Player Development

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WarriorHawk

New Member
I see hundreds of posts talking excitedly about how Fran developes talent. McCabe and Marble have certainly improved, although Marble was only 17 when he stepped onto campus so some of that might be simply due to physical maturity. And McCabe still makes me scratch my head sometimes. But does Fran get a free pass on the regression of Basabe and Cartwright?

I'm trying not to dog on Fran as I like the guy and being a tireless recruiter is 75% of the challenge of being the basketball coach in Iowa City, but just not ready to jump in with both feet yet. We are completely clueless as to how to play defense, and being young seems to be the popular excuse, but I've seen other teams just as young that don't have the deer in the headlights look. Maybe it is a general lack of talent, but you can't credit Marble for being talented and then completely ignore his lack of ability to play defense and blame it on being young. Not to pick on Marble, as we have a roster full of players unable to man up.
 


McCaffrey's future at Iowa hinges on next year's class. If he can't get us NIT eligible (NCAA too lofty IMO) next season, then his seat will begin to warm. He needs to hit a home run with his last scholarship and get a transfer or juco who can have an immediate impact next year. It's hard to predict what the freshman will do in year one, especially with all the expectations around Woodbury and Gessell.

This year is rapidly digressing from cautious optimism to "here we go again". I don't see us winning another game this season and see Sunday's game against IU as a beatdown special waiting to happen. Lots of 3 point shooters, deep bench with athletes and Zeller? Not good.
 


hawkIhoops said:
McCaffrey's future at Iowa hinges on next year's class. If he can't get us NIT eligible (NCAA too lofty IMO) next season, then his seat will begin to warm. He needs to hit a home run with his last scholarship and get a transfer or juco who can have an immediate impact next year. It's hard to predict what the freshman will do in year one, especially with all the expectations around Woodbury and Gessell.

This year is rapidly digressing from cautious optimism to "here we go again". I don't see us winning another game this season and see Sunday's game against IU as a beatdown special waiting to happen. Lots of 3 point shooters, deep bench with athletes and Zeller? Not good.
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Well, not a word of that is true.
 


I really think that he gets a pass. He's had one full recruiting class....keep in mind that he had a month or so to nab Basabe and Cartwright. When I watch these games, I really wonder what Lickliter had planned with some of these players. It drives me crazy that he collected 7 figures annually.
 


Ihawk209 said:
I really think that he gets a pass. He's had one full recruiting class....keep in mind that he had a month or so to nab Basabe and Cartwright. When I watch these games, I really wonder what Lickliter had planned with some of these players. It drives me crazy that he's collecting 7 figures annually.
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Fixed it for ya. But yeah, absolutely disgusting to take a pretty good program annually to it's worst single season, worst back to back seasons, and worst 3 yr period in its 100+ year history.
 


Ihawk209 said:
I really think that he gets a pass. He's had one full recruiting class....keep in mind that he had a month or so to nab Basabe and Cartwright. When I watch these games, I really wonder what Lickliter had planned with some of these players. It drives me crazy that he collected 7 figures annually.
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Can't have it both ways. This time last year everyone was going on and on about how great Fran was and how great an eye for talent he had when he brought in Basabe and Cartwright. I've always said Cartwright was below average but anyway.....NOW fans are making excuses and saying that they were last second additions (I agree) and you can't fault Fran for them not being worth a lick.

Lickliter sucked but 3 of our 4 best players this year are Lick guys. Next year hopefully is a different story.
 


Wassabbe said:
Can't have it both ways. This time last year everyone was going on and on about how great Fran was and how great an eye for talent he had when he brought in Basabe and Cartwright. I've always said Cartwright was below average but anyway.....NOW fans are making excuses and saying that they were last second additions (I agree) and you can't fault Fran for them not being worth a lick.

Lickliter sucked but 3 of our 4 best players this year are Lick guys. Next year hopefully is a different story.
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..this is a great point. I'll give you two. Gatens was an Alford commit
 












WarriorHawk said:
I see hundreds of posts talking excitedly about how Fran developes talent. McCabe and Marble have certainly improved, although Marble was only 17 when he stepped onto campus so some of that might be simply due to physical maturity. And McCabe still makes me scratch my head sometimes. But does Fran get a free pass on the regression of Basabe and Cartwright?

