After watching Gonzaga game, here are my thoughts on both teams. I know it’s early, but I can’t foresee either team winning the national championship. The Zags are not nearly deep enough. Payers logging big minutes will take its toll over the season. As for Iowa, it’s pretty obvious. They are a defensive disaster. They may improve, but not national championship caliber. The mentality of “We will outscore our opponents” doesn’t bode well against good teams. When you compare there defense to say Baylor, it’s like watching 2 teams at entirely different levels. Toussant deserves more playing time. He brings that mental toughness we lack on both ends of the floor. His 2nd half vs. the Zags is indicative of how he can impact a game. Yes, this a special Hawkeye team, but in reality, I don’t believe a team than will win the national championship. Fun to watch though when they are shooting a high percentage.
National championship thoughts
- Thread starter bumper52
- Start date
Aside from Baylor (if not Iowa or Gonzaga) who CAN you see winning a national title?
It's all about who is clicking come March. It's almost impossible to pick a national champion in December. Iowa has the talent to compete with anyone. So do a lot of teams.
One thing we know for sure: Iowa is deep and has a lot of experience. That's usually a winning formula.
I have heard numerous times from the talking heads that the backcourt wins games in the tournament. With that being said, we are not winning the national championship, UNLESS, Joe T gets a majority of the minutes. He can actually play some sort of defense against the other teams PG, he can break his man down off a crossover unlike JBO. I cringe watching JBO bring the ball across halfcourt, as he back he man down and does a slow spin to change direction. It's a matter of time until players come off their man to help on the backside and pick his pocket every single time. But I also thought that leaving his shoes in Ames was an incredible douchy thing to do and really haven't thought much of him since then. Go ahead and bash me......
Good defensive teams have a much better chance of surviving a bad shooting night. The Gonzaga game is a good example what happens when you don't shoot well and can't play defense.
I think we are going to be greatly disappointed by the final results of this team. They don’t have the defensive effort figured out (yet again) and teams are going to double Luka from now on. I’m strictly guessing 4-6 losses in the B1G and perhaps a sweet 16 appearance. Hope I’m wrong as it’s the best team we’ve had in a long time... I don’t want it to end in disappointment but I’m prepared for it.
just beat Purdue tonight please!
just beat Purdue tonight please!
I totally agree on the shoe thing. Thought it was dumb then and even more now. If an ISU player had done the same thing he would be crucified on here till the end of time. People still butt hurt about Niang blowing kisses as he walked off the court. Obviously last year he was hurt but so far from what I've seen this year he doesn't look like the same player we saw 2 years ago because like it or not if he's not making shots he's more of a liability than asset on the floor.
They’ve already started. In fact they don’t even send a second defender they just scout it and the defender is beating him to his spin which is why he looks so flushed with the ball all the time. It’ll for sure be a be an adjustment Fran will have to commit to if he doesn’t want it to be detrimental.
I think if people are in the camp of final four or bust they’ll be VERY disappointing. But you have to follow the math and it’s pretty clear that S16 would be a good year Elite 8 a great year for this squad. I think to the final four we’d flat out need some luck as most teams do.
That probably depends on ones expectations. A lofty ranking from the start and Garza kind of lift those expectations. I think anything less than a Sweet Sixteen appearance would be dissapointing, and anything after that would be gravy. The Big Ten is always pretty tough, so several losses is to be expected. IF this team shoots well it does have the ability to win the whole thing, I think even a poor showing of 4-22 from 3 against a Gonzaga team that will be in the mix proved that. We go 8-22 we win that game, and that is realistic because that isn't great shooting ( they both sucked at the free throw line so that's a wash).
Our Defense is going to force us to shoot at least Average against good teams or we most likely lose, but we knew that going in.
That's true. And the crazy thing is they had an off shooting night against the #1 team in the country and still put up 88.
I know our ranking and our experience laden team have folks dreaming and discussing National Championship stuff...but talk about unfair expectations.
Would an Elite Eight appearance (rarely happens at Iowa) really be disappointing to the bulk of us? I mean it’s been a bit since we can look forward to watching the Hawks the second weekend of tournament.
Having whined about all that...I think this teams floor is Elite Eight this year, if they’re clicking that time of year.
Would an Elite Eight appearance (rarely happens at Iowa) really be disappointing to the bulk of us? I mean it’s been a bit since we can look forward to watching the Hawks the second weekend of tournament.
Having whined about all that...I think this teams floor is Elite Eight this year, if they’re clicking that time of year.
I totally don't care about the shoe thing. Heated rivalries bring out that sort of thing, like the opposing Coaches putting their hands on our players...........
JBo needs to be better, pretty sure he knows that. Time will tell if he's able to be.
Agreed. Iowa hasn't been to the Sweet 16 since 1999 and people on here are acting like it's a fait accompli that Iowa makes it that far and even an Elite 8 would be disappointing to many. Any loss in the NCAA tournament is disappointing. That's the whole point. It means the season is over. The players on the current Iowa squad were in diapers or not even born yet the last time Iowa made it to the second weekend of the tournament. Even if Iowa were to get a 2 or 3 seed in the tournament (not a given) there will be plenty of tense moments to get out of the first two games.
That may even be optimistic. A team is going to have a bad shooting night maybe one night out of every four. Against good teams (all tourney teams are good teams) a bad shooting night combined with bad defense spells curtains. So that scenario could happen in tourney game #4, or #3, or #2, or yes, even in game #1
Let's also remember that shooting success is not an independent event. Good teams with good defenses
can turn a good shooting night into a mediocre or bad shooting night.
I'm afraid the inescapable truth is that without a concentrated and immediate emphasis on defense/rebounding, this season will be a huge disappointment. The players obviously don't want that,
but sadly, a change will have to be initiated by them. Fran has shown that he won't.
At this point, Villanova would be highly considered. As far as JBo is concerned, we all know he is not a true point guard. When he is tightly defended bring the ball up, he struggles painfully. Whe he is pressed to expend a lot of energy, it greatly affects his shooting. Bring him off the bench, run some sets for him, and he’d knock down some threes. We all saw what a game changer he was 2 years ago. But that was before hip surgeries. He needs fewer minutes. His role needs to be simplified.....hit a couple of threes and get us back into the game or put this one out of reach.
I’m all for more Joe T at the expense of Bohannon but it’s just going to bring different complaints - specifically Toussaint is often out of control. That said he does bring excellent defense and the ability to penetrate.
This unfortunately is where my head is at. Right or wrong, I have a 'believe it when I see it' mentality toward this season. I've been alive for too many seasons across basketball and football where Iowa teams wet the bed when they're at the brink if sustained greatness. If this team pulls through and gets to the final four, I'll be open to any and all ridicule.
I’m not preaching at either one of you here. I do hope the fan base enjoys the season as it goes too! There’s a ton of fun associated with being ranked so highly and playing in big games. I myself am trying to slow down and enjoy the journey and not pin it all on NCAA tournament results.
Sweet 16 is a reasonable goal. Iowa is capable of going deeper than that, but a lot of it is luck of the draw. Iowa could get an easy bracket and cruise to the national semis, or it could end up in a tough one and struggle to get to the second weekend.
More than anything else, I would love a B1G regular season championship. A FF or a Naty are waaay out there IMO.
If the Hawks can't claim the regular season crown, the B1G Tourney or the Sweet 16 would be great too.
If the Hawks can't claim the regular season crown, the B1G Tourney or the Sweet 16 would be great too.
This team is capable of winning the NC. So are about 20 other teams. Timing and matchups.
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