Wow. Maybe near the bottom of all P5. Going to be some quiet nights at Carver. It would make a nice study hall for students during the men's basketball games.
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Worst roster in the BIG 10 this season??
- Thread starter Letsgohawks411
- Start date
14 years under McCaffery: nine times Iowa has finished 4th-7th placed in the B10 - that’s the zone of expectation for Iowa with Fran as HC, “weak roster” or not. Finished 3rd three seasons; finished worse than 7th two times including year one.
I’ll go ahead and predict a 5/6 finish next year. In any event, I’m pretty confident they will finish within the zone of expectation (B10 4th-7th) which reflects a roster no where near worst in the conference.
I’ll go ahead and predict a 5/6 finish next year. In any event, I’m pretty confident they will finish within the zone of expectation (B10 4th-7th) which reflects a roster no where near worst in the conference.
Your prediction is based on Fran's past performance. Well done. The "experts'" predictions in many of those years were below the final result. Fran does pretty well.
I would argue that, according to his career record, Fran is fairly average overall with a disappointing, below average (arguably terrible) post-season performance record. I suspect most fans can live with a middle-of-the pack coach so long as he occasionally takes a team deep into the NCAA tournament.
You have a ways to go before you can match @curtisj157's clever negativity. You need to step up your game.
I would argue that .500 or better in conference play 9 of the last 10 years is not "fairly average overall".
I'm calling it right now, so feel free to save the link, this team as is (including Payton and everyone remaining healthy) is a top 9 team in the conference.
*On top of that, if they add one more piece via the portal, either Cross or a veteran guard, I'll bump them to a top 7 team.
*On top of that, if they add one more piece via the portal, either Cross or a veteran guard, I'll bump them to a top 7 team.
OP needs to find a hobby or another team to root for, if he really is a Hawkeye fan.
Look, I don’t intend to start an argument on the meaning of “average” ..but.. Fran has coached 264 B10 conference regular season games - that’s a large sample size.
McCaffery sports a 51.4% career conference win percentage and has exceeded .500 record in only 7 (50%%) of his 14 years at Iowa. I previously posted the team standings. These records and results are solidly within the realm of average.
A 4th thru 7th place finish in a 14 team league probably extrapolates to around 8th-9th place in an 18 team league. I'm looking at something around there for next year....which probably isn't good enough for NCAAs. Hopefully that means we're looking for a new coach.
Maybe, maybe not...a lot would depend on who the wins are against.
Also, getting out of the gates strong to start the season and not dropping games to teams they should beat would help.
I am with you. Hey, I have been as frustrated as everyone on Fran's inability to have post season success. It doesn't cloud me from the fact that he has brought in talent, and has had positive regular season results.
As for the upcoming year, I see it like this... If Payton returns then the Hawks have 3 guys that could start for any other Big team(Dix, Sandfort and Freeman), they have some quality players that would be rostered by almost everyone(Harding, Koch) they also have talent that might be very good(Dembele, Tadjo and Thelwell).
Success is dependent on Harding being everything most believe he is capable of, Koch being a scorer, Dembele being consistent, Tadjo being even with the hype and Thelwell proving he can play at this level. Bonus is Pryce dropping 3's and Mulvey being more than a warm body and the Hawks finding one more real player.
I have hope.
Not gonna lie, I took advantage of this while going to Iowa in the late 2000s.
I think part of the idea from the teachers' side was to encourage students to attend more sporting events than just football, basketball, and wrestling.
But hey, if I could get in free to a sporting event at Carver and have it count towards school work/assignments, it's not like I was doing much of anything better back then. 🤔
Csb- the only Iowa sports I never saw live in person while going to school were the ones that were obviously the least "spectator-sport" friendly:
Tennis
Golf
Cross Country
Men's swimming and Gymnastics (at least I think they were still around back then, I'd have to check........)
Hell, I even checked out a couple rowing competitions in Iowa City, as they were held fairly close to where my dorm was.
/csb
It is past time to have parted ways with Fran. But worst roster? I don't think so.
Finishing somewhere in the middle third of the new 18 team league looks about right.
I'm no more optimistic about the post season than last year. But I'll buy that they can do enough in league play to stay out of the basement.
