Fran quietly putting together a nice 24 class

[Teddy]

Those were fun teams. The 89 team was hosed pretty hard in that second round.

 

[thedukeofearl]

Freudian slip? (Yeah, Hawk. I saw your correction but could not resist)

 

[HuckFinn]

I'm so old I remember Ralph Miller. Although not very clearly, I was in junior high.

I had season ticks as a grad student when Ralph’s team went undefeated in the BT. They often practiced in the old North Gym and I would stand in the doorway and watch practice. Nobody cared. Loved it when Ralph would scream bloody murder at Huston Breedlove (6th man) when he launched a wild shot. Crowd roars!

 

[thedukeofearl]

Those were fun teams. The 89 team was hosed pretty hard in that second round.

Yeah, Ray Thompson was declared ineligible the day before the team left for the first
tournament game

Ray was perhaps their best defensive player on the perimeter and Rodney Monroe
probably wouldn't have nailed three after three late in the game/overtime

I believe Hunter Rawlings III was the President of the school and wanted to be seen as a harsh, strict
disciplinarian in his resume with his eye and dreams on the Ivy League

The entire situation left one with a bitter taste in the mouth

 

[Dadman]

Yeah, Ray Thompson was declared ineligible the day before the team left for the first
tournament game

Ray was perhaps their best defensive player on the perimeter and Rodney Monroe
probably wouldn't have nailed three after three late in the game/overtime

I believe Hunter Rawlings III was the President of the school and wanted to be seen as a harsh, strict
disciplinarian in his resume with his eye and dreams on the Ivy League

The entire situation left one with a bitter taste in the mouth

The aftertaste lingers to this day……..

 

[Teddy]

I had season ticks as a grad student when Ralph’s team went undefeated in the BT. They often practiced in the old North Gym and I would stand in the doorway and watch practice. Nobody cared. Loved it when Ralph would scream bloody murder at Huston Breedlove (6th man) when he launched a wild shot. Crowd roars!

I think Ralph smoked on the bench. That's from 50 + years of time so my memory by not be right, but I think he lit 'em up in an entirely different meaning than usual basketball context.

 

[Northside Hawk]

Yeah, Ray Thompson was declared ineligible the day before the team left for the first
tournament game

Ray was perhaps their best defensive player on the perimeter and Rodney Monroe
probably wouldn't have nailed three after three late in the game/overtime

I believe Hunter Rawlings III was the President of the school and wanted to be seen as a harsh, strict
disciplinarian in his resume with his eye and dreams on the Ivy League

The entire situation left one with a bitter taste in the mouth

Mr. Davis didn't want to waste Marble's energy by chasing Monroe all over the court so he when we weren't in zone he frequently had BJ freaking Armstrong guarding Monroe and Brian Garner playing the point.

Thompson, of course, wasn't available. Neither was Rodell Davis, who was still working his way back from two years of knee injuries. A healthy Davis would have helped immensely that day as well.

 

[kicker22]

Alford and Lickliter broke the habit of watching Iowa. Alford came to Iowa under a blood moon and created drama and personal antipathy. No one ever really liked Alford and the average fan became increasingly disinterested in Iowa basketball, especially in bad freezing weather. Lickliter's disaster drug us from the curb to the gutter. Somewhere in those 11 years Iowans lost interest in Iowa basketball.

Home Run? Build a new arena with all the 21st century expectations for amenities. That would cost some dough, but it certainly would increase attendance and probably recruiting.

Double? Start with making student tickets free. Sit the students strategically behind the visitor's bench. Two or three rows. Most of the older fans would understand the need for growth. Reduce price for "family years" people. Twenty-five to forty-fives; give those people what they think is a reduced price and you'll lure several more hundred people to games. Offer more amenities and more parking. By amenities I mean liquor stocked with options like a portable bar. Get some better food, in food trucks and kiosks inside the arena.

Single? At least try harder to market. Reduce the cost of every ticket until the arena is sold out. Put a neon sign posting the cost of tickets updated every minute. A gimmick that might draw people out of sheer novelty. Not forever but until we see an uptick in season ticket sales.

Market the DSM metro much harder. Play an exhibition game up here before the season. This is where the people and money are in Iowa. Throw some love this way and maybe more people will make the drive.

We are stuck with the terrible weather, but that's hardly unique to Iowa.

What we know is Iowa MBB has an attendance and enthusiasm problem. Doing the same things every year and expecting different results is insane. I'm not saying anything above is the full answer, or even doable, but the answer cannot be a dilemma, more winning is the answer for fans but how do you win more with unfilled seats. Some outside the box thinking needs to occur.​

I'll catch hell for this I'm sure, but you want butts in the seats you have to schedule bigger OOC names to draw a crowd. I'm not arguing that our schedule is any different then anyone else in terms of cupcakes and I absolutely understand why it is the way it is, but if you want attendance to increase you got to bring in the competition to fill Carver on those nonconference weeknight games.

