Has Carton said when he's deciding?
- Thread starter Kurt Warner
- Start date
If he didn't grow up a Hawk fan, and with all the interest he's receiving, I wouldn't get my hopes up of him becoming a Hawkeye.
Found the article where I read that. From Hawk Central:
D.J. Carton says he wasn’t necessarily a Hawkeye fan growing up. He enjoyed watching them on TV, though.
His grandfather, Gene Meeker, played basketball for Iowa in the late 1950s. For years, he and Carton would sit together on the couch every week and turn on the Hawkeye game — football, basketball, anything.
"It was our thing," said Carton, a rising-junior point guard at Bettendorf.
Life is funny sometimes: Soon, Meeker might be able to watch his grandson when he turns on the Iowa game. The Hawkeyes offered Carton, a 6-foot-2 lefty guard, on July 24.
So, he wasn't exactly an Iowa fan but he liked watching the Hawkeyes with his grandpa, who played basketball for Iowa. I'd call that a point in our favor.His grandfather, Gene Meeker, played basketball for Iowa in the late 1950s. For years, he and Carton would sit together on the couch every week and turn on the Hawkeye game — football, basketball, anything.
"It was our thing," said Carton, a rising-junior point guard at Bettendorf.
Life is funny sometimes: Soon, Meeker might be able to watch his grandson when he turns on the Iowa game. The Hawkeyes offered Carton, a 6-foot-2 lefty guard, on July 24.
If DJ started watching the Hawks with his grandpa when he was pretty young, I can understand why he wasn't necessarily a big fan. Some pretty lean years.
Big time.
The fact cant be lost on him that it would make his Grandfather proud to see him play for Iowa.
Fair point. He'd have seen the Lickliter years, true, when he was 7 or 8 years old. But also the great teams that Fran had from 2012-2016. Granted, they didn't have a lot of NCAA tourney success, but he would have watched Aaron White, Jarrod Uthoff, Devyn Marble and Peter Jok at their best. He would have seen Mike Gesell drive the lane in Chapel Hill and score a game-clinching bucket to beat North Carolina. He would have seen us beat Top 5 MSU twice in one season, he'd have seen Iowa ranked #3 in the country (okay, and then fall off a cliff). He will have seen just how fun Iowa basketball can be when we have elite players, and he'll know just how close we've been to breaking through. So I'd consider it a positive for us.
And in our hearts. But I don't recall our march thru the NCAA bracket that year very well.........
Hadn't heard that, but it's been speculated he would trim his list sometime this month. My guess for the six:
Iowa
Indiana
Michigan
Ohio State
Wisconsin
Iowa State
Marquette could be in there instead of Iowa State.
The April 30th WQAD video/interview from dazhawk said that Carton planned on trimming down his list in May (in the not too distant future).
It sounded like Carton wanted to make a decision sooner than later. Tom has the thread and link on the basketball board if you haven’t watched it. Definitely worth a look.
It sounded like Carton wanted to make a decision sooner than later. Tom has the thread and link on the basketball board if you haven’t watched it. Definitely worth a look.
Jeff Potrykus, sportswriter for the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, is reporting that the Badgers will not be in DJ's final 6. Obviously, disappointing news, if accurate, since he was the only PG Wisconsin was pursuing in his class. If there is a silver lining, the timing of the decision does give the staff some time to focus on someone else.
At this point, I hope the Hawks can keep him home.
https://www.jsonline.com/story/spor...than-happ-work-out-milwaukee-bucks/594885002/
At this point, I hope the Hawks can keep him home.
https://www.jsonline.com/story/spor...than-happ-work-out-milwaukee-bucks/594885002/
That would mesh with what Matthew Bain has been reporting in the Register. That's gotta sting if you're a Badger fan, since they offered him before almost anyone and had a Bettendorf connection in Happ. If the Badgers are out his final 6 will almost certainly be: Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio State, Iowa State and Marquette.
Iowa has been incredibly fortunate that all the blue bloods seem set at PG for this class and haven't come after DJ.
He’s Iowa’s to lose.
He’ll be a hawk.
He’ll be a hawk.
Wisconsin is definitely a sell. They’ve had an unbelievable run but nothing lasts forever and they’re beginning a down cycle.
UM, IU and OSU are all very good basketball schools but if you didnt grow up a fan they dont quite have that same draw as a Kansas or Kentucky that can pull a kid who would otherwise stay close to home.
Im really starting to like the way this is shaping up.
I think it's going about as well as we could have hoped for considering how much he's blown up.
IU, UM and OSU don't have the same pull as Kentucky, but they are pretty good schools. DJ is a fan of Victor Oladipo, and he seemed impressed with Indiana's fan support when he saw them play Purdue. Michigan obviously just made it to the national title game last season. In interviews, he's mentioned how much he likes the "winning tradition" or "winning culture" of certain teams. He hasn't said that about Iowa.
If he cares a lot about a team's winning tradition, that doesn't bode well for Iowa. He's also said he cares about relationships with coaches and players. That bodes really well for Iowa.
Our garbage '17-'18 season is looming very large right now. If we'd had the kind of year a lot of fans expected, made the tournament and won a game or two, I don't even think this would be a debate.
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Who are options 2-5? I hope they're doing more on that front than it appears has been done in the past. And thinking outside their usual box, such as international players. Fran already had a good one with Gabe O via a US basketball finishing school.
Option 2 or 1a is Tyrell Terry out of MN. Patrick McCaffery is friends with him as well and left the Barnstormers and will be playing with Tyrell this AAU season.
That should be more like option #10.
An athletic drive and dish primary ball handler that at least has heard of playing defense is needed immediately.
It's already completely puzzling that Fran has let the situation get to where it's at now. And hasn't demonstrated any interest in a short term personnel upgrade. To push it off even further into the future does not seem like the way to go.
There was not a whiff of these types of complaints coming into last year so let’s stop with “completely puzzling” shit.
The short-term personnel upgrade has only worked out once for Fran at Iowa: Bryce Cartwright.
Tre Dickerson: Didn't get the minutes he wanted, transferred
Dale Jones: Injured basically the entire time, wasn't going to get minutes, transferred
It's got to be a perfect fit for Fran to bring in a JUCO or grad transfer. It's not just a matter of "can this guy play defense?" I know a lot of us on the outside think it's so simple to fix everything by bringing in one guy, but there's a lot of other factors involved.
And our defensive problems were not limited to stopping an opposing guard from driving into the paint. We were bad on rotations, we were bad on help defense, we were bad on ball screens, we were bad on closing out on shooters, we were bad on the defensive glass. You don't fix those problems by bringing in one really quick guy. You fix those problems by committing to defense as a team, with team chemistry being a crucial factor. The wrong grad transfer could disrupt that chemistry.
We're essentially getting three new perimeter players next season. Hopefully everyone, especially Bohannon, can stay healthy. Having another PG to give Bohannon a breather will help a lot. Having six backcourt players will mean we don't have to play a big at the 3. I think everyone is going to be dialed in and hungry. I hope I'm right.
If DJ ends up at Iowa, I’ll be thrilled, but if he goes elsewhere, I’d understand and know it’s his decision. Quite frankly, if this team doesn’t commit to playing better team defense it won’t matter how much talent we bring in. We’ll perhaps out score some opponents but not consistently and not often against upper tier opponents.
Yes there was.
Ive consistently pointed out the need for a true pg for two years now.
Getting guys like DJ and Weiskamp who play defense can help change the culture the same way Woody, Mike and AC did.
