WSU game thoughts

[hawksense]

They were undermanned and we beat the pants off of them.

We were very efficient and focused defensively.

We continue to shoot well from 3. A big plus moving forward.

Baer is a player. Going forward, he's got a place in this lineup. In the right place when he needs to be, doing dirty work and not afraid of the situation. He can shoot. If he develops his game further, watch out. He's still a bit rough, but I think he'll get better. He's taking Uhl's minutes, currently.

Woody bashers can eat my shorts. They'll always find something to complain about, just like their lives.

Jok came up when we needed him to today. Build on it, kid.

I almost turned off the game when they had Marshall inset and coaching while the game frame was diminished. Slurp, slurp. I like him. The announcers liked him more.

 

[HoustonREDHawk]

Good post. Only negative from the box score is Uhl's lack of contribution. I love Baer's game awareness and hustle, and he needs to keep getting minutes, but we are going to need Dom's size against some of the B1G teams.

 

[HoustonREDHawk]

Good post. Only negative from the box score is Uhl's lack of contribution. I love Baer's game awareness and hustle, and he needs to keep getting minutes, but we are going to need Dom's size against some of the B1G teams.

 

[gohawks7470]

Good post agreed on them being undermanned, still a good confidence building win though. It really would've sucked to go home 0-3 on that trip. Woody had another good game, still gladly eating crow here. Hope he keeps this up all season. Huge games by JU and Mike Gesell as well.

 

[Auger]

Will be a solid win down the stretch. Not sure how much we can take from this game as WSU were missing 3 of their top 4 players not including Frankamp who is sitting out until mid December. If they can get all of those players back healthy they could be a top 25 type team. Without a few of them they might not make the dance which is sad because when healthy I think they are a top 15 team. The losses of VanVleet, Grady and Shamet are huge.

 

[jela955]

Good game today. Woody has been playing well and I would like to see more of our offense run through the post. He doesn't need to shoot it all the time but he is a very good passer out of the post and the 3's are usually better quality when they come inside out. Everyone who played contributed in some positive way except maybe Uhl and Wagner in limited minutes.

 

[hawki1968]

Good post. Only negative from the box score is Uhl's lack of contribution. I love Baer's game awareness and hustle, and he needs to keep getting minutes, but we are going to need Dom's size against some of the B1G teams.

Uhl is a ball stopper: move the ball and play off of Mike; then you will get some good looks for yourself.

 

[EduNeerHawk]

Good thoughts sense......Nice win today for sure. Tough tourny. Losing to Dayton by 5 and ND by 4 is not something I am going to lose sleep over for sure especially when we had chances to win those games by as much. We were right there for a W. Still trying to figure things out but great seeing Woody get stronger and more productive with his play is very encouraging. Baer is impressive too. He could really develop into a very nice player. He can shoot the 3 ball but he is a Ryan Bowen type all over the rest of the floor on both ends.

 

[DanL53]

Some very interesting points on this thread. Good ones. Rather than type a book I'll just say that I think the Hawkeyes are ahead of where we were last year in terms of development, we just need to oil up where we squeak and the machine will be just fine. Bring the newbies along, find the ones that are game ready. Shore up the defensive intensity to all game long, because we've seen that when we want we can play good defense. Just have to bring it all the time. Hit the boards hard.

Offensively stay in the flow and move the ball side to side, we don't need quick threes we can get them anytime.

Do these things, and we will, and we will have a very good year.

 

[BBHawk]

Some very interesting points on this thread. Good ones. Rather than type a book I'll just say that I think the Hawkeyes are ahead of where we were last year in terms of development, we just need to oil up where we squeak and the machine will be just fine. Bring the newbies along, find the ones that are game ready. Shore up the defensive intensity to all game long, because we've seen that when we want we can play good defense. Just have to bring it all the time. Hit the boards hard.

Offensively stay in the flow and move the ball side to side, we don't need quick threes we can get them anytime.

Do these things, and we will, and we will have a very good year.

Dan, I think this team has moments where they are ahead of last year but, IMHO, they are wildly inconsistent when compared to last year's team. Typical McC team early on. I am hoping that the coach can get them to play with more intensity and consistency every game. Like the football team, they are going to need that to compete in the B1G.

 

[hawksense]

Baer is that workmanlike Iowa kid whose hustle and solid play resemble that of favorite past players. Bowen was my first thought, also. A throwback Iowa kid. Scrappy, even though he prob isn't the best at a lot of things. Effort is one of his strengths.

 

[HawkPT]

The best thing about this game was our defensive intensity and effort. That's what was lacking for the most part the past two games. Part of the reason is that WSU didn't have an ankle-breaking PG, so we didn't have to help on the ball much today. We'll see if this carries forward.

 

[Hawkize31]

I can't tell if we're good or not. Seems like when we're firing on all cylinders, we are really good. Then we have stretches where we look pretty meh. I think the good news is that the consistency can improve greatly as the players continue to play games together.

 

[Mohawkeye]

So, when WSU makes the tourney, do we get full credit in the committee's eyes or do they discount the win because of the WSU injuries?

 

[SDHawkDoc]

They stepped up against a reeling and undermanned shockers team. That's a positive.

I haven't seen anything yet to dissuade me from my position going into the season. They are a bubble team that will be fighting it out for one of the last spots the B1G will get for the tourney.

They need an inside presence to step in and support what you know you're going to get from Woodbury. Uhl should be that guy, but he's not there yet.

Uthoff is THE man offensively. They will have a hard time winning games if he is off or disappears for long stretches.

Outside of the blowout of marquette, they are about what I expected.

