Is it just me or is there a Trey Dickerson factor going on? He said he had no idea why Iowa recruited him in the first place. I assume this means that if he wasn't going to unseat Gesell or even Clemmons for his backup PG role, then what's the point? Please set aside all of the 3,628 things wrong with that statement for a moment and try to note the similarities.
There are none. Mike was at best average at face value, Anthony regressed SEVERELY from his freshman to sophomore year. Yet we still struggled to find minutes for a recruit that Wichita St and Arkansas went hard after. The guy we have now bested Gesell's best season in every reliable statistic average and matched Mike's entire CAREER for 3-pt baskets - all in his freshman season. The next guy draws favorable comparisons to Val Barnes. After that is Christian Williams, who has an intriguing argument to actually start over the latter player. After that is either MacCausland or Oglesby, depending on which one Ellingson chooses to mimic.
Two things: 1. Yes, I lied about the Gesell thing- he averaged more APG his Sr year than Bohannon did and made 5 more threes during his career, but it was close enough that most reading believed it. 2. I don't have to tell anyone our backcourt is crowded. But I'm trying to put it into context here. Not only does he have to leapfrog two gifted players only to become the backup *anything* guard, but all players in question have two years or more left. Could Connor have surpassed all 3 to start alongside Bohannon THIS YEAR? If so it means Moss not only failed to become Val Barnes,but even Rod Griffin was too much to ask Ellingson never becomes that 3-pt marksman, Williams remains stagnant. In other words, things that would kill our season if they came to a fruition.C-Mac or no C-Mac, we need some luck here. Perhaps beyond. Whatever folks making predictions for the 2018-2019 squad are drooling over they will have to X out a 2-guard and a sharpshooter.
All that, three paragraphs, still haven't even alluded to Mac's skill-set. For context, it's pretty bad when how good you are doesn't factor into your role. But that's where we stand. Connor's ability doesn't concern me nearly as much as Moss' ability or Ellingson's 3-point shooting ability. The sheer amount of misfortunes this team would have to endure before he can flash his game would cripple us. Even this year we lost 5 games to the likes of Omaha and Memphis during the transition from Williams to Bohannon. Whatever the speculation is, the best case scenario doesn't change the fact that one year of eligibility separates three fantastic guards.
Until now, that is. C-Mac is going to have to sit no matter what's going on ahead of him so it might as well be behind two established guards next year rather the alternative, being a hilarious game of musical chairs between them all this season that ends with...no standout 2-guard. We've had logjams before involving recruits and they tend to turn out like Duez-Worley-Thompson and Basabe-McCabe-Uthoff, One player out of *SIX* listed experienced any tangible success after this, and that was the five star transfer who entered the fray as a sophomore transfer. Even more hilarious, we ended both seasons without a SF, lol. Nobody developed, nobody benefited from the competition. Lose, Lose, Lose. Especially that 2001 team with Worley, right? Well, actually that was the last time we gave ANY nationally-ranked freshman significant PT and end with a tournament bid. Pierre was next, followed by Horner-Brunner, followed by Smith, then Gatens, then Gesell-Woody. He sits, we lose. He plays regularly, we lose.
Long story short, nothing upon nothing about this indicates bad news for Hawkeyes fans. Not logic, nor history, nor his actual specific situation. Whether him individually or the team, whether short term or long term or any term combined with him or the team - ALL combinations fail under a system involving three guards battling for time. I chose until now to mention the fact we're already doing this exact same thing at C because I'm kinda a prick. If Garza redshirted instead I make this same post only with Wagner and Pemsl. The most popular solution here is to start two and allow Baer to continue 6th man duties.
I repeat, reasonable, intelligent, and reasonably intelligent sports fans believe in keeping our BEST OVERALL PLAYER on the pine as a way out of the mess. As many paragraphs as it took to hit on every point I've seen made in this thread, at least none of them required me to dream up THAT precedent. Our Guard situation leveled itself out and keeps a great talent in-house a year longer. Great news. Also I'm suddenly extremely thrilled that our baseball program sucks annually.