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19-12 regular season

I would take your optimistic schedule but I don’t see anywhere near that much success.
Hope you’re right and I’m wrong.
 
it's going to be tough fight to get back to the NCAA tournament

here's how I see it playing out:

Thu, Dec 29 @ Nebraska W L
Sun, Jan 1 @ Penn State L
Thu, Jan 5 vs Indiana L
Sun, Jan 8 @ Rutgers W
Thu, Jan 12 vs Michigan L
Sun, Jan 15 vs Maryland W
Wed, Jan 18 vs Northwestern W
Sat, Jan 21 @ Ohio State L
Thu, Jan 26 @ Michigan State L
Sun, Jan 29 vs Rutgers W
Sat, Feb 4 vs Illinois W
Thu, Feb 9 @ Purdue L
Sun, Feb 12 @ Minnesota W
Thu, Feb 16 vs Ohio State W
Sun, Feb 19 @ Northwestern W
Wed, Feb 22 @ Wisconsin L
Sat, Feb 25 vs Michigan State W
Tue, Feb 28 @ Indiana L
Sun, Mar 5 vs Nebraska W

that would put us at 19-11 (11-9 Conf), a winning record in the Big Ten might be enough to get a play-in game in the dance
Sweeping Rutgers does not seem likely. Rutgers has only lost a handful of games at home over the last few seasons
 
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To me it comes down to who on this roster poses a match up problem for opponents? Kris maybe but not when getting smothered by defenders and pushed outside the arc. After Kris you go to Rebraca as the next guy defenses will focus on. After these two the best defense is to let everyone else shoot.
 
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In looking at their schedule, I can see a 4-16 conference record. but Iowa could get really hot at home against a better team to pull an upset. I’ll stick with a 5-15 conference record (13-18 overall regular season).

Phrase to remember— “body of work”
 
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The season isn't over. We have 19 chances coming up to erase the stink of this loss. Obviously if we play like we did today, we won't win any more games this year. Let that sink in.
nothing will erase the stink of this loss
I still remember when tom davis lost to the anteaters of UC Irvine
 
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Lost 4 in a row and don’t see Mulvey or Jelly play at all, yet watch players that can’t defend, rebound, or create an shot off the dribble to score in Patrick, Sandman, and Uhlis. Start playing your bigs Fran to get some experience and create an inside out game with some height that might be able to rebound on both ends of the court to either put back score or create fouls on the opposing teams. It’s maddening watching Fran’s teams play with no style associated with the rotation on the floor. Dribble endlesssly, then pass it to someone else with a few seconds on the clock then chuck it up around the perimeter is not an offense. This team will be lucky to win 5 or 6 games in the league.
 
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Lost 4 in a row and don’t see Mulvey or Jelly play at all, yet watch players that can’t defend, rebound, or create an shot off the dribble to score in Patrick, Sandman, and Uhlis. Start playing your bigs Fran to get some experience and create an inside out game with some height that might be able to rebound on both ends of the court to either put back score or create fouls on the opposing teams. It’s maddening watching Fran’s teams play with no style associated with the rotation on the floor. Dribble endlesssly, then pass it to someone else with a few seconds on the clock then chuck it up around the perimeter is not an offense. This team will be lucky to win 5 or 6 games in the league.
Psu was essentially playing 5 wings/guards most of the game.

Iowa was getting killed on defense because they were too slow.

They came back by going small.

Playing those 2 super slow unathletic bigs would have resulted in a layup and 3 fest.

I have to assume Fran is not wanting Mulvey or JO to stick around after this year.

Assuming he'd rather have the ships available to go after transfers.
 
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I'll never understand why Mulvey reclassed. As a big, it never made sense to me at all.
 
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Psu was essentially playing 5 wings/guards most of the game.

Iowa was getting killed on defense because they were too slow.

They came back by going small.

Playing those 2 super slow unathletic bigs would have resulted in a layup and 3 fest.

I have to assume Fran is not wanting Mulvey or JO to stick around after this year.

Assuming he'd rather have the ships available to go after transfers.
When was Iowa playing their big lineup? In today's college world 6-8/6-9 is not considered big by any means, and having Rebraca guarding Jalen Pickett was an absolute mismatch. It's going to be a long time before Fran see's another 250 wins at Iowa with the shortsightedness that McCaffery runs this Iowa program. Unless next years recruiting class sets the world on fire be prepared to see Iowa at the bottom of the Big Ten for an extended period of time and I'm extremely high on next years class, but they can't do it alone and the roster Fran will bring back next year is medicare at best.
 
