Big Ten Arms Race

[HawkHoops80]

lol

Right now Torvik projects Iowa 15th in the league, one spot ahead of Illinois, and that is counting sandfort, dix and freeman.

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Ohio State may very well be good but on paper their roster is not really better than last year's when they sucked bad so I'm non committal on that one.

Illinois landed good pieces in Boswell, humrichous and 7'1" skilled tomislov ivisic. They are also added a very good 3 shooter, and are likely to still add an impact wing. If so, that is a very long and skilled roster on paper, with Rogers lawjorn, morez adding minutes. I do not think we finish ahead of Illinois.

Humrichous is interesting--I'm honestly not sure how well that will translate to the Big Ten. He was in NAIA ball 2 years ago--could be a late bloomer so we'll reserve judgement until the season starts. And yeah, Ivisic could be good. Just like his brother was hyped last offseason when he went to Kentucky. Ask Kentucky fans how the Big Z experience went--I think most fans would tell you that the offseason of hyping Big Z was much better than the actual results of it.
Right now their roster is:
Boswell--great addition
Rodgers--terrible offensive player, but good defender. Non-shooter. / Jake Davis will come in off the bench for that shooting, but he's a sophomore who avg'd 9 ppg on Mercer.
Tre White--okay player but a non-shooter from a terrible Louisville team.
Ben H or Booth--both of which are question marks
Morez J or Ivisic--both new comers to college hoops

I'd bet a decent chunk of money that Iowa's roster is significantly better than Illinois is right now. Not sure who they are looking at for the last couple of spots on the roster, but the portal has really thinned out so not sure it'll be a big impact guy. Guess we will see on that last point. Again, we are projecting on a ton of these guys outside of Boswell. We basically know what the baseline of Sandfort, Dix and Freeman are--which is a pretty high floor.

 

[LukaDuka]

This aligns with my thoughts when I read @kceasthawk post. In today's day and age, you just don't have time to "develop" players. They're not going to stick around if they're not playing as sophomores. The Les Jepsens of the world are no longer; he'd be out of here after only playing a few minutes a game in his freshman and sophomore years.

The idea of only carrying a limited number of "real" scholarship players is interesting for schools like Iowa. We theoretically can pay 9 guys more money each than if we have to pay 13. The problem comes in when you lose a couple of those 9 to the transfer portal when you're not expecting it. Does an Iowa have enough money to replace a good player year after year? Can incoming freshman that Iowa is able to recruit fill those roles?

Guys like Brauns on the end of our bench are a huge asset in practice, and he showed the ability to come in last year and play a little bit of defense with some physicality. He's not going to score 20, but he'll give you some fouls and bang around...and he'll do it while enjoying his role. He certainly has value.

The problem with having only 9 scholarship players is when two guys get injured... you want to have only 7 guys? The walk-ons better be damn dependable role players that can contribute.

 

[cmhawks99]

Agreed that Maryland has a problem retaining players but for some reason she is able to restock each year.

She had a chemistry problem much of the year as well.

 

[kceasthawk]

Agreed that Maryland has a problem retaining players but for some reason she is able to restock each year.

Maybe so, BUT they aren't the same level of team the last few years, and don't play together well for most of the season the last few years. I think thats why....

 

[kceasthawk]

She had a chemistry problem much of the year as well.

Exactly. They've slipped the last several years in the league standings, and I think thats why......

 

[cmhawks99]

Exactly. They've slipped the last several years in the league standings, and I think thats why......

No true ball handler for one. Sellers is a hell of a combo guard, but she is NOT a full time ball distributor & although they had al lot of length and athleticism, they also stagnated & really got bogged down in games at times.

 

[AmericaNeedsMe]

Humrichous is interesting--I'm honestly not sure how well that will translate to the Big Ten. He was in NAIA ball 2 years ago--could be a late bloomer so we'll reserve judgement until the season starts. And yeah, Ivisic could be good. Just like his brother was hyped last offseason when he went to Kentucky. Ask Kentucky fans how the Big Z experience went--I think most fans would tell you that the offseason of hyping Big Z was much better than the actual results of it.
Right now their roster is:
Boswell--great addition
Rodgers--terrible offensive player, but good defender. Non-shooter. / Jake Davis will come in off the bench for that shooting, but he's a sophomore who avg'd 9 ppg on Mercer.
Tre White--okay player but a non-shooter from a terrible Louisville team.
Ben H or Booth--both of which are question marks
Morez J or Ivisic--both new comers to college hoops

I'd bet a decent chunk of money that Iowa's roster is significantly better than Illinois is right now. Not sure who they are looking at for the last couple of spots on the roster, but the portal has really thinned out so not sure it'll be a big impact guy. Guess we will see on that last point. Again, we are projecting on a ton of these guys outside of Boswell. We basically know what the baseline of Sandfort, Dix and Freeman are--which is a pretty high floor.

