Greetings Hawkeyes, if you told me 4 days ago I would be posting on a Iowa message board I wouldn't of believed it. Ill go ahead and talk a little about us. Like you, we're getting hot at the right time. We had a what was likely an NCAA team back during 2020 but COVID wound up cancelling the tournament. Then last year we underachieved during a COVID ravaged season (3 pauses) with essentially the same squad. We returned many of the same players again this year but underachieved, had some bad bounces in the regular season vs all the top teams we avenged in the tournament. I feel that we had played like we did the last 4 days the regular season would of yielded better results. All in all we are thrilled to break what has been a way to long NCAA drought and seeing what these guys can do on the big stage vs the Big Boys.
As a team we don't run the Princeton offense as all the talking heads like to say since our HC is a Princeton grad. There are elements of it, specifically with regards to cutting to the basket. Defense was porous most the season.
Were led by A10 Tournament MVP Jacob Gilyard (5th year) the all time NCAA steals leader. He's playing the best ball of his career at the moment and was the main catalyst of the team during the tournament. Known more of a distributor but was more of a scorer earlier in his career and has opted to take more initiative trying to score the ball.
As far as some other key players for us Tyler Burton is IMO our most talented player and biggest mismatch when we play in the A10. Averages 16/7 shoots 80% from FT and can take control of a game.
6th year senior and AARP member Grant Golden has been here forever. Has good post moves and can dish the ball as well. Not known for his defense or rebounding though. More of a point forward.
5th year senior Nathan Cayo plays the 4 for us and isn't having as strong a season he did previously but is a very good cutter and getting to the basket. Finishing can be a problem with him at times.
Our best defender Andre Gustovson was out most the first half of the season and took a while to get back to 100%. He's been a great glue guy for us this season and does all the small things.
Bench included former All Conference player Nick Sherrod who tore his ACL twice over the years and came back for a 6th year. Not the player he once was, slow defensively but able to still shoot the 3. Matt Grace who is a wild card. He's Grant Goldens backup, played a ton in the NIT last year and balled out and turned into a solid role player since. Kinda awkward looking game, but he gave us the go ahead points today and yesterday late in the game. We have played him and golden on the floor at the same time too. Im curious if we go with a bigger lineup vs. Iowa. I think its imperative were able to push the ball inside to Golden who can setup the offense under the basket and get the defense lost which could lead to a lot of cutters. When we are at our best, teams that play us for the first time and are passive are likely to find themselves behind real quick and chasing us the rest of the game. If you are careless with the ball it will be a long day no matter how good a shooting night you're having.
Have a few other players but these will get the bulk of our minutes. Got rolled vs Maryland earlier this season but have beaten Big 10 teams in the past (2020 Wisconsin included). Our Achilles heel is rebounding. We got better at it the past few weeks but if I am Iowa I am crashing the boards EVERY TIME you miss a shot. Do that and don't turn the ball over and its going to be hard for us to win. We are not a historically good rebounding team. Our coach tends to emphasize efficiency over being overly physical. (Focus on preventing/causing turnovers over creating more possessions with rebounding). We are the only school to win games as a 12,13,14,15 seed and have a history of being "Giant Killers" which the media will probably talk about during the game.
Oh our AD is an Iowa grad.
Hope this helps.
