I will admit, 9 years ago when we hired Fran I was ecstatic with the hire. After 3 years of watching Licks teams score in the 40s, Fran brought an exciting brand of basketball. But in 9 years, he simply hasn’t been able to recruit the type of kids needed to succeed running his system, and he is too damn stubborn to adjust his system to his players skill levels and strengths.
Iowa needs to win with toughness and heart. They need to out work and out hustle teams. Instead, Frans teams are SOFT. They fold when the game gets too physical. The B1G is a tough, physical conference. You simply cannot win playing soft, especially when you don’t have top notch athletes.
It would help this team immensely to slow the game down, limit turnovers, and limit possessions for the other team. Play tough defense, and learn to BLOCK OUT on the boards. But Fran has shown an inability to adjust his system, an inability to teach his players how to play tough, fundamental defense, and an inability to get his players to give maximum effort on both ends of the court. They let their offense effect the effort they give on the defensive end, and are constantly playing lazy defensively and failing to block out on missed shots. The effort isn’t there when the game is not going their way, which is inexcusable.
It’s been this way for 9 years now. I doubt it’s going to magically change. I’m guessing after this season it will be 9 years under Fran and we haven’t made it past the round of 32 in the tourney. That is not, and should not, be good enough. There is no reason at all this program can’t be as successful as Wisconsin.
Iowa needs to win with toughness and heart. They need to out work and out hustle teams. Instead, Frans teams are SOFT. They fold when the game gets too physical. The B1G is a tough, physical conference. You simply cannot win playing soft, especially when you don’t have top notch athletes.
It would help this team immensely to slow the game down, limit turnovers, and limit possessions for the other team. Play tough defense, and learn to BLOCK OUT on the boards. But Fran has shown an inability to adjust his system, an inability to teach his players how to play tough, fundamental defense, and an inability to get his players to give maximum effort on both ends of the court. They let their offense effect the effort they give on the defensive end, and are constantly playing lazy defensively and failing to block out on missed shots. The effort isn’t there when the game is not going their way, which is inexcusable.
It’s been this way for 9 years now. I doubt it’s going to magically change. I’m guessing after this season it will be 9 years under Fran and we haven’t made it past the round of 32 in the tourney. That is not, and should not, be good enough. There is no reason at all this program can’t be as successful as Wisconsin.
