Things I will not post about this result

[bagdropper]

1) I hope Fran leaves
2) any anger whatsoever about the result at all
3) Iowa was or is a fraud

What I will post...

Iowa played their asses off just to be in position to get into the tourney, they did not give up on the season. They ran into a buzz saw tonight, Indiana played great - and Iowa didn't.

I tried to warn in posts all week that Iowa was entirely capable of coming out and getting beat here. Sure, the loss stings, and the way it went down amplifies it...but there was NO REASON to believe Iowa was incapable of losing this game if Indiana came to play.

Indiana caused this result to happen. They arguably played their game of the year today. They deserved to crush Iowa with great defense along with great outside shooting - exactly how Iowa got back in the race in the first place.

So, my hats off to Iowa and how they battled back winning the last 4 regular season games, I tip my cap to Indiana for a job well done. Here's wishing Iowa well (and rooting the same way I always root for Iowa) if they receive an NIT opportunity.

 

[BeardedAxeWound]

 

[Pepperman]

Indiana wouldn't have lost to many teams today.

 

[VicHawkeye]

Exactly. Nobody was gonna beat IU today.

During Marble Horton and Armstrong's SR season we lost to UC Riverside because they buried some record amount of 3s. No reason to give up on Fran and these players. I flat out LOVE this team and program and see a very bright future. GO HAWKS!

 

[Ree4]

Our boys played their hearts out to get this far, im proud of them

 

[hawkcub]

Dissapointed but this team surpassed my preseason expectations. Thought bubble NIT. They are safely in NIT. We all wanted NCAA but I'm not going to jump off the ledge.

 

[Pepperman]

I think these guys will be better next year and REALLY good two years from now.

 

[PlazaHawkeye]

Do the work to get into the tourney in the regular season(Minnesota game is going to make me mad for awhile). Don't leave it up to playing well in the conference tourney when everyone else is doing the same. Looking forward to the NIT and next season.

 

[redbirdhawk]

Post season under Fran is horrible.
4 straight years of losing to double digit seeds in BTT.
Ugh.

 

[bagdropper]

Post season under Fran is horrible.
4 straight years of losing to double digit seeds in BTT.
Ugh.

True...but one can also state Indiana is more talented than Iowa if one assumes both teams play to their potential. Indiana, for whatever reason, didn't come close to playing as well as they could have during the conference...but we can also state that Iowa was the same way.

Iowa lost today. Got their asses kicked in the process. Indiana played great, and caused Iowa to not play well.

It happens.

 

[td77]

True...but one can also state Indiana is more talented than Iowa if one assumes both teams play to their potential. Indiana, for whatever reason, didn't come close to playing as well as they could have during the conference...but we can also state that Iowa was the same way.

Iowa lost today. Got their asses kicked in the process. Indiana played great, and caused Iowa to not play well.

It happens.

It does happen and I for the most part completely agree and like your optimistic view of what transpired, but we certainly opened the door to allowing this type of result to happen.

A key tonight was to get out to a good start, and we did for a few minutes before our defense really did us in. Letting shooters see shots fall as they did early can and did prove fatal to our cause.

 

[bagdropper]

It isn't optimism so much as...a reasonable expectation.

I thought Iowa would struggle with consistency this year before the first game started. That happened. I thought that even though Iowa played their best ball of the season the last 4 games, their issues were not "cured". Iowa did not play a single complete game in the 4 wins...the warts were still there. They played much better, but far from perfect.

I also have seen through recent years that for whatever reason, Indiana seems to be a team Iowa under Fran has issues defending - and when the 3's for them are falling and aren't turning the ball over every 4 possessions, they will truck a team.

I just had a bad feeling about this game ever since Nebraska laid an egg against Michigan Sunday based on the above.

Not saying I'm some sort of genius...but I had a reasonable expectation that Iowa was very capable of getting beat today. I just didn't think Indiana would play THIS good, especially defensively - that surprised me.

And we have seen at least a couple times...when things snowball against this Iowa team, it snowballs down Mt. Everest. Voila...what amounts to a 20 point run in roughly 5 minutes of game action.

This Iowa team, after all - was still a team full of freshmen. Things like this happen to a team full of freshmen.

I guess my "optimism" is the same as it's been all season. This year would be a major learning opportunity for this squad given how young it is. If the team stays together and keeps busting ass, good things in the following years WILL happen. Let's hope if they make the NIT, they stay focused and use the extra games as an opportunity to make further improvement for next year.

 

[BlazinHawk]

Stop. Just stop. What will happen next year that will allow Fran and the Hawks to win a friggen BTT GAME?

 

[bagdropper]

I'm as frustrated as anybody else in the tourney results. I'm not a coach, so I don't know the nuts and bolts answer - and if I were a coach, I'm not coaching Iowa to know what if anything truly is wrong with their tourney approach.

None of here know that answer. Probably never will either. Hell, it's entirely possible even Fran doesn't know, nor the players. They're human. Humans fail.

It's how they react to failure that defines them ultimately.

This is where "optimism" and having a little faith comes in when it relates to being a fan. Iowa simply has to play better, and Fran has to coach better. That is the simple, short answer. I'm hoping they will improve in both the regular season and tourney next year. It's reasonable to believe it will occur assuming the squad stays relatively intact.

Never said I knew all the answers, it's just how I view Iowa men's basketball (and for that matter, football). Young teams do young team things. The good thing is there is talent to work with, so it's not unreasonable to expect better things down the road. How much better...dunno.

