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Connor is Dealing with Back Pain. Could Return for 6th Year

Franisdaman

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Nice story from HawkCentral.

Some excerpts:


Connor only played 8 minutes in last Thursday's loss to Clown U, the second-lowest total of his 110-game career. The only time he played fewer minutes was when he sprained an ankle 3 minutes into a game at Rutgers last season.

“Maybe some lagging effects from (the hip surgeries) have taken a toll on my back,” Connor said Tuesday. “I’m all right. It’s not ideal.”

He’s been working with trainer Brad Floy on treatment. He’s not practicing much, if at all.

“It’s been a different kind of season for me so far. The thing that I’ve really tried to do is be a leader, be a voice for the younger guys, to try to pick us up at times when we’re down,”
McCaffery said. “Speak up. Never been afraid to speak up. Try to help out guys like Filip (Rebraca), like Kris and Keegan (Murray), guys that we’re going to need in terms of their confidence, (trying) to build them up at all times.”

It’s easy from the outside to focus on McCaffery’s poor shooting numbers (11 points in 10 games) and forget what he means to this team … and what he might be going through as his playing time declines. A program fixture that averaged 30 minutes a game as a redshirt sophomore is playing half that or less now.

“It’s kind of hard seeing him battle through this,” said graduate transfer Rebraca, who befriended McCaffery as two of the team’s elder statesmen. “But he supports us, and we support him. I just look forward to him getting healthy finally.”

Coming off the bench was something that Connor (who can play all five positions on the court) suggested to his father, long before the back pain surfaced.

“All I really want to do is win. … I could play zero minutes, it really wouldn’t matter to me,” McCaffery said. “I’ll still try to affect our team and be somebody (teammates) can come to with questions.”

Normally, fall and winter are a crucial time for baseball players to get swings in the batting cages. McCaffery is currently doing zero baseball work. "He pretty much did everything he could to make it work," Rick Heller said. "He just hasn’t caught a break."

McCaffery will see what opportunities transpire — perhaps even in coaching — this spring before completely ruling out a return for a sixth year of athletics eligibility that is available to him due to COVID-19.



The Full Story:

 
Nice story from HawkCentral.

Some excerpts:


Connor only played 8 minutes in last Thursday's loss to Clown U, the second-lowest total of his 110-game career. The only time he played fewer minutes was when he sprained an ankle 3 minutes into a game at Rutgers last season.

“Maybe some lagging effects from (the hip surgeries) have taken a toll on my back,” Connor said Tuesday. “I’m all right. It’s not ideal.”

He’s been working with trainer Brad Floy on treatment. He’s not practicing much, if at all.

“It’s been a different kind of season for me so far. The thing that I’ve really tried to do is be a leader, be a voice for the younger guys, to try to pick us up at times when we’re down,”
McCaffery said. “Speak up. Never been afraid to speak up. Try to help out guys like Filip (Rebraca), like Kris and Keegan (Murray), guys that we’re going to need in terms of their confidence, (trying) to build them up at all times.”

It’s easy from the outside to focus on McCaffery’s poor shooting numbers (11 points in 10 games) and forget what he means to this team … and what he might be going through as his playing time declines. A program fixture that averaged 30 minutes a game as a redshirt sophomore is playing half that or less now.

“It’s kind of hard seeing him battle through this,” said graduate transfer Rebraca, who befriended McCaffery as two of the team’s elder statesmen. “But he supports us, and we support him. I just look forward to him getting healthy finally.”

Coming off the bench was something that Connor (who can play all five positions on the court) suggested to his father, long before the back pain surfaced.

“All I really want to do is win. … I could play zero minutes, it really wouldn’t matter to me,” McCaffery said. “I’ll still try to affect our team and be somebody (teammates) can come to with questions.”

Normally, fall and winter are a crucial time for baseball players to get swings in the batting cages. McCaffery is currently doing zero baseball work. "He pretty much did everything he could to make it work," Rick Heller said. "He just hasn’t caught a break."

McCaffery will see what opportunities transpire — perhaps even in coaching — this spring before completely ruling out a return for a sixth year of athletics eligibility that is available to him due to COVID-19.



The Full Story:

This is a good story and thanks for sharing…

this might be a real silver lining for the Mac family, how to extract CMac from the rotation while still saving face. At some time BB will show you your level of incompetence and it Appears that time has arrived for Conner.

frans correctly states that CMac can play all 5 positions, correct.

but the question should be , How well Does he play those positions?
Ive consistently put forth that he should be no higher than #3 on any of the positional depth charts,

PG Joe-Ulis
SG Perk, JoBo, Sandfort
SF Murray, PMac
PF Murray, PMac, Rebraca,
C. Rebraca, Ogundele,

CMac is poorer than all

i loved CMac grit and fire (see current avatar), but it’s best for him to play Baseball.
 
