I've been on record as being high on both since there first meaningful PT against Rutgers two years ago.
I wish Fran would have just committed to them as the starting backcourt following the Oregon blowout.
Tony Perkins... you are my favorite guard of the McCaffery era
- Thread starter rainydayhawk
- Start date
I wish Fran would have just committed to them as the starting backcourt following the Oregon blowout.
Agree, I thought Ulis showed he should be the starter last night.
Idk if i would go that far. I don’t think you can afford to put sandforts shooting on the bench unless Perkins at some point shows he isn’t capable of running the point against aggressive pressure forcing him to the 2 and Ulis to the 1. Fran will ride the hot hands during games so Ulis and Sandfort will both get plenty of playing time regardless.
Based on what? One game against Seton Hall? Marble was a first team all Big Ten player his senior season, averaged 17ppg as the undisputed go-to guy, and brought a team with only one other double digit scorer (junior Aaron White) to the NCAA Tournament
Honestly, I think it’s all about matchups and really like our balance we have on this team albeit we’re thin in spots. I’m happy with our 7-8 man rotations. Even so, it will be very demanding with our schedule at times. For now, I’m just enjoying our play.
It's so nice to have a complete player at the point guard spot. Bohannon could obviously score but that was it. Toussiant could play D but his offensive game was lacking. Others are good in one area but weak at another spot.
Tony might not be the best scorer, defender, ball handler, etc. we've ever had at the position, but overall he's really, really good at both ends.
Also, I'll be honest...I didn't think he was going to be this good.
Tony might not be the best scorer, defender, ball handler, etc. we've ever had at the position, but overall he's really, really good at both ends.
Also, I'll be honest...I didn't think he was going to be this good.
It's part of the fun of college basketball. See what guys will be. If people thought Perkins would be this good, IU or Purdue would have offered him. The physicality to his game was always there. He's added a bit of polish and subtlety, which has made him really good. Teams are going to make him prove that he can hit outside shots here shortly, not everyone will play Iowa like Seton Hall did. Their philosophy of crowding everyone on the court seems fine, until you get guys like Perkins and Murray who can go around people and score.
Some are comparing him to woolridge a guy that led the big ten in assists and scoring plus had superior handles.
I would agree. Aside from Perkins and Murray, minutes will change from game to game, depending on matchups and how guys are playing.
Sandfordt will figure it out. It is very different being high-energy guy off the bench, if I'm open shoot it and no worries if I miss 1 or 2, to being a starter and a deep part of the opponent scouting report. He had a couple of good looks against SH and just missed. He also then rushed a couple of guarded 2's early in the clock that were not good shots.
He's a good player and will have some big games, people just need to be somewhat patient.
I don't disagree but the good thing is if Perkins/Ulis can drive and get to the rack, they also have the ability/option to kick it out to 3 Forwards in Murray, Sandfort, and PMac (and CMac like Ulis did agasint SH and with the way CMac has been shooting) that are realistically the team's best 3 point shooters. Iowa hasn't had Guards who can create and get to the rim like Perkins, Ulis, and Bowen really at all, much less a couple of them at one time.
I think Perkins has shown he can hit the open 3 relatively consistently - he doesn't search it out and isn't a high volume 3 pt shooter but will take it when given to him.
I think when Fran came from Siena, there was a big Siena supporter (and huge fan of Fran) that was talking up what a great hire Fran was (SienaJay maybe ... ?).
He said Fran loved true Combo Guards that could play either 1 or 2 ... he really hasn't had that much at Iowa, at least not successfully. I would put Marble in that group and I think the hope would be Gessell would be that. But Perkins seems to be exactly the kind of guy I was envisioning when the Siena fan was talking about it at the beginning of Fran's tenure - 6-2 to 6-4, tough mentally and physically, can play D, can rebound well for a Guard, attack the rim and finish or distribute, not necessarily a big time outside shooter but can hit when needed.
I think Ulis isn't there yet but he has some of the qualities and seems to continue to slowly grow and likely getting more and more confident. Maybe this is the year he has two true Combo guards.
Perkins could conceivably become as good or better than either of them, but that would require him maintaining this level of play across an entire season, not just one game game against a good opponent
Not knocking Tony either obviously - he looks like he could have an awesome season and I’m super excited about him
It definitely would have been nice to see Gatens play with much better talent and on much better teams.
I love the way Perkns plays / is playing but we have to remember Devyn was a 1st Team All-Big Ten Player averaging 17 pts, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals per game his Senior year.
Just going by memory, but both players have good upper body strength. Maybe edge to Woolridge - that guy was built like a brick wall.
Woolridge a better shooter, but Perkins may be quicker with more point A to point B speed, but both can get to the rim. Maybe Woolridge was deceptively quick.
I see Perkins listed as 6'4". Woolridge around 6'-6'1". I was surprised, I would've guessed Andre was a few inches taller than that.
But yeah, the same comparison occurred to me as well.
he was so good. watched him some in high school. would go over to Omaha and watch Erik Strickland too. those guys were just amazing. Omaha South had a kid that year too, Badgent. All 3 of those Omaha kids were gonna put Nebraska basketball on the map.
So glad Woolridge jumped ship, he was one of my favorite Hawks ever. Still one of the biggest screw jobs ever that the first player to lead the Big 10 in scoring and assists in the same season wasn't the conference POY.
Also, if I recall correctly, Duke and Kentucky both wanted him out of high school.
