Iowa’s March Madness Problem is Worse Than You Think

It’s not a defeatist attitude, it’s reality. People think just because Iowa had a couple stellar years almost 4 decades ago that we can do it again. It’s a different world and Iowa is not part of the group of teams that can get sweet 16 caliber rosters unless there’s a total fluke somewhere. Some periodic unicorns like Luka Garza and Keegan Murray ain’t gonna do it. And IOWA isn’t a team that’s going to put a dominant roster together because it doesn’t have the recruiting power. And recruiting power wasn’t the number one most important thing in me Tom’s era. In other words, it’s a WHOLE lot harder now to make it happen than it was in the Reagan years.

It’s not the 80s anymore where you didn’t have the one and done market, NIL deals, and all the marketing and exposure that goes along with being at a blue blood program. Fran did more with this team than should have ever been done. You rubes should be glad to have a coach that can develop like that instead of being pissed we didn’t make the second round.

It’s obvious the rest of the country outside the B1G is more elite. It’s a different style of basketball made up of quick guard play and tenacious defense. We have neither of those and we aren’t going to get it.

You guys can’t see the forest for the trees and the fact that you’re just like nebraska fans. Longing for the days of rotary phones and not being able to figure out that the landscape of the sport has moved on.
So how is it that Iowa State makes the sweet 16 3 times in last 12 years as well as win a number of conference tournament championships? I look for them to do it in the future.
Was Baylor always a power house. they are now Do they have great tradition? Has Gonzaga always been a power house?
 
I refuse to believe Iowa can't be Sweet 16 or better.
That’s fine, but does constantly screaming from the rafters get you any closer?

A 23 year drought isn’t a string of bad luck, and it isn’t an anomaly. It’s a product of the NCAA basketball environment. That environment is not what it was in the 80s and it’s going to get harder and harder every year to make it. Hell, it took an errant Hail Mary bank shot 3 just to advance in the BTT, in the weakest P6 conference when you look at tourney results compared to rankings.

You’re doing nothing but setting yourself up for disappointment, we do t need to hear it constantly how bad the Hawks suck or how bad the coaching sucks, depending on the year.
 
The problems boils down to 5 people:

1. Bob Bowlsby
2. Steve Alford
3. Gary Barta
4. Todd Lickliter
5. Fran McCaffery


All of these guys play a hand in this near quarter of a century of a Sweet 16 drought. Each with varying degrees, some more than others, but they all play a part.
 
That’s fine, but does constantly screaming from the rafters get you any closer?

A 23 year drought isn’t a string of bad luck, and it isn’t an anomaly. It’s a product of the NCAA basketball environment. That environment is not what it was in the 80s and it’s going to get harder and harder every year to make it. Hell, it took an errant Hail Mary bank shot 3 just to advance in the BTT, in the weakest P6 conference when you look at tourney results compared to rankings.

You’re doing nothing but setting yourself up for disappointment, we do t need to hear it constantly how bad the Hawks suck or how bad the coaching sucks, depending on the year.
It was just an article link. Nothing more.
 
The problems boils down to 5 people:

1. Bob Bowlsby
2. Steve Alford
3. Gary Barta
4. Todd Lickliter
5. Fran McCaffery


All of these guys play a hand in this near quarter of a century of a Sweet 16 drought. Each with varying degrees, some more than others, but they all play a part.
Oh I will add a 6th reason:

Some bad luck. I do feel Iowa got screwed twice with the covid years. One of them not having the chance to play and the other with Oregon's automatic advance.
 
It was just an article link. Nothing more.
Dude you know very well that the vast majority of your posts are shitting on Iowa basketball. That’s not even debatable.

And all I said was we get it for one, and it’d be a whole lot easier for you if you found a team to root for that hasn’t given you 23 years of disappointment. Nobody would fault you for that.
 
That’s fine, but does constantly screaming from the rafters get you any closer?

A 23 year drought isn’t a string of bad luck, and it isn’t an anomaly. It’s a product of the NCAA basketball environment. That environment is not what it was in the 80s and it’s going to get harder and harder every year to make it. Hell, it took an errant Hail Mary bank shot 3 just to advance in the BTT, in the weakest P6 conference when you look at tourney results compared to rankings.

