Ulis is Mike Gesell 2.0

[HawkAlum2002]

Gesell wasn't a great 3 point shooter, but his overall shooting percentage was good (it beats Horner, Oliver, and JBo as contemporaries). He had the best transition pull up jumper of anyone in Fran's tenure. And his senior year he was back over 40 percent on 3s until his hamstring injury before the Rutgers game. He missed his last ten or so 3s that season so the average settled back down, but he was above average before that. But before that injury he was probably second team all conference his senior year. He did get a National Player of the Week award for his career high in taking down number one MSU, that's no small feat. And of course he had the clutch 3 point play at Chapel Hill to upset the Tar Heels and Marcus Paige his junior year. We'll be lucky if Uhlis is as good as Gesell was.

 

[fivecardstud14]

Gesell wasn't a great 3 point shooter, but his overall shooting percentage was good (it beats Horner, Oliver, and JBo as contemporaries). He had the best transition pull up jumper of anyone in Fran's tenure. And his senior year he was back over 40 percent on 3s until his hamstring injury before the Rutgers game. He missed his last ten or so 3s that season so the average settled back down, but he was above average before that. But before that injury he was probably second team all conference his senior year. He did get a National Player of the Week award for his career high in taking down number one MSU, that's no small feat. And of course he had the clutch 3 point play at Chapel Hill to upset the Tar Heels and Marcus Paige his junior year. We'll be lucky if Uhlis is as good as Gesell was.

Horner's eFG% = .503 & TS% = .550
Oliver's eFG% = .451 & TS% = .518
Gesell's eFG% = .443 & TS% = .483

 

[owenhawk]

My memory of MG...

1) Late in close games he would drive to the basket and throw up a lay up way too high off the glass. Could not finish.

2) Below Average 3 point shooter, so everyone could pack the lane when he was on the perimeter

3) Could not create any separation off the dribble, so the perimeter was easily defended when he did tried to penetrate. He never drew a double team that would open up the perimeter. And he could not finish (see item 1).

My eyes told me he was a horrible PG.

If your eyes told you he was a "horrible PG", you might want to get to an optometrist quickly.

 

[owenhawk]

Yeah I think this thread is honestly disrespectful to him. He started 130 of 134 games for Iowa, scored 1000+ points, had 500+ assists, took care of the basketball, was an excellent defender on defensive oriented teams, etc.

His shooting percentages weren't great and yeah he wasn't the best finisher. But he was a major contributor on good teams.

So far Ulis has started 0 of 57 games, has much worse shooting percentages, has only played 11.6 MPG, etc. He's got a lot of ground to make up to achieve what Gesell did.

Very fair and objective take. The one thing Gesell brought (along with Woodbury) is a defensive toughness that Iowa fans have asked for from all other Iowa teams that Woody and Gesell were not on.

 

[Ronman]

People talk about Mike's failure to finish at the rim but in my mind there has never been another player who was fouled and knocked to the floor without getting a call on his drives than Mike was.

 

[Kurt Warner]

If Gesell played like he did against North Carolina routinely, he would have went down as one of the best ever to put on a hawk uniform

 

[BirdistheWord]

Yeah I think this thread is honestly disrespectful to him. He started 130 of 134 games for Iowa, scored 1000+ points, had 500+ assists, took care of the basketball, was an excellent defender on defensive oriented teams, etc.

His shooting percentages weren't great and yeah he wasn't the best finisher. But he was a major contributor on good teams.

So far Ulis has started 0 of 57 games, has much worse shooting percentages, has only played 11.6 MPG, etc. He's got a lot of ground to make up to achieve what Gesell did.

Its clearly apples and oranges. Gessel walked into a better situation and while he certainly earned his role did not have JBo in front of him like Ulis did.

Also, Ulis has only played two seasons thus far so clearly the jury is still out. I strongly agree that he has a ways to go to match what Gessel did. I also dont see much similarity in their games other than maybe some toughness/moxie.

Ulis has a lot to build from, and as I have stated in other threads, can be a tremendous asset focusing on his strengths even without becoming much of a scorer. Defense, Passing, Rebounding and Ball Handling. If he can continue to hit his FT's and at least improve his short range/bunnies shooting, we are in great shape.

Matching Gessel will be tough given he was a double digit scorer much of his time here, but we shall see.