The thing about playing Ahron and Tony together is in part because of what Payton, Pat, and Kris can do. I don't think you want any of those guys overdribbling. There's one specific example from Payton that was not a good shot. I think playing two guards who can penetrate together will boost the efficiency numbers for the forwards.
A big key going forward will be getting Dasonte ready to play so you can rotate those 3 guards at the 1 or 2 for 30+ minutes. He's not ready right now, but he's got talent to make a difference if Iowa keeps working with him the rest of the year.
I agree - Woolridge basically willed that 96-97 Iowa team to a 2nd place finish in the Big Ten and took a #1 Seeded Kentucky to the wire behind a dominant performance by Woolridge. Woolridge averaged 20 pts & 6 Assists that yr and should have been Big Ten MVP.
That team literally only had Woolridge and a do-everything Swiss Army Knife in Ryan Bowen and a real hodge podge of role players. Hell, Guy "Life as a G" Rucker was the 3rd leading scorer at 10 pts as a Freshman. Daryl Moore was a 6-2 Walk-on Forward in the rotation.
That team - probably as much as any team in the last 40 years of Iowa basketball - maximized their success based on their talent and the #1 reason was Woolridge.
Yep, ideally Bowen can get acclimated and like you said, those 3 can be your Combo Guard rotation and you can use Murray, Rebraca, Sandfort, and PMac on the front-line for most of the minutes. The great thing about a guy like CMac off the bench is that he can play 1 - 4 and handle the role. He is great to have in at end of games because he can handle the ball while and make good decisions while defending bigger players.
I think the hope is at least those 8 guys can make up the bulk of the rotation if one guy has an off-night (like Sandfort against SH), they can fill in with someone else in the rotation to carry more minutes.
If Josh O or Mulvey or Dix make big jumps in their games and can be part of that rotation and be dependable, all the better.
Woolridge seemed taller than that probably because he had the chest of a WWF wrestler. Dude was strong.
I was pretty young at the time, but Woodridge was a BEAST. I thought for sure he'd spend some time in the NBA. I just looked up his Wiki.... Didn't realize the went to Nebraska for one year and transferred to Iowa.
Loved watching him play, just like Tony Perkins!
Marble was an excellent player no doubt, but he wasn't terribly efficient. In his best year he had an EFG% of .479 and a PER of 22.6. I think Tony bests those numbers this year and he's currently at .607 with a PER of 27.6.
Understood and again I love Perkins ... I just don't want to discount Marble. That Senior yr, Marble was the Senior leader on a somewhat talented but young team. I think Perkins has the luxury of not being the "go-to guy" (that is Kris) and he didn't have high-level experienced rotational players like Rebraca, PMac, and CMac.
I think more was put on Marble to put up volume and do a lot - Aaron White as a Junior was a good player, but not an NBA talent like Kris or even near as good as White became as a Senior.
But I get what you are saying ... I LOVE Perkin's game and what he brings and by the time he leaves Iowa, it is definitely possible he will be seen as the best Guard of the Fran era definitively ... I just didn't want to totally disregard what Marble brought and was able to do on the front-end of Fran's total rebuild of Iowa basketball.
I think more was put on Marble to put up volume and do a lot - Aaron White as a Junior was a good player, but not an NBA talent like Kris or even near as good as White became as a Senior.
But I get what you are saying ... I LOVE Perkin's game and what he brings and by the time he leaves Iowa, it is definitely possible he will be seen as the best Guard of the Fran era definitively ... I just didn't want to totally disregard what Marble brought and was able to do on the front-end of Fran's total rebuild of Iowa basketball.
You can’t afford to play in the big10 with only 1 ballhandler on the court for very long stretches.
I love Perkins going down hill from 1/4 court in but he can't push the ball with the dribble the way Ulis or Bowen can.
It should be between Patrick and Sandfort for the 3 spot.
I feel that Tony and Ahron were the reason Iowa beat Seton Hall's harassing defense. Last year the starting guards JBo and Joe T would have had trouble handling them. In addition on offense Tony and Ahron were great at driving to the rim and either scoring or feeding the wings.
Totally agree with all of this. With JBo handling the ball he had to dribble so much just to get the ball off. With these two together, if the pressure gets to aggressive they can go to the hoop and hurt ya. So, it keeps the defense honest, and we get into our offense easier, which leads to better rhythm on offense.
Yeah, Perkins good rebounding, defense, offense...complete. If you are missing incomplete guards, Ulis may be missing an offense but he does run the team well/play defense.
I know this is a "cool story bro" type of post, but I think it just reinforces why TP is so great. Was at the father-son BBall camp last year. My six year old thinks TP is the best. At the end there is an autograph session. My kid goes to see TP and whispers that he's his favorite player. TP's face lit up and said "ah man, you're may favorite fan." He then scooped him up in a big hug for a pic totally on his own accord. My son was speechless. I think we're lucky to have such a fantastic player to root for on the court, but also have him be a really good human being off the court.
Some random posters are comparing him to Woolridge. That doesn't make him Woolridge. He's a really good player but Marble was better than TP has been.
Tony is the bulldog! Even looks the part, like the emblem on the Mac Truck about to run you over.
He and Ahron make for a better pressing and trapping defense. Of course, I'm not the defending BTT champion coach either. Peyton off the bench gives a game breaking scoring option runs it six deep. I'd like to see that line up out of the gate.
I'm not complaining, the status quo is working pretty well.
Similar threads
