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2020/2021 NCAA Basketball Thread


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Good day to highlight how cool it was seeing two of the Big schools beat perennial powers. I'm biased so liked Hawkeyes taking down UNC in a game where Garza had a pedestrian performance.

Similarly, I presume Illini fan are pretty jacked over that bounce back win over Duke.  Two huge wins against the 2 marquee programs in the ACC (by 2 of the good but maybe not marquee programs in the BIG - albeit both are really damn good this year).  

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Hard to argue that.

It has always been Indiana and MSU during the Izzo Era.

Then there’s that tier just below with Wisconsin, Maryland, Ohio State, etc.

Illinois always had to be taken seriously due to the amount of talent in Chicago.

 

Iowa is successfully recruiting the kind of players who stick around 3-5 years that are definitely good enough for the BIG10 but lack NBA quality, such as Garza, Bohannon and probably Weiskamp as well.  Before, they’d just get outclassed athletically...although Duke has always been the electric third rail team to beat since the 80’s, compared to Carolina.

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12 hours ago, Chisoxfn said:

Good day to highlight how cool it was seeing two of the Big schools beat perennial powers. I'm biased so liked Hawkeyes taking down UNC in a game where Garza had a pedestrian performance.

Similarly, I presume Illini fan are pretty jacked over that bounce back win over Duke.  Two huge wins against the 2 marquee programs in the ACC (by 2 of the good but maybe not marquee programs in the BIG - albeit both are really damn good this year).  

Hawkeyes still need to improve their defense, but that offense is tough to beat. UNC kept Garcia down a bit because they had the size and the quantity . Most teams do not. You might have one huge guy who can give him problems, but he will be in foul trouble quickly. Garza does what he wants if the guy guarding him is smaller.

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10 hours ago, Dick Allen said:

Hawkeyes still need to improve their defense, but that offense is tough to beat. UNC kept Garcia down a bit because they had the size and the quantity . Most teams do not. You might have one huge guy who can give him problems, but he will be in foul trouble quickly. Garza does what he wants if the guy guarding him is smaller.

Right now, they have so many different options on the outside that can knock down 3's, even if you can "control" Garza's numbers to an extent in the paint, you still have to deal with Bohannon, Weiskamp, Frederick, Nunge, etc., on the wings.

Before, there would always be 1-2 guys you could count on to knock down those shots.  Now there's so many that a couple of bad shooting nights won't knock them out of the game.  Then they have Toussaint as the defensive stopper on the opposing team's PG.

We'll see what happens when they lock horns with Gonzaga next week.   Can't remember ever feeling pretty relaxed/comfortable as an Iowa fan going into a game with the #1-ranked team in the country.

 

Fwiw, as a Bettendorf alum, not shocked at all that DJ Carton moved much closer to home.  Also not surprised he had no interest in Iowa with both McCaffrey's kids battling for playing time.   Hopefully everything works out well for him at Marquette.

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I annually like to mock Illini fans for blaming the refs for all their faults, but the refs were pretty atrocious last night. No flow to the game and that Kofi F1 was terrible.

Despite that, Mizz played harder and Ayo had no help most of the night.

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2 hours ago, Brian said:

I annually like to mock Illini fans for blaming the refs for all their faults, but the refs were pretty atrocious last night. No flow to the game and that Kofi F1 was terrible.

Despite that, Mizz played harder and Ayo had no help most of the night.

Illini shot 23% from 3 and 61% from the line and were still right there at the end. Frustrating game for sure, but not the end of the world.

While Ayo was everything for the illini pretty much all game, he was clearly exhausted at the end. He actually cost the Illini in the last few minutes with his unwillingness to give up the ball. I hope he uses this as a learning experience and is more willing to let Curbelo be the ball handler down the stretch (when he's that tired... I've never really seen him gassed like that before). Curbelo has a super bright future.

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Without CJ Frederick (injured) and Bohannon hitting from the outside, Iowa is reduced to a team without any offensive creators on the floor.

They have length, but not enough athleticism to routinely lock down opponents.  Bohannon is really bad defensively, Toussaint is limited offensively, and McCaffrey isn’t a good enough outside shooter to keep defenses honest.

So you’re going to see every team from now on swarm Garza and Weiskamp, forcing the rest of the offense to beat them.  Nunge is going to play more and more of a role going forward, IMO.

Of course, things always look bleakest after a bad loss, but at this point I would be happy with the first Sweet 16 in over 20 years, but not counting on it by any stretch.   No illusions of winning a national championship when a team relies so much on outside shooting (see Creighton.)

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Oklahoma must be the quietest team in NCAA history to knock off three Top Ten teams in the span of about ten days.

Most would be hard-pressed to name a single player on their roster.

Lon Kruger is definitely a HoFer when all is said and done.  
 

Just wish Iowa had a coach who could get the team through the final six weeks, B10 tourney and into the NCAA’s on a hot streak for once.

 

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Hawkeyes are dead again in late season swoon.

Have now lost 4/5, will likely be ranked behind undefeated Drake.

Can’t believe a team ranked #3/4 is now on the verge of finishing 9-10 in the conference.  Never would believe rescheduling Nebraska game even mattered.   It’s almost worse than being a White Sox fan, because the odds of another World Series title for the Sox are greater than Iowa even getting to the Sweet 16 for the first time since Tom Davis was kicked out after taking his final team there in 1999.  The last Iowa team that really played in conference goes back to 2005-06, when they got knocked out by Northwestern State in the first round.

I remember growing up in the 80’s and 90’s when Hawkeye basketball games were must-watch family events, and almost as big as the football season, if not more so some seasons.  Something was broken (fanbase-wise) in that Pierre Pierce/Alfraud situation that has never entirely been repaired, a rift that still hasn’t healed.

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1 hour ago, Chisoxfn said:

I just expect iowa bball will choke - it is what they do best. Last year was the time they didn’t and of course the tourney never happened. 
 

The long layoffs messed with their funk - and they have lost to good squads - but just sucks. 

Frederick being out is going to be used as a partial excuse, but they just don’t have that knack for pulling out close games this year...Bohannon having that run of game winners in the past really sticks out.  When he isn’t hitting threes, his presence kills you on the defensive end.   Blowing that 7 point lead in the final minute at Minnesota was the first warning, then the only game they didn’t have a chance the final minute, losing at home to Indiana really opening the floodgates and the doubts just crept right back in again.

Weiskamp is frustrating as heck.  Sometimes he’s like a Jared Uthoff/Adam Haluska and you think he could make the NBA, then he’ll fade away for an entire half.

Garza gets the most of his ability, but he can’t do it all alone.

McCaffrey has relied on his son too much this year at PG...but he’s lacking the fire of last season in his play.  They have three athletes behind him, but none are true scorers.  


Seems like every season since George Raveling was pushed out that Iowa is always an elite athlete or two short, which invariably impacts them defensively getting critical stops.   There once was a time when Iowa could realistically compete for McDonald’s All Americans, until they started losing them all to Roy Williams.  

 

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