**Lipscomb vs. Iowa Basketball - 11/3 - 7pm - BTN**

[Monster]

We also have what appears to be a poor shooting team, and Ben sees Peyton can bring a spark off the bench as the 2nd best shooter on the team.

It's the first real game. I'm sure they were all jacked up. Relax.

 

[Jim Tebow]

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, against the Lip'sCUM Bisons

The Good:

Jaidyn Coon - this looks like a dood that MSU gets. The play-style was highly reminiscent of Aaron White. 12 pts, 6 rebs, 5/8 fg, 0 TO. highly efficient. He also looked very solid on defense including a ridiculous block. He'll likely get slowed down when athleticism of opposing forwards increases. But really surprising and promising.

Cooper Koch - solid. Didn't do much, but what he did was good. 3/4 from three. 4 rebounds, albeit in 31 minutes. Needs to improve. only 1 TO in those minutes. Pretty good. He will need to assert himself. We didn't really see the evolution of his game we've been hoping for. To have success he needs to be more than a spot up shooter. With that said he's a great, maybe elite, spot up 3 point shooter.

Trevin Jirak - looked good on offense. At times he really facilitated the offense and it seemed like things were flowing through him productively. 6 pts, 7 rebs, 4 assts, 0 TO. Was one of three hawks to make a 3 pointer. Got burned on D a few times though, which needs to improve.

Joey Matteoni - you guys hate him but he actually played well. I believe this is his 3rd year. 6 pts, 4 rebs, 2 steals, 0 TOs in 10 minutes. He even threw in a block. That's pretty efficient and more productive than many others.

Ty'Reek Coleman - not great but i guess qualifies as 'good'. 10 points, 6 rebs, 4 assts, 2 TOs. 3/9 shooting though. and he actually played more minutes than Combs. The potential is obvious. But his 3 point shooting did NOT look good. he threw up some bricks.

The Bad:

Isaia Howard - only 13 minutes played. Unproductive in that time. Plays solid to good-ish D. Though way too many dumb fouls. 2 pts, 3 rebs in 13 minutes is just not enough. Took one 3 and missed it. Looked a lot like last year. His shot comes out so fast, just not a soft shot. I've long maintained if he could sort his 3 point shooting he could be an all-conference type player as he has great athleticism. But as-is, he's almost a liability on offense. he should be a plus defender but he fouls so much that he's also a liability there sometimes. I still think he can turn it around if he can shoot 30%+ from 3.

Kale Combs - Disappointing outcome. 7 pts, 5 assts, but 3 TOs. 0/2 from 3. 2/5 overall. Two of his turnovers were really bad where he picked up the ball at half court, way out, and the weirdly good Lipcum guard/merc hire picked his pocket on back to back possessions. Combs could be a competent 'game manager' type qb/pg. But he needs to not have those lapses and he needs to establish his place in the offense. I think this will take time but it too will come as the offense rounds out.

Tate Sage - People love this guy but he did not play all that well. 3/8 overall and 0/4 from 3. 2 rebs and 2 steals. 5 fouls. fouled out. Had a couple nice plays. We know what he's capable of. But this game was not emblematic of the jump we all hope for.

Cam Manyawu - kind of is what he is. Tough to watch this performance from a 4th year guy and say it was 'good'. only played 12 minutes. 7 points, 3 rebs, 1 TO in that time. No blocks. Objectively less productive than Matteoni. Good depth guy and frankly won't be surprised if he starts because i think his D is underrated. But this wasn't a good outing.

The Ugly:

Peyton McCollum - i mean he came in, had a steal, and scored some points. 8 points. on 3/8 shooting. 2/7 from 3. Took more shots from 3 than anyone else, by far. nobody else took more than 4. This wouldn't be so bad if he wasn't the coach's son. Since he is the coach's son, this is a train wreck unfolding in front of our eyes. If there's one way to lose the fan base, playing this dood and having him chuck shots is the one way to possibly do it.

Trey Thompson - looks like a FranMac recruit. Seems too skinny to play defense. IDK. Had a rebound in 5 minutes. Keep in mind age-wise this guy should be a first year guy, this year. lots of doods can shoot good. Nothing he did really seemed all that bad but this overall situation is ugly as it irks the fanbase terribly. I get it though. Dood doesn't seem good enough to play.