Disagree. I'd bet a decent chunk of money that Illinois finishes well ahead of Iowa this season. Iowa has one player on its roster that is better than any player on Illinois roster -- Sandfort. Illinois will have one of the better front courts in the league. Bottom line -- It takes more than 3 players to win games in the B1G. There are 6 top 60 prep prospects on Illinois' roster right now. Whoever Illinois adds as an impact wing -- and I would be surprised if they don't add a starter quality wing -- they will have a very solid roster.

 

[HawkHoops80]

Disagree. I'd bet a decent chunk of money that Illinois finishes well ahead of Iowa this season. Iowa has one player on its roster that is better than any player on Illinois roster -- Sandfort. Illinois will have one of the better front courts in the league. Bottom line -- It takes more than 3 players to win games in the B1G. There are 6 top 60 prep prospects on Illinois' roster right now. Whoever Illinois adds as an impact wing -- and I would be surprised if they don't add a starter quality wing -- they will have a very solid roster.

One of the best front courts in the country is a guy who played NAIA ball, 2 freshmen and a guy who averaged 6 ppg on a bad Notre Dame team. LOL ok. That's certainly a take.
You seriously think all of those guys are better than last year's Freshman of the year in the conference? Be serious. Owen averaged 10.6 & 6 as a freshman. We already know what his floor is, do you think he's going to get worse over the offseason for some reason. Hell, the 2 freshman on Illinois might be really good but that's still a huge projection. If you gave Underwood the choice on if he'd rather start a one of his freshmen bigs or Owen Freeman next season, I think he'd certainly pick Owen. I mean, his attempted tampering this offseason certainly indicated that at least.

 

[HoustonREDHawk]

It is great that Iowa got two mid-major commits from the portal but we are losing the race. Looking at Indiana, Michigan, Washington, UCLA, Ohio State, Illinois, Penn State, etc., we are falling behind. Indiana with five, Michigan with seven, UCLA with six. Fran really hasn't embraced the portal like most teams.

Given the NIL situation Fran has to work with, I am very happy with what Iowa has done this year in the portal. We have a lot more returning, especially if Payton returns, than most, if not all B1G teams.

 

[HoustonREDHawk]

Disagree. I'd bet a decent chunk of money that Illinois finishes well ahead of Iowa this season. Iowa has one player on its roster that is better than any player on Illinois roster -- Sandfort. Illinois will have one of the better front courts in the league. Bottom line -- It takes more than 3 players to win games in the B1G. There are 6 top 60 prep prospects on Illinois' roster right now. Whoever Illinois adds as an impact wing -- and I would be surprised if they don't add a starter quality wing -- they will have a very solid roster.

What are you talking about?

 

[AmericaNeedsMe]

One of the best front courts in the country is a guy who played NAIA ball, 2 freshmen and a guy who averaged 6 ppg on a bad Notre Dame team. LOL ok. That's certainly a take.
You seriously think all of those guys are better than last year's Freshman of the year in the conference? Be serious. Owen averaged 10.6 & 6 as a freshman. We already know what his floor is, do you think he's going to get worse over the offseason for some reason. Hell, the 2 freshman on Illinois might be really good but that's still a huge projection. If you gave Underwood the choice on if he'd rather start a one of his freshmen bigs or Owen Freeman next season, I think he'd certainly pick Owen. I mean, his attempted tampering this offseason certainly indicated that at least.

lol at "2 freshmen"

Ivisic will be 21 and has been playing and performing well against grown men in Europe. In a game against USC last year he had 23 and 12. I think he'll be very good in the B1G, right from the start. Nobody said he was better than freeman but he's not going to perform in this league like a freshman. Booth and Humrichous are both good. Morez is a 5 star prospect. That's a talented and deep front court. How is Iowa's front court depth? Whole we're at it, how is our backcourt depth?

Along with IU and Michigan, Illinois will definitely have one of the best front courts in the B1G.

