Mostly agree, but Iowa has had some pretty impressive highs in football under Hayden and Kirk. Basketball...I've just never really felt like Iowa could legitimately win a conference title or make a deep run in March.
Iowa’s Best Team In 30-40 Years Could Have 10 Losses?
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Mostly agree, but Iowa has had some pretty impressive highs in football under Hayden and Kirk. Basketball...I've just never really felt like Iowa could legitimately win a conference title or make a deep run in March.
That this season will end up as top 2 or 3 over the past 20 years just reinforces how irrelevant Iowa basketball has been in the 21st century.
I mostly agree, BUT, I thought Garza and company could/would AT LEAST win the conference this season.
Turns out they're not nearly athletic enough. It's hard not to believe in the hype when it doesn't come around that often. But, shouldn't have taken the bait I suppose.
Is it too hard to ask for just one great season in the last 20 years? Elie 8 or better.. Or just one sweet 16 appearance under Fran? Thats all I ask 😁
This is also a really strong Big Ten. The NCAA tournament is all about matchups. There’s still a lot on the table for Iowa going forward.
Yup. Those are the three best teams this year and they are loaded with NBA talent. Not only NBA talent, but guys with years of college basketball experience. Rare to see that these days.
Yes, we have a problem at point guard. As many have stated, JBo is not a point guard...he is a 2. He cannot break down defenses. With that being the case, good teams like Michigan are not forced to help and can run our 3 point shooters off the line. Our defense, though it has been better lately, is not even close to being in the same league with other top teams, such as Baylor, Illinois, etc. Also, against teams that get into us and body us up, we really struggle. We cannot play physical. When officials allow physical play, we are in trouble. Personally, I have no problem with how the game was officiated....let the players decide the game.And that worked to Michigan’s advantage.
we were the consensus favorite to win the B1G
CBS Sports picked Michigan 9th in the B1G
Iowa lost games it had no business losing (at Minnesota, TWICE to Indiana). They could not close out the games vs Illinois & Ohio State. That's 5 very frustrating losses right there.
And what's scary is how well Michigan is recruiting. They have 3 McDonalds All Americans coming in for next season.
We are slow, and weak. Teams know they can get right in our face and there is no threat of anyone beating them on the dribble. Bohannon is not a point guard, neither is Conor as neither one is any threat off the dribble at all, and Conor isn't a threat to do anything at all really. Hard to run an offense when the defense meets the point guard at half court and he can't get around him, or penetrate at all off the dribble. We literally have nobody that can create their own shot off the dribble on a consistent basis because we are so slow, except for Joe T, but he is simply out of control most times and can't shoot very well. Defensively, forget about it. No quickness, lateral movement, and teams can take the ball to the basket pretty much at will against any one of our players. Wagner embarrassed Weiskamp I don't know how many times last night with easy lay ups.
Yes, it does seem to be a strong Big Ten with a lot of capable squads. And yes, there are still games on the table for Iowa to impress and there are still tournaments in front of us - I get all of that.
But I still view your initial comment as an excuse and a way of letting yourself be OK with how the season has gone.. Michigan is 12-1 in this "strong Big Ten." I thought and mostly expected Iowa to be in that spot.
If Iowa can't get to the second weekend this season, then it's not likely to ever happen under Fran. He's a mediocre recruiter, mediocre in-game coach, mediocre defensive mind - it's almost as if Iowa has some success in spite of his limitations. He is fool's gold - the team looks glittery and valuable one minute, but the next everyone knows what it really is.
I think it’s less an excuse and more a reflection of reality. Michigan is much better than I expected them to be coming into the year. Ohio State is also better than I was expecting them to be. Frankly, Illinois and Iowa haven’t been as good as I expected. We all knew coming in that this was going to be a high-powered offense and hoped that there would be just enough defense.
I don’t see losing to Michigan on the road as a great failure - I truly think they’re one of the elite teams in the country and Juwan Howard has everything cooking up there. What really hurt Iowa was the 4-of-5 stretch. Some of that was the flaws we knew would be there manifesting themselves and some was due to missing CJ.
I was responding more to the idea of a disconnect between best team in decades and 10 losses. This Iowa team playing the way this Iowa team has played wouldn’t be looking at the potential for 10 losses in other versions of the Big Ten when it wasn’t as strong top to bottom.
Still not convinced that Wagner is really that good. He went off on us in this game, but he's not any more athletic than Weiskamp. If Joe's not an NBA caliber player, then neither is Wagner.