I'm trying not to dog on Fran as I like the guy and being a tireless recruiter is 75% of the challenge of being the basketball coach in Iowa City, but just not ready to jump in with both feet yet. We are completely clueless as to how to play defense, and being young seems to be the popular excuse, but I've seen other teams just as young that don't have the deer in the headlights look. Maybe it is a general lack of talent, but you can't credit Marble for being talented and then completely ignore his lack of ability to play defense and blame it on being young. Not to pick on Marble, as we have a roster full of players unable to man up.
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They don't play defense, at times. At other times, they play great defense. It's the inconsistency that is maddening. I would suspect the same is true for other young programs as well. We are only more critical of the team we know best.
 


Two things with Cartwright and Basabe:

One, Cartwright's concussion, hamstring and now ankle issues have had a huge impact. Add to that the development of Marble, and Cartwright hasn't been anywhere near the player he was a year ago. He has been out of sorts all year. I think a lot of this season has been mental for him. And he just hasn't figured out how to make an imprint on the game this year with his role drastically different.

Cartwright's lack of playmaking has had a tremendous effect on Basabe. He isn't getting the easy buckets off Cartwright's or anyone else's penetration this year. Or any easy putbacks on rebounds either. That doesn't excuse his lack of development in the post, but I believe it will lead to an improved Basabe next year.

And obviously, their lack of production combined has hurt this club. To me, Caff getting 13 wins out of this club is pretty amazing. And let's be honest, Marble and Gatens were going to be very difficult conversions to any place other than Iowa. Lick didn't have to do much. Same with McCabe. Let's not go overboard with Caff winning with "Lick's guys". This roster speaks volumes to how poor a recruiter Lick was.
 


Wassabbe said:
Gatens was coming to Iowa no matter who the coach was. Just like Derby in football, just like Woodbury in basketball.
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Gatens and Derby maybe, but I disagree about AW... I think he was North Carolina bound if not for Fran.
 
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bamahawkeye said:
Two things with Cartwright and Basabe:

One, Cartwright's concussion, hamstring and now ankle issues have had a huge impact. Add to that the development of Marble, and Cartwright hasn't been anywhere near the player he was a year ago. He has been out of sorts all year. I think a lot of this season has been mental for him. And he just hasn't figured out how to make an imprint on the game this year with his role drastically different.

Cartwright's lack of playmaking has had a tremendous effect on Basabe. He isn't getting the easy buckets off Cartwright's or anyone else's penetration this year. Or any easy putbacks on rebounds either. That doesn't excuse his lack of development in the post, but I believe it will lead to an improved Basabe next year.

And obviously, their lack of production combined has hurt this club. To me, Caff getting 13 wins out of this club is pretty amazing. And let's be honest, Marble and Gatens were going to be very difficult conversions to any place other than Iowa. Lick didn't have to do much. Same with McCabe. Let's not go overboard with Caff winning with "Lick's guys". This roster speaks volumes to how poor a recruiter Lick was.
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C'mon man...don't let the facts get in way. :)
 




Trust me, Fran's seat will not get even warm until after 5 years. He is at 1.75 years.

Iowa is not about to become a revolving door of bb coaches. Fran has more job security than most of the rest of the coaches in this league. Tubby,Carmody,Weber,Chambers,Crean and Saddler will be gone before Fran.

Iowa was projected to finish 12th in the league this year by the pundits...they are sitting in a tie for 7th. Overachieving to this point.
 


I think the talent has developed and players like Gatens, McCabe, and Marble have improved ... It's just that we are not getting consistency across the board. All of our players have shown what they can do on the court when they are "on" their game ... It's getting those players to remain focused and confident. Fran will be okay ... especially as he gets more of his type players in the program ... We just have to sort of wait it out ... We knew this year would be a struggle. And next year we will need to remain patient as well. But as long as we are seeing improvement from one year to the next ... I think that is the key ...
 


DesMoinesHawki said:
I think the talent has developed and players like Gatens, McCabe, and Marble have improved ... It's just that we are not getting consistency across the board. All of our players have shown what they can do on the court when they are "on" their game ... It's getting those players to remain focused and confident. Fran will be okay ... especially as he gets more of his type players in the program ... We just have to sort of wait it out ... We knew this year would be a struggle. And next year we will need to remain patient as well. But as long as we are seeing improvement from one year to the next ... I think that is the key ...
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I really thought McCabe was improving until the last two games. Zero field goals & nine fouls. Plus, he's back to pouting when things don't go his way.
 


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