Honestly, now...on paper, is Iowa better or worse than they were last year? I don't see any way we're better. There's also no way you can say Illinois is better than they were last year. But one of those teams won the BTT and played in an NCAA regional final, and the other one got beat by Utah in the second round of the NIT.

If you think we finish ahead of Illinois this season, I'll definitely take that bet.

Teams Iowa is likely to finish ahead of in the B1G:

Minnesota
Penn State

Nebraska?
Wisconsin?
Northwestern?

Is anyone confident outside of Minnesota and Penn State? If so, name the team(s) and explain why.

 

[AmericaNeedsMe]

Given the NIL situation Fran has to work with, I am very happy with what Iowa has done this year in the portal. We have a lot more returning, especially if Payton returns, than most, if not all B1G teams.

Do you really believe we have added players that will make us better than an NIT team?

 

[the notorious r.d.m.]

Do you really believe we have added players that will make us better than an NIT team?

I doubt there's a single person on this board who wouldn't take Tadjo, Koch, Thelwell, and Traore over Tony P, Kirkke, and Pat.

I fully expect this team to be better than last season, especially if Payton comes back.

 

[HawkHoops80]

Nobody said he was better than freeman

You literally did in the post that I responded to. You said the only player better than any player on Illinois roster was Sandfort. We'll agree to disagree on that one and leave it at that.
I already named the teams that I think are better than Iowa if Payton returns in a comment to you above. And explained why some of the teams you listed as better had question marks as to why I think Iowa is at least on par, if not better and even added OSU as another possibility. You should be able to infer who I think Iowa is better than on paper with some simple reading comprehension skills.

My favorite thing in this whole thread (not just you) is folks hyping up all these mid major portal additions as huge gets for opposing teams. Meanwhile in every thread about Thelwell or Traore it's "we'll see if they can translate to the Big Ten, we don't know if they can make the jump." And it's usually the same people doing both. There's some irony in there somewhere.

 

[HawkHoops80]

I doubt there's a single person on this board who wouldn't take Tadjo, Koch, Thelwell, and Traore over Tony P, Kirkke, and Pat.

I fully expect this team to be better than last season, especially if Payton comes back.

I doubt Thelwell, Traore, and the freshmen are able to match the 37 ppg that is lost with those 3 departures, but if there's one thing to blindly trust Fran on is that he'll find a way to make sure the offensive output remains high. Going from Krikke to Traore defensively and on the boards is a massive, massive upgrade. Krikke couldn't defend and get a rebound if his life depended on it.

One other major factor in losing those 3 guys in particular--all 3 of them absolutely LOVED taking contested midrange jumpshots. When Krikke or Perkins was on, that can be fun basketball to watch, but there is a reason nobody takes those shots anymore--they are so low percentage for the ppp output. I'll be very content without seeing anymore elbow jumpers from those 2 next season.

 

[eyesofhawk]

Iowa will be way better than people are projecting if Payton comes back. I actually think better than projected even if he doesn't come back.

It's not a complete roster. I would love another guard, mainly for defensive purposes. But this roster has the feet to defend its positions. Payton will be the weak link in that regard. But he will also be the leading scorer. They won't be a good defensive team, because Fran won't build it in that way. But they should be plenty good on offense with Payton. And the increased athleticism will somewhat close the gap defensively.

Offensively, this should be the best true PG play Iowa has gotten in the Fran era. Which is huge. Only wildcard, as Rollface fears, is the addition of Seydou could backfire by giving Fran an excuse to play Payton at 2 and Dix at 1. Whereas before the addition of Seydou, Fran would have been forced to actually play his PG's.

I'm not counting out The Dance by any means

 

[HawkHoops80]

Also, since we got a bit onto the topic of how Iowa compares to other Big Ten teams, here's one non-Iowa perspective. Don't expect this to be a popular take, but Sam knows ball. Does a lot of writing and podcasting on mid-major hoops and has 0 ties to Iowa from what I can tell.
Just one dudes opinion of course.

 

[shanksit44]

If we replace the roster with players that win us a national championship, I will..............

Well, Fran has been here how many years? He hasn’t been able to bring in that type of talent over those years so I highly doubt the portal is going to change his ability to address the issue.

 

[GunnerHawk]

lol

Right now Torvik projects Iowa 15th in the league, one spot ahead of Illinois, and that is counting sandfort, dix and freeman.