Tbh I don't even think it has to do with more winning. I'm more concerned about the OOC games. You want an environment worthy of remembering bring in a quality opponent. Sure the cupcakes are fun and necessary for March, but IMO that's the problem. Too much going on in terms of other commitments to get excited about a weeknight game where we'll most likely win by 20 or 30. That said you bring in a top 25 team there's a much better chance I'm packing up the wife and kids and heading to Iowa City.

 

[Gander Hawk]

I'll catch hell for this I'm sure, but you want butts in the seats you have to schedule bigger OOC names to draw a crowd. I'm not arguing that our schedule is any different then anyone else in terms of cupcakes and I absolutely understand why it is the way it is, but if you want attendance to increase you got to bring in the competition to fill Carver on those nonconference weeknight games.

Tbh I don't even think it has to do with more winning. I'm more concerned about the OOC games. You want an environment worthy of remembering bring in a quality opponent. Sure the cupcakes are fun and necessary for March, but IMO that's the problem. Too much going on in terms of other commitments to get excited about a weeknight game where we'll most likely win by 20 or 30. That said you bring in a top 25 team there's a much better chance I'm packing up the wife and kids and heading to Iowa City.

They could at least start playing UNI and Drake again.

 

[InGoodCo]

I'll catch hell for this I'm sure, but you want butts in the seats you have to schedule bigger OOC names to draw a crowd. I'm not arguing that our schedule is any different then anyone else in terms of cupcakes and I absolutely understand why it is the way it is, but if you want attendance to increase you got to bring in the competition to fill Carver on those nonconference weeknight games.

Tbh I don't even think it has to do with more winning. I'm more concerned about the OOC games. You want an environment worthy of remembering bring in a quality opponent. Sure the cupcakes are fun and necessary for March, but IMO that's the problem. Too much going on in terms of other commitments to get excited about a weeknight game where we'll most likely win by 20 or 30. That said you bring in a top 25 team there's a much better chance I'm packing up the wife and kids and heading to Iowa City.

That's fine and well, but Iowa's schedule is almost a top 25 schedule every year because of the 20 conference game schedule. The places that are selling out, like, say Creighton.... or say, Iowa State, or say IL.... schedule the exact same way Iowa does. They play 7-8 cupcakes in the OOC, schedule an exempt tournament, have a Gavitt or ACC challenge opponent and that's about it. Not saying your line of thinking is wrong, it's just not what other teams are doing so I always take a pause when someone wants Iowa to do something beyond or more than what their peers do.

See tougher OOC Football Schedule guy. Why should Iowa make things harder on themselves when no one else is?

 

[Teddy]

I'll catch hell for this I'm sure, but you want butts in the seats you have to schedule bigger OOC names to draw a crowd. I'm not arguing that our schedule is any different then anyone else in terms of cupcakes and I absolutely understand why it is the way it is, but if you want attendance to increase you got to bring in the competition to fill Carver on those nonconference weeknight games.

Tbh I don't even think it has to do with more winning. I'm more concerned about the OOC games. You want an environment worthy of remembering bring in a quality opponent. Sure the cupcakes are fun and necessary for March, but IMO that's the problem. Too much going on in terms of other commitments to get excited about a weeknight game where we'll most likely win by 20 or 30. That said you bring in a top 25 team there's a much better chance I'm packing up the wife and kids and heading to Iowa City.

Hopefully not hell. We schedule like every other team in the country, except possibly a handful of BBs. Need warm up games early, some bigger name games (like Creighton and Okie from Muscogee) then a good practice game before the big battle starts. We do not want to schedule our way out of an NCAA bid.

Unlike Bob Knight's later teams, the Big Ten will not allow Iowa to turn it around with 12 or 13 conference wins. Leave the wife and kids at home-give 'em a night without the old man. I don't know where you live but drive to IC and enjoy a blowout, that always is fun, in building full of men doing the same thing as you. Vivre la faune!​

 

[kicker22]

That's fine and well, but Iowa's schedule is almost a top 25 schedule every year because of the 20 conference game schedule. The places that are selling out, like, say Creighton.... or say, Iowa State, or say IL.... schedule the exact same way Iowa does. They play 7-8 cupcakes in the OOC, schedule an exempt tournament, have a Gavitt or ACC challenge opponent and that's about it. Not saying your line of thinking is wrong, it's just not what other teams are doing so I always take a pause when someone wants Iowa to do something beyond or more than what their peers do.

See tougher OOC Football Schedule guy. Why should Iowa make things harder on themselves when no one else is?

I totally get the fact that we schedule like everyone else in terms of competition level. I'm saying that while it would definitely be breaking the mold, from an entertainment standpoint, in terms of getting butts back into the stands, I think its a logical answer. Albeit as I touched on and you hit on as well there's a reason we don't do things that way.

