Andy Katz: "Iowa has the goods to make a deep NCAA Tournament run"
- Thread starter Franisdaman
- Start date
Didn't Katz leave Keegan Murray off his pre-season Top25 list of Big Ten players?
Explain that one.
Explain that one.
This team reminds me a little of Lute's 81 Final-4 team in the sense they are better than their record suggests.
Lute's 81 team was 10-8 in B1G and barely got into NCAA tourney and had Ronnie Lester returning after he was injured for most of B1G season. That team had a superstar---Ronnie Lester and a bunch of parts that put together were a sum greater than the indivdual pieces. Brookins got hot from outside in the tourney, Lester ran the show, everyone else did their jobs.
This year's team has superstar in Keegan....really the best player in Iowa uniform in last 40 years IF you consider Offense and Defense....Garza was great offensively, but he had to play a little soft on post defense to avoid foul trouble and he wasn't as versatile defender as Keegan.
Perkins and CMAC are both on hot streaks....if JBO can get clean looks, he can be deadly. NCAA teams won't know to guard him as closely as B1G teams. JoeT is a defensive maniac. Keegan and Kris together are like having two NBA players. The other guys like PMAC, Sandfort, Ulis have game too.
I thought this squad would be better able to get to sweet16 than last year's squad because they would be a lot more athletic and capable of defending. The team that Fran has put together right now is a lot better than I expected. NCAA is tough...this Iowa team could make a run...I just hope we don't get a bad whistle or super bad matchup or just shoot bricks and get bounced out early.
Lute's 81 team was 10-8 in B1G and barely got into NCAA tourney and had Ronnie Lester returning after he was injured for most of B1G season. That team had a superstar---Ronnie Lester and a bunch of parts that put together were a sum greater than the indivdual pieces. Brookins got hot from outside in the tourney, Lester ran the show, everyone else did their jobs.
This year's team has superstar in Keegan....really the best player in Iowa uniform in last 40 years IF you consider Offense and Defense....Garza was great offensively, but he had to play a little soft on post defense to avoid foul trouble and he wasn't as versatile defender as Keegan.
Perkins and CMAC are both on hot streaks....if JBO can get clean looks, he can be deadly. NCAA teams won't know to guard him as closely as B1G teams. JoeT is a defensive maniac. Keegan and Kris together are like having two NBA players. The other guys like PMAC, Sandfort, Ulis have game too.
I thought this squad would be better able to get to sweet16 than last year's squad because they would be a lot more athletic and capable of defending. The team that Fran has put together right now is a lot better than I expected. NCAA is tough...this Iowa team could make a run...I just hope we don't get a bad whistle or super bad matchup or just shoot bricks and get bounced out early.
I was thinking along the same lines. That 1980 team had an All-American in Ronnie Lester at PG and a bunch of role players, including an undersized center in Steve Krafcisin who split time with the gangly 6-11 Steve Waite of Iowa City who defended and rebounded but wasn't a scoring threat. Kenny Arnold was Lester's underrated running mate at guard, and Kevin Boyle, an excellent defender and rebounder, and Vince Brookins, a line-drive outside shooter, rounded out the top six. Freshmen Mark Gannon and Bob Hansen were the only others who played significant minutes, so it was an eight-man rotation.
As HawkLogic noted, outside of Lester, Iowa had role players who, combined, made a formidable team--not a bunch of stars, just a bunch of tough kids who played hard for 40 minutes.
So while no two teams are the same, I agree that this Iowa team does share some similarities with Iowa's last Final Four squad that had a legit shot at the national title if only Lester had not reinjured his knee early in the semifinal game vs. Louisville.
Anyway, thanks for bringing up that 1980 team, HawkLogic. Great memories.
It's exciting to be getting some love from the national talking heads. I'm not making any predictions but I definitely feel like this team has what it takes to surprise a few people and be a dark horse in some region. With this team's length and improved athleticism helping on the defensive end, and a player like Keegan who can carry a team for stretches... Just hoping for a good draw and seeing what this team can do with it.
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