Iowa Hawkeyes vs. Northwestern Wildcats Game Preview
by Rodger Sherman on Feb 9, 2012 10:00 AM CST
in 2011-12 Northwestern Wildcats Basketball
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PrintIt's a must-win game! well as much as any game can be must-win, after all, regardless of the outcome, all creatures shall perish, and what was dust shall return to dust...
Hit the jump!
Are they good? Iowa has all the prerequisites for a bad Big Ten team. Early season home losses to Campbell - the Camels! - and Northern Iowa? Check. No good non-con wins? Check. A loss at home to Nebraska? Check. But a victory in the Kohl Center, a season sweep of Minnesota, and victory against Michigan at home proves Iowa has the mettle to win games seemingly out of nowhere with alarming regularity.
What are they good at?: Alright, look. I'm going to summarize Iowa into one paragraph, so deal with my lack of enthusiasm. Iowa is good at nothing (well, hypothetically, Kenpom says they're good at not turning the ball over, not getting blocked, and forcing steals), nor bad at anything. They have shooters (Matt Gatens, Josh Oglesby) passers (Bryce Cartwright) scorers (Roy Devyn Marble) and rebounders/shotblockers (Melsahn Basabe and Aaron White), but, nobody is really elite at anything. There's nobody on the squad I'd characterize as a star. Yet, they have a variety of skillsets which somehow combine to make a sufficient basketball team. Multitalentedness is not a facet of Iowa's team. Fran McCaffery seems to me a doctor, but only a doctor in the sense of the game "Operation" where nothing is allowed to touch anything else, and your skills of being a doctor are more reliant on throwing random things into random places than any sort of mastery in the field of medicine.
This is the most valid and the most vapid thing I can say about Iowa.
So, you're bs'ing your way out of real answers. How can NU attack Iowa?: By not being Iowa. Iowa seems to me a combination of variegate skillsets, and the Princeton Offense - more specifically, NU's small-ball lineup - seems a composite for breaking this. Five guys of decent athleticism, shooting ability, and driving ability against a traditional 1-5 setup is a method for chaos - not to mention that where Illinois had a decent counter to a small-ball lineup in a dominant center in Meyers Leonard, Iowa only has the non-proficient offense of Basabe and White. Unless McCaffery has a specific gameplan for NU, I don't see his philosophy matching up well against NU's style of play.
Can NU win?: Yes. Home, against a team it should beat. As I noted earlier, Iowa has a way of playing into awkward victories, and, well, I'll ignore this now.
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additionally
the thursday night drunk live blog will make its triumphant return
I can't wait!
Hopefully I can pick up a replay before I see the final score, since I can’t be at the game.
by wcgrad on Feb 9, 2012 12:44 PM CST via iPhone app up reply actions
I'm really torn.
NU is a better team than Iowa. Let’s get that out of the way. NU is at home, NU has more urgency and more reason to be motivated, but…..
the last time I started believing in this team (after two close losses coupled with a top #10 win in MSU), NU followed it up with two duds (20 and 23 point losses to not stellar teams), so will that happen again? I don’t know. I like the small line-up idea, I like NU’s track record against McCaffrey, I like that NU is at home, I like that NU has won two straight, but what I don’t like is, “This is a big game and there is some actual expectations on it.”
It has been a LONG time since I’ve seen NU win an important game with expectations, and sure, everygame is important, but NU seems to ‘sneak’ up on teams well, but not when people are taking notice. But, if NU beats Iowa, then holy smokes, that Purdue home game will be one of the biggest in recent memory.
So after all this jibber/jabber, I’m going Iowa 60, NU 65.
by NU Alumni - Class of 2002 on Feb 9, 2012 10:14 AM CST reply actions
Cautiously optimistic
A win tonight combined with an Indiana win vs. Illinois would put NU in a 4-way tie for 6th place in the conference standings. Crazy talk!
Amazing how bunched up the Big Ten.
