Maybe you don't have to be a Blue Blood?

Kansas State, San Diego State, Florida Atlantic, Princeton or Creighton In the Elite 8 I don't think anyone would consider them Blue Bloods? There is hope for the Iowas of the world.

Kansas State, San Diego State, Florida Atlantic, Princeton or Creighton In the Elite 8 I don't think anyone would consider them Blue Bloods? There is hope for the Iowas of the world
They prob all play effective defense.

There is little hope for Iowa until they get that figured out.
 
They prob all play effective defense.

There is little hope for Iowa until they get that figured out.
Probably correct in most cases but not Kansas State. Their stingy defense somehow held Michigan State in the nineties the other night.

What everyone has in common is that they're gelling at the right time, like Iowa did on its NIT run about a decade ago. Think of how many good teams got left out 50 years ago when it was a 32 team field and never got the chance.
 
I don't think it is a matter of wanting to play defense. They can't because they can't. Fran doesn't have the athletes to play basket-brawl, otherwise known as defense.
And yet they won a BTT last year by repeatedly getting key defensive stops. With players who showed for one weekend they could play basketbrawl.

They don't beat Purdue or Indiana, or maybe even Rutgers, if they don't get down and dirty.

I really thought they could build off that and step up another level this year, as Keegan, JBo and Joe T were their only losses of consequence. They didnt.
 
I think it just helps to have a team that is good in half-court offense, half-court defense, transition offense and defense, and has good offensive and defensive fundamentals. Things not going to chalk is also a bonus in this tournament.

I don't think the Blue-Bloods were as strong this year as they have been in the past.

That said if Kansas State, San Diego State, Florida Atlantic, and Creighton can find a way to get it done.....it is even more of a kick in the junk Iowa has another year of one and done.
 
I think it just helps to have a team that is good in half-court offense, half-court defense, transition offense and defense, and has good offensive and defensive fundamentals. Things not going to chalk is also a bonus in this tournament.

I don't think the Blue-Bloods were as strong this year as they have been in the past.

That said if Kansas State, San Diego State, Florida Atlantic, and Creighton can find a way to get it done.....it is even more of a kick in the junk Iowa has another year of one and done.
Maybe some of these midmajor and low power conference teams should be getting more favorable seeds and certain power conference teams should be getting 11-14, or being forced to play those early games in Dayton.

I know the metrics that go into seeding teams, but just something I've thought about for a while.
 
I think it just helps to have a team that is good in half-court offense, half-court defense, transition offense and defense, and has good offensive and defensive fundamentals. Things not going to chalk is also a bonus in this tournament.

I don't think the Blue-Bloods were as strong this year as they have been in the past.

That said if Kansas State, San Diego State, Florida Atlantic, and Creighton can find a way to get it done.....it is even more of a kick in the junk Iowa has another year of one and done.
Fran has never had guards on any of his iowa teams like these teams. Not even close. Let alone bigs. Heck…he didn’t even play nunge when he had him. His style doesn’t include defense. He values offense. While some feel that’s “funner” to watch, the rest of us (that are focused on winning), don’t agree. He’s certainly never had a pg like these. The k-st pg from nyc would never be recruited to his teams. Touissant was a solid defender & could break down a defense. He didn’t play him. He preferred bohannon who was an enormous defensive liability. Bohannon is a role player on most of these teams due to his lack of defense. Fran’s lack of guard recruiting & defensive philosophy will always be his downfall.

His best defense is pulling rank on UNI/Drake, even not having the nuts to play at Creighton. Because…everyone knows…iowa is to good to play at these places.
 
Probably correct in most cases but not Kansas State. Their stingy defense somehow held Michigan State in the nineties the other night.

What everyone has in common is that they're gelling at the right time, like Iowa did on its NIT run about a decade ago. Think of how many good teams got left out 50 years ago when it was a 32 team field and never got the chance.
I guess u could call it gelling but I'd also say they ALL have big guys - legitimate big guys - even leaning toward "old school" posts - that "know" the position and they ALL have consistent production from 1 if not 2 guards.
Fran has never had guards on any of his iowa teams like these teams. Not even close. Let alone bigs. Heck…he didn’t even play nunge when he had him. His style doesn’t include defense. He values offense. While some feel that’s “funner” to watch, the rest of us (that are focused on winning), don’t agree. He’s certainly never had a pg like these. The k-st pg from nyc would never be recruited to his teams. Touissant was a solid defender & could break down a defense. He didn’t play him. He preferred bohannon who was an enormous defensive liability. Bohannon is a role player on most of these teams due to his lack of defense. Fran’s lack of guard recruiting & defensive philosophy will always be his downfall.

His best defense is pulling rank on UNI/Drake, even not having the nuts to play at Creighton. Because…everyone knows…iowa is to good to play at these places.
You have been knocking it out if the park lately!
 
