Still a very good and entertaining year

[kcgolfer]

First off, a huge thank you to Luka, JBO and possibly Weisy. It was a privilege to watch you guys play.

I knew we were in trouble when I saw how athletic Oregon was. Those teams always give us fits. Not bagging on anyone but our starting guards are not athletic enough to create their own shots. They are great spot up shooters but that is about it.

Losing Nunge was a death blow for this team. Nunge, Murray, and Joe T were the keys to our defensive rotations. Nunge was a rim protector that we badly missed.

I am as disappointed as anyone that our season is over but the team should hold their heads high. It still was a very good year.

 

[joelbc1]

AMEN!!

(and as bad as they were KC....they were better than you I would have been!)

Go Hawks!
It was a fun year!

 

[Rambler Hawk]

First off, a huge thank you to Luka, JBO and possibly Weisy. It was a privilege to watch you guys play.

I knew we were in trouble when I saw how athletic Oregon was. Those teams always give us fits. Not bagging on anyone but our starting guards are not athletic enough to create their own shots. They are great spot up shooters but that is about it.

Losing Nunge was a death blow for this team. Nunge, Murray, and Joe T were the keys to our defensive rotations. Nunge was a rim protector that we badly missed.

I am as disappointed as anyone that our season is over but the team should hold their heads high. It still was a very good year.

Hear, hear!

 

[iowa surfer]

AMEN!!

(and as bad as they were KC....they were better than you I would have been!)

Go Hawks!
It was a fun year!

Fun? Nope......

.

 

[General Tso]

It was fun having a team consistently in the top 10 and in final 4 discussions most of the year

 

[Raptorpeeps]

It was fun having a team consistently in the top 10 and in final 4 discussions most of the year

Can we hang a banner for that?

 

[skydog0784]

I like it a lot, let’s hang a FUN banner for all of the Hawk teams that under perform.

Who needs B1G or BTT championships or Sweet 16 births?

We’re having fun! More fun to come next year for sure!

 

[aurorabimmer]

Thank you Luka for showing college BB and everyone what tireless effort can achieve, thank you JBO for all the games you won for Iowa and your black and gold heart and if you leave Weisy thank you for your tireless efforts to support others, you would've been top dog many places. Go Hawks and you naysayer idiots STFU, the team was incredible.

 

[TRHawkeye145]

Great year for individual accomplishments but in no way was this a great year as a team

 

[SotaHawk87]

Can we hang a banner for that?

No but it doesn’t take away from the memories of going crazy in the living room with the kids when we had absolutely nothing else to do all winter.

 

[SoFla-Hawkeye]

I like it a lot, let’s hang a FUN banner for all of the Hawk teams that under perform.

Who needs B1G or BTT championships or Sweet 16 births?

We’re having fun! More fun to come next year for sure!

Besides increasing the size of your T-shirt collection, how would your life be any different?

 

[skydog0784]

Besides increasing the size of your T-shirt collection, how would your life be any different?

None, doesn’t mean I’m not a life long fan that wants to see IA achieve success.

 

[TRHawkeye145]

None, doesn’t mean I’m not a life long fan that wants to see IA achieve success.

Exactly. It reminds me of the posts that are like "then why are you a hawk fan...go be a fan of <x>"

You're telling me you think so little of hawks that they can't get to sweet 16 and just be happy that iowa can win one game in tournament last 30 years? I find that more insulting than the fans who use the "we could have lick again" posts

If a fan is judged by that....then I'm the worst iowa fan I guess

 

[EpenesaEpenesa]

This was not a big ten caliber champ team. Garza is a stud, but the guards aren’t there to compete for a title, they never were. They were good enough to get Iowa to the dance again though. At the end of the day, when you look at the roster, I really think this team got pretty close to tapping out it’s potential. Always stinks when it’s over

 

[Allaroundfan]

Great year for individual accomplishments but in no way was this a great year as a team

We had our moments as a team, not just individuals. One pundit wrote that when it was all working, the passing, the shooting, Garza AND the rest of the shooters, we were something beautiful to watch. But alas, when it wasn’t, could get clunky and ugly. But we had fun watching the team and, yes, some fantastic moments and signs of the future (Murray’s, PMac, JoeT, TonyP, Ulis) that, soon, will have us keeping the good memories and looking to next year.

