**2018 Iowa Basketball Offseason Thread**

[CurdMan]

Pemsl's touch is so good. If he could just commit himself to being a garbage man around the rim, he could be a fine role player. The kind that conference contenders have.

I think Pemsl absolutely has a spot on this team. If we could trust Frans rotations, I think we would appreciate him even more. Pemsl and the others become even more important a year from now when Cook is gone.

 

[douglasbader]

Pemsl used to shoot threes and was a damn good point forward. It would be nice to see him grab rebounds and push the ball.

 

[eclone]

A lot of references to less PT for Baer. Do you really think that is going to happen to a senior leader? He did drop from 62% to 56% of available minutes in conference games last year. I’d be shocked if he was any lower next year.

 

[Shpadoinkle]

Baer is the perfect sixth man and should be 6th-8th on the team in minutes depending on match-ups and fouls.

 

[douglasbader]

A lot of references to less PT for Baer. Do you really think that is going to happen to a senior leader? He did drop from 62% to 56% of available minutes in conference games last year. I’d be shocked if he was any lower next year.

Absolutely. I think even they know he is no starter and the more minutes he played the less effective he was.

His ideal minutes are right about 15 or so per game.

 

[douglasbader]

Waaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!!!

 

[CurdMan]

I think Baers broken finger really threw him off last year. Sounds like he’s committed to getting back to the guy that he was his first couple of years

 

[HiawathaHawk]

Gonna be a fun year. They shouldn't have needed a season like last year for the needed wakeup call in a few areas but I think it will work. They can and should be a top 25 or so offense in the country. Some staff self-evaluation combined with a year of experience and what better be an increase in desire can make the ceiling pretty high.

I can't believe I wasted time listening/reading to these local guys who couldn't have been more wrong on everything they predicted.

 

[KitKatApples]

Waaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!!!

Seriously HAD to go out of his way to mention how long it had been. Christ almighty have some self awareness.

 

[Billy Butters]

A lot of references to less PT for Baer. Do you really think that is going to happen to a senior leader? He did drop from 62% to 56% of available minutes in conference games last year. I’d be shocked if he was any lower next year.

The roster literally didn't have a true SF last year and Baer played minutes as a fucking SG as well. If that happens this year, fucking shoot me. If you are questioning Fran's ability to not play a Senior that he likes that is fair, but from a pure basketball stand point it's a no brainer.

 

[eclone]

A lot of references to less PT for Baer. Do you really think that is going to happen to a senior leader? He did drop from 62% to 56% of available minutes in conference games last year. I’d be shocked if he was any lower next year.

The roster literally didn't have a true SF last year and Baer played minutes as a fucking SG as well. If that happens this year, fucking shoot me. If you are questioning Fran's ability to not play a Senior that he likes that is fair, but from a pure basketball stand point it's a no brainer.

Ding, ding, ding.

Doug's 15 minutes/game is the perfect amount of Baer. I don't think Fran will agree.

 

[HiawathaHawk]

This Wisconsin guy has put together a pretty cool site that very closely resembles KenPom but has some unique stuff. http://www.barttorvik.com/

Anyways, he has us projected at 28th overall in efficiency. 12th on offense and 99th on defense. 5th in the Big Ten. We're 13th in the country in projected returning minutes and possession minutes.

 

[HawkLax6]

Yeah, Baer is going to end up playing more than what most people want and Nolook will remind us every 2-3 games that he needs to get stronger and he gets lost on defense too much.

 

[douglasbader]

A lot of references to less PT for Baer. Do you really think that is going to happen to a senior leader? He did drop from 62% to 56% of available minutes in conference games last year. I’d be shocked if he was any lower next year.

The roster literally didn't have a true SF last year and Baer played minutes as a fucking SG as well. If that happens this year, fucking shoot me. If you are questioning Fran's ability to not play a Senior that he likes that is fair, but from a pure basketball stand point it's a no brainer.

Ding, ding, ding.

Doug's 15 minutes/game is the perfect amount of Baer. I don't think Fran will agree.

