Building a Program (or not) In the B1G since 1999

JonDMiller

JonDMiller

Publisher/Founder
A lot was made about Steve Alford never having a losing season at Iowa by, well, the Alford's and now some Dakich and Seth Davis types. But the B1G in that era was as low as it has ever been in my lifetime

While this isn't a perfect metric it's something to chew on. Here is the number of ranked Big Ten teams at the end of the corresponding seasons since 1999-2000, Alford's first at Iowa. I will list that year and each subsequent season will be listed by the second year. So the 1999-2000 season will be listed as 2000, then the number of Big Ten teams in final rankings.

2000: 5
2001: 5
2002: 2
2003: 2
2004: 2
2005: 3
2006: 3 (Iowa was one of them)
2007: 2

Of those six years 2002-2007, Iowa was an at large pick for the NCAA tournament just two of six years and it was highly debated whether they deserved the at large pick in 2005. Bob Bowlsby was the head of the selection committee that year.

LICKLITER

2008: 3
2009: 2
2010: 4

Nothing special, but trending stronger. Lickliter was just a bad hire, bad stylistic fit for the history of this fanbase and there was already a grinder in the league in an adjacent state.

MCCAFFERY

2011: 3
2012: 5
2013: 5

In 2012 and 2013, four Big Ten teams reached the Sweet 16. That has happened just four times ever in back to back years for one league. McCaffery is doing work in a much, much tougher Big Ten better than Alford ever did and the league was at its nadir during the majority of the Alford era and it's not debatable. The league is now at it's best since the 1980's or perhaps early 1990's.

This is more about how impressed I am with the rebuilding job Fran has done and is doing during one of the best periods in recent league history.

For good measure, the Big Ten had five teams ranked end of year in 1999, too, Tom Davis' last year at Iowa and a Sweet 16 run.

Tom Davis' first eight year's at Iowa saw 4-4-4-5-2-4-4-4. Most of those years the league had 10 teams, so 4 of 10 is at 40%. 5 of 12 as it has been the last two years is actually 41.6% of teams.
 


Penn State and Nebraska don't count for purposes of historical basketball comparisons. You could prolly throw Northwestern out, too. Best news is that a lot of talent will be leaving the conference this year and we will be nicely positioned barring any standard Iowa offseason bad luck.

With any luck, we should crack the top 4 in the conference next year.
 


I've read blistering commentary on CyFan that the BoneG is overrated and that Fred is 20x the coach Fran is. I'm not sure who to believe.
 


Doesn't this, at least to an extent, give Alford a pass for his mediocrity at Iowa? I mean, if the whole Big Ten was at its lowest point in a generation, why shouldn't Iowa have also been at its lowest point in a generation under Alford?
 


JonDMiller said:
A lot was made about Steve Alford never having a losing season at Iowa by, well, the Alford's and now some Dakich and Seth Davis types. But the B1G in that era was as low as it has ever been in my lifetime

While this isn't a perfect metric it's something to chew on. Here is the number of ranked Big Ten teams at the end of the corresponding seasons since 1999-2000, Alford's first at Iowa. I will list that year and each subsequent season will be listed by the second year. So the 1999-2000 season will be listed as 2000, then the number of Big Ten teams in final rankings.

2000: 5
2001: 5
2002: 2
2003: 2
2004: 2
2005: 3
2006: 3 (Iowa was one of them)
2007: 2

Of those six years 2002-2007, Iowa was an at large pick for the NCAA tournament just two of six years and it was highly debated whether they deserved the at large pick in 2005. Bob Bowlsby was the head of the selection committee that year.

LICKLITER

2008: 3
2009: 2
2010: 4

Nothing special, but trending stronger. Lickliter was just a bad hire, bad stylistic fit for the history of this fanbase and there was already a grinder in the league in an adjacent state.

MCCAFFERY

2011: 3
2012: 5
2013: 5

In 2012 and 2013, four Big Ten teams reached the Sweet 16. That has happened just four times ever in back to back years for one league. McCaffery is doing work in a much, much tougher Big Ten better than Alford ever did and the league was at its nadir during the majority of the Alford era and it's not debatable. The league is now at it's best since the 1980's or perhaps early 1990's.

This is more about how impressed I am with the rebuilding job Fran has done and is doing during one of the best periods in recent league history.

For good measure, the Big Ten had five teams ranked end of year in 1999, too, Tom Davis' last year at Iowa and a Sweet 16 run.

Tom Davis' first eight year's at Iowa saw 4-4-4-5-2-4-4-4. Most of those years the league had 10 teams, so 4 of 10 is at 40%. 5 of 12 as it has been the last two years is actually 41.6% of teams.
Click to expand...

