Brad Underwood on Drew Thelwell: "Man, that kid’s really good." Fran: "The top 150 high school players, they all have agents."

[Ronman]

I questioned Shannon's character after his incident and Underwood for his comment also.

To be fair Shannon was exonerated recently and I am not aware of any other issues on that Illini roster.
I think Underwood is a blunt guy who would not say this about a player if not true.
I know Underwood had an rogue asst that got in trouble at OK st but I have come to respect him as a coach and recruiter.

You mean instead of a more traditional joint or pipe guy?

 

[IllQChawk]

Listen, I think that Fran plucking Thelwell from the portal was a smart move, but don't get me wrong, his path in college basketball was the same as Tony Perkin's. In his first 3 years at Morehead St. Drew pretty sure played mostly the position of off guard with some point guard play mixed in. It wasn't until his senior season that he was given the job of playing point guard full time, which is exactly the path that Tony took at Iowa.
Just because Drew and Tony played the position in their last year at their perspective colleges doesn't make them pure point guards
Tony played behind Jordon Bohannan his first 3 years at Iowa with some point guard play mixed in.
Drew in his first 3 years maybe played some point guard behind Ta'Lon Cooper who some may remember moved on in his junior year to play for Minnesota, KJ Hunt played 1 year at Morehead St. and then transferred to Denver, played 2 years there and then turned pro , and Mark Freeman played 2 years at Tennessee St, 1 year at Illinois St and then moved on to play he senior year at Morehead St. all pretty much averaging over 30 minutes a game, all 3 were considered point guards .
Drews didn't really start playing substantial minutes at Morehead St. until his junior year averaging 32 and 34 minutes a game, but I suspect that he played much more off guard his junior year looking at his rebound numbers that year. assists to turnover ratio during his time at Morehead St. was 0,7, 1.2, 1.7, and 2.7 in his 4 season there. Nothing in those stats screams pure point guard and none of the other point guards at Morehead St. had jaw dropping assists to turnover ratios either.
He may indeed be named the starting point guard at Iowa this coming season, but the reality is that Drew is who he is, I doubt he sees 30 minutes a game at Iowa and his assists to turnover ratio is not going to surpass anywhere near what Brock Harding can achieve and even Tony Perkin during last year only had a assist to turnover ratio of 2.4.
Again, I'm not the one that will have to make the decision between Drew and Brock leading Iowa this coming season, that's up to Fran the coach not "Franisdaman" but if Fran the coach wants to make this season special you all know who I'd have leading Iowa at point guard.
Yes, I'm a homer and maybe I am a "jock sniffer" and "hayseed" as I've been called, but I'm a realist and I see the path of success for Iowa in the hands of a player that led his home town high school to a state title in a state that may be one of the hardest to achieve with a school that is not within shouting distance to the city of Chicago.
Some of you have a little over 3 months to convince yourselves and others that Drew is your man and Brock is nothing but a player that will come off the bench, good luck with that...

 

[eyesofhawk]

Listen, I think that Fran plucking Thelwell from the portal was a smart move, but don't get me wrong, his path in college basketball was the same as Tony Perkin's. In his first 3 years at Morehead St. Drew pretty sure played mostly the position of off guard with some point guard play mixed in. It wasn't until his senior season that he was given the job of playing point guard full time, which is exactly the path that Tony took at Iowa.
Just because Drew and Tony played the position in their last year at their perspective colleges doesn't make them pure point guards
Tony played behind Jordon Bohannan his first 3 years at Iowa with some point guard play mixed in.
Drew in his first 3 years maybe played some point guard behind Ta'Lon Cooper who some may remember moved on in his junior year to play for Minnesota, KJ Hunt played 1 year at Morehead St. and then transferred to Denver, played 2 years there and then turned pro , and Mark Freeman played 2 years at Tennessee St, 1 year at Illinois St and then moved on to play he senior year at Morehead St. all pretty much averaging over 30 minutes a game, all 3 were considered point guards .
Drews didn't really start playing substantial minutes at Morehead St. until his junior year averaging 32 and 34 minutes a game, but I suspect that he played much more off guard his junior year looking at his rebound numbers that year. assists to turnover ratio during his time at Morehead St. was 0,7, 1.2, 1.7, and 2.7 in his 4 season there. Nothing in those stats screams pure point guard and none of the other point guards at Morehead St. had jaw dropping assists to turnover ratios either.
He may indeed be named the starting point guard at Iowa this coming season, but the reality is that Drew is who he is, I doubt he sees 30 minutes a game at Iowa and his assists to turnover ratio is not going to surpass anywhere near what Brock Harding can achieve and even Tony Perkin during last year only had a assist to turnover ratio of 2.4.
Again, I'm not the one that will have to make the decision between Drew and Brock leading Iowa this coming season, that's up to Fran the coach not "Franisdaman" but if Fran the coach wants to make this season special you all know who I'd have leading Iowa at point guard.
Yes, I'm a homer and maybe I am a "jock sniffer" and "hayseed" as I've been called, but I'm a realist and I see the path of success for Iowa in the hands of a player that led his home town high school to a state title in a state that may be one of the hardest to achieve with a school that is not within shouting distance to the city of Chicago.
Some of you have a little over 3 months to convince yourselves and others that Drew is your man and Brock is nothing but a player that will come off the bench, good luck with that...

