Coaching or Talent?

NCHawker

Well-Known Member
I don't follow basketball very closely. And so I'm not very attached at all. These days it serves me well.

So why is Iowa basketball so damned blah year in and year out? They're getting it handed to them a lot these days?
 
Both.

He has not recruited quality point guards....or really a big time center (Woody underwhelmed there).

Defensive fundamentals are relatively poor against real competition (sometimes even against the stiffs...like Bryant).

His teams seem to lack mental toughness when the going gets tough. When things go bad, they don't come back.

They don't have an identity. They do a number of things, but not really well.
 
For what it’s worth...Iowa was without its best player, on the road, at Purdue, and, without said player, the outcome was predetermined and well-known...

https://www.hawkeyenation.com/forum...t-hated-rival-game-thread.85696/#post-1796854

That said, still does not erase the FACT that Fran McCaferty and his staff are NOT good basketball coaches (particularly the Post) and rely on good (lucky) shooting to compensate for players that are generally sub-par in all-around talent with extremely low basketball IQs.
 
Team tries hard, just not very talented. Fran is a poor recruiter, with less than adequate assistants. Carver is outdated and seating for students is not important to Barta. The program has sunk back to Lickliter levels again.
 
Fran did a great job of righting the ship after the Lickliter disaster. I will give him credit for fighting through the early years and giving the Iowa program hope but it’s time to make a change.

The problems are obvious to most.

1. We have NEVER had a legit PG during Frans tenure at Iowa. Recruiting.

2. In game coaching is horrendous. Fran essentially gives up once the team starts to slide and rarely uses a TO to break momentum. Coaching.

3. Defense is gawd awful. Fran either has no ability to teach, an unwillingness to change, or see #1 & #2 above. Recruiting and Coaching.

It’s time for new assistants who can get the job done. If that doesn’t work then it’s time for AD and Fran to go.
 
For what it’s worth...Iowa was without its best player, on the road, at Purdue, and, without said player, the outcome was predetermined and well-known...

https://www.hawkeyenation.com/forum...t-hated-rival-game-thread.85696/#post-1796854

That said, still does not erase the FACT that Fran McCaferty and his staff are NOT good basketball coaches (particularly the Post) and rely on good (lucky) shooting to compensate for players that are generally sub-par in all-around talent with extremely low basketball IQs.


Yea Garza impact is huge.

But Cook should be the best player. Then Weiscamp has an arguement for second.

But Garzas role in general is crucial. Defense, points in the paint, and boards.
 
Team tries hard, just not very talented. Fran is a poor recruiter, with less than adequate assistants. Carver is outdated and seating for students is not important to Barta. The program has sunk back to Lickliter levels again.
I was watching Northwestern/MState and Nebraska/Maryland the other night and it just hit me how many talented players all 4 teams had on the court. The fact that Iowa can't recruit anything like these players is crazy. Nebby is not a hotbed of basketball, at least it wasn't. Northwestern has impossibly high standards for academics but still manages to bring in talent. What is wrong with Iowa that these players are avoiding us like the plague? Our team is filled with role players that couldn't start at most schools and have one bonified athlete in Cook, and a couple of good players in Garza and JBo that are players that would come off the bench at blueblood programs. Is it time to pay for play like the top 25 programs in the nation do, or does everyone like being beaten down by 30 pts every other game? I think Fran is an honest coach but if Iowa had pulled the trigger on Bruce Pearl and brought in the players and won, would anyone care if we got a slap on the wrist from the NCAA. I'm serious, I'm not advocating for breaking the law but what is the answer for the future of Iowa basketball. We keep showing up at a gunfight with a knife. If everyone is cheating is it cheating? And by the way, I haven't heard on one program facing penalties from the FBI investigation yet, has anyone else?
 
Cook,JW and Garza legit starters in that order. Moss would look better w a pt guard as would all. JB legit 6th man.About it.

Purdue pt made very average mediocre players look good.
 