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Ohio State may very well be good but on paper their roster is not really better than last year's when they sucked bad so I'm non committal on that one.

Illinois landed good pieces in Boswell, humrichous and 7'1" skilled tomislov ivisic. They are also added a very good 3 shooter, and are likely to still add an impact wing. If so, that is a very long and skilled roster on paper, with Rogers lawjorn, morez adding minutes. I do not think we finish ahead of Illinois. They still have a lot of cash to throw around.

New coach at OSU will make a difference.

 

[AmericaNeedsMe]

New coach at OSU will make a difference.

Maybe. Maybe not. They will be one of the more interesting teams to watch for sure.

 

[AmericaNeedsMe]

View embedded media

Also, since we got a bit onto the topic of how Iowa compares to other Big Ten teams, here's one non-Iowa perspective. Don't expect this to be a popular take, but Sam knows ball. Does a lot of writing and podcasting on mid-major hoops and has 0 ties to Iowa from what I can tell.
Just one dudes opinion of course.

"Sam knows ball."

Ok...I guess I'll take your word for it.

He writes about the MAAC and baseball.

Have to latch onto something, I guess....

 

[Rifler]

I'd rather they replace the entire team with players that can win a national championship...

National championship via single season recruiting haul?,.. I don't think any program will ever be successful with that approach...

 

[HoustonREDHawk]

Do you really believe we have added players that will make us better than an NIT team?

If Payton is back, yes. The portal makes it difficult to assess what other teams have, and I don't know how the new B1G teams will fit in, but if Iowa stays healthy, I think they will finish above .500 in the B1G and maybe in the top third of the league. They are very susceptible to injury with only 3 guards. I think this team has a lot more upside than last year's team, which had an awful interior defense and weak rebounding, mostly because Krikke and Patrick took up about 50 min/game. Maybe I am a little too optimistic, but your opinion that Iowa has no talent and will be awful is definitely wrong.

 

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

Well, Fran has been here how many years? He hasn’t been able to bring in that type of talent over those years so I highly doubt the portal is going to change his ability to address the issue.

Can't know if ya don't try........

 

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

National championship via single season recruiting haul?,.. I don't think any program will ever be successful with that approach...

We just need the one championship.......that's all I ask.

 

[AmericaNeedsMe]

If Payton is back, yes. The portal makes it difficult to assess what other teams have, and I don't know how the new B1G teams will fit in, but if Iowa stays healthy, I think they will finish above .500 in the B1G and maybe in the top third of the league. They are very susceptible to injury with only 3 guards. I think this team has a lot more upside than last year's team, which had an awful interior defense and weak rebounding, mostly because Krikke and Patrick took up about 50 min/game. Maybe I am a little too optimistic, but your opinion that Iowa has no talent and will be awful is definitely wrong.

Never said we had no talent. I said we don't have enough talent. I don't see how interior defense or rebounding improves over last year with what we've added, unless you're just buying into the notion of addition by subtracting krikke and pat.

Who knows if we'll be awful. I doubt we get left out of the conference tourney. I just know that I'm looking around the league, and I see a lot of teams adding some really good pieces, while we are treading water at best talent wise.

We had Sandfort, Dix, and Freeman last year and it was good enough to lose in the second round of the NIT. League wins just got tougher with the addition of Oregon, UCLA, and USC. I just don't see a lot of B1G teams that we are clearly better than on paper.

But the games aren't played on paper.

Time will tell.

 

[AmericaNeedsMe]

We just need the one championship.......that's all I ask.

It's a reasonable request.

 

[HoustonREDHawk]

Never said we had no talent. I said we don't have enough talent. I don't see how interior defense or rebounding improves over last year with what we've added, unless you're just buying into the notion of addition by subtracting krikke and pat.

Who knows if we'll be awful. I doubt we get left out of the conference tourney. I just know that I'm looking around the league, and I see a lot of teams adding some really good pieces, while we are treading water at best talent wise.

We had Sandfort, Dix, and Freeman last year and it was good enough to lose in the second round of the NIT. League wins just got tougher with the addition of Oregon, UCLA, and USC. I just don't see a lot of B1G teams that we are clearly better than on paper.

But the games aren't played on paper.

Time will tell.

