Well, that certainly looked like we might be heading for a bad loss early on, but Fran got it sorted out and hit the right buttons. An impressive win at the end of the day.
My high level thoughts:
My high level thoughts:
- In general I think Iowa's zones get better as the season goes on, as more of the roster understands the rotations. At the start of a possession the rotations are scripted and obvious, but as the offense progresses (starts to reverse the ball, uses skip passes, screens the top of the zone, gets the ball into the paint) then the rotations are less obvious and you rely on experience and instinct to quickly diagnose where you need to rotate. This is tough for new players in particular.
- I love it when Connor can get to the FT line area. Not a huge fan of his 3's unless they happen with under 10 seconds on the clock, and not a huge fan of the one legged fade away 15 footer either. But when he gets into that area it forces his defender to guard him and he is so strong that he can withstand the defensive pressure and just has so many passing angles available to him.
- Garza still running away from double teams without being able to see behind him where the open player is. This is still a problem imo. He needs to face up immediately rather than wait and look over his shoulder. By waiting and keeping his back to the rim he is limiting his options to just running away with the dribble. Either drop step into a fast hook shot, or turn and face like Sikma and see where the 2nd defender is coming from. The 2nd defenders guy (Connor most often) should be flashing to the opposite block, forcing another player's guy (Wiskamp or CJF most likely) to help on the cutter. Thus, if Wiskamp or CJF move when their guy helps, either they or Connor should be open. We hit them about 4% of the time, so defenses never have to pay for this tactic.
- Bohannon air bricked his first 3, but seems not to have fazed him lol. Good shooting night - you could tell he went into "heat check" mode when trying to prove to his defender that he couldn't lock him down late in the 2nd half. Tried to shake him for a 27 footer lol, and that defender was pretty big and athletic. Kinda funny. Kinda.
- Want to give credit to Wieskamp for being a bit more physical on his dribble drives in the 2nd half. The baseline shot he made required him to jump INTO the defender and he took a shot to his hip, but made the shot. He often tries to avoid that contact and then runs out of room for his shot. He needs to keep LOOKING for contact, especially since he's a good FT shooter.
- Patrick was a bit more effective on offense in this game and showed flashes of what I think he is showing in practice, at least until he missed those two runners across the lane
. I loved his activity level. - Nunge sure looks like he's just games away from being more consistent from the arc and from the block in terms of scoring. He had a great post move and then seemed to flip it up on the glass rather than powering into the final shot. He's CLOSE.
- Keegan had a break away dunk where he separated from a smaller athletic defender at half court just with his athleticism, and then had his great full court drive at the end of the half. Those 2 plays alone just LOOK like a future NBA player in terms of the athleticism, body control, basketball IQ and skill level. Covers so much ground so effortlessly and under control!
- In May I posted that on film he looked like a Top 100-150 player, but he's looking more and more like a Top 50 level guy.
- Kris Murray got in late and made a great move for a score - he moves JUST like his brother, I think he just prefers attacking the rim more.
- In May I posted that on film he looked like a Top 200 player, but I have a sneaky suspicion he may play like a Top 100-150 player when we get a chance to see more of him. [crosses fingers]
- Since I started these posts I've said my favorite lineup (not necessarily starting lineup) is Connor, CJF, Wieskamp, Keegan and Garza. I still think that is true as it is the best mix of offensive and defensive efficiency imo, even with Bohannon shooting better.
