How much does Wisconsin's style help us?

SwirlinLingerie

Well-Known Member
Suffering through the game last night, I realized Wisconsin plays a game with which I'd prefer to not be familiar.

I watched a lot of Pac-10 basketball this winter. I also watched Fran's team get up and down the court, especially the last month of the season.

It made me realize how much I miss the Big Ten of the '80s and early '90s, and how much worse of a product Big Ten basketball is today than in its heyday.

That said, how much will Iowa's style help with recruiting? In the next few years, is there any chance we again lose an Iowa kid that we want to the Badgers?
 


Suffering through the game last night, I realized Wisconsin plays a game with which I'd prefer to not be familiar.

I watched a lot of Pac-10 basketball this winter. I also watched Fran's team get up and down the court, especially the last month of the season.

It made me realize how much I miss the Big Ten of the '80s and early '90s, and how much worse of a product Big Ten basketball is today than in its heyday.

That said, how much will Iowa's style help with recruiting? In the next few years, is there any chance we again lose an Iowa kid that we want to the Badgers?

This is true for all of college basketball not just the Big 10. I don't think playing uptempo will really make much difference when it comes to recruiting. Providence, Texas Tech and Oregon State are three of the fastest pace teams in the country and it's not helping their programs much. Winning will help a lot more than playing up tempo.
 




This is true for all of college basketball not just the Big 10. I don't think playing uptempo will really make much difference when it comes to recruiting. Providence, Texas Tech and Oregon State are three of the fastest pace teams in the country and it's not helping their programs much. Winning will help a lot more than playing up tempo.

You have to win, no doubt. But I think that once we start winning again, the uptempo play will give us an edge over Wisconsin. If all things were equal between us and Wisky right now, we'd probably win the recruiting battles for Iowa players. And in a more physical league, if you're winning with an uptempo style, you stand out a little more. Texas Tech and Oregon State both play in "fast" conferences, so they don't have anything that makes them stand out among their conference peers.
 


It's not true of the Pac-10. Have you watched Arizona and Washington in the tourney?

I don't know that you can dismiss the impact our style has on recruiting so easily. I know we didn't get him, but what are the odds Cezar comes to Iowa City for a visit if we play like Wisconsin?
 


I don't even think it's as simple as going from glacially slow to somewhat up tempo (we really didn't run that much this year). It's the fact that for once we won't be selling players on a system that they need to fit into (even Alford did this with his adherence to the motion offense). Fran seems willing to let his guys play whichever way gives them a shot to win-- whether it means running a set play, a pick and roll, motion, or giving BC the green light to throw half-court alley oops.

If I'm a high school kid with some athleticism and ability to create my own shot, I'd want to play for a guy who is going to run the offense around my skills rather than trying to fit what I do into a rigidly preconceived system. You'll notice that even Brad Stevens will switch things up more than Lickliter did. Fran has shown thus far to try anything to win games, and I think his players appreciate that.
 






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