Was asked in a game thread on another board earlier today

[colhusker]

How many of our starters would start for Iowa this year.  At the start of the year I would have said at least 2, now not sure any would.  Not who would start for Wisconsin, Duke, Notre Dame, Arizona but IOWA.  Man this team has fallen flat on it's face.  Were expectations to high at the start of the year, yes, but there is to much of last years team left to be this bad.

[The Polish Rifle]

When you break down our roster, its not exactly ideal. We lack a solid PG and a solid C. We have 2 good wings, though one is somewhat of a head case and a volume shooter. We caught lightning in a bottle at the end of last year, this team isn't good enough to do it again. I think the idea you brought up is completely correct, we don't have the talent to compete right now. 

[PeltzFan12]

Who is the head case and who is the volume shooter?  I kid, I kid!!!!

[jimmykc]

I think we have two players who would find their way into any starting lineup in the Big 10 except for Wisconsin, at least on a few occasions. Not sure any of the remainder of our roster would get much playing time for most of the other teams.

[Miles ahead of the rest]

How many of our starters would start for Iowa this year.  At the start of the year I would have said at least 2, now not sure any would.  Not who would start for Wisconsin, Duke, Notre Dame, Arizona but IOWA.  Man this team has fallen flat on it's face.  Were expectations to high at the start of the year, yes, but there is to much of last years team left to be this bad.

 

Am I the only one who thinks that expectations going in to this season we're pretty accurate?  No one expected us to make a national championship run by any means.  We were preseason ranked 21, which in my opinion sounds pretty accurate.  We were picked second in the conference, which was very reasonable going into this year.  Did we make a magical run last year that no one expected?  Ya, we did, but we did it with the leading conference scorer, an offensive threat in shields who was averaging around 15 last year.  We brought back Walt who most expected to be one of the more improved players around the country.  Along with a bench who although not stellar offensively, was all returning from last years team.  The expectations going into this season seemed pretty reasonable in my opinion.

[huskerbaseball13]

How many of our starters would start for Iowa this year.  At the start of the year I would have said at least 2, now not sure any would.  Not who would start for Wisconsin, Duke, Notre Dame, Arizona but IOWA.  Man this team has fallen flat on it's face.  Were expectations to high at the start of the year, yes, but there is to much of last years team left to be this bad.

 

Someone needs to rein in Petteway.  The guy is averaging 7 three pointers a game shooting 31% from deep. And that's trending down...not up.  I know he wants to impress the NBA scouts proving he can be a jump shooter but he is only doing more damage to his stock and the team by settling for so many long range jumpers.  Some contested...some rushed.  Somebody needs to let him know there is such a thing as a mid range jumper. 

[Norm Peterson]

 

How many of our starters would start for Iowa this year.  At the start of the year I would have said at least 2, now not sure any would.  Not who would start for Wisconsin, Duke, Notre Dame, Arizona but IOWA.  Man this team has fallen flat on it's face.  Were expectations to high at the start of the year, yes, but there is to much of last years team left to be this bad.

 

Someone needs to rein in Petteway.  The guy is averaging 7 three pointers a game shooting 31% from deep. And that's trending down...not up.  I know he wants to impress the NBA scouts proving he can be a jump shooter but he is only doing more damage to his stock and the team by settling for so many long range jumpers.  Some contested...some rushed.  Somebody needs to let him know there is such a thing as a mid range jumper. 

 

If you think Petteway is the problem, you're not watching carefully.  Petteway is not the problem.

 

Petteway is not taking shots away from other players.  Other players are turning down shots until we have no choice but to put the ball back in Petteway's hands and see if he can do something with it.

 

That's Petteway's fault?

[OurDecay]

 

If you think Petteway is the problem, you're not watching carefully.  Petteway is not the problem.

 

Petteway is not taking shots away from other players.  Other players are turning down shots until we have no choice but to put the ball back in Petteway's hands and see if he can do something with it.

 

That's Petteway's fault?

 

This.

[huskerbaseball13]

 

 

How many of our starters would start for Iowa this year.  At the start of the year I would have said at least 2, now not sure any would.  Not who would start for Wisconsin, Duke, Notre Dame, Arizona but IOWA.  Man this team has fallen flat on it's face.  Were expectations to high at the start of the year, yes, but there is to much of last years team left to be this bad.

 

Someone needs to rein in Petteway.  The guy is averaging 7 three pointers a game shooting 31% from deep. And that's trending down...not up.  I know he wants to impress the NBA scouts proving he can be a jump shooter but he is only doing more damage to his stock and the team by settling for so many long range jumpers.  Some contested...some rushed.  Somebody needs to let him know there is such a thing as a mid range jumper. 

