Iowa-Illini
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Iowa-Illini
Iowa is down 12 at the half but...DAMN...Illinois is shooting 10-12 from 3 point land. Iowa's perimeter defense has been almost nonexistent but Illinois is on fire. Iowa is lucky to only be down by 12 right now, but hopefully Illinois will cool down a bit in the second half and give Iowa a chance to crawl back in this game.
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TheJON
- Iowa State Grad
- Posts: 4546
- Joined: Sun Jan 23, 2005 8:11 pm
- Location: Kinnick Stadium by day, Kauffman Stadium by night
Re: Iowa-Illini
I was at this game and sat midcourt. Best moment of the game was when there was a bad call against Iowa by one of The Tower's co-idiots, some student yelled out "QUIT TRYING TO BE LIKE HIGHTOWER!". Something like that is always funny when the whole arena is silent.
I like the effort of this team. They just don't have the experience right now but there's a lot of potential in the future. Defensively, we are very slow on rotations and this is why Illinois shot such a high percentage from the perimeter. Gatens has got to react quicker defensively. So does E-May.
Marble Jr. has some potential. Solid ballhandler, decent shooter, good athleticism. Needs to improve defensively. May has got to start picking his spots to drive the lane better. He's a freak of an athlete and he needs to learn how to better use those skills.
Basabe has potential, but he is really bad with his back to the basket. He simply cannot post up on anyone above 6'6 at this point. I wish Jarryd Cole was more than just an effort player. It's a real shame he has very little basketball skill. Starting to learn how to hit a 10 foot jumper, but he just doesn't have much ability to be a quality Big-10 "big". Love his effort and heart though.
Cartwright has shown improvement but he makes some of the dumbest decisions I have ever seen a basketball player make. I wonder if he has vision problems because I'm not sure what he's seeing at times. He has 2-3 plays every game where he throws one into the crowd when there wasn't even a teammate in the vicinity.
Gatens has become an offensive star, but he just can't play defense. He just can't. 2 coaches have been here and neither of them have seemed to be able to find a way to put him in a position to be successful on the defensive side. That tells me he just doesn't have the ability. The good thing is he has finally gotten to a point where he more than makes up for his defensive weaknesses on the offensive end.
McCabe has shown flashes but he's not playing well as of late. He was probably the worst player on the floor in the Illinois game- both ends. He definitely has some upside and will be a solid contributor in the next couple of years.
Brommer has also shown signs of life, but he still goes back to where he was the last 2 years at times. I just don't get how a guy in his 3rd year can go from being a real quality big man (Iowa State game) to arguably the worst basketball player ever in the next game (Drake). I have never expected much out of him, but this still amazes me. I know he's not good enough to be a consistent 8-10 point scorer, but this is ridiculous.
Overall, I'm satisfied with where this team is right now. They had no shot at making the postseason this year, so all I am looking for is continued improvement, great effort throughout the season, team chemistry, and nobody to transfer/flunk out. So far the team chemistry seems very good, the effort is definitely there, and some players are starting to show some major improvements. What really killed Lickliter was his players quitting on him late in the season and then eventually transferring. I don't think that will happen this year.
I like the effort of this team. They just don't have the experience right now but there's a lot of potential in the future. Defensively, we are very slow on rotations and this is why Illinois shot such a high percentage from the perimeter. Gatens has got to react quicker defensively. So does E-May.
Marble Jr. has some potential. Solid ballhandler, decent shooter, good athleticism. Needs to improve defensively. May has got to start picking his spots to drive the lane better. He's a freak of an athlete and he needs to learn how to better use those skills.
Basabe has potential, but he is really bad with his back to the basket. He simply cannot post up on anyone above 6'6 at this point. I wish Jarryd Cole was more than just an effort player. It's a real shame he has very little basketball skill. Starting to learn how to hit a 10 foot jumper, but he just doesn't have much ability to be a quality Big-10 "big". Love his effort and heart though.
Cartwright has shown improvement but he makes some of the dumbest decisions I have ever seen a basketball player make. I wonder if he has vision problems because I'm not sure what he's seeing at times. He has 2-3 plays every game where he throws one into the crowd when there wasn't even a teammate in the vicinity.
Gatens has become an offensive star, but he just can't play defense. He just can't. 2 coaches have been here and neither of them have seemed to be able to find a way to put him in a position to be successful on the defensive side. That tells me he just doesn't have the ability. The good thing is he has finally gotten to a point where he more than makes up for his defensive weaknesses on the offensive end.
McCabe has shown flashes but he's not playing well as of late. He was probably the worst player on the floor in the Illinois game- both ends. He definitely has some upside and will be a solid contributor in the next couple of years.
Brommer has also shown signs of life, but he still goes back to where he was the last 2 years at times. I just don't get how a guy in his 3rd year can go from being a real quality big man (Iowa State game) to arguably the worst basketball player ever in the next game (Drake). I have never expected much out of him, but this still amazes me. I know he's not good enough to be a consistent 8-10 point scorer, but this is ridiculous.
Overall, I'm satisfied with where this team is right now. They had no shot at making the postseason this year, so all I am looking for is continued improvement, great effort throughout the season, team chemistry, and nobody to transfer/flunk out. So far the team chemistry seems very good, the effort is definitely there, and some players are starting to show some major improvements. What really killed Lickliter was his players quitting on him late in the season and then eventually transferring. I don't think that will happen this year.
Re: Iowa-Illini
They could also stay in some games if they could shoot a decent free throw percentage. If it weren't for Gatens, they be shooting about 45-50 % from the line. As is, they're shooting about 65%....or something close to that.
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TheJON
- Iowa State Grad
- Posts: 4546
- Joined: Sun Jan 23, 2005 8:11 pm
- Location: Kinnick Stadium by day, Kauffman Stadium by night
Re: Iowa-Illini
Yep, it's very frustrating. Everyone wants Gatens to get to the line more but he is a shooter. Shooters don't get to the line much and he doesn't have the athletic ability to drive the lane all that much. We need May to start knocking down free-throws because he can get to the line.Mace wrote:They could also stay in some games if they could shoot a decent free throw percentage. If it weren't for Gatens, they be shooting about 45-50 % from the line. As is, they're shooting about 65%....or something close to that.