Play the freshmen. Baer, Wagner and Williams. They got game.
Lesson learned
- Thread starter Mohawkeye
- Start date
Wagner was playing great defense and hustles. Baer was hitting shots. CW just has to be on court at 6'6 with long arms and he upgrades the defense. I like Fran, but he blew this season sticking to that Gesell/Clemmons combo.
Of course, hard to overcome Clemmons/Uthoff and jok shooting 13/43. Only way to overcome that is to put some of them on bench and play the guys making plays.
They were playing Freshman as well. You put them vs MSU, Purdue, or others they get creamed.
Like the hustle, but this group of freshman will lead us to maybe a top 5 finish in the Big Ten. Sorry but this coaching staff has not recruited elite talent and tonight it showed.
IU has had top 30 classes the past 5 years. Iowa's only class in the top 30 was our group of seniors tonight.
Like the hustle, but this group of freshman will lead us to maybe a top 5 finish in the Big Ten. Sorry but this coaching staff has not recruited elite talent and tonight it showed.
IU has had top 30 classes the past 5 years. Iowa's only class in the top 30 was our group of seniors tonight.
Never never never ever get emotionally invested in Iowa basketball.
Entertaining game tonight.
Entertaining game tonight.
gesell and Woody formed a solid nucleus....thanks. That said, they both may have been 4-stars, but they ended up being role players at college level. We do need to find difference makes and my gosh, find some shooters that don't have the yips. Baer at least has balls..I think he has proved himself this season. CW deserved a lot more PT based on tonight.'s game. Wagner is good player...
Baer defense left him late this season. I don't know what happened, but he got torched lately on defense. He had the yips late in the season as well and tonight he hit some shots. But still he is not a Big Ten player.
CW & Wagner are nice core, but they are not elite players. I am sorry but watching IU's freshman play tonight, it showed that their freshman were on another level than Iowa's. You look at Stone and others in the conference they will be gone in a year or two. But these guys will stay, but are they any better??
I just think Fran has to sell his soul to the devil. Start some illegal crap to get some good athletes in here. We do not have that yet and we are still the choir boys of the big ten. We can play if refs are calling it tight and giving us free shots. But once they clamp down, we are screwed.
Hell even tonight we had a HUGE advantage at the FT line and couldn't convert. Just pathetic overall by a so called "senior laden" team.
Williams should have been allowed to play through mistakes very early in the season. If that had been allowed to happen, he would have been an actual asset to this team.
Coaching mistake.
Coaching mistake.
As much as I really, really hate to agree with this, there is some truth to it. I have been an avid Iowa Basketball fan since 1960 (Yes...avid) and heartbreak is usually right around the corner. I am afraid I can't help the emotional investment (except for Lick) but it can be a rough existence. I love my Hawkeye hoops but it ain't easy.
I don't even know where to begin. Baer is not a Big Ten player? WTF, who were you watching tonite? Wagner outplayed the Indiana freshman post(who will probably go pro) and Williams was a stud. Wish we had gotten Anaouby, but I'll take take our freshmen class over Indiana's.
Umm come on now. Why should Iowa have pulled in top 30 classes in recent years?
Iowa got lucky with that class because Woodbury was homegrown and Gesell was just across the river. Those two alone drove the ratings up. Uthoff transferred. Clemmons was underrated. And as has been documented, so was Jok, to throw him in the mix as well since we're talking about recruiting.
Iowa lost to f***ing Kentucky for Tyler Ulis. If we hadnt, we'd probably still be leading the Big Ten right now. Blame Fran for a top recruit choosing Kentucky over Iowa all you want.
I don't expect Iowa's recruiting to improve until their less - heralded players step the f*** up and win the conference or do something more in the NCAA tournament in order to provide a spark for recruiting. Otherwise it's just more of the same.
If this class can't win a championship, and our "less talented" underclassmen/recruits can't compete, then why should recruits come to Iowa no matter what Fran and his staff sells to high school prospects?
Not to mention, Iowa is still working to improve that NBA pitch to recruits who think they have what it takes. Iowa is not exactly a feeder program for future draft prospects. Indiana?......
But by all means tell us what the coaching staff is doing wrong with recruiting? Who are the kids they should've gotten instead but passed on or literally allowed other schools to take? (And yes we need specific names of actual players).
UMM IU's class was 27th out of 30?? That's pretty good.
Bryant had a game and he made some key plays down the stretch (rebound on a missed FT's). Then stepped to the line and knocked them down.
Baer is not a Big Ten Player. The kid is a nice "role" player but if he is counted on as being one of our scores next year we are screwed. Sorry the kid is a neat story, but he cannot defend.
I don't care who it is, just go get some inner city kids. I don't care if they can't add, give the tutors their tests. You look at UNC, Kentucky, Duke, Kansas and others. I mean you have to go get at least 1 player at their level. IF you can't, go after a transfer player who can come in and compete. I mean it seems like Fran settled this year for 3 kids from Iowa and a kid from St Louis.
Are there kids out west, south, east that want to come here??
I like Fran, but he flat out f'd up on this one.
Lol I even told you to be more specific and you couldn't do it.
"I don't care who it is." is not an answer. Sorry.
Go the JUCO route then. I am sorry but Bryce Cartwright was a better PG than what we have right now and what we have coming in.
