Transfer portal
- Thread starter iowahawkeyes2020
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We have an immediate and urgent need for centers and shooting guards. It would be insane to leave the open schollies unfilled. I think it was Eastern Washington that has a 6'9" graduate transfer perfect for a transitional year from Luka to Riley.
At this moment Iowa has no certainty of anyone being able to play quality minutes at 5. There is no proven high percentage three point shooter but CJ. There are serious and concerning holes in next season's roster based on known information. Those holes have to be filled before the transfer portal closes, and I am no fan of transfers.
At this moment Iowa has no certainty of anyone being able to play quality minutes at 5. There is no proven high percentage three point shooter but CJ. There are serious and concerning holes in next season's roster based on known information. Those holes have to be filled before the transfer portal closes, and I am no fan of transfers.
I've seen a few with him as a late 2nd but yeah I think there's a good chance that if he left he's undrafted.
Groves is going to be able to go just about anywhere after that performance against Kansas.
Wouldn't be surprised to see him at Gonzaga.
Iowa is probably going to have to find a lesser know mid major guy.
What do you mean Kofi doesn’t fit the NBA? Always room for an athletic rim protector.
So my buddy who is a big Badger fan said that there are three groups of players that are dividing the locker room. He was not surprised by this because Reuvers and Gard didn't get along.
Fran should have some great options at the 4/5, if he seriously goes after them. I would think that following Luka would be very attractive. I could see Nunge, Keegan and the transfer splitting most of the 80 min at the 4/5 spot fairly evenly. Graves, Thompson, Harrar would all be really good one-year additions IMO. I think Robbins has the highest upside and would be more than a one-year transition player. Reuvers could also work. I'm sure there are others outside the B1G.
I'm less concerned about guard, but that assumes CJ is healthy. I think Weesy is at least 50/50 to return.
I'm less concerned about guard, but that assumes CJ is healthy. I think Weesy is at least 50/50 to return.
This is crazy talk. Harrar is being pursued by at least 16 teams and Iowa is not one of them. Graves is not being pursued by Iowa and as far as I know Race Thompson and Iowa are not interested in each other. Unless I have missed the memo Robbins isn't in the transfer portal. There are almost 1,000 kids in the portal and unless Fran has a previous in with them one way or another, he will not be pursuing them.
Why is this the case? Unless you've known someone since they were 16, you can't recruit them?
I think you missed the "if he seriously goes after them". I didn't say he was, but was suggesting that there would be interest if he did.
No but Fran values relationships and a fit with his culture. He is not ever going to rely on the portal for his recruiting. He had recruited Bakari Evelyn before and knew the type of kid he was and knew he would fit what we needed.
Why would Fran limit himself to only players that turned him down once before?
Simply not being recruited prior cannot possibly be a criteria on which to eliminate someone from consideration given the amount of potential options.
I do not believe he could be that stupid.
You all might as well get used to it...Josh Ogundele is going to get a ton of minutes playing the 5 next year, whether he's ready or not. Sink or swim!
Nunge is not a center and has never been one. He might get significant minutes next year rotating along the back line and out to the 3 line but his legs are unreliable and an injury can happen at any time.
By the end of next year Josh maybe the only center we'll have on the roster.
I just don't trust Fran and his incompetent staff to add a quality player to what is a position of need.
We saw what Garza went though having to guard the middle with no back up. It's impossible to play tight man to man or be a rim protector and not foul, and sitting on the bench with 2 fouls is a philosophy the Fran adheres to.
I can see next year being a fun year but without someone reliable to backup Ogundele or Nunge it's going to put Iowa behind the 8 ball if injury or fouls become an issue.
Nunge is not a center and has never been one. He might get significant minutes next year rotating along the back line and out to the 3 line but his legs are unreliable and an injury can happen at any time.
By the end of next year Josh maybe the only center we'll have on the roster.
I just don't trust Fran and his incompetent staff to add a quality player to what is a position of need.
We saw what Garza went though having to guard the middle with no back up. It's impossible to play tight man to man or be a rim protector and not foul, and sitting on the bench with 2 fouls is a philosophy the Fran adheres to.
I can see next year being a fun year but without someone reliable to backup Ogundele or Nunge it's going to put Iowa behind the 8 ball if injury or fouls become an issue.
There are at least four big guys linked to Gonzaga transfers. The Bulldogs won't take them all. Especially cannot see a graduate student going to Spokane if an undergrad big has already gone there.
