BIG Tourney...

I was there today. Pretty good number of Iowa fans. Just absolutely nothing to get excited about. Iowa must’ve hit more foul balls than I’ve ever seen. Lots of taking pitches. At least the season goes on. Making the NCAA isn’t common at Iowa.
 
I was there today. Pretty good number of Iowa fans. Just absolutely nothing to get excited about. Iowa must’ve hit more foul balls than I’ve ever seen. Lots of taking pitches. At least the season goes on. Making the NCAA isn’t common at Iowa.
Watched. Very disappointed, but proud of Hawks. Astounded at the defense in the field of play by both teams. Looked like “The Show.”
 
I was there today. Pretty good number of Iowa fans. Just absolutely nothing to get excited about. Iowa must’ve hit more foul balls than I’ve ever seen. Lots of taking pitches. At least the season goes on. Making the NCAA isn’t common at Iowa.
Not great but what a ride. Far and away a hawkeye crowd but nothing to cheer about.
I don’t think you guys understand how far and away different Maryland is. They’re in another area code as far as talent and they could hang with most SEC/ACC teams. The B1G is like single-A ball is to the bigs in comparison to southern college teams.

Maryland was going to win this thing from the start, the tourney was just just held to see who’d take 2nd place and the Hawks did.
 
Fry, for a guy that gives me the business for being nostalgic and pining for the old days, you sure have a grand love affair for The Blatt that doesn't mesh with modern times. It was a historic venue of sorts, but the seats were crap, parking was a nightmare, there was absolutely no pre or post game culture beyond RVs and tailgating, and the best you could say about the location is that you could visit the best zoo in the country after the game.

To be clear, I wish they did The Chuck better. The stadium is facing the wrong way. Fans should be looking at the skyline. The fences are 15 feet too deep. The foul territory is too big. And the bleachers should be bigger and more blue collar feel. That said, Omaha did what it needed to do to keep the CWS. The stadium needed to be bigger, with luxury boxes, with adequate parking and adjacent to a vibrant bar and restaurant district. They hit those marks. Almost the entirety of big time, fan driven baseball is moving towards downtown areas. Baseball needs the juice of a metropolitan area to make it enticing. The Royals will be moving downtown KC in the next 5 years to stay in step with the rest of baseball. The Chuck is what it is.

Hope to bump into you tomorrow.
I've said for years that Iowa needs to tear down that Old Capitol Mall and build a 10,000 seat basketball shrine there and leave Carver as a wrestling Mecca. Talk about a vibrant bar and restaurant district. And walking distance for thousands of students on both sides of the river. And you could attract the hottest musical acts in the world year round.

But it will never happen.
 
I've said for years that Iowa needs to tear down that Old Capitol Mall and build a 10,000 seat basketball shrine there and leave Carver as a wrestling Mecca. Talk about a vibrant bar and restaurant district. And walking distance for thousands of students on both sides of the river. And you could attract the hottest musical acts in the world year round.

But it will never happen.

Terrible idea. That mall houses one of the most critical pieces of infrastructure in Iowa City, no, in the entire State of Iowa. That Taco Bell that is open super late. If that Taco Bell is displaced all hell will break loose.
 
Maryland is solid. I watched them when they came to Iowa City. That team has some pop 1-9. And their pitching and defense are solid. I thought Morgan pitched very well, but assumed this would be a game where they would ride anyone too long in light of the expected NCAA bid.

What worried me was that Xavier and Tulane won their conference tournaments. I think Tulane had like a 19-40 record. Fortunately, it did not affect the Hawkeyes.

Also, kind of cool that we are in Terra Haute, and Indiana State being Heller's old stomping grounds. It will make a great story if we come out of it on top.
 
Iowa squandered a couple chances I thought to plate a few runs and make a game of it. Kinda surprised they shut us out. MD is legit though that's no joke. But neither is Iowa. On Iowa's best day they can beat anyone. They've showed it throughout the season. Bring on the big dance
 
Iowa squandered a couple chances I thought to plate a few runs and make a game of it. Kinda surprised they shut us out. MD is legit though that's no joke. But neither is Iowa. On Iowa's best day they can beat anyone. They've showed it throughout the season. Bring on the big dance
I think if he hadn't slipped at 2b in the 1st inning and scored on the sac fly (not guaranteed) that the game would have had a diff tone. They were stinging the ball every AB the first 2 innings.
 
I was at it, great game, place was full of Iowa fans, just nothing to cheer about. Glad they didn't throw the kitchen sink at it and saved everyone for regionals.
 
I think if he hadn't slipped at 2b in the 1st inning and scored on the sac fly (not guaranteed) that the game would have had a diff tone. They were stinging the ball every AB the first 2 innings.
Yeah Iowa had runners on quite a bit throughout the early innings. Just couldn't get that big 2 out rally starting hit.
 
I was at it, great game, place was full of Iowa fans, just nothing to cheer about. Glad they didn't throw the kitchen sink at it and saved everyone for regionals.
Wild how different hoops and baseball is. Cause that felt like exactly what Iowa was doing. Maybe if Fran rested dudes during BIG tourny to save em up for the big dance that'd be a strategy to try... Jk jk...
 
Glad they didn't throw the kitchen sink at it and saved everyone for regionals.
Correct answer. This was Maryland's tournament and we already had a bid. Beating Maryland wouldn't have changed anything because it would've been a fluke. And that's not a knock on Iowa. Maryland is just that good. They're 19th in the country in an also-ran baseball conference and they can hang with most SEC/ACC teams which is ridiculous for a northerner. This tourney was a race to the runner up spot and Iowa won that part.

Unfortunately we have Arkansas in the supers if we get out of next weekend alive. Likely a short tournament but Rick Heller has done some amazing shit to make this squad competitive long-term.
 
Correct answer. This was Maryland's tournament and we already had a bid. Beating Maryland wouldn't have changed anything because it would've been a fluke. And that's not a knock on Iowa. Maryland is just that good. They're 19th in the country in an also-ran baseball conference and they can hang with most SEC/ACC teams which is ridiculous for a northerner. This tourney was a race to the runner up spot and Iowa won that part.

Unfortunately we have Arkansas in the supers if we get out of next weekend alive. Likely a short tournament but Rick Heller has done some amazing shit to make this squad competitive long-term.
Yeah, pulling Arkansas was not ideal, but our 1/2 pitchers will keep us in every series and will make Iowa tough to beat.... the backend pitching not so much and we could really use Anthony back any time now.
 
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