They bring everyone back from a borderline top 25 kenpom team… they do add boba on, but besides that, where do you see them getting better?
This right here. There is no room for anything more than small improvement for their offense. And there is no reason to project improved defense based on what they are adding to the roster. Garza at center makes it impossible to have a top 50 defense without a bunch of NBA level defenders on the perimeter, and Iowa’s guards and wings are not that.
I’m not sure how high I would rank Wisconsin, that’s particularly tricky, but I’d place a hefty wager that Wisconsin will be a better team than Iowa next year.
Well, I don’t think Garza can get much better but just having him back alone is pretty unprecedented in college hoops. Everyone here seems to think Franz Wagner is going to make a huge improvement as a shooter next year, Wieskamp and McCaffrey could go from 34% shooters to 40%+ shooters and their offense would go from great to unguardable.
Toussaint was definitely their weak link IMO and he will either improve as a shooter/facilitator or play less with Bohannon back (which should be a positive).
I don’t expect their defense to improve much at all, they were 97th in KenPom ranks last year. My bet would be that this improves slightly just off of experience alone. I don’t think that’s a mandatory development though for them to be better next year - Bohannon back + NPOY back + better shooting from wings + return everyone and expect basic freshman to sophomore leaps is a recipe for an improved team in my book.
If we actually have a college season, I’ll take you up on that
Team with a better record at the end of the regular season wins? I want no part of Fran in March haha.
You win, I’ll buy 5 UMhoops subscriptions for various non-members. You lose, I get some UMhoops swag?
I would say Kentucky at 13 and UNC at 14 are vastly underrated, I don’t buy Gonzaga (but after their preseason schedule they’ll dominate their awful conference like usual), Virginia and MSU are vastly overrated, and I don’t think OSU is better than Michigan if Livers returns. Also don’t buy Tennessee or Stanford. I would rank Louisville and UCLA higher.
Iowa? Hard to say. Their defense is atrocious. Of course, so was ours in 2013, but a great offense can do wonders for you (although I like our 2013 offense better than theirs). CJ Frederick is a guy who I think could really improve for them. Top 10 seems possible. But I would agree that Wisconsin will fare better in the Big Ten. They have perfected their style of play to work in the league.
Gonzaga depends how many of their players who declared for the draft return. If everyone comes back to play with Jalen Suggs, they should be scary. I absolutely love Suggs’ game.
What does this mean for offseason development? I assume that since campus is closed, Camp Sanderson is still off the table.
Well that’s a start anyway.
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In our game against them, we handled them pretty easily and the only guy who did any damage against us (Tillie, who was excellent) is gone.
Honestly I think I might like Wisconsin more. They were surprisingly dominate late last year and were in a zone. Potter really helped. I think they return all their key guys.
That was a frustrating loss last year because they were just simply better if I recall.
Seems smart to evaluate Gonzaga based on one of two games it lost last season.
Looks like Dylan beat me to the Wisconsin bandwagon punch. I’m not even sure if they have any young guys that could be factors too but they might be a very dangerous / veteran team.
They might be my pick to win the big ten now that I think about it. Anyone I’m missing?
Sure, why not. Choose between Big Ten wins or KenPom rank.
And how many wins did they have against NCAA tourney teams (had there been a tourney)? Two? They beat Oregon 73-72, and went 1-1 against BYU. Not sure Arizona was a tourney team. Why should I not judge them based on how they played against tourney teams as opposed to judging them against teams in their weak conference or teams that were not tourney teams?
Easy money or swag for you. Dylan might as well pay up now
Less difficult to understand when you realize how much people over-value Bohanon. There may be a reason Iowa was better last year without him.