Iowa's young players not ready to punt on this season yet

IOWA CITY — It's really easy, when the Iowa men's basketball team is struggling or has lost a few games in a row, to look to the Hawkeyes' apparently bright future.

With six freshmen — four of whom currently are starters — who are contributing in one way or another, it's not surprising thoughts would go to better days ahead. The issue with that is the Hawkeyes haven't punted on this season yet.

They may not take part in the discussion, but it's hard not to hear, especially via social media. What makes the hurry to look ahead to a year or two from now for them is there have been moments already where Iowa has shown they can be good now.

Mistakes still happen, growth still has been a bit stunted, but there's no rush inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena to get to what's coming.

'Everyone says, 'They're going to be great next year. They're going to be great in two years.' Obviously we want to be great now,' forward Cordell Pemsl said. 'We want to go out and know we can compete with anyone any given night. Our plan or our mission is to understand how to play with one another and get that bond and that trust there. We've shown it in spurts, we just haven't done it consistently. We want to be the best we can be now and we know when we're playing well we can play with anyone.'

Coach Fran McCaffery said 'I don't pay attention to that at all,' in terms of what the narrative may or may not be surrounding his team.

Every coach puts out the 'one game at a time' mantra, but McCaffery's tweak on that old saying was that he's too busy trying to make his players better right now to think too much about what they might be later. What happens now is required to fulfill whatever prophecy for the future a fan or follower might have.

Four of the six freshmen who play — Pemsl, Tyler Cook, Jordan Bohannon and Isaiah Moss — have 20-point games. Yeah, that means the ceiling is high when they have more experience, but it also means they can do it right now, too.

'I go into the mindset of what can we do to win the next game? How can I help each individual player get better? Somebody that's been a good player, hasn't had a good game or a couple bad games, OK. I take responsibility for that, like what can I do to help you? Because ultimately, it's going to help us,' McCaffery said. 'Maybe it differs for each guy. Maybe it's our motion game is all bogged down. Our transition game doesn't look good. Our zone hasn't really been effective. There's any number of things at any given time. Maybe they're not understanding some things that they need to understand. So whatever we can do to help them, that's what we do.'

A key word for all of that is patience. McCaffery talked about losing his patience with this group at times because some of what the Hawkeyes have struggled with isn't just about youth.

With Peter Jok dealing with now-persistent back issues, the younger players applying what they've been taught consistently is even more important than it already was. The window to what Iowa will look like in the future opens even farther.

McCaffery said 'it's a legitimate consideration' and that 'it can't hurt' to possibly shut Jok down for a couple weeks if his condition worsens and the trainers feel like he can't be a full go. While that's not in play yet, if it does, patience with the young players becomes a harder thing.

Points in Transition: Iowa vs. Ohio State preview

Iowa has shown the ability to put it together already, just not consistently. The Hawkeyes aren't rushing to look to the future because they have enough to do right now.

'Am I being patient enough? Am I being fair because of my impatience? The thing about this group, they want it bad. They're working really hard to be good at it. So as a coach, that's all you can really ever expect. They're giving me everything they've got,' McCaffery said. 'They need to see us grinding because they know we're trying to help them. And then at the same time, patience is going to be necessary, and occasionally I've lost my patience because they're not getting something that I thought they should get.

'I try not to be unrealistic with my expectation for any particular player or team. I always say — and I tell kids this when I recruit them — I'm never going to ask you to do more than you're capable of doing. That is unfair.'

Iowa plays Ohio State at Carver-Hawkeye Arena at 7 p.m. on Saturday night. The game will be televised on ESPN2.

l Comments: (319) 368-8884; jeremiah.davis@thegazette.com