Am I wrong or last 4-5 games Joe T plays the first 7-8 minutes of each half and Ulis finishes the last 11-12? Looks like it’s decided. Ulis had a bad last 2 minutes tonight so he tossed Joe back in there. Not sure what I think about it. I like both guys. Thoughts?
So it seems decided that Ulis is our closer?
- Thread starter littlez
- Start date
What happened to giving toussaint the keys? I thought he played better than Julia tonight. I like Ulis, but toussaint deserves more minutes. Seems like Fran has him on a shorter leash than others (JBO, Patrick, Connor)
Play. Them. Both.
Literally all the time
Literally all the time
Iowa's PG's need to be aggressive and stay aggressive. Ulis and Joe did a nice job of what teams do against Iowa--penetrate to draw a help defender or catch the D sleeping with a slip screen. Joe isn't a great shooter, but he hit some tough shots last night and we need that dynamic given how stagnant the half-court can be. I like Ulis' tenacity, but he seems very reluctant to shoot. He's a solid FT shooter, so not sure why he is averse to pull up jumpers vs. driving into the trees.
They both brought some good things. I thought that Joe T had a pretty solid start to the game. There was only one poor decision on a pass that resulted in a TO. Then he sits for most of the rest of the half.
The quick leash and why Joe sits for such long stretches is puzzling.
The quick leash and why Joe sits for such long stretches is puzzling.
But we do know. This is what Fran has settled on. Again, I like Ulis, and he brings good things as well, just not sure he now deserves to play the last 12 minutes of every game. Only reason he got taken out tonight was he got stripped, fell asleep in the zone and then didn’t get us into our offense when Fran went crazy. It took 3 plays in a row to get Joe back in.
I was surprised after the turnover he didn't get put in sooner. Besides Ulis being a better ft shooter I think we need JoeT out there. I like Ulis and think he's a solid backup. But I feel like Joe's better on both ends of the floor plus with shot clock under 5 sec he's one of the few (Keegan the other) who can create and get his own shot off. As long as Joe isn't trying to push tempo, which late in the game with a lead probably wouldn't, I think he is less prone to getting a turnover. Lastly up 6 with just over a minute 2 poke aways from behind by JoeT the 2nd forcing a steal sealed the game.
When it gets to the second half, Fran generally goes to the bench with 12-13 minutes left (okay, fine). What happens is that if during that time the team is playing well Fran pretty much makes the decision that Ulis and CMac are just going to finish the game out. Period. It doesn't really make sense to me, but it seems to be his thinking. My main issue with it is that the only guy who is anywhere used to playing 13 straight minutes of effective basketball is Keegan Murray. There's nothing wrong with subbing out Ulis at the 6 or 5-minute mark, get him a quick rest and putting him back in if Fran really thinks he's playing better that night. Rather than the kind fo first unit/second unit thinking that Fran seems to go with, I would prefer to see more mixing and matching. Fine, take Toussaint out at the 13 minute mark of the first half. Put him back in at 9 or 10 minutes, leave Ulis in the game and have them play together. That was forced to some extent by the foul trouble last night.
In terms of who is more effective, both Ulis and Toussaint have their strengths but neither has really shown they deserve to be getting 30+ minutes a game. Having them split time seems to be about getting the most out of them.
Agree. I get that Fran has high expectations, but without Joe, Ulis and Perkins pushing the envelope at times, I am not sure the half-court offense will yield better shots. Iowa actually looked good with Joe and Ulis doing figure 8's through the defense and got some good looks.
I like Ulis. He's a great FT shooter but Joe's at 90% this year so... that's no reason to keep Joe off the floor at the end of the game either.
Great point. I didn't realize JoeT was shooting as well as he was from the line this year. I'll give him credit you can tell Joe has been working on that pull up jumper. Not perfect but can tell something has worked to improve on and over the last 2 years multiple times Iowa media have posted tweets of him working on things after a game at Carver.
I assume McCaffery was mad because Ulis didn't run the play he had drawn up during the TO. It was a horrible possession at the worst possible time.
If Ulis is going to play as much as people on here want him to, I hope he really works on his shot and offensive game as a whole. I just like a PG that is also a scorer. Just a personal preference.
Last edited:
While I agree it looked like the entire team just stood there. And it took us forever to get the ball into half court. By the time Ulis was forced to do anything the shot clock was down to 3-4 seconds. Not all on him, but at that point he’s just got to try and make a play. Happens.
Let Joe be the 1 and Ulis 2/1.
Play them with Perkins and you have a strong defensive presence, and good ball handlers.
I imagine common practice is to get it under 10 and run the play. But, Ulis was covered really well, in hindsight Iowa should have been passing the ball around to get a double team on a Murray brother to open up somebody.
You could make a case that Joe T. and AU should be on the floor together to close out games. Both very good defenders and excellent at the Line.
Well we know JBO is 100% going to be on the floor at the end of every game. And at this point it looks like Connor is also going to be out there at the end. I don’t see that changing. For better or worse.
Joe T. has had a shorter leash than every other player on the team since the first time he put on an Iowa jersey. I don't understand it at all.
I think it has to do with Joe's history of turnovers which is anathema to Fran.
I thought the same thing to initially but other guards make even dumber mistakes and don't have near the short leash that Joe has.
What has Joe done this season to warrant him not being in to finish games, he should not be sitting for 8 minutes at a time, it's asinine. Dude nailed a game winning shot this year. His energy set the tone for the 2nd half of this last game.
I'm not suggesting that I agree with the manner in which Joe is utilized. I was only theorizing why Fran handles him like he does. Joe had a lot of turnovers in the past and maybe Fran still sees him as a liability. You can play soft defense, fail to block out for rebounds, and go 2 for 10 shooting but if you turn it over Fran's gonna have you sit. Although Joe is shooting a good percentage this year, he's not a scorer per se. His greatest strength is that he is a hard nosed disruptive defensive player. Given Fran's predilection towards offense, I don't know that he places as much value on that.
Similar threads