 

If you think Petteway is the problem, you're not watching carefully.  Petteway is not the problem.

 

Petteway is not taking shots away from other players.  Other players are turning down shots until we have no choice but to put the ball back in Petteway's hands and see if he can do something with it.

 

That's Petteway's fault?

 

 

I don't think Petteway is THE problem...but I don't think his shot selection is helping any.  A guy like him should not be shooting on average 7 three pointers a game.  I can't imagine he doesn't have a midrange game but thus far in his career we have not seen it. 

[Huskerpapa]

 

 

How many of our starters would start for Iowa this year.  At the start of the year I would have said at least 2, now not sure any would.  Not who would start for Wisconsin, Duke, Notre Dame, Arizona but IOWA.  Man this team has fallen flat on it's face.  Were expectations to high at the start of the year, yes, but there is to much of last years team left to be this bad.

 

Someone needs to rein in Petteway.  The guy is averaging 7 three pointers a game shooting 31% from deep. And that's trending down...not up.  I know he wants to impress the NBA scouts proving he can be a jump shooter but he is only doing more damage to his stock and the team by settling for so many long range jumpers.  Some contested...some rushed.  Somebody needs to let him know there is such a thing as a mid range jumper. 

 

If you think Petteway is the problem, you're not watching carefully.  Petteway is not the problem.

 

Petteway is not taking shots away from other players.  Other players are turning down shots until we have no choice but to put the ball back in Petteway's hands and see if he can do something with it.

 

That's Petteway's fault?

 

I agree 100%.  It is frustrating to watch a player pass up an open shot at the elbow...over and over again.  I am not sure why this occurs so often, but that is perhaps my number one frustration.  If you have a clear shot in the flow of the offense, you have to shoot the ball...

[HB]

 

 

 

How many of our starters would start for Iowa this year.  At the start of the year I would have said at least 2, now not sure any would.  Not who would start for Wisconsin, Duke, Notre Dame, Arizona but IOWA.  Man this team has fallen flat on it's face.  Were expectations to high at the start of the year, yes, but there is to much of last years team left to be this bad.

 

Someone needs to rein in Petteway.  The guy is averaging 7 three pointers a game shooting 31% from deep. And that's trending down...not up.  I know he wants to impress the NBA scouts proving he can be a jump shooter but he is only doing more damage to his stock and the team by settling for so many long range jumpers.  Some contested...some rushed.  Somebody needs to let him know there is such a thing as a mid range jumper. 

 

If you think Petteway is the problem, you're not watching carefully.  Petteway is not the problem.

 

Petteway is not taking shots away from other players.  Other players are turning down shots until we have no choice but to put the ball back in Petteway's hands and see if he can do something with it.

 

That's Petteway's fault?

 

I agree 100%.  It is frustrating to watch a player pass up an open shot at the elbow...over and over again.  I am not sure why this occurs so often, but that is perhaps my number one frustration.  If you have a clear shot in the flow of the offense, you have to shoot the ball...

 

 

I think it occurs because we have a lot of bad shooters.  This isn't rocket science.  When a person is bad at something, they usually are either discouraged from doing it by their own failure, or because someone else (i.e. the coach) gives them a red light.  I know one thing, if I am playing in a golf scramble with team mulligans, and  am facing a 5 foot putt, and have teammates, I am the last guy wanting to take that putt.  I've missed a million of them, and have no confidence in them.  I'm not volunteering to take that shot. 

[HB]

 

How many of our starters would start for Iowa this year.  At the start of the year I would have said at least 2, now not sure any would.  Not who would start for Wisconsin, Duke, Notre Dame, Arizona but IOWA.  Man this team has fallen flat on it's face.  Were expectations to high at the start of the year, yes, but there is to much of last years team left to be this bad.

 

Am I the only one who thinks that expectations going in to this season we're pretty accurate?  No one expected us to make a national championship run by any means.  We were preseason ranked 21, which in my opinion sounds pretty accurate.  We were picked second in the conference, which was very reasonable going into this year.  Did we make a magical run last year that no one expected?  Ya, we did, but we did it with the leading conference scorer, an offensive threat in shields who was averaging around 15 last year.  We brought back Walt who most expected to be one of the more improved players around the country.  Along with a bench who although not stellar offensively, was all returning from last years team.  The expectations going into this season seemed pretty reasonable in my opinion.

 

 

I doubt you are the only one, although I disagree that expectations were pretty reasonable.   A team without a point guard will never finish second in the big 10.  And that's just one issue. 

 

And in terms of expectations, I would say most had unreasonably rosy expectations for Fuller, Tai, and Walt.  And maybe even Moses.  Any expectations for Fuller had to be based mainly on recruiting hype; Tai on that his outside shooting would magically improve, and Walt.....well, let's just say he has gone the other direction.  It may have been reasonable to expect him to play as well as he did during the run last year, but to be one of the most improved players in the country?  Hmmm....

