The 1980 Final Four squad. Also the most entertaining team to watch since then. I believe in this team. Very unselfish, very good passing, shooting and ball handling team. A fun bunch!
Best Team Since.....
- Thread starter kcgolfer
- Start date
TBD
Iowa team with Recker was #3 til they imploded
Iowa team with Recker was #3 til they imploded
This team won’t implode. Garza and Bohannan will see to that. I forgot to add great leadership in my op.
Look at the Iowa players drafted in the late 80s. You're also talking about teams that made it far in March. TBD is right.
I still think Davis’s first team would be a really tough out for this team, otherwise, yeah, the 1980 squad.
That team was projected #3.
Woodbury/Jok/Uthoff/Gesell outplayed their potential up to #3.
This team is a legit #3.
I'd say best since 87....hoping for a better ending.
From the scoring perspective, they're the best since 1970. Lot of guys that can put up 20 pretty easily.
If everyone is on, this team could be almost impossible to beat.
From the scoring perspective, they're the best since 1970. Lot of guys that can put up 20 pretty easily.
If everyone is on, this team could be almost impossible to beat.
Has to be back to Ralph Miller. I have fond memories of the 1980 Final 4 team but those guys finished 5th in B1G and overachieved and Garza is more dominant player than injured Ronnie Lester.
Sure, but irrelevant to this discussion.
Correct. The 87 team underperformed in the tournament. Let’s hope this team at least performs to expectation.
This is the best Iowa team in my lifetime. It may be one of the best teams I’ve ever seen. Even watching our backups play - so much athleticism and scoring ability. Our backups may be a .500 team or better if they were a B1G team. Such a luxury not to have to kill your starters with huge minutes every night.
There’s just no obvious winning strategy against us. Even if Luka has to sit for fouls we can play comparable basketball with Nunge as he could easily get 20 and 10 on a lot of nights if he played starter minutes. If that doesn’t work we have guys like Toussaint and Weiskamp who can drive to the basket and kick. Very few teams have so many good options to initiate offense.
There’s just no obvious winning strategy against us. Even if Luka has to sit for fouls we can play comparable basketball with Nunge as he could easily get 20 and 10 on a lot of nights if he played starter minutes. If that doesn’t work we have guys like Toussaint and Weiskamp who can drive to the basket and kick. Very few teams have so many good options to initiate offense.
The 1987 team had 7 future NBA players if you count Les Jepsen. Literally the entire starting 5 played in the NBA and they featured Iowa’s All Time scoring leader. The were ranked #1 for a long stretch of that year.
This team has the ability to be the best since the 1970 Miller team with John Johnson, Fred Brown, Glen Vidnovic, Chad Calabria, Jensen and Ben McGilmer. Now, until the end of the season will determine how this team goes down in Iowa history. I hope Fran doesn’t get out coached when it really matters.
I don't think you need to go back 41 years.
IMO, you need to go back just 15 years. What about the 2005-2006 squad? 2nd in the B1G reg season, won the BTT, a #3 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
That was a great squad that had a horrific ending.
I forgot the 87 team..87 team more talented...but the 87 team underperformed their talent. Marble, Gamble, Lohaus, Armstrong were nba level bench players and that team had a few other high quality players.
It took a last second shot just to get into the Elite8 and then ;they blew a big lead to lose Elite 8 game to UNLV. Choked a big lead by not making baskets and not getting stops and Davis system not ideal for protecting a lead. Fran has better coaching sense than Davis.
Underperformed is a bit harsh. They lost to the number one team in the country in the elite 8. Yes, very disappointing how we lost that game but I'm sure we were underdogs...no idea if the spread.
Plus they were a 2 seed in Elite 8, which means they performed exactly to seeding
Does it matters who coached that team vs. recruited the players in a debate of best Iowa hoops team in the last 50 years?
BJ >JBo
Gamble > CJ
Marble> Weiskamp
Wright>CMac
Lohaus<Garza
Bench:. Jones, Horton, Moe, Reeves
Greater than Pmac, KeM, Joe T, Nunge
7 kids played at least some NBA minutes from that 87 Team, with 3... Gamble, Armstrong, Lohaus having great or good NBA careers.
I love the 20/21 Hawks, but the 87 Team would win 8 of 10 times. And Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Michigan St. were equally as talented. Why? No NBA early entrants.
Any of those 87 BIG Teams would be #1 in today's college ball, because the best players were still in school.