They will both play a lot. And probably play a bit together. If Thelwell is a combo guard, that is a good thing.

But from everything I've seen he appears to be much more of a PG than a 2. I believe he was 8th in the country in assists last season at over 6/game. Call him whatever you want, but that's a hell of a lot of assists.

I'm excited to have Drew and Brock. I think this should be the best pure PG play Iowa has gotten during the Fran era.

Perkins was not a PG and should have never been playing the position

 

[LukaDuka]

Listen, I think that Fran plucking Thelwell from the portal was a smart move, but don't get me wrong, his path in college basketball was the same as Tony Perkin's. In his first 3 years at Morehead St. Drew pretty sure played mostly the position of off guard with some point guard play mixed in. It wasn't until his senior season that he was given the job of playing point guard full time, which is exactly the path that Tony took at Iowa.
Just because Drew and Tony played the position in their last year at their perspective colleges doesn't make them pure point guards
Tony played behind Jordon Bohannan his first 3 years at Iowa with some point guard play mixed in.
Drew in his first 3 years maybe played some point guard behind Ta'Lon Cooper who some may remember moved on in his junior year to play for Minnesota, KJ Hunt played 1 year at Morehead St. and then transferred to Denver, played 2 years there and then turned pro , and Mark Freeman played 2 years at Tennessee St, 1 year at Illinois St and then moved on to play he senior year at Morehead St. all pretty much averaging over 30 minutes a game, all 3 were considered point guards .
Drews didn't really start playing substantial minutes at Morehead St. until his junior year averaging 32 and 34 minutes a game, but I suspect that he played much more off guard his junior year looking at his rebound numbers that year. assists to turnover ratio during his time at Morehead St. was 0,7, 1.2, 1.7, and 2.7 in his 4 season there. Nothing in those stats screams pure point guard and none of the other point guards at Morehead St. had jaw dropping assists to turnover ratios either.
He may indeed be named the starting point guard at Iowa this coming season, but the reality is that Drew is who he is, I doubt he sees 30 minutes a game at Iowa and his assists to turnover ratio is not going to surpass anywhere near what Brock Harding can achieve and even Tony Perkin during last year only had a assist to turnover ratio of 2.4.
Again, I'm not the one that will have to make the decision between Drew and Brock leading Iowa this coming season, that's up to Fran the coach not "Franisdaman" but if Fran the coach wants to make this season special you all know who I'd have leading Iowa at point guard.
Yes, I'm a homer and maybe I am a "jock sniffer" and "hayseed" as I've been called, but I'm a realist and I see the path of success for Iowa in the hands of a player that led his home town high school to a state title in a state that may be one of the hardest to achieve with a school that is not within shouting distance to the city of Chicago.
Some of you have a little over 3 months to convince yourselves and others that Drew is your man and Brock is nothing but a player that will come off the bench, good luck with that...

You are far from a realist as you claim. You are a homer as you claim & nothing wrong with that. Hometown pride is what makes the midwest great. But you need to calm down. Brock has talent but needs a lot of polishing. It's going to be a fun year to watch players develop & hopefully Iowa makes a tourney run. They have a lot of inexperienced underclassmen. Hopefully the freshman are as good as we hope & better.

And I'm not letting you off the hook for your Mulvey assessment either. Take off your cheerleader outfit & put your megaphone away until the season starts.

 

[HoustonREDHawk]

Did they? I remember them losing a lot of the tough, physical defensive games like the rest of Fran’s teams. But memory can fail us.

Looks like they gave up ~70ppg most of the time and their JR season had a good stretch of 62ppg

Most seasons, Iowa is ranking in the 200s in scoring D and I’ve never seen a team at any level close out on long range shooters with their hands down more than Iowa over the last decade.

Scoring is a pretty lousy indicator for how well a team plays defense, although there is a positive correlation. With the scoring potential on the current team, if they play defense as well as the Gesell/Woody teams, Iowa could be a top 25 team. Not a prediction, but without injuries, Iowa will be a much better defensive team (a low bar).