Look he sucks on D but he’s far and away our best and most efficient offensive player.
This is a bad basketball team
- Thread starter HawkeyeGenius
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.588 shooting percentage, leading scorer, second in rebounds, and 3rd in assists. He is not a center even though he is being made to play center. He is too short. Freeman is the true center type.
Frans idea of coaching is to get kicked out. He really does not know what to do right now. Time to move on and start over.
The guys Krikke has been guarding have been shooting 60% or better and they are also rebounding---something Krikke isn't doing. Look up the shooting stats of opposing bigs in the games we've had vs P5 schools.
This entire roster just does not strike me as being truly athletic from top top to bottom. I don’t envision them making any inroads on going deep in any tournament (NIT or NCAA) any time soon. I do see a glimmer of hope with the Freshman- but we definitely need to pump the brakes on recruiting instate kids who can shoot but are slow/don’t play tough defense….as others have noted - I don’t think many of our starters would even sniff the court for the upper tier BT programs….
guys playing out of position or tweeners. another Fran staple.
position less basketball is not supposed to mean the 5 guys can't play any position. hahahaha
A glimmer of hope is that the B1G men are awash in mediocre to bad teams. pu is legitimate top 10. illinois looks top 25. I'm wouldn't call anyone else good beyond that. And there's plenty of bad.
Yes, this Iowa team doesn't look capable of beating a good team. Fortunately for them with the rest of the conference schedule there's not many of those left.
Yes, this Iowa team doesn't look capable of beating a good team. Fortunately for them with the rest of the conference schedule there's not many of those left.
A. Did you look up the shooting stats of the guys Krikke is guarding or are you just guessing?
B. Krikke is playing center when he is not a center. Not a fair judgment. Fran put him in that position. That is on Fran.
I'm not sure that helps come tournament bid time and Michigan at home might be about as easy as it gets.
Yes, it looks like fewer bids for the league.
It could be as few as 5, which would be a low they haven't seen in a long time.
As for an NCAA tourney bid, I thought that they were on the outside fringe before the season even started. What I was referring to was more about the opportunity to get at least some number of wins in the league. As bad as they look now, 7-9 league wins is not impossible when considering the competition.
I don't think it's a fair or unfair judgment. He's playing the 4-5 on this team. That's his role whether he's a good fit for it or not. He's a wonderful offensive player, but he's a poor defender/rebounder. He averaged less than 6 rebounds per game last year in the Valley.
To put it another way, he's a perfect fit for Fran's system.
And you want to replace him with Freeman. We can re-hash this argument all day long but you don't take out your leading scorer and most efficient offensive player. We're not going to be a good defensive team as long as Patrick and Sandfort are out there together at any time. What's also hurting us is that Peyton and Pat aren't really living up to their end on the offensive side of the ball. I'd rather see Freeman and Krikke together more and less Pat but we all know that's not going to happen.
Krikke would be better off if he were allowed to guard the 4 vs. the 5, yet if you start Freeman at the 5, he has to stay out of foul trouble and sprinkle in Braun. PMac doesn't rebound so can't really plan the 4, and try as he may, Sandfort gets out muscled by 4's too.
It's a young bench among the contributors, but the starting group, at least those starting most of the season, are experienced.
Unfortunately Iowa just lost to one of the worst teams in conference. That is now four straight losses to big ten teams the last two years and 3 of the losses were to really bad teams.
If our shooters were actually hitting their shots, this team would look much different.
Your final sentence is the issue. If some combination of Krikke, Freeman, Dembele, and Braun primarily play the 4/5, then Payton and PMac are in direct competition for minutes at the 3 and Fran seems absolutely reluctant for that to happen. The ridiculous starting lineup against Michigan should have been all the proof needed for that.
Both PMac and Payton average about 26 mpg, tied for 3rd most on the team. That allocation and math probably has to change. Pick one or the other or let their play during the game determine who gets the nod. It’s been said plenty of times already, but we all know that’s unlikely to happen.
Why would you have to replace krikke with freeman? Krikke should be a 4 and freeman the 5.
If you score 10 and give up 10 you really didn't score.
Looking over the past decade, one of the things that stands out to me is that Fran's teams have always performed better when they have a clear "alpha" player leading the way.
In the 9 years prior to this one, Iowa finished 5th or better in the conference 7 times. Those 7 teams were led by guys like Aaron White, Jared Uthoff, Peter Jok, Luka Garza (twice), Keegan Murray, and Kris Murray. Each of those guys was first-team All-B1G.
