2015 Recruiting Class

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KatoZenti

Well-Known Member
I was reading the sports section of the Sunday Register & saw Rick Brown's article. I was impressed with what Coach Fran had to say about his six-man class as follows:

McCaffery calls Isaiah Moss "an explosive scorer" and Ahmad Wagner "a big-time athlete that is a perfect fit for the way we play." Andrew Fleming "can make shots; he's smart, tough and skilled." Brandon Hutton is "a junkyard dog who can really defend, a terrific athlete." Christian Williams can play three spots "because he's long and athletic, a really good passer with unbelievable vision." Dale Jones is intriguing. "He's a jump-shooting power forward who can play small forward. He can handle and make plays off the dribble for other people."

This class sounds versatile, but who redshirts.

Any thoughts?
 
Iowa needs athletes who can D and guys who play multiple positions..I don't see scoring being an issue so my candidates to redshit are Moss and Fleming...just a guess.
 
Stanzi said:
My guess out of the group would be Williams to redshirt if anyone does.
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I thought that too, until I saw his HS tournament video. The guy looks great. Awesome moves. Almost effortlessly handles the ball. If he can elevate for in higher competition, it will be hard to keep him off the floor.

Very excited to see Williams, Moss, Wagner - heck ALL of these guys play! Most anticipated PTL in forever and a day.

But someone else will have to redshirt. That definitely won't be decided until December...
 
hawkjunkie said:
Williams HS tournament video - https://youtu.be/F8fTGdZVRFo

He has some moves already. If he applies himself, he will have a fantastic career at Iowa.
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Hopefully, Ellingson is going to be a lot better than a lot of people think. Does anyone know if he is completely recovered? Williams can play three positions so it should be interesting how it all pans out. It seems that after the incoming freshmen have been there awhile, Iowa has a chance to be a pretty good defensive team. They also appear to have the pieces to be a pretty good offensive team. Its pretty easy to believe that they have the potential to be better than last year. White was excellent at a lot of things, but he disappeared defensively and offensively a lot. Olesani looked like he could be an all-American in a few games, but not so much in others. Iowa has guys that can replace Oglesby defensively, and he never really got it going to a high level offensively last year. Jok seemed like a turnover ready to happen so he needs to advance his game or he might see himself sitting a lot next year.
 
I tend to agree that Williams will be the one to redshirt.

Hutton will help immediately on defense, I think I even remember hearing people referring him to an Oladipo type player. Wagner and Jones will likely be needed in the paint so it is unlikely they will redshirt.

I know that Fran likes to have versatile players, but there are a plethora of guys best suited for the guard positions. Ellingson will be thrown in the shuffle coming off of a redshirt last year. Moss, who sounds the most ready for the next level, and played with a bunch of D1 guys at Simeon. Flemming, who played for Oak Hill, is in a similar situation as Moss. I don't see them getting redshirted.

Williams, on the other hand played for a smaller school against less talented players, and missed half of his season due to transferring out then back in, likely changing his recruiting and rating. Ultimately I don't know how good he actually is, but sounds like he could play 1 to 3. Fran, I believe, is bringing him in as a pg. I don't know that he will be prepared to walk in and be as good or better than Sapp or MG and would probably benefit him and the team to redshirt.
 
KatoZenti said:
I was reading the sports section of the Sunday Register & saw Rick Brown's article. I was impressed with what Coach Fran had to say about his six-man class as follows:

McCaffery calls Isaiah Moss "an explosive scorer" and Ahmad Wagner "a big-time athlete that is a perfect fit for the way we play." Andrew Fleming "can make shots; he's smart, tough and skilled." Brandon Hutton is "a junkyard dog who can really defend, a terrific athlete." Christian Williams can play three spots "because he's long and athletic, a really good passer with unbelievable vision." Dale Jones is intriguing. "He's a jump-shooting power forward who can play small forward. He can handle and make plays off the dribble for other people."

This class sounds versatile, but who redshirts.

Any thoughts?
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I'm not judging the class one way or the other. Seems to me they represent the first, wholesale paradigm shift toward Fran's system so we'll see how it goes when they take the court.

It's best not to get too impressed by Fran's public comments about his players' talents and athleticism. He's got a pretty good track record of comments that range from very complimentary to hyperbole.
 
It's tough to speculate on the RSs. Someone will probably suffer a setback due to injury, illness, etc. and kind of fall into a RS. Someone else will land at the bottom of the depth chart and be encouraged to RS.

Most players don't want to sit a year. But I'm hopeful a couple of these guys will see that it makes sense. There will be a lot of minutes opening up in the 2016-2017 season.

I have very little doubt Fran will make the decision based on how the pieces fit together...chemistry, performance, work ethic, etc. Most everyone expected a big this spring and Fran signed the best available player. My guess is this will be how he determines which guy(s) should take a RS and which guys will play right away.
 
STILLBUSTER said:
It's best not to get too impressed by Fran's public comments about his players' talents and athleticism. He's got a pretty good track record of comments that range from very complimentary to hyperbole.
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Good point. I know Oglesby was 'the best shooter he's ever coached'. Might've been a slight exaggeration.
 
AdamHawk said:
Good point. I know Oglesby was 'the best shooter he's ever coached'. Might've been a slight exaggeration.
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I don't feel he exaggerated with Marble, White, Olaseni or Uthoff. If half of the incoming players and RS freshmen can play we will be in really good shape for the next 4 years IMO.
 
I don't think he exaggerated about Oglesby. The guy shot over 50% in practice. He just couldn't do it in a game, unfortunately for us Hawkeyes... That said, Fran does know hyperbole...
 
Jok....to waiting to happen and possibly sit...yeah okay...he is going to be Iowa's best offensive player the next 2 years...he can shoot from anywhere and was much better defensively second half of the season. I think Jok will evolve his game this offseason and becomes a threat off the bounce. His turnovers this year were lazy for the most part and he got pulled a lot because of them. Jok and Uthoff are two guys I am not worried about.

I would like to see Ellingson fit into the Albrect..type of player.
 
sportstalent said:
Jok....to waiting to happen and possibly sit...yeah okay...he is going to be Iowa's best offensive player the next 2 years...he can shoot from anywhere and was much better defensively second half of the season. I think Jok will evolve his game this offseason and becomes a threat off the bounce. His turnovers this year were lazy for the most part and he got pulled a lot because of them. Jok and Uthoff are two guys I am not worried about.

I would like to see Ellingson fit into the Albrect..type of player.
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Utoff will be the best offensive player next season.

Im not really sure what to expect out of Jok next year other than good jump shooting.
 
RocknRollface said:
Utoff will be the best offensive player next season.

Im not really sure what to expect out of Jok next year other than good jump shooting.
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THIS............Jarrod Uthoff is certainly a Pre-season All Big10 player.

His 50 Blocked shots and 50 3 pointers puts him in a rare Strata of College Hoops players.
Great skill set........absolutely terrific skill set at 6'9".
 
If Uthoff really steps it up this season I can see him getting drafted in the late first or early second. His game is extremely similar to Chandler Parsons from Florida.
 
Stanzi said:
If Uthoff really steps it up this season I can see him getting drafted in the late first or early second. His game is extremely similar to Chandler Parsons from Florida.
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Yup. Can you imagine if he can put on 10 to 15 more lbs of muscle what that'd do for his game?...
 
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