Gamble > CJ
Marble> Weiskamp
Wright>CMac
Lohaus<Garza
Bench:. Jones, Horton, Moe, Reeves
Greater than Pmac, KeM, Joe T, Nunge
7 kids played at least some NBA minutes from that 87 Team, with 3... Gamble, Armstrong, Lohaus having great or good NBA careers.
I love the 20/21 Hawks, but the 87 Team would win 8 of 10 times. And Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Michigan St. were equally as talented. Why? No NBA early entrants.
Any of those 87 BIG Teams would be #1 in today's college ball, because the best players were still in school.
Its a tiresome caveat, everyone knows who recruited the core of the team. The coach that achieved where the previous coach failed gets 100% of the credit for winning.
Well, lets see if this year's team finishes at least 2nd in the B1G regular season like that 2005-2006 team. If they don't, then we can't really move on to a better team like the 1986-1987 team.
People bitch about Fran having too big of a rotation. Well, that 2005-2006 team typically did not go beyond 9 players.
And the 5 starters:
#11 on All Time Scoring List, Adam Haluska...1,578 (3 yrs: 2005-2007; 98 GP, .430 FG%,, 16.1 ppg; 212 three pt goals); NOTE: 284 pts @ ISU = 1,862 in four years
#15 on All Time Scoring List, Greg Brunner...1,516 (4 yrs: 2003-2006, 127 GP, .503 FG%,, 11.9 ppg; 42 three pt goals)
#17 on All Time Scoring List, Jeff Horner...1,502 (4 yrs: 2003-2006, 123 GP, .391 FG%,, 12.2 ppg; 262 three pt goals)
Erek Hansen, 6.7ppg, 2.6 blocks/game, 4 reb/game, 70% FT shooter, 58% FG shooter
Mike Henderson, 7.6 ppg, 1.1 steals/game; 3.9 reb/game; 70% FT; 49% FG
Gamble and Armstrong were more than "bench players" in the NBA for much of their careers. Armstrong started for the NBA champion Bulls. Gamble started for the Celtics a few years.
Ronnie Lester missed almost the entire Big Ten season in 1980 with his knee injury. He returned for the last two regular season games to get us into the tournament, playing at 75 % or less due to the bad knee. They had to beat some great teams to get to the Final Four. However, before his injury, there was no doubt the Hawkeyes were one of the best teams in the the nation. Luka is a great player, but I don't agree that he is more dominant than Ronnie. With his skills, Ronnie could control the flow of the game.
87 team, 80 team, then this team followed close by the 2006 team. That loss in the NCAA tournament by the
2006 and 1987 teams, might have been the hardest losses to for me forget about. Really sucks that we lost the
tournament last year and this year.......no one really knows how it will end. Already missed mich. st and now nebraska.
2006 and 1987 teams, might have been the hardest losses to for me forget about. Really sucks that we lost the
tournament last year and this year.......no one really knows how it will end. Already missed mich. st and now nebraska.
By your logic, the 2006 team was better than the 87 team that finished 3rd, when in reality it wasn't close. So, I don't think you can look solely at conference standings. Not to mention the big ten is a lot better now than it was in the 2000s.
Agreed that it'll be easier to say once the season is over, but this year's team is without question deeper and more talented than that 2006 team. That 2006 team was all about Horner, Brunner and Haluska. Outside of that, where did the offense come from? This year's team has guys all over the court who can score, and there isn't a very big drop off when Fran goes to the bench. Can't really say that about the 2006 squad.
My official answer: Best team since 87.
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I really think this team is much bettet than 2005-06. More scorers and better bench.
Correct. The way they lost to UNLV was heartbreaking, but that team did not underperform in the tournament. And whoever mentioned the last second shot needed to get to the Sweet 16 - a lot of people don't really seem to remember that Oklahoma was a 1 seed the following two years. They seemed to be coming into their own at the end of the 87 season. Similar to the USC team Iowa played in the orange bowl in 2002.
That OU team was an awfully tough 6 seed.
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In today’s NBA, only BJ and Marble would be drafted and probably in the second round. This current Iowa team plays better together than that ‘87 team.
Cannot really make this call until the season is over. There's still a lot of ball left to play. More like the 87 team in terms of both high end talent and depth than the 2006 team. Plus, by 2006 we all knew the Alford's team would collapse, it just came one game later than usual.
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