CJ Fredrick

Well, I read this one wrong. What a *horribly* kept secret, wow.

It would be interesting to know how this came about, but I doubt we'll ever truly know. We'll get glimpses of the different parties' versions of what happened but, as far as getting a true picture, I doubt we ever find out.

Hurts to lose him - he is a good player and I think was about to have an explosive uptick in production this coming season as potentially being a first/second option scorer for us. I wish him well but, if he's considering the UK route, there is a good possibility he'll be an off-the-bench player for that program.
 
okeefe4prez said:
It is going to be really interesting to see what this does to recruiting, particularly in football. A guy like Nick might just basically stop recruiting outside the top 100. He'll get a handful of five stars, a handful of high four stars and then just roll the dice on transfers. Just get him 2 good WRs, a good QB and two dominant d-linemen every class and I'm sure he'll be content just poaching whoever he needs among the transfer ranks. Basically, the way the game has morphed it is such that if you have a stellar QB, 3 great WRs and at least 3 stud d-linemen it is almost impossible to lose a game. The good QBs in the south are so good now that literally the only way to stop them is to be able to get at least one of the linemen home on every snap. Even watching Alabama's slate of stellar DBs against a team like LSU, Georgia or Florida it's basically just a prayer for them to make a play when the QB has a clean pocket and these kids do all these camps so if you blitz, they know the read about 70% of the time and will torch you wherever the open spot is in the defense.

I also think this is going to make locker rooms toxic unless you are a division champ. Many guys are going to insist they should be starting and threatening to transfer. I don't know how the coaches are going to handle that aspect of it. I think we'll see a lot more "Mr. Smith is no longer with the team" sorts of comments in October.
Click to expand...

Can o worms.

In addition, this is really going to scrunch the pool of coaches who are excellent at recruiting, excellent at coaching and excellent at managing these transfers, transient rosters and managing roster holes and position depth, and excellent of managing the portal.

This is going to be another attribute that is going to be looked at when hiring a coach. How they are at managing transient rosters.
 
Hawkfnntn said:
Is this legit? I could see it being true I just haven't heard of it. I was watching games looking for that sort of thing. I didn't really like it when PM was the first guy off the bench over Murray sometimes. That seemed head scratching.. But overall when those two played poorly Fran didn't hesitate to yank them. That happened a few times.
Click to expand...
I think you raise a fair question. I'm not saying this couldn't be true, I'm just saying it's a golden opportunity for those with gripes for how Fran runs the program to pile on and try to sow discontent. This transfer is painful news but, personally, I'm going to take all the follow-on rumors with a grain of salt until if/when I hear things from the horses' mouths.
 
CJ is a big loss. Not sure where some are acting like he is limited on offense. He had a very good overall game. Kentucky had 0 shooting from outside this year. I think that is where he will land. To me he is a poor man Tyler Herro and I'm sure Kentucky sold him on being Tyler 2.0.

Even though not confirmed to Kentucky, I just feel like Calipari got this done. It is weird that CJ originally committed to Iowa without a scholarship and now this.
 
I am going to try to post this in as delicate of a fashion as possible because, firstly, Nunge has been through a lot and, secondly, I don't want to come off as joining the Fran pile-on party but...was anyone else a bit surprised to see Nunge land at Xavier? I did some checking - his hometown is about 3.5-4 hrs from Xavier but about 7 hrs from Iowa City. Ok, no doubt, that's *closer* but was anyone else expecting him to wind up somewhere *close*?

I'm not in his shoes, maybe that 3.5 hrs makes all the difference in the world to him and his family - if that's the case, then I am very happy for Jack. Either way, I still wish Jack well, but I have to confess I have some nagging doubts that we have the full story.
 
I am not inclined to head toward criticism of Jack and CJ. But this news adds two high quality players to the graduation of Luka, the likely moving on of JBO, and the possible exit of JW. That is the equivalent of the starting five gone. Very depressing, to be sure.
 