Ready yourselves for a rollercoaster ride of a season to include some bad losses and unexpected wins.
And, hope they find themselves on the right side of the Bubble come March.

 

[RocknRollface]

Baer is that workmanlike Iowa kid whose hustle and solid play resemble that of favorite past players. Bowen was my first thought, also. A throwback Iowa kid. Scrappy, even though he prob isn't the best at a lot of things. Effort is one of his strengths.

A mix between Bowen and Jim Bartles.

 

[DanL53]

A mix between Bowen and Jim Bartles.

Winner, winner, chicken dinner! Yes, much more athletic Jim Bartles with kind of a poor mans Ryan Bowen results in the post.

 

[2432Hawk]

Winner, winner, chicken dinner! Yes, much more athletic Jim Bartles with kind of a poor mans Ryan Bowen results in the post.

Bartels was a much better athlete than you're giving credit. I'd say better than Baer.

 

[DanL53]

Bartels was a much better athlete than you're giving credit. I'd say better than Baer.

I don't know, I think RocknRollface hit it dead on. I'm thinking of the Freshman injured, sophomore redshirt, redshirt sophomore off the bench Bartels as compared to walkon redshirt freshman Baer.

 

[Cydkar]

So, when WSU makes the tourney, do we get full credit in the committee's eyes or do they discount the win because of the WSU injuries?

The committee is made aware of all games where teams were shorthanded. How that fits into Iowa's equation is tough to quantify.

 

[cedarvalleykid14]

This team should be pretty good, but I still don't get the lack of intensity on defense and on the boards. Defense and rebounding are mostly effort. I just don't see guys leaving it all on the floor, and that's been the case for years at Iowa. Lute Olson and Tom Davis teams, it seems to me, consistently played hard for 40 minutes. I haven't seen that sort of effort for many years. Effort will get you a long way in basketball. I wish the Hawkeyes would realize they should all play as hard as Baer does ALL the time EVERY game.

 

[hawki1968]

This team should be pretty good, but I still don't get the lack of intensity on defense and on the boards. Defense and rebounding are mostly effort. I just don't see guys leaving it all on the floor, and that's been the case for years at Iowa. Lute Olson and Tom Davis teams, it seems to me, consistently played hard for 40 minutes. I haven't seen that sort of effort for many years. Effort will get you a long way in basketball. I wish the Hawkeyes would realize they should all play as hard as Baer does ALL the time EVERY game.

Sorry, I remember Ricky Davis and Chris Kingbury loafing it plenty of times. That's nothing to take away from Dr. Tom's teams: Certain players have different motors than others. If you expect Jarrod to breath fire and crap lightning, you will be waiting a long time.

 

[HoustonREDHawk]

This team should be pretty good, but I still don't get the lack of intensity on defense and on the boards. Defense and rebounding are mostly effort. I just don't see guys leaving it all on the floor, and that's been the case for years at Iowa. Lute Olson and Tom Davis teams, it seems to me, consistently played hard for 40 minutes. I haven't seen that sort of effort for many years. Effort will get you a long way in basketball. I wish the Hawkeyes would realize they should all play as hard as Baer does ALL the time EVERY game.

Coach Davis did have really good rebounding teams, but I think you are greatly exaggerating the effort shown. I still remember a LOT of layups going the other way against the Hawks during his tenure. I think Lute was a little more demanding, although he seemed to mellow a lot after a few years at Arizona.

I don't think it is so much a lack of hustle as it is a lack of aggressiveness by the current Hawks. It would be nice if the played with more of an edge, but that doesn't seem to be the personality of a few of the players, especially Uthoff, Uhl, and Jok.

 

[mstp1992]

I don't know, I think RocknRollface hit it dead on. I'm thinking of the Freshman injured, sophomore redshirt, redshirt sophomore off the bench Bartels as compared to walkon redshirt freshman Baer.

Wasn't Bartels an all state track athlete in high school?

Just a question; certainly not taking anything away from Nick Baer.

The comparisons to Bowen and Bartels seem appropriate. I have told his dad that I thought Nick plays a bit like Duez Henderson, too. He just seems to do a lot of things well.

 

[IronFist1776]

I'm liking the comparisons to Baer. Bottom line, the kid comes to play and is all over the court. Wish he was a little stronger but there's no mistaking that he's giving it everything he's got.
Woodbury. Wow what improvements he's made to his game! He has low post moves now! He's rolling to the hoop more often. He's switching to double team the ball handler and messing up our opponent's offensive flow. The foul called on him was bogus. The ref anticipated a foul. He's making his FT's. He's hitting outside shots. If Woody gives us this every night, we'll make the tourney, no problem. All the Woody detractors just need to retire already. Who would they rather have? Seth Gorney?
If the defense had held up for the majority of the Dayton and ND games, we'd still be undefeated because we can score against anybody and we finally have shooters. As eople have pointed out, prepare for an up and down season, winning and losing some we shouldn't and should have.

 

[oakhawk]

Yes, Jim Bartles was a good athlete...
High School - second team all-state as senior...two-time all-conference and league MVP at Freedom...two-year starter and sixth man as sophomore... lead undefeated (27-0) team to Class B state championship as senior...averaged 16.4 points, 9.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 2.7 steals as senior...hit 40 percent of 3-pt. field goals...scored 31 points (12-14 from the field) in state title game...led school to three-year record of 62-10...state champion in triple jump (45-4) as a junior...1989 conference titlist in triple jump, long jump and 400 meters.

 

[Kurt Warner]

Bartels was a much better athlete than you're giving credit. I'd say better than Baer.

I tend to agree with this. Bartles was a very athletic player. But Baer as young as he is shows so much promise. Kid has a knack for the ball that's no doubt.