is the fact that his teams almost always fail to close the deal in close games. This has been a reoccurring theme since he arrived here at Iowa. Time after time his Iowa teams have either held a lead or have come from behind to tie or take a lead late in games only to come up short. Don't know how he can ever get this monkey off his back either, his coaching staff seems to be solid, but something is missing besides talent....what you say?
The One Thing That Has Excaped McCaffery.....
- Thread starter IllQChawk
- Start date
I don't think you watched last years team.
That's true. Often times it's Gesell making blunders and missing free throws down the stretch. I still remember the ISU game 2 years ago with a 4 point lead with two minutes to go and we couldn't hit the broadside of the barn at the line.
What are you talking about? Several of our losses last season came after 2nd half leads. The Big 10 tournament was one of those examples.
Like the games at Minnesota and Penn State? Fans always complain about not winning the close games, but the reality is you tend to win them about half the time because they are against good teams. If that is Fran's biggest problem then I'm not complaining, put it that way.
It's not McCaffery.....It's an Iowa tradition this century.
I love FM and his staff, but this is an issue. I thought I read on Twitter last night that he is 36% in games within 6 points. That's not close to 50% He and his staff need to overturn every rock - like the football staff did - to fix this. We would all be thrilled with 50% at this point.
The two things that have excaped you are spelling and logic.
You can look at the end of the game all you want but the game was lost on the defensive end in the first 25 minutes of the game.
3 things I've learned on this -
Not calling time outs at end of game possessions is Frans thing and he does seem to want to change it.
We don't play great defense as a team and winning close games usually comes down to getting stops.
Elite talents make plays in big end of game moments, of which we don't have like some programs might. I'm talking the type of talent that can win more 1 on 1 battles than not. Uthoff isn that guy for us so it was disappointing to not see him get the last touch the way we might have been able to had we called time out and set something up.
Not calling time outs at end of game possessions is Frans thing and he does seem to want to change it.
We don't play great defense as a team and winning close games usually comes down to getting stops.
Elite talents make plays in big end of game moments, of which we don't have like some programs might. I'm talking the type of talent that can win more 1 on 1 battles than not. Uthoff isn that guy for us so it was disappointing to not see him get the last touch the way we might have been able to had we called time out and set something up.
Fran is just a slightly better version of Tom Crean, as a game coach, which is not good. Just by sure chance you should win around 50% of these close games. Part of the problem is Mikey G is not a closer. He makes dumb TO's and misses too many FTs at the end of games. Fran's biggest problem has been an inability to recruit quality PG's. I'm talking guys who are quick, can handle the ball, and defend quick PG's, especially at the end of games. Ulis would have been such a huge get. PG should have been the top priority in the freshman class but Fran whiffed again in trying to get that quick PG. Hopefully there is someone available in the next year's class because good athletic teams, like Dayton, will continue to give Iowa fits until they do.
It's the same problem most of Fran's teams here have had, no strength inside. Sure they work hard inside, but they get pushed around and have no ability to finish at the rim. Hopefully the three incoming recruits who are all 6'8", 230-lbs + will cure that issue in the future.
I've said for three years that the lack of talent in the backcourt was a big issue for Fran. His recruiting is a head scratcher. Lack of players that can create their own shots, lack of solid shooters & Gesell is repeatedly overmatched at point guard. We'll never win anything of significance without running the offense through the bigs (Uthoff & Woody) & they will be gone soon. They have been way underutilized. That falls on both Fran & the starting point guard. I see no other point guards on this roster that will change this.
IMHO, to say it's anything other than free throws is probably overthinking it. Especially the front end of one and ones...all game long!
If there's one play I always doubt they'll execute on, it's their free throws...I just don't sense they're comfortable there and the inconsistency hurts at the worst times, often keeping an opponent in the game. Just anecdotal-I don't have stats to back it, so if someone can refute the 1 and 1 struggles, I'm all ears!
If there's one play I always doubt they'll execute on, it's their free throws...I just don't sense they're comfortable there and the inconsistency hurts at the worst times, often keeping an opponent in the game. Just anecdotal-I don't have stats to back it, so if someone can refute the 1 and 1 struggles, I'm all ears!
Get ready to get blitzed by the apologists. I've been saying for 3 years now that MG is an avg, at best, B1G PG and some people have claimed that's heresy. He has no outside shot (beyond the arc) and isn't quick. He struggles against quicker, more athletic PGs. Fran's biggest problem is not recruiting a quality PG in either of the last 2 classes. Clemmons is also "slow", doesn't have good handles, and not a very good outside shot (he takes forever to get his shot off). Jok is a legitimate shooter but he play horrendous defense.