HaydenHawk56 said:
He could actually point to Garza and say we can produce a Player of the Year here and this is what we can do for you (if you stay and commit of course). Bluder is working on the same thing with Clark.

We are in the Big Ten Conference. We got a lot of coverage.

We have a real active fan base that supports this program.

If you like scoring a lot of points, we have the program for you.

Historically, Iowa has been one the better programs in the country. Take away Hairgel and Lackluster and this program is very respectable.
Click to expand...
None of those things you just mentioned involved program success in postseason play. Which is what elite basketball players want and it's what we don't have. Those kids couldn't give a shit less about what happened when Mr. Tom and Lute Olson were in town.

People who know basketball know Garza wasn't a development by Fran, Garza was a unicorn that fell in Fran's lap that had less of a chance of happening than winning the lottery in all 50 states at once.

Michigan, Illinois, Purdue, and OSU are in the B1G too. if it's a kid not being recruited by any of those schools or if it's a kid with a bunch of non-P6 offers then the chances of that player being elite are low.

Scoring a lot of points? That same recruit is going to wonder why a team that's consistently in the top 5 offensively can't win a conference or NCAA tourney game.

The "awesome fans" thing is used by every coach all the way down to NAIA. And besides that, I've been to Carver for basketball games. The mean age of spectator is 68. If naps and steamed carrots ain't your bag you're gonna have issues.

Look, I know this is all pessimistic, but pessimism is totally valid when it's founded...which it is in this case. The one advantage Fran had was being able to tell recruits that he's ride or die until the end and doesn't bring transfers in. That makes guys feel a little better because they know what they're in for and they know if they bide their time they'll get PT at some point. With the transfer rule he's lost that. Now Fran is forced to go to the portal and once he starts bringing in juniors or seniors to play in front of guys who've been with the program for 3 years, the dynamic is destroyed and how the hell do you keep a stable bench? Is this the only team that's going to be wrecked by this? No. Will it still suck? Yep.

I'll continue to pay attention to the program but once the transfer thing starts taking the fun out of following each year's class and teams as a whole, I'll just start going to high school games or take up competitive jigsaw puzzling. In no way am I gonna waste an ounce of energy being mad about it.
 
Luftgekuehlt67 said:
I am going to try to post this in as delicate of a fashion as possible because, firstly, Nunge has been through a lot and, secondly, I don't want to come off as joining the Fran pile-on party but...was anyone else a bit surprised to see Nunge land at Xavier? I did some checking - his hometown is about 3.5-4 hrs from Xavier but about 7 hrs from Iowa City. Ok, no doubt, that's *closer* but was anyone else expecting him to wind up somewhere *close*?

I'm not in his shoes, maybe that 3.5 hrs makes all the difference in the world to him and his family - if that's the case, then I am very happy for Jack. Either way, I still wish Jack well, but I have to confess I have some nagging doubts that we have the full story.
Click to expand...
Oh I think that makes a really big difference. One doesn't just driver back and forth for 14 hours in a day no sweat. So yeah that's pretty significant when you factor in how many times they'd like to do it but just wouldn't due to that. Nunge gets zero grief for going there from me. Absolutely none
 
Fryowa said:
None of those things you just mentioned involved program success regarding postseason play. Which is what elite basketball players want and it's what we don't have. Those kids couldn't give a shit less about what happened when -Mr. Tom and Lute Olson were in town.

People who know basketball know Garza wasn't a development by Fran, Garza was a unicorn that fell in Fran's lap that had less of a chance of happening than winning the lottery in all 50 states at once.

Michigan, Illinois, Purdue, and OSU are in the B1G too. if it's a kid not being recruited by any of those schools or if it's a kid with a bunch of non-P6 offers then the chances of that player being elite are low.

Scoring a lot of points? That same recruit is going to wonder why a team that's consistently in the top 5 offensively can't win a conference or NCAA tourney game.

