Fran McCaffery is really not into the revenge angle in sports. The Iowa head coach is actually more into the idea that you don't need bulletin board material to play with great effort in a game. McCaffery previews the Hawkeyes second meeting with Minnesota on Sunday afternoon and discusses some questionable fouls against Luka Garza.
Q: When you look back at the first meeting with Minnesota, what did your team learn defensively and how much better have they become?
McCAFFERY: We have gotten substantially better. That’s not an easy team to guard. They run really good stuff and Carr is a handful and Robbins is a handful and they have other guys and weapons. We weren’t connected in that game. We were trying, but we weren’t cohesive and we tended to rely on our ability to score, which happens sometimes with us. Since think I think defensively we have been substantially better.
Q: The league is always a grind, but even more so this year during a pandemic. Can you describe what it’s been like for your players on a daily basis?
McCAFFERY: We try to keep it as normal. Their lives are not normal because that is a function of where they go and what they do after they leave here. What happens when they get here is exactly the same. I shouldn’t say that because we have the Covid test every day. They come here, we feed them and they have the Covid test, we have meetings and watch film, we shoot free throws, practice, and watch more film. Whatever the norm is we do and I have said I think this has been so good for the mental health of the student-athletes because it is the one thing that is normal.
The games are different because there are no fans, but the intensity and effort and the quality of the games has been really good. I think people wondered if it would be like that. I think people saw with the NBA in the bubble, the quality of play was really good and it was really fun to watch. I think you have a lot of people watching the games even if you can’t come.
It’s a little strange walking on the floor. A lot of you have been to Maryland and the atmosphere there is really incredible and it wasn’t the other night. It was good game in terms of teams playing hard and really fighting. They jumped us and we came back and got on a run. Then they fought back and we fought them off. I have been impressed by the players and the coaches in this league providing quality competition. We all wish that, if given the choice, that places would be packed and hopefully it will be that way soon.
Q: There is some subjectivity about the cylinder rule and I wonder what kind of feedback you are getting about it from officials as it relates to Luka since it came up a couple of times the other night.
McCAFFERY: Yeah, to be honest with you, I didn’t think there was any subjectivity. I think you are being nice. I was not pleased the other night. I just wasn’t.
Q: Can you talk to the officials about it before the game given that it’s coming up more often?
McCAFFERY: You can have a conversation with people who might be able to have that conversation, but you don’t meet with the officials. You can talk to them at any given time and one of them is usually in front of you and you can mention it to them during a break and you discuss it with them.
Q: With the concept of revenge is sports. Is there really that concept and is that something on the minds of players and coaches?
McCAFFERY: I think it’s less than people think and I think that’s your point. If something in particular happened during a game that created bad blood then I think you can want some revenge. I always look at it this way as it relates to revenge or bulletin board material, it’s like you are playing in the Big Ten and you are ranked in the top five and we want to win a championship and continue to get better. Everyone wants to play well. I would have an expectation as a player and as a coach that when they toss it up we are going to play really hard. I think there’s this feeling that if somebody made a comment that somebody posted on a bulletin board or you lost a tough game, but now we are going to play really hard. To me there is no difference. If you are going to play really hard, then you play really hard. There’s only one way to play. That is the expectation that I have. I think that’s how we will perform tomorrow. We will play really hard.
Q: 12 games into the season, what’s the biggest difference between the team at the start of the season and now?
McCAFFERY: I think this is a different team from last year and it takes a while for everyone to get on the same page. I know they would say, well they have their five starters back, but we have depth that we haven’t seen in a long time and we have had games where different lineups have performed at crunch time and have been a major factor in us winning that particular game. It’s nice to have that kind of depth. A lot of teams want to have seven or eight guys and that’s great until one of them gets hurt or sick or one of them is in foul trouble and we don’t have eight guys, we have five guys and they have to play the whole game.
Having the depth that we have and the different combinations on the floor at different times, big or small, it is great as a coach to have that flexibility and those guys have to be used to playing like that. I think we have seen that over the course of the season and gotten better at it.
