Why would you have him on an official visit just to move on from him? Something happen on the visit? Or is it they think they are getting Sibley so they no longer need Gordon?
Any word on Gordon or Sibley's visits?
- Thread starter GunnerHawk
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I like 4 positions in hoops, shooters, defenders , ball handlers and rebounders.
It has to be a character/fit issue discovered on the visit.
Howe's source implied that bluntly saying, I know where he's not going - Iowa!
In the link in this thread where Rob Howe said Gordon was not in play anymore, Rob was told Iowa had moved on. Do something must of occurred that Iowa did not like or feel better about other things.
Fran has mentioned this on the radio and in interviews on numerous occasions. His goal is positionless basketball. Here are some snippets from an article on Hawk Central from a couple years ago.
It’s the approach eighth-year Iowa coach Fran McCaffery wants to employ — the so-called “positionless offense” best manifested by the NBA’s Golden State Warriors. And there are signs that he may be building a roster to pull it off.
“We’ve got our big guys handling the ball. We’ve got our big guys shooting 3s. Our smaller guys posting. And that’s kind of how the offense is designed. It’s available for everybody,” said McCaffery, whose Hawkeyes (4-3) open Big Ten Conference play with a 4 p.m. home game Saturday against Penn State (6-2) on BTN.
“I’ve had the most success in my coaching career coaching this style. And of course, sometimes it takes a while. When you first take over, you inherit what you have and that takes a little bit of time. But it’s a fun way to play and so the kids typically buy in quickly. Because I give them freedom. I want them to be players and I want them to make plays, and I think any time an athlete feels that the coach has that kind of confidence in them, then they want to produce.”
Cook and Bohannon lead Iowa at 14.1 points per game. They were among the top freshmen in the Big Ten a year ago and will be the cornerstones of whatever happens this season.
But they are surrounded by players who embrace the positionless mantra. Junior Nicholas Baer, at 6-7, can play either wing spot or the power forward. Freshman Jack Nunge, who is 6-11, is in the same mold.
Bohannon is the team’s only point guard, but that isn’t a rigid designation. The team’s best 3-point shooter (22-of-45 this season) occasionally plays off the ball to get more freedom of movement and hunt shots.
Freshman Luka Garza, at 6-11, is the closest thing to a true center Iowa has. But he too will space the floor on offense and even has the green light to attempt 3s.
“There’s a lot of freedom of movement in our offense, which I think all the players appreciate,” Baer said. “When we do have five players who can all make plays off the dribble and make plays in the post, that’s something that’s really going to benefit us.”
Iowa isn’t there yet. But it’s getting closer, thanks to the additions of Garza and Nunge, and the maturation of both Bohannon and Cook.
“We don’t want to be too predictable. So I think we’re hard to scout,” McCaffery said of his offense, adding it only works if players are unselfish.
“I’m looking to see, if we execute a play, does a guy break it off? Now you have the option to break it off, but if you’re going off on your own, you better not miss somebody who’s open.”
I get the concept, but that roster wasn't built with really flexible athletes--it seemed heavily weighted to tall PF and off-guard types and I think it showed as the season went along. I haven't seen many of the new faces on this team play yet, so won't comment there. For example, I think Nunge is a good basketball player, but I believe he will struggle if asked to consistently guard athletic wings away from the bucket, which was one of the examples of his flexibility used in the article quoted above. J-Bo is a proven shooter, but I don't believe on that team had the defensive skills to play off the ball much. it will be interesting to see if the new guards provide more of that flexibility.
Iowa at Oak Hill visiting Sibley today.
Making that final push.
Making that final push.
I think you’re missing the forest for the trees here. Of course there’s a lot of round pegs in square holes because he couldn’t get the whole package in..., well, any position because they all went to Duke and KY. But there’s obviously been more versatility of length and shooting.
I agree with you that there is a bit more versatility with a few players. The point I was trying to make is that trying to actually implement positionless basketball without recruiting successfully for it means you are playing people out of position and are exposed as I believe Fran's teams have been at times over the past few years after the quote above was made. J-Bo's injury may acerbate that issue, but we will see how well the new pieces plug in.
It would difficult to say either way. Both are in the 50-100 ranked range. It would be impossible to say with certainty that a guy ranked 56 in the country will have a better career than a guy ranked 91.
I think you have seen Coach adjust his system year to year based on his personnel. But I think his preference is to play fast with long lanky guys who can run the court and get to the rim and/or kick out to one or two elite 3 point shooters. The formula has worked well. Right now we have a couple of bulldogs underneath and we will take full advantage of that.
Rivals ESPN 247 247 Composite
Foster 56-4* 51-4* 76-4* 59-4*
Sibley 86-4* 85-4* 120-4* 91-4*
Both have had good offers. There was more separation early when Foster at one time was a 5* and ranked in the Top 30. Of course impossible to be sure one will be better, but a pretty good trend that Foster is higher ranked. Seems like some of backed off Sibley, but I don't think it is because of basketball ability. I think he is a great player and will fit well.
Even Rob says that the Gordon info is based on an unconfirmed source, similar to the source that said Oliver Martin was coming to Iowa which he embarrassingly discounted because there was no confirmation. It could be true. But it also could not be true. Rob is giving an unconfirmed source more credence because he got burned with the Martin transfer source.
So, we don’t ‘really’ know. And the kid probably doesn’t either, even if Rob’s source is accurate. A teen mind is a terrible thing to try and figure out.
