I hope Fran does not jump to Dix at PG too early. We need to give Harding and Thelwell every opportunity in the early games to show how the team functions with them as the primary ballhandlers. Dix is a much better off guard.
*****Minn-Duluth vs Iowa Game Thread*****
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He was third on the team in total assists last year just 2 assists behind Payton. That was with by far fewer minutes.
Yes and I also said he didn't have a great night just an OK night. Pay attention.
D2 competition. Own it, biotchYes and I also said he didn't have a great night just an OK night. Pay attention.
No.
I thought Brock was fine. Didn’t press his game. He needs to hit his 3s but not sure why people are so eager to criticize him.
Sandfort looked great on offense and terrible on defense. Surprised Traore and Thelwell didn’t get more minutes.
Dix is a legit All Big player. Freeman will dominate lesser talent. Pryce is going to be a great 6th man spark.
Looking at the boxscore, I’m guessing the new guys are having a difficult time not turning the ball over. That won’t win you minutes. Conversely, Dix and Payton each played over 30 minutes with a combined 8 assists without a TO. That’s a good sign moving forward.
Fair enough, but against D2 team. You know I'm comin out of the gate after IllQCHawk hyping him. Gotta balance it out. If he's starting pg for a D1 Big10 team, he's gonna get the criticism. He's in the brightlights/big leagues now. Not Moline Maroon.
BirdistheWord
HB Legend
BirdistheWord
HB Legend
He led the team in assists, blocks and steals. Did shoot poorly though.Fair enough, but against D2 team. You know I'm comin out of the gate after IllQCHawk hyping him. Gotta balance it out. If he's starting pg for a D1 Big10 team, he's gonna get the criticism. He's in the brightlights/big leagues now. Not Moline Maroon.
To be fair, Duluth was a VERY GOOD team. Highly rated in D2.
No.
Of the 13 scholarship players, 12 played.
Minutes
33: Payton
31: Dix
27: Harding
26: Freeman
21: Dembele
15: Pryce
14: Koch
11: Traore
9: Thelwell
9: Brauns
1: Kingsbury
1: Mulvey
0: Tadjo
......................................
200 Total Available
==============
True.
Not sure what they will be ranked to start this season but on March 10, 2024 they were ranked #10 in the country.
| RANK | SCHOOL | RECORD | POINTS | PREVIOUS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nova Southeastern (Fla.) (15) | 27-2 | 399 | 1 |
| 2 | Minnesota State | 29-2 | 381 | 2 |
| 3 | Gannon, Pa. | 29-2 | 358 | 3 |
| 4 | Northwest Missouri State (1) | 27-4 | 355 | 4 |
| 5 | Fort Lewis, Colo. | 28-3 | 337 | 6 |
| 6 | Colorado Mesa | 27-4 | 295 | 5 |
| 7 | Charleston, W.Va. | 27-4 | 275 | 12 |
| 8 | California, Pa. | 27-4 | 274 | 8 |
| 9 | West Texas A&M | 26-4 | 271 | 7 |
| 10 | Minnesota Duluth | 25-6 | 227 | 9 |
With this years team, what choice does he have? He wasn't very successful in the portal or recruiting a competent pg this year. It will be interesting to see how Ulis does at Nebby this year.
Fran said he forgot to play him.
I heard either Jess or the announcer say that they are expected to win their conference this year.
Wow, they must be really really good.... Out of 18 teams, They'd finish 20th in the Big10
Maybe the school needs a new sport like rowing.
Oh wait- The women have that.
