It appears that is what works. Bracket Stirtz with 2 guys, and then you start rotating once he makes his first pass. It’s pretty simple and effective when the other 4 guys are too hesitant to shoot or score. Or they just can’t get their own shot. It was effective for Purdue and Nebraska and will continue to be until another threat emerges.
Bracketing Stirtz
- Thread starter Kirbs
- Start date
Stirtz is great and Im glad Iowa got the win, but having guys who refuse to even look at the basket offensively will be a problem moving forward if it doesnt get corrected. That ball needs to pop and if someone has a good look, take the shot, it doesnt always have to come down to a prayer at the shot clock.
This is why we need Hausen.
Spread the floor and let him attack from top of the key. If they bracket with two defenders or hedge another on the dribble another teammate is open to score. IMO this is an ideal situation for a pass, catch and shoot …preferably Hausen.
I mean the above scenario is oversimplified but the idea is to make them pay.
Right now,who on our top 5 can knock down 3 or jump shots in a game?
We only allow three pointers so besides koch,who can make multiple 3s in a game?
I believe Cooper will be a solid shooter as he matures but cam,tavion,kael, Howard ...just not shooters right now
Our whole offense is limited to stirtz ,then maybe on a good nite koch,alvar,possibly Tate.
Ben has said his good teams have had 5 shooters on the floor....with cam,kael,and hopefully banks back next year it will be at least 2028 before he could achieve that
Til then,go defense
We only allow three pointers so besides koch,who can make multiple 3s in a game?
I believe Cooper will be a solid shooter as he matures but cam,tavion,kael, Howard ...just not shooters right now
Our whole offense is limited to stirtz ,then maybe on a good nite koch,alvar,possibly Tate.
Ben has said his good teams have had 5 shooters on the floor....with cam,kael,and hopefully banks back next year it will be at least 2028 before he could achieve that
Til then,go defense
Except that people can learn to shoot. Way back in the day, Ralph Miller said he preferred to recruit players who wanted to play defense and, if necessary, he could teach them to shoot. Ralph's 1969-70 Iowa team won the Big Ten (14-0) and averaged over 100 points per game long before the 3-point shot. So I think Ben could have five shooters on the floor next year even without going to the portal. The guys coming back have shown the ability to score, but they've been inconsistent, largely--I think--because they seem TOO focused on running clock and deferring to Stirtz.
He could if he appealed and the NCAA agreed. Banks played a year or two of junior college ball, so he might be able to return if he wanted to push it.
There has been some speculation that he could possibly get another year due to his juco stint.
Probably unlikely but would love to have him back.
Him barely playing has been something I didn't see happening when they signed him. I am very surprised by his lack of playing time considering I expected him to play a LOT.
It sure seems like that happens frequently. Drives me fricking nuts.
Finding open shots is difficult, when you get one shoot the damn thing. You're getting paid to play basketball (which has always been true for DI players), making an open shot should be part of your skillset at the DI level. That's even more important when you have no post presence whatsoever.
These Iowa boys play hard, they absolutely do, but if they didn't have Stirtz this would be unwatchable basketball, similar to Iowa Football for several years.
I like Ben McCollum and everything he stands for, sure hope he can recruit well at Iowa, cause if he doesn't this will always be the little engine that could type of a product.
In a perfect world we'd get a mix of Fran's Offense and Ben's Defense. That would be a team to reckon with.
I don't understand why he sits while Combs plays.
Agree. I would also add Howard to the discussion. I think Combs, and Howard, is/are probably a little better defensively, but we need offense too.
That 1970 team had great natural shooters in JJ,Freddy,Calabria,and stick.
Jensen and Ben were not shooters and deferred to the others.
Shooting can be improved like Luka taking 42,000 three pointers in last off-season.
Koch has good shot mechanics so he should be solid.
I remember being frustrated with his dad in his 1st couple years, but he always had a good stroke.
Combs is in a slump..he could improve but not confident right now..maybe dinged up?
Banks had it going last month but again maybe dinged up so he could do it .his free throw stroke shows that
Cam..he is undersized so very hesitant to shoot in paint but has decent stroke at line.
One thing I do appreciate about these three guys..they do not go hero ball and stay disciplined on shot selection.
Frankly,we have a better chance with stirtz taking most of shots unless it's a layup.
That approach will not succeed vs mich but otherwise might let us hang around.
It seems like he’d have a good chance as the NCAA allowed a one year eligibility extension for 2025 based on a court ruling. Once the exception has been granted, it’s difficult to clawback.
