Freeman out the remainder of season due to finger injury

[HawkLogic]

It used to takes years to build a winning team now with free agency it can be done in a few weeks on the phone. Year one is a huge opportunity with an empty roster and no obligations.

I look at this situation as a positive. It significantly ups the chances of a clean break with all things Fran and a fresh start this spring.

This season was already done.

Right coach, decent NIL from B1G revenue and 1st year with new coach we'll be well ahead of where a Lame Duck Fran would take us next year. Seems like we have at least two interested candidates that would be immediate upgrade over Fran. What nonsense about not being able to find a coach willing to work for $3.3 million/yr with long leash from athletic department.

Looks like fan support is collapsing for Fran, just like in Lickliter's last days. The amazing thing is Fran got so much credit for being a 0.500 conference coach and taking Nepotism to a new level. Two years ago there were posters here claiming Fran should be coach of the year in B1G..you don't get coach of the year taking a mediocre 0.500 program to 11-9 in B1G.

 

[jonesy5960]

it's going to get real uglier on D. hammer the overs

I don't think so. Owen's strength is on the offensive end. There's a few players on the bench who are at least as effective on the defensive end.

 

[LukaDuka]

Right coach, decent NIL from B1G revenue and 1st year with new coach we'll be well ahead of where a Lame Duck Fran would take us next year. Seems like we have at least two interested candidates that would be immediate upgrade over Fran. What nonsense about not being able to find a coach willing to work for $3.3 million/yr with long leash from athletic department.

Looks like fan support is collapsing for Fran, just like in Lickliter's last days. The amazing thing is Fran got so much credit for being a 0.500 conference coach and taking Nepotism to a new level. Two years ago there were posters here claiming Fran should be coach of the year in B1G..you don't get coach of the year taking a mediocre 0.500 program to 11-9 in B1G.

How is DeVries recruits for next year look? Can he bring any of them to Iowa? Like Indiana's football coach did?

 

[KinnickCrawler]

Freeman probably read everyone here's reaction to Gronowski needing surgery and decided it was better to opt for surgery now and be 100% when he transferred.

 

[Fan In Black]

I don't think so. Owen's strength is on the offensive end. There's a few players on the bench who are at least as effective on the defensive end.

not what the stats show at all. we will find out soon enough.

 

[shanksit44]

We will now find out if Mulvey is worthy of a schollie or not.

A little late, but that's on Fran for not getting him involved over the past 3 years. Can't wait to hear the usuals piss and moan now that he's needed but not as ready as he could have been.

 

[IllQChawk]

It's poll time:

What's the over under for Riley Mulvey in minutes played, points & rebounds? And blocked shots.

I'll start:

18 minutes played
8 points
6 rebounds
1,5 blocked shots

Those are pretty high numbers for someone before the season started you and others had implied was worthless, especially against a team as good as Purdue.
I will admit that during the summer before the season started I had asked both Owen and Brock when I ran into them in the Quad Cities if Mulvey was an option at backing up Owen and both emphatically shook their heads in a negative way, it wasn't want I thought they would say, but it's time to see if having a front row seat, they were right.
If they were right it's just another reason for Fran to disappear from the Iowa program at the end of the year, can't be soon enough.....15 years of bad defense and terrible rebounding. TIME TO GET THE FANS BACK INTO CARVER.....

 

[Legs94]

I don't think so. Owen's strength is on the offensive end. There's a few players on the bench who are at least as effective on the defensive end.

We don’t know if Freeman or anyone else on the team could be good at defense or not. We have a coach who has 0 idea how to teach defense nor does he seem to care at all about defense.

 

[GOHOX69]

Beth is low key a smoke show

Agreed. The more 7/10 they are, the kinkier they tend to be

 

[Iafootballfan]

Owen Freeman transferring but hiding behind finger surgery***

/thread

 

[danny14]

Agreed. The more 7/10 they are, the kinkier they tend to be

Hawk fans will be watching the games for the same reason many people like to watch racing!

 

[RocknRollface]

not what the stats show at all. we will find out soon enough.

It's going to be pretty big downgrade for this team on both ends but I agree worse for defense.

 

[Rifler]

It was going to be a tough turn around with Owen on the court,.. without him damn near impossible.

 

[Bulldogs1974]

interesting way for fran to try to save his job. pretend 24-25 was an injury riddled year.