- First, here's a look at my grade for all the defensive possessions that led to the 19-9 deficit:
- C Man to Man - Garza switched with CJF on a screen, then tried to switch back off the ball but gave up a wide open 3. FAULT: GARZA (BAD TIMING - NOT CLOSE ENOUGH TO DO THIS PROPERLY)
- B Man to Man - Semi-Contested 25 foot 3 pointer rims out
- C Man to Man - Semi-contested 23 foot 3 pointer is off; foul on Garza on the rebound FAULT: CJF (NOT TIGHT ENOUGH ON CLOSE-OUT)
- F Zone - Baseline defender takes ball when it goes to the wing. Top of zone defenders (Connor, CJF) both come to ball soon after that, to allow baseline defender to return to baseline. One of them tries to recover to top of zone but is screened (JaBo) and Maryland hits a deep wide open 3. FAULT: CJF (OVER-ROTATING IN THE ZONE)
- TIMEOUT
- C Man to Man in transition - Post feed and post goes baseline, is shoved out and has to pass to a player for a wide open baseline 3 that was missed. FAULT: CONNOR (LOST TRACK OF HIS GUY).
- C Man to Man - Player drives from baseline to middle on Wieskamp and hits a fairly easy 10 footer FAULT: WIESKAMP (NOT TOUGH ENOUGH ON THE DRIVE)
- B Man to Man - Horrible post past from Maryland is a turnover.
- C Man to Man - Connor gets back doored on a denied dribble handoff at the top of the arc. Bohannon helps but is too small. Easy 4 footer. FAULT: CONNOR (BACK DOORED)
- D Man to Man in transition - Garza misses a 3 on a pick and pop, both defenders who flew out at his shot release and the rebounder hits the lead one for an easy layup. FAULT: CJF (LATE IN GETTING BACK FROM WEAK SIDE WING)
- F Man to Man - Wiskamp lets his guy blow by him for a easy 4 foot shot even with Garza stepping in. FAULT: WIESKAMP (ALLOWING DRIBBLE DRIVE WAY TO EASILY)
- D Man to Man - Wiskamp lets his guy blow by him again, forcing CJF to help from wing. Ball gets kicked out to CJF's guy who moved when CJF left him for an easy 3. FAULT: WIESKAMP (ALLOWING DRIBBLE DRIVE WAY TO EASILY)
- TIMEOUT - JOE T and PATRICK come in for CJF and WISKAMP
- A Man to Man in transition - Joe T strips ball, Connor hits him for layup
- C 2-3 Zone - Missed wing 3 off of Garza contest. Connor initially blocks out but then doesn't go for the ball. Easy 4 footer. FAULT: CONNOR (NOT FINISHING THE REBOUND)
- B 2-3 Zone - Missed 15 foot jumper at the FT line
- TV TIMEOUT - KEEGAN and NUNGE COME IN FOR BOHANNON AND GARZA - CONNOR MOVES TO POINT
- After reviewing those possessions, here's my take of what didn't work:
- The defense wasn't as horrible as it seemed, but I think Fran really wanted us up on their shooters as he didn't think they could beat us inside. There seemed to be a lack of getting up on them so we gave up a few shots by just not being tight enough, and then we had a few cases of getting blown by on the perimeter where we just we're physical enough to keep the ball handler from turning the corner (Wieskamp). Perhaps some cases of not communicating as well (screens, switches). I think sitting Wieskamp and CJF for the rest of the half was a good move.
- The combination of lack of intensity and the man to man defense didn't work well. It was probably split 50/50 between the personnel and the scheme imo.
- My impression of what did work:
- The 2-3 zone was much better. We extended up top and at the wings, giving up some of the 15 footers, but that was about it. After we went to the 2-3 zone the perimeter 3's and layups were very hard to come by.
- The personnel in the 2-3 zone, especially when we had Patrick, Joe T, Keegan, Nunge and Connor in the game, made it extremely hard for Maryland.
- Nunge covers WAY more ground in the zone than Garza does. He was rotating out to the wing at times. He's also a better shot blocker near the rim. It was impressive actually.
- Patrick and Keegan are LONG and cover a lot of ground in the zone. With this lineup we had an ultra quick guard at the top, and then 3 players at 6'5", 6'9" and 6'9" who can cover a lot of ground in the zone. Add in Nunge as I mentioned, and this group just locked them down. This is a HUGE difference if you compare the same zone with CJF, Bohannon, Garza and Wieskamp.
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