[storminspank]

Wins aside, Iowa has improved recently (seriously) | GazetteOnline.com

[HawkeyeShane]

Thanks for the link Stormin.

[urohawk]

Nice stats to backup an observation I have had. Our half court defense is much better recently. What has hurt this team is perimeter turnovers that lead to fast break points where are guys aren't athletic enough (except May) to stop in transition. It is a small step but an important one. The real problem is the offense. Either we develop a go to guy or the three point shooting has to really pickup.

[NewMexHawk]

We have improved from getting our heads handed to us and getting blown out of gyms to keeping the games within 7 to 12 point losses.

Now comes the truly hard part. Playing a complete game and not letting part of the game get away from them and getting down by 10 and 12 points during the game. When they do, they rarely if ever can catch up again. We can stay with and even beat poorer teams or teams that are our equals or teams with star players hurt. But at some point of the game, the more talented teams always are able to take over the game for a period of time and there is nothing Iowa can do to stop them. Iowa gets down and is unable to come back.

That is what Iowa is going to have to improve on...can they do that against the more talented teams with the players that can take over teams? Players that we have no defense against? Players that we have no player that can defensively stop that player because our players just do not have the quickness or talent to stop that player? It was never more apparent than against OSU. OSU had four different players that could take over a game and we had no one that could man up against any one of those players. Any one of those players at one point of the game could take over the game.

On the other hand, we had NO ONE that could do something like that. And we won't next year either. That is the difference between Iowa and the better teams in the big 10 and next year's recruiting class is not going to change that. How does Lick ball change any of that?

[MisterHappy]

2007-08 Iowa 6-12 in Big Ten Average loss by 9.8 points per game
2008-09 Iowa 5-13 in Big Ten Average loss by 8.8 points per game
2009-10 Iowa 2-9 in Big Ten Average loss by 11.6 points per game

[TurnipTruck]

Doc is working it like a monkey on meth! This is it! Go Hawks!

[ChosenChildren]

He probably can coach!! It is not about coaching, it is about recruiting? Can he recruit? Not sure yet

[Brody]

Let's look at Lickliter's first three seasons at Iowa. In his first year they had a much longer stretch of playing competitive.

Jan 12,2008 Iowa beat Michigan St at home 43-36
Jan 16,2008 Iowa lost to Purdue at home 62-67
Jan 19,2008 Iowa beat Michigan at home 68-60
Jan 23,2008 Iowa lost to Indiana on the road 65-43
Jan 26,2008 Iowa beat Penn St at home 64-49
Jan 30,2008 Iowa lost at Purdue 51-50
Feb 2,2008 Iowa beat Ohio St at home 53-48
Feb 6,2008 Iowa lost to Wisconsin at home 60-54
Feb 9,2008 Iowa lost at Minnesota 63-50
Feb 14,2008 Iowa lost to Michigan at home 60-52
Feb 19,2008 Iowa beat Northwestern 53-51
Feb 23,2008 Iowa lost at MSU 66-52
Feb 27,2008 Iowa lost at Penn St 65-64
Mar 1,2008 Iowa lost to Illinois at home 58-47
Mar 4,2008 Iowa won at Northwestern 67-62

Last year they played well in the final 6 games of the regular season.
Losing at home to Purdue by 4 points.
Beating Michigan at home by 10 points
Losing at MSU by 10
Winning at Northwestern by 6
Losing at home to Ohio St by 2
Beating Penn St by 8

I really don't see where this year is any different than the first two,if anything I don't think this year is as good as we have not beaten a really good team this season.

[IAJay]

Originally Posted by MisterHappy

2007-08 Iowa 6-12 in Big Ten Average loss by 9.8 points per game
2008-09 Iowa 5-13 in Big Ten Average loss by 8.8 points per game
2009-10 Iowa 2-9 in Big Ten Average loss by 11.6 points per game

This is what I was thinking as well. It has never really been about Iowa getting ran out of the building. With the slow style that Iowa plays it is very difficult to do this unless the other team shoots the lights out. However the common theme is that Iowa rarely ever wins these close games. This season seems to be the same ole thing as the previous two seasons which gets people's expectations to high to only be disappointed again and again.

[LivermoreHawk]

Originally Posted by MisterHappy

2007-08 Iowa 6-12 in Big Ten Average loss by 9.8 points per game
2008-09 Iowa 5-13 in Big Ten Average loss by 8.8 points per game
2009-10 Iowa 2-9 in Big Ten Average loss by 11.6 points per game

I think it's fair to say that the Big Ten is considerably better this year top to bottom than the 1st two years. I truely believe that this team is playing pretty good right now and will be better next year and years to come.

[IAJay]

Originally Posted by LivermoreHawk

I think it's fair to say that the Big Ten is considerably better this year top to bottom than the 1st two years. I truely believe that this team is playing pretty good right now and will be better next year and years to come.

How is the Big Ten considerably better this year?

[tm3308]

Originally Posted by IAJay

How is the Big Ten considerably better this year?

Purdue, Wisconsin, MSU, and Ohio State are all top 15 caliber teams. Northwestern is a better team than in years past, Illinois is still a solid program. The only teams that qualify as "bad" are Penn State and Indiana (and Iowa if you choose to qualify them as such). Michigan underachieves, but they have talent.

[IAJay]

Originally Posted by tm3308

Purdue, Wisconsin, MSU, and Ohio State are all top 15 caliber teams. Northwestern is a better team than in years past, Illinois is still a solid program. The only teams that qualify as "bad" are Penn State and Indiana (and Iowa if you choose to qualify them as such). Michigan underachieves, but they have talent.

I feel like everyone's perception is altered because of the preseason hype around the Big Ten this season. There are four locks for the tourney and I could certainly see how the Big Ten only gets those four in the tournament. Penn State, Michigan, Minnesota, and to a certain extent Illinois have all seemed to regress this year instead of improve on last season.

[FreddyBrown]

I'm not buying the idea that the league is significantly better than last season, either.

In addition, we're rarely getting anyone's best shot. No one gets up for us unless they desperately need a win. Even Indiana overlooked Iowa.

The flip side of this observation is that it doesn't take that much to be decent in this league. We just haven't found it.

[IAJay]

Originally Posted by FreddyBrown

I'm not buying the idea that the league is significantly better than last season, either.

In addition, we're rarely getting anyone's best shot. No one gets up for us unless they desperately need a win. Even Indiana overlooked Iowa.

The flip side of this observation is that it doesn't take that much to be decent in this league. We just haven't found it.

That is what I wanted to say as well, but I thought it would just bring the "anti-haters" out of the crowd. You can just tell the focus of the other team isn't there until they need it to be there, and this shows in the opposing shooting percentages. Overlooking Iowa and the slow style of play combine for allowing Iowa to stay in these games, but there is a reason the result is usually the same.

Anyone who has ever played at a decent level of basketball can understand how you overlook the bad teams, but when the other team brings it (which Iowa does amazingly well) it turns it into a real game. I gotta give a lot of love to the team for going 100% even when the other team is slacking.