April, 2010: Puts together a staff that includes Sherman Dillard, Kirk Speraw and Andrew Francis. You don't have success in the Big Ten alone. This took some guts as a couple of these guys have been around and it's going to take communication and dedication to working together to make varied, but experienced, eyes to see things the same way. They are still together today.
Early recruiting: Digging from the moment they arrive, the staff finds Cartwright. A late get and filling a huge need right from the start. With little to offer the 2011 class, finds are the order of the day and finds we got, though we didn't know it yet, with White and Olaseni.
Purdue win, 3/5/2011. After facing better talent over and over, and sitting at 10-19, we beat #6 Purdue to close out the regular season. I call this a milestone. It is a moment when the first hashtag landed on the plus side of the equation. Everything before that was promising, this was that promise beginning to be fulfilled.
A Huge Step Up!
Seldom talked about year. 2011/12. Looking back, imo this is the year we saw a program's foundation rebuilt. One year, and we nailed it in recruiting by keeping our best instate player, Adam Woodbury, at home. And we nabbed Mike Gesell as well! (He might as well have been an Iowa kid.) We took the state BACK.
On the court we only returned to competitive Big Ten basketball, finishing 8-10. We only improved our overall wins by seven games! We only earned a post season invite to the NIT. And in that Tournament we gave a well thought of Dayton team a thrashing!
And it wasn't over yet. That summer one of our own, Uthoff, payed his own way and lost a year of eligibility to come home from Wisconsin and join the Hawkeyes!
The Four Years
2012/13 to 2015/16. Who could have known we had three future First Team All Big Ten players, and one in the bank coming in in 2012, the day we opened the 2012/13 season? But, if any class is ever identified with the four year stretch of basketball where we won 89 games, went to four postseason tournaments, nearly won the NIT (should have had an NCAA invite.), and never had a losing season in the Big Ten, that class is the 2012 class.
And that ride, looking back as successful as it was, had so many moments where we were reaching for the brass ring and JUST MISSED. So many close losses. Flirts with top ten rankings. It always seemed like we exceeded preseason expectations by so much early in the season that the ends were unbearable. Like we were the guy in the movie who gets shot right before the ending....the other guy, while the main character gets the glory and the girl and whatever else that we didn't get.
Didn't help that Little Brother was doing so well, and constantly reminding us of it.
Those good years should never have been so hard to take! Two twelve and six finishes in the Big Ten? Three trips to the NCAA Tournament? Two wins there! Never losing to a lower seeded team there? As mentioned, mid-season rankings in the top ten!?!? Huge milestones, but on our journey always it seemed they came before a breakdown.
When You Think About It
Doesn't it feel like the first six years were pretty dang good? The further away from the struggle we get, the more the slow improvements matter. That first seven win improvement from year one to year two. Then a second seven win improvement from year two to three! And then we hung on, tight, never lost ground. And we fought hard to improve though it felt like a WW1 No Man's Zone where every step moving forward was near impossible.
I think, the four years will go down as the fist fight for recognition that landed us enough respect to get guys like Tyler Cook. Enough respect to keep getting the best of the state. It turns out that keeping our beachhead was maybe exactly the best thing our recently past Hawkeyes could have done for us.
Maybe there should be a historical marker in our minds. In March of 2016, the last of the first group of McCaffery's Hawkeyes, the guys who came on the promise of a future yet to happen, on this ground, passed every inch they earned, every moment of what could be that they showed us, to a young group of players who now thanks to them could take a huge leap forward...for the foes are worn down and weary.
Today
And now we face what could be another milestone. After a year of being tested our young guys have proven they are a post season worthy team. We face a moment soon where the question will be, "Can you make an unlikely four game winning streak to finish the regular season into a six, seven or better, winning streak and GAIN an invite to the NCAA Tournament?"
What a step that would be! Such a young team!
I don't know that we'll make it. I don't know if this year will end with another gained ground, but more to go...or if it will end with a HOLY SH!T!!!!
