11/26/18 - Hawkeyes up to #14 in the AP Poll

[NikeHawk21]

Any talent they have is because of Phil Knight and Nike. Altman's 2016 class has 2 - 4* players, his 2017 class had a 5*, a 4* and 2 - 3* players. This year's class has 2-5* and 2-4* players. That's 3 - 5* players and 5 - 4* players on that roster. This isn't football. That kind of talent on a roster, shouldn't be as poorly coached/ prepared as they are. We can agree to disagree on his coaching but there is no denying the talent level he has on his roster. Period.

The 2017 5 Star is gone. One 2018 5 Star is hurt and hasn’t played. When your top 5 players from a final four team depart chances are you’ll have a down year to follow.

I do get the Nike / Phil Knight hype but Altman has won wherever he’s been.

Oregon basketball had 4 20 win seasons in the 30 years from 1980-2010. They have 8 since Altman took over in 2010 including two 30 win seasons.

 

[lightning1]

The 2017 5 Star is gone. One 2018 5 Star is hurt and hasn’t played. When your top 5 players from a final four team depart chances are you’ll have a down year to follow.

I do get the Nike / Phil Knight hype but Altman has won wherever he’s been.

Oregon basketball had 4 20 win seasons in the 30 years from 1980-2010. They have 8 since Altman took over in 2010 including two 30 win seasons.

I looked at Altman's record and was actually surprised by his success at Oregon. I'm usually pretty good at keeping track of things like that. I guess I let how poorly they played this season, hold more merit than his past history.
He's still got a crap ton of talent, regardless of the 2 fewer 5* players. Way too much talent to be losing at home to a 2-4 Texas Southern team.

 

[WindsorHawk]

Well if we even want to consider Iowa an NCAA team, for heaven's sake, we'd better beat Pitt at home, last year's last place ACC team.

The bad news...Pitt is 6-0 and 5-1 ATS. The good news...Pitt hasn't played anyone and Iowa is favored by 11.5.

 

[WindsorHawk]

Iowa could go into January at 12-1 and 1-1 with the likely loss being at Michigan State. Keep in mind 6 of the next 8 games are at home with UNI being at Wells Fargo. And the 3 games after UNI are cupcakes.

With this scenario Iowa is likely ranked in the top 10 entering the traditional part of the Big 10 season. If the Big 10 still has 9 teams in the top 35 or 40 it will take an 0-2 week to drop significantly in the polls. So even going 1-1 most weeks will keep us in the top 20. Even going 11-2 almost certainly has Iowa in the top 20.

So IMO it is not overly optimistic to think Iowa will be ranked the rest of the season...even with a final conference record of 13-7 or 12-8. We only play Purdue (road) and Michigan (home) once each.

 

[NikeHawk21]

Iowa could go into January at 12-1 and 1-1 with the likely loss being at Michigan State. Keep in mind 6 of the next 8 games are at home with UNI being at Wells Fargo. And the 3 games after UNI are cupcakes.

With this scenario Iowa is likely ranked in the top 10 entering the traditional part of the Big 10 season. If the Big 10 still has 9 teams in the top 35 or 40 it will take an 0-2 week to drop significantly in the polls. So even going 1-1 most weeks will keep us in the top 20. Even going 11-2 almost certainly has Iowa in the top 20.

So IMO it is not overly optimistic to think Iowa will be ranked the rest of the season...even with a final conference record of 13-7 or 12-8. We only play Purdue (road) and Michigan (home) once each.

Woah woah woah. Pump the brakes.

First off and most importantly the Wisconsin game Friday is no walk in the park. Iowa will probably be a very slight favorite. If they lose that game they are staring down a potential 0-3 start in conference play.

The B1G is going to be an absolute grind this year. I would expect the B1G champ to be at 14 or 15 wins. If Iowa gets to 13 conference wins that will be an incredible season.

Don’t let this ranking cloud the judgement too much here. VT is ranked 13th and they are 16th in the Kenpom and only a 3 point favorite at Penn State tonight. Iowa is at 32 in Kenpom and would be a dog at Penn State if they played this week. Iowa will likely be an underdog in 9 of their 10 conference road games and at least two of their conference home games. They most certainly will win a couple as an underdog but they also could drop a few games as a favorite.

I’d be happy with 10-10 in conference as I think that gets us into the dance, 11 would be great, and 12 I’d be absolutely thrilled.

 

[PCHawk]

I looked at Altman's record and was actually surprised by his success at Oregon. I'm usually pretty good at keeping track of things like that. I guess I let how poorly they played this season, hold more merit than his past history.
He's still got a crap ton of talent, regardless of the 2 fewer 5* players. Way too much talent to be losing at home to a 2-4 Texas Southern team.

MSU has lost a few games recently to non conference scrubs. Izzo is a good coach.

 

[PCHawk]

In a couple weeks I'll know whether I'm rooting to make the tourney or rooting to play in Des Moines.

 

[lightning1]

MSU has lost a few games recently to non conference scrubs. Izzo is a good coach.

How recently? What games? Not doubting you, I just don't recall these instances. Maybe I'm getting old.
Edit: I found them. 2 in the past 10 seasons. (I didn't go back any farther).
I found about a dozen for the past 10 seasons for Altman @ Oregon.
Not really the same. Kudos for you digging up something to add. Even if it wasn't much.

