The most frustrating part of this for me

[HawkeyeHoopyball]

Is the out of no where improvement on defense down the stretch just completely went away when it mattered most. When we had lost 4 of 5 and our KenPom D was at about 125 I knew that wasn't going to allow us to make a run, but in those last 6 or so games this team literally had a TOP 10 DEFENSE according to the metrics. In the Grand Canyon game the analytics say we played our worst defensive game February 2nd but that didn't matter because we were playing an inferior opponent and lit them up offensively. We all saw the so called attempt at defense yesterday.

Why did this happen? It felt like it was a combination of:

1. Injuries on the perimeter: I think it's a little concerning that we seem to consistently have guys out of gas by the end of the year. Maybe that is something that needs to be looked at with the training regimen? You can say it's "bad luck", but it seems to be a trend from Fran teams.

2. Bad game planning: I think Oregon was a worse case scenario for us, but you can't get blown out by a 7 seed and completely allow them to dictate the game. Every player in on the Ducks in postgame said Altman kept telling the team that they were quicker than Iowa and to exploit that. Our plan was to keep running with them with a beat up team that played 36 hours ago? Why not try to slow it down in a way that was successful for us in late February?

3. Personnel: I don't really buy this one. This team was talented enough to hang with some elite offenses. Obviously Oregon was more athletic, but I have seen multiple tourney games where the less athletic team was able to dictate a game plan and still win.

4. A distracted team at the end of the year?: I think this has to be at least thought about. It was really weird to me that after all these guys have sacrificed to play this season that when they finally got to the destination you had team leaders like Bohannon going on every podcast he can to talk about name, image and likeness. I think it is a very worthy cause, but JBo even stated on his podcast that guys like Luka didn't want to speak out publicly for whatever reason. If I was on the team I would be a bit frustrated that during GO TIME of the season you have players accusing Illinois of paying players a week before the tourney. I don't think they need to be focused on bball 24/7, but when you perform like that in the biggest moment the question needs to be asked.

 

[SotaHawk87]

I agree I thought the social media stuff at a time where you need to be locked in was odd. They seemed 100% content after one BTT win and honestly that same level of contentment after one NCAA win.

 

[ICWestfan]

No zone D. Make Oregon chuck 3's this might be a different outcome. Iowa's man D got utterly and totally abused.

 

[IAFB2021Champs]

I think one player made it pretty clear throughout the entire season he only really cared about himself. Worrying about how to be popular and how he could make some money off of his 4.5 years of fame. Perhaps he just wanted to make some money playing basketball while he could because a short and slow guy isn’t going to be playing professionally anywhere even if he can shoot.

 

[Bearhawk0505]

The head coach does not put a premium on playing defense, it is that simple. He should have been lighting players up in round 1, with all the defensive lapses that were taking place, but we were rolling offensively so Fran just sat back relaxed. He is an offensive minded coach, which is not good for postseason success. It is evident in the type of players he recruits, and who he chooses to play.

 

[KcTo]

No zone D. Make Oregon chuck 3's this might be a different outcome. Iowa's man D got utterly and totally abused.

Iowa was ahead 42-38 coming out of time out with under 5 minutes to go.. that is ahead.

fran reinserted injured starters back into game and went zone.

Iowa zone gives up 4 3 pointers, 4 offensive rebounds, and a foul on a 3 points shot, being outscored while in zone 18-4.

the decision to play injured players in a zone against a very good 3 point shooting team is what was abusive.

 

[littlez]

I think one player made it pretty clear throughout the entire season he only really cared about himself. Worrying about how to be popular and how he could make some money off of his 4.5 years of fame. Perhaps he just wanted to make some money playing basketball while he could because a short and slow guy isn’t going to be playing professionally anywhere even if he can shoot.

Well you’re an idiot.

