HOOPS!!

[Hawkfnntn]

Anyone else watch the Media day coverage on BIG network? I thought it was pretty good to do that how they did. One of the few programing things I agree with what they do.
Who knows how good of a player Jok can be this year right? I mean the potential for him to put up 20 a game is there. In an uptempo offense where he has the ultimate green light it should almost be where the bar is set for him right? Without Uthoff he should be good for an extra 4 to 6 shots a game maybe right? So if he shoots no worse than 40% that's an extra 4 pts compared to his 16 last yr. Yet can he be the overall impact player that doesn't make as many mental mistakes on the floor? Be it at the defensive end or taking bad shots or turning it over. Now last yr he could get sloppy and be pulled out of game still at times it seemed like. If he can cut down on those things he could really have one special season. Now will he be able to enjoy it with as much team success? That I'm not so sure. The top 4 or 5 teams in BIG will be good. I have a tough time seeing Iowa cracking that. But the middle is wide open and if you can get to 6th your safely in the big dance. So we'll see how the youngins do and how they gel together. I'm fired up to see.

 

[WinOneThisCentury]

Fran's going to have a very long, athletic team. If he can get them to play defense at a high level...they will be in every game. Cook is a dimension we haven't had and he's physical...and crazy athletic. You throw in Wagner and you have two guys that can hold their own down low. I seriously think this team is going to be much more fun to watch than last year. The train wreck down the stretch where Sap and MG couldn't find the basket with a rake and a ladder was dismal. This team may have some serious growing pains offensively, especially early in the season, but my guess is that we can get stops.

 

[ISUhawk]

Cook is going to be a lottery pick

 

[UncleHawk]

Cook is going to be a lottery pick

Someday I wouldn't be surprised. He's got the ability and attitude, now he's got to develop them. At 6'8", he's got to have the whole package ready to go for his position to be taken that high. I'm guessing the 2019 draft, after his junior year.

 

[BigD]

I understand the enthusiasm and optimism surrounding Cook, but we may need to temper things just a bit because he hasn't even played one college game yet. Even some of the best players struggle when they are playing against 250 pound opponents that have played in the B1G for three or four years. They are not going to just let you bull them over.

I certainly hope that he really is that good but you can't always take what a guy does in practice and apply that performance to live game situations. Remember this statement? "He's the best three point shooter I have ever coached." How did that work out for us?

It will be nice if he really makes that kind of an impact his freshman year, but it won't be easy. I am not saying it won't happen or it can't happen, but that I certainly would not expect it to happen.

When was the last time we had a BIG like that at Iowa? Who could you compare him to? Reggie? No because Reggie was a rebounder and did put up some of those rebounds back in for scores, but Reggie was not much of an outside shooter. Could he be the next Roy Marble with a little more height and muscle on him? That certainly would be fun to watch. If he really is as good as anticipated we may never have had his caliber of player at Iowa since I have followed the games dating back to 1976.

 

[UncleHawk]

I understand the enthusiasm and optimism surrounding Cook, but we may need to temper things just a bit because he hasn't even played one college game yet. Even some of the best players struggle when they are playing against 250 pound opponents that have played in the B1G for three or four years. They are not going to just let you bull them over.

I certainly hope that he really is that good but you can't always take what a guy does in practice and apply that performance to live game situations. Remember this statement? "He's the best three point shooter I have ever coached." How did that work out for us?

It will be nice if he really makes that kind of an impact his freshman year, but it won't be easy. I am not saying it won't happen or it can't happen, but that I certainly would not expect it to happen.

When was the last time we had a BIG like that at Iowa? Who could you compare him to? Reggie? No because Reggie was a rebounder and did put up some of those rebounds back in for scores, but Reggie was not much of an outside shooter. Could he be the next Roy Marble with a little more height and muscle on him? That certainly would be fun to watch. If he really is as good as anticipated we may never have had his caliber of player at Iowa since I have followed the games dating back to 1976.

I understand the pessimism. No highly rated freshmen should be 'expected' to do well in the B1G. Especially those we haven't seen play and be interviewed to have some judgement of their character/attitude and be praised to the skies by the media and their coach and their teammates. We shouldn't 'expect' ANYTHING from an incoming player until it's seen on the court in B1G play, because nothing really counts until then. ALL message boards should be shut down until that happens. Even then, you never know because they might turn pro before the season ends.

 

[BigD]

I understand the pessimism. No highly rated freshmen should be 'expected' to do well in the B1G. Especially those we haven't seen play and be interviewed to have some judgement of their character/attitude and be praised to the skies by the media and their coach and their teammates. We shouldn't 'expect' ANYTHING from an incoming player until it's seen on the court in B1G play, because nothing really counts until then. ALL message boards should be shut down until that happens. Even then, you never know because they might turn pro before the season ends.

