or at the bottom of the conference defensively the last several years. Iowa doesn't have gifted defenders but I believe they can play better defense if Fran sets that expectation for everyone in terms of playing time. Can't have players getting beat down the court or being out of position on defense consistently and leave them on the floor. That's not going to win a championship which I believe this team has a great chance at achieving.
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We were #3, not anymore. Maybe fan's that want better defense are the best fans because they want the team to live up to its potential. Maybe you are a poor fan, because you don't give a chit. Whatever is posted on this board has zero effect on the outcome of this season.
I don't know that it's actually contagious. Defense of the opponent is certainly a factor by taking away what a team likes to do but players simply have on days and off days when it comes to shooting. Some days there are more players having on days vs off days and vice versa. It's just the nature of shooting. JBO has only had one "on" day this year so it wasn't really a surprise that he wasn't shooting well. He took a third of the 3 point shots in the game and he hasn't been a good shooter this year in any game but one. Weiskamp shot it well. Garza shot well but he's been "on" in every game but one. Garza and Fredrick have been the 2 best 3 point shooters on the team and they took only 5 of the 22 tries. Credit Gonzaga with taking that away pretty well. Frederick didn't really shoot that much after Fran pulled him early in the first half so he never really got into a rhythm.
One thing jonesy is right about, shooting will come and go, but defense can be pretty much the same every game. I actually think the zone had been pretty good this year, before the Zags destroyed it. Man-to-man defense is not going to be a strength for Iowa, because the other top teams are generally more athletic, at least among our starters. Against the Zags, I think CJ sitting much of the first half had a huge impact on the game. He would have been the best match up against Suggs, who I think is one of the best freshman guards I have ever seen (and I've been watching BB for a long time). Transition defense was awful against the Zags, and hasn't been very good in most games against quality opponents in years.
With respect to rebounding, Luka can carve out space, often in a good spot, but he can't go get them outside of that space. Weesy is pretty good at cleaning up on the defensive end, but that isn't enough to keep a team like the Zags off the boards. When we had gotten the game under 10 down with a maybe 6 or 7 minutes left, there must have been a half dozen Zag possessions where an offensive boards led to open 3s or lay ups. Sometimes it looked like the Iowa players had concrete shoes the way they didn't react to the ball. That has to get much better. I love the way some of the freshman go after rebounds, but they still have other parts of their game that might not be ready for big minutes.
Good thing we have an elite offense. JBo needs to get it going, and I would be looking to get him started early against Purdon't.
With respect to rebounding, Luka can carve out space, often in a good spot, but he can't go get them outside of that space. Weesy is pretty good at cleaning up on the defensive end, but that isn't enough to keep a team like the Zags off the boards. When we had gotten the game under 10 down with a maybe 6 or 7 minutes left, there must have been a half dozen Zag possessions where an offensive boards led to open 3s or lay ups. Sometimes it looked like the Iowa players had concrete shoes the way they didn't react to the ball. That has to get much better. I love the way some of the freshman go after rebounds, but they still have other parts of their game that might not be ready for big minutes.
Good thing we have an elite offense. JBo needs to get it going, and I would be looking to get him started early against Purdon't.
He gave credit to the other team. And if Iowa hits their open shots at the rate they normally do, Iowa wins. That simple.