 

[kicker22]

Hopefully not hell. We schedule like every other team in the country, except possibly a handful of BBs. Need warm up games early, some bigger name games (like Creighton and Okie from Muscogee) then a good practice game before the big battle starts. We do not want to schedule our way out of an NCAA bid.

Unlike Bob Knight's later teams, the Big Ten will not allow Iowa to turn it around with 12 or 13 conference wins. Leave the wife and kids at home-give 'em a night without the old man. I don't know where you live but drive to IC and enjoy a blowout, that always is fun, in building full of men doing the same thing as you. Vivre la faune!​

I'm in the Burlington area and albeit it's only about an hour and fifteen minute drive the problem I run into is I'm off work at 4:30 which makes a 6:00 start tricky most nights and I coach 4-5 nights a week 9 months out of the year from 5:15-8:00 (multiple sessions). I'm not saying blowouts aren't fun, but IMO I'd much rather see two good teams going head to head then a second tier D1 level opponent getting pummeled. As I said earlier, I could potentially see myself making plans and heading north if it didn't interfere with practice, but I'd be much more thrilled to see two heavy weights then a lightweight getting KO'd.

 

[Teddy]

I'm in the Burlington area and albeit it's only about an hour and fifteen minute drive the problem I run into is I'm off work at 4:30 which makes a 6:00 start tricky most nights and I coach 4-5 nights a week 9 months out of the year from 5:15-8:00 (multiple sessions). I'm not saying blowouts aren't fun, but IMO I'd much rather see two good teams going head to head then a second tier D1 level opponent getting pummeled. As I said earlier, I could potentially see myself making plans and heading north if it didn't interfere with practice, but I'd be much more thrilled to see two heavy weights then a lightweight getting KO'd.

That's an unusually busy schedule so you get a bye on this one. What do you coach?

 

[thedukeofearl]

Hopefully not hell. We schedule like every other team in the country, except possibly a handful of BBs. Need warm up games early, some bigger name games (like Creighton and Okie from Muscogee) then a good practice game before the big battle starts. We do not want to schedule our way out of an NCAA bid.

Unlike Bob Knight's later teams, the Big Ten will not allow Iowa to turn it around with 12 or 13 conference wins. Leave the wife and kids at home-give 'em a night without the old man. I don't know where you live but drive to IC and enjoy a blowout, that always is fun, in building full of men doing the same thing as you. Vivre la faune!​

 

[PCHawk]

I totally get the fact that we schedule like everyone else in terms of competition level. I'm saying that while it would definitely be breaking the mold, from an entertainment standpoint, in terms of getting butts back into the stands, I think its a logical answer. Albeit as I touched on and you hit on as well there's a reason we don't do things that way.

If they schedule better teams a couple extra games a year it would only help with attendance for those couple games.

 

[Will C]

Just have to say that I was in school with Don Nelson.

 

[smhawk]

Fran has had 3 straight NPOY candidates all with different names the past 3 years, the recruiting has been fine but could you imagine having 5 straight NCAA eligible teams and to have to play to an arena that is a 1/3rd full every night? If I were Fran, would have left a long time ago, it's not Fran's that's the problem

Meh. What do you really expect against a no name school. Fran is good but he is a player developer and coaches a scheme that has a really high floor with a ceiling not much higher. People don’t have much hope that iowa could contend for a regular season big ten title or sweet 16. If there was reason to believe Iowas attendance would likely be closed to women’s program.

1999 was the last time iowa played with the last 16 teams. 1979 was the last time they big ten regular season champs. Fran has done good things, but average accomplishments really. A great program doesn’t go this long without sweet16. Don’t blame fans…

 

[InGoodCo]

Meh. What do you really expect against a no name school. Fran is good but he is a player developer and coaches a scheme that has a really high floor with a ceiling not much higher. People don’t have much hope that iowa could contend for a regular season big ten title or sweet 16. If there was reason to believe Iowas attendance would likely be closed to women’s program.

1999 was the last time iowa played with the last 16 teams. 1979 was the last time they big ten regular season champs. Fran has done good things, but average accomplishments really. A great program doesn’t go this long without sweet16. Don’t blame fans…

oh I’m definitely not blaming the fans but Fran has won enough to have a lot better showing than a stadium that’s routinely a 3rd full and playing an extra game in March isn’t going to suddenly solve the issue it has with getting fans back in Carver. It definitely isn’t Fran’s fault, he’s done nothing but win and produce great teams and players.

 

[trj]

They could at least start playing UNI and Drake again.

A 4 team, 2 game tournament at Wells Fargo in Des Moines? We all know why Iowa/ISU dropped UNI/Drake from the schedule…they didn’t want to give up home games. As we know now, those home games don’t matter that much. I’m okay with the Iowa/ISU game being played at Wells Fargo.