I am expecting Dembele and Traore, and maybe a freshman, to take most of the minutes that Krikke and Patrick played. I think you have to agree that will be an improvement in interior defense and rebounding. Krikke did bring some good mid-range scoring, and Patrick has some offensive skills (although his defense, rebounding, and team play was almost non-existent), so maybe there will be a little drop off offensively at 4. I personally think that is a big net gain. I expect Dembele to be a very solid player for the next 3 years, and Traore also looks like a solid 3/4. The freshmen could surprise even this year, but I am barely factoring them into my assessment for next year.

Glad you are finally giving some props to Dix and Freeman, besides Payton. I think both of them will at least be honorable mention all-B1G this year, if not better.

I hope Fran does NOT experiment with Payton at guard, and just lets Harding and Thelwell have most of the minutes at PG, because Iowa will have a lot of offensive firepower with Payton and Dix on the wings, Freeman down low, and some guys with a lot of upside at 4. They need a player on the floor who can orchestrate that. We agree that only time will tell

 

[littlez]

New coach at OSU will make a difference.

We have no idea if this is true.

 

[littlez]

Never said we had no talent. I said we don't have enough talent. I don't see how interior defense or rebounding improves over last year with what we've added, unless you're just buying into the notion of addition by subtracting krikke and pat.

Who knows if we'll be awful. I doubt we get left out of the conference tourney. I just know that I'm looking around the league, and I see a lot of teams adding some really good pieces, while we are treading water at best talent wise.

We had Sandfort, Dix, and Freeman last year and it was good enough to lose in the second round of the NIT. League wins just got tougher with the addition of Oregon, UCLA, and USC. I just don't see a lot of B1G teams that we are clearly better than on paper.

But the games aren't played on paper.

Time will tell.

Treading water? Sandfort, while slow afoot, was invited to the NBA combine. So him coming back is a huge plus. He's going to get us 16-18 pts a game. Freeman was the Freshman of the year. You don't think he's going to keep improving? The guy works incredibly hard, and look how much he improved as the season went on. Dix is another guy who did nothing but improve once he was 100% healthy. You clearly don't feel team chemistry is important. I do. Indiana has under-achieved for 20 years. Of course they're tossing out NIL money like candy because it's all they have. I want to see it pay off for them. Michigan? Entire new team w/an entire new coaching staff. Sure thing, pencil them in for top 4-5 in the league. Illinois losing their best players but are going to be way better than us? Sure thing as well. We have more athleticism on this roster than we have had in awhile. Guys that can run the floor and also play a few different positions. While I'm definitely concerned about guard court depth I like this team way more than last years.

 

[HawkHoops80]

Putting this here, since we talked about freshmen coming in and immediately making teams like Rutgers, Illinois and others immediately better. Here was last year's stats for the top-50 ranked freshmen that played on Big Ten teams:

#1 Isaiah Collier: 16 & 3 in 30 mpg
#8: McKenzie Mgbako: 12 & 4 in 27 mpg. Finished 2nd in B1GFOTY
#14 Xavier Booker: 3 & 2 in 9 mpg.
#15 Kwame Evans: 7 & 5 in 22 mpg
#16 Aday Mara: 3 & 2 in 9 mpg
#22 Bronny James: 5 & 3 in 19 mpg
#24 Jackson Shelstad: 13 & 3 in 33 mpg
#30 Mookie Cook: 1 ppg in 5 mpg before injury for season after 5 games
#31 Jeremy Fears: 3 & 2 in 15 mpg prior to injury after 12 games
#32 Deshawn Harris-Smith: 7 & 4 in 30 mpg
#33 Coen Carr: 3 & 2 in 11mpg
#36 Berke Buyuktuncel: 4 & 2 in 15 mpg
#39 Taison Chatman: 1 ppg in 5 mpg
#43 Ilane Fibleuil: 1 & 2 in 6 mpg
#44 Gavin Griffiths: 6 & 2 in 18 mpg
#48 Arrinten Page: 3 & 2 in 11 mpg
#49 Devin Royal: 5 & 2 in 11mpg
#50 Scotty Middleton: 4 & 1 in 15 mpg

So in total 16 of the 18 played the entire year. Of those 16, only 3 were double digit scorers for their teams. Hence why I am taking the mindset that I am taking the hype around any incoming freshmen with a huge grain of salt until I see it in action--hell, Mgbako is probably the guy with the 2nd best season last year out of this list and if you watched a lot of Indiana last year a lot you knew that he had a lot of growing pains early on in the season when Indiana kind of dug themselves into a hole in regards to their tournament resume.
This year we get: Bailey, Harper, Tucker, Queen, M Johnson, Perry, J Richardson, Catchings, Elohim, Diablo, and Mobley incoming as top-50 guys. So only 11 v 18 from last year

 

[Willin]

Never said we had no talent. I said we don't have enough talent. I don't see how interior defense or rebounding improves over last year with what we've added, unless you're just buying into the notion of addition by subtracting krikke and pat.

