Scanned Tickets Ave for MBB for 2023-2024 = 5,742 (38% of 14,998 Capacity). Average Attendance = 9,961
- Thread starter Franisdaman
- Start date
Once George's recruits were gone Davis' win/ loss record is about the same as Frans.
I don’t get your point - by most metrics Fran has had a successful tenure at Iowa. The remaining knock on him is tournament success.
The most remarkable accomplishment is years of service.
Do you think he has been a bad coach?
And no, that’s not the same thing as not being as successful as we wish he had been.
Aside from lack of sweet sixteen appearances aside, I’d argue that to this point he’s been a good coach here, deserving of his tenure.
Mission accomplished.
Now do the real ones.
Now show the picture of the regular season...you know the Big 10 title. Not the tournament title.Mission accomplished.
Really, I hadn’t picked up on that, at all.
Do you think he’s a bad coach, or just not meeting your expectations?
I don't think he's horrible, but he has zero Sweet 16s and 0 Big 10 titles.
That combined with his antics on the sideline actually makes it pretty unbelievable that he hasn't been let go. He should call Lickliter every day to thank him.
He's an average coach. His Big Ten record confirms that.
To an extent I understand the antics argument - but also feel it’s overblown:
1) he doesn’t do it nearly as often as people like to claim - I was frankly shocked he didn’t go off at a couple of points yesterday
2) there are any number of coaches who do similar antics but for some reason largely get a pass but he doesnt
3) many of his have been strategic and have had a point, it’s not just a case of a short temper.
I’ll concede the sweet sixteen argument; some of that’s bad luck in seeding/bracket draw but he’s had a couple of teams that coulda/shoulda done it
Regular season title - I can’t get too mad about that; due as much to the factors beyond his control such as the 20 game schedule, unbalanced schedule and such; that’s just such a harder thing to accomplish now and the list of teams that have done since they first went to 18 and now 20 is not a long one.
At this point I do value the conference tournament more than the regular season crown.
the trophy, the hats, the confetti all look real to me
Suit yourself; I’m also allowing for getting Iowa out of the program crater he inherited.
That was looming like a giant abyss like a potential program-killer. First two years were 12-24 in conference; only one losing record in conference since.
He's currently in his 14th season and he's producing conference results similar to his second year.
Agree to disagree with you. It’s been somewhat disappointing but not totally unexpected given the roster turnover entering the year.
I think he’s a solid coach all things considered. Not without his flaws certainly but I’d grade him better than you would.
Have you considered turning your frown upside down?🙃
It’s much more than 3-4 times a game but Iowa is not good at closing out on the shooter or in short, defense of any kind.
Yep. Iowa basketball has mostly been pretty meh for the past 25 years. Or the last 35, depending in how hard you want to be on Dr. Tom.
High floor, low ceiling. No conference titles. Only 1 trip past the NCAA tournament 2nd round (1999) in the past 3.5 decades. And people wonder why there's not much fan excitement. You pretty much know the best you're going to get, and there's little reason to think it's ever going to change with this status quo.
That's part of it - how much depends on your POV i suppose.
I would argue that the Athletic Department - especially under Barta, have not been very proactive in recognizing this problem was coming, and from a marketing prespective have relied on the program to sell itself.
I won't defend all things Fran, but he inherited a burning dumpster on top of a pile of burning tires. By year 2 they were actually a credible team. Since then he's had one losing season in conference play. Throughout his tenure the B-10 has arguably been the toughest conference for hoops top to bottom.
The one aberration season was 2017-18 which featured a gangly kid named Luka Garza, who many on this board labeled a wasted scholarship.
Would I prefer some deeper runs in the NCAAT? Who wouldn't. But, he's been consistently successful, and he graduates kids without yearly scandals.
We have a young core. Hopefully things pick up as the season progresses, where it provides some momentum for next season.
This lack of attendance should provide BG the opportunity to change seating for everyone, including the students around the lower bowl and try to get them closer to the floor and opposing team to make noise. Add suites around the arena and you’ve only got to sell maybe 8,000 to 10,000 to the general public depending on suite size numbers and student attendance. I’d hope they can get 3,000 to 5,000 students to attend a game with 20,000 plus students at the university since they aren’t showing up now.
Fran has 5 more wins than Dr. Tom at Iowa.
Fran has 47 more losses than Dr. Tom at Iowa.
They play a lot more games now.
Including a lot more conference games instead of many of the cupcakes that Davis was known for scheduling. Frans nonconference varies but 2/3 of his schedule are conference games. That wasn’t the case for Davis.
Davis also generally had around 30 games on his schedule give or take.
How is this an answer to anything? Kids aren't coming to Carver, that's been proven over and over. Putting the students next to the floor only could Carver look worse. When we are winning games, fans show up and Carver is a fine facility. It could be better but most arenas could be better
Students have been given largely crap seats at carver for decades. Need to find out if it’s apathy or crap seats that’s keeping them away.
No idea anymore.
When I was there 20 years ago they offered full or partial tickets (leaving out games over winter break) and I think the partial package was around $120 at that time - again no idea what it costs now.
That was early in alford era before fans started to sour on him so students were better about attendance. I do agree that university needs to be better about providing bussing as well - that’s a very long way during the winter from dorms on east side of the river if you’re walking.
Yes. He has willfully ignored 1/2 the game: defense. I think he is a good offensive coach and a brilliant OOB coach. But: you can't ignore 1/2 the court.
Perfect example of this: down 20 against minnesota, fran finally has his players hard hedge, double, then scramble on the backside. This requires effort.. We were successful right away with it and took minnesota out of rhythm. We refuse to do this more often because there may be a foul called hurting us on offense. People love to point out we often make more free throws than the other team attempts. No shit, we don't foul, just give up lay ups and dunks. We're trading free throws at 68-70% for uncontested looks at times for an effective field goal % of 70-80%. It's a net loss because of lack of aggression.
This wouldn't be a problem but defense travels; offense doesn't necessarily get on the bus. Thats' a big part of our lack of post season NCAA success.
fran's stay reminds me of bruce weber's down here in manhattan for some reason. they are not at all alike. still, bruce won enough, a couple b12 championships and an elite 8, enough to stay around longer than most wanted. while looking to the east, holtmann is out at ohio state after seven. yet fran seems secure.
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Beth has stated she wants to put students around the entire lower bowl
IIRC, the huge empty spaces all around the court that resulted from the previous renovation were to make the arena more handicap assessible. But, boy, the fans seem really far from the court when you compare CHA to other arenas.
it will be interesting to see how this all plays out
