Fran McCaffery Excited By '21-22 Roster's Potential

I am actually excited about this team even if it doesn't make the tourney. Expecially if Joe W. comes back. JBo's return is clouding the potential of what I would like to see from this team. Pressure D and transition, not his strength, is what I was looking forward to seeing. If JBo plays point this is a team that will never reach it's full potential. For me it has to be Ulis and Joe T. They need the keys to the car and pay their dues early in the season to pay off later. If JBo is a 2 guard and plays limited minutes this will be a better team. I can't see that happening with Fran. Joe T. or Ulis will never be the "man" with JBo around.
JBo was “recruited” to return as a 2.
 
Illinois is taking a HUGE hit this year.
too many unknown to speculate.
Consider this: IF Joe W. returns and JoB plays the 2, one of them will have to sit? What is the lineup if both play at the same time and consequently, who sits?

1. Joe T./Ulis
2. JBo.
3. JW
4. Murray
5. Rebraca

Whar Perkins?
 
Illinois is taking a HUGE hit this year.
too many unknown to speculate.
Consider this: IF Joe W. returns and JoB plays the 2, one of them will have to sit? What is the lineup if both play at the same time and consequently, who sits?

1. Joe T./Ulis
2. JBo.
3. JW
4. Murray
5. Rebraca

Whar Perkins?
PMac will be starting next year. Somewhere. Wiesy or no Wiesy.
 
With or without JW, this looks like a development year to me. NIT would be good, NCAA would be great.

I think with Iowa basketball, as with football (to perhaps a slightly lesser extent), I think as a fan you really have to embrace the old "it's about the journey, not the destination" saying. Put another way, this isn't a program that's going to be competing for conference titles on the regular, so you're going to have to get good at (and happy with) identifying other kinds of milestones and accomplishments.
 
21-13

That feels about right to me. Don't know if that is a NIT bid or a play-in game in Dayton.

The 15-25% chance that JW comes back... then we are talking 24-10, 23-11 and a 8,9,10 seed in the tournament.
 
21-13

That feels about right to me. Don't know if that is a NIT bid or a play-in game in Dayton.

The 15-25% chance that JW comes back... then we are talking 24-10, 23-11 and a 8,9,10 seed in the tournament.
I'm of the opinion that this year's team will go as far as our defense and guard play will take us. I'd guess that could be a standard answer for every year for us.
 
Fran's only finished under .500 in the B1G 3 times in his tenure at Iowa and only once in the last 9 years. Finishing .500 or above in the B1G typically means bubble or in the dance. I expect Fran to have us in a good position to play post season basketball.
Weird I know
 
I stand by my post and am disappointed neither JT or Ulis rose up and grabbed the PG position. I had in the back of my mind about a 75% chance JBo would end up running the point by end of season. What I didn't count on is JBo playing some serious defense and the emergence of Perkins. I like how JBo is playing right now defensively and offensively. He is the best option moving forward. With Connor shooting the three well and JBo finding his stroke it's what we need to open the court for Keegan and Patrick. What is nice is now we have two guards that can play the point behind JBo allowing Fran to sub as needed. I was one of the few that picked Iowa to finish in the top seven teams in the league and go dancing, I just got it wrong about JBo.
 
My posts have held up pretty well. :)

I thought JBO would do better at the 2 and I thought JT would hold his starting job. I did not think that Keegan would be this good or forsee that Kris would step up this much. Beyond that, Flip has been what I thought and Patrick progressed as one should moving into a starting role. Everyone else has been a positive role player as expected.
 
I'm wrong all the time - just not about this program being an NCAA regular. That's a trend that was easy for me to see because you just watch Iowa continue to build and grow as a program. You see Fran develop all conference type players every season. I mean, every year, he has a top 5 player in the conference almost without fail. That's not a stroke of luck at this point. The Iowa program is very healthy and has a solid foundation - now Fran just needs to eradicate Iowa's post season success that's plagued the program LONG before he got here. I have very little doubt he'll accomplish it.
 
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