Good News for Hawkeye Hoops

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DeanMarshall

Well-Known Member
Hopefully, you were able to watch the Iowa Hawkeyes battle Purdue, tonight on the BTN...........especially, if you weren't as fortunate as me, to be sitting between Mike Gatens and Randy Larson at Carver Hawkeye Arena.

IF you were, then you saw the beginning of the ascension. I believe this will be a difficult Big Ten season, however, I believe the birth of a rejuvenated Hawkeye Basketball program happened tonight. The magic is going to return and amazingly enough, it was John Lickliter who brought the magic back to Carver Hawkeye arena. (With many kudos to the great play of Eric May, a true freshman, also)

My contention is that Lil Lick's left handed reverse lay-in was the sign.
Hallejluah ! The Hawkeyes BB program is coming back. Stay tuned.

:) :D :) Go HAWKS !
 
One game is a bit too much to hang your hat of "greatness to come" on. But, I guess with the seating you claim to have, then it IDs you as a valued homer.
 
HeneryHawk said:
One game is a bit too much to hang your hat of "greatness to come" on. But, I guess with the seating you claim to have, then it IDs you as a valued homer.
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Sorry, but I fail to see the problem with being a 'Homer' for my favorite college basketball team. :rolleyes: Believe that is called loyalty, persistance and optismism.

Try it, you might like it, sometime.

We are BOUNCING back up and you'll remember when and where it happened now, Henery. Let's GO HAWKS ! :)
 
We have been playing better in the last three games (albeit Drake and SC State were bad). In these three performances we did see some glimpses of solid basketball from the younger guys which hopefully will be consistent in the future.
 
I didn't sit between Mike Gatens and TurnipTruck, yet I am of the same opinion. Dare I say we may have found a new starting PG??? No, I won't go quite that far, but for the 8 minutes of play, 6 points scored, and one WTF over-the-head pass to Coughill that had Coughill made the shot would have been highlight material for ESPN, I was very impressed with Little Lick! Yes, he had a trunover, yes he looked like a boy among men, but for the time he was in he provided more excitement to this team than we have seen all year.

As TurnipTruck has said, he has been waiting for his time that he can prove all the doubters wrong, and he certainly did that with me last night, and I imagine to many more in Hawkeye Nation.

Congrats to John for his stellar play, I wish you more playing time, and thank you Hawkeyes for one exciting game that for the majority of we were right in the thick of against an undefeated and #4 team in the country.
 
Dean, I admire your enthusiasm and your optimism. A decade of disappointment and futility have sapped mine for now. However, I think your excitement about what you saw last night speaks more to just how low both the program and fan expectations have fallen than it does to any real turning point.
 
Freddy, you do realize that Iowa played the #4 team in the NATION last night, correct? I don't see any reason not to feel optimistic about what we watched. Fuller showed what he can do when healthy, Gatens showed he has absurd range, and even Lick Jr. showed something. I'm not going to hang my hat on that one game, but more negativity certainly isn't warranted, either.
 
I feel optimistic about the team making some steps in the right direction. Once we get some more depth we can hang with anyone.

Yes someone said about it only being one game, but remember we did hang with Texas in the first half of that game. That is something a lot of teams have not been able to do. Depth is our biggest factor right now on why we aren't pulling out some of these wins.
 
RLeahey14 said:
I feel optimistic about the team making some steps in the right direction. Once we get some more depth we can hang with anyone.

Yes someone said about it only being one game, but remember we did hang with Texas in the first half of that game. That is something a lot of teams have not been able to do. Depth is our biggest factor right now on why we aren't pulling out some of these wins.
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Absolutely. What I saw last night brought two things to mind:

1) This team DOES have physical talent, but it's young and undeveloped
2) This team lacks depth and experience, but that will come

It also lead me to another conclusion: let Anthony Tucker go wherever. The team is no better off with him in the lineup, and we appear to have guys that will give 100%. We just need a few more of THOSE, not ONE Anthony Tucker.
 
knighthawk13 said:
Freddy, you do realize that Iowa played the #4 team in the NATION last night, correct? I don't see any reason not to feel optimistic about what we watched. Fuller showed what he can do when healthy, Gatens showed he has absurd range, and even Lick Jr. showed something. I'm not going to hang my hat on that one game, but more negativity certainly isn't warranted, either.
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Really? Purdue is #4 in the NATION? Wow! I had no idea! (LOL)

I wouldn't call it "more negativity" to say that losing by double digits at home to Purdue isn't yet a turning point. In any event "turning points" can only really be identified in hindsight. The curve has to bounce up from the low point and stay up for anything to be a turning point. I'll be the first to pat the OP on the back once we achieve those conditions if he wants to come back and say "I told you so."

As for me, I'd be more likely to say we've reached a turning point when we win some games against meaningful competition, since that's how success is usually defined by anyone other than losers.
 
There was some good basketball at times last night to be sure, but I also saw what I perceived to be a focused Purdue team coming out of the locker room for the second half, and we quickly went from a 1 point lead to a 15 point deficit. Same story as the Texas game. I'll give our guys credit for hanging in there for a half, but I also got to believe that also served as a wakeup call for a superior opponent, and we got buried in the 2nd half of both games.

I'm not trying to rain on everybody's parade, but let's just try to keep a little perspective. Anybody remember the "Give Lickliter A Blank Check" thread last year after the Iowa State game? The rest of the season was a struggle, for the most part. As everybody says after a bad loss - it's just one game. It goes both ways. So as negative as people get after a bad loss, I see alot of people getting just as overly optimistic after one half of good basketball. Again, I'm not trying to be Mr. Negative, I'm just trying to keep some perspective. All I'm saying is this - Get back to me in a month and let's see where we are.
 
Double digit losses at home are a turning point? wow.

We have no depth this year. We are adding four players next year that don't give us anything that we don't already have on the team ie HEIGHT. None of the four incoming players are program changers. Lick appears to have a short mans complex with tall players. Larson, Archie and Cougill all play the same position. May, McCabe and Gatens all play the same position. Brust is a combo PG/SG like Payne.

Why don't you take five minutes and put down next years starting 5?
 
I think people overreact when Iowa wins.
I think people overreact when Iowa loses.

Again, it goes back to the black/white argument. Either Iowa is WOOHOO! #1 BEST BB TEAM EVER! or they are the worst piece of crap ever to touch the floor.

Such are message boards.
 
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