Does anyone doubt this will be another amazing year for Iowa basketball?

InGoodCo

Well-Known Member
I don’t: this will be maybe Iowa’s best year of the last 3. I don’t know who makes preseason predictions, but they suck at them. Iowa will be very good at basketball again this year.
 
The B1G is weaker than it has been the last couple of years. Iowa is a tournament team, but I have no idea what that translate into...is that a 3 seed or an 8 seed I have no clue.
 
Their weakness last year was at center. Will there be noticeable improvement this year? If they are to be better, it has to be.
 
Last year I scoffed at the third division finish predicted by the media and many on this board. I didn't know how good Keegan would be but I did compare him to a young Grant Hill. I predicted them finishing no lower than 7 place. This team could be better. Lots of dynamic talent. Let that soak in. Did anyone go to the street block party held Friday? Just kind of wondered what they did? Plus I just checked out a u-tube video of Iowa's Illinois recruit Freeman. The guy is really looking good. Great power moves and high motor. Loves to dunk. He and Harding with their chemistry will be exciting.
 
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I have season tickets again and we will be better. To satisfy CHA critics, I will stand entirely through all games, climb easily up the steps twice to pee and get ice cream. I also promise to chastise anyone with blue hair who has a good seat. I will invite lowly students to come and sit with me in vacant mid court seats. I will protest pre and post game with a poster “ban the concourse”. And finally, I will shoot numerous photo’s of Fran screaming at players, officials, and anyone else around the bench. And I promise after a couple of losses to announce on HN that we won’t win another game. There you go!
 
I have season tickets again and we will be better. To satisfy CHA critics, I will stand entirely through all games, climb easily up the steps twice to pee and get ice cream. I also promise to chastise anyone with blue hair who has a good seat. I will invite lowly students to come and sit with me in vacant mid court seats. I will protest pre and post game with a poster “ban the concourse”. And finally, I will shoot numerous photo’s of Fran screaming at players, officials, and anyone else around the bench. And I promise after a couple of losses to announce on HN that we won’t win another game. There you go!
If you wanna see an actual fun CHA experience come to a wrestling dual. Puts basketball to absolute shame. I have 3 season tix and the third is just an extra for whoever wants to go with my kid and I.

You ain't seen anything in CHA until you've seen Spencer Lee walk out in front of 16,000 standing room only fans and tech a guy in under 2 minutes or Cassioppi pin a ranked wrestler to finish off a dual. No basketball crowds will ever come close to that frenzy or noise level.
 
If you wanna see an actual fun CHA experience come to a wrestling dual. Puts basketball to absolute shame. I have 3 season tix and the third is just an extra for whoever wants to go with my kid and I.

You ain't seen anything in CHA until you've seen Spencer Lee walk out in front of 16,000 standing room only fans and tech a guy in under 2 minutes or Cassioppi pin a ranked wrestler to finish off a dual. No basketball crowds will ever come close to that frenzy or noise level.
A few years back, I watched a dual between Iowa and Penn St. They were ranked ahead of us at the time. Iowa pulled the upset. My buddy was with me, a Penn St. fan, which made it sweeter. Yeah. The crowd was nuts. I know it’s like that consistently.
 
I haven't taken any kinda dive into what the rest of the league is going to look like. Sounds like Indiana, MSU, Michigan should all be good again the usual suspects but to what extent I'm not sure. I like our lineup. I love the length and versatility that they provide to have mismatches out there.

Our biggest question to me will be the PG position. How that position does will really dictate how high our ceiling can go. Can Ulis develop himself into a threat offensively? I love his D and unselfishness. But he'll need to be able to shoot some. Or will Bowen get a big chunk of mins as a freshman?
 
I haven't taken any kinda dive into what the rest of the league is going to look like. Sounds like Indiana, MSU, Michigan should all be good again the usual suspects but to what extent I'm not sure. I like our lineup. I love the length and versatility that they provide to have mismatches out there.

Our biggest question to me will be the PG position. How that position does will really dictate how high our ceiling can go. Can Ulis develop himself into a threat offensively? I love his D and unselfishness. But he'll need to be able to shoot some. Or will Bowen get a big chunk of mins as a freshman?
Iowa's ability to put waves of guards out there, to paraphrase Izzo, was a major strength last year. This year it may depend on the walk-on Nimmers and Dix being healthy.
 
Iowa's ability to put waves of guards out there, to paraphrase Izzo, was a major strength last year. This year it may depend on the walk-on Nimmers and Dix being healthy.
No doubt. The emergence of Perkins was huge and will continue to be. Who spells him will be interesting and if either of those two guys do or if they go big with Sandfort at the 2 sometimes. They can ride whoever the hot hand is.

