Who had this team at 11-9/21-10 at end of regular season, before the season started?? 12-8/22-9 is not out of the question, either.

[sober_teacher]

I'm talking about Frans off season and replacing cjf scholly with ash. Try to follow along

it’s a one year deal with Ash so I’m not upset about who has the 13th scholarship. He also talked Bohannon into coming back as the real fill-in for Frederick.

Well we are ranked 80 in defensive efficiency. We ended last year at 75 so..... Hoping that the recent trend remains intact and they can finish strong.

Wow, I thought we’d ended last year in the mid-100s. It feels (and I don’t have stats to back this up) like our base defense is improved, but what killed our stats earlier was that stretch where we were giving up so many second-chance points because we were getting killed on the boards. Feels like they’ve gradually bought into chasing after loose balls and rebounding, and we’ve been fairly good on forcing turnovers all year.

 

[BurgHawk87]

Our off-season consisted of replacing transfers cjf and nunge schollys with ash and rebraca...so yeah I'd say he's a big part of Frans weak off season ...

You don't get extra credit for lowering expectations and not replacing guys.

If you look at stats, nunge averaged 7 points and 6 boards last year. Rebraca is 6 and 6. Not exactly the failure you're making it out to be. Did Iowa replace CJ Benedict with an equal? No. But Kris Murray is playing 6.5 less minutes per game than CJ did yet averaging 2.5 more points and 3 more rebounds. And shooting 40% from 3. And most of all he's not made of papier-mache. Only a coach of a true blue blood would not have lowered expectations after losing the npoy and another player to the draft.

 

[jonesy5960]

it’s a one year deal with Ash so I’m not upset about who has the 13th scholarship. He also talked Bohannon into coming back as the real fill-in for Frederick.

Wow, I thought we’d ended last year in the mid-100s. It feels (and I don’t have stats to back this up) like our base defense is improved, but what killed our stats earlier was that stretch where we were giving up so many second-chance points because we were getting killed on the boards. Feels like they’ve gradually bought into chasing after loose balls and rebounding, and we’ve been fairly good on forcing turnovers all year.

Nope. I think we were in the 110's a few weeks ago which was pretty much where we spent most of last year. Our inability to clear the defensive glass was undoubtedly a huge issue along with pretty uninspired defense at times. It's amazing to me how closely this year is tracking with last year. Offensive efficiency is off the charts again at #5 vs #3 last year and defensive performance was downright bad both years through about 3/4's of the year and then after some regrettable losses the team finds some semblance of defense towards the end. There is no doubt in my mind that from an athletic perspective this team SHOULD be better defensively than last year, but it hasn't been able to consistently produce better results on the court.

 

[unoHawkeye]

Nope. I think we were in the 110's a few weeks ago which was pretty much where we spent most of last year. Our inability to clear the defensive glass was undoubtedly a huge issue along with pretty uninspired defense at times. It's amazing to me how closely this year is tracking with last year. Offensive efficiency is off the charts again at #5 vs #3 last year and defensive performance was downright bad both years through about 3/4's of the year and then after some regrettable losses the team finds some semblance of defense towards the end. There is no doubt in my mind that from an athletic perspective this team SHOULD be better defensively than last year, but it hasn't been able to consistently produce better results on the court.

Iowa’s defensive efficiency numbers haven’t benefitted from the unusually high number of blowout games that Iowa has won (both in and out of conference) where defense has gone lax midway through the second half. It’s pretty undeniable that this year’s defense is better than last year’s, though we struggle to defend the paint more against bigger bodies

 

[sober_teacher]

Nope. I think we were in the 110's a few weeks ago which was pretty much where we spent most of last year. Our inability to clear the defensive glass was undoubtedly a huge issue along with pretty uninspired defense at times. It's amazing to me how closely this year is tracking with last year. Offensive efficiency is off the charts again at #5 vs #3 last year and defensive performance was downright bad both years through about 3/4's of the year and then after some regrettable losses the team finds some semblance of defense towards the end. There is no doubt in my mind that from an athletic perspective this team SHOULD be better defensively than last year, but it hasn't been able to consistently produce better results on the court.

I’d love to know what our defensive numbers are on initial shots/possessions. It would make sense to me that this numbers would suffer when you add in the extra possessions due to losing the rebounding battle. Our overall numbers have largely improved this month I think due to us doing MUCH better on the boards.

 

[sober_teacher]

Our off-season consisted of replacing transfers cjf and nunge schollys with ash and rebraca...so yeah I'd say he's a big part of Frans weak off season ...

You don't get extra credit for lowering expectations and not replacing guys.

Again, we essentially replaced Frederick with Bohannon, not Ash.