Who knows if we'll be awful. I doubt we get left out of the conference tourney. I just know that I'm looking around the league, and I see a lot of teams adding some really good pieces, while we are treading water at best talent wise.

We had Sandfort, Dix, and Freeman last year and it was good enough to lose in the second round of the NIT. League wins just got tougher with the addition of Oregon, UCLA, and USC. I just don't see a lot of B1G teams that we are clearly better than on paper.

But the games aren't played on paper.

Time will tell.

Did you see that our Manhattan transfer averaged over 8 rebs a game? I believe someone reported that was 3rd in the nation for freshmen. And I see Tadjo having the potential to work the boards hard.

 

[AmericaNeedsMe]

Treading water? Sandfort, while slow afoot, was invited to the NBA combine. So him coming back is a huge plus. He's going to get us 16-18 pts a game. Freeman was the Freshman of the year. You don't think he's going to keep improving? The guy works incredibly hard, and look how much he improved as the season went on. Dix is another guy who did nothing but improve once he was 100% healthy. You clearly don't feel team chemistry is important. I do. Indiana has under-achieved for 20 years. Of course they're tossing out NIL money like candy because it's all they have. I want to see it pay off for them. Michigan? Entire new team w/an entire new coaching staff. Sure thing, pencil them in for top 4-5 in the league. Illinois losing their best players but are going to be way better than us? Sure thing as well. We have more athleticism on this roster than we have had in awhile. Guys that can run the floor and also play a few different positions. While I'm definitely concerned about guard court depth I like this team way more than last years.

So we're not treading water because Sandfort, Dix, and freeman are all going to be significantly better than last season? lol Because only Iowa players improve from year to year. Everyone else's players stay the same.

Sorry. Not buying.

Returning the core of an NIT team without adding any impact players likely gives you....an NIT team.

The talent we added is not likely to move the needle in this league. The kind of talent Michigan and Indiana and Illinois etc. have added is far more likely to move the needle. All three of those teams have added multiple top 50 transfers (Illinois will still likely add two players and they have room for three). Not a single transfer to Iowa even makes the top 200.

Here's a list of Top 50 portal teams for 2024: https://247sports.com/Season/2024-basketball/TransferTeamRankings/

10 B1G teams are on that list. Guess a B1G team that is not...

Again, this is all on paper and the games aren't played on paper so we'll see how it shakes out but...I see a lot of wishful thinking, and 'just so' projections going on here. Even in down years, you need talented depth to legitimately compete in a league like the B1G. I just don't see enough talent to expect anything better than last year.

I hope I'm wrong.

 

[HoustonREDHawk]

So we're not treading water because Sandfort, Dix, and freeman are all going to be significantly better than last season? lol Because only Iowa players improve from year to year. Everyone else's players stay the same.

Sorry. Not buying.

Returning the core of an NIT team without adding any impact players likely gives you....an NIT team.

The talent we added is not likely to move the needle in this league. The kind of talent Michigan and Indiana and Illinois etc. have added is far more likely to move the needle. All three of those teams have added multiple top 50 transfers (Illinois will still likely add two players and they have room for three). Not a single transfer to Iowa even makes the top 200.

Here's a list of Top 50 portal teams for 2024: https://247sports.com/Season/2024-basketball/TransferTeamRankings/

10 B1G teams are on that list. Guess a B1G team that is not...

Again, this is all on paper and the games aren't played on paper so we'll see how it shakes out but...I see a lot of wishful thinking, and 'just so' projections going on here. Even in down years, you need talented depth to legitimately compete in a league like the B1G. I just don't see enough talent to expect anything better than last year.

I hope I'm wrong.

Since you have time for compiling information, why don't you also compare what the various B1G teams have returning from their previous roster. You might reach a little different conclusion.

 

[LukaDuka]

So we're not treading water because Sandfort, Dix, and freeman are all going to be significantly better than last season? lol Because only Iowa players improve from year to year. Everyone else's players stay the same.

Sorry. Not buying.

