AdvoCare Invitational

[CanadaHawk]

Found an interesting breakdown of this event by ESPN.
Iowa plays Dayton in the first round.
Here's the bracket, featuring Alabama, Dayton, Iowa, Monmouth, Notre Dame, Southern California, Wichita State and Xavier:
http://espnevents.com/advocare-invi.../2015-advocare-invitational-bracket-released/

Here's what ESPN has to say about Iowa and who might win it:
http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebask...08203/bracket-breakdown-advocare-invitational
"Unless Iowa surprises everyone. The Hawkeyes lost Mr. Everything Aaron White, but four of their five starters are back. Jarrod Uthoff will lead this crew, which will emphasize a more balanced inside-outside attack compared to past seasons.

You should watch this tournament because you think that you'll see Wichita State-Notre Dame in the title game. And that's a great matchup. But Xavier, Dayton and Iowa might choose to write a different script."

Do we have any predictions here?

 

[DanL53]

1) The writer of the second link will never be an award winning author.

 

[RefinedBean]

Iowa and tournaments are an iffy thing. I say we make it past Dayton and get bounced by Notre Dame after that, and end up taking the 5th place game against...USC, if I'm reading the bracket right.

 

[nu2u]

Dayton's not a gimmie but I believe the Hawks will advance to face Notre Dame setting up an early season Big East vs. B10 match-up and an opportunity for Iowa to gain national recognition with a win.

 

[yiana]

Scouring the Dayton board, they seem fairly confident they'll beat Iowa. They are right on winning the first game is a must. If we lose we'll likely play Monmouth and USC instead of Notre Dame and Xavier or Witchita State. It could be the difference in a bubble team making the tourney.

 

[NI hawk]

I am going. Anybody else?

 

[CanadaHawk]

Scouring the Dayton board, they seem fairly confident they'll beat Iowa. They are right on winning the first game is a must. If we lose we'll likely play Monmouth and USC instead of Notre Dame and Xavier or Witchita State. It could be the difference in a bubble team making the tourney.

Sounds like fans who really haven't investigated an opponent. On the surface, you could say Iowa lost big forces in White and Olaseni. But there's a talented veteran senior class returning with stars ready to bloom. That always is a nice edge to have preseason. And there is pertinent help in the newcomers.

In one way, Dayton fans overlooking Iowa is surprising. Don't we have one of the most talented kids in their area coming into our Freshman class in Wagner?

 

[hawk-i bob]

I am going. Anybody else?

yes 4 of us

 

[yiana]

Sounds like fans who really haven't investigated an opponent. On the surface, you could say Iowa lost big forces in White and Olaseni. But there's a talented veteran senior class returning with stars ready to bloom. That always is a nice edge to have preseason. And there is pertinent help in the newcomers.

In one way, Dayton fans overlooking Iowa is surprising. Don't we have one of the most talented kids in their area coming into our Freshman class in Wagner?

Yeah, they mentioned him along with the frosh they have who played with Ahmad. They appear deep, talented, and experienced as well. It will be a high quality game I suspect.

 

[LaoHawk]

How is everyone overlooking IA surprising? We are not a household name yet but Fran will get IA there soon. I think IA will surprise like the previous years.

 

[MepoDawg#]

Dayton's not a gimmie but I believe the Hawks will advance to face Notre Dame setting up an early season Big East vs. B10 match-up and an opportunity for Iowa to gain national recognition with a win.

Notre Dame is in the ACC for basketball.

 

[DanL53]

Dayton has four guys coming back that have some talent. They like to shoot the three. I see only one guy over 6'6", a redshirt freshmen about 7'. Just to be fair about the game, being early in the year I think it is fair to rank it close to a toss up.

 

[Kurt Warner]

Dayton has four guys coming back that have some talent. They like to shoot the three. I see only one guy over 6'6", a redshirt freshmen about 7'. Just to be fair about the game, being early in the year I think it is fair to rank it close to a toss up.

Sounds a lot like Davidson in the tourney last spring. Would love to see similar results of that game. As long as they're not unconscious from three land and we use our height to an advantage we should be fine. We have the shooters this year (hopefully) that it should make it easier for the big guys to operate.

 

[DanL53]

Sounds a lot like Davidson in the tourney last spring. Would love to see similar results of that game. As long as they're not unconscious from three land and we use our height to an advantage we should be fine. We have the shooters this year (hopefully) that it should make it easier for the big guys to operate.

Agreed. I'm more concerned that I think sometimes it takes our guys awhile to hit their stride in the season. Could be we have a more difficult motion offense for some to learn? Don't know though.

 

[RocknRollface]

Agreed. I'm more concerned that I think sometimes it takes our guys awhile to hit their stride in the season. Could be we have a more difficult motion offense for some to learn? Don't know though.

It should never take a team of 4 seniors and a junior, all multiple year starters who have played together their whole career, any time to hit a stride.

 

[CanadaHawk]

It should never take a team of 4 seniors and a junior, all multiple year starters who have played together their whole career, any time to hit a stride.

True. I think this gives us an edge preseason. There are the 7, 8, 9 spots in the rotation for Fran to work out. But this will be more of an "add to the party" rather than "key player" preseason.

 

[DanL53]

It should never take a team of 4 seniors and a junior, all multiple year starters who have played together their whole career, any time to hit a stride.

One would think not, like last year.......