Excellence on defense requires quick athletes, something we don't have enough of .
Josh Dix
- Thread starter jonesy5960
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I don’t mind your optimism, but,
It’s hard to understand why 14 years isn’t enough for some of you to desire change for this program 🤷🏼♂️
Let’s do apples to apples. Compare their stats as sophomores and Dix is far better. Weiskamp only hit 35% of his 3s and 45% overall.
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Dix made 42% of his 3s this year and a BLAZING 55% overall. We don’t know Dix’s vertical but the eyeball test tells me he is much quicker than Weezy and a far far better ball handler.
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Because it's not a bad program, that's why. Just because Iowa hasn't had the luck to make it to the second week some Iowa fans want immediate change.
Fran retains players and develops them, he's never going to "crean" any player that goes to class, works hard, and get's he's degree or declares for the NBA draft. That ain't going to happen.
If you want quick satisfaction like some of this years teams have encountered this year, my advice to you is root for those teams if that is all your looking for.
Fran recruits basically high school kids, he's does that pretty will, but falls short in filling rosters that are talented 1 to 13. That has been the problem for Fran his entire time at Iowa.
With the portal now being used to supplement rosters by every coach in college basketball, Fran has to find a way to embrace the portal and find the few players that he can add to compliment the 10 returning scholarship players to make Iowa better. If he does that between now and the start of next year, Iowa may have something special.
If you can't see that, that's not my problem...continue to be miserable.
🧐
14 years…
“Not a bad program”… Is that supposed to be good enough for more people to care and pile into Carver actually excited to watch??
Don’t fault a lot of us for occasionally expecting Iowa to put something special / exciting / memorable together. And memorable for us after our lengthy drought would simply be two straight wins in the tourney.
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Josh Dix ain't making the NBA. Stop doing drugs and hallucinating.
Did you just move to Iowa a couple of years ago or did you come from the moon. Evidently you missed the 2018/19/20/21/ and 22 seasons. You missed the greatest Iowa men's basketball player ever. Maybe the second best also. Your loss!
Garza Weiskamp, Keegan, Fredrick and Jbo could get buckets at a level better than most. They were ‘dudes’ on the offensive side of the court.
No.
And FYI - When you are involved in a team sport, the goal is to have team success Chief (See Iowa women’s basketball).
To have had “the greatest Iowa player ever” and accomplished very little team-wise…isn’t that pretty sad?
I think Joe W wasn't able to create his own shot as well as Dix, who is a little better ballhandler, but Joe W had the physical tools. Both are just very solid college players.
Iowa is now in need of another quality guard, preferably one who can play PG or shooting guard. If they can just get that addition, I think next year's team will be a better team, mostly because they will be better on the boards and defending the basket.
If Fran can real in at least 2 guards that can play both guard positions and can beat out Brock for a starting position, experience is a valued commodity in college basketball. It could only make Iowa a better team and that's the bottom line, isn't it?
Greatest BB player ever? Let's stop there. Are you talking statistics or skill sets. Really hard to say who the greatest Hawkeye was. It really is just an opinion. But I will throw one out there that was better than any during that time. Ronnie Lester.
Tell me, did Ronnie Lester take home every known award that college basketball has to offer? I'm not saying Ronnie Lester wasn't great, his senior year they made the final four, it's a team sport, but Luka Garza was the best player to play 4 years at Iowa and he has the hardware and statistics to prove it, getting to the final four, a lot of luck plays into it, if you need to ask if that is true, there's a team in the blue grass state that can verify that.
Joe wasn't counted on much to create his own. JBo chucking 3's & Luka in the paint. I'd say Joe can shoot the 16ft fadeaway as good as Dix. I'd take Joe one on one versus Dix 9 out of 10 times. Size, better range, just as good of handles.... I'd wager Joe will have a better/longer pro career as well. Doesn't seem either will sniff much in NBA though.
Guess we will just have to agree to disagree. You base your best player of awards and stats. I base it off skill sets and ability. Yes, Luka was a great player, but not the best ever at Iowa. i can throw in JJ and Freddie and more. Don Nelson was not bad as well.
Connie Hawkins (didn't get a chance to play) & Ricky Davis probably two of the best,
While Magic Johnson only played two years in college, he said Ronnie Lester was the best college BB player he ever faced. I can't speak about players prior to Lester's time at Iowa because I didn't get a chance to see them play, but during and after Lester's time Lester is the best Iowa player I've ever seen. Elite at both ends of the floor and in all phases. Playing on one and a half legs, he led us to our last Final Four and had us leading eventual national champ L'ville by 10 (if I recall) until re-injuring his knee. Garza was a phenomenal offensive player but struggled on the defensive end.
Luka was a great offensive player, maybe the best ever at Iowa. He was not a good defensive player, and do that much to make his teammates better. Ronnie was the best I saw at Iowa and making the team better, which I think defines greatness. I didn't see JJ, Freddie Brown, Don Nelson or other earlier players at Iowa, but their results speak for themselves. All among the very best players to ever where a Hawkeye uniform.
