Fran's ability to recruit great guards

InGoodCo

InGoodCo

Well-Known Member
He's really starting to be known for it right?

I mean, he doesn't get credit for Marble, but he kept him here and I think he should get credit for his development. From little wanted 3 star to NBA.

Mike Gesell - Big Time recruit, big time PG and player.

Peter Jok - Looks like a huge get and could be a potential star in the B1G for the next 2.5 seasons.

Fleming on the way, C Mac on the way after that....

Fran really showing he can recruit the guards needed to compete in this league. Glad we finally have a coach that can recruit good guards to Iowa.
 
Jury is still out on this. Several misses as well with Clemmons, Ogs, Ingram. Jury is out on Dickerson and Ellingson, and Fleming.

So 2 or 3 hits, 3 misses, and 3 more yet to be determined. I don't see this as a resume for being "known" as some guard guru.
 
Your jury is still out.... :)


Fran has hit 100% to be a guru, tough crowd.

I wouldn't call Clemmons or JO "misses" either... they can't all be stars. And Ingram left...so, redo. Jury is still out on the others..... that is true.


I just really like the guards he's given us so far.
 
InGoodCo said:
Your jury is still out.... :)


Fran has hit 100% to be a guru, tough crowd.

I wouldn't call Clemmons or JO "misses" either... they can't all be stars. And Ingram left...so, redo. Jury is still out on the others..... that is true.


I just really like the guards he's given us so far.
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If Fran could have gotten his top target each year, I'd say for sure a Guard guru......He missed on Trey Burke, EC Mathews, Chassion Randle, and Tyler Ulis. Imagine how good we would be with 1 of those guys on the team rather than Ingram, Clemmons, Ogs, Dickerson, Ellingson. While I understand they all can't be stars, you can't really say someone is a "great" guard recruiter and point to roll players.
 
I was very excited to see what Dickerson could've done this year.....he just hasn't gotten it yet...I can't even form an opinion b/c we haven't seen him in action for any length of time....Maybe Fran reels some kid in down the road that is a mover and shaker, because I think that's the only piece of Fran's puzzle he's missing....
 
He's pretty much had an above "roll player" guard in each class sans this years senior class...

so again, tough crowd.

Really I am just reverse trolling herez...

People that wanted Fran's head a week ago because he couldn't recruit guards to a school that hadn't had success in basketball in close to a decade.
 
Slow down...

Prior to 2 games ago, Mike was on the miss list or at least the list of not meeting expectations.
 
Pretty sure the topic is a play on a previous topic:
"Fran's inability to recruit great guards"
 
Gesell is looking more and more like the real deal. Its like someone flipped a switch in his head.
And i fully expect Conner to play PG the moment he steps on the court at Iowa. Which will follow Gesell and Clemmons graduations.
 
InGoodCo said:
Your jury is still out.... :)


Fran has hit 100% to be a guru, tough crowd.

I wouldn't call Clemmons or JO "misses" either... they can't all be stars. And Ingram left...so, redo. Jury is still out on the others..... that is true.


I just really like the guards he's given us so far.
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Marble - Fran didn't recruit him, but yeah, I give him credit for the development since IIRC, he played all 4 years under Fran's coaching.

Gesell - Playing much better as of late. He's starting to look like the upper-classman that he is. Next year as a senior, I expect him to be just as good, if not better.

Oglesby - We all know he tries hard, but he just isn't producing, simple as that. He's a senior, so is what he is at this point.

Clemmons - He still has the rest of this year and next year, but at this point, he's a role (not roll) player off the bench. Limited offensively, and his ball handling still makes me nervous.

Ingram - Yeah, he left early on, but he was basically at the end of the bench and rarely played (probably for a reason) a'la Dickerson.

Dickerson - See Ingram. Hopefully he doesn't transfer out, because I think he could be good if he develops, but to this point, he's a miss.

Ellingson - Have seen little of him, so it's simply too early to say.

Fleming - He isn't even on campus yet, all we can do is wait & see.

Connor M - See Fleming.

Bottom line, Fran has done a good job with Marble & Gesell, but the rest are either misses, role players, or unknowns. I need to see more consistent guard play (Big Ten starting-5 calibur) before I'm ready to anoint Fran a PG guru.

That said: It may be more of a talent discussion than an issue with coaching, but what do I know? As a fan, all I can do is look at the results from Fran's guards. It's been hit & miss, overall.
 
