Report from CHA.

[BBHawk]

Back to the game. The first 5 (starters) played decent (not great) defense. The subs played fairly poorly defensively. A LOT of defense played with their arms at their sides, hands at their waist. Is that the way it is taught now? Toussaint most his feet well but he reaches a lot.

I watched Bohannon a lot to see if he seemed to be limited in his lateral movement. He seemed fine, even in the 2nd half. He did not seem to have lost his shooting touch I am hoping that he feels decent today.

 

[Legend12]

No thats not correct. I did some research on this.

CJ Frederick is from Cincinnati Ohio. He attended Moeller High School for two months as a freshmen. He wanted to play for his Uncle who coaches across the Ohio River in Kentucky at Covington Catholic. His Uncle is who played for Fran he basically handed CJ to Iowa because word is his Uncle loves Fran. He left Moeller to attend Covington Catholic- the school that was in the news for the Washington DC stuff- you can live in Ohio and play in Kentucky. The family lives about ten - 15 minutes from Covington Catholic across the river. He 100 percent did not get Mr Basketball because he lived in Ohio per sources at the State Tournament. He won Player of the Year from either other media outlet but not Mr Basketball for living in Ohio and playing at a Catholic school is what Im told.

If I’m wrong about the residence, I appreciate the correction. CJ has listed his residence at KY multiple times so I was going with that.

 

[sober_teacher]

If I’m wrong about the residence, I appreciate the correction. CJ has listed his residence at KY multiple times so I was going with that.

I admit, I also assumed he lived in KY since that was where he got his accolades from.

 

[Hawk-Fran1]

If I’m wrong about the residence, I appreciate the correction. CJ has listed his residence at KY multiple times so I was going with that.

Not sure where the player has done that I believe that is the media or Iowa. CJ personal social media has him from Cincinnati, Ohio.............But who cares kid looks like a keeper and thats all that matters....

 

[anon_wic6m41528ao4]

After the game he was interacting with Iowa players in the tunnel. They all seemed ecstatic, as if they had just found out some wonderful news. I know they just had won the exhibition game but dang, those guys and Foster seemed super happy and excited bout something......especially Patrick. Hope that is a good sign.

Always a pessimistic fan, I have talked myself out of landing Foster to lessen the blow if we whiff. But now I let my hopes get the best of me. I really really want to land this dude.

 

[CentralIAHawk]

I agree, I felt fantastic about what I saw from Jbo.

I don't think he was pressing, or slowed, or hesitant at all. He looked to me like a guy that could've shot about 20 3-balls, but chose not to in order to let the young guys get their shots up.

The most noticable thing to me is the change in his upper body size. That young man looks to have added about 10-15 pounds of muscle. I haven't heard anyone suggest that, but he looked much stronger to me.

I have no idea what the next couple of weeks will show us, but I believe we will see Jbo in an assassin role over the next few games. He literally doesn't need to run the point (Cmac, JoeT, and Bakari), and they can comfortably run him around the arc and let him fire away.

My prediction is that guy sets some shooting record(s) this season.

Go Hawks!

 

[Legend12]

Not sure where the player has done that I believe that is the media or Iowa. CJ personal social media has him from Cincinnati, Ohio.............But who cares kid looks like a keeper and thats all that matters....

Yep, at worse he is a nice insurance policy if JBo can't go all season...at best...well, that's the one that will be most fun to watch,

 

[hawkeyeguy69]

Rebounding has never been great under Fran. Not sure why, other than maybe he does not focus on it much in practice. Maybe recruiting as well.

This is probably too high of praise for game one. But CJF looks like Joe W v2. Just a tad bit shorter. I think he is a player. Definitely a steal.

I really like what I am seeing so far from this team. Throw in Pemsl and it'll be a fun season. NCAAs are not out of the question.

Go Hawks!

I concur with @Suterman breakdown of the game. Joe T. is a fast cat with lots of hustle and an ability to drive and distribute. Nunge looks like a man now and he lets the game come to him instead of trying to do too much. Patrick had some good minutes and once he matures will be a really tough matchup for most opposing 3s, he forced a few shots but didn’t hurt us much. CJ can shoot and score from about anywhere on the court, decent handle and plays D. Really like what I saw tonight despite the lower level competition.

