B1G Media Days: Iowa's depth, Woodbury minutes, Jones impresses

CHICAGO — Nearly two weeks into practice and two weeks before his team's first exhibition, Iowa men's basketball coach Fran McCaffery still has uncertainty when it comes to depth.

The Hawkeyes, who finished 22-12 last year and 12-6 in Big Ten play, boast four returning starters plus another who opened 12 games. But bench roles are a concern for all basketball teams, and McCaffery is looking for about four more players to contribute significant time this winter.

'In this league, five guys isn't enough; you need at least 10,' McCaffery said.

McCaffery praised transfer Dale Jones' transition on defense. Jones, a junior forward, has made strides to pick up Iowa's man-to-man defense after playing primarily zone at Tyler (Texas) Junior College. But whether it's brute honesty or sending a message, McCaffery was more direct when discussing his freshmen on the court.

'It's up and down,' McCaffery said. 'Some days they're great, some days they're not. Some days they're better offensively, and that's what we're looking for consistently. Consistently defending, consistently scoring the ball, consistently playing mistake-free basketball, consistently competing. As you know, competing is not hard work. Hard work and compete are two different things. You've got to think when you're competing, you've got to bust your tail, but you've got to think and make plays that make sense. I want these guys to compete, not just run around and look like they're playing hard but not get anything done.'

The lack of consistency has brought minimal separation among the freshmen. McCaffery said he plans to red-shirt a player but won't make it official until November. Iowa's freshmen include guards Andrew Fleming, Christian Williams and Isaiah Moss, wing Brandon Hutton and forward Ahmad Wagner. As far as which newcomer has flashed, well, it depends on the day.

'A couple days ago I would have said, you know, Andrew Fleming, Ahmad Wagner, and then the next day I would have said Dale Jones, Isaiah Moss,' McCaffery said. 'You know, the two guys that everybody forgets are (red-shirt freshmen) Nicholas Baer and Brady Ellingson. Brady was injured last year. Nicholas is a walk-on that nobody pays attention to, but he's really good. So there's days when he's been a dominant player and there's days when he's not been. And I think that's the issue that I'm going through right now. There's not been the consistency from those guys. And we have to be careful because I don't know that you can expect it. You know, they've only had five or six practices. There's a lot of information thrown at them.

'But my experience over the years has been, over time — and we don't have a lot of time — but over the next two, three weeks, it will separate and you'll find out which of the three or four guys I think will really establish themselves.'

RECEIVING VOTES

Despite finishing in a third-place tie last year with a 12-6 record and returning four starters, Iowa hasn't gained much preseason traction. Iowa received votes in the inaugural USA Today/Coaches poll. Five Big Ten teams were ranked — 3. Maryland, 13. Michigan State, 15. Indiana, 17. Wisconsin, 24. Purdue — while Michigan and Ohio State joined the Hawkeyes in receiving votes.

'I just think it's a function of how good everybody else is,' McCaffery said. 'I don't think it's disrespect, I think it's respect for really good teams. You look at Purdue, they're picked kind of around where we are, then they got two first-round picks (A.J. Hammons and Caleb Swanigan). That's not even counting (Raphael) Davis, who might be their best player, and (Vince) Edwards, who will be one of the best players in the league and then you've got a 7-2 backup center (Isaac Hass), who's probably also a pro. That's just an example of what this league is.'

The Big Ten led the nation in attendance last year for the 39th straight season and seven teams advanced to the NCAA tournament. This year, McCaffery said, it could be better.

'The balance in the Big Ten is the best it's ever been. Without question,' he said. 'Everybody's good. Top to bottom, young guys, we've got some guys coming back. We've got established coaches who have been there and built something. I think it's going to be really difficult to go through the league. You look at the top of the league, there's some really special teams there but winning on the road is going to be difficult this year.

'There's probably nine or 10 teams that deserve to get in, but if we keep beating each other up, then we may get less teams in (the tournament). I think that's what makes the league special. That's why attendance is what it is, rabid fan bases seeing great basketball. That's the fun of it, I guess.'

WOODBURY TIME

Iowa senior center Adam Woodbury has opened all but one of his career games, but his minutes per game have ranged from 16.5 as a freshman to 20.5 as a junior. This year, he'll see a major spike in playing time.

'I think Adam is in the best shape of his life,' McCaffery said. 'He's worked incredibly hard this summer. Physically, he's in a really good place. And his minutes per game are going to go up from probably in the 20-22 range to 34, maybe.

'So that will be an adjustment for him. He's always been a physical guy. It wasn't as much of an issue when you're playing 20 minutes. It is when you're playing 34, 35 minutes. You know, you've got to just move your feet, stay out of foul trouble, and rebound, and be a leader on the floor, which he's always been.'

Woodbury split time with Gabe Olaseni, who became the Big Ten's sixth man of the year, the last three seasons. Woodbury's career high in minutes played is 30 in the Hawkeyes' overtime NCAA tournament loss to Tennessee in 2014.

JONES IMPRESSES

Last year junior Dale Jones scored 16.9 points and 8.3 rebounds a game at Tyler Junior College, one year removed from a season-ending knee injury. McCaffery believes Jones, a Waterloo native, can help in the post after the Hawkeyes lost top rebounders Aaron White and Gabe Olaseni.

'He's a rebounder. That's one of the reasons why we took him,' McCaffery said. 'He rebounds. He scores and rebounds. The area he has to improve in is defense. Not because he can't play it, because he's got a 7-1 wingspan. He played zone in junior college. Mike (Marquis) wanted to keep him out of foul trouble and wanted to keep him near the basket to rebound the ball. He did all of that.

'Now we're going to ask him to get out on the floor and guard a smaller guy, fight through a screen, stay in your stance, get over toward the ball, close and recover. That takes a completely different mind-set. He's really working on it. I'm proud of him. He's really worked at that. The first couple of days was hard for him. When you have character guys, they'll try to do what you ask them to do.'

SCHEDULING

Expansion has changed Big Ten basketball scheduling nearly as much as it has football scheduling. Before Nebraska joined in 2011, each school played eight teams twice and two teams once per year. But with Nebraska, Maryland and Rutgers now as members, the rotation has shrunk to five double-plays and eight single-plays.

Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany said he has no plans to move beyond an 18-game basketball schedule to add more double-plays because the conference season already opens in late December.

'There's always discussion about who you play once and who you play twice and the impact on competitive fairness,' Delany said. 'But I think 18 is probably right now.'

There's no push for protecting some rivalries as permanent home-and-home annual affairs, Delany said.

'There's been discussion on it,' Delany said. But when asked if it was going anywhere, Delany replied, 'No. It never seems to win the day.'

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