Podcast with Sherman Dillard

[HellaHawk]

I really enjoyed the podcast with Sherman Dillard. You should all listen, but I thought I'd summarize what I learned and open it up for discussion.

Rotation:

• He thought a rotation of nine players was about right. Wouldn't surprise me if we had a larger rotation in preseason and narrowed to nine in the Big Ten.
• Competition for playing time among the newcomers is wide open. We can speculate all we want (and why not it is fun) but doesn't seem like the coaches know right now as practice just started.

Moss:

• Compared his skill set to a shorter Scottie Pippen
• Said that he was a bit behind because of not being here in the summer but thought he was talented enough to make it up.

Flemming:

• Very confident player. Thinks he is the best player on the Court and was launching 35 foot threes in practice (Kingsbury-esque), but needs to work on shot selection.
• Hard worker. Sherman saw him in the gym late just the other day.

Hutton:

• Very tough defender but also needs to work on defensive technique (which I'm sure is true of all the freshman).
• Sherman explained that teaching technique can slow players down because they have to think about what to do so whey they really learn it well can just do it by instinct is when they get really good.

Wagner:

• Strongest player on the team, but a bit undersized for a 4. Sherman said he was a legit 6'6 though.
• Sherman thinks he can compensate for being a bit undersized with really good footwork near the basket.

Jones:

• Great shooter (which they knew) but also a very good rebounder (which surprised them). So far he is leading the team in rebounding in practice.
• Needs to work on his defense, but is eager to learn.

Williams

• Compared his skill set to Devyn Marble. The difference is that Marble came to campus with a lot of confidence even though at the time he couldn't really shoot. Didn't say that Williams lacked confidence but seems like that is something he needs to work on.
• Williams is a legit 6'7. This is interesting because he is listed at 6'6 whereas Wanger is listed at 6'7. Yet, Sherman suggested that Williams is taller.

Ellingson

• Wasn't directly asked about him but noted that the players may look different when they implement more of their sets. The implication I think was that Ellingson is probably a player that has difficulty getting his own shot (like Ogelsby) but perhaps is most like to knock down a 3 coming off of a screen.

 

[perryhawk]

I just listened to it and that is a pretty good review.

 

[CanadaHawk]

Nice summary Hella. Couple of other things that stuck out for me. According to Coach Dillard, he would be "very surprised" if Uthoff doesn't average a double-double which includes 15-18pts/game.

Dillard felt that the biggest challenge of the coaching staff this year will be to juggle minutes because they have a lot of balance without a lot of separation among the newbies. Positively, he sees a "higher level of competition" in practices than in years past.

I came out of listening to this thinking that, as it stands now, we might see a top 5-6 guys with a big gap in minutes between them and everyone else. On the stat sheet, this means that unlike teams in the past, we might see few if any guys with their average minutes in the teens. That's if no one separates themselves from the pack among the newbies.

 

[WORTHYWISH]

Fleming did look pretty good/confident in the one practice video I saw.

 

[NevadaHawk]

Fleming did look pretty good/confident in the one practice video I saw.

I listened to the podcast and came away very impressed with Coach Dillard and his strong background. He has quite the basketball journey.

 

[hansenhawk]

Still not sure Ellingson will ever crack the lineup, although Fran did love him some Oglesby.

 

[ping72]

Wait...so he said Flemming was our best player?

 

[jerbob36]

I listened as well after you posted this, and glad I did. Fun to hear the background on the bow ties, and also learn a little bit about the mind of Fran. Great summary, BTW.

 

[SSG T]

Wait...so he said Flemming was our best player?

I read it that Dillard said that Fleming thinks he's the best on the court. As long as it stays under control, I like that attitude.

 

[DanL53]

It was a great summary. I listened to the podcast before this was posted, but this gets the gist of it. One thing I enjoyed in the podcast was listening to how carefully, almost strained, Dillard tried to explain the athleticism of the new young men this year. He so wanted to not say the previous guys weren't athletes, but, you know, if he could get the point across......I guess we aint seen nothin' yet.

 

[CanadaHawk]

I read it that Dillard said that Fleming thinks he's the best on the court. As long as it stays under control, I like that attitude.

Correct. That's the way I heard it too. Dillard really likes Fleming's attitude of thinking that he's the best player on the floor every time he's out there. However, according to Dillard, Fleming has to learn that a shot just over half-court is not a good shot for him. In other words, better shot selection. The interviewer interpreted that as being like Kingsbury.

 

[IaHawk44]

After listening to Sherman, I found some quality Iowa produced videos of of the 2015/2016 Iowa Hawkeye basketball team. These kids are all intelligent/confident /quality individual s with outstanding basketball talent and they could all see considerable playing time. We now have more individual talent than anytime after George Raveling and Fran has more athletes than ever before and this team will surprise people. IMHO.

Meet The Hawkeyes

Dale Jones


Isiah Moss


Brandon Hutton


Ahmad Wagner


Andrew Fleming


Brady Ellington

 

[hansenhawk]

Nice find on the videos, thanks!