 

[HoustonREDHawk]

I don't think I made a prediction, but thought Iowa could be anywhere from 8-12 to 12-8. A few weeks ago, I thought 10-10 was most likely, when the majority of posters were predicting below .500. I hope the players aren't feeling too confident. Need to jump on Nebbie early, so the next games become more meaningful. 12-8 would be a great accomplishment with all of the guys who left.

 

[truehawkfan45]

I did, but it was because I was expecting big jumps from Uhlis/TP/Joe. Did not foresee a NPOY campaign by Keegan incoming.

 

[perryhawk]

Our off-season consisted of replacing transfers cjf and nunge schollys with ash and rebraca...so yeah I'd say he's a big part of Frans weak off season ...

You don't get extra credit for lowering expectations and not replacing guys.

The point that I'm apparently not articulating very well is......your premise is that Fran had a weak off season......and I'm saying that the fact that this team is now ranked in the top 25, appears to be on track for a solid tournament bid, just beat the crap out of MSU after beating a top 20 OSU on the road shows that your original premise is not credible. He had an off season that has supported this so far successful season...not a weak off season.

If you want to say that he didn't have success getting the Post player he wanted/needed, I can certainly see that. We lost out on Robinson and a couple others before getting Rebraca who hasn't been great. But at the guard spot, once he got JBO, he got the exact answer he wanted. A proven outside shooter who knew the system....at that point why get anyone else.

 

[funnyfletcher]

Ash has more points than CJ this year

 

[nbanflfactory]

If you look at stats, nunge averaged 7 points and 6 boards last year. Rebraca is 6 and 6. Not exactly the failure you're making it out to be. Did Iowa replace CJ Benedict with an equal? No. But Kris Murray is playing 6.5 less minutes per game than CJ did yet averaging 2.5 more points and 3 more rebounds. And shooting 40% from 3. And most of all he's not made of papier-mache. Only a coach of a true blue blood would not have lowered expectations after losing the npoy and another player to the draft.

Rebraca is basically another forward that we didn't need. He doesn't replace the loss of nunge.

Nunge not gonna play much with Garza on a team. Not to mention his other issues last year.

 

[nbanflfactory]

Again, we essentially replaced Frederick with Bohannon, not Ash.

Not really. We replaced jbo with jbo....

 

[BurgHawk87]

Rebraca is basically another forward that we didn't need. He doesn't replace the loss of nunge.

Nunge not gonna play much with Garza on a team. Not to mention his other issues last year.

By definition, rebraca fills the role that nunge had last year. You can't take nunge's stats this year and say "see, he's not doing that." We have no way of knowing how the future will play out. But if you want to play that game then you have to admit that ash is a definite upgrade over CJ who has zero stats for the year. Can't have it both ways.

 

[BurgHawk87]

Now would I have loved to see Jack still be at Iowa? Absolutely. But that wasn't in the cards. And the one rumored potential transfer in the off-season in Liam Robbins has been hurt for over half the season. So all things considered it didn't turn out horribly.

 

[BBHawk]

I'm talking about Frans off season and replacing cjf scholly with ash. Try to follow along

NSIS. If you are, that's not what happened at all. Per McC recruiting JoBo back was to help with the loss of CJ. He's not CJ but he shows up every game AND is giving Iowa more than CJ would have this year.

 

[jonesy5960]

Ash has more points than CJ this year

That guy is absolutely killing it!

 

[nbanflfactory]

By definition, rebraca fills the role that nunge had last year. You can't take nunge's stats this year and say "see, he's not doing that." We have no way of knowing how the future will play out. But if you want to play that game then you have to admit that ash is a definite upgrade over CJ who has zero stats for the year. Can't have it both ways.

Ok then so who fills Garza's role?

 

[nbanflfactory]

NSIS. If you are, that's not what happened at all. Per McC recruiting JoBo back was to help with the loss of CJ. He's not CJ but he shows up every game AND is giving Iowa more than CJ would have this year.

That's makes zero sense. Jbo coming back makes up for not losing jbo, not for him AND cj...

We don't know if cjf gets hurt if he stayed here. Does history suggest there's a good chance? Yes.

 

[jdv77]

I think that if we are being honest, the number of can't miss big men in the portal is pretty low. Joey Brunk, at OSU, is averaging 1.5 ppg. Joey Hauser is averaging 7 ppg and 5.6 rpg at Michigan State. Prior to his injury, Liam Robbins was averaging 6.5 ppg and 3.2 rpg at Vandy. All were hot commodities when they entered the portal.

 

[jonesy5960]

Nw and neb will drop that some

Not necessarily. Kenpom adjusts to the strength of the opponent as opposed to using raw numbers. You're expected to beat the crap out of crappy teams.

