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Toussaint was broken

Mar 4, 2021
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Nice interview. Joe had 7 points in their opening exhibition game I believe. He makes comments in this interview about finally having a coach that has confidence in him which confirms everything we suspected. He had a short leash and wasn't allowed to play his game. I hope he has a big year.
 
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He is now playing for a coach that puts a premium on playing defense. He should have a really good year. He was an undervalued player for us. He brought toughness to the table and I think was a key player when he started at point all year 3 yrs ago, which helped get this decent run of b-ball going for us.
 

Nice interview. Joe had 8 points in their opening exhibition game I believe. He makes comments in this interview about finally having a coach that has confidence in him which confirms everything we suspected. He had a short leash and wasn't allowed to play his game. I hope he has a big year.
I always liked Joe, but you could tell he put too much pressure on himself to do something spectacular every time he got into the game. I’ve said from the beginning Fran mismanaged him. Joe would have been a lockdown defender and could have developed into a really special point guard if he’d been given a legitimate opportunity. Unfortunately for him, his skill set wasn’t valued as much as social media darlings and sick post feeds were.
 

Nice interview. Joe had 8 points in their opening exhibition game I believe. He makes comments in this interview about finally having a coach that has confidence in him which confirms everything we suspected. He had a short leash and wasn't allowed to play his game. I hope he has a big year.


I would rather look at the facts.

There's not much Fran can do with a player like Joe Toussaint, who otherwise was happy at Iowa, but wanted 30 plus minutes this season (Fran told Chad Leistikow of the Des Moines Register this in an interview). Fran would not guarantee minutes to Joe, of course, nor should he. Therefore, Joe moved on. That's on Joe, not on Fran.

On Jan 31, Iowa lost at Penn State 90-86 in double OT. Iowa's record after that game was 14-7, 4-6.

On Feb 6, vs Minnesota, Fran made 2 changes:

(1) Jordan was back at starting Point Guard (with Joe being benched)

(2) Tony Perkins was the new starting 2 guard.


The result of this change?

* Iowa won 12 of its last 14 and its record went from 14-7 to 26-9.

* They won a B1G Tournament Championship for the first time since 2006.

* Iowa raised to a 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament


Benching Joe in early February was a brilliant move by Fran; there's no question about it.
 
Also, Toussaint played much better coming off the bench. His defense down the stretch was excellent when we needed it. I wish he was still a Hawkeye, but I hope the grass stays greener for him in West Virginia and he stays happy with his decision. I think Iowa will be alright this year as well.
 
I would rather look at the facts.

There's not much Fran can do with a player like Joe Toussaint, who otherwise was happy at Iowa, but wanted 30 plus minutes this season (Fran told Chad Leistikow of the Des Moines Register this in an interview). Fran would not guarantee minutes to Joe, of course, nor should he. Therefore, Joe moved on. That's on Joe, not on Fran.

On Jan 31, Iowa lost at Penn State 90-86 in double OT. Iowa's record after that game was 14-7, 4-6.

On Feb 6, vs Minnesota, Fran made 2 changes:

(1) Jordan was back at starting Point Guard (with Joe being benched)

(2) Tony Perkins was the new starting 2 guard.


The result of this change?

* Iowa won 12 of its last 14 and its record went from 14-7 to 26-9.

* They won a B1G Tournament Championship for the first time since 2006.

* Iowa raised to a 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament


Benching Joe in early February was a brilliant move by Fran; there's no question about it.
I was aware of these facts and agree. He didn't fit our system which he even verbalized in this interview. I was just pointing out that he had no confidence due to having such a short leash. I hope he finds what he was looking for at WVU.
 

Nice interview. Joe had 8 points in their opening exhibition game I believe. He makes comments in this interview about finally having a coach that has confidence in him which confirms everything we suspected. He had a short leash and wasn't allowed to play his game. I hope he has a big year.

Fran ****ed over Joe and look how well we did against Richmond with Joe on the bench. Ain't gonna win shit without defense which Fran doesn't teach but Joe plays.
 
No it can't... but I'd also state we don't win the Big Ten championship without Joe T.

Will be following him this year a wish him well.

And we probably don't win the B1G Championship without Josh Ogundele. Interesting that both entered the transfer portal and one came back to Iowa.

I will be interested to see if Joe gets his 30 plus minutes/game that he was wanting from Fran.
 
