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Is there One Person......

ChiPackHawk

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Jan 10, 2018
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who would have bet the farm that Iowa would be an 11+ win team in the Big Ten and 20+ overall, along with being a lock for the tournament knowing that...

Bohannon was only playing in 10 games
Nunge lost for the year very early
McCaffery unable to play
Pemsl/Kreiner/Evelyn needed to play significant roles
Frederick missing a number of games due to several injuries
Wieskamp having a sub par year - for his expectations
Garza would have to be a National Player of the Year Candidate
Kreiner a candidate for Big Ten 6th Man Award

The answer is - nobody would have. So, I suggest everyone stop the bitching and whining and enjoy what has been a very fun season. The personal attacks on the players are just unnecessary and makes people look like self entitled little brats. There is something called Recreational Value. I urge people to adopt it.
 
who would have bet the farm that Iowa would be an 11+ win team in the Big Ten and 20+ overall, along with being a lock for the tournament knowing that...

Bohannon was only playing in 10 games
Nunge lost for the year very early
McCaffery unable to play
Pemsl/Kreiner/Evelyn needed to play significant roles
Frederick missing a number of games due to several injuries
Wieskamp having a sub par year - for his expectations
Garza would have to be a National Player of the Year Candidate
Kreiner a candidate for Big Ten 6th Man Award

The answer is - nobody would have. So, I suggest everyone stop the bitching and whining and enjoy what has been a very fun season. The personal attacks on the players are just unnecessary and makes people look like self entitled little brats. There is something called Recreational Value. I urge people to adopt it.
Its common sense posts like this that just infuriate me. lol. Well said!
 
Your point is well taken, but it will all be for naught if the team crumbles down the stretch and we make early exits from the BTT and the NCAA's.

Agree 100% and we still don't know how the end of the season will play out. But for the first time it feels like we could have another end of the season fade which I never saw coming with this team. Don't know if we can win at Illinois or not but we can't take another bad loss there and expect to go into tournament play with any kind of momentum. Weiskamp continuing to play in a funk kind of adds to the feel of this team possibly starting a decline but we'll see.
 
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It’s not that they lose games, it’s a team that we know is good but watching them do pretty basic things bad is what ticks me off. College players shouldn’t have to be reminded to hustle, block out, or stop with the stupid turnovers.
 
It’s not that they lose games, it’s a team that we know is good but watching them do pretty basic things bad is what ticks me off. College players shouldn’t have to be reminded to hustle, block out, or stop with the stupid turnovers.
This is my take as well and if that is considered whining, so be it.
 
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who would have bet the farm that Iowa would be an 11+ win team in the Big Ten and 20+ overall, along with being a lock for the tournament knowing that...

Bohannon was only playing in 10 games
Nunge lost for the year very early
McCaffery unable to play
Pemsl/Kreiner/Evelyn needed to play significant roles
Frederick missing a number of games due to several injuries
Wieskamp having a sub par year - for his expectations
Garza would have to be a National Player of the Year Candidate
Kreiner a candidate for Big Ten 6th Man Award

The answer is - nobody would have. So, I suggest everyone stop the bitching and whining and enjoy what has been a very fun season. The personal attacks on the players are just unnecessary and makes people look like self entitled little brats. There is something called Recreational Value. I urge people to adopt it.
I never expected them to have the season they are having. And, I don't believe in calling players out … I do believe in stating the obvious - when players simply show no motivation and zero hustle … Last night is a game Iowa should have won. Losing at home because of lack of hustle is a hard pill to swallow. I accept shots aren't going to fall every night. But every night, you hustle.
 
I never expected them to have the season they are having. And, I don't believe in calling players out … I do believe in stating the obvious - when players simply show no motivation and zero hustle … Last night is a game Iowa should have won. Losing at home because of lack of hustle is a hard pill to swallow. I accept shots aren't going to fall every night. But every night, you hustle.
And this....All this. "Whine" away, I am with you whining.
 
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I never expected them to have the season they are having. And, I don't believe in calling players out … I do believe in stating the obvious - when players simply show no motivation and zero hustle … Last night is a game Iowa should have won. Losing at home because of lack of hustle is a hard pill to swallow. I accept shots aren't going to fall every night. But every night, you hustle.
Fair enough - they were completely out hustled and out played last night. Frustrating as it was for the moment, I'm not letting it affect my outlook for the year.
 
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No, but that doesn't matter one bit. Realities change, and expectations along with it. With the properly changed expectations, recent performance had been pretty disappointing.