 

[HoustonREDHawk]

Is the out of no where improvement on defense down the stretch just completely went away when it mattered most. When we had lost 4 of 5 and our KenPom D was at about 125 I knew that wasn't going to allow us to make a run, but in those last 6 or so games this team literally had a TOP 10 DEFENSE according to the metrics. In the Grand Canyon game the analytics say we played our worst defensive game February 2nd but that didn't matter because we were playing an inferior opponent and lit them up offensively. We all saw the so called attempt at defense yesterday.

Why did this happen? It felt like it was a combination of:

1. Injuries on the perimeter: I think it's a little concerning that we seem to consistently have guys out of gas by the end of the year. Maybe that is something that needs to be looked at with the training regimen? You can say it's "bad luck", but it seems to be a trend from Fran teams.

2. Bad game planning: I think Oregon was a worse case scenario for us, but you can't get blown out by a 7 seed and completely allow them to dictate the game. Every player in on the Ducks in postgame said Altman kept telling the team that they were quicker than Iowa and to exploit that. Our plan was to keep running with them with a beat up team that played 36 hours ago? Why not try to slow it down in a way that was successful for us in late February?

3. Personnel: I don't really buy this one. This team was talented enough to hang with some elite offenses. Obviously Oregon was more athletic, but I have seen multiple tourney games where the less athletic team was able to dictate a game plan and still win.

4. A distracted team at the end of the year?: I think this has to be at least thought about. It was really weird to me that after all these guys have sacrificed to play this season that when they finally got to the destination you had team leaders like Bohannon going on every podcast he can to talk about name, image and likeness. I think it is a very worthy cause, but JBo even stated on his podcast that guys like Luka didn't want to speak out publicly for whatever reason. If I was on the team I would be a bit frustrated that during GO TIME of the season you have players accusing Illinois of paying players a week before the tourney. I don't think they need to be focused on bball 24/7, but when you perform like that in the biggest moment the question needs to be asked.

We would have struggled with Oregon, no matter what, but you act like CJ and Connor just ran out of gas, not that they and Nunge had serious injuries. When everyone was healthy, our defense had improved a lot over the first half of the season. Losing the only back up center, our best perimeter defender, and an important team defender who guarded multiple positions, made it impossible to sustain that improvement, even with Keegan playing tremendous defense for a true freshman.

 

[Eternal Return]

I don't know how you could say it wasn't personnel. Iowa got torched by every team with multiple athletic defenders and scoring threats. They benefitted defensively against teams that don't shoot the three points well late in the year or had a bad shooting game even with wide open threes. And while Iowa's D improved, it didn't against the only B10 team that made it to the Sweet Sixteen--they got torched by Michigan.

Iowa just didnt have the perimeter defense to compete against elite athletic and offensively skilled teams. And without Nunge, Garza had to be protected so he wouldn't get in foul trouble which also hurt the D. CJ and Connor hurt half the year, but still played a lot of minutes against Oregon and it hurt Iowa. Iowa's best perimeter defenders were young, inexperienced, and didn't have consistently good perimeter shooting. If CJ and Connor were healthy that may not have been a problem, but it happens.

So it looks like it was injuries and personnel against a healthy, well-rested uber-athletic offensively-talented Oregon team. No mystery other than Oregon was severely underrated by everyone east of the PAC12.

 

[cecilB]

Is the out of no where improvement on defense down the stretch just completely went away when it mattered most. When we had lost 4 of 5 and our KenPom D was at about 125 I knew that wasn't going to allow us to make a run, but in those last 6 or so games this team literally had a TOP 10 DEFENSE according to the metrics. In the Grand Canyon game the analytics say we played our worst defensive game February 2nd but that didn't matter because we were playing an inferior opponent and lit them up offensively. We all saw the so called attempt at defense yesterday.

Why did this happen? It felt like it was a combination of:

1. Injuries on the perimeter: I think it's a little concerning that we seem to consistently have guys out of gas by the end of the year. Maybe that is something that needs to be looked at with the training regimen? You can say it's "bad luck", but it seems to be a trend from Fran teams.

