When is your exact single turn around moment?

[DanL53]

If it is fair to say that Hawkeye basketball is back, than at some point this thing turned around. When do you feel it happened?

My gut feeling is that on 9/14/2011 when Adam Woodbury committed to play for Iowa the turnaround was accomplished. We'd just had Mike Gesell commit on 8/8/2011 and the bleeding of talent from Iowa to elsewhere was plugged.

It took awhile, for the recruit/retain/develop model to kick in. But that is the model that has always worked for Iowa. Own the state's high school talent, and supplement when needed and possible.

That day, by the way, 9/14/2011 was about a year and one half after McCaffery was hired. Not freagin' bad. We just had to be patient while the pieces were put into place.

 

[CentralIAHawk]

That is an interesting question, and I am not sure you can identify a single point...but I'll play along.

I'm going to say the turnaround was cemented the day that AC told coach that the he was going to stay around for his junior year.

There are so many things that go into building a championship team, and the primary thing that the blue bloods use (Kentucky, Duke, Kansas and North Carolina nationally & Michigan, MSU, Ohio State & Indiana in our conference) isn't available to Fran: get a couple of those top 50 athletes.

I don't know the entire story, but I know that most 19 year old men don't blame themselves when things go bad (nor do their parents)...most coaches don't have a lot of patience with a kid that didn't put in the work...there was the recruiting of a JC all-american pg, and a future Kentucky pg - neither worked out.

Woody is having a fantastic senior year, most unselfish player I've seen in a long time.
Uthoff is getting all of the accolades.
Jok is looking like a Cinderella story.
Gessell is showing how to play, lead & act like a 4-year starting pg.
But AC plays a key role, moving us from top 25 to top 5.

That's my moment.

Go Hawks!

 

[jdv77]

I think it was the win at home against Purdue at the end of McCaffery's first season.

 

[CanadaHawk]

How about when McCaffery announced an actual experienced coaching staff that's still together.

 

[DanL53]

Thanks for the first answers and those to come. All positive moments. Extreme thank you!!! Great stuff.

 

[Underscore2]

2011 win @ #11 Wisconsin.

That was the year they lost to soup early on, and it was tempting to start doubting Fran a bit.

Then a win at a place that was notoriously difficult to play really opened eyes.

And, they stayed over 500 the rest of that year and beyond - crazy to think how excited we were to make the NIT that year. Milestone moment.

 

[StormHawk42]

Tough to point to one, but Gatens' unbelievable hot streak to lead us to the NIT and then winning an NIT game in front of a wild and loud Carver was a microcosm of the "Iowa is back" narrative.

 

[thirdandpunting]

McCabe's bar fight

 

[HawkamongstGophers]

No single moment, but the continuous improvement in early yrs and the corresponding increases in recruited talent, particularly as it seemed to coincide with a vision of the team McCaffrey wanted. I think that is what I saw most, recruiting to a plan/vision of what he wanted his team to look like.

Need to see this team go deep in tourney though, to show that McCaffrey teams can be, a "tough out" and this is not just the fluke record of a Senior laden team. Then next year follow up with an NCAA tourney team.

That will keep the recruiting train climbing the mountain.

 

[KuwaitHawk]

This year's turn-around was the loss at isu. Since then this team has been on a mission. They will win against Indiana this week.

 

[hawkeyemike23]

I'll just go with the day we hired Fran. We hired a guy with decades of coaching experience, who had built three different programs, who had turned Siena into a borderline top 25 team and a guy who has worked his ass off since day one. He hasn't always gotten every recruit he's gone after, but he's never been outworked for one, he's proven to have a great eye for talent, he never put up with not getting calls that other coaches got. There was never any Lickliter like despair, no matter how bad of shape the program was in when he got here, he just came in with a positive attitude and went right to work and it's really paying off.

 

[WAHawkeye]

Uthoff's transfer to Iowa, despite many obstacles. Not only adding the player, but the reasons behind his decision, specifically the up-tempo style of play.

 

[goodbyebobby]

Aaron White's NYE performance in Madison.

 

[Mohawkeye]

Tough to point to one, but Gatens' unbelievable hot streak to lead us to the NIT and then winning an NIT game in front of a wild and loud Carver was a microcosm of the "Iowa is back" narrative.

I admit I wasn't hot on the Fran hire at first. But I was impressed that he brought Basabe with him and immediately filled a desperate point guard need in Cartwright. Somewhere along the Gatens streak, or maybe as early as the Wisconsin win, I knew we had the right man. What a hire!

 

[HawkamongstGophers]

Hard to imagine how far the program has come since the Lickliter debacle and frankly, previous degradation of the overall program.

As long as Fran stays, it is going to be a great high level ride overall. With some of the best "rated" players we have had in a long time, scheduled to arrive over the next few years, Iowa BB is going to only grow in national attention.

 

[Gridiron24]

The win vs. #6 Purdue in Carver

 

[Suterman]

Sweeping MSU this year.

 

[HawkLogic]

As soon as they finally fired Lickliter, I knew the bottom was in.

 

[Skidlt]

When was Fran's last technical? That's my ignorant vote.

The steady march of progress from the beginning makes in really hard to pinpoint a moment.

 

[youflog1hawk]

I was for Davis being let go because all I heard was he was not a hard recruiter . I was at games in Sioux City and Fran was their on site going after high school recruites. Seeing and hearing fran being on the recruiting trail is all I needed it know.