Can't put the 20-21 team on the level of "the best team in 40 years". Such a team wouldn't have lost most of the games this one has, and would have given Michigan a much better fight. Many Iowa teams between 1975-1999 had much better guard play, and were just more consistent.
I don't know. Wagner looks much better and more effective than Joe when going to the hoop. He looks more athletic than Joe to me.
I think nba scouts would disagree.
Wagner is bigger and better at most aspects of the game.
Don't know where this year's version of the Hawks would rank historically. Given our NET and being continually ranked in the polls, it would be toward the top.
What I would say, however, is that this year's B1G is just about as good, top to bottom, as any time in my memory.
What I would say, however, is that this year's B1G is just about as good, top to bottom, as any time in my memory.
News flash, there's almost no one at this level that can check Wagner. He's the model for what we hope Keegan or Pmac could become. A 6'9 guard who can shoot, handle, score at each level and defend. He'll have a long career in the NBA probably better then his brother Mo......
Sorry but Wagner is Joe W. plus and 3 inches taller. If Keegan or Pmac turn out to be close to Wagner we'll win a lot of games. Wagner will most definetly play in the league and for a long time. Joe W I think will find it harder to stick with a team then JU has......
There really isn't anything about this team that surprises me. The biggest surprise has been KM - he is a very good player now and can be a star. Nunge has been very good in his role, but I kind of expected that.
The rest of the team - Luka, JBo, JW, CJ, JoeT, CMac - all very similar to last year. Yes, another big step forward would have been nice, perhaps even expected, but personally I didn't expect a big leap in individual performance.
CJ's injury was a big deal. Now Jack's injury is a big deal. Iowa doesn't have the kind of depth or talent to simply blow through those losses.
Let's hope they can finish strong even without Jack, but it's going to be really hard to replace him.
The rest of the team - Luka, JBo, JW, CJ, JoeT, CMac - all very similar to last year. Yes, another big step forward would have been nice, perhaps even expected, but personally I didn't expect a big leap in individual performance.
CJ's injury was a big deal. Now Jack's injury is a big deal. Iowa doesn't have the kind of depth or talent to simply blow through those losses.
Let's hope they can finish strong even without Jack, but it's going to be really hard to replace him.
And that team severely underachieved as well
It's time for C.J. Fredrick to conjure up his high school state championship playing mojo or whatever he had that allowed him to lead his Kentucky team in scoring and leadership. We need him to not defer to others and take over the game when the opportunity presents itself, it's time for him to put on his big boy pants....
Losses include these teams in BraketMatrix Gonzaga #1 seed, Michigan #3, tOSU #4, ILlinois #5.
and wins include most wins vs top 25 team (or so going in to this weekend)
I doubt that any of those previous Iowa teams played 4 of the top 5 teams in the country...
and wins include most wins vs top 25 team (or so going in to this weekend)
I doubt that any of those previous Iowa teams played 4 of the top 5 teams in the country...
Yeah the extreem recency bias on the board is dumb.
No perspective on the big picture.
A bunch of the same guys who thought Iowa would beat Michigan now think they can't compete with OSU.
If Iowa beats OSU, Luka has a normal game and somebody goes off for some 3s it'll be all giddy excitement again.
The reality is Iowa is a top ten type team just not elite.
I awkwardly locked eyes with Greg Brunner at CostCo two weeks ago. Thought right away it was him but had to give him like 2 more seconds of a look than is civil and appropriate just because I was like "Is that really Greg Brunner?" And then he noticed and gave me a look like "Why is is this guy wondering if I'm Greg Brunner. Of course I'm Greg Brunner. And yes, he's prolly still pissed about that last game. I am too." And then I dipped down frozen foods aisles.
Like most years, let the season play out and then we'll know how they rank.
NCAA tournament is the definition of a success or failure. B1G regular season championship was gone when we piled up 2 bad loses to Indiana
NCAA tournament is the definition of a success or failure. B1G regular season championship was gone when we piled up 2 bad loses to Indiana
Yes, bi-polarality seems to be the new Pandemic among Iowa fans....
And here we sit as a consensus 2 seed heading into the weekend. Like I’ve said in other threads, basketball isn’t football. Teams are going to lose throughout the year. Look back at the last time the tournament was played, list out the top 4 teams in each region, and look at the W/L records for the P6 teams.
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