The second Iowa - Michigan State Game

After the first Iowa - Michigan State game, I congratulated Alford on getting his 300th win and telling him that there was a small chance he could win me over.

After the second game, I remember why I want a new coach.  Losing is at Michigan State is nothing to be embarrassed about.  Getting humiliated is.  Go check out the box score.

I love to complain about bad officiating, but Iowa made more free throws (17) than MSU took (10).  Iowa ended up outscoring MSU from the line by 12 points and still lost by 32 points.  Michigan State had twice as many fouls as Iowa.
How does that happen?

Iowa still cannot consistently defend the 3 point line.  MSU shot 10-22 from the arc.

I would point out the rebound disadvantage, a typical Iowa problem, but when the other team shoots 58% from the field and you shoot 34%, you are probably going to get out rebounded badly.  I’ll save that complaint for another game.

But, let’s talk about that shooting.  Iowa shot 2-12 from the 3 point line.  How does a great 3 point shooter like Alford consistently have teams where nobody can make a 3 pointer?  Our big men can’t score inside and the small guys can’t score outside.  That’s a bad combination.

Then there’s the turnover to assist ration.  17 turnovers.  7 assists.  Alford can blame the short turnaround or whatever he wants, but a minus 10 turnover ratio is always going to be a loss.  Smith looks like he is going to be a pretty special player, but he needs to stop leading the team in turnovers really soon.  Players don’t like giving the ball to the guy that keeps turning it over.

Finally, let’s talk about Haluska.  I love the guy.  He plays hard.  He’s the go to guy on the team.  He is a free throw shooting machine.  He works his butt off to use the picks and get a shot.  He might have a chance of getting on an NBA roster.  This year he is shooting just over 40% from the field.  That isn’t super, but for his style, not necessarily bad.  But go look at his stats.  For somebody with his inconsistency, he takes too many shots.

That is not his fault.  That is Alford’s.  When Haluska is hot, let him shoot.  When he is not, then the team needs some kind of offense they can run where other people score.

I haven’t officially been contacted yet, but just so everybody knows.  When Alford is fired after this season (fingers crossed), I am available and willing to take over the position.  My agent will be contacting the school shortly.

Hawkeyes vs Badgers in review

I wish I could say that I was way off base with my prediction of the Hawkeyes vs Badgers game on last Saturday.

But, just like I said they:

• Lost
• Had trouble with the Badgers’ big guys
• Had trouble rebounding
• Had foul trouble (but with Smith, not the big guys)
• Had trouble getting Haluska to score

I will say that not many teams are going to win at the Kohl Center shooting 1 free throw in the first half. I will also say that Smith hurting his finger ruined any chances since he needed a huge game. But, after half time the Badgers sounded like they were clearly in control and Iowa would have had to play nearly perfectly to have a chance.

That’s why Wisconsin is #3 in the nation and Iowa is not ranked.

Fortunately, Iowa is still sitting 4th in the Big Ten. With MSU recently deciding they are done for the year, there is a good chance that Iowa can win 4 or even 5 of the remaining 5 games as long as they can finally figure out how to beat Northwestern. I think that at 18-12 or 19-11 and 4th place in the Big 10, they would probably get into the NCAA tournament. And, don’t forget that Indiana has 4 of their last 5 games on the road. If they happen to fall apart, Iowa could sneak into 3rd by the end of the season.

Which means it will soon be time to start the big debate about whether it is better for Iowa to shockingly lose in the first round of the NIT or disappointingly lose in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. I’ll go with the NCAA Tournament. If the team happens to get hot, I would much prefer to go a couple rounds in the NCAA Tournament than to win the NIT.

Hawkeyes headed to the Kohl Center

Iowa is playing at Wisconsin this Saturday at 1pm. Iowa has to be feeling confident after the last couple of wins with Haluska and Smith just completely taking over the scoring load over the last few games.

Just like last week for the Illinois game, my dad and I will be working on finishing a basement and listening to the game on the radio. It worked well for the Hawkeyes last week.

I still don’t really like Iowa’s chances on Saturday.

I think the Badgers are really going to focus on Haluska and hold him around 15 points. I think Smith is going to have to explode for Iowa to have any chance. And, he just might do it.

But, in the end, I don’t like Iowa’s matchups in the paint. I think poor rebounding and foul trouble from the big guys will give this game to the Badgers. Throw in some excessive turnovers like we always seem to have against Wisconsin, and it just feels like a bad mix.

