hawkforlife9
Well-Known Member
I'm a bit worried about Fran's recruiting. I know I need to give him time since he had a late start.
Aaron White Commits to Iowa
- Thread starter storminspank
- Start date
I'm a bit worried about Fran's recruiting. I know I need to give him time since he had a late start.
homes
Well-Known Member
Ahem . . . I was tossing out a little sarcasm. I couldn't disagree more with TCHawk's statement. I haven't been this encouraged about the direction of the basketball program for several years. While I was in the camp of "Who did they just hire?" at first, shortly thereafter you could tell that Fran had a good idea of what he wanted to do, a good idea of what the Iowa fans wanted to see, and has done a fine job of executing on that plan up to now. While results remain to be seen, I'm not a skeptic, I'm a believer.
BasketballMan
Banned
It never ceases to amaze me how people can make comments about "things" they have no idea what they are talking about, or make comments based upon what they have read or heard, and then...all of the sudden, those comment become "facts" in everyone's mind who reads them. I have frequently watched this Aaron White kid play ball for a couple years, most recently on the AAU circuit with his OBC (Ohio Basketball Club) outfit. Someone commented on White's injury, which is a fact. The wrist injury cost him the ENTIRE 2009 recruiting season as he was not able to play in front of the scouts / coaches in July. Ask yourself..."suppose that hurt his stock"? Facts are, Aaron was (and is) the 2nd best player on his OBC team behind a kid named Behanan, who just happens to be a top 50 kid who is going to Louisville and was recruited by every D1 team in America. Seeing who Behanan is, being 2nd banana is a huge, huge compliment in my mind. For you doubters, read what ESPN has to say about Aaron as Stouvall (the ESPN scout) has watched Aaron numerous times, and is spot on in evaluating this kid. This kid had over 25 D1 scholarship offers. Some of you need to get off the fact they werent from the friendly confines of the B10. Alert: the A10, ACC, etc are pretty damn good conferences. In a nutshell, Aaron is a rare "old school" type kid / player who does not do any one thing exceptionally well or "off the charts", however, he does EVERYTHING extremely well and is a coaches dream, on and off the court. The kid will fool you. He doesnt look all that athlectic, however, watch him throw down a flush on a fastbreak and then attempt to convince me the kid is not quick enough, or "too slow" to play in an up-tempo game like I've read from others. Take a look at the kid's offers and for those of you who have an ounce of basketball knowledge, match-up the kid's offers with style of play the team making the offer plays. I think you'll see 90% of the teams played in an up-tempo game. Think of Gordon Heyward like. Nobody is saying this kid is gonna be the next Heyward, however...the skillset and potential are there. It may take a year for this kid to get his feet under him, however...when he does...he will clearly be a significant contributor and probable starter the remainder of his college years. Get off the kid's back and give him a chance. Last time I checked IOWA basketball sucked. Make that SUCKED. Maybe something positive is indeed happening here?
Thanks for the eyewitness accounts on Aarons play on the court.
Actually, almost everyone on this thread are positive towards Aaron's commit,but yes,there are always going to be skeptics.
I like what I am hearing about Aaron. In a perfect world,do you think he might benefit greatly from a red-shirt year? If he needs to build up his body, seems like it could be helpful.
I wanted Cougill to redshirt, and wish that most big men could,like Wisconsin does with its big men.
If iowa could nab another forward,like Fant or MM, guys who are 230lbs or bigger, seems like a redshirt would be helpful for a White or a Kravish if we can get him.
At some point Iowa has to try develop real depth in the frontcourt. I wish White and Kravish were on the roster this year and could redshirt and then next year the Hawks could make a real move in the league. This year is kind of a wash year anyway...Frans 1st and the league is incredibly stacked with senior talent...next year, much easier.
burky247
Well-Known Member
It's easy to identify the posters who are pretty much clueless on what's needed for D-1 basketball. Normally they just look at who else has offered the kid and make their evaluations on that. It's best just to ignore these guys when it comes to an actual basketball discussion.
Sports, I am not even going to try and reply to everything you said because it would be a waste of time. As for Tyler Smith, I was saying they need to get an NBA caliber player like him to really move up the conference rankings on a year to year basis. Obviously you need more than one player but getting one stud sure makes it a lot easier to get that second and third, etc. People have every reason to be skeptical after the last 3 years with Lick so don't jump down anyones throats for questioning the same type of recruit that Iowa got with the last regime.
tweeterhawk
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the fill-in. Sounds like Fran got a tremendous player.
P.S. Does Aaron carry a football? If yes, could he be in Ann Arbor a week from Saturday?
hawkeye12345
Well-Known Member
Thank you. The kid sounds a lot like Jake Kelly. Jake was very deceptive and didn't look the part of a baller but he could take the ball to the rack and could create his own.
Don't take some of the bs that a few (Very Few) posters are trying to dish right now as the fan base is a little frustrated from years of under achievement. The times are a changin' but it will take a year or two for some to jump back on board.
Welcome aboard Aaron White.
ShawkAndAwe
Well-Known Member
And Oglesby picked Iowa over ASU and MN but had more offers than that. This just means White had narrowed his choices down to two, maybe because others got in on him too late.
