MBB Portal Targets (confirmed contacts)
- Thread starter HawkHoops80
- Start date
Like I mentioned earlier, 3 schools in 4 years, the guy is a merc.
Not meant to be a knock against him, that's every kids right now with how the rules are set up.
It just means that the "iowa's" and apparently the "wisconsin's" of the world won't be landing many (if any) of his type via the portal.
Schools who fans/boosters have fully bought-in to committing large sums of cash (on top of season tickets/merch/etc.) to their respective programs will benefit going forward.
Prepare for a lot more disappointment than elation in these scenarios.
Well, he visited so I think it’s wrong to assume we can’t land a recruit like him.
Exactly. Folks realize the money conversation is likely had before kids even set up visits, right? Like of course other schools may up the ante after the fact, but Cross isn't wasting his time coming to these visits unless these schools were at least in the ballpark of what he is looking for in terms of NIL.
Sure, but no where did I say "we can't" ...just that I think the odds of doing so are significantly low when you are considering players who are solely looking to maximize their income while still at the college level (i.e. my "mercs" comment).
Sure, Iowa was in the ballpark with NIL, but perhaps he thought once he was on campus (most likely with his agent joining him, totally wouldn't put it past players to do that now in this current environment) he could negotiate the offer up to what he really wanted - in order to get him to sign the commitment immediately.
If not, then he could always continue looking, which he obviously is.
Don't be naive and think that it's not about the money. I would highly doubt that he said, "Well, the money is right, and it looks like the opportunity to play significant minutes are there, love the facilities and arena, but I just don't want to spend a year in Iowa. I flew over way too many corn fields on the way in."
Pretty sure he would understand all that before taking the visit...at least he should.
If he's not smart enough to use Google, than maybe we don't want him.
Oh I 100% agree with you that this is about money--I just doubt that Iowa's not able to be competitive there since he took the visit. He could even like Iowa the most and is trying to dangle these other visit opportunities to get the price moved up. From my understanding, TCU and SMU's side of things haven't finalized visit dates, so who knows what is going on in this one.
It could be that since the young man has played at a variety of schools, he realizes the importance of fit and culture. Since it’s his last go around he really wants to take his time and make the right decision……and that might be some place besides Iowa….or maybe not.
Hey, QCHawk! (I was from Muscatine so right in your neighborhood) Anyway, since you probably were in college in 1966-1972, or at least following BB then - How could you not think the 1970 team was fantastic - Johnson, Brown, 'Stick' Vidnovic and Calabria??? LOL
I'm sure they were, undefeated conference and all, but I was stuck on Midway Island serving my country in the U.S. Navy during the entire 1970 season as a Ocean System Technician or OT . Was only home for 3 weeks during December of that year and then was shipped off to Adak, Alaska for another year, unfortunately that time of my life, did not include much local sports.
Was lucky enough on November the 4th of 2021 to finally get to go on an Honor Flight from the Quad Cities airport.
Last edited:
Is this really a question? Cross had to have gotten a scholarship offer, $$ have no idea
Portal guys aren't brought in on visits unless they are 100% going to offer them. This isn't a high school kid where you can string them out for a year and a half for their recruitment.
He may have been offered a scholarship but not a given starting position, may have been told he had to earn it. With so many forwards coming back and all of them Frans previous recruits maybe Cross wanted a guarantee and Fran wasn't willing to.
I believe you are correct. Staff may have preferred Xavier Amos '{NIU} from the portal.
Maybe Fran can kick in some $ from his big salary? 😜our chances at landing any of these are slim &
Didn’t Bowen have a leg injury later in the season that caused the diminished playing time?
I believe the thought process is that Iowa maybe doesn’t have enough NIL $ to get two more players from the portal?
I get what you’re saying, but as far as the backcourt spot goes, that player is likely just going to be a backup to Dix, so it’s not like he’s going to be commanding a lot of money in the portal. The staff can still pay up for a “4” looking for a starting spot while bringing in a guy who’s just happy to be on a Big Ten roster to add depth to the backcourt.
I’m sure Cross is a decent player, but does Fran have something against guards? I would think that is still Iowa’s biggest need.
If there are two open scholarships, both need to be offered to guards.
If there are two open scholarships, both need to be offered to guards.
BirdistheWord
HR Heisman
Thank you for your service IllQCHawk!
I want the best 8 or 9 man rotation possible--if there's a guard that allows to improve that, then I agree with you we should get a guard. But right now, Cross would greatly strengthen Iowa's starting lineup--if we don't land a 3/4 wing then it's likely that either Ladji or one of the freshmen are starting next season, which could end up being okay but not really something we want to bank on. After Dix was inserted into the starting lineup last year, he averaged close to 32 minutes/game--those minutes aren't going to decrease. It's going to be a tough sell to any portal guard worth a look to convince them to come in and be around 8-10 minutes a night--that's ultimately why I hope they use that last scholarship on a late 2024 kid.
You get Cross or a similar 3/4 forward, the rotation likely looks something like:
Thelwell - Dix - Payton - Cross - Freeman
Harding - Pryce - Freshman - Ladji
That would be your main 9 or 10 depending on if both freshmen come in ready to play right away. Thelwell is capable of sliding over to the 2 when Dix is out so it'll likely be a similar 3 man rotation at guard like we had this past year once Bowen was out of the rotation.
This has been my #1 issue with Fran during his tenure, more than defense, more than anything. It simply perplexes me that we aren't able to not only get more guards, but skilled guards, the cat quick ones we are even playing against in non-con. It makes every other issue worse.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but our current backcourt is comprised of Dix, Harding, and the new portal addition, right? Am I missing anyone from the backcourt who is on scholarship?
I must be missing all this depth at the guard position because I don’t see it. And, again, correct me if I’m wrong, but college basketball is dominated by guards, right?
