I know everyone is pissed and wants to rip on Fran but serious question -

[Hawkirish]

Has Fran actually done a pretty good job coaching this team and got the most out of a limited team? This team was picked low in the Big 10 and I don't believe they were pegged for the ncaa tourney. The Hawks also have 3 senior starters that play a lot of minutes who absolutely have poor offensive skills. It really is playing 2 on 5 on O most of the time.

I agree there are things Fran could do better Including his substitutions / playing time with this team. My advice to Fran - call Gable and have him talk to the seniors about mental toughness before the tourney.

 

[hawkeyemike23]

Has Fran actually done a pretty good job coaching this team and got the most out of a limited team? This team was picked low in the Big 10 and I don't believe they were pegged for the ncaa tourney. The Hawks also have 3 senior starters that play a lot of minutes who absolutely have poor offensive skills. It really is playing 2 on 5 on O most of the time.

I agree there are things Fran could do better Including his substitutions / playing time with this team. My advice to Fran - call Gable and have him talk to the seniors about mental toughness before the tourney.

Mike Gesell will end up ruining Gable somehow, keep him away from the legend.

 

[EpenesaEpenesa]

I'm not sure because the defense is equally pathetic. Like out of position and look unprepared consistently defensively. Oh and their fundamentals are atrocious defensively as well and that's 100% coaching.

 

[Herkuleez]

The Hawks also have 3 senior starters that play a lot of minutes who absolutely have poor offensive skills.

Wouldn't that partially be Fran's fault?

Sure, the team overachieved this year by a couple games --let's not build it up any more than that-- however, what we saw today we've seen far too many times before to be brushed under the rug.

 

[kzoohawk80]

Has Fran actually done a pretty good job coaching this team and got the most out of a limited team? This team was picked low in the Big 10 and I don't believe they were pegged for the ncaa tourney. The Hawks also have 3 senior starters that play a lot of minutes who absolutely have poor offensive skills. It really is playing 2 on 5 on O most of the time.

I agree there are things Fran could do better Including his substitutions / playing time with this team. My advice to Fran - call Gable and have him talk to the seniors about mental toughness before the tourney.

No is my answer if your talking x's and o's or in game coaching. I don't think this team is limited. Experience is suppose to mean something and yet it doesn't seem to be making a difference right now. If we are playing 2 on 5 as you suggest you have to wonder why 3 senior starters are a liability on offense. You have to wonder why there's been no adjustment to that deficiency. Teams have adjusted to Iowa's offense and if you ask me Fran has had no answer to that adjustment.

 

[ZumaHawk]

We have 3 seniors who couldn't beat each other out in a game of "knock-out"....the game would take 45 minutes because nobody would make the next shot. Jok on the bench leaves us JU & Illinois knew it. Almost everyone has commented how our bench is so bad. What was Fran to do when the whole world knew JU should get the last shot? Minimal options imo.

 

[championhawk]

This is 100% on Fran for continuing to let MG break the backboard as time runs out and starting AC.

 

[Alan Stanwyk]

Gesell sucks

 

[pkaul666]

Has Fran actually done a pretty good job coaching this team and got the most out of a limited team? This team was picked low in the Big 10 and I don't believe they were pegged for the ncaa tourney. The Hawks also have 3 senior starters that play a lot of minutes who absolutely have poor offensive skills. It really is playing 2 on 5 on O most of the time.

I agree there are things Fran could do better Including his substitutions / playing time with this team. My advice to Fran - call Gable and have him talk to the seniors about mental toughness before the tourney.

Gable would end up handing them Kleenex to stop the tears.

 

[Hawkize31]

I'm not sure. I do know if we started the conference season with a 4-3 record instead of 7-0 we would be less mad today, which kind of doesn't make sense, but its how we feel. Maybe instead of looking at this last 10 games or so as a letdown, maybe he just had the team playing out of their minds to start Big Ten play. Doesn't really matter either way.

 

[broth87]

Has Fran actually done a pretty good job coaching this team and got the most out of a limited team? This team was picked low in the Big 10 and I don't believe they were pegged for the ncaa tourney. The Hawks also have 3 senior starters that play a lot of minutes who absolutely have poor offensive skills. It really is playing 2 on 5 on O most of the time.

I agree there are things Fran could do better Including his substitutions / playing time with this team. My advice to Fran - call Gable and have him talk to the seniors about mental toughness before the tourney.

I don't agree. This team was not that limited and had plenty of talent. A couple of things I see that give me concern is Fran falling in love with Uhl and Ellingsen so early and it taking until about a month left in the season before we saw Wagner and Williams, who were more consistent, more athletic, and more complete players in the minutes they got. Meanwhile Uhl was awful the last two months and Ellingsen really never gave us anything.
We lost a lot of close games just like 2 years ago, a lot of games where we held leads late in the game. Quite honest losses like that fall on coaching.