You’re doing nothing but setting yourself up for disappointment, we do t need to hear it constantly how bad the Hawks suck or how bad the coaching sucks, depending on the year.
I actually do think that is exactly what needs to be done though.

First though, we both agree it would be incredibly foolish for Fran to be fired. That would be Mr. Davis 2.0.....and I think we both agree Iowa is not quite the program it once was.

But, that said, I don't think we should be throwing in the towel and saying Iowa is doomed to just making the NCAAs and nothing else.

Although we can't (better yet should not) fire Fran, that does not mean we should sit back and be silent.

I think fans and the media need to be vocal. Or, to borrow the words of Tom Cruise from the movie The Last Samurai, "treat him with a mild neglect." Almost like an unwanted houseguest, but you are not going to kick him out because he does show some value or some hopeful potential.

IMHO, we can't marginalize ourselves. Fran, the players, (and the U of I) needs to keep hearing we want the program to continue to progress. Otherwise, we can vote with our dollars and join in with others and laugh at the punchline we become during March (because it beats sorrow).

I will say it again, I think Fran did a tremendous job getting this program off the mat. And, I think we should be forever grateful for that. I think he keeps the program competitive, he keeps the program's head above water, and he should be in no danger of losing his job.

But, he still has a problem with ending seasons on something (venturing an educated guess) the vast majority of Hawkeye Fans can be real excited about. I think he (and his family) have some ego issues and act in a fashion that they have done more than they really have. I think some fans really went overboard at them on twitter and that is unfortunate. But there seems to be unnecessary riffs that have been happening there between fans and the players alike.

My hope is Fran either continues to elevate the program (most preferable) or the growing discontent eventually leads to a mutually parting of ways with hopefully Iowa still on a relatively strong footing of being a regular NCAA participant.

I don't know how long that breaking point is (if ever), but I do know Fran is not exactly a young coach. But, he does have it made here, so it is reasonable he could finish out his career at Iowa.

Because, if push comes to shove, I think Iowa can get another Fran level coach in the door at minimum and Fran could easily go to another program back East and be just fine.

And, a failed hire, a swing and a miss, should be just as easy to dismiss as Lickliter.

23 years without a Sweet 16 or better is ridiculous at Iowa, especially when having a Luka Garza and KM walk through your doors. And, Fran owns almost half of those years. Again, it is not all Fran's fault, there are others players in this I mentioned above (and I think laid the heavy groundwork for this program's NCAA troubles).
 
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I actually do think that is exactly what needs to be done though.

First though, we both agree it would be incredibly foolish for Fran to be fired. That would be Mr. Davis 2.0.....and I think we both agree Iowa is not quite the program it once was.

But, that said, I don't think we should be throwing in the towel and saying Iowa is doomed to just making the NCAAs and nothing else.

Although we can't (better yet should not) fire Fran, that does not mean we should sit back and be silent.

I think fans and the media need to be vocal. Or, to borrow the words of Tom Cruise from the movie The Last Samurai, "treat him with a mild neglect." Almost like an unwanted houseguest, but you are not going to kick him out because he does show some value or some hopeful potential.

IMHO, we can't marginalize ourselves. Fran, the players, (and the U of I) needs to keep hearing we want the program to continue to progress. Otherwise, we can vote with our dollars and join in with others and laugh at the punchline we become during March (because it beats sorrow).

I will say it again, I think Fran did a tremendous job getting this program off the mat. And, I think we should be forever grateful for that. I think he keeps the program competitive, he keeps the program's head above water, and he should be in no danger of losing his job.

But, he still has a problem with ending seasons on something (venturing an educated guess) the vast majority of Hawkeye Fans can be real excited about. I think he (and his family) have some ego issues and act in a fashion that they have done more than they really have. I think some fans really went overboard at them on twitter and that is unfortunate. But there seems to be unnecessary riffs that have been happening there between fans and the players alike.

My hope is Fran either continues to elevate the program (most preferable) or the growing discontent eventually leads to a mutually parting of ways with hopefully Iowa still on a relatively strong footing of being a regular NCAA participant.

I don't know how long that breaking point is (if ever), but I do know Fran is not exactly a young coach. But, he does have it made here, so it is reasonable he could finish out his career at Iowa.