Plus, the Badgers are really going to have to fight if they want to have a chance at getting a Number 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. They are going to be ready to play.

I really hope the Hawkeyes can cut down the turnovers, find ways to keep defenders off Haluska, keep rebounding well and win the game. I work with a huge Badger fan who is much quieter on days after they lose than on days after they win.

I’m rooting for a very quiet Monday. Go Hawks.

If Iowa does win, this will be the last time I pick against them this year. I’m really close to believing in this team. Several years of watching Alford teams find ways to give up at just the wrong moment are still holding me back for now.

Make your picks in the comments below. If my pick is wrong and you don’t have prior to game time predictions posted somewhere, you are not allowed to call me an idiot if Iowa wins by 20.

A football league for everyone

I was scanning the internet today and found out that former Hawkeye running back Marques Simmons just signed a contract to play some pro football. He will be playing for the Quad City Steamwheelers. The post says that he will be playing in the AF2 (arenafootball2).

Now, I’ve heard of Arena Football, but the 2 was new for me. Did the original AFL shut down and this is the second try? Did they massively overhaul the rules to make the game even more interesting and therefore become version 2.0?

No. The AF2 is a minor league for the AFL. Players go there to develop to get good enough to play for the AFL.

While I’m happy to hear that Marques Simmons is still able to play some football, is this really that much removed to a park district summer league? At what point should decent football players give up their sporting dreams and go get a job at the local Home Depot?

Decisive Underdogs

If you read it on the internet it must be true.

So, I was caught off guard when I was happily reading a post on the P-C Hawk Blog talking about what happened up in Minnesota for the Hawkeye basketball team. (Make sure you click on the Show Original Post to get the actual post.)

Hawkeyes won…sure. Hawkeyes scored more than usual…sure. Game they needed to win…check.

Then this little gem about Iowa’s upcoming schedule.

They have to continue to beat the teams they should beat –Northwestern and Purdue at home and Penn State on the road. They will be decisive underdogs at Wisconsin and Michigan State but then finish with an Illinois team that might be battling Iowa for an NCAA berth, assuming the Hawks take care of business.

Remember Sesame Street and the “One of these things is doing it’s own thing” song. Can you spot the odd ball statement above?

Decisive underdogs to Michigan State?

Didn’t Iowa beat MSU earlier in the season. Yes it was at home. Yes it was close. But what about this?

I’m sorry but you don’t lose 62 to 38 to anybody in the Big 10 not named Wisconsin or Ohio State, be 4-6 in the Big 10 and get to be called a decisive favorite over anybody.

38 points? The way Haluska has been shooting recently, he might be able to take down MSU by himself. Iowa can send him and Smith and let everybody else do homework that day.

Was it finals week at Michigan State? Wait, let me guess. This is going to be their wakeup game right?

Ron Zook is a dirty cheater

John L. Smith, you remember him, the coach Michigan State recently fired, thinks that Ron Zook must be illegally recruiting since the Illinois program and their facilities suck.

“If they had a winning program and all of that, it would be a different deal….If they had the greatest facilities in the world, then maybe they could sell them. But what are they selling?”

If there is anybody in college football that I trust, it is John L. Smith. He seemed to be all over Smoker’s problems before they got out of control. He was even nice enough to give Smoker a second chance. I’m sure having no other good options at QB had nothing to do with it.

Is it possible that Zook had a little easier time getting some big recruits because they are pretty much guaranteed to start right off the bat? A lot of these recruits probably want to put in their two years and head off to the pros. If you end up stuck in line behind some All American at Michigan, Ohio State, and Notre Dame, you might have to spend an extra year or two making no money in college.

Is it possible that he is just comes across as a cool guy when he talks to recruits?

Is it possible there was just a lot of talent in areas that he recruits well in?

By the way, none of the big programs seemed to have any trouble recruiting this year anyway. So, maybe the recruits wanted to go somewhere where they could be the BMOC instead of just mixing in with a ton of other BMOCs.

College recruiting is great. If you do bad it is because the little guys just can’t compete with the good guys. If you do well, you must be cheating.

Maybe there is something to all of this, though. USC and OSU both have had some questions with their recruiting process over the last couple years. Maybe players are not going to those power programs because of location/program history/number of pros drafted each year. Maybe it is all illegal recruiting.

Get out your tin foil hats.

