just what fran needs, another option. Frans biggest weakness, year in and year out is rotations and who should be playing. He has amazing blinders for some and short leashes for others.
The Ash schollie
- Thread starter drh1150
- Start date
How do you know who Fran tried to get in the portal? I have no issue with giving Ash a scholarship if he is a: going to play or b: we are loaded. Neither is the case here. Fran is constantly whining about transfers negatively impacting the chemistry in the locker room. Ironic coming from a guy who transferred himself and has been ousted from the tournament by teams with transfers.
At some point there have to be expectations beyond losing in an entertaining fashion. You realize Iowa got outrbounded 52 to 23 the other night right? Fran is looking like a genius with an undersized 5 and two project bigs on the bench. Is this what you expect from a guy in year 11? Why have Mulvey reclassify to sit on the bench when that spot could have gone to a portal guy that could contribute something?
I don't suppose you remember Liam Robbins? He chose Vanderbilt. To make it just a little bit more obvious - Rebraca! The portal works both ways. You can't just say "I want you to come here" and it's done.
And how do you know he didn't try? Giving Ash a scholly has absolutely nothing to do with getting outrebounded. Try holding the current players accountable. One of the best rebounders in Iowa history was Clay Hargrave and he was maybe 6'5.
If this is the future of college basketball, it's sad. Might as well watch the G-League .And don't me tell it's for the kids.
Fran also got Paul Atkinson Jr. to visit but he eventually chose Notre Dame and is having a pretty good year. Atkinson's dad and I work for the same company and they really liked Fran. I'm guessing that they thought the team wouldn't be very competitive.
What kind of a question is that? If a freaking 2 win Iowa State can revamp a roster and be ranked and undefeated, we can get one good player from the portal or a JUCO to play post. You lost 7 footers in Nunge and Garza and you thought a 6 foot 7 small forward was it?
He has been a negative impact defender his whole life and he's going against Dickinson, Cofi, Edey and more on a nightly basis. We are getting killed on the glass or we'd likely be 2-0 in the B1G. I'd make the move to Josh right now against any true big man.
If you think Josh is the answer for rebounding you certainly don't understand rebounding. Effort, positioning, and timing are far more important than size and this team appears to not have any of the former. At least as of this point in the season.
What kind of question? Well, you seem to know all the available players who were dying to play for the Hawks, so tell us who they were. Then, we can go to Fran and tell him he's a poopy dumbhead.
By the way, who's this 6 foot 7 small forward you're speaking of?
Frankly, there are other things in life more important to worry about. I'll watch the Hawks, hope they win, complain a bit here and there, but at the end of the day it's just a game.
No one has to be dying to come here, do you understand how recruiting and sales works? Fran has failed to land his sales pitch to guys like Atkinson and Robbins every year. The portal is used by everyone now, look no further than Baylor and Gonzaga. Talent acquisition is just as vital as talent development/HS recruiting.
Also, it's very rich that you have better things to do but apparently not enough that it keeps you from posting on message boards (31,000 times)
I will agree with you that Fran has not done a good job utilizing the portal to his advantage. But, I'm just not that upset about it.
What's happening now is that we are dropping guards to swipe at posts and we are usually out of position to rebound or defend a kick out. One way to avoid that is to have a guy who can man up by himself. Josh isn't a golden answer but Fran himself said he should have played more. It all still points back to how bad we needed a guy like Nunge.
I understand but Nunge wanted to leave and the other bigs chose elsewhere. It's not like Nunge was run off.
I like Rebraca and think he's a fine addition to the team. But if a bona fide rim protector like Nunge was not available, I would've liked to see Iowa use that last scholarship for a wide-body on the order of someone like Cyrus Tate; someone who can use muscle in the post.
That would have provided the team with a finesse post player (Rebraca), experienced 'muscle' in the post (ala Tate), and young posts to provide minutes and fouls while learning the trade.
This, I wasn't expecting to find Nunge's exact replacement but you had to find an athletic big body that could anchor the defense for 10-15 and rebound. Putting Rebraca as a 5 is not fair to him either.
If you look at Basketball Reference, which shows box +/- Rebraca rates as our worst overall regular. In limited sample size, Ogundele is our best defender.