Ethan Harris - same story here. I don't get why people assume he'd be a bigtime player/minutes guy this year. also looks like a franmac recruit and the clips i've seen = the dood just cant play D. amplified by the fact it looks like he's asked to play guard. seems doubtful to work.

 

[Lee Beevers]

Just curious how you arrived at this number for that action

It’s a number I thought Beebs would at least briefly consider.

 

[L. Wade Childress]

colemans shooting form doesn’t lead me to believe that he will be a good douche shooter. Game is faster and opponents bigger. Same as Howard.

Tate and Koch will both end up high 30’s or low 40’s on good volume. No worries there.

 

[Hawk_Kegmasters]

It's the first real game. I'm sure they were all jacked up. Relax.

I’m the most relaxed dude in here, pal!

 

[IowaWigman]

I'm not surprised. Some people here got their feelings hurt by Lick and Fran playing their boys, so now they are just sure the coach that just took Iowa to the elite 8 and won 4 D2 natties is making a huge error in judgment by playing his kid 18 minutes in a blowout.

It wasn’t a blowout when he entered the game in the first half.

 

[Monster]

It wasn’t a blowout when he entered the game in the first half.

Lol. So you're saying the guys that are much better players than McCollum weren't playing well enough to get a big lead on a lesser team?

 

[Hawk&Balls]

I can't say I disagree with anything mr jebow said

 

[Hawk&Balls]

Lol. So you're saying the guys that are much better players than McCollum weren't playing well enough to get a big lead on a lesser team?

I think we were up 7-8 and that disappeared to trailing by 1

 

[IowaWigman]

Lol. So you're saying the guys that are much better players than McCollum weren't playing well enough to get a big lead on a lesser team?

I’m just saying your last point was incorrect. Nothing more.

 

[L. Wade Childress]

+/- isn’t a holy grail but it was glaringly obvious last night.

 

[CamelTones]

Don't agree regarding being a poor shooting team at this point. Koch and Sage are great and Coleman shot 40%+ last year. They will be fine but it does sound like Thompson is the one of the best shooters so it would be nice to get him some more minutes.

Thompson looked like he had no idea where he was supposed to be when he was in the game. Didn’t look comfortable at all.

 

[L. Wade Childress]

Thompson looked like he had no idea where he was supposed to be when he was in the game. Didn’t look comfortable at all.

I mean, that happens when you’ve been on the court for two minutes of your career

 

[douglasbader]

Thompson looked like he had no idea where he was supposed to be when he was in the game. Didn’t look comfortable at all.

Sounds like McCollum has quite the recruiting evaluation and development miss if he can't get a 4* player to even know where he is on the court for the last few minutes of a blowout. You would think some of the 20 coaches on staff could help him with this.

 

[Billy Butters]

+/- isn’t a holy grail but it was glaringly obvious last night.

Fuck you for making me do this but I went back and watched that first half stretch.

Peyton 2-5 during that stretch and allowed a straight line drive. He was not even close to the worst.

• Manyawu missed layup
• Coon missed alley oop
• Coleman missed wide open 3
• Combs missed front end of 1 and 1
• Jirak missed front end of 1 and 1
• Jirak missed layup
• Jirak allowed 2 easy layups
• Combs terrible pass that lead to breakaway layup
• Coleman didn't close out on 3 point shooter on 2 different occasions

No one played well but Jirak, Coleman and Combs all played worse during that stretch. I'd also like to be clear that Peyton shouldn't be on the floor for more than 4-5 minutes each half and preferably none but it's not that big a deal.

 

[L. Wade Childress]

Fuck you for making me do this but I went back and watched that first half stretch.

Peyton 2-5 during that stretch and allowed a straight line drive. He was not even close to the worst.

• Manyawu missed layup
• Coon missed alley oop
• Coleman missed wide open 3
• Combs missed front end of 1 and 1
• Jirak missed front end of 1 and 1
• Jirak missed layup
• Jirak allowed 2 easy layups
• Combs terrible pass that lead to breakaway layup
• Coleman didn't close out on 3 point shooter on 2 different occasions

No one played well but Jirak, Coleman and Combs all played worse during that stretch. I'd also like to be clear that Peyton shouldn't be on the floor for more than 4-5 minutes each half and preferably none but it's not that big a deal.

And that box score I posted covers the entire game, not one stretch.

