I was going to say the same thing. Harding is the best passer we’ve had since Horner. Might end up being a better passer. I’d say Connor was probably 3rd.
It’s been a problem for awhile now. Joe T was always getting taken out as well. I was hoping Bowen would improve enough to take over the role and I think Fran was as well. I don’t know if Fran is to hard on his pt guards in particular or what.
So far. In fairness, Harding is a true freshman. I hope both will be lot better the next couple of years.
I won't complain about Joe T getting pulled. Excellent on-ball defender but just never seemed to figure it out offensively.
Well he definitely has this year. Having a great season at TT.
Good for him - maybe he just found a system that worked better for him.Well he definitely has this year. Having a great season at TT.
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Hey LukaDuka. Honestly how many years have you been following Iowa Hawkeye basketball. You joined the forum in November, what's up with your distain of Harding.
Always good to have concrete goals; “Patrick, we need 7 rebounds per game or more from you, every game”
I was really surprised read cbs article saying how he’s one of the best in pick and roll and hitting mid range jumper. Plus great ft %. Yeah joet made some plays with Iowa very head scratching. I think he having the job not having to look over his shoulder if he goes to the bench has to help.
Yeah, I dont think it helped that Fran knew he had Jordan and Connor right there who understood how to execute his offense perfectly; and as per usual he was willing to sacrifice defense for offense.
I've been followng the Hawks since the 70's. I don't have any distain of Harding per se. I hate the way you and a couple of others put the kid on a pedestal and crown him the second coming & the savior of the Hawkeye program. The irrational exuberance is crazy talk. He had a great HS career, but not sure he deserved the best basketball player in Illinois over Freeman & probably a dozen others in Chicago that would wipe the floor with him. He's had one very good game so far, against less than mediocre non power 5 team. He rushes shots, gets trapped dribbling too much. But he's only a freshman & he's going to need to play through mistakes, i get that.
It's just too bad you live on the other side of Iowa and had never seen Brock or Owen play. Moline High School came into existence around 1904 and has been fighting an uphill battle against Chicago and suburban teams since the twenties with very few times reaching state. They have had some great players such as Bill Seaberg, whose number 22 was retired and is now being use by Patrick, Steve Kuberski and outstanding center that went on to play many years with the Boston Celtics, Scott Thompson who was a Iowa team captain during the mid 70's, Ace Earl who was an outstanding center at Iowa during the early 90's, but team success at the state level was never achieved until last year. As you have said there are so many great players in and around Chicago that it is just impossible to overcome the talent and athleticism that come from there. But last year we did just that! So yeah, we from here are very high on Brock and Owen and rightfully so.
At the moment it sure looks like our most effective lineup.
Yup, and usually it's pretty clear which version we will see very quickly.
I'm gonna root for both, but there isn't a lot of minutes this year for either one, especially when Pmac is healthy and starting in what amounts to one of the guard spots. Perkins and Dix need to garner the lion's share of the available minutes at the guard spots, and yes, I know neither is a real point guard, but they bring the scoring, defense, and rebounding that this team needs.
Btw, I grew up in central Iowa & went to college in north west Iowa. Lived in KC, Chicago & now sunny San Diego America's finest city. Loved the Holiday Bowl victory over USC, their fans are Nebraska like.
Momma? I learned this fun fact from the great Ron Burgundy.You shouldn't bring your momma into this.
Iowa's backcourt is as good as it has been in a very long time. Problem remains the interior defense. Freeman and Dembele were getting called for breathing when a Goofer drove tonight, but they are the only hope for interior defense on this team. Good that Krikke is critical on the offensive end. We can only hope that the Mac's decide Patrick is going to be Iowa's spark off the bench, or he eats into minutes by our guards, since he is effectively a 6-9 perimeter player (where he hangs out).
With all due respect to Harding who definitely has some talent, the team has performed much worse when he's been on the floor this season, at least in the games against quality opponents. "Pure PG" or not both the offense and defense have been less effective when he is on the floor compared to our other options at guard (Dix, Perkins and Bowen). He's quick, has vision/anticipation (although he has also had significant turnover problems at times this season) and I think his shooting will come around. But I'd rather he get fewer minutes for the time being.
You're opinion is well noted, it's just that you're opinion doesn't agree with mine, but Fran is still the man that makes the decisions.
I have tracked every meaningful possession against high major competition (+Arkansas State and North Florida) and when Harding is in the game, we score 0.97 points per possession while allowing 1.18 points per possession. When he is out of the game, we score 1.19 points per possession while allowing 1.10 points per possession. The sample size is 232 offensive possessions and 234 defensive possessions with Harding in the game and 539 offensive possessions and 547 defensive possessions with Harding out of the game. These are the worst overall differentials of any of our rotation players. For comparison, when Dix is in the game, we score 1.15 and allow 1.10 points per possession. When the Perkins + Dix backcourt combination is used, we score 1.18 and allow 0.93 points per possession. So it's very reasonable to want more minutes for Dix and fewer minutes for Harding, based entirely on how the team performs when each player is on the court.
