I am trying to measure my optimism here, but..

JHHawk said:
Jon, did not hear the broadcast,but I know you shared most of us in our concern on the recruiting front for the next hire. Do you get the impression that he knows just how important that area is and always has been for Iowa bb? That it is our biggest challenge,year in and year out?
Bottom line, do you think he will be able to compete with the rest of the Big Ten for players..and maybe actually beat them out for recruits? Will he target an assistant or two that have real connections a la a Forbes-type of recruiter?.
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Yes, I do. I think he totally believes that, so as long as that is the case, the rest will take care of itself.

But let's be realistic here; Iowa has rarely, if ever, beat the best teams for the best players. Lute maybe a few times, Raveling a few times...but that has been it in my lifetime. If Iowa can put together the 4th-6th best classes in this league on an annual basis, and mix in some kids that can beat you off the dribble, then that is great...and to expect anything more than that as fans, we are setting Fran up for grief that is undeserving.

He still has to recruit against Izzo, Ryan, Weber, Painter, Belein, Crean, etc in this league, and other coaches from major conferences as well for the best of the Midwest.

But he believes, without a doubt, he can have success recruiting...and he can sell man.
 
I suspect that Moore and Johnson will return to Purdue. They are just not first round locks at all,and with Hummel back, they can challenge again next year.
No way we catch Purdue,MSU,OSU....they are a lock for the top tier again next year.

Teams that Iowa could concievably finish ahead of: Michigan,PSU(babb leaving hurts),IU,...maybe Wisky,...thats about it...7th would be decent, if they could get 7-8 Big Ten wins, and if they schedule smart, at least 10 wins in non-conference...17-18 wins...should put them in a tourny of some ilk next year, which would be a nice start for Fran..as he said, he is looking for immediate improvement...that qualifies.



Just heard Mully and Hanley say they had Fran on the Score 670AM this morning...good to see he is getting out there making Chicago aware of his presence at Iowa.
 
JonDMiller said:
Yes, I do. I think he totally believes that, so as long as that is the case, the rest will take care of itself.

But let's be realistic here; Iowa has rarely, if ever, beat the best teams for the best players. Lute maybe a few times, Raveling a few times...but that has been it in my lifetime. If Iowa can put together the 4th-6th best classes in this league on an annual basis, and mix in some kids that can beat you off the dribble, then that is great...and to expect anything more than that as fans, we are setting Fran up for grief that is undeserving.

He still has to recruit against Izzo, Ryan, Weber, Painter, Belein, Crean, etc in this league, and other coaches from major conferences as well for the best of the Midwest.

But he believes, without a doubt, he can have success recruiting...and he can sell man.
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Good to hear. I am not expecting miracles,just going against even Minny,Wisky, and maybe Michigan type programs and beating them for a player maybe once a year,or once every two years. Looking back,I think we can say that recruits that fall into that category are:

Tyler Smith, Bru,Horner,Sommerville,Pierce,Worley,Reiner and Evans. That is 8 guys in 8 years. To me, that is an acceptable level of recruiting, and if we accomplish that, we would be able to compete for tourny bids in the league. To achieve that, if Fran could somehow get :
2011-Randle
2012-Paige
2013-Jok
OK, maybe that is a reach, but at least with these kids being in-state, we could have a fighting chance.

The brutal truth is that Minny,Wisky,Ill,PU,IU,OSU,and MSU have rosters that are loaded with top 125 kids, so it is tough to see us beating them with any regularity unless our roster has at least 4-6 of those kinds of players. I know, patience,grasshopper.
 
JHHawk said:
Good to hear. I am not expecting miracles,just going against even Minny,Wisky, and maybe Michigan type programs and beating them for a player maybe once a year,or once every two years. Looking back,I think we can say that recruits that fall into that category are:

Tyler Smith, Bru,Horner,Sommerville,Pierce,Worley,Reiner and Evans. That is 8 guys in 8 years. To me, that is an acceptable level of recruiting, and if we accomplish that, we would be able to compete for tourny bids in the league. To achieve that, if Fran could somehow get :
2011-Randle
2012-Paige
2013-Jok
OK, maybe that is a reach, but at least with these kids being in-state, we could have a fighting chance.