[Miles ahead of the rest]

I doubt you are the only one, although I disagree that expectations were pretty reasonable.   A team without a point guard will never finish second in the big 10.  And that's just one issue. 

 

And in terms of expectations, I would say most had unreasonably rosy expectations for Fuller, Tai, and Walt.  And maybe even Moses.  Any expectations for Fuller had to be based mainly on recruiting hype; Tai on that his outside shooting would magically improve, and Walt.....well, let's just say he has gone the other direction.  It may have been reasonable to expect him to play as well as he did during the run last year, but to be one of the most improved players in the country?  Hmmm....

 

 

Fuller, we didn't know what to expect, but we all expected him to be an obviously much bigger contributor at the beginning of the season than he turned out to be.  Tai was expected to be vastly improved, including his 3 pt. shot, which improved, but not as much as most expected.  And I remember reading an article before the season about players who will be most improved coming into this season.  It was a list of like 40-50 and Walt was on it.  Expecting him to play as good as he did last year is pretty much specifically asking him to knock down shots, because that's his main contribution from our run last year.  Most expected him to develop some sort of post game, and some defensive abilities.  I don't think that was too much to ask honestly.

[HB]

 

I doubt you are the only one, although I disagree that expectations were pretty reasonable.   A team without a point guard will never finish second in the big 10.  And that's just one issue. 

 

And in terms of expectations, I would say most had unreasonably rosy expectations for Fuller, Tai, and Walt.  And maybe even Moses.  Any expectations for Fuller had to be based mainly on recruiting hype; Tai on that his outside shooting would magically improve, and Walt.....well, let's just say he has gone the other direction.  It may have been reasonable to expect him to play as well as he did during the run last year, but to be one of the most improved players in the country?  Hmmm....

 

 

Fuller, we didn't know what to expect, but we all expected him to be an obviously much bigger contributor at the beginning of the season than he turned out to be.  Tai was expected to be vastly improved, including his 3 pt. shot, which improved, but not as much as most expected.  And I remember reading an article before the season about players who will be most improved coming into this season.  It was a list of like 40-50 and Walt was on it.  Expecting him to play as good as he did last year is pretty much specifically asking him to knock down shots, because that's his main contribution from our run last year.  Most expected him to develop some sort of post game, and some defensive abilities.  I don't think that was too much to ask honestly.

 

 

Well, my point was, if expectations are based on projections vs. what has been demonstrated, they can always be out of whack.  Tai was a really bad shooter last year.  Just because some articles say he might be better, it's a bit of a stretch to expect it.  And for a bad shooter to become a good shooter at this age--yeah, it can happen, but one shouldn't expect it.

 

The year before almost everyone covering college basketball had us finishing last in The Big 10.  All that preseason stuff is pretty shaky.  it's not that accurate. 

[colhusker]

 

 

How many of our starters would start for Iowa this year.  At the start of the year I would have said at least 2, now not sure any would.  Not who would start for Wisconsin, Duke, Notre Dame, Arizona but IOWA.  Man this team has fallen flat on it's face.  Were expectations to high at the start of the year, yes, but there is to much of last years team left to be this bad.

 

Someone needs to rein in Petteway.  The guy is averaging 7 three pointers a game shooting 31% from deep. And that's trending down...not up.  I know he wants to impress the NBA scouts proving he can be a jump shooter but he is only doing more damage to his stock and the team by settling for so many long range jumpers.  Some contested...some rushed.  Somebody needs to let him know there is such a thing as a mid range jumper. 

 

If you think Petteway is the problem, you're not watching carefully.  Petteway is not the problem.

 

Petteway is not taking shots away from other players.  Other players are turning down shots until we have no choice but to put the ball back in Petteway's hands and see if he can do something with it.

 

That's Petteway's fault?

 

Is Petteway THE problem?  No.  Is Petteway part of THE problem?  Hell yes.  I understand and agree with your assessment that he gets the back late in the shot clock and has to shoot at times.  I have also watched him come down and rush shots or drive the lane forcing up an off balance shot.  Bottom line the offense is broken and it is sad that a Div 1 team in a power 5 conference struggles to get out of the 40 point range in a game.

[GATA]

I give Petteway the benefit of the doubt because he absolutely HAS to be a gunner in order for us to score points. If he played the same way with several other talented offensive players on the floor then it would be a problem.

That said, I do cringe a few times a game due to his shot selection, but I can't blame him. At least he plays with confidence and aggression. I wish that could rub off on his teammates.