 

[skydog0784]

How is DeVries recruits for next year look? Can he bring any of them to Iowa? Like Indiana's football coach did?

https://247sports.com/college/west-virginia/Season/2025-Basketball/Commits/

Three 4 stars, 90+ rating looks pretty good to me. They've signed NLIs but I'm sure they could get out of them to attend if they wanted to follow DeVries.

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/team/stats/_/id/277

Looks like he has some solid underclassmen on the roster as possible transfers and of course Tucker (who will likely seek and be granted a medical redshirt) would follow I would think. I read that he too wants to play for IA his last year if the DeVries rumor materializes.

All speculative at this point but it's sort of fun; that's what these boards are for...

 

[HawkeyeGenius]

All I know is that this sucks. My expectations for MBB are higher than what we're getting.

 

[QChawks]

All I know is that this sucks. My expectations for MBB are higher than what we're getting.

lower your expectations bro

 

[jonesy5960]

not what the stats show at all. we will find out soon enough.

What stats are you referring to exactly? Freeman along with Dix is the most efficient scorer and he leads the team in scoring per game. Fran has absolutely no one else on the roster that can score down low. On the other hand, Mulvey and Dembele are probably equally effective on the defensive end. On a per 40 basis, Mulvey has been the best rebounder on the team.

 

[kceasthawk]

You go small if you ask me. Thelwell, Harding, Dix, Sandfort, Sandfort, Traore should get most of the minutes. The ones you mentioned should be a few here and there.

We would get crushed even worse on the glass and defending the paint. You can't play P4 basketball with no one over 6'7". As for Dix, what if he's mailing it in also?

 

[LukaDuka]

Those are pretty high numbers for someone before the season started you and others had implied was worthless, especially against a team as good as Purdue.
I will admit that during the summer before the season started I had asked both Owen and Brock when I ran into them in the Quad Cities if Mulvey was an option at backing up Owen and both emphatically shook their heads in a negative way, it wasn't want I thought they would say, but it's time to see if having a front row seat, they were right.
If they were right it's just another reason for Fran to disappear from the Iowa program at the end of the year, can't be soon enough.....15 years of bad defense and terrible rebounding. TIME TO GET THE FANS BACK INTO CARVER.....

Interesting and this is not what you were saying preseason. You said your sources alluded to Mulvey being a great back up option & would get 15 minutes per game.

Iowa is in desperation mode now and really don't have much of an option but Mulvey. Unless Fran is seeing something in Tadjo to give him minutes, Mulvey is it. Dembele cannot play center effectively. We are toast in the post.

It's put up time for Mulvey.

 

[Hawk_4shur]

I feel bad for Owen. He's on a bad team and he's had bad luck.

If we find out he's faking the finger injury (with coaches approval) just so he doesn't have to play he is dead to me.

 

[kceasthawk]

I feel bad for Owen. He's on a bad team and he's had bad luck.

If we find out he's faking the finger injury (with coaches approval) just so he doesn't have to play he is dead to me.

It would have to be REALLY bad. Dude doesn't need to shoot more then a couple of feet from the basket. He's not a jumpshooter. He doesn't need to dribble much, and when he goes up from his spots he can use two hands.

 

[hawkirugged17]

 

[Hawks2405]

I really like Freeman and thought he was a great player; not sure why all the hate towards him. I assume that he's transferring and will get PAID handsomely. You can't really blame him. Who wants to play for this coach in front of 4,000 fans every night.

 

[the notorious r.d.m.]

My money is on both Owen and Fran staying at Iowa next season. No amount of message board meltdown will change that.

 

[HawkeyeGenius]

My money is on both Owen and Fran staying at Iowa next season. No amount of message board meltdown will change that.

If Fran is at Iowa next year, you may as well move most games to Xtream Arena as I have a hard time picturing more than 3,000 butts in seats.

 

[hawkjt]

I really like Freeman and thought he was a great player; not sure why all the hate towards him. I assume that he's transferring and will get PAID handsomely. You can't really blame him. Who wants to play for this coach in front of 4,000 fans every night.

Yes..a year ago were celebrating the guy who was frosh of week 15 times and frosh of year.
Now so quickly fans turn on him even tho he is the leading scorer and rebounder.
He gets hurt and we are blaming him?
Not fair.

 

[Nagarunja]

I really like Freeman and thought he was a great player; not sure why all the hate towards him. I assume that he's transferring and will get PAID handsomely. You can't really blame him. Who wants to play for this coach in front of 4,000 fans every night.

