Regarding your question on why I like our chances vs UNC…
1. Fran and other staff members continue to invest valuable time, money, and energy watching and recruiting. Although other schools are too (and Fran does go all out recruiting to the bitter end sometimes), IA must be receiving some buying signals.
2. The National success of Garza (a fellow East Coast guy) & the program last year.
3. Fran has gotten some players into the NBA - Cook, Uthoff, Marble with Joe W, Garza, and Keegan as good possibilities. I’m sure Fran is selling him on his development of Joe W, Marble, and Keegan with similar type games as his.
4. He has secured Bowen and is in very well reportedly with two other major recruits- Flip and Shaw.
5. UNC is down from past years with a coaching transition (balanced against UNC supposedly was his dream school growing up, hence finishing #2 in my scenario).
6. A poster with ties to Nickel family reporting Nickel loved Iowa and was his choice if he had to decide then. Granted that was months ago, before he received high profile offers, and the poster could be totally non-credible but it seemed credible to me anyway.
7. He’s visited on his own dime half way across the country.
No inside knowledge, just a gut feeling based on some signals is all.