Because, if push comes to shove, I think Iowa can get another Fran level coach in the door at minimum and Fran could easily go to another program back East and be just fine.

And, a failed hire, a swing and a miss, should be just as easy to dismiss as Lickliter.

23 years without a Sweet 16 or better is ridiculous at Iowa, especially when having a Luka Garza and KM walk through your doors. And, Fran owns almost half of those years. Again, it is not all Fran's fault, there are others players in this I mentioned above (and I think laid the heavy groundwork for this program's NCAA troubles).
What you’re failing to see is that when you start doing what you’re suggesting (you say you don’t want to get rid of Fran but your whole premise relies on getting a different coach), the odds are astronomically against your favor. Like tens of thousands to one.

You say that if another Lick comes along he’d be easy to dismiss and another Fran type coach would be a shoe in. That’s completely ridiculous and you know it. It’s exactly what got nebraska into its current football situation and it’s the hubris of their fans (like you in this situation) that finally revolted enough to make it happen. And now they have to sit in a perpetual dirty diaper because no one worth their weight in dog shit will go coach there.

Coaching hires are 100% luck unless you get a coach who’s elite and has a long history of winning. That ain’t happening here.

So what you want to do is get rid of a controversy-free coach who usually finishes with a winning record, whose players love him, and who doesn’t cheat. You want to take a thousand to one bet that tossing Fran overboard won’t get us one of the thousands of Lickliters applying for the job. Yeeeeaaaahhhhh…..I’ll pass. The nebraksa stink is heavy on this one.
 
imo, it is easier than ever for non bluebloods to make a run in the tournament. Iowa will break through at some point where they have a stretch when they are getting out of the first weekend. Until they do it though, it is going to be the elephant in the room and it should be.

Hell, it may even happen next year. What I have noticed from this tournament...a lot of grown ass men playing college basketball at the moment. Rebracca will be 25, Kris M. will be 22, Conner will be 23...the only "baby" that will get serious minutes is Sandfort and maybe Bowen and/or Mulvey.

The program is in a good spot right now just need to break through.
 
I think a handful of random tournament losses has made you underestimate the program. We already have a program that's plenty capable of making the sweet 16, it just hasn't happened yet. An overtime loss cost us one shot. Covid cost us one shot. A bad draw/bad game/bad luck with Oregon getting a bye and going from the last game of the night to the first game 2 days later cost us one shot. And now it seems like Keegan's ankle cost us another shot.
Agree to disagree. Keegan at 65% should have been enough to beat a bad Richmond team. A Richmond team that didn't exactly play well to beat Iowa. This one was just a missed opportunity and it is okay to say it.
 
Are you saying if the all American we had was a guard we would have been better? I think our all American would have been just fine if he didn't get hurt.

No that is not what I am saying and I didn't write it that way. Keegan did twist his ankle and you could see on occasion he was not running his normal speed up and down the court. But he had 1/3rd of Iowa's points.

What I am saying is a really top-flight point guard would of and could of set the Iowa big men up for multiple easy dunks and short layups. A very good penetrating point guard totally deforms the defense and gets Iowa way more jumpers with no one near the shooter. And that top point guard probably gets 16 points or so themselves plus maybe fouls out an opponent.
 
No that is not what I am saying and I didn't write it that way. Keegan did twist his ankle and you could see on occasion he was not running his normal speed up and down the court. But he had 1/3rd of Iowa's points.

What I am saying is a really top-flight point guard would of and could of set the Iowa big men up for multiple easy dunks and short layups. A very good penetrating point guard totally deforms the defense and gets Iowa way more jumpers with no one near the shooter. And that top point guard probably gets 16 points or so themselves plus maybe fouls out an opponent.
So you aren't saying we need to trade our all American, you're saying we need two all Americans on the team? I've gotta agree with you there. If we can just get two all Americans (one of them being a point guard of course) we will be really good.
 
So you aren't saying we need to trade our all American, you're saying we need two all Americans on the team? I've gotta agree with you there. If we can just get two all Americans (one of them being a point guard of course) we will be really good.

Dont you think Fran has almost always been shy a really good all around point guard? Name me Fran's 3 top point guards and tell me how they measure to being all big ten or all american.
 
