It was a GREAT weekend/tournament for the Hawkeyes. I think that's true in the confidence building of the team, the institutionalization of the coaching because the winning reinforces those teachings, the positive vibe for the fans and more.....
So, sustaining this level of play and progressing by improving on a regular basis is the challenge.
More of the good about this last weekends tournament is that the Hawks won and can still play much better. Every aspect of play can still be improved, and must to continue on the upward trend that players, coaches, and fans want to see.
It appears like there was a big jump from the exhibition and first two regular games to the tournament. After the first two games the defense, although showing signs of progress, was no where near what everyone wanted to see.......it took a significant step forward by last Thursday night. There was major improvement. Bobby Hansen, my favorite and I think very credible analyst, made the comment in the post game that "this team really came together this week" or something along those lines.
That progress from Nov 11 to Nov 15th was clearly obvious even to the average fan like me. I don't think that we can take that big of a leap every week.....but it certainly appears like the team is in sync with the coaching they are getting.
*Reduce turnovers.
*Tighten up the defense even more.
*Tweak the offense....get JB and Joe W on track along with Moss/Dailey etc..
So I think they sustain the momentum, I think they continue to progress.....as much as I HATE the BTN+ and next game, a team that they can roll on offensively might be just what they need?
Then when you have things shored up it's Pitt, Wisconsin, MSU, and ISU in fairly quick succession.
There's no guarantees.....these are still college kids and things could go south.
I heard/read some folks saying how Oregon is no good and UCONN is no good...whatever, UCONN beat UMKC by about twice the margin that we did...and we had UCONN down 25 in the second half where they clearly had a home crowd advantage. Oregon crushed a very talented Syracuse team with a lot of returning experience.
Live in the downer world if you want, but I don't choose to. I understand that there are negatives or possible negatives without being reminded by those that only see the negative.
So, sustaining this level of play and progressing by improving on a regular basis is the challenge.
More of the good about this last weekends tournament is that the Hawks won and can still play much better. Every aspect of play can still be improved, and must to continue on the upward trend that players, coaches, and fans want to see.
It appears like there was a big jump from the exhibition and first two regular games to the tournament. After the first two games the defense, although showing signs of progress, was no where near what everyone wanted to see.......it took a significant step forward by last Thursday night. There was major improvement. Bobby Hansen, my favorite and I think very credible analyst, made the comment in the post game that "this team really came together this week" or something along those lines.
That progress from Nov 11 to Nov 15th was clearly obvious even to the average fan like me. I don't think that we can take that big of a leap every week.....but it certainly appears like the team is in sync with the coaching they are getting.
*Reduce turnovers.
*Tighten up the defense even more.
*Tweak the offense....get JB and Joe W on track along with Moss/Dailey etc..
So I think they sustain the momentum, I think they continue to progress.....as much as I HATE the BTN+ and next game, a team that they can roll on offensively might be just what they need?
Then when you have things shored up it's Pitt, Wisconsin, MSU, and ISU in fairly quick succession.
There's no guarantees.....these are still college kids and things could go south.
I heard/read some folks saying how Oregon is no good and UCONN is no good...whatever, UCONN beat UMKC by about twice the margin that we did...and we had UCONN down 25 in the second half where they clearly had a home crowd advantage. Oregon crushed a very talented Syracuse team with a lot of returning experience.
Live in the downer world if you want, but I don't choose to. I understand that there are negatives or possible negatives without being reminded by those that only see the negative.