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- Thread starter QChawks
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Ava and Layla as the only bigs is not fine. Layla isn’t even a good, quality sub when Ava needs a breather.
I assume you mean Layla WASN'T a good quality sub her freshman year. You would be correct in that statement. You cannot assume that, given a year of growth we won't see a better player next year. A lot of players are much better sophomores than they are freshmen.
That's all we had last year, mw is the same height as stulke. We'll be fine
And when Ava left the floor, Iowa had a major problem.
Do you think Jan's goal is to lose to a much-lower seed in the second round of next year's tournament like they did this season? Doubt it. Why? Because that's not "fine"
I know Journey played the backup 4 out of necessity last year but I see the same thing this year. And of course if we play a 4 out it doesn't matter much on offense but defensively it will certainly matter. Wollizco even if she is all we hope will probably only play 24-28 minutes a game. Someone is going to have to be a big on defense.
Of course this is true. But we need a way way better Layla this year. Again, I get that she was a Freshman and also a big, which take longer to develop. But she needs to take a big step forward this year as we don't have Hannah to bounce over to the 5 and cover for Ava anymore when she gets in foul trouble or tired. So we will probably need 10-12 minutes a game this year from her.
Again. It feels like you're completely disregarding what a year of added experience by all 5 returning players along with the influx of talent is going to mean. Ava is an All American player and the team will always be worse off when she's not in there, but this will not be the same team next year.
I agree. She needs to make marked improvement. If there's one position that Jan knows how to develop it's bigs, so I'm hopeful that's the case.
Heiden - 6' 4"
Hayes 6'5
Woliczko 6'2
If we are going truly to 4 and 1 offense, those 3 should be able to handle the interior. Look I would love to have 1 more player as depth, and as Jan says it has to be the right fit. So if that 6'3" player were still interested I am sure Jan would make it happen.
In either case this was a success. We added a star who can score, we added a really nice starter or depth guard piece, and we added an athletic G/SF who still has a high ceiling.
Hayes 6'5
Woliczko 6'2
If we are going truly to 4 and 1 offense, those 3 should be able to handle the interior. Look I would love to have 1 more player as depth, and as Jan says it has to be the right fit. So if that 6'3" player were still interested I am sure Jan would make it happen.
In either case this was a success. We added a star who can score, we added a really nice starter or depth guard piece, and we added an athletic G/SF who still has a high ceiling.
Layla had 5 games with double digits, one 20-point game, and one double-double. Sure, she lacked consistency, but she had good flashes. For a freshman year, it wasn't as bad as they say. Ava averaged 5 PPG in her freshman year. I'm not saying that Layla had a freshman year on the same level, nor than Layla development will be at Ava sophomore year level, but there will be some improvement. Now, if you think that if Iowa signs a 12th player, she'll be one post player better than Layla Hays, I think you're not reading Iowa's recent moves very well.
I'd be kind of surprised if McKenna plays 24+ per game her first year. That's a lot of minutes for any freshman.
Jan has always been all in on Layla. Jan said that Layla is one of the best freshman big she's ever coaching. If Iowa were to sign another big, she would be a deeper bench player like AJ Edger.
We might need her to is my point. I love Houston, but at 5-11 that’s an awful lot to ask of her to guard a 4 20-25 minutes a game. There’s a lot of size in the Big Ten.
This is certainly a valid point. Iowa will definitely need to increase the tempo of the game, while keeping turnovers low and also minimizing second chance opportunities for the opponent.
I have still not totally given up hope for another, relatively more viable 4. (Jan did tease a possible 12th player and there are still at least two still available to my knowledge)
Unfortunately, Layla didn't improve as the season progressed.
She doesn't move well, slow footed, foul prone, and doesn't shoot FTs well.
There's a lot of HOPE she improves, but nothing to indicate it's imminent.
And many here realize that Ava also gets lots of silly fouls.
Expecting an incoming freshman, even a highly rated one, to survive a long season without wearing down might be an unreasonable expectation.
Teams like Minnesota, Michigan, and Maryland will exploit this.
You need to find a new team to cheer for because this "problem" isn't going to be solved anytime in the next few seasons. There is no quality big who is going to sign on to play alongside these two players. Even if Jan wanted to spend another $500k+ on a third rotation player at the 5 (ps $500k is probably 17%-18% of our entire budget), it would be a terrible use of funds and hold us back from recruiting at other positions where we actually have minutes. It's just not gonna happen. Ava is going to be our star Center and play 25-30 minutes a game. Layla will get the rest, and we could do a lot worse than Layla (in case you forgot, many teams don't even have a single true C).