I was watching Northwestern/MState and Nebraska/Maryland the other night and it just hit me how many talented players all 4 teams had on the court. The fact that Iowa can't recruit anything like these players is crazy. Nebby is not a hotbed of basketball, at least it wasn't. Northwestern has impossibly high standards for academics but still manages to bring in talent. What is wrong with Iowa that these players are avoiding us like the plague? Our team is filled with role players that couldn't start at most schools and have one bonified athlete in Cook, and a couple of good players in Garza and JBo that are players that would come off the bench at blueblood programs. Is it time to pay for play like the top 25 programs in the nation do, or does everyone like being beaten down by 30 pts every other game? I think Fran is an honest coach but if Iowa had pulled the trigger on Bruce Pearl and brought in the players and won, would anyone care if we got a slap on the wrist from the NCAA. I'm serious, I'm not advocating for breaking the law but what is the answer for the future of Iowa basketball. We keep showing up at a gunfight with a knife. If everyone is cheating is it cheating? And by the way, I haven't heard on one program facing penalties from the FBI investigation yet, has anyone else?
You can add Iowa State to the list of basketball non hotbeds that have outrecruited us in this decade
as well.

Bruce Pearl, who has been around forever but is younger than Fran, would have been a nice hire but it just wasn't going to happen.
 
I was watching Northwestern/MState and Nebraska/Maryland the other night and it just hit me how many talented players all 4 teams had on the court. The fact that Iowa can't recruit anything like these players is crazy. Nebby is not a hotbed of basketball, at least it wasn't. Northwestern has impossibly high standards for academics but still manages to bring in talent. What is wrong with Iowa that these players are avoiding us like the plague? Our team is filled with role players that couldn't start at most schools and have one bonified athlete in Cook, and a couple of good players in Garza and JBo that are players that would come off the bench at blueblood programs. Is it time to pay for play like the top 25 programs in the nation do, or does everyone like being beaten down by 30 pts every other game? I think Fran is an honest coach but if Iowa had pulled the trigger on Bruce Pearl and brought in the players and won, would anyone care if we got a slap on the wrist from the NCAA. I'm serious, I'm not advocating for breaking the law but what is the answer for the future of Iowa basketball. We keep showing up at a gunfight with a knife. If everyone is cheating is it cheating? And by the way, I haven't heard on one program facing penalties from the FBI investigation yet, has anyone else?

I think Iowa needs a head coach from a major D1 conference, with proven experience and success. Maybe a guy that has fell off a bit, but is looking to regroup somewhere else. No more mid-majors or experiments. Someone who knows how to put together a complete Big Ten roster....or at least has a Big Ten points guard, shooting guard, small forward, power forward, center, etc.

The last guy we had like this was Mr. Davis. He had more NCAAs than Alfraud, Lackluster, and Fran combined.
 
Right now the only pull Fran has on me is the lure of his son Patrick who I saw get outplayed by a recruit a foot shorter last year. His highlight film showed from an all-star game showed him make one lay-up (awkwardly) against top competition. Barring a turnaround that puts us in the NCAA tourney, this is the year to make a coaching move after the season.
I think JBo stays along with Jo and Garza, we lose Patrick and maybe Trussent, but I bet he comes anyway. Bring in a coach that is currently unemployed like, say, Hoiberg, and he scours the land for transfers. He's good at that. We would have a shot at some key in-state talent and be competitive almost immediately. Fran is not the answer. I am not being a hater right now. I not even mad at the game. I'm just being practical. Fran has been given enough time to put us into the national, hell even the Big spotlight but hasn't. This isn't football, one good recruiting class can put us back on solid NCAA footing, it's time.
 
I think the talent is there, but it comes down to coaching and the players holding each other accountable.

I wish we would play zone defense and just stick with it. Our guards can’t stop penetration.
 
I'm going with coaching. When you think about it he has had some decent players but can never get full potential out of them. I mean hell the announcers called him out as bad it gets on national t.v. by basicly saying these are kids with experience and they don't play like it.
 
College basketball is at least 80-85 percent recruiting . All division one coaches know the game and can coach it up . It doesn’t really matter how good of a coach you are if you can only bring in shitty players .
 
I'm going with coaching. When you think about it he has had some decent players but can never get full potential out of them. I mean hell the announcers called him out as bad it gets on national t.v. by basicly saying these are kids with experience and they don't play like it.
In the right offense, this team could compete, Fran's offense requires athletic players that can play multiple positions and create their offense. This team has nobody who can do that. That's on him, he picks the offense and does the recruiting. He can't fit the players to the system or the system to the players. The standard at Iowa is being competitive, making the NCAA tourney most years, and winning at home. Fran has failed at this far more than he has succeeded. A new coach can make a splash, I believe there's enough talent left to at least stay at our current level.
 
zzzzzzZzzz.............ZzzZ.........I think we need to sign Fran to an Ten year extension and give him a bonus just for showing up........... whoa, whooo what???

Wow, what a night mare. I was just dreaming that I was Gary Barta. I hope I didn’t say anything embarrassing in my sleep............ did I?
 

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