I started to type my two cents and then realized I am just exhausted talking about Iowa basketball right now ...
Bury the past, look to the future and what do you see?
- Thread starter The Sleeping Dog
- Start date
I think we have started to see a balance in the recruiting classes and that will add some stability to the program to grow further. Fran came into a tough situation with really only 1 B1G calibur player in Gatens. From there he had to get anyone who was interested Whites and Mel's class. Then the got some better talent we upgraded the talent in the Mike and Woody class. With Trey leaving and Brady losing out minutes, that 2014 group took a step back, but 2015 looks to get players in the mix. Time will tell.
This cannot be over-emphasized IMO. I would also include forwards but it all starts with the guards. Forwards Uhl, Baer, and Jones will be counted on in that role next season. It is one aspect of an offense but I agree it is essential, a vital key to winning today
No, but since you chose to highlight two other other regional border P5 programs, why not include Minnesota, Illinois, Nebraska, Northwestern, and Missouri for a complete perspective?
Compare the current state of flagship basketball programs at Minnesota, Missouri, and Illinois to Iowa and see what you come up with.
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No doubt the programs all around us are in shambles. There are serious problems at all 4 major universities and makes you wonder if Fran will be able to take advantage of it. I mean he did get Moss/Hutton out of Chicago and Cook out of STL. I am hoping he is taking deeper looks at those areas for the upcoming years. I realize we do not have a lot of scholly's open right now, but have to take a look. If a gamer is there, then you might have to re-shuffle your schollys around a little. Maybe keep someone on preferred walk-on and maybe even have his son walk-on. I don't know the situations with that, but its an idea.
Someone was quoted as saying he was running stairs and rehabbing just fine. So I think he will be back next year. I just worry about his knees. It sounds like its a reoccurring thing with him. Hopefully he can stay healthy next year!
Do you not think that the players not showing up to play against teams like Penn St. and Illinois played a role in the team having to play Villanova in the second round? Let's face it: for whatever reason, the seniors this year were unable to motivate themselves when it mattered most. Fran's job is to coach players, and as we saw earlier in the year, he is capable of that. However, it is up to the players to take that coaching, execute it, and be consistent. This team, and this group of seniors couldn't do that.
Down the stretch there were tons of tweets during the games from reporters and people by the bench saying, "coach mccaffery just asked the assistants why we have scouting reports if the players are not going to follow them." It just seemed strange to see that tweet pop up during the down slide. Maybe the players slacked off a little, IDK?
It's hard to know exactly what's going on inside the locker room and between players. However we saw at the beginning of Big Ten play what the players were capable of. Fran didn't de-coach them to 6 of 8 losses. At some point the players need to be held accountable.
Can't...
Minnesota has a solid recruiting base to work from, far better than Iowa's.
Missouri has a stellar recruiting base to work from, not even close.
Illinois has a stellar recruiting base to work from, not even close.
Northwestern has a stellar recruiting base to work from but are handcuffed by far more rigid academic requirements....plus they are not our peer in MBB, not even close to us in tradition.
Nebraska has about the same recruiting base, but isn't considered our peer in MBB...they have no tradition...comparing ourselves to them in MBB is like comparing our wrestling programs.
Meanwhile...
Iowa State = same exact recruiting base as Iowa...they're having far more success tho and have had just as much coaching turnover
Wisconsin = slightly better recruiting base than Iowa...they're having far more success tho and just had a coaching turnover mid-season....hasn't effected them in the slightest.
Why isn't Fran stepping up and getting us to the next level like them? Does he need another six years to figure it out and rebound from the dreaded Lick era in order to get us at least a conference tournament championship or sweet sixteen?
Can we look forward to continued season-ending collapses and complete ass-kickings in our final games until he does?
Sad that some of our silver lining fans are completely okay with that while our biggest rivals continue to hum right along and remain ultra competitive.
