On Fran 2019
- Thread starter drh1150
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I disagree that Fran is a “system” coach. Our offense varies quite a bit depending on our personnel. He likes to play fast and that creates more opportunities for the other team, but also for us. I think we are getting more stops this year then we were in prior years,
I think I...I mean, I think Fran is showing how good of a coach he is, especially when forced to use a shorter bench.
Look at what he's faced so far this season. Injuries to JBo and Nunge. Losing his starting 2 guard (Moss), power forward (Cook) and 6th man (Baer).
After the DePaul debacle, he and his staff regrouped.
And the result? A top 25 national ranking. A #26 NET ranking.
Look at what he's faced so far this season. Injuries to JBo and Nunge. Losing his starting 2 guard (Moss), power forward (Cook) and 6th man (Baer).
After the DePaul debacle, he and his staff regrouped.
And the result? A top 25 national ranking. A #26 NET ranking.
I am curious what our defensive ranking would be if we weren’t at the bottom of the entire country in terms of opposing teams making their free throws against us.
To be fair, we don't foul a lot, so it's probably just a point or two per game, which is about 1.5x that per 100 possessions. I think the bigger factor is, what is our true defensive ranking based ONLY on performance this year. Most of the site that are listing this information (KenPom for example) include information from the previous season. We've been steadily moving up the defensive ranks this year, which leads me to believe that perhaps last year's numbers were dragging us down to start and creating a mirage when looking at the numbers. Sure, we gave up 100+ to Michigan, but we've also shut down some teams that can be pretty good offensively. Plus, with Jordan out, our defense probably gets even marginally better as we're forced to play Toussaint more minutes, and defense is one of his strengths.
Blog is spot on.
I think Fran has the capacity to be a very good coach. He demonstrated that in the tourney last year. He took the worst team in the B10, put them in the tourney the next year, and brought them back from down 13 to a higher seeded team to win.
That's good coaching.
But he also has capacity to stink up the joint. Good coaches have their teams playing their best basketball late in the season. Last year, we got DESTROYED by Wisconsin, Ohio State, Rutgers, and Michigan, and we let bottom dweller Nebraska pick us off all in the last quarter of the season.
That's undoubtedly bad coaching.
No Fran team has been wire to wire consistent because Fran might not be a consistently good coach. Will that change in year 10? Who knows. The product is still mostly good though.
I think Fran has the capacity to be a very good coach. He demonstrated that in the tourney last year. He took the worst team in the B10, put them in the tourney the next year, and brought them back from down 13 to a higher seeded team to win.
That's good coaching.
But he also has capacity to stink up the joint. Good coaches have their teams playing their best basketball late in the season. Last year, we got DESTROYED by Wisconsin, Ohio State, Rutgers, and Michigan, and we let bottom dweller Nebraska pick us off all in the last quarter of the season.
That's undoubtedly bad coaching.
No Fran team has been wire to wire consistent because Fran might not be a consistently good coach. Will that change in year 10? Who knows. The product is still mostly good though.
You realize Fran was ejected before things unraveled vs OSU and was suspended for that Rutgers game?
Pretty hard to criticize his coaching there when he wasn't even in the arena.
Wisconsin and Michigan were both top 25 teams. That happens.
Against Nebraska, their point guard made a ridiculous amount of deep threes down the stretch, much like our comeback vs Northwestern.
When evaluating coaches I tend to look at the full picture rather than anecdotal evidence. We've been consistently in the top half of the conference while being in a suboptimal recruiting area. Fran does a great job identifying talent like Fredrick, Bohannon, Toussaint and Baer. He generally wins 20 or more games. Hell, before last season numerous posters here thought Kriener should transfer to a mid major. Now he's developed into a pivotal big. I'm glad Fran's calling the shots rather than the brainiacs here.
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So for Iowa fans who are worried that Fran is good for keeping the Hawkeyes out of the Big Ten basement but bad for making it to the second week of the NCAA Tournament, keep two things in mind. One, teams can get hot at the right time. Iowa is a spurtable team. Hell, they came this close to completing the epic comeback on Tennessee and notching a Sweet Sixteen last season.
Not a ideal thing to hope for / count on.
Two, it’s possible for a coach to hire an assistant who is strong in the areas where he himself is deficient. It takes money and an ability to spot rising talent and a reputation as being a good boss. I’m not sure Iowa has any of those things working in their favor right now.