[Huskerpapa]

I remember going to practices under Doc.  He would absolutely rip certain players.  They would take an open look shot and even if they made it, he would chide them and state they haven't earn the right to to take that shot. 

 

I have not been to a Coach Miles practice, but similar directives (with much more colorful language) took place at Danny's practices as well.  I remember one practice where De. Owens spent the entire practice holding five pound weights at arms length because he forced a shot (kinda a Full Metal Jacket moment).

 

Again, I have not attended a current practice, but I do hear players and coaches talk as if players are making these shots in practice.  So I am making an assumption that they are encouraged to make those same shots in games.  But..ahhhhhh....they aren't.

 

Here are some minor issues that I see from afar:

* Spacing looks out of whack.  More often than not we have players clumped together and they simply do not flow.

* Hesitation in shooting the ball...it drives me whacky.

* Forcing moves, forcing shots...quite frankly they look mechanical. 

* Perhaps roles...or perhaps not fully grasping a role is leading to half-hearted execution.

* Distracted effort.  We seem to break down offensively as if we forgot what the heck we are doing.

* I will use the word "execution" once again.  Does anyone know how to set a hard pick without fouling...or perhaps how to come off of a well placed pick?

[Red Don]

Colhusker  (Posted Today, 09:22 AM)

"Is Petteway THE problem?  No.  Is Petteway part of THE problem?  Hell yes.  I understand and agree with your assessment that he gets the back late in the shot clock and has to shoot at times.  I have also watched him come down and rush shots or drive the lane forcing up an off balance shot.  Bottom line the offense is broken and it is sad that a Div 1 team in a power 5 conference struggles to get out of the 40 point range in a game."

 

Yes!   But it's a Team Effort!   (see above post for some issues)

[hhcmatt]

Re: Subject line - Sounds like a question someone would ask if they only watched Iowa 1-2 times this year

[PeltzFan12]

Against Michigan State this year, Petteway started 0-3 from the three point line.  One rimmed in and out, the game was close, the guy behind me yelled "Don't ever take a three the rest of the game Petteway!!!!!"

 

Petteway proceeded to hit back to back threes and in the postgame, Coach Izzo said those back to back threes "broke the game open"

 

I for one, am happy when Petteway fires away.  And as for his pull up three's in transition??  Better than passing the ball around for 31 seconds and then have a guy get blocked or turn it over or shoot an air ball, all which happened during the Iowa game.

[colhusker]

Colhusker  (Posted Today, 09:22 AM)

"Is Petteway THE problem?  No.  Is Petteway part of THE problem?  Hell yes.  I understand and agree with your assessment that he gets the back late in the shot clock and has to shoot at times.  I have also watched him come down and rush shots or drive the lane forcing up an off balance shot.  Bottom line the offense is broken and it is sad that a Div 1 team in a power 5 conference struggles to get out of the 40 point range in a game."

 

Yes!   But it's a Team Effort!   (see above post for some issues)

Oh it's a team effort as to why the offense is broke and the coaching staff has to take some of that blame too.

[Coaches kid]

Had a nice conversation with Shon Morris from BTN after the game. He's a really nice guy. His observations: the lack of a knock-down shooter has really hurt us. Teams are sagging and taking away driving lanes and angles. Failure to have a post threat is also something which needs to be addressed. 

 

Nonetheless he said he didn't see the Iowa beat-down coming, especially after our effort at Maryland. 

 

It's clear that nobody is playing with confidence on the offensive end, even the guys who can score. The hot potato reference is spot on. It's amazing what confidence and chemistry can do. Confident players play faster and are more likely to attack. Like many have noted, simple fundamentals are lacking as well. Guys aren't ready to shoot or attack when they receive the ball. We don't screen hard or at good angles. We don't roll off of screens or look for guys who roll or spot up for pick and pops.

 

I don't want to pile on Terran because he's a proven scorer and presents one of our only threats. He's our best option. However, when he goes right off of ball screens, he NEVER looks back at the screener and other teams have noticed this. 

 

It's devolved to the point that I'd rather see us force tempo and attack even when we don't have a numbers advantage.  I'm pretty sure we may get better looks 2 on 3 or with even numbers than we do taking a crappy shot late in the clock (although we have struggled scoring even when we get good shots). 

 

To be a consistent top-half team, we will need to recruit players who are or who have the ability to be competent offensive players. Eventually, we need to get to a point where we have at least 3 or 4 legitimate offensive threats on the floor at any given time. 

[PeltzFan12]

I noticed multiple times in the Iowa game where we didn't even catch a pass cleanly, it bobbled or a player took his eye off it and he almost lost it.  One time Petteway was just dribbling on his own and lost it to the Iowa sideline.  Lack of focus.