I'm also more concerned about defense than rebounding, but I think It'll be fine and probably a net plus offensively. Journey already played pretty much exclusively at the 4 last year averaging 18 minutes in conference play and rebounded at the same rate as Hannah. Up that to 20-22 minutes for her and 18-20 minutes for McKenna and I'll take bets that they are statistically very close if not better than Hannah was last year on a combined basis.
I am excited with Iowa has picked up in the portal. Dani, Amari, and Jocelyn are great gets that seem to be obvious.
I think guard from Knox College will surprise. Yes she is divison 3. Howver, she is high profile scorer in FG, 3-FG, and FT. Think about Bennett Sturtz as a player at lower level and he is preparing for the NBA draft. Not saying that is what will happen but I can see a lot of upside for her.
The gal from Sweden is intriquing. Stats don't jump off the page. But she was on a team of 17-19 years old playing against players 10-12 older. That tells me a bit about her work ethic and mental toughness.
I still would like to see 1 more player at the 4. It would great if this potential addition would be a senior so 1 and done. If not, I think that Georgia Ferguson from Evansville would be a good addition. She is 6'3" freshman forward.
I respect the coching staff and their decisons. They know far more than any of us on this board. Plus with Barrett on the coaching staff and her experinece as a player at LSU and in the WNBA will help with the 4 slot.
Is having a "true Center" supposed to be a good thing? Is that supposed to be an edge we have on opponents? Not sure what you're getting at.
Did we or did we not struggle, often times looking like a junior college team when Ava was not on the floor? I'll wait for your super-fan answer proving to me you don't remember simply because you don't want to remember.
And Journey Houston playing the 4 is NOT IT against teams with a pulse. Does Iowa want to be one of the best teams or do they not?
If any fans criticize the staff, you're going to be deemed "not an Iowa fan".
Amazing the bootlickers that can't see the weaknesses on the team.
I suspect too many are friends/relatives and take it personal.
As a true freshman Houston had 20 rebounds and 13 points against Illinois, 11 rebounds and 8 points against Michigan, 4 rebounds and 15 points against Minnesota, and 8 rebounds and 16 points against USC. Those were all teams with a pulse.
I like our additions also and trust the staff over my opinions easily...I was just wondering what we would do if Ava had a serious injury. Layla would have to play 20 minutes a game with no big body to fill in after that could be a big issue.
If Ava has a serious injury Iowa will be in serious trouble. I think that's the case with 99% of teams who lose their All American star player. There is simply no viable backup plan for that eventuality.
Apparently, people want Iowa playing 4 out on offense and have two big on defense. That's kind of hard to have.
We have 3 players over 6"2 - if we need a bigger lineup I am sure we can go that way.
Was.As she should be, she recruited her. I expect a big bump in her game.
Layla was not the reason iowa lost that game. Plus she'll be much better this year. We'll be fine
I hope Ava Heiden learns to better control her fouls to play more than the 25 mpg she played last season. Layla Hays probably will have 10 mpg, so there's almost no PT left for a possible third big. I would like to have another big / 12th player just for safety, but it wouldn't be anyone who could replace an All-American big like Ava Heiden, and she wouldn't be anyone better than Layla Hays either.
As others have stated, the issue is that you have ZERO chance of signing a quality big whose going to come in and caddy for All American Ava Heiden. Its not going to happen and Jan knew that going in. Her job now is for her and Randi Peterson to get Layla ready.
ISU's Addie Brown would be a nice addition at the 3 or 4.
She's already committed to UCLA. The rich get richer......
Regarding Bria: I doubt she will be much of a scorer at Iowa. Last year only 59 of her 420 FG attempts were from 3, so most of her offense came in the lane. Watching part of one of her games she didn't show any spectacular jumping/athletic ability and with her only being 5'6" she'll be hard pressed to get a lot of those shots off against Big 10 competition. Her style did get her to the line 229 times in 26 games which is amazing; she led D3 in made FT's with 199. I'm all for the underdog story but if we can get some solid ball handling and D out of her it would be a win. Will be interesting to see what she can do.
But nobody expects that from the 11th player on the roster. Chit Chat had 35 mpg last season. Jan said Carnegie and Stremlow can play PG. If Bria does REALLY WELL in practice, she could have something like Callie Levin PT (5 mpg). If she has a bigger role than that, it will be a big surprise and a great story.
It’s great that we now have some guard depth
Come tourney time, we were gassed, Wright in particular