 

[douglasbader]

I'd also like to be clear that Peyton shouldn't be on the floor for more than 4-5 minutes each half and preferably none but it's not that big a deal.

Holy fucking shit he's a mother fucking freshman playing key minutes in the first half of games already. You think this is going to get better or worse during the next 4 years?

It would be different if he were ranked like Connor but he's virtually a walk-on. No other viable offers. He's slight and not athletic.

Every single one of us thought or hoped it wouldn't be an issue and only L. Wade thought it would, but even he was trolling and didn't actually believe that. He just got "lucky".

All of you who are pretending this isn't an issue that history shows will end poorly are kidding themselves. You're just hoping and giving him the benefit of the doubt because of a fun 2 week run last year. I loved that as well, but Iowa has to play 30+ games to even make it there and they barely made it in last year with an NBA lottery type PG.

 

[Hawk&Balls]

*2nd year

 

[L. Wade Childress]

Holy fucking shit he's a mother fucking freshman playing key minutes in the first half of games already. You think this is going to get better or worse during the next 4 years?

It would be different if he were ranked like Connor but he's virtually a walk-on. No other viable offers. He's slight and not athletic.

Every single one of us thought or hoped it wouldn't be an issue and only L. Wade thought it would, but even he was trolling and didn't actually believe that. He just got "lucky".

All of you who are pretending this isn't an issue that history shows will end poorly are kidding themselves. You're just hoping and giving him the benefit of the doubt because of a fun 2 week run last year. I loved that as well, but Iowa has to play 30+ games to even make it there and they barely made it in last year with an NBA lottery type PG.

i didn’t get lucky. This was always the plan. You just didn’t want to believe it because we’ve been through enough nepo shit.

 

[L. Wade Childress]

*2nd year

he didn’t play in a single game last year. This is his first year.

 

[douglasbader]

*2nd year

he didn’t play in a single game last year. This is his first year.

He's still a freshman, damnit.

 

[Debit One]

The problem is Thompson and Harris are buried on even the bench. They're the last guys off.

Is that McCollum's fault, or is it the players' fault?

 

[L. Wade Childress]

Is that McCollum's fault, or is it the players' fault?

Jacob Koch is also buried on the bench.

 

[Debit One]

Jacob Koch is also buried on the bench.

Great point.

 

[Shawneemicks]

I really dgaf what or who Ben does for this year.
I don’t expect them to be good. Average would be pretty expected.
He earned a lot of rope already & he’s trying to get a real difference making pg.

 

[GWHawks]

There is zero reason to play lil lick in this game unless he's planning to play him in important games

 

[douglasbader]

Is that McCollum's fault, or is it the players' fault?

I'm going to go with the view that the responsibility is on the head coach and his 20 assistants making roughly $12m in yearly salary. Either you were dead wrong in your recruiting evaluation (while all the high major and blue blood teams were totally wrong as well) or you haven't coached them up well in the 1+ year and full summer that you got with these highly rated 4* recruits.

Either way, it's quite the failure to have 2 high profile guys like that enter the program and see such poor development that your 2 walk-on level players are playing significant minutes ahead of them.

 

[Debit One]

Let's fire McCollum. Clearly he's not meeting the mark.

 

[AZmessDAWG]

I'm going to go with the view that the responsibility is on the head coach and his 20 assistants making roughly $12m in yearly salary. Either you were dead wrong in your recruiting evaluation (while all the high major and blue blood teams were totally wrong as well) or you haven't coached them up well in the 1+ year and full summer that you got with these highly rated 4* recruits.

Either way, it's quite the failure to have 2 high profile guys like that enter the program and see such poor development that your 2 walk-on level players are playing significant minutes ahead of them.

God shut up already.

 

[CurdMan]

Remember, Ben says his assistants make the decisions on subbing guys in and out. That’s a nice way to claim no nepotism, but there’s no way the assistants aren’t going to play their boss’s son.

 

[douglasbader]

Let's fire McCollum. Clearly he's not meeting the mark.

Not a person said that, but countless great coaches have lost their minds and their jobs trying to shoehorn their beloved children into playing time or positions they weren't fit for.

If you need any examples, look at how Fran was doing at Iowa before his love for his queer sons got the best of him. Led directly to his firing and being shipped back to Philly.

Look at Kirk Ferentz and Kirk’s son, Brian Ferentz. It took the intervention of a smart AD to save him from himself or he would also would have been on his way to being fired or forced to resign in the coming years.