Like you said, a couple of wins here/there, teams go from 10th to 6th so quickly. Incredible.
by NU Alumni - Class of 2002 on Feb 9, 2012 11:19 AM CST up reply actions
technically
from tenth to a four-way tie for sixth through ninth, so, well, um, uhh, dammit.
by Rodger Sherman on Feb 9, 2012 12:29 PM CST up reply actions
Illinois
We want Illinois to win so they have a better chance of ending the season a top 50 RPI team (rpiforecast projects their final RPI at 48). Illinois also a bigger impact on our RPI than Indiana (we play Illinois twice and Indiana once). By the way, we also need to hope Seton Hall gets back on track – they are projected to end with an RPI of 49. If Illinois and Seton Hall drop below 50, we’re back to just one win vs. a top 50 RPI for the season…
by NU95 on Feb 9, 2012 3:02 PM CST up reply actions 2 recs
Biggest game of the year so far.
That’s not a joke.
Our NCAA Tourney resume is dependent at this point on one thing — avoiding bad losses by any means necessary. Of course, we need to pull off a few more good/decent wins, like against Minny/Michigan/Purdue/Indiana….but the biggest factor in ensuring our resume gets us in is not having a bad loss ever.
So that means we cannot lose to Iowa (who we play twice) or Penn State (one more game).
I think our team matches up well against the Hawkeyes (they’re susceptible to teams that shoot well from distance), and I’m hopeful….but please, please, PLEASE John Shurna and Drew Crawford — be assertive on offense and get us points. Lots and lots of points.
I want to disagree w/you,
but, I think you are right. NU doesn’t have any ‘bad losses’ this year, and while not many good wins, their saving grace is no bad losses. So, I fully agree w/you.
But, more than Shurna/Crawford being great at offense, my primary concern is always defense w/this team, so I hope they bring it on that end.
by NU Alumni - Class of 2002 on Feb 9, 2012 11:56 AM CST up reply actions
Sorry...
I meant it like, I love disagreeing w/Chad, b/c I really do respect his optimistic point of view. Since we agree, it’s not as fun.
by NU Alumni - Class of 2002 on Feb 9, 2012 2:13 PM CST up reply actions
.
’Cats will win
Jeremy Lin
Iowa will take it on the chin
Jeremy Lin
There is no one akin
Jeremy Lin
The Hawkeyes have sinned
Jeremy Lin
Tonight we will grin
Jeremy Lin
+1
This is made of win
Jeremy Lin
by Chadnudj on Feb 9, 2012 2:35 PM CST via Android app up reply actions
+1
Davor Duvancic replica jersey in a bargain bin
Jeremy Lin
www.massivecreativity.com
Whatever happened to Jitim?
Jeremy Lin.
by Chadnudj on Feb 9, 2012 3:32 PM CST via Android app up reply actions
damnit NUACO2002
that comment was not ballin
Jeremy Lin
I think NW is a matchup nightmare for Iowa and will win . . .
But I will take some exception to the general tone of “mehness” about the quality of Iowa’s young players.
I think R. Devyn Marble is going to be a scoring star in this league (age wise, he should actually be a freshman) and he has lately showed the ability to not only create his own shot (something Iowa hasn’t had since Alford was the coach) but to take the team on his shoulders in crunchtime.
Likewise, Aaron White is playing at a super high level in conference play – averaging arond 13 ppg and 6 rebounds. He can step out and hit, or drive in and dunk. The BTN basektball blogger (forget name right now) argued he may actually be a bit better than Trey Burke, making him the second best freshman in the conference.
All that said, what Iowa DOES NOT do well is defend the three or stop baseline drives for layups. And I’ve watched a lot of Northwestern this year so UH OH! This one could get ugly.
But going forward, I think Iowa is getting back to being a solid mid-level Big 10 team and the future is bright under McCaffery. So get yer licks in now (ha, licks, like Lickliter, who made me want to punch myself in the face repeatedly).
Second best freshman behind...
Sobolewski? Awwwww yeahhhh.
Also, while you may be right about Marble having the potential to be amazing, that doesn’t change the fact that he’s meh now.
by pfoley on Feb 9, 2012 5:03 PM CST up reply actions 1 recs
I'm not taking this one lightly
… and I hope the ‘Cats aren’t, or they will get their butts handed to them. Unlike Lickliter-era teams, this Hawkeye bunch seems to have spark. And they are deeper than we are, so the zebras could have a big impact one way or another.
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