Not sure what you are objecting to in my post that Fran needs to add a combo guard. I don't care if they start, but they need to be able to give Iowa quality minutes at PG and shooting guard. I was not knocking Brock or Josh, but we need at least one more guard.
Agreeing with you but added that Fran needs to add more then just 1 more guard. 2 would be better.
especially when Harding is the only option rn at pg. Am I right...lol You're admitting Fran needs to recruit over your boy Brock.
No, but if it does happens, Iowa will be really good and maybe you and others on this board will shut up about Fran leaving.
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Anybody that doesn't think Ronnie Lester isn't the best player to play for Iowa doesn't know shit about basketball and immediately loses all credibility and obviously never saw him play. Had he not reinjured his knee in the final four there would likely be a natty championship banner hanging from the rafters.
I thought we were behind by 6-8 when he went down? If you mean before he got hurt the first time, I might believe that
3 guard lineup on the floor should be a common site. Well, it is for many. Just not the Iowa men.
I saw Ronnie play and he’s my favorite all time player. It’s hard to compare a point guard to a center. Ronnie was a floor general and made his teammates better with his threat to score or pass.
That said, what Garza did was extraordinary, he was a shot maker from anywhere on the floor even when he was double teamed. They’re both great players, I’d go with Garza but it’s obviously an apples to oranges comparison.
I was begging for Fran to go with a 3 guard lineup with Harding, Dix and Perkins. I think we saw it once or twice in December, but that was it.
Being athletic certainly helps, but a lot of it is attitude, basketball IQ and pride. Being tall and especially long arms also helps. Adam Woodbury was not athletic, but he was one of the best defenders we’ve had.
Yep,Ronnie was an amazing player who made everyone else better around him. Wasn't the scorer Clark is,but he was just as valuable to the team. We may never see another player like him in a mens uniform.
This is what I make exception to in this post. If you're an Iowa fan and I have no doubt that there are many, if you watched Wieskamp, Bohannan, Garza, the Murray brothers, White, Marble, Basabe, Woodbury, Gesell, Cook, Baer, Jok, May, Gatens, Sandford, and yes Perkins, if these young men didn't excite you and provide you with lots of great memories during their time at Iowa, I'm not sure that Iowa making the 2nd week is going to move the needle.
As I've said before, making the 2nd week in the NCAA tournament is nothing but a crap shoot with a little luck added for good measure. There are tons of teams that had the talent to advance and we all know that Iowa falls under that premise, but it hasn't happened yet. I get it, but during the last 14 years there have been lot's of memorable games and individual accomplishments that make Iowa fans proud to be IOWA FANS!
Sometimes the wait can be unbearable, I get it, but I have faith in the roster that Fran has put together. Maybe it will happen and then maybe it won't, but I'm willing to wait it out.
If it doesn't happen, Fran is still the best coach Iowa has had for a long time and he deserves the right to leave on his own accord.
I agree with everything you said. Sure, I'd love to see the Hawks advance further in March, and I'd love to see Fran put greater emphasis on D, recruiting more dawgs at the guard position, and playing 3 guards more often. But the fact is that Iowa under Fran is consistently good - .500 or better in conference 11 of the last 12 years. I doubt there are many programs in the nation with that level of conference success. I remain hopeful they'll break thru and advance to the 2nd weekend multiple times in the future. "Hope is a good thing."
There isn’t a single P5 program that strives for this ‘accomplishment’
It is going to take you a few minutes, but, count the number of programs that have advanced to the sweet 16 (or better) during Fran’s tenure at Iowa. Hint hint - the number is pretty high.
Not Iowa though. We feel accomplished with top half of conference finishes.
After 14 years, I no longer have any hope for that going forward under his leadership. Or does he have a Caitlin Clark type of player coming in that I haven't heard about, that's going to change the status quo?
Fran 's teams have been pretty consistently "just okay".
Most of those guys were fairly accomplished and fun to watch individually. Unfortunately for the Iowa Men, the athletic department, and the fans, basketball is a team sport.
Very few, if any, memorable basketball seasons.
Guess what will most certainly be remembered though…? This two-year run by the women.
Couldn't disagree more with that. If it's just luck, crap shoot, etc., then you'd think Fran would have "lucked into" at least one trip past the NCAA 2nd round in his entire career. He has not.
Either Fran is one of the unluckiest coaches in the history of college basketball, or there's a little more to it than that.
His teams have consistently underperformed in tournament play (both Big 10 tournament and NCAA) losing several times as the decidedly higher seed.
Every team strives to win the NCAA tournament every year, but only one team does. That's hardly the standard of accomplishment. Nor is making the Sweet 16 the "be-all". Honestly, I cannot remember who made it last year. How many is it in the Big that haven't made the Sweet 16 during Fran's tenure? For sure not Rutgers, Minny, Nortwestern, Penn State, Nebraska. Maryland has made it only once in the last 20 years! OSU hasn't gone since 2013.
Personally, I appreciate the entire season as much as the finish. I appreciate finishing in the top half of the Big and (usually) making the NCAAs. I LOVE winning the BTT. Its a process. Those are all accomplishments. But I'm getting old and I used to think differently.
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