Last Night Proved Exactly Why Iowa Can't Win A National Championship
Oh, Iowa and your fans. So adorable how much you yell and scream and demand respect. Can't say I blame you guys, it's really the first time in their lives that Iowa has been relevant. It's honestly a little sad looking at Iowa basketball history. Haven't made a Sweet 16 since 1999. I know the NCAA Tournament isn't the best way to judge a program because it's win or go home, but, uh, it's 2021! We're just talking about reaching the Sweet 16. Teams like Florida Gulf Coast, Loyola Chicago, UAB, Ohio and Kent State have made a Sweet 16. Shit, Iowa hasn't even won the Big 10 regular season since 1979. There's a good chance nearly 100% of people reading this have never seen Iowa win a regular season title. So I get why you all want to bang your chest and scream about how good this team is. It's simply unusual for Iowa fans to watch good basketball.
But then last night happened.
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The defense is absolutely atrocious. Yes, Iowa went nearly 12 minutes without a field goal, but you know what? It's not like Indiana is some offensive firepower to where Iowa couldn't keep it close during a cold streak. Cold shooting nights happen for every team in the country, the difference is Iowa can't defend. So when they can't score, they can't win. They were up 9 with 12 minutes to go. In those 12 minutes they gave up 37 points to an Indiana team that isn't even good offensively. They don't run anything complex, they don't have some sort of guard that can take over a game. Indiana has the 43rd best offense in the country and that's including after scoring 81 here against Iowa.
You know how bad Iowa's defense is? In the 18 championships tracked by KenPom, the average DRtg entering the NCAA Tournament for a champ is 15. Iowa is 90! The average for a Final Four team is 20. Iowa is 90! (h/t Rob Dauster) No team outside of the top-40 defensively has won a title. That's how bad Iowa is defensively. They try to run this 2-3 zone which is just a mess because of how they have Garza rotate from under the basket to a wing. Last night was jarring watching them still give up over 1.1 points per possession to Indiana where Indiana just passed the ball around the wing, tried to get it to Jackson-Davis in the high post and score there. It was as basic of a zone break as you will ever see. The matchup zone that draws Garza out also explains why Iowa is a BAD (244th in the country) defensive rebounding team.
Yes, Iowa can score. Yes, Luka Garza is going to win NPOY. But this team isn't the 4th best team in the country. Indiana exposed them last night defensively and even showed a glimpse on how to defend Garza. Luka operates by power. If you throw that weakside double and then rotate to where his only pass is either a long diagonal or along the baseline, he can struggle. I don't want to hear about the scoring drought. That happens during games for every team in the country, every single year. That's a large part why they lost to Indiana. But they can't win a title because they can't defend. Eyes don't lie, numbers don't lie.