 

[Suterman]

So much of college basketball has become "They just couldn't miss from 3". During our 4 game stretch we were hot from 3. It is demoralizing to the other team and it impacts their play on the defensive end as well. Indiana was En Fuego from 3. It energized them defensively and we became tentative and lethargic. Some people have said our problem is athleticism and I really don't think that's on point. This team, and frankly, most other teams, when they are hitting their threes, everything looks better.

 

[markfromj]

Post season under Fran is horrible.
4 straight years of losing to double digit seeds in BTT.
Ugh.

Not true. 2 straight first round NCAA wins.

Cherry pick much?

 

[Pepperman]

Stop. Just stop. What will happen next year that will allow Fran and the Hawks to win a friggen BTT GAME?

I just can't understand where you're coming from with this?

Here's the nice guy, honest answer to your question: What will happen next year is these guys will be a year older and a year wiser. Watch and enjoy, but really what we're playing for is 2018/19 in all likelihood.

 

[Legend12]

Exactly. Nobody was gonna beat IU today.

During Marble Horton and Armstrong's SR season we lost to UC Riverside because they buried some record amount of 3s. No reason to give up on Fran and these players. I flat out LOVE this team and program and see a very bright future. GO HAWKS!

UC-Riverside was 21-36 from 3 in that game, the 21 were the most ever made by a D2 team at that time.

 

[championhawk]

It does happen and I for the most part completely agree and like your optimistic view of what transpired, but we certainly opened the door to allowing this type of result to happen.

A key tonight was to get out to a good start, and we did for a few minutes before our defense really did us in. Letting shooters see shots fall as they did early can and did prove fatal to our cause.

I think we did alright for more than a few minutes. Wasn't it tied in the 2nd half? Last night Indiana was clearly the better team. They made a lot of contested shots and we had a few guys struggle. Indiana would have won a lot of games in the conference had they played defense with last nights intensity. The team that beat NC and Kansas showed up last night.

 

[DavenportHawk8]

I thought they played a great 25min game. The last 15min was rough. But like you said no one was beating IU the way they were shooting.

Now I hope IU keeps its going. Ill be pissed if they shoot 15% today vs Wisky.

 

[jasonrann]

Exactly. Nobody was gonna beat IU today.

During Marble Horton and Armstrong's SR season we lost to UC Riverside because they buried some record amount of 3s. No reason to give up on Fran and these players. I flat out LOVE this team and program and see a very bright future. GO HAWKS!

I remember watching that game, sitting there wondering "who in the HELL are these guys"? I don't think I have ever seen a team shoot like that from three.

 

[mstp1992]

Dissapointed but this team surpassed my preseason expectations. Thought bubble NIT. They are safely in NIT. We all wanted NCAA but I'm not going to jump off the ledge.

I feel the same. I thought a .500 record would be a good season and they end (pending NIT) at 4 games over.

Classic example of a young team with talent. Capable of betting 'better' teams on the road, but also capable of those "doink!" games where not much goes right. Throw in an opponent that's circled the wagons around their coach, playing one of (if not the...) best game of their season, and the result wasn't completely unexpected.

I'm pretty excited about the near future of this team.

 

[icwesthawk]

You have to question whether it was Indi playing so well or Iowa playing very poorly and to what extent those 2 options played into one another. We did not play well but some of that has to be attributed to them playing well. Baer and Williams, 2 guys that have been huge in our turnaround at years end, were MIA. We will be the least athletic team in the BIG most years, maybe NW, Nebby, or UM are worse in some years but that's what we are and what we are going have to deal with. On the plus side, the margin is getting slimmer with athletes like Cook and Moss. I look forward to next season but the following season should be a really great year for us.

 

[kceasthawk]

True...but one can also state Indiana is more talented than Iowa if one assumes both teams play to their potential. Indiana, for whatever reason, didn't come close to playing as well as they could have during the conference...but we can also state that Iowa was the same way.

Iowa lost today. Got their asses kicked in the process. Indiana played great, and caused Iowa to not play well.

It happens.

Several people have posted that they can't see how a team fighting for the postseason can get blown out. Look at the box scores. Many of the BIG teams are in a win or go home scenario, yet I think all of the games before ours were blowouts as well. I actually think we played pretty well until a few minutes into the second half. Then Blackman and his crew went off, and for us no one but Jbo was hitting from outside. A tough lesson for the boys, but we'll see how they respond if their selected for the NIT.

 

[bagdropper]

If one assumes Indiana in a vacuum plays the same level, Iowa would have had been shooting their minds out to win that game yesterday with what shots they did get.

Meh, didn't happen. Time to move on.

 

[hawkeyeinmo]

Indiana wouldn't have lost to many teams today.

I disagree, Golden State Warriors, Cleveland Cavs, San Antonio Spurs to name a few could have beat them yesterday.

 

[hawkfan_7]

Indiana wouldn't have lost to many teams today.

I agree, they were on another level last night.

 

[pgsailor]

1) I hope Fran leaves
2) any anger whatsoever about the result at all
3) Iowa was or is a fraud

What I will post...

Iowa played their asses off just to be in position to get into the tourney, they did not give up on the season. They ran into a buzz saw tonight, Indiana played great - and Iowa didn't.

I tried to warn in posts all week that Iowa was entirely capable of coming out and getting beat here. Sure, the loss stings, and the way it went down amplifies it...but there was NO REASON to believe Iowa was incapable of losing this game if Indiana came to play.

Indiana caused this result to happen. They arguably played their game of the year today. They deserved to crush Iowa with great defense along with great outside shooting - exactly how Iowa got back in the race in the first place.

So, my hats off to Iowa and how they battled back winning the last 4 regular season games, I tip my cap to Indiana for a job well done. Here's wishing Iowa well (and rooting the same way I always root for Iowa) if they receive an NIT opportunity.

Amen