I hope Connor...

[hawkifann]

I’ll preface all that I’m about to say that he should play what he wants to play. As a former athlete nowhere near D-1 level, those years are precious and short. Get all the joy out of them that you can, because they don’t come back around again later.

I saw a couple years ago that he was projected out as one of the more likely Iowa baseball players to get MLB looks. If his heart is with basketball, then he should stick with it. If not, basketball/baseball is an awkward pairing - he’s missing a lot of pre-season work and he first month+ of normal baseball seasons (this year was a little later start, IIRC). If he does have aspirations for a pro baseball career, he may have some hard decisions to make. It’s really hard to prioritize baseball and play basketball. It’s really hard for the basketball team to have him as a regular and have him play a big role if you know he’s going to be mostly at baseball as you go down the conference stretch and NCAA tournament. It’s like a built-in injury that you know about ahead of time.

 

[CalmHawk]

CMac would be fine if he had a good supporting cast. For example, if he had a first team All American big guy to help him out....Oh wait?

KInda like Illinois, OSU had? Give it a break. Iowa got beat in the round of 32 by a conference champ. They werent getting past the sweet 16 or Gonzaga if they got that far. Big ten was overhyped. And we missed shots.

 

[Ronman]

I know my memory isn't what it used to be, but who was it wearing #30 out there during all those games we won?

 

[Dargo]

You just sound like an asshole. Let the kid make that decision. He’s a hell of a basketball player and leader.

Hell of a basketball player? What does he do well other than feed Garza? He is slow, gets burned on defense, and can't hit the broad side of a barn shooting the ball, other teams don't even have to pay attention to him on the floor, so essentially it's 5 on 4 with him in the game. He is not a power 5 basketball player, and only is because daddy is the coach.

 

[Dargo]

You are aware he plays the 4, right? If you are expecting your 4 to be a floor general that's a pretty bad indictment on the guard play and a big reason fran has never made a sweet 16 at Iowa in my opinion. He's really only a good feeder of the post when he picks up his dribble and he wasn't even that good at that towards the end of year.

I didn't realize he was injured so not making a fg his last 5 games makes more sense but I do agree with the first part....he will start pretty much no matter what. Already booked it

He never has been even a decent shooter, and if his injury really was that bad then he shouldn't have been playing, and that's on his dad for trotting him out there. If dad wasn't the coach he wouldn't even see the floor.

 

[jonesy5960]

I know my memory isn't what it used to be, but who was it wearing #30 out there during all those games we won?

There is a big difference between winning because of and winning in spite of. Iowa did not win games because of Connor. He was the weakest link in the starting five and it was painfully obvious to all who watch Iowa basketball with a critical eye. Over the last 10 games he averaged 1 point on 15% shooting, 3 assists and 3 rebounds in over 23 minutes of play. That's not just bad. It's very very bad and it wasn't all that different from his season averages. This has nothing to do with hating on Connor who surely gave his all and is a great kid. He simply lacks the talent to compete at this level. Every number imaginable bears this out and suggesting otherwise ignores reality.

 

[7and5baby]

...drops basketball to focus on his baseball career. I really mean no disrespect to him as I believe he gave his all and helped us in certain situations. But next year's team (if all frosh return) is gonna be long, able to run in transition and overall quicker than this year's team, and still able to score a lot. Connor just doesn't fit that and will slow us down.

Don't agree. He's a bit of a swiss army knife, and has moxie and attitude and stands up to anyone. He has an important place on the court. That being said, if we have 7 or 8 amazing players/athletes, maybe he sits behind them. Just don't know if that's the case at IA.

 

[Legs94]

He never has been even a decent shooter, and if his injury really was that bad then he shouldn't have been playing, and that's on his dad for trotting him out there. If dad wasn't the coach he wouldn't even see the floor.

Facts. And now that Garza is gone you are going to see that he isn't that great of an assist guy either. Garza made everyone look a little better.
As long as Connor gets significant minutes, this team has a ceiling. Watch the tournament and you will see a lot of guys who play the 2 or 3 position who are either super athletic, or 3 and D guys, or just flat out shooters. Which one of these is Connor? I'll hang up and listen.

 

[HawkGem10]

Your low post count tags you as the troll that you are,.. move on.

He is not wrong

 

[KFsdisciple]

I agree here. It's not personal with Connor. I think he has a role on the team, but that's not as a member of the starting 5 getting over 20 minutes per game. I think most of us could find a way to feed the ball to Luka Garza 2-3 times per game.

teams all season long sagged off him which made EVERYTHING harder on the offense. Luka often saw a minimum of two guys, and who's guy did that second defender come from? Connor. That extra guy in the lane made it harder to drive to the basket, harder for Luka to score, etc.

What other contending teams have 1/5th of their starting line up give them basically nothing in terms of points, and ANYTHING you get was thought of as a bonus? If they had a guy like that, he was probably a defensive guru, absolute lock down defender or a rebound machine like Reggie Evans.

Connor is a good not great defender, good not great rebounder, and yeah the guys on TV said he's a great post passer, but he's spent 3 years feeding Garza and Tyler Cook they make a lot of guys look like good post passers. He's a 5-8 minutes per game contributor.

He's a tweener who's really not big enough to be a good post player, but he's not skilled enough as a shooter or driver to be a shooting guard or point guard.

I'd love for him to prove everything I just said wrong, and I wish him a speedy and successful recovery.

 

[hawktech]

ferentz 2.0

Yep. And he has fire too, like BF. I think he may be a good one. IF he can focus on defense better than his dad.... The inverse of Kirk and Fran

BUT! If that doesn't happen, please give me Darian DeVries!!! That Iowa boy has what it takes to win. He good

 

[hawktech]

I wish Connor the best of luck with his upcoming operation.

That being said, this could lead to a fork in the road. He may still have a future with baseball, but if he has any future with hoops, it lies with coaching. He doesn't have the size or skills to effectively play any position (closest would be PG due to his ballhandling skills, but he is not a scoring threat whatsoever nor is he a particularly effective defender).

That being said, I don't blame Connor for not getting Iowa past the second round. Iowa has the personnel, but I don't think they're being used as efficiently and effectively as they can be. JT and Perkins could potentially give Iowa a truly lethal backcourt.

.

Unfortunately, neither Joe T nor Perkins have a good deep ball shot.... If the did, they would be Dangerous. And boy would I love to see that!!!