It happens, so better to shout it down early and often before it becomes a problem. Nepotism is a disease.

 

[douglasbader]

God shut up already.

Nope. You shut up.

 

[Pinehawk]

I don't care if his son is an incredible player. It's just completely tone deaf to show up to coach at Iowa, only to put your son on scholarship and play them. Our recent experiences with nepotism are too fresh. Goetz should have sat down with McCollum and told him it would have been best for everyone if his son played for another program.

 

[AZmessDAWG]

I don't care if his son is an incredible player. It's just completely tone deaf to show up to coach at Iowa, only to put your son on scholarship and play them. Our recent experiences with nepotism are too fresh. Goetz should have sat down with McCollum and told him it would have been best for everyone if his son played for another program.

Yep even if he’s Steve Nash lol

 

[douglasbader]

Yep even if he’s Steve Nash lol

He's barely Niecy Nash.

 

[gohawkeyes811]

Yep even if he’s Steve Nash lol

But we know the hypotheticals aren't remotely true. Yes, Ben took guys who didn't have high major offers and advanced with them as they developed. Fine. He had to given timing/resources.

But we all know his son would be playing at NW Missouri St. if he was still there. That isn't normal. It's just kind of weird, annoying, and we are all jaded as Iowa fans.

 

[BillyBob]

I see Lil Mc as more of a Chris Paul/Derrick Rose hybrid.

 

[MikeyJoe]

Yep even if he’s Steve Nash lol

But he's not. And if McCollum thinks he is then you're circling back to the same problem.

 

[MikeyJoe]

Whatever, it's one game against a crappy team. I just don't know how any Iowa fan could not cringe a little about this.

I get "trusting" McCollum after an elite 8 run and all of his other success. But that's exactly the entire problem with nepotism. We're all wired to love our families, particularly our children, and that's literally the thing that makes otherwise brilliant rational people make dumb decisions.

 

[Hawk&Balls]

It would be another thing if this were also an isolated incident at Iowa. But it isn't, and he was brought in as a result of the very issue

 

[Monster]

Whatever, it's one game against a crappy team. I just don't know how any Iowa fan could not cringe a little about this.

I get "trusting" McCollum after an elite 8 run and all of his other success. But that's exactly the entire problem with nepotism. We're all wired to love our families, particularly our children, and that's literally the thing that makes otherwise brilliant rational people make dumb decisions.

I think we'll all have a better assessment toward the middle of the season.

 

[Verbal]

I think we'll all have a better assessment toward the middle of the season.

I think it'll be sooner than that. The next three games after tomorrow are against Virginia Tech, Creighton and Xavier. If he doesn't average much more than 5 mpg in that stretch, hopefully we can move on dot org. If he's still getting signficant minutes, I'll join the crusade.

 

[Monster]

I think it'll be sooner than that. The next three games after tomorrow are against Virginia Tech, Creighton and Xavier. If he doesn't average much more than 5 mpg in that stretch, hopefully we can move on dot org. If he's still getting signficant minutes, I'll join the crusade.

Fair. Unless he's playing well.

Of course, I doubt the board has the ability to assess his play fairly.

 

[gohawkeyes811]

Fair. Unless he's playing well.

Of course, I doubt the board has the ability to assess his play fairly.

We are similar to his father in that matter, but I am guessing we are probably less biased.

 

[AZmessDAWG]

But he's not. And if McCollum thinks he is then you're circling back to the same problem.

No shit. Your boy said he wouldn’t want him even if he was.

 

[Lee Beevers]

No shit. Your boy said he wouldn’t want him even if he was.

I want to go on record that I would happily welcome McCollum getting a lot of minutes if he could play like Steve Nash.

 

[Hawk&Balls]

Bring back banks at this point.

 

[Hawk&Balls]

I think it'll be sooner than that. The next three games after tomorrow are against Virginia Tech, Creighton and Xavier. If he doesn't average much more than 5 mpg in that stretch, hopefully we can move on dot org. If he's still getting signficant minutes, I'll join the crusade.

We came into the year needing to replace 40 mpg at guard, and unless that all goes to coleman/howard, some is going to lil ben

 

[L. Wade Childress]

Harris and McCollum play the same position. Being short doesn’t automatically make you a PG.

 

[CleteyColgate]

It was the 1st game. Relax.

LOL