This is obviously a thread to turn a negative into some positive posting. I give the op credit for that. I think Fran has been adequate in his guard recruiting but far from a heralded success. Mike G. has had a couple of nice games the past week and he sprinkles them in throughout the season but until he plays at an above average level consistently I can't call him a success. Of the ones who've played most are roll players and unknowns as others have said. If he can harness the ability of Dickerson and Ellingson and one of the newcomers pan out my opinion of Fran goes way up. The only thing I would like Fran to do is even out his recruiting so we're not recruiting several players who play the same position. Fran really likes long wings but we should recruit a pg and pf/c every year.
 
lightning1 said:
Gesell is looking more and more like the real deal. Its like someone flipped a switch in his head.
And i fully expect Conner to play PG the moment he steps on the court at Iowa. Which will follow Gesell and Clemmons graduations.
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The problem with that logic is that Connor is a 2017-18 commit while Gesell and Clemmons graduate after the 2015-16 season. Currently Iowa only has Trey Dickerson on scholarship at point guard for the 2016-2017 season. So Connor isn't following those two graduating, there's a gap in there that is rather bare at the moment
 
deanvogs said:
If Fran could have gotten his top target each year, I'd say for sure a Guard guru......He missed on Trey Burke, EC Mathews, Chassion Randle, and Tyler Ulis. Imagine how good we would be with 1 of those guys on the team rather than Ingram, Clemmons, Ogs, Dickerson, Ellingson. While I understand they all can't be stars, you can't really say someone is a "great" guard recruiter and point to roll players.
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Don't you think he should get some credit for finding guys like Ulis early? You can't blame Fran for Kentucky or Michigan stepping in. Guys like Clemmons, Dickerson and Ingram were fall back recruits.
 
SnapBack2 said:
Don't you think he should get some credit for finding guys like Ulis early? You can't blame Fran for Kentucky or Michigan stepping in. Guys like Clemmons, Dickerson and Ingram were fall back recruits.
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Sure I give him credit for going after those guys, that is why I do mention them. I think Fran could contend for B1G title if he could bring in his top choices the Ulis, Burke, Mathews, Randle types. He now needs to start closing the deal with one of those types a year.
 
deanvogs said:
Sure I give him credit for going after those guys, that is why I do mention them. I think Fran could contend for B1G title if he could bring in his top choices the Ulis, Burke, Mathews, Randle types. He now needs to start closing the deal with one of those types a year.
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I agree, need to start landing some of them. I think from where the program was at the time made it more difficult than it should be in future classes.
 
docholihawk said:
This is obviously a thread to turn a negative into some positive posting. I give the op credit for that. I think Fran has been adequate in his guard recruiting but far from a heralded success. Mike G. has had a couple of nice games the past week and he sprinkles them in throughout the season but until he plays at an above average level consistently I can't call him a success. Of the ones who've played most are roll players and unknowns as others have said. If he can harness the ability of Dickerson and Ellingson and one of the newcomers pan out my opinion of Fran goes way up. The only thing I would like Fran to do is even out his recruiting so we're not recruiting several players who play the same position. Fran really likes long wings but we should recruit a pg and pf/c every year.
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Could not agree more with this post. Right now we should have a freshman center who could log a few minutes to give relief to Woody next season and gain valuable and much needed experience. This is a serious issue. So far we have Uthoff as our only option after Woody. We have no big coming in next year and it takes at least two or three years to get them conference ready. This means if we don't pick up a junior transfer after Woody leaves we are in BIG TROUBLE (no pun intended). With out a JC transfer we are looking at three or more years of weakness at the post positions. So yes, Fran needs to at least bring in one TOWER every recruiting class.
 
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BigD said:
Could not agree more with this post. Right now we should have a freshman center who could log a few minutes to give relief to Woody next season and gain valuable and much needed experience. This is a serious issue. So far we have Uthoff as our only option after Woody. We have no big coming in next year and it takes at least two or three years to get them conference ready. This means if we don't pick up a junior transfer after Woody leaves we are in BIG TROUBLE (no pun intended). With out a JC transfer we are looking at three or more years of weakness at the post positions. So yes, Fran needs to at least bring in one TOWER every recruiting class.
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It's a lot more difficult to find good guards than good centers. Fran insists that he's not interested in projects and I believe him. He's supposedly cooled on two potential center recruits in this class (Ike and Cook) for that reason. I'd rather not have any more centers like Gorney, Looby, or Brommer. That being said, it is incumbent upon Fran to actually find a good recruit in this class or next. Our post defense was bad before Woodbury stepped on campus. Don't want to see that again.
 
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