Returning the core of an NIT team without adding any impact players likely gives you....an NIT team.

The talent we added is not likely to move the needle in this league. The kind of talent Michigan and Indiana and Illinois etc. have added is far more likely to move the needle. All three of those teams have added multiple top 50 transfers (Illinois will still likely add two players and they have room for three). Not a single transfer to Iowa even makes the top 200.

Here's a list of Top 50 portal teams for 2024: https://247sports.com/Season/2024-basketball/TransferTeamRankings/

10 B1G teams are on that list. Guess a B1G team that is not...

Again, this is all on paper and the games aren't played on paper so we'll see how it shakes out but...I see a lot of wishful thinking, and 'just so' projections going on here. Even in down years, you need talented depth to legitimately compete in a league like the B1G. I just don't see enough talent to expect anything better than last year.

I hope I'm wrong.

your glass is half empty isn't it?

 

[littlez]

your glass is half empty isn't it?

He’s also not an Iowa fan.

 

[HoustonREDHawk]

your glass is half empty isn't it?

More like some washback in the bottom.

 

[HoustonREDHawk]

Putting this here, since we talked about freshmen coming in and immediately making teams like Rutgers, Illinois and others immediately better. Here was last year's stats for the top-50 ranked freshmen that played on Big Ten teams:

#1 Isaiah Collier: 16 & 3 in 30 mpg
#8: McKenzie Mgbako: 12 & 4 in 27 mpg. Finished 2nd in B1GFOTY
#14 Xavier Booker: 3 & 2 in 9 mpg.
#15 Kwame Evans: 7 & 5 in 22 mpg
#16 Aday Mara: 3 & 2 in 9 mpg
#22 Bronny James: 5 & 3 in 19 mpg
#24 Jackson Shelstad: 13 & 3 in 33 mpg
#30 Mookie Cook: 1 ppg in 5 mpg before injury for season after 5 games
#31 Jeremy Fears: 3 & 2 in 15 mpg prior to injury after 12 games
#32 Deshawn Harris-Smith: 7 & 4 in 30 mpg
#33 Coen Carr: 3 & 2 in 11mpg
#36 Berke Buyuktuncel: 4 & 2 in 15 mpg
#39 Taison Chatman: 1 ppg in 5 mpg
#43 Ilane Fibleuil: 1 & 2 in 6 mpg
#44 Gavin Griffiths: 6 & 2 in 18 mpg
#48 Arrinten Page: 3 & 2 in 11 mpg
#49 Devin Royal: 5 & 2 in 11mpg
#50 Scotty Middleton: 4 & 1 in 15 mpg

So in total 16 of the 18 played the entire year. Of those 16, only 3 were double digit scorers for their teams. Hence why I am taking the mindset that I am taking the hype around any incoming freshmen with a huge grain of salt until I see it in action--hell, Mgbako is probably the guy with the 2nd best season last year out of this list and if you watched a lot of Indiana last year a lot you knew that he had a lot of growing pains early on in the season when Indiana kind of dug themselves into a hole in regards to their tournament resume.
This year we get: Bailey, Harper, Tucker, Queen, M Johnson, Perry, J Richardson, Catchings, Elohim, Diablo, and Mobley incoming as top-50 guys. So only 11 v 18 from last year

Iowa is not getting 5-star transfers or recruits, BUT we have the B1G freshman of the year coming back; a player likely to be on the all-B1G team and one of the elite shooters in the league; a transfer who might have been the best player as a freshman on his lousy team; one of the most improved players in the B1G from his freshman year, when he was coming back from an awful injury; the experienced leader of a winning team that qualified for the dance; a top 50 freshman and another freshman highly regarded by some recruiting sites; and a power forward and PG who both showed a lot of upside as freshmen last year.

 

[AmericaNeedsMe]

Since you have time for compiling information, why don't you also compare what the various B1G teams have returning from their previous roster. You might reach a little different conclusion.

Nope. Same conclusion.

Losing Perkins and returning a core of 3 that made the NIT without adding any difference makers most likely means another NIT.

When Greg Gard portals better than you....

Outlook Not Good as the magic 8 ball says.

Who knows though. Everyone thought that white kid Illinois added last year would be a buster and he ended up being all big ten. Fran can scout talent. No question about that. Surprises can happen.

 

[AmericaNeedsMe]

He’s also not an Iowa fan.

There are non-delusional Iowa fans. Not many but we exist.