 

[The Deplorable Sleeping Dog]

Mikey G's first two seasons:

34	30	25.1	3.1	7.7	.403	2.1	4.7	.459	1.0	3.1	.317	1.5	1.9	.794	0.4	2.2	2.6	2.6	1.2	0.3	1.7	1.9	8.7		6.93
33	33	23.7	2.7	7.3	.375	1.8	4.5	.412	0.9	2.8	.315	1.5	2.2	.671	0.3	1.8	2.0	3.9	1.3	0.1	1.3	1.9	7.8		7.43

Ahron's first two seasons

17	0	7.0	0.3	0.9	.333	0.3	0.7	.417	0.0	0.2	.000	1.1	1.2	.900	0.4	0.5	0.9	1.2	0.1	0.1	0.4	0.5	1.6		10.43
35	0	13.9	1.0	2.9	.340	0.9	2.5	.341	0.1	0.3	.333	1.1	1.4	.792	0.5	1.4	2.0	2.1	0.5	0.0	0.9	1.2	3.1		6.87

Other than shooting an insignificantly higher percentage, of far fewer threes, Mike was really better at everything than Ahron has shown. Mike shot 196 three his first two seasons and Ahron shot only 15 even that insignificant advantage sinks somewhere below insignificant. Ahron has also been a better free throw shooter, although again shooting far fewer.

Mike was a much stronger and better defender. Mike had the advantage of starting as a freshman but Ahron had the advantage of time to learn and improve. Ahron is probably a little quicker, and he plays harder than it looks (kind of smooth). Time will tell who plays their money years better. Ahron has no one in front of him this year. We will soon know if Ahron is capable of being a two year starter. I certainly hope so and would love for him to show development into a good point guard.

 

[The Deplorable Sleeping Dog]

Matching Gessel will be tough given he was a double digit scorer much of his time here, but we shall see.

Actually Mike never averaged double figures at Iowa. Mike was a 7-9 point scorer. If you add all the free throw misses, and the 2nd end of a 1 and 1 even reasonable crunch time free throwing would have probably pushed him over 10 junior and senior year.

 

[CookyMonster]

Gesell wasn't a great 3 point shooter, but his overall shooting percentage was good (it beats Horner, Oliver, and JBo as contemporaries). He had the best transition pull up jumper of anyone in Fran's tenure. And his senior year he was back over 40 percent on 3s until his hamstring injury before the Rutgers game. He missed his last ten or so 3s that season so the average settled back down, but he was above average before that. But before that injury he was probably second team all conference his senior year. He did get a National Player of the Week award for his career high in taking down number one MSU, that's no small feat. And of course he had the clutch 3 point play at Chapel Hill to upset the Tar Heels and Marcus Paige his junior year. We'll be lucky if Uhlis is as good as Gesell was.

His pull up game dropped off a cliff. Id take Peter Joks pull up any day as well. 10 attempted 3s? Thats like a game and a half for Jbo or Kris next year. Agree though we will be thrilled if Ulis ends up as productive as Gesell.

 

[BBHawk]

Mikey G's first two seasons:

34	30	25.1	3.1	7.7	.403	2.1	4.7	.459	1.0	3.1	.317	1.5	1.9	.794	0.4	2.2	2.6	2.6	1.2	0.3	1.7	1.9	8.7		6.93
33	33	23.7	2.7	7.3	.375	1.8	4.5	.412	0.9	2.8	.315	1.5	2.2	.671	0.3	1.8	2.0	3.9	1.3	0.1	1.3	1.9	7.8		7.43

Ahron's first two seasons

17	0	7.0	0.3	0.9	.333	0.3	0.7	.417	0.0	0.2	.000	1.1	1.2	.900	0.4	0.5	0.9	1.2	0.1	0.1	0.4	0.5	1.6		10.43
35	0	13.9	1.0	2.9	.340	0.9	2.5	.341	0.1	0.3	.333	1.1	1.4	.792	0.5	1.4	2.0	2.1	0.5	0.0	0.9	1.2	3.1		6.87

Other than shooting an insignificantly higher percentage, of far fewer threes, Mike was really better at everything than Ahron has shown. Mike shot 196 three his first two seasons and Ahron shot only 15 even that insignificant advantage sinks somewhere below insignificant. Ahron has also been a better free throw shooter, although again shooting far fewer.

Mike was a much stronger and better defender. Mike had the advantage of starting as a freshman but Ahron had the advantage of time to learn and improve. Ahron is probably a little quicker, and he plays harder than it looks (kind of smooth). Time will tell who plays their money years better. Ahron has no one in front of him this year. We will soon know if Ahron is capable of being a two year starter. I certainly hope so and would love for him to show development into a good point guard.

Totally different situations. It's not practical to compare them on what each did their first 2 years.

 

[The Deplorable Sleeping Dog]

Totally different situations. It's not practical to compare them on what each did their first 2 years.