 

[nbanflfactory]

I think that if we are being honest, the number of can't miss big men in the portal is pretty low. Joey Brunk, at OSU, is averaging 1.5 ppg. Joey Hauser is averaging 7 ppg and 5.6 rpg at Michigan State. Prior to his injury, Liam Robbins was averaging 6.5 ppg and 3.2 rpg at Vandy. All were hot commodities when they entered the portal.

Defense is a big issue. We have no big other than josh to muscle up vs the real bigs...especially when they're allowed to play "physical b1g bball"
We could also use a big that creates more fouls from the other team.

 

[jonesy5960]

NSIS. If you are, that's not what happened at all. Per McC recruiting JoBo back was to help with the loss of CJ. He's not CJ but he shows up every game AND is giving Iowa more than CJ would have this year.

Yeah. I don't know why everyone was thinking that CJ was going to be a huge loss this year. He's a 3 point shooter that almost never drove to the hoop and often had a lot of trouble getting/creating his own shot against good defenders. He and JBo seemed like pretty much the same player to me and when JBo came back it was a wash. I always thought losing Nunge was a much bigger loss than CJ. Rebraca has been a good serviceable player but Nunge would have made a huge difference inside this year on both ends of the court.

 

[BurgHawk87]

Ok then so who fills Garza's role?

Keegan. Almost identically in the stat sheet. Arguably even more so on the floor. And then sandfort/ulis fill Keegan's stats from last year minus a rebound or two. Considering by almost every statistical metric Iowa is equal to last year's team you can find the replacements for any departed member.

 

[nbanflfactory]

Keegan. Almost identically in the stat sheet. Arguably even more so on the floor. And then sandfort/ulis fill Keegan's stats from last year minus a rebound or two. Considering by almost every statistical metric Iowa is equal to last year's team you can find the replacements for any departed member.

He's not gonna stop a true big. Well, not with getting in foul trouble and then benched. Garza typically did the opposite and got the other big benched.

 

[Hawksfinal4]

I was overly optimistic I had Hawkeyes finishing behind only Illinois, Purdue and Michigan???? Missed on that one too.

 

[BurgHawk87]

He's not gonna stop a true big. Well, not with getting in foul trouble and then benched. Garza typically did the opposite and got the other big benched.

That's fair. But other than Kofi being allowed to shoulder check his way to a dunk, Iowa's biggest issue with bigs is not even attempting to put a body on them for rebounds. It has been better the past two games so hopefully that continues.

 

[nbanflfactory]

That's fair. But other than Kofi being allowed to shoulder check his way to a dunk, Iowa's biggest issue with bigs is not even attempting to put a body on them for rebounds. It has been better the past two games so hopefully that continues.

Mattered vs mi too. Doubling hunter led to quite a few open looks.

I hope we can steal one of those!!

 

[BBHawk]

That's makes zero sense. Jbo coming back makes up for not losing jbo, not for him AND cj...

We don't know if cjf gets hurt if he stayed here. Does history suggest there's a good chance? Yes.

It makes sense because JoBo could have just transferred or ended his career.

 

[nbanflfactory]

It makes sense because JoBo could have just transferred or ended his career.

And instead he stayed and "replaced" himself....

 

[BBHawk]

And instead he stayed and "replaced" himself....

He was talked into it because CJ left and he would be a 2 guard.

Look, you can spin it as something different but this is what he said helped him to decide to come back:
"Two things happened this past week that sold Bohannon on his decision, which he called 100% final.
One, CJ Fredrick transferred out of the program in what was a messy exit to say the least. That left the Hawkeyes without a proven 3-point shooter at the guard position.
Two, McCaffery cranked up his recruiting pitch. Bohannon joked that it felt like his days at Linn-Mar High School again, to have McCaffery selling him on the impact he could have for the Hawkeyes.
McCaffery’s pitch this time? That Bohannon — who has spent almost all of his five years at the “1” (point guard) position — would fit well as a “2” (shooting guard) to complement a young group of guards that includes Joe Toussaint, Ahron Ulis and Tony Perkins."

Why JoBo came back

 

[nbanflfactory]

He was talked into it because CJ left and he would be a 2 guard.

Look, you can spin it as something different but this is what he said helped him to decide to come back:
"Two things happened this past week that sold Bohannon on his decision, which he called 100% final.
One, CJ Fredrick transferred out of the program in what was a messy exit to say the least. That left the Hawkeyes without a proven 3-point shooter at the guard position.
Two, McCaffery cranked up his recruiting pitch. Bohannon joked that it felt like his days at Linn-Mar High School again, to have McCaffery selling him on the impact he could have for the Hawkeyes.
McCaffery’s pitch this time? That Bohannon — who has spent almost all of his five years at the “1” (point guard) position — would fit well as a “2” (shooting guard) to complement a young group of guards that includes Joe Toussaint, Ahron Ulis and Tony Perkins."