Of course F McC is going to work the transfer portal. He sees the holes and really needs to win to get paid and keep his job. The first time we really needed a transfer, under these new rules, he took a grad student that turned out to be quite valuable.
Its one thing to have a strong preference for HS students but this is an odd roster situation that is apparent to everyone, or almost everyone. Its also a unique year for attracting big guys since our last center is PoY, 2 time All American. Like that kid from UNC might be thinking, Luka kicked my ass so how I about I become him?
There will some understandable pessimism if we fail to land a decent big guy and a decent shooting guard out of the available group of transfers right now.
Any info on wbo/how many of those 1000+ players Fran has had contact with before??
I think it was on one of the HawkeyeReport podcasts, but I believe Tom said that Fran really values in person evaluations. It’s probably one of the reasons Iowa didn’t do much in high school recruiting the past year and it’s probably why there won’t be much activity in the transfer portal. Most coaches haven’t seen most of these transfers actually play and are looking at stats.
I think its a stretch to say "its easy to see we'll be better next year". I certainly see Iowa being a more athletic team then this year and better defensively, but we don't have PROVEN scorers. If Joe W does in fact leave, thats an issue. Can Nunge stay on the court and play consistantly? Can Josh O play 10 minutes a game? Who's going to shoot the three without Jbo and Joe W, AND Luka? CJF has to prove he can stay on the floor and score consistently game after game. Can he do that? To this point neither Joe T, Ulis or Perkins have been able to, or haven't had the time to show that they can score. Does Keegan step up? Is Kris truly Keegans Clone? Can Pmac step into a bigger role on a nightly basis? Can the freshman PS give some scoring off the bench? I'd say we have way more questions then answers at this point. We didn't just lose to Oregon because they were more athletic. They also had a bunch of shot makers and scorers. Does IOWA have that?
Stay tuned, all questions will be answered next season. Maybe it will surprise you and make you all giddy.
There is no doubt in my mind we need a big and a shooter. I imagine Fran sees the same holes we see. If we don't get a big, Fran better hope that Jack stays healthy and Ogundele can actually contribute.
Nunge is most certainly a center on defense. I don't want him guarding any other position unless the other team is playing two slow footed bigs.
People change, players get better, situations are different and we need to improve our team. If Fran is looking for a way to alienate fans by not recruiting someone that he didn't recruit before, who could help his team, simply because he doesn't want to change his philosophy, this is a great way to do it. He cannot be satisfied with last year, big contract and all, he's got to upgrade when he can, this is a chance.
I would take Jacob Young all day. Understand both Fran and Young probably have no interest.
We need a big and a penetrating shooting guard so bad. I’m sure this is far more complicated as we don’t know who is staying/going nor to potential transfers.
you bring in a transfer at a position someone else on your roster May jump in. Getting a big seems much easier as we have a true need and minutes to sell.
We need a big and a penetrating shooting guard so bad. I’m sure this is far more complicated as we don’t know who is staying/going nor to potential transfers.
you bring in a transfer at a position someone else on your roster May jump in. Getting a big seems much easier as we have a true need and minutes to sell.
All this culture talk. What exactly is Iowa Men's Basketball Culture? The only thing I could think of is that they all seem to be religious.
Team oriented, relatively trouble-free kids who at least express an interest in Iowa. Contact with a lot of kids is made but only some have interest.
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I would imagine that nearly every coach wants to improve his team, short of the very rare individual who might just be riding out the clock in his current gig.
But, there is still the critical matter of incentives and expectations. Fan expectations don't really matter much except at the extremes such as being a multi million dollar donor who is unhappy or when there is mass apathy as in the lick years. Neither of those seem to be in play at present. Fran's incentives are, frankly, not too compelling currently. He'll be 62 soon and just signed a deal courtesy of Iowa's "brilliant" AD that guarantees him good money into retirement. He can essentially keep doing things on his terms. Meaning that there is really nothing pushing him to look at players in the transfer portal. That's not so say there's no chance he signs one or more through this process. But, barring a mass player exodus, he can field a team next year that will probably win at least some games in conference. Again, not saying that he doesn't want to win it all. Short of the type of complete mess that was isu this year, Fran's teams can be pretty mediocre and the result won't be more than some grumbling.