Still a great season, but crap the bed in the tourneys, and it was all an illusion like some past years
 
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[QUOTE="anon_gjzkhykcp9iuj, post: 7460873, member: 1374" ]...recent performance had been pretty disappointing.
[/QUOTE]

Like that beat-down of Penn State last Friday?
 
It’s not that they lose games, it’s a team that we know is good but watching them do pretty basic things bad is what ticks me off. College players shouldn’t have to be reminded to hustle, block out, or stop with the stupid turnovers.


I was thinking this last night watching it, and how it sounded like the football season of "what ifs". It's not that they lose, it's the how they lose that's frustrating. It has been a hell of a fun ride--frustration and all--just like football was, but the "DOH!'s along the way.....
 
I expected 10 wins tops after the loses of players and transfers last year. The DePaul debacle was bad. Getting to this point is just a bonus and we should enjoy the ride. Hardly a fade considering we have not lost 2 in a row in a while.
 
Agree... This is a hell of a ride and I haven't been this invested in Iowa BBall in a long time …

Yeah overall no matter what happens the rest of the way it's been a good season. It can't be called a "fade" even if they lose the next 3. And it appears, even in the loss to Purdue, that the team does care, They were trying. They played terribly. That doesn't mean that a lot of self-examination shouldn't be done as to why they played so terribly.

I know it's easy to just be focused on our own team as we see them all the time, but imagine being a Purdue fan. They have big victories over Iowa (twice), Virginia (29 points!), 29-point win over MSU, 19-point win over Wisconsin. They also lost by 14 at Nebraska and lost by 17 points at home to Illinois. Try figuring that out. You can't, other than they are a very inconsistent team. Did Purdue quit? I don't think so.

Iowa is like a lot of teams in the league -- good, but with enough holes that when they dont' play well they can look not very good. My biggest concern right now is to see something out of Wieskamp. Iowa is going nowhere in either the BTT or the NCAA tournament if he is not playing better. I have no idea if he's hurt, sick or other things going on, but to watch him recently compared to earlier in the Big 10 season, it is not the same player.
 
Yeah overall no matter what happens the rest of the way it's been a good season. It can't be called a "fade" even if they lose the next 3. And it appears, even in the loss to Purdue, that the team does care, They were trying. They played terribly. That doesn't mean that a lot of self-examination shouldn't be done as to why they played so terribly.

I know it's easy to just be focused on our own team as we see them all the time, but imagine being a Purdue fan. They have big victories over Iowa (twice), Virginia (29 points!), 29-point win over MSU, 19-point win over Wisconsin. They also lost by 14 at Nebraska and lost by 17 points at home to Illinois. Try figuring that out. You can't, other than they are a very inconsistent team. Did Purdue quit? I don't think so.

Iowa is like a lot of teams in the league -- good, but with enough holes that when they dont' play well they can look not very good. My biggest concern right now is to see something out of Wieskamp. Iowa is going nowhere in either the BTT or the NCAA tournament if he is not playing better. I have no idea if he's hurt, sick or other things going on, but to watch him recently compared to earlier in the Big 10 season, it is not the same player.
Good post … We just want to see this team not lose steam … especially now with B10 tourney and NCAA on the horizon … JW didn't forget how to shoot … I think now it's just playing in his head … he will get on track …
 
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Fair enough - they were completely out hustled and out played last night. Frustrating as it was for the moment, I'm not letting it affect my outlook for the year.
If they have an early exit from the NCAA tournament the outlook on the year, for me, will be a fairly negative one.

How many [more] years will go by until Iowa basketball makes a "splash" and leaves the program/fan base with something to be remembered.

An Elite 8 appearance (sweet 16 would be remembered) would be my kinda "splash."
 
Agree 100% and we still don't know how the end of the season will play out. But for the first time it feels like we could have another end of the season fade which I never saw coming with this team. Don't know if we can win at Illinois or not but we can't take another bad loss there and expect to go into tournament play with any kind of momentum. Weiskamp continuing to play in a funk kind of adds to the feel of this team possibly starting a decline but we'll see.