Fran has done a poor job of recruiting athletes at the 1 and 2 spot. He's done pretty well at the other spots but college basketball is all about the guards.
Oh, and totally agree with your point about underutilizing the bigs. I've been harping on that for 2 years. The nice thing in this game and for the first time in ages, I actually saw them use the screen and roll with Woody several times. Last year, I think MG and Clemmons would have contracted the bubonic plague than feed Woody on the screen and roll. So, there has been some progress.
Wow, it is depressing reading this thread. Up to now I was pretty happy that we have Fran here. I didn't realize that he was such a poor recruiter and coach. Thanks for enlightening me!
Same here. But if it wasn't for losing close games, missing free throws, a bad front court, a bad backcourt, too many small bigs, something unintelligible about Dr. Tom teaching recruiting, giant worms in the Nevada desert, complicated five latch bras and most importantly that game two years ago!!! If it wasn't for all that we'd be peachy!
The jury is still out on how good/bad recruiter Fran is. He's done a nice job bringing in decent bigs, not so great a job bringing in stud guards. The jury is still how good/bad of coach Fran is. They have not done a good job of winning games they are winning late. I think he has the worst record in the B1G when leading at halftime or with 5-10 minutes left. They struggle to close out games, and a decent part of that falls on coaching. He certainly isn't in the class with the top coaches in the conference, Izzo, Ryan, Matta. So, is he a middle of the pack coach or one of the bottom tier coaches in the B1G. The conference has a lot of good coaches. I'd say Fran is comparable a coach to Alford (I'm strictly talking coaching, not personality). He's nothing special but you can do a lot worse, like Lickliter.
You may be correct but I haven't seen any statistics to back up your claims. Even if true, I would have to see when these lost games happened. Fran inherited a disaster and this program has improved every year since he arrived. Last year was the best for Iowa BB in a long time and he already has highly rated recruits coming in the next few years. I am happy he is here.
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Statistics to back up what claim? That Iowa has had poorly ranked recruiting classes since he's arrived at Iowa (the current FR class ranked liked 10th or 11th in the conference). I know some people here think stars and rankings don't matter but it's been shown they do.
I get it, Fran inherited a mess. So did Alford. The lame duck year (Dr. Tom) was a killer for a coach recruiting wise. It doesn't take 5-6 years to turn a basketball program. You need 1-2 studs and you can be a good team.
Again, I'm not saying Fran is a bad coach. I think he's Alfordesque. Ok, but nothing special. If I had to rank him against other B1G coaches he'd probably fall in the middle/bottom half of the conference. Until I see Iowa closing out close games, I'm not impressed with Fran's coaching. IF the game is decided by 5 pts or less, I don't like Iowa's chances of winning with Fran coaching. I'm not convinced Fran is a good game manager. Just my opinion though.
Would you not agree that Aaron White was vastly under ranked? He should have been a 4 star at least, top 50/75 type recruit. It isn't Fran's fault the doofuses that rank players can't see what he sees.
Interestingly, going back to McCaffery's first year at Iowa I'm finding that as we progress year after year we have fewer blowout losses and more blowout wins. One would think that would mean fewer close losses as well, but it really hasn't. So what does that tell me? It tells me we are better than many teams as compared to the 4-14 start in the Big Ten in 2010-11, but there is a block of teams just that much better than us, they used to blow us out but we've gained on them, but not passed them yet.
Yeah, they need to get out some coaching videos from,say, John Wooden. Study them hard and then teach these kids how not to miss free throws at the end of a game. We may never lose again. Wow, I've been watching basketball for 45 years and never thought of that.
I guess you are criticizing the staff for winning by too big a margin. I suppose they should be more sportsmanlike and let the other team get closer? Frankly I think your idea is ridiculous. Also we rarely lose by a large margin, we almost always are in it to the very end. Again, I suppose you would prefer we lose by ten or more? I simply don't understand your way of looking at things.
Are Jok and Ellingson guards? If so they are among the best shooters in the league.
Your claims of having the worst record in the league when leading at halftime or in the last 5-10 minutes. Have not seen any statistics. You can argue recruiting if you want. I tend not to rate recruits until they have played in the league for a couple of years. Fran can certainly recruit better but like everything else, it has improved steadily since he arrived.
