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Iowa has been a top 3 B1G team over last 4 years (43 wins in B1G Play)

Franisdaman

Franisdaman

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Nov 3, 2012
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Think of what Fran inherited. Think of Lick's style of play vs Fran's.

Year 1 was hard. Year 2 was the NIT. Year 3 was the NIT finals. Years 4, 5 and 6 were the Big Dance. Year 7 has been a fun up and down roller coaster.

One thing is clear; Iowa has been a top 3 B1G team over the last 4 years.

Does Iowa take a BIG STEP next year?

How impressive of a job has Fran really done?

From @IowaHoops on March 7:

Iowa Basketball‏Verified account@IowaHoops 5h5 hours ago
Iowa's 43 Big Ten wins the last four seasons ties for third best in the league. #Hawkeyes


From @IowaHoops on March 2:


Iowa Basketball‏Verified account@IowaHoops 3h3 hours ago

Iowa's Big Ten regular season wins over the last three years (32) and four years (41) each rank fifth best in the league. #Hawkeyes
 
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Franisdaman said:
Think of what Fran inherited. Think of Lick's style of play vs Fran's.

Year 1 was hard. Year 2 was the NIT. Year 3 was the NIT finals. Years 4, 5 and 6 were the Big Dance. Year 7 has been a fun up and down roller coaster.

One thing is clear; Iowa has been a top 5 B1G team over the last 4 years.

Does Iowa take a BIG STEP next year?

How impressive of a job has Fran really done?

From @IowaHoops:

Iowa Basketball‏Verified account@IowaHoops 3h3 hours ago

Iowa's Big Ten regular season wins over the last three years (32) and four years (41) each rank fifth best in the league. #Hawkeyes
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Fran has us positioned for the next level when you look at the in coming talent. He could be our next Lute. It may happen. Turning on Fran is the most program suicidal thing you can do. Fran will be the winningest coach of all time.
 
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Think most fans, especially with the players and this team def have a renewed hope again now we can aim even higher.

I think a lot before this year thought Fran has done a great job, but just had probably topped the program out and can't get good enuf players to go any further type of thing.

Something like that anyways.
 
hansenhawk said:
Think most fans, especially with the players and this team def have a renewed hope again now we can aim even higher.

I think a lot before this year thought Fran has done a great job, but just had probably topped the program out and can't get good enuf players to go any further type of thing.

Something like that anyways.
Click to expand...

I think better than top 5 is definitely in our future
 
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hansenhawk said:
Think most fans, especially with the players and this team def have a renewed hope again now we can aim even higher.

I think a lot before this year thought Fran has done a great job, but just had probably topped the program out and can't get good enuf players to go any further type of thing.

Something like that anyways.
Click to expand...

I'm sure some naysayers will argue that but I also think the performance of this freshman class coupled with the potential of the incoming classes for the next two years is evidence of the programs potential for upward trajectory. I can't remember any time in recent history where Iowa has landed so many Top 100 or 100ish players.
 
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hansenhawk said:
Think most fans, especially with the players and this team def have a renewed hope again now we can aim even higher.

I think a lot before this year thought Fran has done a great job, but just had probably topped the program out and can't get good enuf players to go any further type of thing.

Something like that anyways.
Click to expand...

Enough*

I think a lot of people are much too short sighted and don't realize how long the recruiting process is now. Kids are being contacted by schools before they are even in high school and unless you're a major power you need to get in early to land most of the difference maker type of kids. Fran is only now getting to the point where non-local kids recognize Iowa as being a perennial tournament type team again. He laid the foundation for getting the program back to the Dr. Tom level with the Uthoff-Gesell-White-Woodbury teams, it's the kids who he is going to land based on that success that will decide if we can get to the next level or not and I think we're off to a real good start so far.
 
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Everyone of those years we were predicted by the "experts" to finish 7th-10th. So did better than expected, except our fan base just this year they did better than i expected.

I thought it was going to be a rough year with 6,7 big ten wins. Glad I was wrong! Been seeing this stat after the last few games on iowas main page after every win.
 
Gabe Sifuentes said:
I'm sure some naysayers will argue that but I also think the performance of this freshman class coupled with the potential of the incoming classes for the next two years is evidence of the programs potential for upward trajectory. I can't remember any time in recent history where Iowa has landed so many Top 100 or 100ish players.
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Alford got a lot of top players. Fran and crew have been really good at evaluating players outside the top 100. Bohannon, Pemsl, getting really lucky with Baer, Kriener, Wagner, Moss, White, Olaseni, Basabe, and to a lesser extent Jok. We've had very few top 100 players over Fran's tenure: Gessel, Woodbury, Cook, and Jok (at one time). Like you said it will be interesting to see what happens with the next few classes where most of the players are borderline top 100.
 
Fran has clearly elevated the program to be in the top 5 or 6 in the B1G, which is a significant accomplishment given the state of Iowa BB when he took over and the disadvantage of having a smaller in-state recruiting base than most other programs. The question is whether we can start making some noise in the post season and win a conference title. With the players coming back and those coming in, I don't think we are very far away from those goals.
 