And in regards to Nimmers holy smokes. That kid oozes athleticism. He's like 6'2 and does Vince Carter level stuff above the rim. I'm barely hyperbolizing with that for those that haven't seen some of his highlights. I'm not sure how his overall game will translate but I can't wait to see what he does the first time he gets a breakaway.
 
I have doubts, but I always do when they're expected to be good (same for football). They never seem to meet expectations, as they're usually really good when we expect them to be bad and bad or mediocre when we expect them to be really good.
 
I have doubts, but I always do when they're expected to be good (same for football). They never seem to meet expectations, as they're usually really good when we expect them to be bad and bad or mediocre when we expect them to be really good.
Iowa is being projected by most to be the 9th best team in the league FWIW. Lunardi had us out most of off season brackets but recently put IA in as the last 10 seed. They have only been pre season ranked 1 time under Fran and it was in 20/21 when they started out 5th and finished 8th - which is remarkable.

Fran has only finished in the bottom half of the conference 3 times in 12 seasons and 2 of those seasons were his first. Iowa routinely does better than their projections or season outlook, it just hasn't shown up in the NCAA yet.
 
Is that what we were predicted to be last yr too? Or even lower? I'd be willing to go to Vegas now and say they'll finish better then that. That's easy $ right there (if we stay healthy obviously)
I think we were picked like 10th or 11th last year and I knew that was a joke - Fran's only had 1 season that he was really uncompetitive in the league since he's turned things around. Easy money I agree.
 
Look - yet another different Iowa player on a different list by CBS's Jon Rothstein -

are we sure they're going to finish in the bottom half? I'm yet to see many that have us in the top half - but all of these lists with Tony, Pat, Kris and Peyton make it hard for me to believe this is anything other than a solid B1G program this season.

https://collegehoopstoday.com/index...adar-breakout-players-for-the-2022-23-season/

I can't remember a year that this many players were getting run in the offseason. It's always been one guy who is the focal point for off season watch lists. Iowa seems to be loaded with potential break out players if you believe people who follow college hoops closely.
 
Iowa will finish around 4th or 5th in the conference. The non-conference won't be as easy as in the past but it will get the team ready for league play.
 
Look - yet another different Iowa player on a different list by CBS's Jon Rothstein -

are we sure they're going to finish in the bottom half? I'm yet to see many that have us in the top half - but all of these lists with Tony, Pat, Kris and Peyton make it hard for me to believe this is anything other than a solid B1G program this season.

https://collegehoopstoday.com/index...adar-breakout-players-for-the-2022-23-season/

I can't remember a year that this many players were getting run in the offseason. It's always been one guy who is the focal point for off season watch lists. Iowa seems to be loaded with potential break out players if you believe people who follow college hoops closely.

PG is the X factor to me. I think Kris, PM and Perkins will be leaned on heavily. If guys like PS and I'll throw in Connor (his first season of no baseball) play great then it'll be on how the PG position plays out.

We don't need Ulis to be great or ball dominant. Just run the O and hit open looks more then what JT did. If Iowa can get 10-12 pts and 4-8 assists with less then 5 TOs combined from Ulis and Bowen combined that'd be huge. The rest should pickup the slack. I think Rebracca will do more then 5pts and 5 rbs this yr. He'll play with more confidence within his role. He could approach 10 pts on a lot more nights I'll bet.
 
PG is the X factor to me. I think Kris, PM and Perkins will be leaned on heavily. If guys like PS and I'll throw in Connor (his first season of no baseball) play great then it'll be on how the PG position plays out.

We don't need Ulis to be great or ball dominant. Just run the O and hit open looks more then what JT did. If Iowa can get 10-12 pts and 4-8 assists with less then 5 TOs combined from Ulis and Bowen combined that'd be huge. The rest should pickup the slack. I think Rebracca will do more then 5pts and 5 rbs this yr. He'll play with more confidence within his role. He could approach 10 pts on a lot more nights I'll bet.
PG is definitely the most unsettled position but I'm more worried about our size in the front court personally overall but I think you are right. We all kind of expected that to work out with Jordan moving off the ball last year but I think we all didn't estimate having a non scoring threat at the 1 did for the rest of our team. I think the combo between Tony, Aaron. Conner, and Desonte they've got strong options to run the offense.

I just get the feeling that Iowa is going to be pretty good this year. I could be wrong, but I get the feeling Iowa is a lot closer to the top 5 then the bottom 5.
 
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