But I know that with all reasonable consideration, we've NEVER taken a step back.
For that, I'm proud to be a Hawkeye fan, no matter what happens this week.
Early recruiting: Digging from the moment they arrive, the staff finds Cartwright. A late get and filling a huge need right from the start. With little to offer the 2011 class, finds are the order of the day and finds we got, though we didn't know it yet, with White and Olaseni.
Purdue win, 3/5/2011. After facing better talent over and over, and sitting at 10-19, we beat #6 Purdue to close out the regular season. I call this a milestone. It is a moment when the first hashtag landed on the plus side of the equation. Everything before that was promising, this was that promise beginning to be fulfilled.
A Huge Step Up!
Seldom talked about year. 2011/12. Looking back, imo this is the year we saw a program's foundation rebuilt. One year, and we nailed it in recruiting by keeping our best instate player, Adam Woodbury, at home. And we nabbed Mike Gesell as well! (He might as well have been an Iowa kid.) We took the state BACK.
On the court we only returned to competitive Big Ten basketball, finishing 8-10. We only improved our overall wins by seven games! We only earned a post season invite to the NIT. And in that Tournament we gave a well thought of Dayton team a thrashing!
And it wasn't over yet. That summer one of our own, Uthoff, payed his own way and lost a year of eligibility to come home from Wisconsin and join the Hawkeyes!
The Four Years
2012/13 to 2015/16. Who could have known we had three future First Team All Big Ten players, and one in the bank coming in in 2012, the day we opened the 2012/13 season? But, if any class is ever identified with the four year stretch of basketball where we won 89 games, went to four postseason tournaments, nearly won the NIT (should have had an NCAA invite.), and never had a losing season in the Big Ten, that class is the 2012 class.
And that ride, looking back as successful as it was, had so many moments where we were reaching for the brass ring and JUST MISSED. So many close losses. Flirts with top ten rankings. It always seemed like we exceeded preseason expectations by so much early in the season that the ends were unbearable. Like we were the guy in the movie who gets shot right before the ending....the other guy, while the main character gets the glory and the girl and whatever else that we didn't get.
Didn't help that Little Brother was doing so well, and constantly reminding us of it.
Those good years should never have been so hard to take! Two twelve and six finishes in the Big Ten? Three trips to the NCAA Tournament? Two wins there! Never losing to a lower seeded team there? As mentioned, mid-season rankings in the top ten!?!? Huge milestones, but on our journey always it seemed they came before a breakdown.
When You Think About It
Doesn't it feel like the first six years were pretty dang good? The further away from the struggle we get, the more the slow improvements matter. That first seven win improvement from year one to year two. Then a second seven win improvement from year two to three! And then we hung on, tight, never lost ground. And we fought hard to improve though it felt like a WW1 No Man's Zone where every step moving forward was near impossible.
I think, the four years will go down as the fist fight for recognition that landed us enough respect to get guys like Tyler Cook. Enough respect to keep getting the best of the state. It turns out that keeping our beachhead was maybe exactly the best thing our recently past Hawkeyes could have done for us.
Maybe there should be a historical marker in our minds. In March of 2016, the last of the first group of McCaffery's Hawkeyes, the guys who came on the promise of a future yet to happen, on this ground, passed every inch they earned, every moment of what could be that they showed us, to a young group of players who now thanks to them could take a huge leap forward...for the foes are worn down and weary.
Today
And now we face what could be another milestone. After a year of being tested our young guys have proven they are a post season worthy team. We face a moment soon where the question will be, "Can you make an unlikely four game winning streak to finish the regular season into a six, seven or better, winning streak and GAIN an invite to the NCAA Tournament?"
What a step that would be! Such a young team!
I don't know that we'll make it. I don't know if this year will end with another gained ground, but more to go...or if it will end with a HOLY SH!T!!!!
But I know that with all reasonable consideration, we've NEVER taken a step back.
For that, I'm proud to be a Hawkeye fan, no matter what happens this week.