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HawkAttackDial911 said:
Alford got a lot of top players. Fran and crew have been really good at evaluating players outside the top 100. Bohannon, Pemsl, getting really lucky with Baer, Kriener, Wagner, Moss, White, Olaseni, Basabe, and to a lesser extent Jok. We've had very few top 100 players over Fran's tenure: Gessel, Woodbury, Cook, and Jok (at one time). Like you said it will be interesting to see what happens with the next few classes where most of the players are borderline top 100.
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Did you really just say Fran got lucky with, (and then name off eight players?) It doesn't work like that. He's done a great job of finding hinden gems like Olaseni,White, and Kreiner, and developed them. Jok, and Pemsl were top 50 guys before serious leg injuries robbed them of big portions of their high school careers. He stayed the course with them, and has been rewarded. The only guy, I think we could throw out as lucky is Baer. Fran was alerted to him by Nick's sister. In fairness Fran would have seen Baer play against Connor later that year, and may have gone after him anyway. Still no one could have predicted what we would be getting from Baer. Lightening in a bottle.
 
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kceasthawk said:
Did you really just say Fran got lucky with, (and then name off eight players?) It doesn't work like that. He's done a great job of finding hinden gems like Olaseni,White, and Kreiner, and developed them. Jok, and Pemsl were top 50 guys before serious leg injuries robbed them of big portions of their high school careers. He stayed the course with them, and has been rewarded. The only guy, I think we could throw out as lucky is Baer. Fran was alerted to him by Nick's sister. In fairness Fran would have seen Baer play against Connor later that year, and may have gone after him anyway. Still no one could have predicted what we would be getting from Baer. Lightening in a bottle.
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Nope. I said Fran got lucky with Baer.
 
Lots of positive Fran vibe right now. Even if the BTT doesn't go great I hope that vibe continues. The first 3-4 years of post Lick basketball Fran gets high marks for digging out of that mess. The last 3 years have been solid even if not spectacular (moments here and there have been) with no real steps backwards..which if you look around programs in the BIG and around the country it is also impressive.
Going forward I think the potential is there not only to sustain success, but make a run at a Big Ten title and deeper into the NCAA tournament. A couple sweet 16s or beyond and Fran will be considered an elite coach in Iowa basketball history. Clearly there are not guarantees. While each player has their weaknesses and its a longshot for any of them to be an NBA type player there seems to be something unique and special about several of them that makes me think (hope) we are on an upward trend. They believe they can win, they have a combination of talents and will have the experience to make it happen if things go right.
 
Jumpshot00 said:
Lots of positive Fran vibe right now. Even if the BTT doesn't go great I hope that vibe continues. The first 3-4 years of post Lick basketball Fran gets high marks for digging out of that mess. The last 3 years have been solid even if not spectacular (moments here and there have been) with no real steps backwards..which if you look around programs in the BIG and around the country it is also impressive.
Going forward I think the potential is there not only to sustain success, but make a run at a Big Ten title and deeper into the NCAA tournament. A couple sweet 16s or beyond and Fran will be considered an elite coach in Iowa basketball history. Clearly there are not guarantees. While each player has their weaknesses and its a longshot for any of them to be an NBA type player there seems to be something unique and special about several of them that makes me think (hope) we are on an upward trend. They believe they can win, they have a combination of talents and will have the experience to make it happen if things go right.
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You'd have to say though if the Hawks lose Thursday, the Frans taken us as far as were going to go crowd will be back out in full force. They do need to get off the snide, in losing the first game of the BIG tourney, especially since their on a roll this season. I'd agree, I see a sweet 16 in the next two years for the Hawks. (Fingers crossed)!
 
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kceasthawk said:
You'd have to say though if the Hawks lose Thursday, the Frans taken us as far as were going to go crowd will be back out in full force. They do need to get off the snide, in losing the first game of the BIG tourney, especially since their on a roll this season. I'd agree, I see a sweet 16 in the next two years for the Hawks. (Fingers crossed)!
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If one game derails all the good mojo from the way this team ended the season, that would be pretty shortsided of fans. We had so far to go to get off the mat that it feels like Fran is still getting going.
 
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I was watching one of the other B1G games yesterday and Jon Crispin, out of the blue stated that he thought Iowa would be contending for the B1G Championship, or at least second place within a year or two. Works for me.
 
Nice, I guess. Except we can never win the big game. We just can't. Rose Bowl - curb stomped. Basketball - BTT disaster or get seeded into and smoked in second round. Wrestling - Last few years can't even wrestle to our seeds.

It's hard to be a Hawk fan most of the time. When was the last time we caught a real break in anything? Like playing two double digit seeds to get to the Sweet 16? We catch Indiana in the BTT who, when it concentrates, is fairly decent.

I don't ask for much - one Rose Bowl win or a Final Four in my lifetime. Last one I got was 37 years ago. How crazy is that? Shit, I'd love for someone to look at that - what Big Ten university has gone the longest without either winning the Rose Bowl or getting to a Final Four? It has to be us, right? And Rutgers doesn't count!
 
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