The Hybrid: Tyler Cook Is So Severe

By Bobby Loesch on December 30, 2021 at 12:00 pm
Tyler Cook, Boardin'
© David Banks-USA TODAY Sports
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The Hyball is a weekly Iowa men's basketball column

Tyler Cook plays NBA basketball like an exclamation point.

He may not be the sentence itself, but boy howdy, he can punctuate.

/jots down this as a reminder of the first time an athlete got me to sincerely use the phrase "boy howdy"

But yeah, poster city.

Same game, a touch softer, two hands:

Different game, back to the same result:

It must be caveated the league is depleted right now with a number of players in health and safety protocols, but I refuse to believe there is not a place for him even when the dust settles.

To confirm, I reached out to less Iowa-biased/more basketball intelligent Ricky O'Donnell, who writes about the NBA for SB Nation.

Cook has been really good. Feels like he's playing about as well as possible for someone on a two-way. He's exclusively a play finisher, but if he gets a nice set up, he's been very efficient around the rim [ed- I'LL SAY]. I was struck by how quickly he got off the floor against the Hawks. He's a really good two-footed leaper around the basket. Seems like he has a good feel for how to set or slip a screen, too.

Would be cool to see him stick around, but the Bulls probably don't have space for him. Ultimately, there's not a ton of space for 6-8 bigs who can't shoot and don't really protect the rim, but I do like him as a garbage man style big who can hit the glass and finish dunks. He's been fun to watch on this stretch, and the Bulls haven't really missed a beat with him playing for Derrick Jones Jr. and/or Tony Bradley.

So, as always, maybe the answer lies smack dab in the middle. So here's to Tyler Cook, our Glamorous Garbage Man.

The Hyball

"When you destroy art, you make it stronger."

Last Week

12/29 - Iowa 92, Western Illinois 71: Wasn't necessarily the best time on the final day of quarantine to find out BTN+ is not the same thing as BTN2, but it is what it is. Stray bullets:

- Keegan Murray 29 and 10, ho hum (with three steals, three dimes, and two blocks as well)

- Austin Ash made a layup

- 18.5 point spread covered

- Ross:

The holiday season is a time for indulging, for gobbling down some of those delicious-looking sweets and treats. The new year is fast approaching and you can rededicate yourself to eating right, working out, and getting in shape then. For now, you can indulge in a few snacks. For Iowa basketball, that means polishing off one last non-conference cupcake before they enter the "eating their vegetables and going to the gym four days a week" portion of their schedule, aka Big Ten play. And Iowa made sure to enjoy their final cupcake, devouring Western Illinois 92-71 before turning their attention to league action soon. 

- J-Bo 1/6 from three, uggggh

- Payton Sandford had a dunk

- Despite the mondo dunks by Keegan Murray and vicious Tony Perkins slam, the play that generated the biggest physical reaction from me was, inexplicably, this Ahron Ulis finish (3:11 mark)

He's one of my dudes for sure.

This Week

1/3 - Iowa vs. Maryland: The Terps have taken it on the chin a lot already this year, but they do have a win against 9-3 Florida. Also a shame we never got to say goodbye to Mark Turgeon; always kinda liked him but never had a real reason. Titus & Tate pointed out his aesthetic similarities to Maryland's mascot, so maybe that was always it.

1/6 - Iowa at Wisconsin: You ain't skatin' next week, Davison.

/realizes I accidentally spoiled this week's Davison section

DAMN IT, DAVISON.

Caitlin Corner

What do we like more: "burrows", or Clark being in the same breath as Roman Reigns?

Brad Davison Is Definitively A Senior.

Skipping Brad again and turning this into a hatin' ass section for Iowa State.

Still haven't processed this one:

And this, I have never seen before at any level:

I hope you're all happy.

Obligatory Michigan Section

Michigan plays in the CFP tomorrow, a sentence I still can't believe I'm typing. The Big Ten title was nice, but the time off has almost been better. It's given me a real nice separation from the week-to-week grind of the college football regular season. Not saying this will make me any less of a puddle when the game kicks off, but my hope is, if they lose, some detachment will already be built in (also doesn't hurt the pandemic is still raging).

All of that said, I keep going back to this tweet from before the Big Ten championship game.

Probably not even airtight true, but I meant it like hell then and certainly will on New Year's Eve. Ohhhh, fuck. I'll stop here. But if they take this shit, you're getting a full column. So time to posse up with Georgia if you y'all know what's good for you y'all.

The Mini-Hybrid

Haha.

What a weird, stupid thing to've happened:

Let's keep momentum going:

Always love shots like these:

Haha, pretty good:

Bill Walton's Western Civilization 
No Context College Basketball

* * *

Don't know if it's because I'm a Bulls fan, but this was just hilarious to me for some reason:

Wrapping It Up...

Bobby Loesch is a weekly contributor to Go Iowa Awesome. Follow him on Twitter @bobbystompy or email to bobbyloesch [at] gmail.com.

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