I mean, if Cross really moves the needle for talent acquisition, then I guess it makes sense to an extent. But, man, it sure seems like Iowa is paper thin in the backcourt. Dix is great and Harding brings excitement, but who else is proven that can give you solid minutes at the P5 level? I don’t see this newest portal addition having any more significant of an impact than Dasante Bowen or any other guard Fran has brought in lately. I guess we’ll see.
Still, even if all three are solid, what happens when one gets injured?
Thelwell is good, I've been watching some Morehead games this week. He's a nice addition because he's able to flex out to the 2 when Dix sits--he played off the ball 2 years ago for Morehead and shot 38% from 3 that year.
My main point here is what type of portal guard are you going to be able to get to come in when you have a 32 mpg incumbent in front of him? Most guys in the portal want 1 of 2 things-- money or playing time. And we all know that Iowa isn't dropping big bags and when you have an incumbent 32 mpg guy on the roster it's going to be a real tough sell for playing time.
There's a massive chasm in talent gap between a Matt Cross type starter vs the type of portal player that is willing to be Josh Dix's backup.
With Iowa's NIL budget it's not as simple as just going down to the portal store and hand selecting the best guard available and making it work. There are calculated decisions that have to be made and offering minutes is one of the easiest ones to make when you have less money than others. Not to mention--if you do bring in someone good enough that reduces Dix's minutes, what is preventing him from bolting to one of the team's that has been in his ear tampering all offseason?
I consider Pryce to be a 2/3. There isn’t much difference between the two traditional positions.
So at this time no other portal visits correct. Assume if Cross goes somewhere else that may change. Think the reason u add Cross is Riley and the other big haven’t done anything. Delembe has to make a leap forward and the incoming freshmen are an unknown. A proven interior presence is needed.
U might consider Pyrce a backcourt player. But defensively he didn’t appear to be one.
I am 63 and 69-70 team hooked me.
Just the beginning of numerous gut wrenching NCAA tournament losses.
P. Sandfort comes back and I feel Iowa will be a NCAA team. Gut feeling.
I see a lot of people saying we should recruit a guard and not a lot of people pointing out potential players.
The way I see it, the fit has to work both ways. Most transfers hear their competition for the starting PF slot are 3 underclass men and see an opportunity. That's an easy sell.
At guard, you’ve got two PGs expecting playing time. Your 2nd best player might be your SG. And you’ve generally got a lot of wing depth. So you’re looking for someone to play backup 2 behind a junior and also play third string PG.
Who wants to transfer into that situation? Remember, they aren't going to start for the next two seasons, so they have to be coming off their freshman season to have a chance to realistically start at any point in their career, and that'd still be only in their final season. That's normally the playing time situation players transfer out of! Worth noting, I think we also offered a class of 2024 guard, which makes a lot more sense given the timeline of our players, although it is a little late for that.
If this was Arkansas I'd say throw the bag at them and they'll come anyways, but obviously Iowa doesn't have the type of money to make a player not care about playing time.
One thing I noticed is Iowa seemed to offer a bunch of guards, got the commitment, then started focusing more on forwards. I wouldn't be shocked if after we get Cross or another PF we see Fran go back into the portal and look at which guards might have not found a starting spot (or lowered their asking price) and are willing to play as a rental combo guard for a year of big ten film before heading back out.
The way I see it, the fit has to work both ways. Most transfers hear their competition for the starting PF slot are 3 underclass men and see an opportunity. That's an easy sell.
At guard, you’ve got two PGs expecting playing time. Your 2nd best player might be your SG. And you’ve generally got a lot of wing depth. So you’re looking for someone to play backup 2 behind a junior and also play third string PG.
Who wants to transfer into that situation? Remember, they aren't going to start for the next two seasons, so they have to be coming off their freshman season to have a chance to realistically start at any point in their career, and that'd still be only in their final season. That's normally the playing time situation players transfer out of! Worth noting, I think we also offered a class of 2024 guard, which makes a lot more sense given the timeline of our players, although it is a little late for that.
If this was Arkansas I'd say throw the bag at them and they'll come anyways, but obviously Iowa doesn't have the type of money to make a player not care about playing time.
One thing I noticed is Iowa seemed to offer a bunch of guards, got the commitment, then started focusing more on forwards. I wouldn't be shocked if after we get Cross or another PF we see Fran go back into the portal and look at which guards might have not found a starting spot (or lowered their asking price) and are willing to play as a rental combo guard for a year of big ten film before heading back out.
It was either get drafted in the Army and possibly end up in Vietnam or enlist in the Navy, got lucky and after going through basic training was assigned to Fleet Sonar School in Key West. Vietnam didn't seem to appealing to me at the time. So I appreciate the thank you and serving in the military for 4 year had it's ups and downs, but I really had no choice but to enlist as bolting to Canada was not an option. And in the end it was the right choice....
So, if Cross still has an offer and there wasn't something that both sides could not agree on (NIL$, playing time, etc), does anyone have a good guess how much NIL$ was offered? As I have said, I think Cross would be a really good addition for a lot of teams. He brings a very complete game with a lot of experience. I am surprised if he didn't want a 6-figure NIL offer. Honestly, if Perkins got $500k, which I thought I heard, Cross should be easily worth $100K+.
IMHO, if the coaches think this, we are in deep sh!t trouble.
If he wasn't asking for at least $300K I'd be surprised.
If Iowa has offered more than $200K I'd be even more surprised.
Obviously, that topic had to have been covered before he was invited/accepted his visit.
My personal theory is that he thought by coming on campus he could negotiate an uplift on Iowa's existing offer to something closer to what he's hoping to get, and by dangling his immediate commitment right on the spot if Iowa bumped it up.
