Solid win, always feels good to beat those guys. They'll beat some of the other contenders before this is over.
Hope you guys are enjoying the season!
- Good to see Bohannon playing at a high level again. The action with he and Garza in transition was BEAUTIFUL on both ends. The help defense on that lob is not in position in transition as the rest of Iowa's players are spotting up on the perimeter so defenders are first finding them before deciding who should sag into the lane to help against Garza. This leaves a few seconds for a lob pass and Bohannon SPRINTING up the court got him in position to throw that during that short window. Awesome stuff. (His 14 assists to 0 turnovers was amazing, as was his shooting, but I did think his pass to Keegan was a turnover on him not Keegan who never had control, but I guess that's the benefit of being a Senior and not a freshman haha!)
- Bohannon had 7 boards although many were not spectacular, but I did see him getting into great help position inside and finding guys to block out. He'll never be a great defender, but if he's active like this it makes up for a lot of it. It seemed early in the year he was more like an orange traffic cone, but now he's more like a traffic cone on skates who has hit the weightroom and is willing to at least fight you for the parking spot.
- I see on advanced stats (doesn't have today's game yet) that 84% of Bohannon's shots are from 3. If you weighted his shots by distance it might be more like 95% lol. Anyway, I do like his quick flip off the glass when he does penetrate where it gets to the glass before a 6'6" guy can send it out of bounds. Reminds me of his shots against Cincinnati I think in the NCAA's where he hit a couple of key shots inside the arc. For the record, Jok shot around 50% of his shots from 3, Oglesby about 80%, and Bawinkle 100%.
- I noticed in Iowa's zone that every time Garza had to run out to guard the baseline, that Robbins was left on the block with Connor or someone behind him. Minnesota's guards never even looked inside so they didn't take advantage that I saw. To me this can be exploited by teams against the zone - just run 4 out and 1 in and reverse the ball and you should get a mismatch inside unless Garza and Nunge are both in.
- Nunge had 10 rebounds and is very strong running the court and covering ground in our zone. He's still missing shots he should make (open 3's and that bunny inside today), but he's ever so close. Hit a big baseline jumper today though. Fran said on the radio that he has the potential to be the best big man in the Big 10 before he leaves, and it's his job to get him there.
- Robbins looked good at times today, and showed how good his shot blocking is early in the game. However, Garza just man handled him much of the time. He defends like he relies on his shot blocking too much and not enough on positioning and hard work. He has a nice half hook inside on offense, and is working on his face up jumper, but his positioning with his feet against a guy like Garza will take a lot of work. If he's to get to the NBA he has to make up ground on his outside shooting and his inside position on defense - I thought defensively he's more of a liability footwork wise than Garza if they both went to the NBA right now.
- If you were to bet in Vegas who would be the best college big guy in their senior season, Liam Robbins or Jack Nunge, who you taking? I personally would be taking Nunge as I think he moves better, is slightly stronger already, and is more skilled with his 3 pointer, mid range, and post game. He makes some good post moves, but isn't finishing yet. He will turn middle and then counter drop step and it looks GREAT but then instead of a strong left handed shot it's a bit of a flip shot - he did this today and at Maryland. If he can get more stable with that shot and just start making the shots in games he hits in practice, he'll average more points next year than the 13 ppg Liam Robbins is getting this season.
- I'll give Joe Wieskamp more credit for getting busy inside off of dribble penetration today. He's still not very effective yet, but if he keeps going in strong he will start to finish better and get to the FT line. He played better overall today, although I'm going to watch more of him on defense to see how consistently he keeps guys from driving by him and forcing other players to help. Thought I saw it today again but will need to watch more consistently. Had a nice 15 foot jumper going today and was 3/3 from 3.
- Joe T is still an enigma hidden in a Russian Doll and wrapped in origami paper. He's like a Gatling gun in the old west where you just feel like you need to use it but often its just not practical. For all of his quickness he often has to settle for 15 foot jumpers that he's not hitting, or high degree of difficulty reverse layups at full speed. If anyone needed a jump stop in the paint it's him
I think we keep working him in and there will come games down the line where he'll win a couple for us when our less athletic guards are having trouble on either end. - Garza did reverse pivot in the mid-post (8 feet away from the basket on either side) and look for a cutter today (I mentioned wanting him to do this in previous posts), but imo he missed Connor both times I saw it. Is Connor not capable of finishing that, or is Garza not capable of hitting him? I have yet to see a Garza to Connor assist for an interior score despite Garza getting doubled 20 times a game and 14 of those coming from Connor's guy (making those numbers up for effect!). He did hit Connor once but it was after he moved to the porch (baseline 12 feet out) and he attempted an awkward jumper that missed, so it doesn't count
- I keep watching these games actually looking forward to the bench players more than the starters, haha. Does that make me a degenerate? Keegan had a quiet game by his standards, but was still very active. Not sure you have to sit a bench player when they get 2 fouls though, seems unnecessary especially when his twin is available if he fouls out Patrick is playing better as well - like his activity on defense running around in the zone and his offensive rebounding. Clearly likes to attack the basket. His jumpshot is streaky but in advanced stats he is 2nd on the team in FT rate (FT attempts as % of FG attempts) with 45.2% compared to Garza's 45.3%. So he's attacking the rim and getting fouled, basically, and considering Garza goes to the line A LOT it's kinda impressive he's that close. Just nees to shoot better than 68%.
- Other advanced stats:
- Keegan leads the team in STEAL % at 4.8%, with Joe T right behind at 4.7%.
- Keegan leads in Block % at 8.4% with Nunge at 6.3% and Garza at 6.1%.
- Nunge leads in Total Rebound % at 17.7% with Garza at 15.0% and Keegan at 14.9%.
- Joe T leads in Assist % at 28.8% with Connor at 27.2% and Bohannon at 22.3% (should go up after this game!)
- Garza leads in Effective FG % at .680, with CJF at .640 and Keegan at .636. (Bohannon .560, Joe W .540, Nunge .484, Patrick .468, Connor .429, Joe T .404)
- Garza leads in PER Player Efficiency Rating at 43.2 with Keegan at 28.9 and Wieskamp at 22.5
- Garza leads in Points Produced (scored, assisted, etc) at 272 with Wieksamp at 151 and Bohannon at 120
- Garza leads in Win Shares per 40 minutes at .372 with Keegan at .252. Everyone else is between .084 (Joe T) and .203 (Nunge). Wieskamp is at .200, CJF at .164, Bohannon at .138 and Connor at .134.
- Joe T leads in Turnover % at .23.6, with Connor at 20.9 and Bohannon at 15.6. This is a PG heavy category in general.
- Garza leads the country in:
- Points
- Points per game
- Points Produced
- 2 Point FG's
- Offensive Win Shares
- Win SHares
- Offensive Box Plus Minus
- Box Plus Minus
- Player Efficiency Rating (PER)
- Blows to defenders heads using head or elbow
Hope you guys are enjoying the season!
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