Ok, I went to the game and I'll give you my impression on what I saw. First off, neither point guard looked great, Thelwell looked worse. Freeman was the same as last year, he was decent to good, but saw no improvement in any other aspects of his game. Dix and Payton showed they haven't lost their shooting touch. Dembele if he never shot another 3 pointer, that would be a plus for Iowa, they have enough 3 point shooters and going forward Iowa needs rebounding and Ladji spends way too much time floating out beyond the 3 point line. Iowa needs someone to help Freeman with the rebounding and I was disappointed at what I saw tonight. If Freeman is going to be the main rebounder as Iowa's tallest playing player, this team is going to be a very pour rebounding team. If Fran thinks Even Braun's is going to provide rebounding, well that's laughable at best. Cooper Koch is going to be a good one, but as a freshman, needs a lot of gain weight, he's not a go to rebounder but has a descant 3 point shot, time will till. I thought Seydou Traore could be something special, very athletic, but is not as tall as Iowa needs him, another 2 or 3 inches taller would be more useful. Pryce is remarkable physically improved, especially in the upper body. Now as far as Riley is concerned good for Fran to allow Mulvey the opportunity to stick around for 4 years to get his degree, Riley seems very content on riding the pine and providing high fives, if that's your thing, ok. Not good enough to play and help Iowa with rebounding as the tallest player on the roster is disappointing to me, but it is, what it is. My impression of Iowa going forward this year is this. Rebounding is going to be a struggle, defense is going to a nightmare, and if Iowa has to rely on the opposition to suck on offensive to win games, this team is far from making the NCAA tournament. Just an exhibition game against a D2 opponent, but was not impressed with the strides this team needed to take going forward. 31 games to go, not looking good.....disappointed at this point.
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Settles is a terrible announcer for Iowa. His exaggerations are just awful.
Brock looked bad tonight. As bad as he has played. He thrives in pick and roll and he didn’t get those looks tonight.
Way to tell one of your players fu. Fran is terrible at managing a game.
Who knows if this will continue but here was the top 9 in the rotation:
Starters:
Harding
Dix
Payton
Dembele
Freeman
First 4 off the bench:
Traore
Koch
Thelwell
Pryce
Starters:
Harding
Dix
Payton
Dembele
Freeman
First 4 off the bench:
Traore
Koch
Thelwell
Pryce
BirdistheWord
HB Legend
So he's all Big10 in your eyes? Please....
Yeah, that’s what I said. He’s All B1G.
JFC. I was just pointing out some positives (the blocks was somewhat tongue in cheek as he tied with one) and negatives.
That's what struck me. Felt like Brock wasn't in a position to succeed tonight running the offense. Disappointed he missed those open 3s. Those need to go down. Had a couple nice hustle plays though.
Also disappointed Tadjo didn't get in. But it felt like the game was never comfortable enough to put 5 bench guys on the floor at once. Definitely not the game Fran was hoping for. If Tadjo doesn't see the floor in the home opener I'll get concerned about bench minutes.
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BirdistheWord
HB Legend
Yeah it’s alarming in that we couldn’t blow out a D2 team and also the players that subbed ahead of him.
Payton Sandfort on Iowa's 102-81 exhibition win over Minnesota Duluth:
“We were just too casual tonight, especially early. But credit to them. They’re a really, really well-coached team. They play really hard. They’ve got guys that could be playing at Division I programs and win a lot of games. Taking nothing away from them. We’ve got to bring it more. In practices, we’ve had that intensity. I’m a little bit disappointed in the effort tonight. But it’s something to clean up.”
“We were just too casual tonight, especially early. But credit to them. They’re a really, really well-coached team. They play really hard. They’ve got guys that could be playing at Division I programs and win a lot of games. Taking nothing away from them. We’ve got to bring it more. In practices, we’ve had that intensity. I’m a little bit disappointed in the effort tonight. But it’s something to clean up.”
Thanks for the candid report. I missed the exhibition.
I am taking last nites performance with a grain of salt. So many times I have highly ranked teams struggle out of the gate with inferior opponents only to turn it on as season goes on.
I was hoping Tadjo would stand out as an elite athlete but some grace has to be given to guys adjusting to a new level.
Let's give them some time.
Talent-wise, this game looked like a really good D2 team against an above average D2 team.
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