247 sports thinks Hawks a darkhorse contender for......

Interesting, but I'm not going there. Get through the dreaded Feb/March part of the schedule reasonably well and that would be a good start.

Then, get us to the 2nd weekend of the NCAA Tournament and see how things are looking, then I MIGHT start to entertain the idea. I do enjoy the flattering analysis, though. Sure beats the alternative. :p
 
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Iowa is not in his power rankings so when he was asked the question about dark horse he picked a team not in his ratings and then qualified it with

(a) get some road wins
(b) top three Big10

then Iowa would be a chic final four pick

But he did say Iowa is the only team outside of his power rankings that could win — a long shot
 
I like this team a lot, and think we can literally beat almost anyone. That being said, we can also lose to many teams if our shooting is off or if we continually get banged up. Just reality.
 
Have to get to the Sweet Sixteen first. And that would be a first for Fran anywhere he has coached.
Are you the same one who's been saying that on here lately that he hasn't been to a sweet 16 anywhere he's coached? I don't get the point of that. It's not like he's coached at other schools that had a legit shot of ever making one. It's about as pointless as saying that about a coach at his first college head coaching job.
 
Are you the same one who's been saying that on here lately that he hasn't been to a sweet 16 anywhere he's coached? I don't get the point of that. It's not like he's coached at other schools that had a legit shot of ever making one. It's about as pointless as saying that about a coach at his first college head coaching job.

Tell that to the Cinderellas that make it far in recent Tourney history. Besides the point, he has been at Iowa for 10 years and has never got there. It is a valid point. Many times you have to crawl before you walk.....and Fran has not even got to the Sweet 16. Final Four talk is Colorado Green Smoke at this point.

Let us make a Sweet 16 first and then see how we fair with the competition. Hell, he has not even won his own league in the Big Ten.
 
LOL. Gee, 17 days ago we had lost our 2nd consecutive B1G game and the wheels were falling off.

Not unlike the weather in Iowa, don't like how the team is playing...give it a week....your perception will be different.
 
Last time I heard that we lost in the first round to Northwestern fucking state
To this day Jermaine Wallace has never seen the basket he heaved that desperation shot at. Between the shooting angle and Haluska's hand in his face he might as well been wearing a blindfold.

And the sumbitch went right in the basket.
 
LOL. Gee, 17 days ago we had lost our 2nd consecutive B1G game and the wheels were falling off.

Not unlike the weather in Iowa, don't like how the team is playing...give it a week....your perception will be different.
Next time we lose, no matter when or who to, people will be on here calling for Fran's scalp and calling Connor a mid major p!ayer and predicting the commencement of the annual February swoon (that doesn't happen every year by the way)

Perhaps we should just win out!:)
 
Tell that to the Cinderellas that make it far in recent Tourney history. Besides the point, he has been at Iowa for 10 years and has never got there. It is a valid point. Many times you have to crawl before you walk.....and Fran has not even got to the Sweet 16. Final Four talk is Colorado Green Smoke at this point.

Let us make a Sweet 16 first and then see how we fair with the competition. Hell, he has not even won his own league in the Big Ten.

My point is, since he's been here for 9 years (10th one doesn't count yet) that's enough to bitch about by itself. Adding that he hasn't made the sweet 16 at shit schools like Lehigh and Siena doesn't really add to the arguement. "He won't make the sweet 16 this year because he couldn't even make it at the shitty schools he was at before iowa" doesn't make sense. Now if he came to Iowa from a school like Ohio State or Oregon or some school like that, it would make sense to mention as a reason he might not make it this year. It would be a bigger deal. Him not making it at those 3 schools doesn't mean a thing.
 
Tell that to the Cinderellas that make it far in recent Tourney history. Besides the point, he has been at Iowa for 10 years and has never got there. It is a valid point. Many times you have to crawl before you walk.....and Fran has not even got to the Sweet 16. Final Four talk is Colorado Green Smoke at this point.

Let us make a Sweet 16 first and then see how we fair with the competition. Hell, he has not even won his own league in the Big Ten.

How many Sweet 16s had Lute been to before making the Final Four?
 
I gotta say, in the Fran Ers, once we get this kind of hype, we usually encounter some hiccups. So I wish the hacks would keep gushing over O$U or Michigan, instead o_O
 
I gotta say, in the Fran Ers, once we get this kind of hype, we usually encounter some hiccups. So I wish the hacks would keep gushing over O$U or Michigan, instead o_O

Yep. We've had three teams under Fran that started getting attention before the end of the year. '13 '15 and '19. All three of them finished poorly. On the flip side, we've had six teams under Fran that didn't get any attention earlier in the year and none of them got worse at the end. A couple of them did just suck the entire year tho.

Last year I put in the fade category, but it was a pretty small fade when considering schedule and actual team talent. Almost losing to two pretty bad teams adds to the perception of the fade just as much as the actual losses.

White's team never had any attention and needed to win a bunch of the last 6 games just to get into the tournament. They won all 6.
 
Are you the same one who's been saying that on here lately that he hasn't been to a sweet 16 anywhere he's coached? I don't get the point of that. It's not like he's coached at other schools that had a legit shot of ever making one. It's about as pointless as saying that about a coach at his first college head coaching job.
You mean Fran didn’t get Lehigh to the second weekend? Even with the clear path that 16 seed provided?
 
You mean Fran didn’t get Lehigh to the second weekend? Even with the clear path that 16 seed provided?

Yep. Fran shouldn't get credit for getting that shit team to the dance. It should be used as an example of how he sucks at getting teams into the sweet 16.

Like I said, there is plenty of ammo to use to say Fran can't make a sweet 16. Say he's had 9 years to do it at Iowa (he has said that). Say he can't finish the season strong with his good teams. Say he can't win the big game on the big stage (he got blown out twice in the 2nd round). Those reasons are enough to make a good case against Fran. No need to make up reasons that don't make sense when you think about them. "He hasn't done it yet in 9 years" sounds just fine in this situation. "He hasn't done it with any team he's ever coached" doesn't add almost anything to it. It does add a tiny bit because there is a really small chance to make it with those teams (hell he almost did with Siena). But it doesn't add enough to mask the fact that you care more about making Fran sound as bad as possible than you care about stating facts.
 

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