2. Bad game planning: I think Oregon was a worse case scenario for us, but you can't get blown out by a 7 seed and completely allow them to dictate the game. Every player in on the Ducks in postgame said Altman kept telling the team that they were quicker than Iowa and to exploit that. Our plan was to keep running with them with a beat up team that played 36 hours ago? Why not try to slow it down in a way that was successful for us in late February?

3. Personnel: I don't really buy this one. This team was talented enough to hang with some elite offenses. Obviously Oregon was more athletic, but I have seen multiple tourney games where the less athletic team was able to dictate a game plan and still win.

4. A distracted team at the end of the year?: I think this has to be at least thought about. It was really weird to me that after all these guys have sacrificed to play this season that when they finally got to the destination you had team leaders like Bohannon going on every podcast he can to talk about name, image and likeness. I think it is a very worthy cause, but JBo even stated on his podcast that guys like Luka didn't want to speak out publicly for whatever reason. If I was on the team I would be a bit frustrated that during GO TIME of the season you have players accusing Illinois of paying players a week before the tourney. I don't think they need to be focused on bball 24/7, but when you perform like that in the biggest moment the question needs to be asked.

Quit racking your brain. Injuries to 2 key players and red hot shooting.
Don’t be surprised if they don’t replicate that next game.
Reminds me of McDermotts last year at Creighton. Opponent in round of 32 did an Oregon from 3, next game couldn’t throw it in the ocean. For your own sanity- this is a real possibility. Brace.

 

[kcgolfer]

When Nunge went down, our chances for a deep run ended. People bag on Nunge but he was one of our best defenders and rebounders. When Nunge, Murray and Joe T were all in the game is when Iowa was really good on D. Nunge being out forced Garza to back off on defense because we could not afford to lose him on fouls. Nunge and Murray are rim protectors.

So many are pessimistic about next year but I am optimistic. We played our best basketball with Nunge, Murray and Joe T on the floor. Next year our guards will be much quicker and better defenders.

 

[HawkOn15]

The big 10 has a lot of bad offenses. Oregon has some of the best ball movement and spacing combined with athletes we have seen.

 

[Eternal Return]

Quit racking your brain. Injuries to 2 key players and red hot shooting.
Don’t be surprised if they don’t replicate that next game.
Reminds me of McDermotts last year at Creighton. Opponent in round of 32 did an Oregon from 3, next game couldn’t throw it in the ocean. For your own sanity- this is a real possibility. Brace.

Oregon probably will lose. They play USC. The Trojans destroyed Oregon in their only game this year. USC has as much as athleticism as Oregon, but even more size and length. I wouldn't be surprised if USC thumps them again. It's all about matchups.

 

[Rambler Hawk]

I don't know how you could say it wasn't personnel. Iowa got torched by every team with multiple athletic defenders and scoring threats. They benefitted defensively against teams that don't shoot the three points well late in the year or had a bad shooting game even with wide open threes. And while Iowa's D improved, it didn't against the only B10 team that made it to the Sweet Sixteen--they got torched by Michigan.

Iowa just didnt have the perimeter defense to compete against elite athletic and offensively skilled teams. And without Nunge, Garza had to be protected so he wouldn't get in foul trouble which also hurt the D. CJ and Connor hurt half the year, but still played a lot of minutes against Oregon and it hurt Iowa. Iowa's best perimeter defenders were young, inexperienced, and didn't have consistently good perimeter shooting. If CJ and Connor were healthy that may not have been a problem, but it happens.

So it looks like it was injuries and personnel against a healthy, well-rested uber-athletic offensively-talented Oregon team. No mystery other than Oregon was severely underrated by everyone east of the PAC12.

good post - although I am not sure even a 100% healthy Iowa team gets past Oregon and/or goes much farther than the sweet 16. Programs that are not blessed with a roster full of 4 or 5 stars HAVE to play great defense game in/game out. That is why programs like Wisconsin, Loyola, Butler (going back a little), etc. are not (usually) one and done in the Dance. What I saw on Monday was a dunking exhibition (Men vs. Boys) and obviously it was not enjoyable. They basically were fine with not doubling/tripling Luka because they knew they had the horses to run over us. Maybe the BT tourney squeezed the life out of this Iowa team, not sure. Other conferences play tourneys, so maybe it comes down to better conditioning as a start. Maybe Fran should have given more minutes to Joe T, Tony P, and TU during the year, hard to say. I guessing it would not have changed much though...