 

[hawkjt]

When I look back on this year and last I will remember how entering last year we got hammered by a mediocre DePaul team ....we looked slow and unathletic that nite.
Then somehow we climbed out of the mud got on Lukas back and had a pretty fun ride for two seasons where we really had no hope.
These players went into a deep quarantine for 12 months to provide us with winter entertainment in a pandemic.
I cannot be anything but grateful to them.
Godspeed Luka, Jbo and Weezy.
Thank you.

 

[LarryMullenJr.]

This was not a big ten caliber champ team. Garza is a stud, but the guards aren’t there to compete for a title, they never were. They were good enough to get Iowa to the dance again though. At the end of the day, when you look at the roster, I really think this team got pretty close to tapping out it’s potential. Always stinks when it’s over

“Always stinks when it’s over”. Preach, brother, preach.

 

[General Tso]

Can we hang a banner for that?

Sure, you can hang all the banners you want. Hopefully you have a garage or somewhere to hang them as it might look a little tacky in the house, IMHO.

 

[Richie Modano]

This was not a big ten caliber champ team. Garza is a stud, but the guards aren’t there to compete for a title, they never were. They were good enough to get Iowa to the dance again though. At the end of the day, when you look at the roster, I really think this team got pretty close to tapping out it’s potential. Always stinks when it’s over

They improved 3 more wins from last year in the big ten which is about all I honestly expected from this group which had already been together for a few years and had struggled on D in the past, and knowing that some of our key players like JBo and Connor had pretty much already hit their ceilings as college players.

 

[joelbc1]

Can we hang a banner for that?

There is no room presently.

 

[keosauquahawk]

Great year for individual accomplishments but in no way was this a great year as a team

It may be quite some time before we go thru an entire season ranked in the top 20 teams again. This team gave us hope and something to look forward to watching each game. We might not have gone as far as we wanted them to but I loved this team and the effort they gave to us.

 

[TRHawkeye145]

It may be quite some time before we go thru an entire season ranked in the top 20 teams again. This team gave us hope and something to look forward to watching each game. We might not have gone as far as we wanted them to but I loved this team and the effort they gave to us.

I know its all opinion and relative to each person but being ranked for an entire season (regardless if its #1 or #20) doesn't make me think it was a "great season".

If hope and fun is the bar (and yes I know its a game)...sure it was a great season. But at some point it would be nice to at least get a BIG championship, or win the BIG tourney, or get to the 2nd weekend of the NCAA tourney. If one of those things dont happen... then for me...its just an OK season

 

[TheRealHerky]

I loved the guys on this team, and they gave us a lot of fun games to watch. The weaknesses of this team were very consistent all season long. They weren’t going away. Those weak spots were exploited with surgical precision today by a team with talent and athletes in all the right places.

Keegan Murray emerging as a player was worth it all. Watching Garza outwork everyone and break the scoring record was also worth it. Hell, just seeing PMac fly down court knowing what his health was like 2 years ago brings a tear of joy to my eye.

Focus on the positives. Be proud of your team. Appreciate the effort and the sacrifice. Win or lose.

 

[BioHawk]

This is pretty much where I'm at. Sure, the ending sucked, there were some very fun moments this season and honestly I'm just glad there was a season.

 

[the24fan]

First off, a huge thank you to Luka, JBO and possibly Weisy. It was a privilege to watch you guys play.

I knew we were in trouble when I saw how athletic Oregon was. Those teams always give us fits. Not bagging on anyone but our starting guards are not athletic enough to create their own shots. They are great spot up shooters but that is about it.

Losing Nunge was a death blow for this team. Nunge, Murray, and Joe T were the keys to our defensive rotations. Nunge was a rim protector that we badly missed.

