Niang, Hogue, Kane and Ejim have to avoid foul trouble the whole game. ISU just does not have the quality depth, especially in the front court to afford losing one or two of them for any significant amount of time. There is no one on ISU's bench that can replace the leadership and rebounding of Hogue, Ejim and Kane. There just isn't unless somehow Gibson or Edozie would play out of their minds.
Iowa plays 10 deep, and although some of those 10 are not really better than the top 10 players ISU has, the way they are used helps to keep the best Iowa players more fresh. Going 10 deep allows Iowa to play an up-tempo game. I don't think it is as up-tempo as ISU likes to play, but still it is not the old slow-paced games we saw from Iowa before Fran arrived.
This game could turn into a track meet, where both teams kind of abandon defense until the very end of the game. If that happens, I think it will favor ISU primarily because of the outside shooting abilities of the guards. However, the last few games, Iowa had really improved on its outside shooting, but then against Drake, they fell back to 16 percent shooting from outside, so who knows what will show up at Hilton?
I really think this could be a similar game to the 1987 game. 102-100. Who is going to be ISU's Lafester Rhodes this time?
Iowa plays 10 deep, and although some of those 10 are not really better than the top 10 players ISU has, the way they are used helps to keep the best Iowa players more fresh. Going 10 deep allows Iowa to play an up-tempo game. I don't think it is as up-tempo as ISU likes to play, but still it is not the old slow-paced games we saw from Iowa before Fran arrived.
This game could turn into a track meet, where both teams kind of abandon defense until the very end of the game. If that happens, I think it will favor ISU primarily because of the outside shooting abilities of the guards. However, the last few games, Iowa had really improved on its outside shooting, but then against Drake, they fell back to 16 percent shooting from outside, so who knows what will show up at Hilton?
I really think this could be a similar game to the 1987 game. 102-100. Who is going to be ISU's Lafester Rhodes this time?