I am just stating the facts and you are severely distorting what I said. What did I ever say about his character? Two I said he may be really good but we don't know. That is a true statement. In the B1G he likely will be playing against players of equal if not more talent who have been around for a while. That is likely a true statement also. I also stated that he could be a Roy Marble type of player with more height and muscle to him. Those who were around and watched Roy play like I did know that is an extreme compliment.

Now I could talk about some four star recruits that never panned out as well as some had hoped. Do I think Cook is in the same ralm as them? Not at all as he has an explosiveness (based on how he appeared during the summer league games he played in) about him that is special in comparison to what we are used to seeing.

Then you mention message boards. That is the funniest part of all of it. So YOU think that if someone doesn't think just the same as YOU that they shouldn't be allowed to say so. It seems to me that YOU don't understand what message boards are for.

I complimented Cook by comparing him to one of the all time Iowa greats and stated that I understood the enthusiasm and excitement but that it might be wise to temper some expectations until we actually sees what he does. That is only common sense.

 

[UncleHawk]

I am just stating the facts and you are severely distorting what I said. What did I ever say about his character? Two I said he may be really good but we don't know. That is a true statement. In the B1G he likely will be playing against players of equal if not more talent who have been around for a while. That is likely a true statement also. I also stated that he could be a Roy Marble type of player with more height and muscle to him. Those who were around and watched Roy play like I did know that is an extreme compliment.

Now I could talk about some four star recruits that never panned out as well as some had hoped. Do I think Cook is in the same ralm as them? Not at all as he has an explosiveness (based on how he appeared during the summer league games he played in) about him that is special in comparison to what we are used to seeing.

Then you mention message boards. That is the funniest part of all of it. So YOU think that if someone doesn't think just the same as YOU that they shouldn't be allowed to say so. It seems to me that YOU don't understand what message boards are for.

I complimented Cook by comparing him to one of the all time Iowa greats and stated that I understood the enthusiasm and excitement but that it might be wise to temper some expectations until we actually sees what he does. That is only common sense.

But I'm not distorting the facts. I'm just making a pessimistic viewpoint sound silly in stating them about Cook. We do know a lot about him from several different angles- much more than some of those highly rated players who we've seen fail for other teams. Is it possible Cook won't pan out- meaning that he won't be highly successful at Iowa? At this point it's unlikely barring injury. Will he be a lottery pick? That's optimistic for almost any player, but it's possible for Cook, which is exciting.

 

[BryceC]

I think it's fine to be optimistic of Cook, but the early entry stuff is a bit much to me. I have no doubt he's improved over the summer, but I also think his offense is being overrated. He scored 13 PPG in high school and shot less than 50% from the free throw line. He shot zero threes in high school.

It's possible none of those things are indicative of his offensive skill level, but I think 10 and 6 are good goals for him this year, and any lottery talk is way early. Maybe I'm wrong.

 

[NikeHawk21]

I think it's fine to be optimistic of Cook, but the early entry stuff is a bit much to me. I have no doubt he's improved over the summer, but I also think his offense is being overrated. He scored 13 PPG in high school and shot less than 50% from the free throw line. He shot zero threes in high school.

It's possible none of those things are indicative of his offensive skill level, but I think 10 and 6 are good goals for him this year, and any lottery talk is way early. Maybe I'm wrong.

Im thinking closer to 12 & 8, but i totally agree with why you are saying. I'm not expecting him to be much of a threat from deep this year, and he still has a ways to go in terms of improving his offensive game.

 

[DP5555]

Iowa needs Cook to bang down low. He's their biggest guy. I realize that he probably wants to extend his game out to the 3 pt line for his own future benefit, but that doesn't have to happen overnight. They need him in the paint pushing people around. If he proves to be successful doing that at this level then he can start working his way out. He's listed at 6'9 253 lbs and he's very athletic. I think it would be a mistake for him to be out by the 3 point line chucking deep shots up. I hope the coaching staff isn't encouraging that. They have other players who can be taking those shots right now.

 

[SteveGarvey1]

I think we've been so starved for an athletic guy who can get stuff done in the paint that we're transposing our hopes on Cook and imagining him to be better than he is right now. He's gonna be good but not a superstar to start off.

 

[Hawk5656]

Iowa needs Cook to bang down low. He's their biggest guy. I realize that he probably wants to extend his game out to the 3 pt line for his own future benefit, but that doesn't have to happen overnight. They need him in the paint pushing people around. If he proves to be successful doing that at this level then he can start working his way out. He's listed at 6'9 253 lbs and he's very athletic. I think it would be a mistake for him to be out by the 3 point line chucking deep shots up. I hope the coaching staff isn't encouraging that. They have other players who can be taking those shots right now.

This is exactly right, Cook needs to be in the paint. I'd be surprised if Cook shot more than 10 3's all season.