Iowa's Tourney bid was deserved in 2005.
Iowa beat Louisville who made the final 4.
Iowa beat Texas who made the NCAA
Iowa beat ISU who made the rd of 32 in the NCAA
Iowa beat Tex. Tex by 30. Tech made Sweet 16 that year.
Iowa beat UNI who made the NCAA tourney.
Iowa lost to North Carolina, who won the NCAA tourney.
Not that great of a conference season, (7-9) but nobody plays a non conference schedule like Iowa did that year, with the wins they had and then not get in.
It may have been highly debated but the bid was deserved.
 


thejumper5 said:
Doesn't this, at least to an extent, give Alford a pass for his mediocrity at Iowa? I mean, if the whole Big Ten was at its lowest point in a generation, why shouldn't Iowa have also been at its lowest point in a generation under Alford?
Click to expand...

I guess it could point to Iowa missing an opportunity to build a practice facility that would helped recruiting, which in turn could have helped put Iowa over the top in a weak Big 10. One could also say Alford struggled with the "good" recruits he had in terms of getting them onto campus and player development. Who knows one could argue that Alford could have skipped the risk if he had more to sell recruiting wise and maybe gotten more solid better recruits rather than taking a risk.

Who knows, he just was not the right fit. I would rather Iowa not do well with such a jerk as head coach.
 


Hawkfromnorwalk said:
I've read blistering commentary on CyFan that the BoneG is overrated and that Fred is 20x the coach Fran is. I'm not sure who to believe.
Click to expand...

Fred IS 20x the coach Fran is. How can you expect a team with only (4) 5th year senior starters (ISU) to beat a team starting 3 freshman, 1 sophomore and a jr. (Iowa)
Iowa had a huge advantage in personnel, otherwise Fred would have won that game.
 


So over SA's 8 years, the average was 3 Big Ten teams in the top 25....24/8.
In Licks 3 years the average was 3 Big Ten teams in the top 25...9/3.
Is that really trending stronger?

It seems that the Dakich twitters has really lit a fire under your need to hammer on SA...here I thought we had moved on?

The league had some teams in the National Championship game in the SA era...IU,Ill,and OSU...if they had won, it would be looked at a lot different.

I reserve judgement on this years league....if someone can win the damn thing, then it will look good.
 


blubberhawk said:
Fred IS 20x the coach Fran is. How can you expect a team with only (4) 5th year senior starters (ISU) to beat a team starting 3 freshman, 1 sophomore and a jr. (Iowa)
Iowa had a huge advantage in personnel, otherwise Fred would have won that game.
Click to expand...


great points here for floyd the boy-wonder. don't forget about his connections though - is a multiplier of his ability.
 


blubberhawk said:
Fred IS 20x the coach Fran is. How can you expect a team with only (4) 5th year senior starters (ISU) to beat a team starting 3 freshman, 1 sophomore and a jr. (Iowa)
Iowa had a huge advantage in personnel, otherwise Fred would have won that game.
Click to expand...

I will be happy when I no loger have to read Fred and Fran comparisons. Both are doing a fine job. The Cyclone site must be insecure or something. I have not really seen anything comparing the two around these parts in a very long time. I think both programs are heading in the right direction and have good head coaches.
 


ICHAWK said:
I guess it could point to Iowa missing an opportunity to build a practice facility that would helped recruiting, which in turn could have helped put Iowa over the top in a weak Big 10.
Click to expand...

Hard to raise money for a practice facility when Alford had the majority of the fan base divided with his handling of Pierce.

Who knows how that impacted the likelihood of donations.
 


JHHawk said:
So over SA's 8 years, the average was 3 Big Ten teams in the top 25....24/8.
In Licks 3 years the average was 3 Big Ten teams in the top 25...9/3.
Is that really trending stronger?

It seems that the Dakich twitters has really lit a fire under your need to hammer on SA...here I thought we had moved on?

The league had some teams in the National Championship game in the SA era...IU,Ill,and OSU...if they had won, it would be looked at a lot different.

I reserve judgement on this years league....if someone can win the damn thing, then it will look good.
Click to expand...

I know, threads like these is taking away our complaining about the RPI and officiating. Dammit Jon, let it go!
 


Iowa was busy raising the 90 million for Kinnick during that period. Basketball was a distant second in priority,which makes sense. Still, there are a lot of factors to having sustained success in basketball. MSU got a fancy new building just as Izzo was building momentum. Fran has good timing,and I believe he will capitalize on it. SA and Lick's timing was not great,in terms of facilities or top notch local talent,and could not overcome it,due in part to their own ineptitude.