All this talk about End of Season slide or fade. Let's take a look at our February record:
  1. Feb 2 vs. #23 IL - W
  2. Feb 5 @ Purdue: L
  3. Feb 8 vs. NE: W
  4. Feb 13 @ IN: L
  5. Feb 16 @ MN: L
  6. Feb 20 vs. #19 OSU: W
  7. Feb 25 @ #16 MSt. : L
  8. Feb 29 v #24 PSU: W
Record: 4-4

That's not exactly a slide
 
All this talk about End of Season slide or fade. Let's take a look at our February record:
  1. Feb 2 vs. #23 IL - W
  2. Feb 5 @ Purdue: L
  3. Feb 8 vs. NE: W
  4. Feb 13 @ IN: L
  5. Feb 16 @ MN: L
  6. Feb 20 vs. #19 OSU: W
  7. Feb 25 @ #16 MSt. : L
  8. Feb 29 v #24 PSU: W
Record: 4-4

That's not exactly a slide

Think you missed my point. I said the way we played last night at home feels to me like for the first time we may have started our end of season slide. I related that specifically to the post about early exits from the BTT and NCAA tournament which we have a history of under Fran. This and a bad loss at Illinois could portend that if it comes but can't really tell at this point. This team I thought had the mental fortitude to make a respectable end of season showing. Last night left me wondering.
 
I am very surprised by our success this season. I had said all along that the bar for a successful year for Fran was making the tourny but I did not think he could do it with his depleted roster. They are clearing that bar with ease.
We are not fading...we had a bad game.
Sorry gang, we have already overachieved. Relax and enjoy selection sunday.
 
Think you missed my point. I said the way we played last night at home feels to me like for the first time we may have started our end of season slide. I related that specifically to the post about early exits from the BTT and NCAA tournament which we have a history of under Fran. This and a bad loss at Illinois could portend that if it comes but can't really tell at this point. This team I thought had the mental fortitude to make a respectable end of season showing. Last night left me wondering.
I think we win at Illinois.
 
No, but that doesn't matter one bit. Realities change, and expectations along with it. With the properly changed expectations, recent performance had been pretty disappointing.

Still a great season, but crap the bed in the tourneys, and it was all an illusion like some past years
*Great season.....for us* I figured out a long time ago that like the pre 15 cubs, the secret to Hawk happiness is low expectations. I had none coming into the season like most did so it has all been icing on the cake.

I did get my hopes up a few weeks ago but jw's slump has brought me back to reality. Still think we can make sweet 16 run if he gets it going but garza can't do it alone. Either way im proud of guys' resiliency. Losing out would be only way I end up disappointed but that would be temporary... still be a very respectable season regardless
 
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Yeah overall no matter what happens the rest of the way it's been a good season. It can't be called a "fade" even if they lose the next 3. And it appears, even in the loss to Purdue, that the team does care, They were trying. They played terribly. That doesn't mean that a lot of self-examination shouldn't be done as to why they played so terribly.

I know it's easy to just be focused on our own team as we see them all the time, but imagine being a Purdue fan. They have big victories over Iowa (twice), Virginia (29 points!), 29-point win over MSU, 19-point win over Wisconsin. They also lost by 14 at Nebraska and lost by 17 points at home to Illinois. Try figuring that out. You can't, other than they are a very inconsistent team. Did Purdue quit? I don't think so.

Iowa is like a lot of teams in the league -- good, but with enough holes that when they dont' play well they can look not very good. My biggest concern right now is to see something out of Wieskamp. Iowa is going nowhere in either the BTT or the NCAA tournament if he is not playing better. I have no idea if he's hurt, sick or other things going on, but to watch him recently compared to earlier in the Big 10 season, it is not the same player.
This is generally a great post but God forbid we lose 5 of last 6 like you mentioned....people will definitely be calling it a fade considering the position we were in. Don't think that happens tho. If Garza leaves this could be our "what if" year. Hoping to just get hot again and avoid any real fade talk this year
 
who would have bet the farm that Iowa would be an 11+ win team in the Big Ten and 20+ overall, along with being a lock for the tournament knowing that...

Bohannon was only playing in 10 games
Nunge lost for the year very early
McCaffery unable to play
Pemsl/Kreiner/Evelyn needed to play significant roles
Frederick missing a number of games due to several injuries
Wieskamp having a sub par year - for his expectations
Garza would have to be a National Player of the Year Candidate
Kreiner a candidate for Big Ten 6th Man Award

The answer is - nobody would have. So, I suggest everyone stop the bitching and whining and enjoy what has been a very fun season. The personal attacks on the players are just unnecessary and makes people look like self entitled little brats. There is something called Recreational Value. I urge people to adopt it.
Totally agree. Problem is, as the Hawks accomplished more and more, most folks have changed their expectations upward. This doesn't have to be a bad thing but does become a negative thing when people lack appreciation for all this team has done. Do I want them to win every game? Sure. Do I expect crazy things to happen in the BIG on any given night? Yep.
 