I wasn’t able to find anything else that provides further clarification but really didn’t spend much time on it.
I suspect Banks will apply and be granted approval. No inside info of course. I hope he does, he’s a great asset!
https://eliteathletesrecruiting.com...w-junior-college-juco-eligibility-rules-2025/
I think Banks dip in offense is directly tied to his injury. I noticed on his ft’s they were extremely flat, which tells me that his foot/ankle or w/e it is, is giving him issues and is painful. His shot is usually somewhat flat but they’ve been line drives lately
Combs is just not a threat to score whatsoever. He plays hard and pretty well defensively but do think his offense holds the ceiling of this team back a bit. I've been suprised how Sage has gone from a 20-25 minute contributor to about 10 minutes. I'd prefer him and Haussen eating into some more of Combs minutes but in a game like yesterday I think Mccollum was going to ride his guys which I understand.
It's a free for all with NCAA and eligibility, so lets just throw it out there and see what happens. Would love to bring Banks back next year.
Banks will never become an offensive force but he's by far our most versatile player. At 6-7 he did a great job on little Hoiberg for almost the entire game and didn't let him create offense for the rest of the players. Plus he's by far our best defender and rebounder. The fact that we're 9-6 getting basically zero offense from our starting Center and 2 guard is crazy. If I see Combs take the ball on the wing and drive it and then kick it back out with the shot clock at 3-4 seconds left one more time I'm going to break my TV. I'd rather go big and put Sage at the 2 vs Combs. He obviously just doesn't feel comfortable with Hausen as he couldn't get in the game when we barely scored 50 points. And while last night was incredible to watch us defensively you aren't going to consistently hold Big Ten teams to 50 pts or less. That being said Go Hawks!
I counted like 7 times one of Stirtz's teammates got the ball late in the shotclock, successfully pumpfaked their defender on the perimeter, but passed up a wide open midrange to attempt a wild layup against 3 defenders. The midrange needs to be a part of this team's game. You are all undersized and none of you can jump out of the building. Jumpshots. Lots of jumpshots. Stop trying to lay everything in.
It seems to frequently happen by design. BM wants to use up most of the shot clock to limit possessions. While I get that strategy, waiting until 10 seconds are left to start the offense doesn't always work well -especially if guys are tentative and pass up open looks.
We've become way too easy to guard imo. Alvaro gets a lot of criticism which is warranted but him playing well is absolutely critical for this team. We don't have another big like him that can pop off the Stirtz pick and roll and take a deep 3 confidently. Aside from Stirtz I consider his performance the most important to Iowas success. When he's good makes Iowa much tougher to guard. Problem Is he only plays well half the time or less. I'm hoping he plays his best down the stretch.
Iowa just desperately needs someone else to step up. Stirtz drew two people all game, someone has to be open (generally Koch). Banks was still heavily guarded down low, so a wing has to be open.
If Iowa can exploit that for easy baskets, then the bracketing will stop. We’ll keep seeing it until Iowa can prove otherwise.
If Iowa can exploit that for easy baskets, then the bracketing will stop. We’ll keep seeing it until Iowa can prove otherwise.
I'd rather he had the personnel to score, take open shots where and when you find them AND get back and play Defense. You aren't going to keep up with the Big Ten elite consistently without it, which has already been proven. (I wasn't aware of the not beating a ranked team in so long.....yikes).
I do like BM, think he's a really good Coach and a good dude, but those limited possession's turn into wasted possession's for us firing up a prayer at the end of the shot clock, which also puts more pressure on the Defense. I'm sure he's aware, just hope he gets the well rounded recruits who matter on both ends of the court moving forward.
We're winning some games and doing OK, but if one player gets hurt, you're looking at losing every game you play after that. It is what it is. Hopefully Ben gets the tools and resources to keep this thing moving upward.
Koch is playing really hard on defense, and defending multiple positions. I’ve noticed that when he has his legs early in the half, his shot is better-more arch. As he tires, his shot flattens out and he doesn’t have the same touch-have to keep reminding myself that he hasn’t played a ton before this season.
Agreed. I think the problem is the kid hasn’t been making shots. He looks almost rushed and lost on the court when he plays. Not sure why. I was hoping by this time in the season he was a major contributor- but his shots!!!!
Noticed that as well. His line drives are usually back iron, just a bit too deep, and come off the rim like a missile. I think one yesterday almost injured Banks on the rebound.
The line is pretty good, it’s generally the depth of his shot.