Just data points to consider. That is why I left the question open. I hope Ahron blows Mike's numbers away because it means we have a good point guard. Plus, display a little more cool at the line.

 

[BirdistheWord]

Actually Mike never averaged double figures at Iowa. Mike was a 7-9 point scorer. If you add all the free throw misses, and the 2nd end of a 1 and 1 even reasonable crunch time free throwing would have probably pushed him over 10 junior and senior year.

Fair point, I was going off memory. Should have said "almost double digit scorer" for a couple of years. Either way, even an 8 point scorer is well ahead of where Ulis has been thus far. Given all the other things Ulis does, If he could get to 7-9 points per game, that would be outstanding.

 

[tumorboy]

Actually Ahron has a really high bball IQ. He doesn't throw the ball away and seems in control. Also, as noted, he is an excellent free throw shooter. I think the rest of his shooting will come along. This has been discussed before - his 3-pt shooting came up quite a bit to where he was shooting 33% for the year. That's acceptable for a driver. His mid-range game isn't very consistent. That's where Dasonte could really push him. The competition will be good for the team.

My issue is when he gets in the lane. He appears to overthink things. Instead of just finishing.

 

[BirdistheWord]

My issue is when he gets in the lane. He appears to overthink things. Instead of just finishing.

Agreed. He has missed a ton of bunnies and layups, kind of has the Yips. If he can make his layups and a good percentage of short jumpers, floaters, etc. - not expecting him to be a long range shooter - we will be in great shape.

 

[The Deplorable Sleeping Dog]

Agreed. He has missed a ton of bunnies and layups, kind of has the Yips. If he can make his layups and a good percentage of short jumpers, floaters, etc. - not expecting him to be a long range shooter - we will be in great shape.

He also had a lingering wrist injury.

 

[BirdistheWord]

He also had a lingering wrist injury.

Good point. His FT shooting was solid at about 80% but....He shot over 93% his freshman year. Hope that is healed up - any scoring from him is gravy.

 

[The Deplorable Sleeping Dog]

Good point. His FT shooting was solid at about 80% but....He shot over 93% his freshman year. Hope that is healed up - any scoring from him is gravy.

Doubt Ahron will be called upon for heavy scoring. He's pretty much the 5th option among the starters. He needs to find open scorers.

 

[HoustonREDHawk]

I hope Ulis is as good as Mike was. I think he had some injuries, but played through them his last couple of years. Assist/TO really good and very tough, smart defender. Shot wasn't right his last couple of years, but still shot a decent percentage, although FT wasn't good.

 

[BirdistheWord]

Doubt Ahron will be called upon for heavy scoring. He's pretty much the 5th option among the starters. He needs to find open scorers.

I never said he would be called upon for heavy scoring, actually I said "any scoring from him would be gravy."

 

[BBHawk]

I never said he would be called upon for heavy scoring, actually I said "any scoring from him would be gravy."

I just hope he can force opponents to respect his shot and not double off him. I think he can do that.

 

[BirdistheWord]

I just hope he can force opponents to respect his shot and not double off him. I think he can do that.

Agreed, but he has struggled with layups/floaters/short jumpers too. If he can convert those and be respectable from 15 feet, we are in great shape. Obviously his role is to pass, defend, rebound, but needs to squeeze a few points too.

 

[The Deplorable Sleeping Dog]

I never said he would be called upon for heavy scoring, actually I said "any scoring from him would be gravy."

Uh....OK. Wasn't disputing, restating the position in a slightly different way is all. We do need him to score enough to keep defenders on him but anything beyond that is gravy. Although I'd prefer a cotton candy metaphor.

 

[HoustonREDHawk]

Been in Utah seeing the parks. What is the word on how PG is going to shake out? Are Ulis and Bowen going to pretty much split time, or has one shown that he should get most of the minutes?

 

[perryhawk]

Been in Utah seeing the parks. What is the word on how PG is going to shake out? Are Ulis and Bowen going to pretty much split time, or has one shown that he should get most of the minutes?

We really haven’t heard much….as best I can tell Ulis would be the starter if they were playing today, but both are practicing well. My best guess from what we’ve heard/read is that there would be a pretty even split in playing time that may vary depending on the competition.

 

[unoHawkeye]

We really haven’t heard much….as best I can tell Ulis would be the starter if they were playing today, but both are practicing well. My best guess from what we’ve heard/read is that there would be a pretty even split in playing time that may vary depending on the competition.

Unlike the past couple seasons with Toussaint, I really get the sense (based on hearing Fran talk about both Bowen and Ulis) that he really trusts both guys and will have the luxury of being able to ride the hot hand in a given game