Just think back for a second what kind of team we could have surrounded Luka with if we had just an above average Big Ten point guard his last year. Point Guard We Never Had at the 1, Bohannon at the 2, Keegan at the 3, Joe W at the 4, Luka at the 5. CJ, Kris Murray, and Jack Nunge (if he would have stayed) coming off the bench. That team could have won a national title.
What Could Have Been - Luka Garza
- Thread starter IChawkeye45
- Start date
My kingdom for a point guard. It's been a shortcoming of all of Fran's teams.
And then he tried to plug in his son to do it, and we all know how that worked out. 🤦♂️
It’s like imaging if KF tried to score points when Iowa had the best defense in the country
it’s maddening I tell ya
it’s maddening I tell ya
I still think of Kirk Ferentz in front of the team (especially the defense) and being like, “No one is above this team. Team above everything.” And then you have some of these defensive players snickering and sneaking looks at Brian Ferentz knowing that couldn’t be further from the truth.
You can play that game, but if I’m Fran I’m thinking “what would have been” if any of Nunge, Weiskamp, Garza or Keagan hadn’t left a year early.
Aren’t we glad Fran saved Keegan’s legs for his junior and senior seasons?!?
Ultimately, I think what kept us from being in a better position to make a deep run that year (aside from poor defense) was Fran's tendency to build his offense around a single "alpha" player. Not that Luka wasn't awesome, because he certainly was, averaging 24.1 ppg his last year. But because getting the ball to Luka was the focal point of the offense, it led to other poor decisions, such as Connor starting ahead of Keegan. Sure, Connor racked up ludicrous assist numbers by feeding the ball to the best player in the country. But I think if Luka had averaged about 6-7 fewer points a game, with those points spread out among Weiskamp, Keegan, JBo, and others, we might have been more difficult to stop in the tourney.
Yea. It’s still hard to believe our starting guard court against Oregon in the tourney got outscored 63 to 0. That stat never fails to amaze me.
None of the Iowa guards (CMAC, JBO, Fredrick) could get their shot off or guard their guy because the opponents Duck guards were athletic 6'5 dude that could shoot and defend and rebound. Weezy had a decent game, hurt his ankle late, didn't matter. Garza had around 38 pts if my memory is correct but the guy he was guarding had 29 pts.
We now know Fredrick sucked. CMAC of course couldn't shoot and wasn't guarded that year. JBO of course very limited 1-dimensional guy. Looking back given how bad our guard court was, no surprise they got smoked in NCAA tourney.
Man, while I agree with your sentiment - other than Nunge - none of those guys portaled out. They went pro when it was the best time for them, both in terms of their draft stock as well as doing it before picking up a serious injury at the college level that could have hampered them in their pro careers.
(maybe not JW, but its debatable)
So I can't say "man, they really screwed us over by leaving" because they didn't do it out of spite or because they left for greener pastures on the same level they already were playing on.
And not only the above, but that first season the NCAA Tournament came back after Covid, that squad had no business doing any worse than the Sweet16, but Fran only got a scraped-by 2v15 win in the first round followed by an ugly loss vs a team that hadn't even played a Big Dance game yet that postseason.
So, when he did have all those guys together, the most he got out of all that talent assembled was a couple first round NCAA wins, if even that. Might have been only the 1.
It’s all just wistful thinking. I don’t blame any of them for leaving, got to do what’s best for you. But I have to believe any of those guys would have made a huge difference.
Still coached by Fran so I doubt that team even makes it to 2nd weekend
I don't know it they do, honestly.
Still the same coach and still the same lack of an actual impact player at PG.
🤷♂️
Lack of steady PG play will ultimately be the Achilles heel of Fran's tenure at Iowa of course after defense. We had a bunch of guards that were great at one or two things but weren't complete players and hurt the rest of the team. Gesell could guard and was an athlete- couldn't shoot a lick. JBo the exact opposite.
CJ could actually guard and shoot. He was just always hurt and then got sick of all the drama with Connor and Fran.
I can kind of accept freak losses in the NCAA but I still consider the fact that Iowa had CMC at point guard during that time to be unforgivable.
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