I think that was true of Fran earlier as he did it with McCabe and Oglesby, but he seems to have learned his lesson and it has been 4 years since he has done anything like that.

He was more than willing to bench Uhl and essentially bench Wagner and Ellingson who were pseudo seniors on that team last year. He pushed Dale Jones out the door.

I think Fran knows who Baer is and will use him correctly.

 

[douglasbader]

This Wisconsin guy has put together a pretty cool site that very closely resembles KenPom but has some unique stuff. http://www.barttorvik.com/

Anyways, he has us projected at 28th overall in efficiency. 12th on offense and 99th on defense. 5th in the Big Ten. We're 13th in the country in projected returning minutes and possession minutes.

Yep. There is no reason they can't or won't be a high level offense. If they can play completely average on defense they will have a good season.

 

[hawkeyealum]

Having Connor, weiskamp and maybe Frederick joining bohannon, moss and Dailey in the backcourt/wing should curb baers minutes enough. He’s simply not a better option there to warrant it

15 min at the 3/4 spots would be good for him

 

[Wanderer]

Also adding Connor and addition by subtraction in the form of BE, AW and maybe 1 more.

 

[The Incredible Hawk]

The roster literally didn't have a true SF last year and Baer played minutes as a fucking SG as well. If that happens this year, fucking shoot me. If you are questioning Fran's ability to not play a Senior that he likes that is fair, but from a pure basketball stand point it's a no brainer.

Ding, ding, ding.

Doug's 15 minutes/game is the perfect amount of Baer. I don't think Fran will agree.

I think that was true of Fran earlier as he did it with McCabe and Oglesby, but he seems to have learned his lesson and it has been 4 years since he has done anything like that.

He was more than willing to bench Uhl and essentially bench Wagner and Ellingson who were pseudo seniors on that team last year. He pushed Dale Jones out the door.

I think Fran knows who Baer is and will use him correctly.

 

[eclone]

This Wisconsin guy has put together a pretty cool site that very closely resembles KenPom but has some unique stuff. http://www.barttorvik.com/

Anyways, he has us projected at 28th overall in efficiency. 12th on offense and 99th on defense. 5th in the Big Ten. We're 13th in the country in projected returning minutes and possession minutes.

That's a nice site. Feels a little TOO much like KenPom though. Wonder if it'll still be up like that by the season starting.

 

[Bob Sanders]

 

[Hawkstrat]

 

[roseboundhawk]

Needed another 200+ RPI home game to replace the ones lost to the 20 game BigTen schedule.

 

[Bob]

He shouldn't be playing SG but Baer is a really good player if he's hitting threes. He didn't last year but he has two years prior to that where he was a good shooter so I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt there.

 

[Tugboat]

You boyz need to settle the fuck down.

4-14 in conference last year.

Glad Cook is back.

 

[douglasbader]

You boyz need to settle the fuck down.

4-14 in conference last year.

Glad Cook is back.

Not the same team. There is legit reason for being optimistic.

 

[Tugboat]

You boyz need to settle the fuck down.

4-14 in conference last year.

Glad Cook is back.

Not the same team. There is legit reason for being optimistic.

I’m sure I’ll come around once the calendar hits October. I’m skeptical of how much defensive improvement can be made.

 

[douglasbader]

You boyz need to settle the fuck down.

4-14 in conference last year.

Glad Cook is back.

Not the same team. There is legit reason for being optimistic.

I’m sure I’ll come around once the calendar hits October. I’m skeptical of how much defensive improvement can be made.

Weiskamp, Connor and motivation will make a difference.

 

[The Incredible Hawk]

This seems excessive.

 

[Thomas Wolsey]

You boyz need to settle the fuck down.

4-14 in conference last year.

Glad Cook is back.

Not the same team. There is legit reason for being optimistic.

I’m sure I’ll come around once the calendar hits October. I’m skeptical of how much defensive improvement can be made.

