Owen Freeman
- Thread starter Franisdaman
- Start date
I'm worried about someone poaching Freeman as well, perhaps not this offseason but after he really blows up next year. The Swarm is gonna have to find some money for MBB if they want to keep him for his entire career (and if they want the team to remain competitive, in general).
The article we published today also has some glowing statistics on Freeman: https://iowa.rivals.com/news/franalysis-digging-into-the-stats-behind-iowa-mbb-in-2023-24
His recruiting ranking was one of the weirder ones for me in recent memory. When he committed, he was a consensus top-100 kid with offers to MSU, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Purdue, etc. Just about a who's who of Big Ten teams who utilize and emphasis big men in recruiting. It felt very much like a classic case of a kid committing early and every recruiting service just stopped evaluating him. I know some will say that it was due to Owen not being on a big shoe circuit for AAU as to why he wasn't graded higher, but that argument falls flat fast when you realize that Xavier Booker was a consensus top-10 kid on the same exact grassroots circuit that Freeman played on.
Full text of the tweet:
Matt Painter very, very complimentary of Owen Freeman. Says he has the size, strength and skill-set to be an all-conference player. Says once he learns how to drive from the high post and shoot from the perimeter— he’ll be special.
“He’s at a great place that knows how to get the most out of him.”
Matt Painter very, very complimentary of Owen Freeman. Says he has the size, strength and skill-set to be an all-conference player. Says once he learns how to drive from the high post and shoot from the perimeter— he’ll be special.
“He’s at a great place that knows how to get the most out of him.”
? His rebounding went up and his free throw % and scoring went up. His strength improvement was the key as he put his head down going to the hoop, got fouled and scored from the foul line.
Owen with just 3 fouls in today's 88-78 win at Michigan.
He was 5-9 (56%) FGs, 5-5 (100%) FTs, for 15 points, 9 rebounds, 3 blocks and 1 assist.
He was 5-9 (56%) FGs, 5-5 (100%) FTs, for 15 points, 9 rebounds, 3 blocks and 1 assist.
If B1G refs weren't so whistle happy, he'd be playing 35 min/game and 15/9 would be a typical game for him in B1G. Garza was an absolute stud for us and Freeman is putting up stats similar to Garza as Freshman but Freeman brings more defense that Garza. Freeman might not ever be POY, but he could lead this Iowa team to a sweet16 if Fran gets more serious on defense and brings in some guard talent.
Agree. And IF Fran can convince TP to come back one more year I think we finally have the guards we’ve needed with Dix and the rest. Perkins is really starting to shine and Dix should get more consistent.
I knew when Iowa went to the portal and brought in Krikke and Brauns that at some point in the season Owen would be needed to play more to improve the rebounding, but at no time did I think he would become a legitimate starter and the player he has become, this fast.
Seven freshman player of the week awards. Outstanding! Just wait until Brock Harding wakes up and becomes the player that I know he can become!
These 2 along with Pryce and Dembele, Dix, Bowen, and Payton plus next years recruits will lead Iowa to its first sweet sixteen since 1999.
Seven freshman player of the week awards. Outstanding! Just wait until Brock Harding wakes up and becomes the player that I know he can become!
These 2 along with Pryce and Dembele, Dix, Bowen, and Payton plus next years recruits will lead Iowa to its first sweet sixteen since 1999.
I do wonder if Owen has improved that much since last season or if he just was not really challenged by other quality bigs with molines downstate schedule so he was harder to evaluate.
Right now it appears that he should have Mr BB in Illinois.
I know Brock Harding was the floor general with ball in his hands most of the time so naturally he had tons of assists and pointa so suppose that tipped the scales to him.
Lol.. I find that line of thinking, interesting, and humerous. Lets just sign up with Clarks agent. Lol.. Her agent no doubt came after her, and she has her pick of A list companies to work with because she has transcended the game. There is NO other athlete on Iowa's campus who is even remotely the kind of draw that CC is. Big O has a bright future ahead of him, and he may even play for $$ someday, and should make some $$ while a Hawkeye as well, but he isn't there yet. Baby steps.....
Yep close enough for family to go to every home game plus he is starting as a freshman
Moline played one of the most difficult schedules in the State of Illinois last year. Lost to Wisconsin Lutheran, Chicago's Mt. Carmel, and Chicago Simeon, but beat Carmel Indiana, beat Quincy twice, East St. Louis, Vashon of St. Louis, Rolling Meadows, Normal Community twice, O'Fallon, Oswego East, Downers Grove North, and Benet Academy, and pretty much boat raced the Western Big Six Conference. Freeman saw his share of good big men throughout the season and was second to none,
As for the Mr. Basketball award going to Brock, it was probably more what he did in the 2 state tournament games that put him in position to win that award.
There were a few more players in Illinois that were much more talented and touted by the media and ranking services then Brock as Brock only made 2nd team All State, which is nothing to sneeze about.
Owen finished as the best center in the State and made 1st team All State, so you could make a argument that Owen should have, could have, won Mr. Basketball in Illinois, but that doesn't minimize what Brock and Owen and their supporting cast accomplished in something that rarely happens in the State of Illinois for the first time in the history of Moline High School.
Chicago and surrounding schools have had a straggle hold on high school basketball in Illinois since forever and it takes an extraordinary team as Moline was last year to come out on top.
I can't wait to follow Brock and Owen's future at Iowa in the coming years, they are both examples of hard work and great young men.
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How in the heck can you say that, living over a 1000 miles away from Iowa City? He isn't being redshirted just to play a few minutes or just be a bench cheerleader. I'm guessing he will start along with Owen and be a major contributor for Iowa the next 2 years.
I've seen enough of him to believe he has skills that will help Iowa finish in the top half of the league next year. You can't teach height, length, and quickness.
The non believers and there are many, will be astonished.
Owen is a program record 7x B1G Freshman of the Week.
The last note in the tweet is this: Freeman could be Iowa's first Big Ten Freshman of the Year since 1994.
The last note in the tweet is this: Freeman could be Iowa's first Big Ten Freshman of the Year since 1994.
I think riley has some potential---but Fran hasn't shown much interest in playing Riley, even in past when we've played a team like Purdue with a Giant. I don't read a lot into Redshirting other than FRan wasn't planning on playing him this year and Fran always seems to have unused schollies, so there isn't a big lost opportunity by giving Riley another scholarship year. If Riley is going to ever make a difference it will be as a 4th or 5th year guy.
Would be great if Riley develops some game. He is a decent shot blocker from what I've seen.
I know IllQC will be mad at me for saying this, but I have a strong feeling that Riley took the RS to save a year of eligibility for the transfer portal. He's going to go dominate in some mid major league for the next 2 years I would guess.
With Owen emerging as a dominant big man, he's going to be penciled in for 30+ minutes going forward. And basketball has changed to the point where playing 2 bigs together just is rarely feasible. It's worked okay with Krikke just because he allows more spacing on offense than a traditional back to the basket big would, but I think it would be a disaster at playing Owen and Riley together. Owen is a pretty athletic guy for his size, but I really don't want him running around on the perimeter on defense guarding the Donta Scott's, Malik Hall's and Quincy Guerrier's of the world, which is what a typical 4 man build in the Big Ten is. That's why Ladji's development is so important--he's got the best of both worlds in the size and body of a big ten post but athletic feet and shooting to play a modern 4 man.