The "awesome fans" thing is used by every coach all the way down to NAIA. And besides that, I've been to Carver for basketball games. The mean age of spectator is 68. If naps and steamed carrots ain't your bag you're gonna have issues.

Look, I know this is all pessimistic, but pessimism is totally valid when it's founded...which it is in this case. The one advantage Fran had was being able to tell recruits that he's ride or die until the end and doesn't bring transfers in. That makes guys feel a little better because they know what they're in for and they know if they bide their time they'll get PT at some point. With the transfer rule he's lost that. Now Fran is forced to go to the portal and once he starts brining in juniors or seniors to play in front of guys who've been with the program for 3 years, the dynamic is destroyed and how the hell do you keep a stable bench? Is this the only team that's going to be wrecked by this? No. Will it still suck? Yep.

I'll continue to pay attention to the program but once the transfer thing starts taking the fun out of following each year's class and teams as a whole, I'll just start going to high school games or take up competitive jigsaw puzzling. In no way am I gonna waste an ounce of energy being mad about it.
Click to expand...
Fair points. At the same time, I can't disagree with any of that either. Fran has to somehow spin these points like the best used car salesmen.
 
Luftgekuehlt67 said:
I think you raise a fair question. I'm not saying this couldn't be true, I'm just saying it's a golden opportunity for those with gripes for how Fran runs the program to pile on and try to sow discontent. This transfer is painful news but, personally, I'm going to take all the follow-on rumors with a grain of salt until if/when I hear things from the horses' mouths.
Click to expand...
Yeah those that already have it had it out for Fran would certainly do it I'm sure. And with the rumor mill being what it is in college hoops anymore it seems like where there's smoke there's fire. I almost started to think he wasn't leaving because till now these rumors had been out there for more then a month and he hadn't left yet. So who knows. Every story is unique every kid can do what they want. So just ride the wave.
 
Luftgekuehlt67 said:
I am going to try to post this in as delicate of a fashion as possible because, firstly, Nunge has been through a lot and, secondly, I don't want to come off as joining the Fran pile-on party but...was anyone else a bit surprised to see Nunge land at Xavier? I did some checking - his hometown is about 3.5-4 hrs from Xavier but about 7 hrs from Iowa City. Ok, no doubt, that's *closer* but was anyone else expecting him to wind up somewhere *close*?

I'm not in his shoes, maybe that 3.5 hrs makes all the difference in the world to him and his family - if that's the case, then I am very happy for Jack. Either way, I still wish Jack well, but I have to confess I have some nagging doubts that we have the full story.
Click to expand...

There are a lot of points in the full story.

First, and most important, Xavier is a better basketball program than Iowa right now. 3 Elite 8s in the past 20 years. 7 Sweet 16s. Drew a 1 seed a few years ago. The guys on Iowa's last elite 8 team are in their mid 50's.

Second, the Big East is a better basketball conference than the Big Ten. It's undeniable at this point.

Third, Nunge ain't going pro. If he's a decent player at Xavier, he's going to be able to walk into a lot of companies in Cincinnati and find a solid career. The Jesuit schools have huge networks that take care of their own. If he stays at Iowa, he can go work in a variable annuity call center in Cedar Rapids or sell used cars in Coralville. The post-grad opportunities at a place like Xavier blow Iowa away.

And yeah, his family will be able to go watch his home games and a chunk of his road games without too much of a drive.

Nunge made a great call going to Xavier and I hope he does well.
 
Fryowa said:
Lol. He can hit it as hard as he wants...

How you gonna get anybody to decide to come here when our current roster are dropping like flies, admittedly for different reasons???

Iowa fans think we should be able to recruit better...

Iowa fans think we should be making deep tourney runs...

Iowa fans don’t apparently realize that we’re Iowa. This program is not anything even remotely resembling a marquee destination for a high school basketball player and it never will be. I’m sorry, I love the Hawks but the ceiling here is upper half in the conference on average and upper 1/4th in a good year once in a while. If we didn’t have Garza this year (which was Fran winning the lottery), we would have been fighting it out with Minnesota and NW for 13th. This was a unicorn year.