I was aware of these facts and agree. He didn't fit our system which he even verbalized in this interview. I was just pointing out that he had no confidence due to having such a short leash. I hope he finds what he was looking for at WVU.

Like most players, what he was looking for at Iowa and now at West Virginia is playing time.

Now, will he get 30 plus minutes/ game at West Virginia? Will be interesting to see.
 
No it can't... but I'd also state we don't win the Big Ten championship without Joe T.

Will be following him this year a wish him well.
JFC, besides the wins vs losses and the play on the floor getting better, what measure do you use???? I wish Joe well, too, but he wasn't playing consistently well with Iowa and it wasn't because the coaches didn't try to play him.
 
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Fran ****ed over Joe and look how well we did against Richmond with Joe on the bench. Ain't gonna win shit without defense which Fran doesn't teach but Joe plays.

We won plenty "of shit" when Joe got benched in early February. We won 12 of our final 15 games, to be exact.

Funny you bring up the Richmond game, thinking that Joe coming off the bench and Iowa not playing defense is what caused that loss. Our Defense only gave up 67 points to Richmond. The problem in that game, of course, was our shooting. Minus Patrick, the team shot 9% (2-22) from 3. Overall, we were 6-29 (21%) from 3 and 24-66 (36%) overall. And we still only lost by 4 points.

3 point shooting vs Richmond
4-7 (57%) Patrick
2-22 (9%) Rest of team
 
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Fran ****ed over Joe and look how well we did against Richmond with Joe on the bench. Ain't gonna win shit without defense which Fran doesn't teach but Joe plays.
Cletey - how are your bugeaters doing? Must be fun to have a team that is a classic failure year after year. That's probably why you spend your time trolling here. LOL!
 
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I wish he hadn't left because he has abilities that you can't teach. But he also still needed the game to slow down for him by the end of the season. It is one thing to be fast/quick all the time. It is another to know when and how to use that. Watching the Kings with Keegan you can see how Fox uses his speed when necessary and doesn't use it when he doesn't need to. He probably forces too much because the team isn't good, but that is why he's a pro getting paid the big bucks.

Joe needs to learn when to down shift. If he does that he could be an all conference type player on both ends of the court. And that is without improving his shot which is another area he could work on. Hopefully things work out well for him.
 
I wish he hadn't left because he has abilities that you can't teach. But he also still needed the game to slow down for him by the end of the season. It is one thing to be fast/quick all the time. It is another to know when and how to use that. Watching the Kings with Keegan you can see how Fox uses his speed when necessary and doesn't use it when he doesn't need to. He probably forces too much because the team isn't good, but that is why he's a pro getting paid the big bucks.

Joe needs to learn when to down shift. If he does that he could be an all conference type player on both ends of the court. And that is without improving his shot which is another area he could work on. Hopefully things work out well for him.

This. Also, the half court offense would just die when Joe was running the point. He flourishes in transition and when things go off script.
 
This. Also, the half court offense would just die when Joe was running the point. He flourishes in transition and when things go off script.
That's a good point, I'd forgotten how he'd just pound the ball into the hardwood dribbling in the half court offense. That gets to knowing when and how to use his abilities and when to kick the ball around and run the offense.
 
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I had high hopes for Joe, and thought he was our best PG for a long time. We did better when his minutes were diminished, so what do I know... He's gone, and I hope he does well, unless Iowa plays WV.
 
I always liked Joe, but you could tell he put too much pressure on himself to do something spectacular every time he got into the game. I’ve said from the beginning Fran mismanaged him. Joe would have been a lockdown defender and could have developed into a really special point guard if he’d been given a legitimate opportunity. Unfortunately for him, his skill set wasn’t valued as much as social media darlings and sick post feeds were.

JBO and CMAC already had their union cards and Perkins emerged as better player than JT. Fran doesn't value defense as much as he values offense so JoeT was always going to be undervalued on a Fran team.

When Iowa landed JoeT I was pretty happy because Iowa never gets this type of player. After he got benched the table was set for a off season transfer. Iowa did have a better record after JBO moved to PG---but Fran had made assurances to JoeT/Ulis that JBO would be the 2-guard...so not surprising JoeT took his ball elsewhere. Wish him best of luck. It was either JoeT or Ulis, one of them was going to transfer with Bowen coming in. JoeT has gone to a system that better utilizes his skillset.
 