 

[messageboardsarelikecrack]

I really appreciate where Fran has brought this program from in the past few years, but here are a few examples of why he is a below average coach.
His substitution patterns are real head scratchers.
He very rarely calls a TO when the other team makes a big run.
The end of half and end of game sets are always the same. Let MG dribble, dribble, dribble until there is 5 seconds left then drive and get blocked or miss. Let's hope the men's game doesn't go to quarters as that would be 4 awful sets per game.
If they don't score on a fast break, it's almost a guarentee they will take a bad shot.
Teams have learned after a make or miss to just turn and sprint back on D so we can't get a run out because our offensive sets suck.
He continues to play that terrible zone that we can't defend the 3 pt line and can't rebound out of.
That's all for tonight, I'm tired of typing and just becoming more frustrated.

 

[madmustang4]

It all comes back to the coach. he recruits the players. If they turn out to not be very good (or great) it's on the coach.

 

[cidhawkeye]

Does it look much different than Marble dribbling repeatedly and not getting it done late? Marble made a few plays late but not many. The decision to change to that system late in the game perplexes me.

 

[NashvilleHawk]

Iowa fans didn't pick this team low with 4 seniors starting.

If Iowa could've had Gabe for another season.
Basabe and Olesani were light years ahead of the inside game, this season.

One of the unique things about college basketball, is that all marbles are what you do in the NCAA Tournament.
Advance to the Sweet 16 and this stink the last few months, will be rarely discussed, going forward.

 

[Suterman]

Iowa fans didn't pick this team low with 4 seniors starting.

If Iowa could've had Gabe for another season.
Basabe and Olesani were light years ahead of the inside game, this season.

One of the unique things about college basketball, is that all marbles are what you do in the NCAA Tournament.
Advance to the Sweet 16 and this stink the last few months, will be rarely discussed, going forward.

This is correct. This team will be remembered for what happens in the NCAA's. Right or wrong. If we get to the Sweet 16 nobody will remember the Illinois game.

 

[soybean]

Has Fran actually done a pretty good job coaching this team and got the most out of a limited team? This team was picked low in the Big 10 and I don't believe they were pegged for the ncaa tourney. The Hawks also have 3 senior starters that play a lot of minutes who absolutely have poor offensive skills. It really is playing 2 on 5 on O most of the time.

I agree there are things Fran could do better Including his substitutions / playing time with this team. My advice to Fran - call Gable and have him talk to the seniors about mental toughness before the tourney.

I think everyone agrees that Fran is a good coach...what we are asking is can he do better than that?

 

[SDHawkDoc]

They won 1-2 games more than I thought.
It's more about the nature of the performance.
Having another good January only to collapse the last 6 weeks of the season is a huge downer. Especially only 2 years out from the last time the same thing happened.
I care most about the NCAA tourney. Most would say the same. If they make the sweet 16, it will erase the stench. Win first round, it will be an OK finish to an OK season. Lose first round, the stench will linger until at least next year.

 

[David1979]

Has Fran actually done a pretty good job coaching this team and got the most out of a limited team? This team was picked low in the Big 10 and I don't believe they were pegged for the ncaa tourney. The Hawks also have 3 senior starters that play a lot of minutes who absolutely have poor offensive skills. It really is playing 2 on 5 on O most of the time.

I agree there are things Fran could do better Including his substitutions / playing time with this team. My advice to Fran - call Gable and have him talk to the seniors about mental toughness before the tourney.

This is very true. Their talent level is low compared to a lot of big ten teams but they had guys playing over their heads earlier in the year. Now they are regressing to the mean

 

[Ihawkhoops]

At some point, the rhetoric needs to match the results. Don't tell us how tough, experienced, battle-tested, and together your team is, then cite lack of execution, concentration, and focus as reasons for late game losses. If this team was all of those things, we would not go 1-10 or worse from the field in every under 5:00 game situation and blow defensive assignments.

 

[SDHawkDoc]

At some point, the rhetoric needs to match the results. Don't tell us how tough, experienced, battle-tested, and together your team is, then cite lack of execution, concentration, and focus as reasons for late game losses. If this team was all of those things, we would not go 1-10 or worse from the field in every under 5:00 game situation and blow defensive assignments.

You are what your record says you are. But that's only part of the story. How your doing that at different points in the season is very important. Playing your best basketball in January isn't all that great if you completely collapse the last 6 weeks of the season.

 

[LarryMullenJr.]

Gable would end up handing them Kleenex to stop the tears.

Sandpaper

 

[Dauminator]

Fran has some execution things he needs to learn. Hopefully he does. Doing so would help us take the next step as a program. But does he shoot the ball? Seems to me, the difference between the 10-1 start and the 2-5 finish is shooting. When we couldn't miss, we couldn't be beat. Now that we can't buy a bucket when we need to, we're falling short. We're still in the games, though. If our shot% goes up just a bit, we can definitely make the second weekend, and we're back to another season of getting farther than the year before.

There are signs there may be a trend regarding how his coaching style leaves his teams mentally. But we haven't seen enough to be sure. He still has done a great job bringing us from the wasteland back to relevance. I caution us against being too hasty to chase him out of town.