Chicago Combination

It's been more than a little disappointing that Fran's east coast connection has so far proved to be a non-factor. Establishing a Chicago/any pipeline would be a step in the right direction.
 
newtonavenue said:
It's been more than a little disappointing that Fran's east coast connection has so far proved to be a non-factor. Establishing a Chicago/any pipeline would be a step in the right direction.
Click to expand...

Yep, I was really hoping that Iowa would become a player in the East Coast recruiting game. Not much to show for it so far, minus Basabe.
 
sportstalent said:
Most fans want to see Iowa get players in the Chicago area. Here are a couple of prospects that have Iowa on their lists:

Jermaine Morgan - Yahoo! Sports

Steve Taylor - Yahoo! Sports

Morgan is a PF and Tayor is a SF, both play for the same AAU team and would be a nice way to get back into the Chicago area, even if they could get one of them.
Click to expand...

Other than Iowa, Fran doesn't actively recruit any one area it seems. Our most recent recruits/players are from California, the east coast, Iowa, Michigan. I guess you can add the east coast as an actively recruited area, with Hubbard, Basabe, Carter, Meyer and a few others. That said, any top talent in Illinois that isn't being actively recruited as a top pick for Webber, we should target.
 
You're dead on Shortsale. Taylor is a guy that has been passed on by the rest of the Big Ten but yet could probably play in the conference. Iowa should be putting the full court press on as Taylor comes from a basketball school and that can't hurt future recruiting. Its a bad year in Chicago/Illinois in the senior class and that is how a borderline Big Ten player can be one of the best prospects.
 
PalmettoHawkFan said:
Taylor is top 150, and if nothing else, getting a forward from Simeon would take off the hex of the phone call....
Click to expand...
Wouldn't hold your breath on that one Palmetto. With Pearl being in the news so much lately it has, to some extent, brought new life to the whole Pearl/Thomas affair. Both Thomas and Collins have been interviewed in the last few months in Chicago newspapers regarding Pearl. And, as you might have guessed, they were piling it on Pearl pretty good.
 
newtonavenue said:
It's been more than a little disappointing that Fran's east coast connection has so far proved to be a non-factor. Establishing a Chicago/any pipeline would be a step in the right direction.
Click to expand...
Ironically, Iowa State seems to be establishing a New York pipeline.
 
Andrew Francis in an interview over on Rivals recently said that the staff regards establishing the program's credibilty in Iowa and the region as their top priority. That makes sense to me and signing Woodbury and Gessell would go a long ways towards that. Beyond that I like the fact that Fran and the staff recruit nationally and don't focus on any one particular area. I think sometimes we get too hung up on establishing a Chicago or East Coast connection. These guys recruit selectively but I see no reason why we can't have some degree of success in the Chicago area picking and choosing our targets.
 
The Chicago connection sure seems to work well for football. I would think it should be kept as strong as possible.
 
Hawknigh said:
The Chicago connection sure seems to work well for football. I would think it should be kept as strong as possible.
Click to expand...

You can't really compare basketball to football recruiting- apples and oranges. In basketball keep your foot in the door in Chicago which I think this staff does but you also compete with the rest of the Big Ten for those kids. This staff picks up Kyle Meyer who plays on a terriffic AAU team out of Atlanta and we make inroads into a great metro area for basketball Iowa has never really had a presence in before. Expanding the boundaries to find uncovered and under the radar talent seems a great way to build the program. I also think you will see this staff always recruit very selectively even as we start to have some success- it just seems the way Fran rolls.
 
Still, there is something to be said for leveraging the football connections for other sports, particularly basketball. There is a huge Iowa presence in and around Chicago, both in terms of alumni and football recruits. Of course, there needs to be a national presence of recruiting, but Chicago should not be just another city in terms of basketball recruiting. To do so would be foolish.
 
Iowa does seem to have a built in network around Chicago to help us when we have interest in kids around there but we never have pulled in that many bsketball recruits from the Chicago area. In the bigger picture Fran McCaffery strikes me as a guy who thinks outside the box and I don't think he sees Chicago as his prime recuriting territory over any other area outside of Iowa. He looks for a certain type of profile in the kids he recruits and will go anywhere to find them.

I actually think that feeling the pressure to recruit the local talent hurts Webber at Illinois who I think can coach. He brings in all these highly ranked kids that Chicago and the state produces but they don't always play well together or have issues. I watched Illinois play alot last season and that senior class last year just had no leadership. Coaching at Iowa Fran has to work a little harder to recruit. With a limited talent base in state and with outside programs competing for it he has no choice but to go anywhere he can to find talent including but not limited to Chicago.
 
hawkeyemark said:
Iowa does seem to have a built in network around Chicago to help us when we have interest in kids around there but we never have pulled in that many bsketball recruits from the Chicago area. In the bigger picture Fran McCaffery strikes me as a guy who thinks outside the box and I don't think he sees Chicago as his prime recuriting territory over any other area outside of Iowa. He looks for a certain type of profile in the kids he recruits and will go anywhere to find them.

I actually think that feeling the pressure to recruit the local talent hurts Webber at Illinois who I think can coach. He brings in all these highly ranked kids that Chicago and the state produces but they don't always play well together or have issues. I watched Illinois play alot last season and that senior class last year just had no leadership. Coaching at Iowa Fran has to work a little harder to recruit. With a limited talent base in state and with outside programs competing for it he has no choice but to go anywhere he can to find talent including but not limited to Chicago.
Click to expand...


Whether it is his "prime recruiting territory" or not, Chicago is not just another city for Iowa recruiting. It is just silly not to give extra attention to Chicago and create pipelines where possible.
 
Hawknigh said:
Whether it is his "prime recruiting territory" or not, Chicago is not just another city for Iowa recruiting. It is just silly not to give extra attention to Chicago and create pipelines where possible.
Click to expand...


I can only respond that we we need to get used to the way Fran recruits and wants to build this program. At the end of the day I think we will like the results. You will see Fran and this staff go into traditional areas of Iowa recruiting like Chicago and Indiana and non-traditional areas like Atlanta and Texas. They will build on their connections as they go along but probably never focus on any one particular area. It won't surprise me to see us occasionaly sign a player out of the Chicago area along the way.
 
Last edited:
Fran knows the recruiting game. It will take some time,but he will be in the Chicagoland region a lot over the coming years. It makes way too much sense.
40% of the our student body is from Illinois,mainly chicagoland.
It is 3 hours away. Easy access for families.
It produces more bb players than any other city in the midwest.
We have a legacy of great Chicago players like Ronnie and kenny arnold.
And now,finally,we have a coach that plays city style uptempo type of system...hugely important.

I would love for Iowa fb to grab Diamond and Gregory from Simeon as a foot in the door for both programs. Simeon is not that huge of a school,and the athletes all know each other,so if Simeon fb players have a good experience at Iowa,the word will spread. We may not get the superstars like Parker(considered #1 nationally in the 2013 class) but a Taylor would be a good start. Nunn would be a great get,but not likely. They have tons of players.
 
We are already starting to get football recruits from Chicago, it is only a matter of time for the basketball recruits to follow. I expect the Hawks to be better this year and progressively so in the next years under Fran. When we start to get top recruits, Woodbury, for example, we will get the attention we have been wanting and that should help not only in the Chicago area but nationwide. I remember Ed Horton and Kevin Gamble from Springfield. They were fairly competent players. Like to see that happening again. Lots of talent in Illinois, about time they share the wealth.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Share this page

Top