Payton officially Returning for his Senior Season
- Thread starter Franisdaman
- Start date
This team just got good. Well, they've been trending that way. Two solid additions, and now keeping Payton makes me believe the 2024 team will be good.
Didn't Wieskamp do the same thing his sophomore year, he did the NBA pre camp and still came back for his junior year. People get so bent out of shape when they think a player is going early. It's just a yard stick the players use to determine if they are ready or not and Payton was clearly not ready.
Look at some other teams in the league. You might change your mind.
Agreed. The defense, rebounding and overall athleticism got A LOT better with the new acquisitions.
To replace Krikke and Pat with Traore and Tadjo is a real coup. With the scoring that will come from Payton, Freeman and Dix, the staff just needs the T’n’T combo to pound the boards and play strong D.
Another factor I think fans are underestimating is the improvement that’ll come from Dembele, Pryce and Harding. With normal frosh-to-soph growth, that trio should provide a great lift off the bench.
I think they still need to add another guard to the roster, but I think this will prove to be a talented Hawkeye squad.
All pennies.Fran came with a bigger bag of cash! Good job negotiating by Payton!
Go away. You are going to be proven wrong.
It should not really be difficult for Fran to sell a spot to an experienced combo guard who isn't looking for stardom, just a spot on a really good team. I like this team a LOT, but an injury to a guard would be devastating.
What do you think about this:
Starting 5:
6’3” PG Drew Thelwell (SR)
6'5" SG Josh Dix (JR)
6'7" F Payton Sandfort (SR)
6’7” PF Seydou Traore (SO)
6'10" C Owen Freeman (SO)
Next 5 off the bench:
6'0" PG Brock Harding (SO)
6'7" F Cooper Koch (FR)
6'7" F Pryce Sandfort (SO)
6'8" PF Ladji Dembele (SO)
6'8" PF Chris Tadjo (FR)
Other 2 scholarship players:
6'11" C Riley Mulvey (JR)
6'9" F/C Even Brauns (SR)
Good possibility, but I think Dembele and Traore could switch places, as well as Thelwell and Harding. Three sure starters, Payton, Dix and Freeman. After that, there going to be a LOT of competition in fall practice and early in the season. Competition is good!
Yep. That could make Dembele more likely to start, because he might need to spend some of his time as the back up center, if the two bench centers can't play meaningful minutes.
Or right.
Time will tell.
Torvik has all transfers and Sandfort already factored in and projects us 16th in an 18 team league. If that's "good" then... I would hate to see what not so good is.
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Dix just needs to find that fire in his belly to become an elite scorer. He disappeared too many times last year.
All these "experts" look at our roster and underestimate us. We might not ever be a dominant team, but we almost always are better than predicted. So many unknowns on this year's team, and with the expanded conference, ought to be an interesting year.Or right.
Time will tell.
Torvik has all transfers and Sandfort already factored in and projects us 16th in an 18 team league. If that's "good" then... I would hate to see what not so good is.
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T-Rank College Basketball Ratings and Rankings. And fun.barttorvik.com
I'm looking forward to a couple late night games against USC and UCLA. Too bad Walton won't be around to broadcast them.
Mostly because other then PS and Dix we really didn't have another reliable 3pt shooter on the team. That and we ran a lot of the offense through Krikke last season....
Sorry, Love Payton, and he's a Hawk, BUT he's "coming back" because he showed like dog doo at the combine and he wasn't getting drafted, NO way, No how. No need to sugar coat things. Thats almost as bad as Proctors statement in why he didn't stay with Iowa intially.
Yes, I was being kind, he's a good Hawk, but he's not an NBA player which I've said all year when he started getting some buzz, and next years results won't be any better. He's not going to make up that kind of gap at this point in his maturity.
BirdistheWord
HB Legend
I was inferring that he will need to be more selective (lower volume) in the NBA. His volume probably won’t change much at Iowa but his role will be vastly different as a pro. I just think he needs to be mindful of that given his athletic limitations.
Weezy was great 3 point shooter, but almost all his shots were catch and shoot, usually from the wing or corner. Sandfort takes more difficult 3’s off the bounce or coming hard off of screens, from everywhere on the court. But your point about bringing up his percentage is quite valid.
I’ll help you out. 15 losses. No dance. Still a lower division Big Ten roster.
For players that had great first year seasons. And most of the time those in the "sophmore slump" are very close to the first year but expectations were unreasonable. So yah, those reasons are completely unrelated to this team moving forward.
I honestly think 14 is a good loss o/u point.
Sandfort, Dix, and Freeman are all good B1G players but I'm not at all impressed with our portal additions. The depth to be a tourney team is just not there, imo. The margin for error is just razor thin in the grinder of league play.
He has the skill set to be an all American. Great defense, great 3 and killer 15 foot pull-up. I think he could take a dramatic jump.
BirdistheWord
HB Legend
Completely agree. It shows in the numbers as Sandfort has a better stroke, but has been asked to do more than is ideal, including a lot of extra tough/forced shots. Weezy had better players around him (obviously), and was able to be ultra efficient. In a way, he would be almost better off at a blue blood where he won’t draw so much attention but realize he loves the Hawks and wants to keep playing with his bro.
Do you think Dix lack of shots was mostly his choosing? He really only became a top option the last month or so of the season. Even then, except for a few stretches in games, I think he was probably the 3rd or 4th scoring option on the floor. I think that was a mistake, but I don't think it was because Josh didn't have a fire in his belly. There were times when we needed a basket, when he took the ball a created a mid-range jumper. In a couple of games, the Illannoy game is one, he took the challenge of playing against Shannon, and Josh more than held his own. I remember the surprised look on Shannon's face when Josh took him to the hole.
This year, I hope Payton, Freeman, and Dix are scoring options 1a, 1b, and 1c, and whoever has the most favorable match up should be emphasized. The PG's main job, on the offensive end, will be to set them up or score themselves if left alone. The primary job of the 4s will be rebounding and playing interior defense, with some spot up jumpers.
Payton Sandfort on why he decided to return to Iowa: "The travel is really no joke like, you're going city to city for about a month and like I was in a hotel room like 18 or 19 straight nights. I felt comfortable making the jump, but I just felt the pull to come back home."
To paraphrase: I was only using these pre-draft workouts to induce Fran to paying me more. I was asking for $500K & Fran was only offering $200K. I took him down to the wire, made him sweat it out & after I threatened to expose family secrets, he finally agreed to the $500K at 9PM. I thought I'd drag it out to the last minute to announce just to make the twitter nerds & Go Iowa Awesome fan forums blow up some more... you know, click bait. Seems to be working huh? lol
If Fran reads this, I see a 2025 NCAA National Championship. It's foolproof.
It's all because his white, that's your take, isn't it. If he was black you'd be all over him. Admit it! It's the same take you have with Harding....You have no clue!
Ok, so now I'm a racist? Pleeeease. I do know Ryan M has yet to play meaningful minutes for Iowa. If he comes out and shows he's a player, then I'll happily eat bbq crow. And I'll call out Fran for WTF kind of coach sits a talented 7- footer for the past couple of years!