I am not into the rankings or reciting of Div 1 basketball, but Fran settled for the in-state kids. I love Iowa kids, but they are not elite players. Ask the freshman from IU tonight. They owned Iowa and they were great at it.
Look at Frans last couple of years best players (May) the only kid from Iowa. The rest were from out of state.
Best players......so Gatens and then May....and then Marble, who was a legacy recruit, and White......and Uthoff, no wait where was he from?......Hmm, maybe you have a different opinion of who our best players were/are.
Also, if Iowa doesn't have elite players then why does Roy Williams keep stealing kids from our state? What would Iowa have been had they had Barnes or even Paige? Is Paige not elite? Oh yeah I know that's just one player but you only said Iowa kids were not elite. You should've clarified that you just meant the kids Fran brought in........I see how it is.
I am sorry but if you can't lock down your boarders, then yes you get the "left overs". I forgot about Gatens, he was a good in-state recruit, but he was also an Iowa guy from birth. It seems like Fran is making an effort to lock down the boarders, but who did we beat out for Pemsl, Bohannon, Kreiner?
Iowa kids are great role players, but they are not elite players. I am sorry but look at Forbes, Valentine, Loving, Hayes, and others in the conference. Those kids are elite players and I just wish Fran would go after some of them. I realize we got Cook which is a HUGE get in my opinion. The kid will start from day 1 and probably be a 2-3 year guy and then be pro. Fran needs to find some pipelines and work them.
I am glad to see this freshman class he broke into Chicago and we have 2 good players red shirting right now. I am praying moving forward that Fran can continue to get into the Metro areas and get the players. I don't mind getting 1-2 Iowa kids to mix in with those Big City kids. Lets face it the level of competition those kids see in the Big City, is hands down tougher than what Iowa kids see in 3A-4A basketball.
I'll wager you that Baer makes 3rd team All Big or better before he graduates. A six pack of hometown brew? What do you say DavenportHawk?
I get your premise, which is that recruiting counts. It does. However to make broad statements about Iowa players is wrong, 2 of those "non-elite" Iowa players will very likely end up 1st and 2nd team all-conference this year.
The more I think about the fact of the kid from Wisconsin, being first off the bench, earlier this year, the Higher my Blood pressure goes up. It's like sending in a 7th grader, when
Michael Jordan is available.
The state of Iowa certainly has had more home grown talent than in the old days. It is a shame to not be able to lock them down. Kansas and N Carolina have done a good job of cherry picking our native talent.
When I was in High School in the early 60's no Iowa school had ever finished in the top 3 of the old Mississippi Valley with Moline, East Moline and Rock Island dominating the conference. And those 3 seldom went very far in the Illinois High School tourney.
I would say Fran has done a good job of locking down the borders (can't really count Paige, too late to that game), it's just that Iowa isn't going to have elite talent every year generally. Some years those best players will turn out to be elite, other years role players (which every team needs as well). He's also made progress in Chicago and St. Louis, so not looking entirely inside our borders.
Sounds good!
I like the kids story, but if he is counted on to be a starter we will struggle. I love his hustle, but you see he can only last about 4-5min and then is gassed.
Baer isn't going go be Denzel Valentine, that I agree. Baer can be one of those guys that makes big shots and does all the stuff to help you win. Baer doing this well as Freshman on big stage speaks well for his mental toughness.
I agree, Fran does need some stars. He had two stars this year, but neither are type of guys that can bring the ball up the courts and get their shot off and make it. It became easy for teams to just defend those two.
First and foremost, Fran needs to find a stud PG. Sorry Hawk fans and the MG fan club, 8.1ppg scoring PG Mike Gesell will never be mistaken for Ronnie Lester or Andre Woolridge.
Hell I would settle for a Bryce Cartwright clone. The guy could break down defenses and was all good and moving the ball. He would hit maybe 1 out of 4 3pt shots, but he never forced it.
Fran said when he got here and continues to say that they need to bring home the in state talent first and while I have issues with other aspects of Fran's coaching I think he gets this part right. And he puts an emphasis on high character guys which I don't want to see changed as it represents the Iowa way no matter how far we go as a program. You mix in the Iowa kids with quality recruits from out of state and I think he has made progress in the Chicago metro area as well as making inroads in St. Louis with Cook.
I still think Fran has over-recruited wing players at the expense of the post and point guard positions where we could really hurt next season even if Williams continues to blossom but no guarantees he even stays at the point down the road. Perhaps Connor coming has caused some guard prospects we might have landed to back off. Remember we have accounts of him telling recruits in AAU ball that they would have him feeding them the ball. Interesting to see how Fran ends up using him as well as how quickly Bohannon develops who I see as a key piece of the puzzle with next year's incoming freshmen.
I still think Fran has over-recruited wing players at the expense of the post and point guard positions where we could really hurt next season even if Williams continues to blossom but no guarantees he even stays at the point down the road. Perhaps Connor coming has caused some guard prospects we might have landed to back off. Remember we have accounts of him telling recruits in AAU ball that they would have him feeding them the ball. Interesting to see how Fran ends up using him as well as how quickly Bohannon develops who I see as a key piece of the puzzle with next year's incoming freshmen.