Now, that said, next year is a critical year for Fran to finish the first phase of his rebuilding project...making the NCAA is tangible evidence of the completion of that first phase,and must not be missed. Locking in a great 2014 recruiting class comes first tho, as the November signing date is only 6 months away. So far, everything is on track in this project....keep it on track Fran!
 


The thing that jumps out about next year is how much better the bottom of the conference will be. Nebraska doesnt lose much, PSU gets Frazier back and they were very competitive at the end of the year against some good teams.

Purdue is a young team and Hammons will be a monster. NU will get Crawford back but who knows how they will be with a new coach.

While the top will not be as strong next year in the BoneG, it will feature a lot more parity.
 


Section136 said:
The thing that jumps out about next year is how much better the bottom of the conference will be. Nebraska doesnt lose much, PSU gets Frazier back and they were very competitive at the end of the year against some good teams.

Purdue is a young team and Hammons will be a monster. NU will get Crawford back but who knows how they will be with a new coach.

While the top will not be as strong next year in the BoneG, it will feature a lot more parity.
Click to expand...

Is it for sure Crawford will get another year? He was very close to the cutoff for a medical redshirt. It will not bother me at all if we miss Penn St or Purdue on the road next year.
 


Crawford has been granted the medical redshirt year,however, when Carmody was fired, the immediate word from his camp is that he was considering his options,which could include going pro, or playing his last year at another school,without sitting because he has graduated. I wish he would come to Iowa next year.
I suspect he will go somewhere like Duke or another good bb school that is on the cusp of contending again next year,but lose their small forward.

Sometimes we remember the quality of the league thru rose-colored glasses...in one of our other Qtrfinal NIT years, 1995, Iowa was .500 in the league but did not get to the NCAA tourny. Five Big Ten teams qualified for the Dance,but 4 lost in their first game. Not a great year for the Big Ten.
 


Year
AVG Attendance
Nat Rank
Coach
2000
15561
13
Davis
2001
15500
12
Alford
2002
15207
12
Alford
2003
13235
20
Alford
2004
12977
23
Alford
2005
11900
22
Alford
2006
12006
25
Alford
2007
12196
29
Alford
2008
10761
37
Lickliter
2009
10861
34
Lickliter
2010
9550
48
Lickliter
2011
11635
31
McCaffery
2012
11869
31
McCaffery
Attendance is a good barometer of coaching success. Jon pointed out the weakness of the conference during the Alford era. Just as telling are the attendance figures. Dakich and Davis don't have to deal with the economic impact of a 23% decline in attendance.
 






JonDMiller said:
A lot was made about Steve Alford never having a losing season at Iowa by, well, the Alford's and now some Dakich and Seth Davis types. But the B1G in that era was as low as it has ever been in my lifetime

While this isn't a perfect metric it's something to chew on. Here is the number of ranked Big Ten teams at the end of the corresponding seasons since 1999-2000, Alford's first at Iowa. I will list that year and each subsequent season will be listed by the second year. So the 1999-2000 season will be listed as 2000, then the number of Big Ten teams in final rankings.

2000: 5
2001: 5
2002: 2
2003: 2
2004: 2
2005: 3
2006: 3 (Iowa was one of them)
2007: 2

Of those six years 2002-2007, Iowa was an at large pick for the NCAA tournament just two of six years and it was highly debated whether they deserved the at large pick in 2005. Bob Bowlsby was the head of the selection committee that year.

LICKLITER

2008: 3
2009: 2
2010: 4

Nothing special, but trending stronger. Lickliter was just a bad hire, bad stylistic fit for the history of this fanbase and there was already a grinder in the league in an adjacent state.

MCCAFFERY

2011: 3
2012: 5
2013: 5

In 2012 and 2013, four Big Ten teams reached the Sweet 16. That has happened just four times ever in back to back years for one league. McCaffery is doing work in a much, much tougher Big Ten better than Alford ever did and the league was at its nadir during the majority of the Alford era and it's not debatable. The league is now at it's best since the 1980's or perhaps early 1990's.

This is more about how impressed I am with the rebuilding job Fran has done and is doing during one of the best periods in recent league history.

For good measure, the Big Ten had five teams ranked end of year in 1999, too, Tom Davis' last year at Iowa and a Sweet 16 run.

Tom Davis' first eight year's at Iowa saw 4-4-4-5-2-4-4-4. Most of those years the league had 10 teams, so 4 of 10 is at 40%. 5 of 12 as it has been the last two years is actually 41.6% of teams.
Click to expand...

Iowa was an at large pick in 2005 and a auto qualifier in 2006. What other year were they an at large.
 


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