Agree to disagree. Keegan at 65% should have been enough to beat a bad Richmond team. A Richmond team that didn't exactly play well to beat Iowa. This one was just a missed opportunity and it is okay to say it.
65% Keegan is enough to "should beat Richmond". Just because you should beat them doesn't mean you will 100% of the time. I'll let you in on a secret. It is possible to lose to teams you should beat even when your best player is 100% healthy. They have a name for when that happens. It's called upsets. Upsets happen a lot in this tournament. So if you say something like "Kentucky should be able to beat St Peters" I guess what people mean is "Kentucky should never ever lose to St Peters"
 
Dont you think Fran has almost always been shy a really good all around point guard? Name me Fran's 3 top point guards and tell me how they measure to being all big ten or all american.
I do agree with that. I also think when the day comes where we have a really good point guard people will say "we really need a better center". Or shooter. Or defender. Or whatever thing that team is lacking.
 
I think it's pretty stupid for people to say we can't make the sweet 16. All you have to do to make the sweet 16 is make the tournament and then win two games. We make the tournament almost every year now. We've won one game almost every year we have made the tournament. I guess it's just to hard for some people to fathom we could somehow win one more game.

Look at the teams in the tournament this year. If Iowa was still in it they would probably be favorites to win the championship. We were a good team that got upset. Just like Kentucky. Just like a bunch of other teams. At least when we got upset we had a hurt best player and the refs had 2 horrendous botched calls that cost us a potential 6 points in a one possession game.
 
It’s not a defeatist attitude, it’s reality. People think just because Iowa had a couple stellar years almost 4 decades ago that we can do it again. It’s a different world and Iowa is not part of the group of teams that can get sweet 16 caliber rosters unless there’s a total fluke somewhere. Some periodic unicorns like Luka Garza and Keegan Murray ain’t gonna do it. And IOWA isn’t a team that’s going to put a dominant roster together because it doesn’t have the recruiting power. And recruiting power wasn’t the number one most important thing in me Tom’s era. In other words, it’s a WHOLE lot harder now to make it happen than it was in the Reagan years.

It’s not the 80s anymore where you didn’t have the one and done market, NIL deals, and all the marketing and exposure that goes along with being at a blue blood program. Fran did more with this team than should have ever been done. You rubes should be glad to have a coach that can develop like that instead of being pissed we didn’t make the second round.

It’s obvious the rest of the country outside the B1G is more elite. It’s a different style of basketball made up of quick guard play and tenacious defense. We have neither of those and we aren’t going to get it.

You guys can’t see the forest for the trees and the fact that you’re just like nebraska fans. Longing for the days of rotary phones and not being able to figure out that the landscape of the sport has moved on.
Why aren’t we going to get it? Or why can’t we get it?
I don’t understand how they sometimes get it in lames but Iowa can’t?
I don’t understand. There is an abundance of talent in the country and elsewhere to get especially with the T portal.
all I keep thinking is if any other P5 school doesn’t go to sweet 16 in 12 years they are fired.
i don’t get it.
 
I think it's pretty stupid for people to say we can't make the sweet 16. All you have to do to make the sweet 16 is make the tournament and then win two games. We make the tournament almost every year now. We've won one game almost every year we have made the tournament. I guess it's just to hard for some people to fathom we could somehow win one more game.

Look at the teams in the tournament this year. If Iowa was still in it they would probably be favorites to win the championship. We were a good team that got upset. Just like Kentucky. Just like a bunch of other teams. At least when we got upset we had a hurt best player and the refs had 2 horrendous botched calls that cost us a potential 6 points in a one possession game.
Huh? No f’n way Iowa beats Houston vilanova duke or kansas.

a sweet 16 would be cool.
watching basketball on the second weekend would be awesome
 
Huh? No f’n way Iowa beats Houston vilanova duke or kansas.

a sweet 16 would be cool.
watching basketball on the second weekend would be awesome

You cant say "f'n no way" hawks beat a higher seed. It happens all the time where high seeds are upset.

But it helps to get to the sweet 16 when you start off as a 4 or 5 seed or higher which Iowa had this year. But Iowa has to get past that first game and believe.
 

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