I am as disappointed as anyone that our season is over but the team should hold their heads high. It still was a very good year.

Could have been much worse ! KU got beat by 30+

 

[Rambler Hawk]

I loved the guys on this team, and they gave us a lot of fun games to watch. The weaknesses of this team were very consistent all season long. They weren’t going away. Those weak spots were exploited with surgical precision today by a team with talent and athletes in all the right places.

Keegan Murray emerging as a player was worth it all. Watching Garza outwork everyone and break the scoring record was also worth it. Hell, just seeing PMac fly down court knowing what his health was like 2 years ago brings a tear of joy to my eye.

Focus on the positives. Be proud of your team. Appreciate the effort and the sacrifice. Win or lose.

great post!

 

[HawkGem10]

Failure of a year end of story...there is NO other way to look at it...our idiot head coach just pissed away his best team he will ever have with the best player he will ever have...

 

[General Tso]

All great seasons are fun, not all fun seasons are great.

 

[TampaHawkfan]

I know its all opinion and relative to each person but being ranked for an entire season (regardless if its #1 or #20) doesn't make me think it was a "great season".

If hope and fun is the bar (and yes I know its a game)...sure it was a great season. But at some point it would be nice to at least get a BIG championship, or win the BIG tourney, or get to the 2nd weekend of the NCAA tourney. If one of those things dont happen... then for me...its just an OK season

Same here. It was fun being ranked pretty high all year, and being able to entertain the notion of maybe making a tournament run.

I'd rank this as probably the best season in the past 20 years, but at the end of the day when the dust settled, though, it really just ended up being more of what I've gotten used to - Being totally outclassed and blown out by an athletically superior team in the 2nd round.

Growing up with Dr. Tom and being a fan up until now, I've seen enough second round exits for a lifetime. So this year was honestly nothing special in that regard. College basketball is all about the NCAA Tournament, and yesterday is the final stamp on this team's legacy, and it unfortunately saw the season end with a whimper.

 

[HawkeyeInCentralIowa]

I had fun watching this team. These last 2 years are helping pave the way to a brighter future. To Luka Garza, thank you for so many great memories. We will never have another player like you in Iowa City, and I’ve loved watching every game you’ve played in. You helped create so many great memories for hawk fans, and I can’t wait for you to come back to a football or basketball game where you can properly be honored. To JBO, thank you for achieving your dream of being a Hawkeye. Your clutch shots will be remembered by hawk fans, and your endless trolling will have cyclones hating your guts forever. I’m glad you were a Hawkeye, and thank you for helping to leave the program in a better spot than when you joined it.

Now as Hawkeye fans, when have we ever had a future to actually look forward to? (Don’t say Alford) Fran is finally beginning to get the players he wants, and the performance of Hawkeye basketball is beginning to improve, season by season. I look forward to watching the program continue to grow, and I look forward to a promising future.

 

[Hawk_4shur]

I know its all opinion and relative to each person but being ranked for an entire season (regardless if its #1 or #20) doesn't make me think it was a "great season".

If hope and fun is the bar (and yes I know its a game)...sure it was a great season. But at some point it would be nice to at least get a BIG championship, or win the BIG tourney, or get to the 2nd weekend of the NCAA tourney. If one of those things dont happen... then for me...its just an OK season

A few years ago I dreaded upcoming Iowa games. I was certain it was either going to be loss, or a game against someone that everybody beats.

This year I looked forward to every game, and was absolutely invested in each game as it played. Losing was heartbreaking, but a far cry from not caring about it.

Maybe that's about as good as it's going to get.

 

[SoFla-Hawkeye]

None, doesn’t mean I’m not a life long fan that wants to see IA achieve success.

You define success by banners and Sweet 16 appearances. By that definition, you have 13 unsuccessful B1G teams and 52 teams nationwide who had unsuccessful seasons. I simply define it differently. That's cool. Doesn't make either one of us a better/worse fan. #GoHAWKS

 

[iowa surfer]

Can we hang a banner for that?

Uh...Nope! The Senator Hawk Tough though..