Fran and his staff has driven this team into the ground, Only 4 players are reliable, Owen, Josh, Doug, and Brock. that's it. Payton is toast, even if he comes back, he's damaged goods. Mulvey could have given Owen additional rebounding help, but Fran continued to play Dembele or Braun's who both haven't provided enough rebounding, defense, or scoring support, disappointing at best.
Pryce as a sophomore, is not a rebounder but a 3 point threat that is very inconsistent from game to game, is not very quick and is not that great of defender.
Theore, and Tadjo are very athletic, Fran could play them both, but the offense would suffer as they are not skilled enough offensively. Cooper is sick or injured, so he's not much help going forward and Kingsbury is good to take a charge or two but little else.
Whether this team turns it around or not, it looks like this season is going to be like every other year under Fran, they may make the NCAA tournament but in all likelihood at best the NIT, but in all reality though, something around a five hundred finish is likely as the meat of the season is still in front of them.
To LukaDuka and others that say that Brock is not worthy of starting, so be it. Brock and Owen are my home boys, they earned their starting roles through hard work and I will continue to watch every game they play for Iowa no matter what, they are just sophomores and are not as polished as they will be as they get older.
I've followed Iowa since the 60's and that will continue until I'm no longer breathing and yes, in a perfect world, Fran would ride off into the sunset after this season and Beth would hire a coach that knows how to recruit the portal, can bring in top talent, is charismatic, and will elevate Iowa to a higher level . If it happens fine, probably won't, but I'll continue to support the program even if none of that happens.
My heart may not be behind Fran and his staff, but until he leaves or retires, he still is Iowa's head coach, not the most ideal situation for sure going forward, but until Beth decides enough is enough, nothing is going to change, nor with the distractors of the program or my loyalty to the program.
I'm as disappointed at the result of this season as I'm sure some of you are, but there's lots of Debbie Downers on this board that are thrilled at how the season is playing out, hope it all works out for them, but again despite how the season has turned out, my love for Iowa basketball will never diminish, not for the rest of this season or seasons to come.
Everyone should have the right to voice their opinions and I am wrong to say otherwise. PEACE....