So when you say Fran should hit the portal and hit it hard, what exactly would you say to a really good player to get them to come here? Let’s be real. What is there appealing about Iowa basketball in 2022 that’s going to make an impact player decide to sign? We have a really cool Elvis impersonator that comes to watch our games and you get free tickets to watch Spencer Lee wrestle?

Im genuinely curious as to what people think could (legally) be used as persuasion to come here. We are who we are.
Click to expand...

The transfer market isn't really a place to get a high impact player unless you're a blue blood or had previous relationships anymore. Better programs are now using transfers a lot.

That said... ISU recruits highly rated high school recruits. To outside eyes, there probably isn't much difference between the two programs. The difference is Fran.

That said, he's done a pretty dang good job recruiting at the level he has and I honestly think he's a pretty good coach.
 
Went over to the wildcats BB to torture myself some more and they have thread about how we’re saying the boosters paid out for CJ.the funniest post was “no wonder iowa has 0 National tittles,they expect there players to play for FREE....idiots. love that take had me laughing for the first time about this...ok done with BB until next season.go Hawks
 
Fryowa said:
None of those things you just mentioned involved program success in postseason play. Which is what elite basketball players want and it's what we don't have. Those kids couldn't give a shit less about what happened when Mr. Tom and Lute Olson were in town.

People who know basketball know Garza wasn't a development by Fran, Garza was a unicorn that fell in Fran's lap that had less of a chance of happening than winning the lottery in all 50 states at once.

Michigan, Illinois, Purdue, and OSU are in the B1G too. if it's a kid not being recruited by any of those schools or if it's a kid with a bunch of non-P6 offers then the chances of that player being elite are low.

Scoring a lot of points? That same recruit is going to wonder why a team that's consistently in the top 5 offensively can't win a conference or NCAA tourney game.

The "awesome fans" thing is used by every coach all the way down to NAIA. And besides that, I've been to Carver for basketball games. The mean age of spectator is 68. If naps and steamed carrots ain't your bag you're gonna have issues.

Look, I know this is all pessimistic, but pessimism is totally valid when it's founded...which it is in this case. The one advantage Fran had was being able to tell recruits that he's ride or die until the end and doesn't bring transfers in. That makes guys feel a little better because they know what they're in for and they know if they bide their time they'll get PT at some point. With the transfer rule he's lost that. Now Fran is forced to go to the portal and once he starts bringing in juniors or seniors to play in front of guys who've been with the program for 3 years, the dynamic is destroyed and how the hell do you keep a stable bench? Is this the only team that's going to be wrecked by this? No. Will it still suck? Yep.

I'll continue to pay attention to the program but once the transfer thing starts taking the fun out of following each year's class and teams as a whole, I'll just start going to high school games or take up competitive jigsaw puzzling. In no way am I gonna waste an ounce of energy being mad about it.
Click to expand...
"If naps and steamed carrots ain't your bag you're gonna have issues."

Lol. Line of the year!
 
BryceC said:
The transfer market isn't really a place to get a high impact player unless you're a blue blood or had previous relationships anymore. Better programs are now using transfers a lot.

That said... ISU recruits highly rated high school recruits. To outside eyes, there probably isn't much difference between the two programs. The difference is Fran.

That said, he's done a pretty dang good job recruiting at the level he has and I honestly think he's a pretty good coach.
Click to expand...

Wuuut? In recent years, Iowa State more commonly took transfers and grad transfers than developing HS recruits. Am I missing something?
 
Think about this: there are only so many roster spots on any given college team. The reason the portal is so busy is because good players are not getting playing time.
If Fran plays his cards right, we have a good chance of landing some damn good players.
Molding them into a team with leadership and chemistry is another matter.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Share this page

Top