3 Things: Hills the Hawkeyes have to climb in 2017-18

IOWA CITY — Monday begins a week in which Iowa men's basketball coach Fran McCaffery and his players will meet with media for the first time this season — Monday at Iowa hoops Media Day and Thursday in New York City for Big Ten Media Day — and get a gauge of how the first couple weeks of practice have gone.

Until then and until we see the team on the court, preseason predictions and analysis will have to do. Last week, we looked at what could happen for Iowa this year in 5 Things: Predicting Iowa hoops 2017-18. It mostly surrounded the very real possibility this season could be successful.

The reality is, though, the likelihood of this season being without frustration at one point or another is almost impossible. The Hawkeyes will lose some games (unless this somehow is 1976 Indiana). So let's look at 3 Things: Hills the Hawkeyes have to climb in 2017-18.

1. Defense

It was one of the consistent narratives surrounding the team last season, and for good reason. After losing one of, if not the best rim protectors Iowa has had in Adam Woodbury, Iowa's defense suffered inside. After losing one of the best perimeter defenders of the McCaffery era in Anthony Clemmons, it suffered on the outside, too.

The Hawkeyes allowed 1.026 points per possession overall last season, which ranked 122nd in the country (the Division 1 average, on KenPom.com, was 1.047) and did get better as the season went along. In conference play only, Iowa gave up 1.061 ppp, which ranked 10th in the conference. It gave up 51 percent in effective field goal percentage (193rd) overall and 52.6 percent (12th) in conference. Opponent offensive rebounding was where it struggled the most, giving up an offensive rebounding percentage of 32.3 percent (296th) overall and 33.9 percent (14th) in conference.

Dribble penetration was an issue most of the year, facing so many talented guards in the Big Ten. Iowa gave up a conference-worst 52.5 percent shooting inside the arc in conference play last year.

While Luka Garza will bring better rim protection, a team-wide improvement is going to require Tyler Cook, Cordell Pemsl, Ahmad Wagner and Jack Nunge to be better in help, better on the boards and better denying easy shots at the rim. Nicholas Baer led the team in blocks with 43. Next was Pemsl with 24, Wagner at 14 and guard Isaiah Moss with 13. Cook finished the season with 11 blocks.

Team defense has as much to do with communication as anything, and McCaffery and Co. all will tell you that — and did, several times last year. But they all also talk a lot about how close they are. There's a disconnect between those two ideas, and if they don't, the numbers above will have a hard time improving.

The other reason it'll be hard for Iowa to be stingy on defense? Their speed. It's a major positive on the whole, but running on offense typically means sacrifices on defense. Iowa finished tied for 39th in tempo nationally last year. Among the top 50 fastest-paced teams, only 11 finished in the top 100 in adjusted defensive efficiency, and only two in the top 25 — national champs North Carolina (tied at 39th in tempo, 11th in AdjD) and Kentucky (26th in tempo, seventh in AdjD).

2. (Gulp) free throws

OK, no one tell Fran this section exists. Cool? Kidding, kidding.

Now, we all know Peter Jok was an excellent free throw shooter. He very nearly set the record for free throw percentage at Iowa last year at 91.1 percent, and led the Big Ten and was 10th nationally. Jordan Bohannon also was very good at 85.5 percent, and Brady Ellingson finished the season perfect, though he only was 18 of 18 all season.

Collectively, though, free throw shooting officially was A Thing for most of the season. The team shot 68.8 percent from the line, finishing ninth in the Big Ten and 224th in the nation (KenPom). The Hawkeyes got to the line at a decent rate in conference play, finishing fifth in free throw rate (33.5 percent according to KenPom), but not being able to convert more left points on the board in several games.

After Jok, who shot 169 free throws, Cook, Pemsl and Wagner got to the line the most. Together, they shot 55.6 percent from the line — 180 of 324. Wagner was 46.3 percent from the line at 38 of 82.

Given how much the big men are going to be asked to do offensively this year, they'll all likely go to the line quite a bit again. Free throw shooting isn't sexy and it isn't the most important factor to a winning team, but Iowa left enough points at the line last year that unless something changed drastically, it could be A Thing again this year.

3. Dribble penetration

Running with big lineups, as Iowa will likely do on a fairly regular basis, means sacrificing a bit in the way of ball-handling. Not taking anything away from Cook, Baer, or the incoming Nunge and Garza's handle, but it's just obviously not going to be the same as a guard's.

Losing Jok and not having anyone take his place on the roster means Bohannon, Moss, Ellingson, Christian Williams and Maishe Dailey will have to pick up his slack shooting, obviously, but the pressure on them to create shots goes up as well.

Jok wasn't exactly a slasher — Moss better fits that bill — but he did create his own shot and could work outside in a fair amount. He was quick off the dribble when he made a point of it. Moss is, too. Bohannon appeared to have worked on doing just that all summer. But as a group, the Iowa guards can't just be shooters, even if that's going to be a vital area in which they'll also need to be efficient.

Teams are going to deny entry passes to the big men, and likely will play a lot of man given Iowa's style.

Moss is the most efficient at doing so among the returners, shooting 44.7 percent inside the arc (55 of 123), but had a free throw rate of just 15.2 percent. Bohannon shot 32.2 percent inside the arc (29 of 90). Ellingson and Williams were only slightly better at 39.5 and 38 percent, respectively. The latter three also shot 212 times from 2-point range. Jok took 246 shots inside the arc by himself.

The guard group sees the 3-pointer as an efficient shot, and it was in large part at 37.9 percent as a team last year. But Jok's gap is sizable from both places. Being two-dimensional in his absence will go a long way for this group. It's just easier said than done.

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