So, barring a Texas miracle, were going to have a four, two fives and a nine making the final four.

Whatever criteria the committee is using to seed teams needs to be revisited. They completely spit the bit this year.

Also the reason regular season rankings don't mean diddly squat. Perhaps all this is an effect of the portal. Perhaps it takes a good chunk of the season for certain teams to hit their stride.
 
Fran has never had guards on any of his iowa teams like these teams. Not even close. Let alone bigs. Heck…he didn’t even play nunge when he had him. His style doesn’t include defense. He values offense. While some feel that’s “funner” to watch, the rest of us (that are focused on winning), don’t agree. He’s certainly never had a pg like these. The k-st pg from nyc would never be recruited to his teams. Touissant was a solid defender & could break down a defense. He didn’t play him. He preferred bohannon who was an enormous defensive liability. Bohannon is a role player on most of these teams due to his lack of defense. Fran’s lack of guard recruiting & defensive philosophy will always be his downfall.

His best defense is pulling rank on UNI/Drake, even not having the nuts to play at Creighton. Because…everyone knows…iowa is to good to play at these places.
Damn. You are flat out boring.
 
So, barring a Texas miracle, were going to have a four, two fives and a nine making the final four.

Whatever criteria the committee is using to seed teams needs to be revisited. They completely spit the bit this year.

Also the reason regular season rankings don't mean diddly squat. Perhaps all this is an effect of the portal. Perhaps it takes a good chunk of the season for certain teams to hit their stride.

People love to shit on the NBA and SOME of it is deserved, but college basketball is becoming more and more like the NBA, where the regular season just doesn't matter.
 
I guess u could call it gelling but I'd also say they ALL have big guys - legitimate big guys - even leaning toward "old school" posts - that "know" the position and they ALL have consistent production from 1 if not 2 guards.

You have been knocking it out if the park lately!
It shows how quickly things can change. Five years ago Nevada and Loyola made nice runs with interchangeable, "positionless" players. And suddenly these lineups were all the rage.

Now bigs seem to be back in vogue. And is anyone else noticing less reliance on three point shooting, especially as the tourney rolls on?

I've noticed a ton of teams kicking it out, then looking back inside. And players who can hit (gasp) the midrange jumper. I've seen more jumpers attempted from around and just inside the free throw line than I've seen in a decade. Miami came back from a thirteen point second half deficit without making a single three point shot.
 
People love to shit on the NBA and SOME of it is deserved, but college basketball is becoming more and more like the NBA, where the regular season just doesn't matter.

It still does to be able to get into the NCAA tournament, though, which is good.
 
Fran has never had guards on any of his iowa teams like these teams. Not even close. Let alone bigs. Heck…he didn’t even play nunge when he had him. His style doesn’t include defense. He values offense. While some feel that’s “funner” to watch, the rest of us (that are focused on winning), don’t agree. He’s certainly never had a pg like these. The k-st pg from nyc would never be recruited to his teams. Touissant was a solid defender & could break down a defense. He didn’t play him. He preferred bohannon who was an enormous defensive liability. Bohannon is a role player on most of these teams due to his lack of defense. Fran’s lack of guard recruiting & defensive philosophy will always be his downfall.

His best defense is pulling rank on UNI/Drake, even not having the nuts to play at Creighton. Because…everyone knows…iowa is to good to play at these places.

This is so dumb I don't even know where to start but I'll give it a go

Iowa not wanting to play at Creighton, where do you get that? Where have you heard that? It's not true lol. They definitely do and would, but that's a deal where you don't do it unless both teams get a home and home. You also have to imagine that match up will find its own way eventually in the Gavitt Games.

Iowa shouldn't be playing at Drake or UNI - no win situation for the school. If you are an Iowa fan and you want to play at those schools, just know that you'd be doing a disservice to the school you follow. That's a no win situational game for Iowa and the only thing it caters to are fans of UNI and Drake. Why do you want to do that? They also got rid of that game and have scheduled teams like Duke and Gonzaga in it's wake.

Joe Toussaint had a ridiculous amount of playing time considering how little he produced. Fran forced it. He made Joe play more minutes then he deserved cause he kept expecting him to figure it out. You could argue that he kept playing Joe T despite it being detrimental to the team. They were losing games because of how bad the offense moved when he was running the point. Fran was forced to go back to a plan they had already abandoned because he was so determined to make Joe T work.

Jordan was a way better option then Joe T at the PG position. He could have laid down cardboard and breakdanced on defense and he would have been a better option at the 1 then Joe T.

Fran didn't play Jack Nunge? That might be literally the dumbest thing ever typed on the internet. Jack averaged over 15 minutes as a freshman. His #'s went up his sophomore year. But did you know that he was seriously injured in all 3 seasons? Fran played him and played him a lot, even though he played the same position and was behind arguably the best college center to play college basketball in the last 30 years.

So dumb
 
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