The players will absolutely have to improve individualy for them to be a good team, but the makeup of the team is such that they won’t be as bad as last year. Fewer garbage minutes, and they won’t have the massive hole at the 2/3 personnel wise.

 

[Slidewilly]

I look forward to seeing what Connor can do for the offense, with solid ball movement and understanding of the passing game. If we have two or three shooters on the floor most of the time, he could be very effective in getting them the ball in the clear. At the same time, I'm uncertain about how he'll do on the defensive end.

I think both Pemsl and Kriener can play and hope we can hold onto both of them. Minutes won't be plentiful unless there's foul trouble or someone is out.

I think the most significant observation made in this thread about how this year's team can be much better than last year's is the composition of the last few spots on the roster. Huge difference.

 

[Dr. Zaius]

This seems excessive.

Yeah that seems like a good way to burn out in your freshman year. It’s a bold strategy, let’s see if it pays off for him.

 

[Bovert]

The problem with the "limit Baer's minutes" plan is that he is our best shot blocker and often times our best rebounder. On top of that he is a good shooter who can get streaky hot, and is our best high energy and hustle guy. I think he'll end up getting 18-20 minutes per game and I'm okay with that

 

[hawkeyealum]

I don’t care how many minutes anyone plays as long as the hawks win

 

[L. Wade Childress]

Iowa States beat writer wrote an article about how the conferences last place team has a chance to win the league next year.

It is literally impossible for anyone to sound that retarded in this thread. Carry on with any opinions you wish.

 

[Carter Page]

I'm hopeful for Nunge to make some big strides. He had some flashes last year and now with a year under his belt and some confidence... His upside could be more than some think if we play him in his natural position. I really like his length defensively - you would think he would be an asset in zone. But nobody was an asset of any kind last season defensively.

 

[Nobody]

This seems excessive.

Yeah that seems like a good way to burn out in your freshman year. It’s a bold strategy, let’s see if it pays off for him.

Can't hit the freshman wall during the season if you hit it *before* the season even begins.

 

[L. Wade Childress]

Nunge will be good to great in time at one of the two big spots. I thought his inside moves looked fairly refined and he can shoot it from outside.

 

[Bob Sanders]

The problem with the "limit Baer's minutes" plan is that he is our best shot blocker and often times our best rebounder. On top of that he is a good shooter who can get streaky hot, and is our best high energy and hustle guy. I think he'll end up getting 18-20 minutes per game and I'm okay with that

The bolded parts of his game get worse the more he plays. He just doesn't have the engine to play more than 15-20 minute at a high level. I think 15 minutes is a good goal for him, and he can still be an important player at that level.

 

[Hawk_Kegmasters]

Interesting...

 

[douglasbader]

 

[Bob]

The problem with the "limit Baer's minutes" plan is that he is our best shot blocker and often times our best rebounder. On top of that he is a good shooter who can get streaky hot, and is our best high energy and hustle guy. I think he'll end up getting 18-20 minutes per game and I'm okay with that

The bolded parts of his game get worse the more he plays. He just doesn't have the engine to play more than 15-20 minute at a high level. I think 15 minutes is a good goal for him, and he can still be an important player at that level.

His best season is the one where he played the most minutes.

He had a bad shooting season last year after hurting his hand and struggled playing out if position, but we already have evidence that he can be a good player playing 20+ minutes a game if he's healthy and primarily playing forward

 

[douglasbader]

The problem with the "limit Baer's minutes" plan is that he is our best shot blocker and often times our best rebounder. On top of that he is a good shooter who can get streaky hot, and is our best high energy and hustle guy. I think he'll end up getting 18-20 minutes per game and I'm okay with that

The bolded parts of his game get worse the more he plays. He just doesn't have the engine to play more than 15-20 minute at a high level. I think 15 minutes is a good goal for him, and he can still be an important player at that level.

His best season is the one where he played the most minutes.

He had a bad shooting season last year after hurting his hand and struggled playing out if position, but we already have evidence that he can be a good player playing 20+ minutes a game if he's healthy and primarily playing forward

Iowa's best season is where he played the least minutes.