JBO and CMAC already had their union cards and Perkins emerged as better player than JT. Fran doesn't value defense as much as he values offense so JoeT was always going to be undervalued on a Fran team.

When Iowa landed JoeT I was pretty happy because Iowa never gets this type of player. After he got benched the table was set for a off season transfer. Iowa did have a better record after JBO moved to PG---but Fran had made assurances to JoeT/Ulis that JBO would be the 2-guard...so not surprising JoeT took his ball elsewhere. Wish him best of luck. It was either JoeT or Ulis, one of them was going to transfer with Bowen coming in. JoeT has gone to a system that better utilizes his skillset.
I agree with all this. However, I'm thinking back to Joe's freshman year, particularly when he started to come on toward the end of the season, and the potential he showed. It was his sophomore year that I thought Joe was mismanaged. You could tell his confidence was completely shaken and that he was in Fran's doghouse the entire year. I think that set the stage for his junior year in which he was constantly playing tight and too fast and consequently would get the quick hook. Joe never got the same latitude to grow and mature as other players did IMO.
 
I will pull for Joe this season unless he starts taking shots at the Iowa program. I know he wanted more minutes here, but seemed as though he just couldn't run things on the floor the way McCaffery wanted, so he sat more than he wanted. I watched some of the exhibition last night. He didn't start the game and I really wonder if he will reach his goal of playing thirty minutes per game.
 
Joe is in a great system for him which will capitalize on his defensive strengths. It is also undeniable that he struggled to pick his spots and operate within the confines of Fran’s motion offense. I was a huge Toussaint fan, and think I even started a thread at one point about him being one of the better PG’s in the Big Ten, but it became apparent (especially after Fran’s mid season lineup change), that Bohannon was significantly better at being a facilitator in Iowa’s offense and then picking his spots to shoot. Joe’s tendency to dribble around the court in half court O didn’t lend itself well to effective spacing/ball movement/offense. As another poster mentioned, he’s a guy who thrives in chaos/transition

Hope he kicks ass as a Mountaineer
 
I was a Toussaint fan for his D. Don't care about his turnovers, that will happen when a PG tries to make a play. But I would hate it when Murray would get double teamed, make the right pass, then another pass to a wide open Toussaint on the three point line...only for him to hold the ball, not shoot the wide open shot, & allow the defense to recover. Can't pass up wide open shots & he would do it two-three times a game.
 
I agree with all this. However, I'm thinking back to Joe's freshman year, particularly when he started to come on toward the end of the season, and the potential he showed. It was his sophomore year that I thought Joe was mismanaged. You could tell his confidence was completely shaken and that he was in Fran's doghouse the entire year. I think that set the stage for his junior year in which he was constantly playing tight and too fast and consequently would get the quick hook. Joe never got the same latitude to grow and mature as other players did IMO.
Joe was a turnover machine as a freshman. He played a lot because JoBo was injured. Evelyn was actually outplaying Joe by the end of the year.

Joe does not seem to respond well to competing for playing time. I loved his tenacity but I didn't like his overplaying his man 25 feet from the bucket.
 
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I liked Joe, seems like a great guy and great teammate but the offense was just funky (in the half court) because of dribbling around and then picking up his dribble at bad times. He clearly has strengths and I think got better over his career including improving his outside shooting a bit…….Fran did give him a chance and started him his junior year at the beginning of the season for several games BUT the change to coming off the bench was obviously the right one.

I think if fans criticize Fran for being “to loyal to the starters” they need to consider this example.
 
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Joe was a turnover machine as a freshman. He played a lot because JoBo was injured. Evelyn was actually outplaying Joe by the end of the year.

Joe does not seem to respond well to competing for playing time. I loved his tenacity but I didn't like his overplaying his man 25 feet from the bucket.
How was Joe playing at the end of his freshman year?
 
Joe could get around his man almost at will, but once he got into the lane and help came his options became limited as a 6 ft guard double teamed in the lane. Then to Fran’s chagrin, the play would break down.
 
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Nice interview. Joe had 8 points in their opening exhibition game I believe. He makes comments in this interview about finally having a coach that has confidence in him which confirms everything we suspected. He had a short leash and wasn't allowed to play his game. I hope he has a big year.
You always post this kind of shit. Stay on the West Coast loser. Joe left, enough said. He played out of control too much.
 
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