 

[PCHawk]

How recently? What games? Not doubting you, I just don't recall these instances. Maybe I'm getting old.
Edit: I found them. 2 in the past 10 seasons. (I didn't go back any farther).
I found about a dozen for the past 10 seasons for Altman @ Oregon.
Not really the same. Kudos for you digging up something to add. Even if it wasn't much.

I did some quick looking and saw in 2014 they had 5 losses after their first big 10 game. They lost to some good teams tho so maybe I just remember the bad start or maybe I'm thinking of a different year. Ironically they did lose to Texas Southern that year tho.

 

[thedukeofearl]

We were ranked 3rd in 2015-16. Don't ask what happened after that.

We were never ranked last year or the year before that.

KenPom had us ranked Number One for a week that season.....

Alas

 

[thedukeofearl]

Iowa could go into January at 12-1 and 1-1 with the likely loss being at Michigan State. Keep in mind 6 of the next 8 games are at home with UNI being at Wells Fargo. And the 3 games after UNI are cupcakes.

With this scenario Iowa is likely ranked in the top 10 entering the traditional part of the Big 10 season. If the Big 10 still has 9 teams in the top 35 or 40 it will take an 0-2 week to drop significantly in the polls. So even going 1-1 most weeks will keep us in the top 20. Even going 11-2 almost certainly has Iowa in the top 20.

So IMO it is not overly optimistic to think Iowa will be ranked the rest of the season...even with a final conference record of 13-7 or 12-8. We only play Purdue (road) and Michigan (home) once each.

Iowa State is not going to be easy at Hilton

Not certain in my mind that we emerge victorious there

The other games are winnable. Who knows at Michigan State. More than likely a loss, but the possibility of playing a solid game are a factor. We came close to beating them at Carver last season, one of the best games all season.....

 

[thedukeofearl]

How recently? What games? Not doubting you, I just don't recall these instances. Maybe I'm getting old.
Edit: I found them. 2 in the past 10 seasons. (I didn't go back any farther).
I found about a dozen for the past 10 seasons for Altman @ Oregon.
Not really the same. Kudos for you digging up something to add. Even if it wasn't much.

Izzo isn't getting the quality of recruits top to bottom that he used to. He does get an occasional Miles Bridges.....

His teams lately are not the same caliber they used to be. I really liked his tournament teams a few years ago. They played like top NBA teams with their Lightning-quick transition game.....

Not certain how much longer he will be at the helm.....

 

[karras]

When I see Iowa basketball at #14, this is how I feel . . .

 

[Tierney]

I think Iowa is probably ten points per game better than they were last year, so that should put them around 24 and 9 for the season. I suppose that will put them in the NCAA tournament. It could be that if this team could play last years team, they would win by more than ten points though.

 

[Adam]

I looked at Altman's record and was actually surprised by his success at Oregon. I'm usually pretty good at keeping track of things like that. I guess I let how poorly they played this season, hold more merit than his past history.
He's still got a crap ton of talent, regardless of the 2 fewer 5* players. Way too much talent to be losing at home to a 2-4 Texas Southern team.

Parity in college basketball is sky high. You think any of the teams that Chicago Loyola beat in last years tournament thought the "talent" was equal?

Confidence, effort and intense focus decide more games in basketball than almost any other team sport. Getting 20 and under kids to give you this year after year is a monumental task.

Dana Altman is a marvelous coach. He appears to be a decent man. A steward for Oregon basketball. Talent doesn't win you games. Marrying talent with effort & focus wins games. Those wins breed confidence. That is what every team is looking for. I have little doubt that Altman will find that groove for his 18/19 team. When they do find it they will be the ranked team that people thought. I highly doubt that Oregon misses this year's tournament even with the tumultuous start.

 

[lightning1]

Parity in college basketball is sky high. You think any of the teams that Chicago Loyola beat in last years tournament thought the "talent" was equal?

Confidence, effort and intense focus decide more games in basketball than almost any other team sport. Getting 20 and under kids to give you this year after year is a monumental task.

Dana Altman is a marvelous coach. He appears to be a decent man. A steward for Oregon basketball. Talent doesn't win you games. Marrying talent with effort & focus wins games. Those wins breed confidence. That is what every team is looking for. I have little doubt that Altman will find that groove for his 18/19 team. When they do find it they will be the ranked team that people thought. I highly doubt that Oregon misses this year's tournament even with the tumultuous start.

That describes a coach's job. Taking talent and getting effort and focus from that talent, to equal wins. To have a lot of talent and get little out of that talent = poor coaching. A good coach gets consistent effort and focus from his teams, year in and year out.

 

[WindsorHawk]

Iowa State is not going to be easy at Hilton

Not certain in my mind that we emerge victorious there

The other games are winnable. Who knows at Michigan State. More than likely a loss, but the possibility of playing a solid game are a factor. We came close to beating them at Carver last season, one of the best games all season.....

We play Iowa State at Carver. It will still be plenty tough. The only true road game between now and January is at Michigan State.

 

[Ian Pike Hammer]

That describes a coach's job. Taking talent and getting effort and focus from that talent, to equal wins. To have a lot of talent and get little out of that talent = poor coaching. A good coach gets consistent effort and focus from his teams, year in and year out.

Altman is a world-class coach IMHO.
Sadly, we will now have to cheer for them, as their final record will reflect either positively or negatively as a quality win for us.

 

[thedukeofearl]

We play Iowa State at Carver. It will still be plenty tough. The only true road game between now and January is at Michigan State.

That will make a huge difference.....

We certainly should win that one. Hilton is a very tough arena to play. The rabid clone fans scream on every play and eventually influence the zebras.....