 

[Bob]

The bolded parts of his game get worse the more he plays. He just doesn't have the engine to play more than 15-20 minute at a high level. I think 15 minutes is a good goal for him, and he can still be an important player at that level.

His best season is the one where he played the most minutes.

He had a bad shooting season last year after hurting his hand and struggled playing out if position, but we already have evidence that he can be a good player playing 20+ minutes a game if he's healthy and primarily playing forward

Iowa's best season is where he played the least minutes.

Your theory is that Iowa got worse because one of their players played better? Dunno, seems pretty unlikely to me.

Pete Jok played fewer minutes that year too, maybe the reason we missed the tournament the next year was because he played too much.

 

[Billy Butters]

The problem with the "limit Baer's minutes" plan is that he is our best shot blocker and often times our best rebounder. On top of that he is a good shooter who can get streaky hot, and is our best high energy and hustle guy. I think he'll end up getting 18-20 minutes per game and I'm okay with that

The part you don't mention is that Baer is still a terrible defender. Looking at his block numbers is like looking at James Harden's steal numbers and calling him a good defender. It doesn't really mean much when guys blow by you at will. He's also a career 60% free throw shooter and he shot 30% from 3 last year. I would say that's enough evidence to say he's an average shooter.

Baer's best position is PF but I don't see any minutes for him there with young guys developing which leaves SF.

Weiskamp comes in as a much better athlete and has a chance to stay in front of SF defensively. By all accounts he's a better shooter. Last years team struggled with turnovers because they had no ballhandlers on the floor. Weiskamp can actually take guys off the dribble and take some pressure off bohannon. If you want those 2 splitting minutes evenly at SF then we can agree to disagree.

Put Baer in for 10-12 minutes a game, put him at the top of the press and make him go all out. There's no need to play him the extra 10 minutes a game only to watch him struggle to cross half court.

 

[douglasbader]

His best season is the one where he played the most minutes.

He had a bad shooting season last year after hurting his hand and struggled playing out if position, but we already have evidence that he can be a good player playing 20+ minutes a game if he's healthy and primarily playing forward

Iowa's best season is where he played the least minutes.

Your theory is that Iowa was good because one of their players had a worse individual season? Dunno, seems pretty unlikely to me.

Pete Jok played fewer minutes than year too, maybe the reason we missed the tournament the next year was because he played too much.

No, my theory is when Iowa has enough talent their former walk-on players don't need to play 20+ minutes per game. The reason he has been playing that much the last 2 years is not because he should, it is because they didn't have better options. Now they have better options.

I have said from the first year with him, he is the basketball version of Weisman. He is a good player and a great story going from walk-on to key player, but the lack of talent or available players caused Weisman to go from key player to featured player. Then he got so ingrained that even when Iowa did have better options Kirk and Greg Davis continued to roll him out there for way too many carries and it cost Iowa multiple wins.

I don't know how many minutes Baer will ultimately get, but if Iowa is going to make a run and be a legit tournament team, it would be the best case scenario if he is in that 15-17 minutes per game 6th man role. He comes in the first half around the 12 minute mark and plays until the 5 minute mark. Then in the second half he plays and ends up closing out games when they need hustle and leadership.

 

[Bob]

Among Big Ten players, Baer was top 20 in PER, Top 20 in WS/48, and Top 2 in Box Score plus/minus in 16/17 while playing 23 minutes a game. If he's playing like that he is absolutely one of the best players on the team and should play significant minutes. Who gives a shit if he walked on? That was four years ago and he's since proven that he is capable of being a very good Big Ten player. We are not so talented that he needs to relegated to a significantly reduced role if he's healthy and playing like he has at his best. He shouldn't be playing SG, but that's about the only change I'd make unless he shoots like garbage again, which I don't think will happen given the rest of his career

 

[douglasbader]