I don't hate Owen and think he's a very good offensive player. I think the negativity from the fans is more the realization that there's not much chance he'll be here next year when we have a coach that takes a modicum of pride in defense.

 

[Beattheohiostate]

Trilly Donovan is a college hoops analyst. He’s generally considered well sourced with deep connections in college basketball circles.

He’s right more often than not but isn’t always correct, but then again who is? He’s certainly better than most.

There's only one guy I know of who claims to be correct all the time. I think he's in DC these days . . .

 

[MLJHawk]

My guess is Freeman wants to get away from McCaffery stupid ball and losing. I liked what Freeman did at Iowa but now that they are professional Basketball players, money talks and Iowa can't compete. Fran needs to go, but that isn't the main issue anymore.
The appeal of college sports is diminishing from my POV.

After Freeman and Dix leave, this will be the worst Basketball team in the B1G. I doubt the Fran recruits are difference makers or whether they even stick around. New guy needs to be able to bring in some guys with him---this is a more of a rebuild than Lickliter.

I think Iowa will struggle but these kids are not you! First, lets see if Owen gets an operation! Most coaches would have made Owen play through the injury! Owen is a Christian and may obligated to stay by Fran if he is still hear next year! And he he is gone none of these kids are obligated to Iowa! Why stay! It’s obvious that the fanbase is given up on them! In fact why come to Iowa! The fanbase will likely bail, without Owen the rest of the season will have be tough, and likely no post season! I think it will be hard to hire a successful coach if the fanbase bails!

 

[Fan In Black]

What stats are you referring to exactly? Freeman along with Dix is the most efficient scorer and he leads the team in scoring per game. Fran has absolutely no one else on the roster that can score down low. On the other hand, Mulvey and Dembele are probably equally effective on the defensive end. On a per 40 basis, Mulvey has been the best rebounder on the team.

 

[TampaHawkfan]

There's only one guy I know of who claims to be correct all the time. I think he's in DC these days . . .

This is a sports discussion, not a TDS support group.

 

[Rambler Hawk]

After Freeman and Dix leave, this will be the worst Basketball team in the B1G. I doubt the Fran recruits are difference makers or whether they even stick around. New guy needs to be able to bring in some guys with him---this is a more of a rebuild than Lickliter.

I don’t see this as being a bigger rebuild- the incoming recruits (if they can be saved) don’t appear to be our typical, slow twitch players who can shoot when open. A new coach could drastically change this program using the portal and stressing that little known (to Fran) aspect to basketball called Defense. 😎

 

[drh1150]

I feel bad for Owen. He's on a bad team and he's had bad luck.

If we find out he's faking the finger injury (with coaches approval) just so he doesn't have to play he is dead to me.

Yeah.
And especially if he can get a surgeon to do an operation on a "fake" injury.

Gawd.

 

[owenhawk]

I really like Freeman and thought he was a great player; not sure why all the hate towards him. I assume that he's transferring and will get PAID handsomely. You can't really blame him. Who wants to play for this coach in front of 4,000 fans every night.

Freeman wants to play for this coach. He is here because of Fran. Agreed he doesn't want to play for fans that won't support the program. He likely knows Fran is done after this year, so he is going to get ready for next season and get paid nicely for 2 years.

 

[owenhawk]

I don't hate Owen and think he's a very good offensive player. I think the negativity from the fans is more the realization that there's not much chance he'll be here next year when we have a coach that takes a modicum of pride in defense.

And players that don't take any pride in playing defense or giving maximum effort on that end. Easy to blame Fran for everything when the reality is the players lack of effort/pride is a big of problem as any.

 

[HawkBall23]

My money is on both Owen and Fran staying at Iowa next season. No amount of message board meltdown will change that.

No offense, but really hope I can do this in a couple of months or so ....

 

[MikeyHawk]

I've maintained for a long time that our fan base insisted on learning the hard way about NIL. Well, we're about to unless someone gets excited over Fran's replacement & gives Iowa $1 million plus for a basketball roster.

Revenue sharing is on its way, that should help Iowa against most schools not in the SEC or Big 10

 

[HawkBall23]

Welp, with this tidbit, I suddenly feel very secure in my guess that Iowa will likely only win the Washington contest of the remaining games.

And hell, now even that game just became a coin flip.

 

[binsfeldcyhawk2]

Owen Freeman transferring but hiding behind finger surgery***