GoHawks24
Well-Known Member
BOOM! In your face doubters says BBallMan. That's a pretty damn good first post. Appreciate the info. I'm excited!
jacknicholson
Well-Known Member
Good stuff, Sportstalent and BasketballMan. It sure seems to me that Fran is recruiting his type of players, tall, athletic, quick, can run the floor and shoot off the dribble. With May and Basabe, that sounds dangerous. I feel really good about this year and think we will surprise a few people.
BasketballMan
Banned
But lets all be real and keep something in mind. IOWA basketball is buried at the bottom of the B10 and in all reality, will be horrible this year. Getting back to respectability is one thing. Getting to the NCAA Big Dance and contending for Conference Championships are two total different ball games that will not occur overnite and in all reality not for 3-4 years if at all. Whereas there seem to be signs of hope...I think we've all been down that path before. Patience might be the key word.
Sorry,but I do not share your pessimism on the timeline to get back to the NCAA. This year, yes, Iowa will be buried. But, next year, Iowa will need to get to 6th or 7th to possibly secure an NCAA bid. That is not some kind of impossible goal. The Big Ten is a senior laden and dominated league this season. Those guys will leave after this season,along with some top early NBA guys like Sullinger. Wisconsin loses Leuer,Nankavil and Taylor...PU loses their fab 3-Hummell,Johnson,and Moore,NW loses Thompson and their euro-center, OSU will lose Lighty,Lauderdale,and probably Sullinger,PSU loses Battle,Minny loses their guard-court,MSU loses Summer and Lucas...Illini lose Tisdale,Mccamey and Davis,....these are all the guys who made up the top three all-conference teams the last few years...gone. That will make Iowa one of the more veteran teams left,which means that moving up to 6th or 7th is not out of the question. And many years,that could get Iowa to the NCAA.
BasketballMan
Banned
JHHawk - I kinda agree, but..keep something in mind. The OSUs, Purdues, MSUs, etc are all recruiting kids at the same pace as IOWA is, however, given where those schools are currently (and have been for many years), they are recruiting the top-top kids, whereas IOWA is kinda starting from scratch and not able to recruit those kids and won't be able to recruit them until at the very least they are back to respectibility. Result? It's gonna take some time as well as some luck to climb the ladder to the top. I'm not being a pessimist...simply realistic.
tweeterhawk
Well-Known Member
I expect this year to be rugged but I think this team will compete (trite, I know) and win some games they're not expected to and take some other teams down to the wire. There's a real danger in that I expect we'll suffer more blow-outs, too, simply because it does not look like Fran attempts to run a tightly controlled game on either end of the floor. So if we get down by 12 or 15 to a Michigan State or Purdue, we could easily lose by 30. But, there'll be other games that turn out to be surprise wins. Hopefully, it'll all be fun.
hawkeye12345
Well-Known Member
I think some of the expectations for this season are based on prior years. I personally don't think we should look at past results to predict future outcomes simply because we have a completely different team and coach. We will not be slow and predictable. We are going to be more athletic, faster and deeper. We have added some really nice talent and the guys have had the entire Summer to work on their games.
I'm hoping for 20+ wins, expecting 17 and will be disappointed with less than 12 wins. Those are my expectations.
I'm hoping for 20+ wins, expecting 17 and will be disappointed with less than 12 wins. Those are my expectations.
BasketballMan
Banned
Unfortunately, there is not a snowball's chance in hell IOWA will win 10 games this year. My prediction is 8 or fewer. 17-20 wins? Wow...you are really, really, REALLY drinking the coolade. Unfortunately, all's you hear from the new Coach is words like "run", "offense", etc. For those of you who understand bball...DEFENSE is what wins. I have yet to hear that word out of the new guys mouth. Same can be said when he was at Sienna. Again, not trying to be a pessimist...simply being realistic.
1977Hawkeye
Well-Known Member
I can't buy into the 17-20 wins either, and I would be thrilled if they could even get to 15 this year.. My prediction was around 12 or so. But I think you're wrong that there is zero percent chance they win 10 games. Why do you think the team will regress, even though most of last year's players are back, and a few new faces? Fuller was the only player of consquence we lost. Cougill was an ok shooter but was hardly irreplaceable, and we were playing mostly without Tucker anyway. Am I forgetting anyone?
Davis's teams didn't play much defense either, yet he still had competetive teams. It's hard for me to make any predictions without having seen the team play a single game, and I know there's a lot of work to do, and maybe I'm a fool for thinking this, but I just don't see us taking another step back off of the worst year in Hawkeye hoops history. I really hope you're wrong with your 8-or-fewer prediction.
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Iowa won 10 games last year and it was the worst season in school history. There's little chance that Iowa will ever be that bad again. Maybe it's you who doesn't understand how hard it is to be that historically bad. A team literally has to have Jon Lickliter playing point guard for it to be that bad... and you think we're going to win 2 less?
Of course things would be much better if our coach just said, "defense." I'm sure because he doesn't talk about it on the radio that means that he won't teach it at all. 8 wins here we come!