 

[BigD]

But I'm not distorting the facts. I'm just making a pessimistic viewpoint sound silly in stating them about Cook. We do know a lot about him from several different angles- much more than some of those highly rated players who we've seen fail for other teams. Is it possible Cook won't pan out- meaning that he won't be highly successful at Iowa? At this point it's unlikely barring injury. Will he be a lottery pick? That's optimistic for almost any player, but it's possible for Cook, which is exciting.

Sorry, if I came off a little snarky. I'm still battling with a lot of disappointment over the football team. Not to talk football on this side of the forum but if we could somehow upset Wisconsin this Saturday that will help like crazy for me to feel better about the football season.

 

[UncleHawk]

Sorry, if I came off a little snarky. I'm still battling with a lot of disappointment over the football team. Not to talk football on this side of the forum but if we could somehow upset Wisconsin this Saturday that will help like crazy for me to feel better about the football season.

Understandable. That's why Hawk fans generally follow football and basketball so they're never too disappointed. However, I prefer to stay true to my expectations of a team's or player's 'potential'. That's the only fun in it for me.

 

[Hawkfnntn]

A part of me hopes that Cook isn't quite all he's hyped up to be at least day one. Just so he'll be around for awhile. If he's a 15 pt and 8 to 10 rb guy this year I'm not so sure he'll have an encore season with Iowa. It's kind of a weird feeling to think this way but it's only because Iowa isn't like KY KS NC etc, Iowa won't be able to replace Cook so easily. Those schools that are used to one and dones coming and going it's just another year. But to us he's a possible program center piece if he were to play 3 years or more.

 

[NikeHawk21]

A part of me hopes that Cook isn't quite all he's hyped up to be at least day one. Just so he'll be around for awhile. If he's a 15 pt and 8 to 10 rb guy this year I'm not so sure he'll have an encore season with Iowa. It's kind of a weird feeling to think this way but it's only because Iowa isn't like KY KS NC etc, Iowa won't be able to replace Cook so easily. Those schools that are used to one and dones coming and going it's just another year. But to us he's a possible program center piece if he were to play 3 years or more.

Again, I think people thinking Tyler Cook is a one-and-done player are getting ahead of themselves. He wasn't a even a top 30 recruit, heck he wasn't even the best player on his high school team. He is a talent we haven't seen around here for quite some time and because of it I think fans are getting caught up in the hype machine.

He may see what the NBA scouts have to say after this season if he performs well, but I fully expect him to be around for at least a couple years.

 

[FirstDownHawkeyes]

I expect Cook to be a solid starter. He was barely a top 100 kid IIRC. One and done? I don't think so. I think he will have a freshman year similar to but better than Aaron White had. That would be a solid F season. He will likely be better defensively than White was his first year but struggle more at the FT line given his HS numbers.

 

[Hawkfnntn]

Again, I think people thinking Tyler Cook is a one-and-done player are getting ahead of themselves. He wasn't a even a top 30 recruit, heck he wasn't even the best player on his high school team. He is a talent we haven't seen around here for quite some time and because of it I think fans are getting caught up in the hype machine.

He may see what the NBA scouts have to say after this season if he performs well, but I fully expect him to be around for at least a couple years.

Yeah I don't know what to expect from him. I'd say from hearing Fran talk the kid is going to start day 1 and be looked at as a key contributor. Beyond that heck if I know. His teammate in HS was like one of the best overall kids and pretty much a for sure one and done player. Is Cook going to be one? Like I said I hope not I'd love to see the kid average a double double for 3 yrs or more. That'd be awesome. We'll just have to see.

 

[seepig]

I understand the enthusiasm and optimism surrounding Cook, but we may need to temper things just a bit because he hasn't even played one college game yet. Even some of the best players struggle when they are playing against 250 pound opponents that have played in the B1G for three or four years. They are not going to just let you bull them over.

I certainly hope that he really is that good but you can't always take what a guy does in practice and apply that performance to live game situations. Remember this statement? "He's the best three point shooter I have ever coached." How did that work out for us?

It will be nice if he really makes that kind of an impact his freshman year, but it won't be easy. I am not saying it won't happen or it can't happen, but that I certainly would not expect it to happen.

When was the last time we had a BIG like that at Iowa? Who could you compare him to? Reggie? No because Reggie was a rebounder and did put up some of those rebounds back in for scores, but Reggie was not much of an outside shooter. Could he be the next Roy Marble with a little more height and muscle on him? That certainly would be fun to watch. If he really is as good as anticipated we may never have had his caliber of player at Iowa since I have followed the games dating back to 1976.

I think Ricky Davis and Ray (forgetting his last name now) were the last 2 real impact players with some size and talent. I love Roy Marble but Roy had very limited shooting ability from beyond 12 feet.