We need to learn to blockout and secure rebounds. Other than that, not much to criticize at this point. I’m all in on these guys, should be a fun season.

 

[Hans81]

Rebounding has never been great under Fran. Not sure why, other than maybe he does not focus on it much in practice. Maybe recruiting as well.

This is probably too high of praise for game one. But CJF looks like Joe W v2. Just a tad bit shorter. I think he is a player. Definitely a steal.

I really like what I am seeing so far from this team. Throw in Pemsl and it'll be a fun season. NCAAs are not out of the question.

Go Hawks!

Thanks everyone for the reports; out-of-state Iowa hoops fans appreciate it.

 

[L. Wade Childress]

I lived in KY once. It was one hell of a party.

 

[anon_i8nzeu2gbf0ba]

Rebounding has never been great under Fran.

Absolutely right, and absolutely unacceptable. As Fran himself said, if you rebound you can run, so why he doesn't teach anyone to block out--or hire someone who can--is mind-boggling.

Tom Davis was great at teaching blocking out, and he had some great rebounders over the years. But it's really, really frustrating to watch Fran's teams stand around and watch the ball instead of blocking out. Iowa must have missed a million rebounds in Fran's tenure as opponents slip by Iowa players to snag rebound after rebound. Like most things in basketball, rebounding is some simple techniques combined with a passion for getting the ball. Iowa's bigs, in general, have mostly lacked those qualities under Fran, so it seems pretty clear Fran doesn't teach them or demand them. The question is, why not?

 

[anon_wic6m41528ao4]

Rebounding has never been great under Fran. Not sure why, other than maybe he does not focus on it much in practice.

Absolutely right, and absolutely unacceptable. As Fran himself said, if you rebound you can run, so why he doesn't teach anyone to block out--or hire someone who can--is mind-boggling.

I mean . . . we were 7th in the B10 in rebounding last year, and 4th the year before. Yea not great but I wouldn't call that "unnacceptable."

Also, according to ESPN, in 2014-15, we were FIRST in the B10 in rebounds per game. If that's not a great rebounding team i'm not sure what is. Not sure where this rebounding narrative sprouted from.

 

[The Deplorable Sleeping Dog]

Conference rebounding finish under McC

2019 8th

2018 4th

2017 4th

2016 3rd

2015 1st

2014 1st

2013 1st

2012 5th

2011 4th

That's consistently good rebounding. Not consistently a team problem.

 

[hawkeyeguy69]

Color me surprised! Yes, last year was unacceptable. But other than that I thought we were horrendous. However, the stats do no lie...

My biggest complaint would be that we do not block out. Other than Nicholas Baer, I do not think anyone on the team knew how to block out. That is coaching. Then again, Fran must be teaching them a different strategy.

We do throw up a lot of shots. But that is not enough to make a huge difference in the rankings.

Uthoff et al did pull down a lot of boards. Those teams were very good. Loved watching them... Hopefully Fran & Co are on the way to another good run. A higher run would be great!

Go Hawks!

Conference rebounding finish under McC

2019 8th

2018 4th

2017 4th

2016 3rd

2015 1st

2014 1st

2013 1st

2012 5th

2011 4th

That's consistently good rebounding. Not consistently a team problem.

 

[go-hawks37]

These games are almost meaningless when it comes to whether a players abilities translate to Big Ten play. Playing a 20 game conference slate is tough and everyone gets scouted. This was a glorified scrimmage. I was excited to see Frederick and came away from the game encouraged. Will it translate to Big play? Hope so. I like the way Nunge looked, much better at the 4. He’s still a little awkward, especially passing to the post, but the year was good for him. Will be interesting to see come Big play. Like what Joe T did but same thing with the guys above. Encouraged by the way we looked physically. Two years ago we looked like a high school team. We look like a Big Ten team.