As for Smith and anybody else ready to make accusations. If you have evidence, send it to the NCAA and shut up. If you don’t, just shut up.

This is coming from an Iowa fan who hates Illinois because…well, because they are a bunch of cheaters.

College Football National Signing Day

All the high school big football names that haven’t signed with a college yet are doing so today. The Top 10 colleges according to Rivals.com in the recruiting race at this point (12:25 PM 2/7/07) are:

1) Florida
2) USC
3) Tennessee
4) Texas
5) LSU
6) South Carolina
7) Auburn
Notre Dame
9) Georgia
10) Oregon

How boringly predictable. Don’t worry, Michigan and Ohio State are lurking at 11 and 15 respectively. South Carolina seems a smidge higher than normal and Oregon seems like they recruited surprisingly well.

I swear that looks like the same list as any other year. It is hard to break into the big time recruits’ hearts.

So, where are the Hawkeyes? 27th. Not shabby, but nothing that will show up on ESPN News. About where we always seem to end up.

Take a look at this Signing Day Updates over at Yahoo! Sports. The Hawkeyes are mentioned twice. Once for losing Patrick Grant (DE) to Louisville. Apparently Ferentz should have offered a scholarship to Grant’s friend Bynes. The other mention is for losing out on Dale Martin (RB) who also decided to go to Louisville.

Why are the Hawkeyes having so much trouble after having such good recruiting classes a couple years prior? Take a look at Yahoo! Sports Top 10 Prospects for the NFL Draft. Not a single Hawkeye to be found. There are no Bob Sanders, Dallas Clark, or Robert Gallery’s in this years draft.

The Hawkeyes do have a tendency to send a few players to the NFL but nothing like most of those schools hauling in the high school recruits this year. Big time players like big name schools. Iowa isn’t there yet. Plus, who in there right mind wants to come live in the midwest right now when the temperature can’t even get above zero. I don’t blame them for heading south.

It’s a good thing the Iowa coaching staff can find players who are willing to work their butts off and improve quite a bit more than the recruiting experts expectations.

Update: There has been a change to that first link above. It looks like the Hawkeyes just signed 4 star recruit Cedric Everson. Apparently, he had committed to Michigan State over the weekend but changed his mind at the last second. It looks like Ferentz finally managed to sign a tall (6′1″) fast (4.4) cornerback that we have always seem to have trouble getting. And Rivals.com reports that he has a 3.0 GPA. Welcome to Iowa, Cedric.

Those crazy, fickle high school kids with their inability to pick a school. How many schools did it take for you to get through college? I went through 2 in 2 years before heading off to the Air Force.

Interviewing College Players

Susan Harman is annoyed that Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson didn’t let his players get interviewed by the press after they lost to Iowa the other day.

Who wants to listen to college athletes being interviewed by the press. It is all I can do to give my 110% to just stay with the game plan and keep myself awake when these kids talk. They are coached to give such boring answers.

If you want a good interview of the opinions of people associated with Indiana basketball, go take a microphone into any bar in the state of Indiana after the game. I guarantee that you won’t get the canned answers that the players have to give and Kelvin Sampson will have no way to keep them away from you.

Haluska Girlfriend

Over the last few days people keep finding this site by using Google to search for “Haluska Girlfriend.” It is a false hit based on one post mentioning Haluska and another mentioning some body else having trouble with their girlfriend.

So, I have no idea why people are searching for “Haluska girlfriend.”

Do any of you know what is so interesting about Haluska’s girlfriend or what happened to make people start looking for information about her?

If you know, could you leave a comment or send me an email using the Contact Me up at the top of the site.

Thanks.

Hawkeye Magic Beats the Hoosiers

My dad and I were working on framing a basement about 45 minutes west of Chicago on Saturday. He brought a little radio on the off chance that we would get the signal of the Iowa - Indiana basketball game. Not only did the reception make it that far, but the broadcast happened to have this neat ability to sound just as clear with our ear plugs in as with them out.

That is some Hawkeye magic. So was crushing Indiana on the boards and making so may free throws, especially at the end.

The Hawkeyes need to win the Wisconsin game in particular to have any hope of getting into the NCAA tournament. I don’t think it is going to happen, but at least there is some hope after the last two wins.

I haven’t been paying too much attention, but how many Big 10 Freshman are playing better than Tyler Smith this year? He seems to be right up there with Ohio State’s Greg Oden. What other freshmen should be in that top group?