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nothing will erase the stink of this loss
I still remember when tom davis lost to the anteaters of UC Irvine
Your memory is faulty. It was barely a W, but the Hawks beat the Anteaters 105-103. That UCI team was mediocre but featured Scott Brooks, who had a big season that year before going on to the NBA.
 
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Did the Hawks find their mojo in the second half after stinking it up for 2.5 games? If so and as long as they don't lose it again, then they'll be competitive and could pick up several wins. If not, then it's tough to see any wins the rest of the way.
 
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When was Iowa playing their big lineup? In today's college world 6-8/6-9 is not considered big by any means, and having Rebraca guarding Jalen Pickett was an absolute mismatch. It's going to be a long time before Fran see's another 250 wins at Iowa with the shortsightedness that McCaffery runs this Iowa program. Unless next years recruiting class sets the world on fire be prepared to see Iowa at the bottom of the Big Ten for an extended period of time and I'm extremely high on next years class, but they can't do it alone and the roster Fran will bring back next year is medicare at best.
It doesn't matter what is considered big on other teams, although I would point out basketball as a whole is getting smaller and quicker vs taller and slower.

Iowas bigger lineup was Rebraca and Patrick. Those two were unable to defend PSU smaller lineup adequately.

When Fran went with Kris, Connor and 3 guards they finally able to get some stops.
 
I'll never understand why Mulvey reclassed. As a big, it never made sense to me at all.
Because he was never really supposed to be in that class in the first place. Being 19 and still in high school isn't fun, why not join the class he should have been in all along?
 
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Because he was never really supposed to be in that class in the first place. Being 19 and still in high school isn't fun, why not join the class he should have been in all along?
From a basketball standpoint, it didn’t make sense, especially with his body type.
 
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From a basketball standpoint, it didn’t make sense, especially with his body type.
If he would have stayed in that class he would have been 20 years old by the time his first college game came around. I highly doubt him beating up on high schoolers at the age of 19 would have been that productive for him--maybe it would have helped his confidence but that's about it. The fact is, he's just not that good and another year in high school wouldn't have changed that at all. Maybe he can find a role on a low major team, but he is too uncoordinated for him to expect to see any meaningful time here.
 
NIT is the goal, NCAA is all but gone. We are not athletic enough, shoot well enough, and as always don't play defense. Garza and Keegan gave us hope, but it is back to Fran ball, try to outscore your opponents. That type of basketball only works with a stud and enough support. We don't have the support at all. NIT I hope.
 
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Look at some of the other B1G scores. The conference is pretty weak this year. Who knows how things might turn out, especially if we get Kris back at full speed and Sandfort finds his touch. We've got nineteen conference games left to prove ourselves one way or the other.
With one exception, there is a lot of parity in our conference this season. it will be interesting to see how it plays out week by week. A loss in Lincoln, while unfortunate, is no disgrace. As you obviously know, injuries will play a big factor as a number of teams lack depth.
 
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Well, U of Iowa has one complete team: great offense in basketball and great defense and special teams in football. Remaining parts should not play sports :)

Kidding aside, nepotism is killing Hawkeyes and team chemistry this year, as it does in every team/organization. Fran and Kirk do not care - they run family businesses as allowed by horrible Iowa admin.
 
what a tough stretch to try and get your mojo back

Rutgers beats Purdue!?

Thursday's game is really a must win

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EIU will keep Iowa out of the tourney. Book it.
Iowa is now up to 4-3 against Q1--Indiana may fall out of that though.

Reminder of a bubble team from last year: Rutgers lost an early season Q4 game (almost the same NET as EIU currently has) and had 2 Q3 losses as well, they also had a 2-4 record against Q2. How did they get in? 7-7 against Q1 opponents.
That's basically the formula.
 
Iowa is now up to 4-3 against Q1--Indiana may fall out of that though.

Reminder of a bubble team from last year: Rutgers lost an early season Q4 game (almost the same NET as EIU currently has) and had 2 Q3 losses as well, they also had a 2-4 record against Q2. How did they get in? 7-7 against Q1 opponents.
That's basically the formula.

dumb-and-dumber-lloyd.gif
 
Iowa is now up to 4-3 against Q1--Indiana may fall out of that though.

Reminder of a bubble team from last year: Rutgers lost an early season Q4 game (almost the same NET as EIU currently has) and had 2 Q3 losses as well, they also had a 2-4 record against Q2. How did they get in? 7-7 against Q1 opponents.
That's basically the formula.
Yep, Iowa has to equal out that awful loss with some high end wins.

Today was a good start.

If they have the Sandfort of today vs two weeks ago that becomes a hell of a lot more doable.
 
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