Combination of things, like there usually is. Teams are definitely paying more attention to Wieskamp and CJ and not just losing them on offense or transition. So very few open shots. And now both Wieskamp and CJ are missing open shots that they do get. If they could get a few of them to go in, it would help. Iowa tried posting up Wieskamp a lot on Saturday with not very good results. MIssed a couple, turned it over a few times trying to get it inside to him. Basically Illinois was going to grab on screens and force the refs to call fouls. There were a flurry of fouls called in the start of the second half, but hardly any past the 10 minute mark. Kudos to Conor, Toussaint and Evelyn for knocking down some outside shots to make the game close.
JW
- Thread starter BoiseHawk1
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Combination of things, like there usually is. Teams are definitely paying more attention to Wieskamp and CJ and not just losing them on offense or transition. So very few open shots. And now both Wieskamp and CJ are missing open shots that they do get. If they could get a few of them to go in, it would help. Iowa tried posting up Wieskamp a lot on Saturday with not very good results. MIssed a couple, turned it over a few times trying to get it inside to him. Basically Illinois was going to grab on screens and force the refs to call fouls. There were a flurry of fouls called in the start of the second half, but hardly any past the 10 minute mark. Kudos to Conor, Toussaint and Evelyn for knocking down some outside shots to make the game close.
I think it's a combination of fighting through an injury of some kind, and losing confidence as a result of that injury. It's happened at least twice before, where we've found out after a season has ended that guys like Gesell and Bohannon had played through injuries.
If he is hurt I wish Fran would just come out and say he’s working through an injury which might take of the pressure off Joe. At this point there is nothing to lose trying another way of getting him out of this slump
So, he should come out and give that kind of info to Iowa's opponents so they can take advantage of his injuries, if he actually is injured, got it. It's a long grueling season, any one that's played extreme minutes is probably beat up and is just trying to get though to the end of the season.
I'm more interested to see if Wieskamp's game improves once he gets away from playing Big Ten schools. Last year he had 2 great games against Cincinnati and Tennessee.
I think the bolded portion of your post is quite accurate. The one thing many fans were worried about was how would the team respond with so many key injuries leaving a very short bench as the season progressed. It's apparent to me that players like Weiskamp has suffered significantly with the minutes played and physicality of the league. I also believe this has led to problems with his confidence. Even relatively simple basketball moves (not that much is simple in this league) seem to be made difficult by a lack of confidence. In some ways he almost appears to be thinking too much.
When Aaron Rodgers was having family issues and breaking up with his longtime girlfriend at the time, he was playing like garbage. It happens.
Why does everybody always want to rip on Joe Weiskamp? If we are gonna rip on a player, let alone a guard, why is everyone overlooking cj Fredrick? It's not hard to go back and watch replays of games and focus solely on CJ and not the ball. Despite his occasional burst of energy, CJ is more often looking slow, winded and half the time he is out of place on both defense and offense. But he's a freshmen and he has a LOT to learn, so my point isn't to rip on CJ, but rather to defend Weezy since y'all seem to always want to blame the wrong player.
Weezys shooting avg is slumped for sure. But in the big picture and the whole scope of things, he isn't anywhere near as much of a liability than CJ is. By the way, CMac gets blamed a lot for not covering defense at the last second before a shot, guess why? He's always trying to cover CJ's open man too.
Before y'all get all huffy puffy on me, go back and watch any given game yourself and focus on CJ and then come back here and tell me differently.
Edit to add: CJ's screening efforts are about the weakest I've seen from a starting Hawkeye in a long time.
Weezys shooting avg is slumped for sure. But in the big picture and the whole scope of things, he isn't anywhere near as much of a liability than CJ is. By the way, CMac gets blamed a lot for not covering defense at the last second before a shot, guess why? He's always trying to cover CJ's open man too.
Before y'all get all huffy puffy on me, go back and watch any given game yourself and focus on CJ and then come back here and tell me differently.
Edit to add: CJ's screening efforts are about the weakest I've seen from a starting Hawkeye in a long time.
This is very true. Sometimes we forget these are human beings, not robots. They're young adults trying to balance school, relationships, and high level athletics. Lots of stuff goes on in the life of an 18-22 year old, and not all of it gets compartmentalized efficiently.
The expectations of Fredrick and Wieskamp are vastly different.
Regarding CJ, I think what we've gotten from him this season has been a bonus. He's a lightly-recruited freshman (albeit, redshirt) who was not necessarily expected to play 30 minutes and score 10+ pts, per game.
On the other hand, Joe Wieskamp was a returning All Big Ten Freshman player, worthy of some NBA scouts looking at him with some seriousness, and largely expected to be the team's leading scorer this season.
I am not a big fan of celebrating losses regardless of the circumstances, but the team could have easily folded last night due to IL playing well, hostile conditions and two offensive cogs being non-factors. Joe T, Evelyn and Connor stepped up to go along with Garza's usual never say die effort. Connor and Evelyn hit some clutch shots and Connor had the stones to take the last shot which was much better than kicking it out to 1 of 2 slumping shooters.
Others have framed up JW's struggles and I agree with them. He is in a dark place right now and if I were Fran I would tell the team to take a couple days away from basketball and get their minds and bodies right. JW has less confidence than me looking for a date at the Miss America pageant. He does not have the ability to flush stuff like Connor, Joe T and Luka do. He looks like he expects bad things to happen and they are. Needs to get his mind right and his shot will follow.
Others have framed up JW's struggles and I agree with them. He is in a dark place right now and if I were Fran I would tell the team to take a couple days away from basketball and get their minds and bodies right. JW has less confidence than me looking for a date at the Miss America pageant. He does not have the ability to flush stuff like Connor, Joe T and Luka do. He looks like he expects bad things to happen and they are. Needs to get his mind right and his shot will follow.
I can't totally disagree about the expectations but CJ is a starter on the floor too. JoeT is a perfect example... We all know he can get hyper and make bad decisions but when they get pointed out, everyone just passes it off to him being a freshmen. Everyone has room for improvement, I'm just pointing out that CJ seems to fall under the radar when it comes to scrutiny and some of their gameplay is due to some of CJ's underlying mistakes. Just my opinion is all. I'm no expert on the game, I'm just pointing out what I've seen when watching him.
Because he keeps making plays for others and defense. CJ can still have an effective game when hes being face guarded. Joey struggles....He now has more turnovers on the year than assists...Not good.
Maybe because CJ guards every teams best guard or wing and still makes plays for others with his dribbling. Joe W continues to turn ball over and cant dribble...CJ is a better all around player than Joey and he deserves to take his fair share of blame as anyone else as the teams second best player. Agreed.
Joe T turns it over way too much and doesnt get ball out of his hands when Joey is open. Im just pointing out what I notice. Joey gets alot of plays for him where CJ doesnt. CJ seems to make plays for Joey and Joey doesnt seem to make plays for others like Connor or CJ does.....Just pointing out what I have seen.
I don't think he cares one bit about being "second fiddle" to Luka. Confidence is a very fickle thing for an athlete. Try doing any sport when you're not. Anyone who golfs knows all about this.
500 percent agree...don’t just completely blow! This lets me know that it’s beginning or is a head issue with him.. something has gone wrong up there due to rebounding, hustle and playing tough D being “will” things and not just a “skill” thing.. not sure how long Fran can leave him in there hoping he just magically snaps out of what is ever going on..
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