This is probably my biggest criticism of Fran; he knows that his teams need to improve their defense but hasn't changed his staff to address this issue. Maybe that viewpoint is ignorant, but it's been on topic on this board for many years.
Not a ideal thing to hope for / count on.
Two, it’s possible for a coach to hire an assistant who is strong in the areas where he himself is deficient. It takes money and an ability to spot rising talent and a reputation as being a good boss. I’m not sure Iowa has any of those things working in their favor right now.
This is probably my biggest criticism of Fran; he knows that his teams need to improve their defense but hasn't changed his staff to address this issue. Maybe that viewpoint is ignorant, but it's been on topic on this board for many years.
Any thought to the notion that playing only an 8 man rotation the past few years would have won more games?
Yes, things under Fran are decent - certainly could be a lot worse. Cough, Lickliter, Cough.
Strong start to the season, but I'm gonna let it play out before judging either way. How many times have we gotten to January and things look pretty good before totally going off the rails? Well, here we are once again. January right around the corner, and we're ranked. February and March still loom. That's often been the bugaboo. What I'm wanting to see out of Fran's teams is to have a good year and maintain it through end of year. That won't be easy this year, though, looking at the schedule down the stretch. A lot of games that are either against ranked teams, on the road, or both.
Strong start to the season, but I'm gonna let it play out before judging either way. How many times have we gotten to January and things look pretty good before totally going off the rails? Well, here we are once again. January right around the corner, and we're ranked. February and March still loom. That's often been the bugaboo. What I'm wanting to see out of Fran's teams is to have a good year and maintain it through end of year. That won't be easy this year, though, looking at the schedule down the stretch. A lot of games that are either against ranked teams, on the road, or both.
The idea by itself may be bunk, but I think playing your best 8 players more has merit.
Playing a ten man rotation for the sake of playing two extra guys, while better players sit ‘could’ cost you a game or two. On the flip side of the argument is that Fran is also playing for the season and not just one game. Perhaps resting the two better players now could pay off down the road. I generally don’t buy into that with 18-23 year olds, but it’s possible with a long physical B1G season.
I looked at the final for teams teams from last year (Virginia, Texas Tech, Mich St, and Duke) and they all seemed to play smaller rotations. I could be guilty of cherry picking the data....I guess we'll see how the Hawks do in February and March.
Does Fran get a pass this year, given the Nunge, Bohannon, and Patrick injuries? That's three options he can't use the rest of the way. I'm inclined to say yes, personally, but am curious about the overall opinion of Hawkeye Nation.
Agreed, got thinking about TampaHawk's point that we've seen the wheels fall off before. If he can get it done with what he's got left, more power to him, but I don't know that it's fair to blame him if we struggle down the stretch.
Right. I certainly won't. I have been completely impressed by Fran's job this year.
I like and support Fran. I've hated his televised tirades, which I think he's cleaned up. Most importantly, I think he's a clean coach where his student athletes grow into men while having a shot at a deep dive into the tournament yearly.
I know the crowds aren't great, but can Iowa bball really be that broke?
I find that hard to believe.....
Not sure what their "good boss" comment means either. So, people don't like to work for Fran?
I love Fran as a coach and you’re 100% correct in that he’s a clean coach that brings in quality young men.
I’ll slightly disagree that he’s changed his behavior any. I just don’t think there’s been a whole lot of opportunities (yet), but the B1G season in young. They will more than likely come. Fran does seem to be a lot more in control of his behavior around his more experienced teams. Against SDSU, Fran went through three assistant coaches, Billy Taylor being one of them, to get at the officials. That was after already giving the refs an ear full and he went back to the Iowa time out huddle. I couldn’t tell if the ref said something to Fran, but he darted right back at him through his coaches. Nothing happened as far as a T, which would have been more than deserved by Fran.
I don’t mind Fran giving the refs an ear full. I don’t mind Fran picking up the occasional T as long as it’s in the right spot. I’m tired of being lowly ole Iowa and the doormat when other coaches are praised and rewarded for the same behavior.
So far so good. Players are fully invested in the offensive scheme. If Fran can keep improving on the defensive end and get those FT's up, then I believe we'll be in good stead going forward. As for player development, I also believe that Fran is doing very well.
The last game all the tickets were sold and there were 12,000+ fans in the stands. That's pretty good.
Who said we don't have the money to hire coaches? We have coaches and they are good ones. We can't hire anyone else unless we fire one of our current guys. Who do you want to fire?so how do we not have money to hire coaches?
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