Among Big Ten players, Baer was top 20 in PER, Top 20 in WS/48, and Top 2 in Box Score plus/minus in 16/17 while playing 23 minutes a game. If he's playing like that he is absolutely one of the best players on the team and should play significant minutes. Who gives a shit if he walked on? That was four years ago and he's since proven that he is capable of being a very good Big Ten player. We are not so talented that he needs to relegated to a significantly reduced role if he's healthy and playing like he has at his best. He shouldn't be playing SG, but that's about the only change I'd make unless he shoots like garbage again, which I don't think will happen given the rest of his career

If he is playing out of his mind again, then sure, 20+ minutes is fine. Nobody is going to complain. This year will tell if that season was the anomaly or if the first and third were more accurate.

Hopefully it was his injury and playing out of position.

 

[Bob]

Among Big Ten players, Baer was top 20 in PER, Top 20 in WS/48, and Top 2 in Box Score plus/minus in 16/17 while playing 23 minutes a game. If he's playing like that he is absolutely one of the best players on the team and should play significant minutes. Who gives a shit if he walked on? That was four years ago and he's since proven that he is capable of being a very good Big Ten player. We are not so talented that he needs to relegated to a significantly reduced role if he's healthy and playing like he has at his best. He shouldn't be playing SG, but that's about the only change I'd make unless he shoots like garbage again, which I don't think will happen given the rest of his career

If he is playing out of his mind again, then sure, 20+ minutes is fine. Nobody is going to complain. This year will tell if that season was the anomaly or if the first and third were more accurate.

Hopefully it was his injury and playing out of position.

Last year was the outlier. His first season was only a little bit worse in terms of efficiency than 16-17 but they obviously needed fewer minutes with Uthoff playing the same combo forward role at an all American level. Unless you think there's another Uthoff on this team I don't think his minutes should be cut way back to freshman levels again unless he's shooting like shit.

 

[douglasbader]

Among Big Ten players, Baer was top 20 in PER, Top 20 in WS/48, and Top 2 in Box Score plus/minus in 16/17 while playing 23 minutes a game. If he's playing like that he is absolutely one of the best players on the team and should play significant minutes. Who gives a shit if he walked on? That was four years ago and he's since proven that he is capable of being a very good Big Ten player. We are not so talented that he needs to relegated to a significantly reduced role if he's healthy and playing like he has at his best. He shouldn't be playing SG, but that's about the only change I'd make unless he shoots like garbage again, which I don't think will happen given the rest of his career

If he is playing out of his mind again, then sure, 20+ minutes is fine. Nobody is going to complain. This year will tell if that season was the anomaly or if the first and third were more accurate.

Hopefully it was his injury and playing out of position.

Last year was the anamoly. His first season was only a little bit worse per minute than 16-17 but they obviously needed fewer minutes with Uthoff playing the same combo forward role at an all American level. Unless you think there's another Uthoff on this team I don't think his minutes should be cut way back to freshman levels again unless he's shooting like shit.

I think there is a potential collective Uthoff effect on his minutes (hopefully) from player addition and improvement. It all has a ripple effect. I hate to do a minutes distribution and piss off @FrodoTBaggin and multiple others, but here we go....

Connor takes away nearly all the minutes at PG that Dailey got. Moss hopefully figured things out and can stay on the floor at SG. Wieskamp is likely a starter and impact player and from his interview they see him almost exclusively on the wing. Dailey is improved and will need to get the back up minutes at SG and SF.

Because all of these things the minutes that were available at the PG / SG / SF positions the last 2 years are greatly reduced.

Now you look at the PF / C position and you have to figure out how to split up 80 minutes between Cook, Garza, Nunge, Pemsl, Kreiner and Baer. You know that Cook is getting 30 of those and Garza is getting 25 minutes. You have 25 minutes left for Pemsl, Baer and Kreiner.

Again, the danger for Iowa is Fran not knowing how to effectively split minutes up for everyone and too many players to keep happy. At least this year the players are going to likely be better instead of last year where Wagner and Ellingson were taking minutes.

 

[Shpadoinkle]

Doug is pretty much spot on here.