But we’ll know for sure by signing day.
The Foster future cast from Bossi wasn't based on any new info. Just something he has felt for a while and forgot to put it in earlier.
Seems crazy he's leaning that way without any new info.
I'm more pessimistic. ISU is seemingly only recruiting Foster now for posts while Iowa has brought in several in September and October. Could be a nothing burger but implies that perhaps ISU is more confident.
Like I said, he has felt the Iowa for a while. He was going in to put some future casts in last night and realized he hadn't put one in for Foster and decided to put it in there.
Regarding Sibley and Foster, is there a sense that either one of them is rated based upon performance or projected upside or both?
Is any particular reason(s) given?
Seems strange given he recently had an OV, right?
He took his official visit this past weekend. At that point, Iowa moved on. No reason given.
So here is my summary response to this discussion.....I agree that he has not been able to get the kind/number of players that he wants to fully execute this type of b-ball. So, my guess is, that he has taken the best players/recruits that he can get that don't necessarily fit fully in that system and as indicated he adapts his style to the roster.
The point that I think started this whole discussion is that he IS FINALLY getting those types of players IF HE CAN SIGN the class we are zeroing in on....Players that would fit that system well:
1) Guys that can play the 2-3 and with the right matchups the 4
Joe W.
Patrick Mc
Sibley
2) Guys that can play the 4-5 with the ability to contribute offensively
Foster
Garza
Nunge
**Then my unscientific take is that you STILL HAVE TO HAVE post players, because they have to be able to defend the monsters on the inside that other teams will have....You STILL HAVE TO HAVE the quick PG because they have to be able to defend another teams quick PG......
Bottom line, I don't know that you can actually get to "positionless" basketball in College (unless you're Duke or Kentucky) so I would call the hybrid version of that "Multi Position" basketball......I think that allows for a more free flowing offense that takes advantage of mismatches more easily and allows for solid defense as well.
So, last but not least I think a lot of success for this year depends on our guard court and how they play. To put that together with the stuff I described above I see the following (some of this is clearly speculation):
1) Connor is a big guard that can be effective at the point and if he develops his outside shot he can actually play the 1-3.
2) CJ (speculation) can play the 2 and some 1......and in the right matchup some 3 guard offense.
3) Bakari (speculation) is similar to CJ from what we can tell......maybe faster in the open court...maybe not quite as good of a shooter?
4) Joe T....appears to pretty much be locked into that ultra quick PG position at least until he develops a consistent outside shot.
Weird situation with Gordon. A huge red flag must have popped up during the visit.
F McC's teams frequently look like a traditional NBA team from the era when he was learning about BBall.
At the end of the day BBall is a pretty simple game. Luka and Ryan, and maybe Jack, might shoot a little deeper but they basically play the same game as Elvin Hayes, Willis Reed, Bob Lanier, Dave Cowens, etc... Inside and out on offense, guard the low post and control the defensive boards.
Combo point and shooting guards and "true" point guards were the norm (say Norm Van Leir) and the various big guys were a mix of scorers and defenders/rebounders.
As the great Ray Meyer once said "you need some shooters, some rebounders and you hope everyone but Mark (Aguirre) is going to play some defense". The old WGN broadcasts.
Oh, if we see Jack on the wing this year trying to guard much quicker players I might join the fire Mc C minority. That experiment failed abjectly.
At the end of the day BBall is a pretty simple game. Luka and Ryan, and maybe Jack, might shoot a little deeper but they basically play the same game as Elvin Hayes, Willis Reed, Bob Lanier, Dave Cowens, etc... Inside and out on offense, guard the low post and control the defensive boards.
Combo point and shooting guards and "true" point guards were the norm (say Norm Van Leir) and the various big guys were a mix of scorers and defenders/rebounders.
As the great Ray Meyer once said "you need some shooters, some rebounders and you hope everyone but Mark (Aguirre) is going to play some defense". The old WGN broadcasts.
Oh, if we see Jack on the wing this year trying to guard much quicker players I might join the fire Mc C minority. That experiment failed abjectly.
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That experiment was out of necessity--we just didn't have anyone else. Now we've got guard depth, and Jack has bulked up to be more effective inside. Jack will play exclusively at the 4-5 going forward.
I find it very hard to believe Brian Snow would miss such a huge development on this recruitment. But, it’s a wacky world .. recruiting. We will see.
I believe Fran has admirably made this work on offense as you outlined in your last four points. Defense is likely where it has been more challenging.
Both think and hope you're right. I would be stunned to see Jack anywhere but 4/5.
Two predictions for Georgetown on 247 Crystal Ball by two WI writers predicted today.
As many know, Sibley visited Georgetown this weekend. Take it for what it’s worth. It may mean nothing like the first writer picked up on the recent visit or heard something & the second one jumped on board.
As many know, Sibley visited Georgetown this weekend. Take it for what it’s worth. It may mean nothing like the first writer picked up on the recent visit or heard something & the second one jumped on board.
One of the badger prognosticators with a 83% success rating posted for Georgetown this AM, then the other switched from ISU to Georgetown later today.
Hope they are wrong. I think we felt good about Sibley. Reminds me of Cook from an athletic standpoint but a better shooter.
They will over sign by 1. Foster is priority #1 the other spot likely goes to either Dudley Blackwell or JUCO Tyon Grant-Foster from Indian Hills. Blackwell may commit as early as tomorrow.