Pat, Bohannon and Rebraca are all negative defenders by metrics which is why we keep finding ourselves down 10 after 8 minutes.
I am not sure how Fran can act so bewildered after the IL game. You get outrebounded by 10, guys need to hustle a little more, block out, etc. You get outrebounded b y 29 and you are outmatched physically. Josh may not be the solution, but a big body is harder to move than a smaller one. Josh can add a lot of value if he comes in and throws his body on some guys and grabs some boards. If he fouls out, so be it. It would be nice if Josh or Mulvey were not multi-year projects, but Fran apparently thought Rebraca was going to turn into Moses Malone when he got to Iowa.
Loser attitude> How has Ash helped the team? Typical Iowa coaches. Nice guys that are loyal to their offspring to a fault. Both FB and BB.
When Ash was given the scholarship, who was still available, someone who would have been an upgrade over someone already there, that had any interest coming to Iowa? They tried to get Robbins. He chose elsewhere. It wasn’t like Ash was given one right out of the gate. Loser attitude? Nah, just a level of logical thinking that is all too rare on this board.
Wasn't it pretty well known from the start that Robbins was going to follow his uncle yet again? Seems like it was a waste of time recruiting him when they could have went after someone else.
I didn't need to see any metrics to believe what I see with my own two eyes. So if that's what the metrics in this case say, I concur.
Yes I am assuming they didn't. With the success of Garza and how he developed there is not reason Iowa only lands Rebraca, and not a better option at the 5. I liked his game, and think he is a solid player for Iowa. But there was talent still out there even after Robbins went with his uncle. I think Fran hates transfer recruiting so when his main target went somewhere else he found one guy then threw in the towel on recruiting another transfer this cycle.
Yes, he needs another option that obviously needs to be on the floor as much as possible instead of sitting at the end of the bench developing.
It is complete chicken shit and downright stupid to imply Iowa State cheated by doing something that is the norm in college sports and good coaches are using to get better just because our coach is too lazy or dumb to try on more than 2 guys. Or just sucks at it
If a kid grows up a Hawk fan or there is a family/friend connection Fran does OK. If he has to sell the program on his and iowas own merits he just isn't that great. He can adapt to the portal and use it to his advantage or continue to get bitch slapped by programs who do like last week
Recruits who watch the coach play his inferior kids over the murrays 2 years in a row now are wise to look elsewhere
If a kid grows up a Hawk fan or there is a family/friend connection Fran does OK. If he has to sell the program on his and iowas own merits he just isn't that great. He can adapt to the portal and use it to his advantage or continue to get bitch slapped by programs who do like last week
Recruits who watch the coach play his inferior kids over the murrays 2 years in a row now are wise to look elsewhere
Just my opinion, I could be wrong...
TJ HAD TO rely on the transfer portal this year to build a team. TJ HAD TO clean house - get rid of the cancers from last year's 2-win team, and guys not willing to do what he wanted.
He has 3 HS kids coming in next year + a transfer from Georgetown.
So far, this year has FAR exceeded expectations. Time will tell how the rest of the season fares - I expect them to struggle. once conference season begins. If they can go 9-9 in conference, I will be ecstatic.
Whatever the case, it seems like Fran needs to change this philosophy on the portal. Who knows why they haven't had more success with it? Not enough emphasis as a program? Do transfers not want to come to IC (for whatever reason)? Who knows.
The point is, hard to criticize TJ on how he assembled this team, and it is ridiculous to insinuate he broke some sort of rule.
TJ HAD TO rely on the transfer portal this year to build a team. TJ HAD TO clean house - get rid of the cancers from last year's 2-win team, and guys not willing to do what he wanted.
He has 3 HS kids coming in next year + a transfer from Georgetown.
So far, this year has FAR exceeded expectations. Time will tell how the rest of the season fares - I expect them to struggle. once conference season begins. If they can go 9-9 in conference, I will be ecstatic.
Whatever the case, it seems like Fran needs to change this philosophy on the portal. Who knows why they haven't had more success with it? Not enough emphasis as a program? Do transfers not want to come to IC (for whatever reason)? Who knows.
