Chicago Combination

[hawkeyemark]

I remember listening to a radio interview Fran did with a Chicago station almost immediately after he took the job. We need not worry about Fran under-estimating the importance of establishing the program in Chicagoland.

 

[IAJay]

Taylor committed to Marquette today.

 

[HawkeyeDug]

I was expecting a thread about beef and sausage.

 

[newtonavenue]

Think we'll ever win a recruiting battle?

 

[Gohawks123]

Par for the course.

 

[JHHawk]

Honestly, I do not think we were really after Taylor all that much. If we land our primary targets for 2012,Woody,Gesell,Abrahamson,Myer(already committed),Ingram/Hornbeck/ other forward we offered this week....I just do not see the need for Taylor. We need wings more than big men.

 

[sportstalent]

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.

Iowa hasn't recruited Illinois since Davis left, I believe Iowa has only gotten two players from that time and neither worked out (Pierce/Sommerville). That is when Iowa started to recruit Indiana and that really didn't work out too well. Oh yeah, throw in Minnesota, how has that worked out?
The traditional areas in Illinois, Iowa, Michigan and occasionally the Dakotas worked out for Iowa for quite a while. Recruit where history tells you works and then expand. Fran is getting back to the traditional areas and trying to open up new avenues.
That said, the Atlanta and Texas areas being added to the traditional footprint would really help if Iowa can become more established in those areas. Two more additions that would help Iowa tremendously are Kenny Gaines and Jelon Hornbeak, both from the new footprint Iowa is trying to establish.
Fran and staff had quite the job at hand when they came in, but they are making headway and hopefully can get a couple of guys to say yes before the end of this month. There is one visiting Aug 17th that I will be surprised if he doesn't say yes within days of visiting.

 

[sportstalent]

Honestly, I do not think we were really after Taylor all that much. If we land our primary targets for 2012,Woody,Gesell,Abrahamson,Myer(already committed),Ingram/Hornbeck/ other forward we offered this week....I just do not see the need for Taylor. We need wings more than big men.

You do realize that Taylor is a good ball handler, shooter and is a 6-7 wing player right?
Going to Marquette is no big surprise, he is a Top 150 player with a good skill set and it is closer to home and in the Big East.

 

[JHHawk]

You do realize that Taylor is a good ball handler, shooter and is a 6-7 wing player right?
Going to Marquette is no big surprise, he is a Top 150 player with a good skill set and it is closer to home and in the Big East.

Saw him play last winter on TV a few times, seemed more like a power forward/center type. I concede I have not followed him that closely this summer,tho,so maybe he is playing outside more.

I never really thought Iowa was truly in the picture,tho...were we?

 

[ssckelley]

Iowa was not even in the mix. He said he chose Marquette over DePaul, Purdue and Ohio