 

[Phenomenally Frantastic]

beating U Virginia at their place with 19 game home winning streak on the line.

UNC, Duke, & Maryland all Lost there that year. Iowa won.

Very impressive feat.

 

[Alex Thompson]

Dayton NIT game in Carver. Unreal crowd that let me know that we were on our way to being back- but the moment that I knew we were back to being relevant was our dismantling of Davidson in the NCAA.

 

[Tunadog]

Fran's chair-wrecking eruption. It's remains one of the coolest things I've ever seen.

 

[rufus-hawk]

This year's turn-around was the loss at isu. Since then this team has been on a mission. They will win against Indiana this week.

I will say the comeback victory at Purdue. Though the team might say the loss at ISU provided the motivation, that game proved this team CAN overcome the adversity, even against a very physical team in a hostile arena. Iowa teams of the past have struggled in games like that, now they are the aggressors.

It's hard to put a value in the confidence they must have gained in that comeback, and easy to imagine the season turning out quite differently if Purdue had won by double digits instead.

Tom Izzo spoke about this toughness after a dominating victory vs. MSU, and it is the very reason the team is having great success compared to seasons past.

 

[Hawk68]

If Jok happens to go pro this year, many of your are going to ask what the hell happened to the Hawks? I see no 1, 2 or 5 ready for the BIG next year.

 

[Hawk and Awe]

Uthoff's transfer to Iowa, despite many obstacles. Not only adding the player, but the reasons behind his decision, specifically the up-tempo style of play.

This was it for me. It was refreshing seeing a guy that really wanted to play for our coach.

 

[lonewolf52]

The win vs. #6 Purdue in Carver

I agree with this. I feel this set up the next great moment which was when Woody committed to Iowa over UNC. The win sparked belief in recruits and fans that Fran just may be able to rebuild the program.

 

[Ronman]

For me, it was just some nondescript game McCaffery's first season. I just remember watching the game and thinking "this guy knows what he's doing." After three years of Lickball, it was like a breath of fresh air.

 

[lovedwatchingLester]

If Jok happens to go pro this year, many of your are going to ask what the hell happened to the Hawks? I see no 1, 2 or 5 ready for the BIG next year.

And one day we are all going to die..... Sheeeesh !

 

[CanadaHawk]

Uthoff's transfer to Iowa, despite many obstacles. Not only adding the player, but the reasons behind his decision, specifically the up-tempo style of play.

In retrospect, this was the final piece to the team today. In addition to the reasons WAHawkeye gives, it also started an abundance of the long lean guys Fran is after. White and Uthoff were recruited for the same position and Uthoff came here anyway. Now we've got Uhl, Baer, etc. Looking forward to M Williams continuing the tradition?

 

[markfromj]

Dayton NIT game in Carver..

Oddly, officially, a road game.

 

[hawk-i bob]

multiple post likes ...

I'll say two...the one I didn't know at the time (the day Barta hired Fran McCaffery)...

two...the Purdue game in Carver in 2011 ...

 

[DanL53]

In retrospect, this was the final piece to the team today. In addition to the reasons WAHawkeye gives, it also started an abundance of the long lean guys Fran is after. White and Uthoff were recruited for the same position and Uthoff came here anyway. Now we've got Uhl, Baer, etc. Looking forward to M Williams continuing the tradition?

And, I can think of one past coach who might have reacted very differently to Uthoff choosing to go to Wisconsin. While Jarrod committed in July of 2010, just months after McCaffery was hired, something left Uthoff with a good enough impression to pay a year of his own way to play for Iowa.

I assert, and I feel comfortable saying it, that Coach He Who Shalt Not Be Named would have tossed his cookies and Uthoff would never have returned. He might have left Wisconsin, for parts unknown.

 

[Curt Furence]

The Purdue game was a big one.
This maybe wasn't a turnaround moment but one that got me feeling Fran was going to do big things at Iowa. The Dayton NIT game, that game got a buzz going about Iowa basketball like I had't heard in a while.

 

[srams21]

2011 win @ #11 Wisconsin.

That was the year they lost to soup early on, and it was tempting to start doubting Fran a bit.

Then a win at a place that was notoriously difficult to play really opened eyes.

And, they stayed over 500 the rest of that year and beyond - crazy to think how excited we were to make the NIT that year. Milestone moment.

100% agreed with this. I was there that night at the Kohl Center and that team just felt like they were not going to let Wisconsin come back. Aaron White drained a couple corner 3's to expand the lead and Basabe and Gatens had some big moments as well in the final stretch. Awesome win and that's when I knew Fran would at least get us back to national relevancy at some point.

 

[hawk-i bob]

And, I can think of one past coach who might have reacted very differently to Uthoff choosing to go to Wisconsin. While Jarrod committed in July of 2010, just months after McCaffery was hired, something left Uthoff with a good enough impression to pay a year of his own way to play for Iowa.

I assert, and I feel comfortable saying it, that Coach He Who Shalt Not Be Named would have tossed his cookies and Uthoff would never have returned. He might have left Wisconsin, for parts unknown.

could be wrong maybe the recruiting followers can correct me ... but I don't recall much discussion back in the day that Lick was even recruiting JU...Fran wasn't able to catch up when he started but certainly made some in roads with JU before he committed to Wisconsin..

in the end we won out...