The two years we finished lower than 5th were 2018-19, when we were 6th, and 2017-18, when we were 11th. Those two teams were led by Tyler Cook, who was a great player, but he never really assumed the "alpha" role the guys listed above did. In 2017-18 and 2018-19, the scoring/leadership roles were shared by Cook and guys like Jordan Bohannon, a young Luka Garza, Joe Wieskamp, and Isaiah Moss.
This year's team has some decent players, but also clearly does not have an alpha. It's more of an ensemble approach. And I don't think Fran has figured out a way to make that approach work.
In the 9 years prior to this one, Iowa finished 5th or better in the conference 7 times. Those 7 teams were led by guys like Aaron White, Jared Uthoff, Peter Jok, Luka Garza (twice), Keegan Murray, and Kris Murray. Each of those guys was first-team All-B1G.
The two years we finished lower than 5th were 2018-19, when we were 6th, and 2017-18, when we were 11th. Those two teams were led by Tyler Cook, who was a great player, but he never really assumed the "alpha" role the guys listed above did. In 2017-18 and 2018-19, the scoring/leadership roles were shared by Cook and guys like Jordan Bohannon, a young Luka Garza, Joe Wieskamp, and Isaiah Moss.
This year's team has some decent players, but also clearly does not have an alpha. It's more of an ensemble approach. And I don't think Fran has figured out a way to make that approach work.
I don't want to. But I think when Freeman and Krikke are in together it certainly shrinks the court for us offensively. I'm fine with it but that then means Pat or Sandfort sits and I think we know how that works. He's not going to sit Pat. He's getting his 25 minutes. It's just kind of a bad situation he's gotten himself into. Is what it is. Just an odd group of players that really don't fit at the moment.
A team looks good when the shots are falling. You find out how good you really are when they are not.
Tough situation for Fran. He has to be rooting for Patrick, who fought through cancer and still is living with residual effects on his body. Problem is that if Patrick is more than a 10/min guy off the bench, it is really hard to have an effective lineup on the court, especially on the defensive end. I would argue that Freeman is the best 5. Krikke is currently their best option at 4, his offense is needed although his defense sucks. Dembele will get much better the more game-time experience he gets, and could play 4 or 5. Payton is the best option at 3, and playing in his natural position might help get him going. For Iowa to win Payton needs to provide offense. Maybe Patrick can play most of the minutes that Payton does not play. Dix or Pryce could also play at 3 against most teams. Perkins is great some games and mediocre others, but needs to be on the court over half of the game. Dix should be his primary back up, although Pryce could get much better than we have seen. Bowen has played pretty well on both ends and should probably start at PG. Harding is even more of a creator on the offensive end, and should also get real minutes. The other guys will play better on offense, if these guys are our primary PGs.
Hard to stay positive after the last 3 games, but there is still some potential. A .500 finish in the B1G might be the best possible, and we won't get there unless Fran changes his rotations IMO.
Hard to stay positive after the last 3 games, but there is still some potential. A .500 finish in the B1G might be the best possible, and we won't get there unless Fran changes his rotations IMO.
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I can't tell of he's a good rebounder or not because he's out numbered all the time. He looks like he's fighting for his life in there. It was a good idea to add Freeman, but a bad idea about who he replaced.
Hes not a pg and fran trying to play him as one at times is not smart
And please do not ever play Dix at the 1 anymore. He's not even close to a point guard.
He's definitely not a strong rebounder averaging only 5 per game in 29 minutes. He didn't hit 6 per game playing 35 minutes against Valley competition last year.
it shouldn't be tough. He is the coach. Patrick isn't playing well. He should sit.
Only thing is FM would have to be honest with himself to bench PM. Don't see it, sadly.
I haven't had a son with cancer, who is then trying to get back to doing what he loves, so I won't judge Fran on that. Patrick does need to come off the bench in spurts. He is actually very good on the point of the press, if they bring him and go to that. We will see if anything changes. I hope so.
BTN hosts, who are former players or coaches, have been pointing out defensive issues for years. Fran is too damn stubborn to listen.
The sad thing is, other than Freeman there really isn't anyone better. That's too bad it's going to be a rough year.
I think we are coming to the same conclusion from different angles. I'm all for a father supporting his son. But that is irrelevant to me in regards to the basketball team. His personal issues or relationships shouldn't determine minutes.
I hope he turns it around, but he needs to earn it.