But, there is still the critical matter of incentives and expectations. Fan expectations don't really matter much except at the extremes such as being a multi million dollar donor who is unhappy or when there is mass apathy as in the lick years. Neither of those seem to be in play at present. Fran's incentives are, frankly, not too compelling currently. He'll be 62 soon and just signed a deal courtesy of Iowa's "brilliant" AD that guarantees him good money into retirement. He can essentially keep doing things on his terms. Meaning that there is really nothing pushing him to look at players in the transfer portal. That's not so say there's no chance he signs one or more through this process. But, barring a mass player exodus, he can field a team next year that will probably win at least some games in conference. Again, not saying that he doesn't want to win it all. Short of the type of complete mess that was isu this year, Fran's teams can be pretty mediocre and the result won't be more than some grumbling.
We seem to have this little dance every year. We get excited about a transfer who has given no indication he's even heard from McCaffery, much less interested in transferring to Iowa. And in the end, it becomes much ado about nothing and people here get mad because McCaffery didn't get it done.
Bottom line, if you don't supplement with transfers you are probably not going to get it done vs the teams that are.
Either accept the reality you exist in or continue to fail.
Either accept the reality you exist in or continue to fail.
The last three seasons haven't been mediocre, though. Not dream seasons but good teams.
After inheriting the worst Iowa situation any Iowa coach ever inherited (OK, last 70 years, maybe not ever), coming off records for most seasonal losses. After one season to clean up the roster he stopped the 20+ losses per year and had Iowa in the 2nd round of the NIT. In the following nine seasons there has been 1 very strange losing record, 2 NITs, one in the finals, and six NCAA appearances (never "mediocre" at Iowa) and 5 round of 32 games.
The guy has some coaching limitations, particularly a lack of in game flexibility and creativity, but that isn't hardly the same as being apathetic and just playing out the string until retirement, which is really what you conclude. F McC has to keep winning because unlike Kirk or the great coaches of the 80s and does not have a very warm relationship in the donor community or fanbase, in part because he's kind of a dick. The fans and donors will turn on the guy really fast following an otherwise inexplicably poor season. There are legitimate criticisms of Fran but I don't think apathetic or lazy are among them.
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Re our talk above. The latest HS commitments make it pretty unlikely Gonzaga goes after an undergrad transfer big man, at least not as a priority. That can only help Iowa. I may not help, but it cannot hurt.
Also, although I have been traditionally hostile to transfers the changing nature of the game and the society in which it exists make working the transfer market important and necessary. The current Iowa situation is Exhibit A in your/my and the correct conclusion-get out there and get some shooters and big men.
One HUGE fallacy to the "follow-in-Luka's-footsteps" reasoning: Iowa coaches weren't the ones who developed Luka, Frank Garza developed Luka. Unless I missed something, Frank hasn't been hired by Fran or Iowa, although he probably should be.
I agree with the above comment. The collegiate transfers are forcing the issue on teams whether a coach likes it or not. IMO to compete a coach has to utilize the portal/transfers.
No one thinks like that in the actual basketball professional world, as in where people make money coaching, scouting, recruiting, analyzing and studying basketball, not the NBA alone.
Why don't we ask Luka exactly who HE gives credit too, Okay? There are a great many people who helped Luka along his journey, (Mostly Luka himself), and this whole Frank Garza as big man guru is extremely overblown to the point of being ridiculous. He worked with his son when he had time, and believed in him just like so many other fathers who have had sons (or daughters) growing up playing sports. The assertion by many that this makes him some kind of coaching genius, or that he would be involved in this way in some other players, or that our staff had nothing to do with Luka's development is absurd. Just because he made videos of a few workouts, (for whatever reason) doesn't mean this consumed a ton of his time. Its way past time to but this tired notion to bed.
Bullshit. He's the only big that has appreciably developed during Fran's tenure.
BS right back at you. So you've never heard of A White? Did you really think that he would end up as Iowa's third all time leading scorer? Here's a hint, he was a gym rat much like Luka. And no he didn't work with Luka's dad either, unless there's video out there........What about Gabe Olasini? Are you really saying he wasn't better his last year then his first? Ryan Kreiner didn't get better in his last two years? Franks finger prints on any of these other guys? I could go on but it really doesn't matter does it?
Whether it is Luka or any other player, players improve their skill sets in the off season partly due to the amount of time they have. Obviously it was highly publicized what Luka and his dad did during the summer to improve. He also went to Big Man Camps and worked with others besides his dad, which usually isn't cheap. Was Luka following the workouts the staff gave him or did his dad create them? It is not that difficult to develop workouts for players in the offseason. The big concern is will they do the workouts the correct way. Not all players have the same drive Luka did.