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This is generally a great post but God forbid we lose 5 of last 6 like you mentioned....people will definitely be calling it a fade considering the position we were in. Don't think that happens tho. If Garza leaves this could be our "what if" year. Hoping to just get hot again and avoid any real fade talk this year
If we lose 5 of the last 6 it will be a fade.
 
Just before the DePaul debacle I had a post stating that the indicators showed the potential for a much better performance this year than last year. I was laughed at heartily after that game.

But I will restate the indicators:

1. I strongly believe that the losses of Cook and Moss are addition by subtraction. This is not to impugn their character or persons...they just weren't a great fit for our team.

It is fun to see Moss have success with KU, because he doesn't have to do the stuff that he had to do in Iowa City...namely, handle the ball like a guard. He was a terrible running mate for Jbo.

Cook is a fine young man, and I hope he has great success in the NBA. But he also was not a good fit for Fran's system. Fran asks his players to move (with and without the ball), screen and shoot...all of which were weaknesses for TC. He could really dunk the ball, but that isn't all that useful of an attribute in Fran's system.

And finally, neither of them could defend. We struggled for 3 years to defend AT ALL with those 2 guys on the floor.

2. It was fantastic having Jbo's shooting bailing us out for so many games over the past 3 years, and I am very hopeful there is a way for him to replace BE and really have a fantastic senior year. However, whatever we gained from him in offense was definitely lost on D. He and Moss had to be one of the worst defensive guard tandems in the country. I am sure B1G guards drooled coming into Carver, and it was no fluke that we constantly saw "career high" games from opponents.

There is no question that one of the main reasons this year's team is winning more is due to guard defensive play. With Conner, JoeT and Bakari, we are actually very good at that end of the floor.

This change alone indicated a much better season.

3. Finally, it was clear that our shooting would be improved (once we saw what CJ could do). A team that can hit the 3-ball with consistency always has the chance to win games, at any level of ball. With Joe W and CJ on the wings, we are very deadly.

I was hopeful that Conner was a better shooter than he showed his frosh year (I had seen him play in HS, and he was always decent), and I hoped that Garza and Nunge were improved from previous years. As it turned out, Nunge has been out and Garza has been better than anticipated.

4. To be honest though, I had no idea that Luka was gonna be this good. Not only good, but actually improving all year. His game speed continues to go up each game, it is really fun to watch. I told someone the other day that, if he is finally in his full man-body, with mature footspeed, by next year...I could see him having a Douggie McBuckets sort of senior year. That was fun to watch, it was like McDermott at Creighton was just playing at a different speed than everyone else on the offensive end. Luka is getting really close to that...and he obviously has way more post game than Doug ever did.

I hope Luka returns.
I hope Joe W. adds 25 lbs of muscle (both strength and quickness)
I hope that Joe T makes a reasonable soph leap.
I hope Jbo returns to a similar shooting form as his best year(s)
I hope CJ also gives us that next level
I hope Conner becomes that dominant X factor that I think he can
I hope Nunge is actually serviceable and healthy
I hope that 1 or 2 of our 5 recruits are good enough to run with that bunch.

If those things happen, we are winning the B1G and competing at the national level...but I digress.

Best of luck to the guys this year, I hope they have another 5 or 6 wins in them.

Go Hawks!
 
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who would have bet the farm that Iowa would be an 11+ win team in the Big Ten and 20+ overall, along with being a lock for the tournament knowing that...

Bohannon was only playing in 10 games
Nunge lost for the year very early
McCaffery unable to play
Pemsl/Kreiner/Evelyn needed to play significant roles
Frederick missing a number of games due to several injuries
Wieskamp having a sub par year - for his expectations
Garza would have to be a National Player of the Year Candidate
Kreiner a candidate for Big Ten 6th Man Award

The answer is - nobody would have. So, I suggest everyone stop the bitching and whining and enjoy what has been a very fun season. The personal attacks on the players are just unnecessary and makes people look like self entitled little brats. There is something called Recreational Value. I urge people to adopt it.
Yep. This is why I choose to vent by bitching about refs. It’s more fun that way, especially with this crop of folks who take great exception to sports message board ref-complaining.
 
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We had better hope that the Illini are no more fired up for their Senior Day than we seemed to be, although given the revenge factor, I suspect they will be highly motivated.
 
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We had better hope that the Illini are no more fired up for their Senior Day than we seemed to be, although given the revenge factor, I suspect they will be highly motivated.

Iowa had the same revenge factor against PU...
 
It’s not that they lose games, it’s a team that we know is good but watching them do pretty basic things bad is what ticks me off. College players shouldn’t have to be reminded to hustle, block out, or stop with the stupid turnovers.

This
 
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