Finishing somewhere in the middle third of the new 18 team league looks about right.
I'm no more optimistic about the post season than last year. But I'll buy that they can do enough in league play to stay out of the basement.
The Sacred Heart of Jesus is viewed as a symbol of "God's boundless and passionate love for mankind". Iowa men’s basketball is proof God has a sense of humor.
See, that’s what I’m talking about right there. Well done!
Fran has had a solid career at Iowa if you don’t include his lack of postseason success.
The problem is it’s an absolute rarity for a coach to be at one school as long as Fran has with no real accolades to show for. That’s the current situation the Iowa basketball program finds itself in.
Not doing anything of note with the Garza team that included a future lottery pick, who rode the bench in favor of the coach’s underwhelming son, really killed any momentum the basketball program was gaining in fan enthusiasm.
Iowa will never be bad under Fran (like Iowa State was with Prohm), but Iowa will also always have the same low ceiling with Fran. The end result is a coach who hangs around too long while fan support and interest continue to dwindle.
The problem is it’s an absolute rarity for a coach to be at one school as long as Fran has with no real accolades to show for. That’s the current situation the Iowa basketball program finds itself in.
Not doing anything of note with the Garza team that included a future lottery pick, who rode the bench in favor of the coach’s underwhelming son, really killed any momentum the basketball program was gaining in fan enthusiasm.
Iowa will never be bad under Fran (like Iowa State was with Prohm), but Iowa will also always have the same low ceiling with Fran. The end result is a coach who hangs around too long while fan support and interest continue to dwindle.
Steve Prohm was 97-95 at Iowa State. He went to the NCAA tournament three times, sweet 16 once, round of 32 once. He compares pretty favorably with FM.
I should have clarified what I meant.
Fran will never have a disastrous 0-18 conference season that would make it easy for the AD to can him.
The point is Fran needs to go.
The number of teams that have reached the sweet 16 since we did last is a joke. Until we do anything different that is how I view Iowa basketball. A legit nothing burger.
You’ve neglected to mention any of his intangibles. Like stare downs with 5-foot referees. He’s far from average at those.
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, no one really cares about the Gophers up there. It’s a pro sports place. Unless you went to the University, in which case, in my experience while living there, it was about 50/50 if they cared.
Making the tournament should be the minimum expectation every year. I'll count the first four as that too.
I don’t agree with the bolded part. I’m not sure any of those guys are guaranteed starters on the top teams in the league, but I like your optimism.
Right.
All we have in Iowa is college, and we’ve settled on a coach that has been almost exactly average in conference over the course of 14 YEARS.
A few memorable players. Zero memorable seasons. Waaaay past time to try someone new.
Take a couple steps back from IowaNice, Beth…
A lot of Iowa fans don’t seem to understand the point you’re making. The issue is not that the S16 is some noble pursuit that determines the success of a program. Quite the contrary. The issue is not having one team in 25 years reach the S16 speaks to the futility of it.
The fact this is puzzling to many Iowa fans shows just how much acceptance of mediocrity has settled into the fan base. We’ve gone from “Iowa can do better than Tom Davis” to “We can’t do better than Fran McCaffrey (becauseTodd Lickliter).”
And some fans wonder why NIL money isn’t rolling in for basketball.
I would take multiple losing seasons for a run like nc state just had. Iowa keeping a coach around forever because he has a .500 league record is not a good thing.
LOL….not because of a Todd L, but rather because of Dr Tom, and here we still are….
It’s funny to me….and quite frankly I’m so tired of talking heads and whiny fans and the level of absurdity that the money has reached…
I care less and less all the time and I’d wager that’s where a lot of those fans sit.
Yes and now as a result they will likely get saddled with a coach who was on his way out….
But sure, that sounds like an Iowa fan. Hell I’d already forgotten about NC St and their magical run. Most will…
Nobody cares about some one off miracle run.
Not me. 24 months plus of misery for a couple of weeks of glory?
I follow NCAA BB fairly closely but if you had asked me about NCSt s season I draw a blank.
Does anyone remember all those sweet 16 participants from even a year ago?
Me? I enjoy winning BIG games for the thrill of the moment.
The more the better. I like being in the hunt every year not going 24 months of losing for 2 weeks of winning.
