Season in Review, Part I: Team Awards/Season Overview

AP Photo

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Team MVP: Jake Kelly
It’s close between Kelly and Matt Gatens. Kelly gets the nod though because of his ridiculous finish to the season. Gatens played with more consistency from game one to game 32, but Iowa may have had a couple less wins without Kelly’s surge at the end of the season. He nearly put up a triple-double in the overtime victory over Michigan and banked in two critical 3s in the double overtime win over Penn State. He averaged 20.4 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.6 assists in the final seven regular season Big Ten games, and ended up leading the team with 11.6 points per game on the season. Kelly has a bright future.

Top Newcomer: Matt Gatens
Gatens just narrowly missed out on being the conference’s freshman of the year. He had a solid first season averaging 10.8 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists, while shooting 40.3 percent from 3 and 90.4 percent from the foul line. Rarely has Iowa had a freshman make that kind of impact. He certainly has room to improve though. He must get more aggressive and learn to use his body to prevent from having his shot blocked so often in the paint. Mostly, he just needs to shoot more. But he’ll be a treat to watch the next three seasons.

Most Improved: Jeff Peterson
Peterson often looked lost as a freshman, turning it over at an unacceptably high rate. This season Peterson averaged less turnovers while playing a lot more minutes. He also emerged as a scorer. He shot 39.7 percent from beyond the arc and 82.5 percent from the free throw line, allowing him to put up 10.6 points per game in 25 games. Peterson looked like a Big Ten point guard before missing the last seven games of the season. Some wonder whether Peterson should be the point guard next season, however, after Kelly played so well in Peterson’s absence. If Iowa decides to stick with Peterson at the point it can expect solid performances. If Peterson can make similar improvement like he did from his freshman to sophomore year, he’ll be a heck of a player.

Biggest Disappointment: Injuries
It’s difficult to pick out a player who vastly underperformed for the Hawkeyes, although Anthony Tucker’s off-court behavior certainly was a disappointment. But the biggest obstacle they faced was overcoming injuries. Jarryd Cole was still recovering from an ACL tear when the season began, Cyrus Tate badly sprained his ankle and missed several games, Jeff Peterson injured his hamstring at Wisconsin and never returned, Jermain Davis missed a couple games with a knee injury and Jake Kelly played the whole season with a broken finger. Throw in the academic ineligibility of Tucker and it’s easy to see why Iowa finished 15-17.

Best Win: Feb. 22 vs. Michigan
I would argue that Wisconsin was the best team Iowa beat during the season, but this win stands out because of how badly beaten up Iowa was entering the game. Jeff Peterson and Jermain Davis missed the game due to injury, forcing Todd Lickliter to go with the same five almost exclusively. The five starters each played at least 38 minutes in the 70-60 overtime win. Kelly poured in 23 and Gatens added 16 to lead the Hawks.

Worst Loss: Feb. 4 at Indiana
Most of Iowa’s losses were to quality opponents. During non-conference play Iowa’s only defeats were at Boston College, versus West Virginia and at Drake. Inside the conference the Hawks’ only losses to non-NCAA Tournament teams were at Penn State, at Indiana and at Northwestern. So this really was a no-brainer. Even though this game was in Bloomington, Iowa should not have lost. The Hawks gave the Hoosiers their only conference win of the season.

Reason For Optimism:
Iowa’s rotation consisted of almost all underclassmen. Cyrus Tate is the only loss of any consequence. Kelly, Gatens, Peterson, Aaron Fuller and Cole each saw tons of minutes. That can only help in the future.

Reason For Pessimism:
The Hawkeyes appeared to be much less athletic than most Big Ten opponents and they don’t bring in any exceptionally outstanding athletes. Iowa picked a bad time to try to rebuild as the Big Ten got better in a hurry.

Head-Scratching Statistic: Andrew Brommer-- 5-for-22 from the foul line
It’s almost hard to fathom that a Division I basketball player could shoot 22.7 percent from the free throw line. Sure it’s a small sample size, but it’s still pathetic. Brommer needs to improve this aspect of his game. Actually, Brommer needs to improve every aspect of his game--a lot.

Head-Scratching Statistic No. 2: Devan Bawinkel-- no free throw attempts
It took long enough for Bawinkel to finally attempt a two-point basket. He didn’t do that until Jan. 8 against Minnesota. But he never did get to the foul line. How does that happen? Bawinkel played 700 minutes!