 

[Eternal Return]

good post - although I am not sure even a 100% healthy Iowa team gets past Oregon and/or goes much farther than the sweet 16. Programs that are not blessed with a roster full of 4 or 5 stars HAVE to play great defense game in/game out. That is why programs like Wisconsin, Loyola, Butler (going back a little), etc. are not (usually) one and done in the Dance. What I saw on Monday was a dunking exhibition (Men vs. Boys) and obviously it was not enjoyable. They basically were fine with not doubling/tripling Luka because they knew they had the horses to run over us. Maybe the BT tourney squeezed the life out of this Iowa team, not sure. Other conferences play tourneys, so maybe it comes down to better conditioning as a start. Maybe Fran should have given more minutes to Joe T, Tony P, and TU during the year, hard to say. I guessing it would not have changed much though...

Yeah, if I was reseeding the tourney I would probably have Iowa as a 4 or 5 -- ideally, I'd slip them to the 6 to give them a better chance to get further in the tournament. 4 and 5 seeds are death sentences in the NCAAs.

I'm not sure where I'd put Oregon. I think they'll lose to USC in the next round. They got blown out by USC in the regular season and USC is just as athletic, but even taller and with greater length. They don't shoot as well which is why they would have been a better opponent for Iowa, but it looks like both USC and Oregon are better than this Iowa team this year.

I'm kind of curious about Gonzaga now, too. Their big wins were against Kansas, Iowa, and Virginia, and every one of those teams got beat by a lower seed in the same bracket as Gonzaga. So, basically, Gonzaga doesn't have a win against anyone left in the tournament. We'll see if they really are what everyone thinks they are.

 

[littlez]

Not sure Oregon can beat the Zags but possibly USC just because of their length and defense. KU could hardly get a shot against them and if they play offense like that the Zags could be in trouble. Zags have dropped 102 on KU, 99 against us, 87 on West Virginia and 98 on a good Virginia defense. I know Fran thinks he can beat everyone in a track meet but obviously that was a bad idea against both Oregon and the Zags.

 

[HerkysDad]

It was jalopies racing against Indy cars. Sorry, but that is what I saw. You could tell the game was over at the 4 minute mark in the first half.

 

[SotaHawk87]

It was jalopies racing against Indy cars. Sorry, but that is what I saw. You could tell the game was over at the 4 minute mark in the first half.

Yeah it was very clear to me that when were up 4 with 4:30 left in the first half that we were toast! 🙄.. bet you knew the Chiefs were gonna get rocked in the Super Bowl too!

 

[DodgerHawki]

Yeah it was very clear to me that when were up 4 with 4:30 left in the first half that we were toast! 🙄.. bet you knew the Chiefs were gonna get rocked in the Super Bowl too!

For Iowa to win that game, it had to get the game played on its terms. At the 9:51 mark of the first half, Oregon led 30-24. The Ducks had scored 30 points in the first 10 minutes of the game. Incredible. Then by the 4:29 mark, Iowa led 42-38, outscoring Oregon 18-8. Iowa's best stretch of the game, largely on getting the ball to the basket. Two 3's in that time, 1 by Perkins and 1 by Garza. Slowing the pace, forcing Oregon into jump shots. Even at the 2-minute mark the game as 46-46. Then Iowa imploded, getting outscored 10-0 to finish the half. That was the game.

If Iowa just goes into half time tied or down 2 or something like that, the second half could be different. 4 different Oregon starters had 2 fouls. They had no answer for Garza. But being down 10 means Iowa has to push the pace more, which feeds into all the bad stuff happening.

Iowa just wasn't good enough. Period. But they didn't give themselves the best chance to win.