Could he still play baseball?

maybe for the Hawks but from the article, he does not seem hopeful when it comes to playing professionally.

he joked that he is getting pretty old to not be part of a farm system yet.

and with his current bad back, he can't swing the bat.
 
There is no reason to trash CMac IMO.

He's a Hawk. He's left pieces of himself on the court. He's helped Iowa win a lot of games with toughness and determination.

I hope he can get healthy and contribute to this team or the baseball team. But after that I will bet he will be successful in whatever path he chooses.
 
There is no reason to trash CMac IMO.

He's a Hawk. He's left pieces of himself on the court. He's helped Iowa win a lot of games with toughness and determination.

I hope he can get healthy and contribute to this team or the baseball team. But after that I will bet he will be successful in whatever path he chooses.
I agree Conner will likely succeed with his chosen career and I wish him well. Should he decide to continue playing basketball, he should consider transferring.
 
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There is no reason to trash CMac IMO.

He's a Hawk. He's left pieces of himself on the court. He's helped Iowa win a lot of games with toughness and determination.

I hope he can get healthy and contribute to this team or the baseball team. But after that I will bet he will be successful in whatever path he chooses.
Some here seem to have an uncontrollable desire to do so unfortunately
 
maybe for the Hawks but from the article, he does not seem hopeful when it comes to playing professionally.

he joked that he is getting pretty old to not be part of a farm system yet.

and with his current bad back, he can't swing the bat.
Wear and tear takes its toll. I feel bad for him . I think another year of hoops would make it worse for him. Is a grad assistant spot available next year. Put him on a coaching track.
 
Connor gives 110% when on the floor, no debate there. With that being said, there are better options for a lot of the PT he is getting. Fran made the mistake last year of playing guys with various nagging injuries while sitting Kris, Perkins, and Ulis who despite being inexperienced, were 100%.

Give Connor some rest to get his back better, let other guys stretch their wings, and when 100% use Connor as needed to get up into guys defensively. In past seasons Fran didn't have options, so Connor playing hurt was a necessity. This year Fran has options. Connor isn't going to blister the nets, but I can see him helping the team win a couple of close games in crunch time with his decision-making and hustle. He is not afraid of the big moment.
 
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Connor had 17 minutes against utah st. That's at least 10 too many.
5-7 minutes in a few spot situations, if he needs to see the floor at all.
That’s the thing I was thinking. Hurt and still played that many minutes mostly ineffective. After Oregon tourney game you read where he was playing with an injury. I applaud him for trying to gut it out but sometimes you become a detriment to the team when trying to do so. Which begged the question after tourney game why was he and Fredrick both starting when injured? Like Petras playing first 3 drives against NW hurt the team more than it helped.
 
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Why are people on here trashing Connor? He’s been an excellent Hawkeye from day 1. And a 20x better athlete than any of the desk jockeys voicing their (ridiculously short sited) opinions on a message boards.

He was one of the big reasons Garza was what he was.
 
Why are people on here trashing Connor? He’s been an excellent Hawkeye from day 1. And a 20x better athlete than any of the desk jockeys voicing their (ridiculously short sited) opinions on a message boards.

He was one of the big reasons Garza was what he was.
so being a 20X better athlete than a bunch of middle aged dudes means he belongs on the court against Big Ten level competition. Got it
 
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Why are people on here trashing Connor? He’s been an excellent Hawkeye from day 1. And a 20x better athlete than any of the desk jockeys voicing their (ridiculously short sited) opinions on a message boards.

He was one of the big reasons Garza was what he was.
Garza was player of the year due to help from Connor?

Nothing wrong with supporting Connor and his effort, but, comparing Connor and how good of an athlete he is to non Division 1 College Basketball players is an interesting take
 
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I won’t ‘bash’ Connor. He brings a lot of intangibles to the team. He is a positive force for the team.

He needs to be close to 100% physically healthy to play any minutes against top tier competition. Right now other teams sag off him, making it easier to double team Murray and JBo.

The team has a deep bench as it is, which should allow for a player like Connor to rest up until he is 100%. Playing him sporadically only prolongs his recovery.

If he was 100% by late Jan, he could be a real asset to the team for a post season run…. but if he plays and limps along all season, it’s easy to argue he’s a detriment to the teams on court success.
 
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I agree. An injured Connor should see very limited minutes. We have far better options. I think Connor as GA next year would be awesome.
 
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Garza was player of the year due to help from Connor?

Nothing wrong with supporting Connor and his effort, but, comparing Connor and how good of an athlete he is to non Division 1 College Basketball players is an interesting take
No better player at feeding Garza effectively down low.

Seems amazing how quickly everyone forgets that healthy Connor led the entire country in Assist to Turnover ratio playing 30+ minutes/game.
 
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so being a 20X better athlete than a bunch of middle aged dudes means he belongs on the court against Big Ten level competition. Got it
Keep bashing kids half your age for the team you “support” on a message board. Nothing says loser in life better than that.
 
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NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!! I hope he heals up completely and has a great spring baseball experience.
 
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