Brown: Nwankpa Pledge Brings to Mind LaFrentz Commitment

Rob - do the recruiting gurus consider Nwankpa to be a bigger in-state recruit than Blake Larsen? He was a huge recruit back in the day.
 
I think LaFrentz was the beginning of the end for Mr. Davis. Not sure if the rumors are true, but word out of IC then was that the HC didn't go to any of Raef's games, but instead sent assistants whereas Roy personally recruited him and was regularly at his games.
 
Hawkboys said:
I think LaFrentz was the beginning of the end for Mr. Davis. Not sure if the rumors are true, but word out of IC then was that the HC didn't go to any of Raef's games, but instead sent assistants whereas Roy personally recruited him and was regularly at his games.
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Yeah talk about a fork in the road. That was when Settles was there hurt off and on. Murray Woolridge, Kingsbury and that group. If Lafrentz woulda went to Iowa there's just no telling how the dominos woulda fell. He played and started every game for those 4 yrs for them. Sure woulda been nice had he gone to Iowa but nobody can say he made the wrong choice.
 
I think it's a stretch to say that LaFrentz would've turned the program from an almost there team to an elite team.

Kansas had a better coach who was much better at recruiting (equal importance to coaching ability), program history, and a much better supporting cast.

Guys need to go where they can max their potential and Iowa basketball wasn’t it.
 
Hawkfnntn said:
Yeah talk about a fork in the road. That was when Settles was there hurt off and on. Murray Woolridge, Kingsbury and that group. If Lafrentz woulda went to Iowa there's just no telling how the dominos woulda fell. He played and started every game for those 4 yrs for them. Sure woulda been nice had he gone to Iowa but nobody can say he made the wrong choice.
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I think about this all the time. Losing Lafrentz really hurt Tom Davis, had Raef went to Iowa would TD have been allowed to retire as the coach? Could we have avoided the Alford/Lickliter years?
 
ssckelley said:
I think about this all the time. Losing Lafrentz really hurt Tom Davis, had Raef went to Iowa would TD have been allowed to retire as the coach? Could we have avoided the Alford/Lickliter years?
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Think about the domino effect or is it the butterfly effect...whichever one it is it likely means Nick Collison would have been a Hawk. Lafrentz and Collison being Hawks would have changed so much shit.
 
trj said:
Collison and LaFrentz

What might have been.
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And Sam Okey, who was good buddies with both Settles and Kingsbury.

Fun fact. I saw one of the five games Okey did play in an Iowa uniform, vs Michigan State at Carver. MSU would go to the final four that year and win the whole enchilada the next. Morris Peterson put on a show that day.
 
Northside Hawk said:
And Sam Okey who was good buddies with both Settles and Kingsbury.

Fun fact. I saw one of the five games Okey did play in an Iowa uniform, vs Michigan State at Carver. MSU would go to the final four that year and win the whole enchilada the next. Morris Peterson put on a show that day.
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What happened to Okey? Man I remember him briefly being a stud everybody wanted with potential but he just didn't do much once we had him.
 
trj said:
Think about the domino effect or is it the butterfly effect...whichever one it is it likely means Nick Collison would have been a Hawk. Lafrentz and Collison being Hawks would have changed so much shit.
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No doubt. Heinrich as well. Iowa coulda really been the toast of college hoops for awhile had just that 1 domino went our way....
 
I think the Lafrentz thing was just a reason Bowlsby was looking for to get rid of Mr. Davis. If it wasn't this it would've been something else.
 
Hawkfnntn said:
What happened to Okey? Man I remember him briefly being a stud everybody wanted with potential but he just didn't do much once we had him.
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Big time partier off the court. Think he originally wanted to come to Iowa but the pressure to stay in state was too much. Then Wisconsin made a coaching change before his freshman year, going with Dick Bennett.

That didn't sit too well with Sam who wasn't a big time fundamental defensive player. That he lasted two and a half seasons there was a miracle in itself. He came to Iowa and with the wierd rules then about mid-season transfers was only eligible for one semester. Broke his hand against Minnesota and didn't even last that long, five games to be exact. After doing the CBA/overseas thing for a while he settled in the Wausau Wisconsin area and is in the hairstyle/cosmetology/masseuse business (!)

AAU was just getting started in Okey's day. Today he would tear up those leagues.

I have a friend named Kari who is the same age as Okey and knew him well from being in the same conference with him. Thank God they didn't marry. I did menton that her name is Kari correct?

:p
 
I would have loved to see LaFrentz go to Iowa. Then maybe we could have finally seen just how far Iowa basketball would be able to go with a dominant big man playing in an up tempo, full court style of play. I don't think it would have mattered what kind of guards Iowa would have. A scoring big man should be enough to win a big ten title, final four, etc.
 
Northside Hawk said:
Big time partier off the court. Think he originally wanted to come to Iowa but the pressure to stay in state was too much. Then Wisconsin made a coaching change before his freshman year, going with Dick Bennett.

That didn't sit too well with Sam who wasn't a big time fundamental defensive player. That he lasted two and a half seasons there was a miracle in itself. He came to Iowa and with the wierd rules then about mid-season transfers was only eligible for one semester. Broke his hand against Minnesota and didn't even last that long, five games to be exact. After doing the CBA/overseas thing for a while he settled in the Wausau Wisconsin area and is in the hairstyle/cosmetology/masseuse business (!)

AAU was just getting started in Okey's day. Today he would tear up those leagues.

I have a friend named Kari who is the same age as Okey and knew him well from being in the same conference with him. Thank God they didn't marry. I did menton that her name is Kari correct?

:p
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Hahaha yeah she'd be a hit at the bars if they did that's for sure. Thanks for the info on Okey though I hadn't even heard his name or thought about him in forever. I just remember some of that drama you mentioned with him transfering.
 
SwirlinLingerie said:
I would have loved to see LaFrentz go to Iowa. Then maybe we could have finally seen just how far Iowa basketball would be able to go with a dominant big man playing in an up tempo, full court style of play. I don't think it would have mattered what kind of guards Iowa would have. A scoring big man should be enough to win a big ten title, final four, etc.
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Yeah just the way ball was played then. It revolved around dominant bigs. You think Andre Woolridge and him coulda done some damage for a couple yrs? Kent McCausland? Settles when he was healthy crashing the boards. Safe to say he'd have been the missing piece for Iowa to have dominated college hoops for awhile.
 
You're kind of proving my point. About the closest Mr. Davis got to winning a Big Ten title was with a dominant point guard....and not a ton else. The roster was incredibly thin that year, and the Hawks not only were runners-up to a great Minnesota team, they gave #1 seed and eventual champion Kentucky all they could handle in the second round. Always wondered what Iowa would have done that year without Kentucky in their path.

Also, Iowa had Acie Earl around that same era, a dominant center in the Big Ten. He was on some good teams, but didn't exactly stack big ten titles or final fours for the Hawks. Maybe that was because Shaquille O'Neal was on those dominating NCAA title teams for LSU those couple years.

Been a guards' game for a long, long time, and that list for the Hawks is a pretty short one...
 
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