 

[unIowa]

What I saw, just watched it last night:


Starters
JoeW = really good
Garza = same guy but appears to be moving a bit better, which is great news.
Connor = in control and makes good decisions, Serviceable PG.
CJF = he can stroke it. May not get out and run on the break as much as Moss did but will be much more consistent w better handles. This looks like an upgrade to me.
Nunge: still hangs out on the 3pt line too much and seems to play smaller than he is. Either Him or Pemsl is going to need to step up to make the tourney.

Other Observations
JoeT: very excited about his future, once/if the game slows down a bit for him we have a real player at PG, uber quicks and athleticism.
Jordan: he has a ways to go in his recovery
PatMac: interesting player, he is going to get pushed around some as the comp increases.
RK: will have a few good games he helps us win this season but looked like the same RK, either on or off w his decision making and he was off.
BE: kind of invisible this game but I expect Fran will get some production out of him this season.

 

[GrayhoundHawk]

Last years stats are all that need to be said. He is our best ballhandler
McCaffery, Connor 34 0 634 18.6 35 97 .361 6 29 .207 73 97 .753 149 4.4 12 37 49 1.4 61 102 Assists 43 Turnovers 23 3

 

[L. Wade Childress]

If Garza is on the floor it’s best that Nunge spends some time outside. Cook was great at drawing fouls but he didn’t create any spacing.

 

[mazda1]

I still maintain it’s our lack of quickness that is the primary problem with our rebounding. It’s a two fold problem in beating people to the spot and having the athletic quickness to be the first guy off the floor.

In today’s game with the number of 3’s that are thrown up a lot of the rebounds kick off away from the front of the rim and a bunch of the rebounds go to the quicker athlete. Generally our bigs our less athletic than our foes. (Cue required racist comments)

Attitude of how you go after the rebound also plays a part and if you aren’t committed to going hard to get the ball you won’t have much success. At times last year I questioned the efforts on the glass by some. I hope we see more want to this season.

I don’t doubt for a moment that our guys understand how to block out, but I do think they are often beaten to the spot or are the second one off the floor.

 

[orod741]

But how was the ice cream?

That’s all well and good but how was the ice cream?

The ice cream was cold and delicious. I purchased two raspberry/chocolate twist cones for $8. The souvenir cups were $8 each. They bumped up the price to $4 a cone. If I recall correctly, it was $3.50 per cone last year.

 

[BBHawk]

The ice cream was cold and delicious. I purchased two raspberry/chocolate twist cones for $8. The souvenir cups were $8 each. They bumped up the price to $4 a cone. If I recall correctly, it was $3.50 per cone last year.

And the lines were as long as usual, even if attendance was down.

 

[RocknRollface]

The rebounding was a bit suspect tonight. I'm no expert, but that was really about my only concern from tonight. Joe Toussaint is going to be an asset, period. He is not going to score in double figures every night but he is going to make his mark every night.

Agree. If he was a little bit better ballhandler he'd of had allot more power 5 offers. Hopefully that improves with time. Very explosive first step.

Looks like a very tough guy who has a feel for the game imo.

Hopefully he takes the reigns as the starting pg soon.

 

[owenhawk]

And the lines were as long as usual, even if attendance was down.

That’s because the card machine broke at one of them and that one could only take exact change.

 

[HawkRugged17]

That’s because the card machine broke at one of them and that one could only take exact change.

 

[HoustonREDHawk]

Good thread. Thanks for the reports.

Sounds promising on offense, but not so sure on defense or rebounding, which sometimes is deceptive when the other team is chucking 3s. Sometimes switching everything on defense can create rebounding issues. I assume Fran will experiment with different combos and defenses in the early games. I especially don't like Luka doing a lot of switching (he is way too slow), and would prefer to see him camped around the basket on defense, so he can box out and rebound.

I know Luka is smooth around the basket on offense, but I hope they let Nunge also get some time in there. Either way, that is potentially a very nice inside/outside combo, who can do damage in and out. If JoeT just plays good on-ball defense against other quality PGs and can handle the ball, anything else is gravy right now. Sounds like we are great shape at the wings and the post, with a lot of promise at PG.

FYI, some really good BB played around Cincy. If CJ was just the best in that area, he is pretty damn good.