The point is, hard to criticize TJ on how he assembled this team, and it is ridiculous to insinuate he broke some sort of rule.
So you're saying he couldnt convince anyone better than Ash to go to IC? That's ridiculous
No - I did not say or imply that. Here is exactly what I said and meant for the comprehension impaired. McCaffrey went after any number of players. Nobody knows exactly who. They got Rebraca, they missed on Robbins and any number of others. In the meantime, Ash entered the transfer portal. When McCaffrey could not find a player that would improve the current roster, he offered the remaining scholarship the Ash. Why? Why not? The kid was a good teammate and worked hard on the scout team for a number of years as a walk on. The issue is nobody really knows what goes on behind closed doors. You assume they just mailed it in, or thought Ash would make the difference. I guarantee not one coach thought that. I am waiting for anyone to name one player of note, who wanted to come to Iowa as a transfer, that was turned down. Just one. Find that one player that Ash was chosen over and I will change my opinion that rewarding a long time walk on was wrong.
I don't know, do you? I didn't realize Fran had to publicize his efforts to let everyone know his business. And I guess if he didn't "waste his time" on Robbins even more people would have their panties in bunch about this. Again, give me one player who would have made a difference, who wanted to come to Iowa, who was turned down. Otherwise, you're all just speculating on what you think happened.
98% of the time if a Coach has reached out or is recruiting a player. Said player usually reports it and within a day its on twitter. Players don't reach out to schools. The Coaches recruit them just like they are in HS all over again. I have watched transfer recruiting for over 10 years, and have seen how the process on social media works. There is a reason you don't see Iowa brought up much on there.
No, he needs more players that are good at basketball and the rest transfer or accept a backup role is how this thing usually goes at winning programs. Our ability to accept mediocrity and not make one Sweet 16 since the 90's is truly astounding. He gets paid millions of dollars to WIN, the same way a CEO gets paid to make money for a company. Spare me the harmony bull because Baylor Kansas and Gonzaga (among many) seem to do just fine every year doing it.
TJ was the brain child on Hoiberg's good teams and that's very apparent now. He does an amazing job of mixing high level veterans with high school talent and that's how you sustain a program these days.
OK I will simple this down - no. And I'm still waiting for you to name one single player.
I am pro MCcaffery, but it was said that there were 2000 kids in the transfer portal this year. I can't believe there wasn't one better than Ash no matter how nice Austin is. There was not one player out there at a lower level that had the reputation of being a hard worker, a defensive player and a decent rebounder? We've seen kids on the cupcake teams we've beaten that fit that bill and were transfers there. None of those kids would have jumped at the opportunity to play for a B1G team? At this point, not taking advantage of the transfer portal is playing with one hand behind your back.
OK I swear this is the last time I will be responding - I never changed my opinion and you may want to actually make sure you're not reading from someone else. But since you appear to just want to make ridiculous statements, why don't you cut and paste exactly what you think I said contrary to anything said later? And I'm still waiting for you to name a player who wanted to come who would have made a difference. Try answering that one.
I'm neutral on Fran. Not sure there are many of us, but there it is.
I'm in agreement with you, though, that the numbers would say there had to be at least a handful of players that could have helped this team from a defense and rebounding perspective. As there are only 200 mins/game up for distribution that would mean that some current players would have to see their time even further reduced or eliminated. I would be OK with that, but I think we've seen that's not how Fran generally operates. Embracing the portal would seem to be a critical piece in improving a team. But it will not work unless that coach is willing to essentially recruit over players and play the incoming guys. Fran seems unwilling to do more than the bare minimum when it comes to the portal.
I really don't think Ash was chosen ahead of anyone. In my opinion, Fran had a handful of players he was looking at. He got one, missed on one, and there were likely several others that did not work out for whatever the reason. After that process was done and anyone identified as a possible transfer eliminated from the equation. then and only then was Ash offered the final scholarship. You can say Fran does not use the portal enough to his advantage - that may be true. I just have argued that Ash getting the final scholarship had no bearing on Fran not signing someone else. The transfer process is mutual and I don't think everyone gets that.
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