Why JoBo came back

I get that, but then that leaves us with a pg that Fran clearly doesn't even trust and now where's jbo? He's been quick to pull Joet since day 1.
Either way we should have taken ANY halfway decent grad transfer over ash. You can say he replaced cj jbo or weezy.

Sorry but there is zero excuse to give out charity schollys these days.

 

[HoustonREDHawk]

Rebraca is basically another forward that we didn't need. He doesn't replace the loss of nunge.

Nunge not gonna play much with Garza on a team. Not to mention his other issues last year.

I guess we will agree to disagree on Rebraca. He is not a star, but was a solid addition. The twins can play 4 and 5, but Patrick is a very weak interior defender. Without Rebraca, Iowa would be incredibly thin at the interior positions.

 

[nbanflfactory]

I guess we will agree to disagree on Rebraca. He is not a star, but was a solid addition. The twins can play 4 and 5, but Patrick is a very weak interior defender. Without Rebraca, Iowa would be incredibly thin at the interior positions.

Don't get me wrong, I'd 100% rather have FR than not. I'd just prefer we picked up a legit center that could give us 20min a game

 

[BBHawk]

I get that, but then that leaves us with a pg that Fran clearly doesn't even trust and now where's jbo? He's been quick to pull Joet since day 1.
Either way we should have taken ANY halfway decent grad transfer over ash. You can say he replaced cj jbo or weezy.

Sorry but there is zero excuse to give out charity schollys these days.

The team is not suffering in scoring guards.

And name ONE halfway decent grad transfer who was considering Iowa AND WOULD HAVE COME HERE who would have added to the team. Keep in mind that getting someone to come here means they would have to know where they would stand in minutes. Would they get more than Standfort?

 

[Jizzer]

The team is not suffering in scoring guards.

And name ONE halfway decent grad transfer who was considering Iowa AND WOUKD HAVE COME HERE who would have added to the team. Keep in mind that getting someone to come here means they would have to know where they would stand in minutes. Would they get more than Standfort?

She complains about everything Fran could have done differently, with 20/20 hindsight. She thinks a 13th guy with no power 5 experience would have somehow made a big difference in our backcourt, then would have turned around and complained about our large rotation of players and less PT for Joe. She can't name one single player that had interest in coming to Iowa as a Center. Meanwhile, had we gotten this pretend Center guy, she would have then complained about them playing over Kris.
Rebraca has a 15.6 PER in conference this year. Wahab was the top center transfer last year, and has a 15.2 PER in the same conference.
Top True Center Transfers
Brooks: 16.9 PER, no chance to Iowa
Robbins 14.7 PER
Tshiebwe - went to Kentucky, would have been great, no interest
Myles - 19.2 PER, went to UCLA for grad school choice and frankly a better team

 

[HoustonREDHawk]

Don't get me wrong, I'd 100% rather have FR than not. I'd just prefer we picked up a legit center that could give us 20min a game

My memory sucks, but I believe Rebraca was not Fran's first choice. Many of us wanted the center who transferred from the Goofers, but he was enticed to go to another school that seemed to make less sense to me. I think there were a couple of other guys, but I don't know the amount of effort Fran made.

 

[FranklinHawk]

The team is not suffering in scoring guards.

And name ONE halfway decent grad transfer who was considering Iowa AND WOULD HAVE COME HERE who would have added to the team. Keep in mind that getting someone to come here means they would have to know where they would stand in minutes. Would they get more than Standfort?

Right, the vast majority of grad transfers are going to expect to start. Do we really want "halfway decent" when many say Fran already plays too many guys and needs to tighten up the rotation?

Also, it'd be nice if NFLsomethingsomething would name that true center big guy that Fran didn't go after in the portal. It's not like there are a wealth of quality big men available.

 

[BBHawk]

My memory sucks, but I believe Rebraca was not Fran's first choice. Many of us wanted the center who transferred from the Goofers, but he was enticed to go to another school that seemed to make less sense to me. I think there were a couple of other guys, but I don't know the amount of effort Fran made.

Iowa tried to recruit him but Liam showed less interest in Iowa. Then his uncle(?) got the Vandy job and it was obvious what was going on.

 

[nbanflfactory]

The team is not suffering in scoring guards.

And name ONE halfway decent grad transfer who was considering Iowa AND WOULD HAVE COME HERE who would have added to the team. Keep in mind that getting someone to come here means they would have to know where they would stand in minutes. Would they get more than Standfort?

I don't know because Fran never found any...

 

[ssckelley]

Thank gawd Fran talked Rebracca into coming here, without him we’d be seeing a lot more of Ogundule or Mulvey..