I admit, I bought into the hype that this team would be special. So far through this year, they have the same record they had last year - and have been no different than Fran’s previous teams. Let’s hope for a stronger finish.
Iowa was 13-5 through 18 games last year
- Thread starter MWardT
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I tried to warn fans at the beginning of the year unless Iowa improved defensively they would have a similar season. I got laughed at.
And those same fans are the ones losing their poop right now.
I never thought final four but this is turning quickly into that same round of 32 loss shit.. nothing from a numbers perspective defensively gives us a chance to win two tournament games
Last years team was Frans best team. They were extremely tough, and didn’t back down from anything. They weren’t the most athletic, or the best defensively, but they were just tough.
Chip on the shoulder VS entitlement makes all the difference in the world.
They at least beat some good teams while doing it, and they never gave up. They didn’t fade.
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anon_b29nm7v7dwp6r
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That's why Wisconsin, MSU, Duke, all those teams make deep runs in the tourney....they play defense.
And I'm sorry but I don't believe that focusing on defense=boring basketball....turn up the press and crank it to 11...suffocate other teams offenses...
At the end of the day if you live by the three you will die by the three. Defense travels.
And I'm sorry but I don't believe that focusing on defense=boring basketball....turn up the press and crank it to 11...suffocate other teams offenses...
At the end of the day if you live by the three you will die by the three. Defense travels.
Exactly. That team was told by so many people they weren’t going to be anything special, and that they sucked. They took that personally. That is the difference between this year and last.
It boggles my mind that this team actually finish with a worse regular season record. I get the league is tough but sheesh
I don’t know if I’ve lost my poop but I’m ready for a change. As many have said, it’s painfully obvious that Iowa will never be “elite” as long as Fran is here. You cannot be top-level as a team when you play defense as poorly as his teams do. We’ve seen it every year: try and out score the other team and hope they don’t shoot well. How many times have we seen teams shooting poorly coming in absolutely light it up (ummm earlier this week?).
Defense wins championships as much as a cliche as that is, it is true. Fran either doesn’t emphasize it, can’t teach it, or can’t recruit it.
I don’t disagree. If Fran can’t make a S16 with this squad he should move on. The window on grabbing DeVries is shrinking.
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anon_b29nm7v7dwp6r
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Yep, Iowa has reached their ceiling with Fran. I don't see recruiting getting better to change what ails this team, either.
Iowa has the likely NPOTY and will probably finish 12-8 or worse.
It's one thing to get beat, it happens, it's another thing to lose because your head coach is stubborn and won't sit his kid or make any sort of commitment to defense.
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anon_b29nm7v7dwp6r
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It feels like we have been the same team for 5-6 years now....long athletic, talented....but just not quite all there.
Agree. I made a comment about this in a previous thread about where the toughness went. This year I see the complete opposite during...especially during crunch time
Yep. Barta won't pull the trigger, but we've had over a decade of data to show this program has a ceiling that got Dr. Tom canned.
If you can get DeVries, you do it.
Maybe Notre Dame will offer Fran.
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anon_b29nm7v7dwp6r
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Well, I would have thought one of the million dollar lawsuits would have been enough to can him...but I guess not, so he must have the golden chair.
No. Nor should it. The time to fire Fran was after the 2017-2018 season. You can't fire him now. It would be terrible optics and I'm not sure who you could get who would want to walk into that situation.
With the new president coming in, and all the new problems that have erupted recently, Barta is in danger.
A lot more cupcake games in the first 18 last year. Doing better this year but still disappointing.
He obviously can accidentally recruit it. He just doesn't know what the hell to do with it. His defense was sitting behind him while he sat on his ass the entire second half.
It'd be worth a shot then. No guarantees he'd succeed at this level, though.
I have been pondering the last few weeks if we were better last year. I think JT at the point brought a level of toughness to our team.
I’ve been wondering the same the past couple of games. The offense has stagnated and defense remains a problem
No, last year's team wasn't better. B1G is better and this Iowa team is better. Fran didn't buy into improving the defense and it is biting him in ass.
In the sense that lineups and minute allocation are baffling, I’m sure it’s a factor
I am not a huge fan of Frans. But I honestly don't think firing him is the answer. I don't know if any coach can win big at Iowa. I don't think its too much to ask to make the sweet 16 routinely. We'll never win the BIG. So that should be the goal. People got tired of Tom Davis. All he ever did was always make the tourney and it wasn't enough. We made a change and hired hair doo and he never came close to duplicating Tom D. Then disaster struck . Fran shows up and brings us back to respectability and top 10 appearances. Thats what we are and will never be more.
My recollection is you have a bunch of Fran lover's that think he can do no wrong and they disagreed with you and they still do. Iowa has not been eliminated from B1G race yet by the numbers, but it does look like 11-9, 12-8, or 13-7 is most likely outcome. We look like the 4th or 5th best team in B1G.
The complainers are always around, just have more to complain about after losses. I've never been a fan of Fran's strategy of relying almost entirely on zone defense because there are too many games where hot hands blow you off the court and defensive rebounding out of the zone gives up too many 2nd chance points.
Fran needs to find a lineup that can defend and go with those lineups even though they are not optimum offensive units. Garza + 4 athletes.
I really don’t know if the BIG is better or the rest of the major conferences are just down. A lot of superstar players left the BIG after last year, and not nearly as many big names in the conference this year.
Well, the difference is last year we didn't have Bohannon and assumed his 3 pt and FT shooting would've made a difference, especially when CJ was out with injuries (just like this year...............)
But hey, our depth is better this year, along with most of our opponents so we got that going for us which is nice, I guess.
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