The brutal truth is that Minny,Wisky,Ill,PU,IU,OSU,and MSU have rosters that are loaded with top 125 kids, so it is tough to see us beating them with any regularity unless our roster has at least 4-6 of those kinds of players. I know, patience,grasshopper.
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I'll be working on Jok a lot over the next three years. He needs an Iowa offer though. So far just Providence, Marquette, Illinois and Purdue have offered. We have a much better shot now with Paige since Lickliter is gone. FM's style suites Paige better. I still think there are a couple other point guards in that class that are every bit as good as Paige though.
 
JHHawk said:
Good to hear. I am not expecting miracles,just going against even Minny,Wisky, and maybe Michigan type programs and beating them for a player maybe once a year,or once every two years. Looking back,I think we can say that recruits that fall into that category are:

Tyler Smith, Bru,Horner,Sommerville,Pierce,Worley,Reiner and Evans. That is 8 guys in 8 years. To me, that is an acceptable level of recruiting, and if we accomplish that, we would be able to compete for tourny bids in the league. To achieve that, if Fran could somehow get :
2011-Randle
2012-Paige
2013-Jok
OK, maybe that is a reach, but at least with these kids being in-state, we could have a fighting chance.

The brutal truth is that Minny,Wisky,Ill,PU,IU,OSU,and MSU have rosters that are loaded with top 125 kids, so it is tough to see us beating them with any regularity unless our roster has at least 4-6 of those kinds of players. I know, patience,grasshopper.
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If Coach can get Randle, I'll be officially sold on his recruiting ability. Getting both him and Zeller in next year's class would be huge, and hopefully follow it up with Paige (who could be an elite PG). And with Coach's energy, I could definitely see it happening.
 
I love the hire and am very impressed by Coach McCaffery.

However, I also am a realist. It will take time to turn this thing around. Next year, Iowa still will be closer to a last place team than an NCAA tournament team.
 
If the current players and recruits stick together, I think they will surprise us and themselves with how many games they will win. Fran's philosophy, offensively and defensively, to "scratch where it itches" as Hayden used to say, will enable these guys to compete and win games they lost this past season. His comments on the changes he made when Sienna faced Ohio State and Purdue, pre-game and during games, to give Sienna an opportunity to win both games was very encouraging. I definitely am looking forward to next season already.
 
JonDMiller said:
We'll need to see what Johnson & Moore do for Purdue...this is a good project for me the next 90 minutes...the wife wants to go on an exercise walk on the beach, and she said she is fine going by herself because she knows that stuff like this happens to be my job but also my passion...we'll have a leisurely stroll later :)
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This is a trap, Jon. Don't take the bait! If she's already started down the beach get the heck out the door and run as fast as you can to catch up, telling her how happy you are to be able to spend this time with her!
 
tweeterhawk said:
This is a trap, Jon. Don't take the bait! If she's already started down the beach get the heck out the door and run as fast as you can to catch up, telling her how happy you are to be able to spend this time with her!
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ehhh... You will be better off in the long run if you set the bar consistently low and deviate therefrom as little as possible.
 
JonDMiller said:
But let's be realistic here; Iowa has rarely, if ever, beat the best teams for the best players. Lute maybe a few times, Raveling a few times...but that has been it in my lifetime.
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Nitpicking to be sure, but Lute had, I believe, two McDonald's A-A at Iowa, in Michael Payne and Brad Lohaus.

George also had two: Ed Horton and Roy Marble. (At least I think Ed was a McD's.) He had Anthony Pendleton, who may also have been a McD A-A, coming in the year he left but he followed George to USC (and didn't do much there IIRC).

Tom Davis had three that I can think of offhand: Kenyon Murray, Chris Kingsbury, and Ray Thompson.

Alford had none, unless you count Recker as a transfer.

Lickliter might have had a Big Mac or two but that's as close as he came.

Those numbers are skewed by a number of factors--Davis was here the longest, George the shortest, and there probably wasn't such a thing as a McD A-A for most of Lute's time here. Maybe the biggest surprise is that Alford struck out in his seven years here. Also, the top 50 or 100 is a better overall measure of the quality of recruiting than just McD's.

However, the pre-Alford history shows that we were able to pull some of the elite players from time to time, even with what most thought was a subpar recruiting staff with Davis after Pearl left.

We will have to get back to winning again, but if we do I see no reason why Iowa can't get back to occasionally landing an elite player here and there again. Heck, we seem to be growing more of them right here in Iowa lately, and hopefully Iowa can become the destination of choice for the next Harrison Barnes.
 
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Freddy, you got them all except you forgot Al Lorenzen. You could have added Sam Okey as a transfer from Wisconsin.
 
Yep, Al signed with George. How could I forget "The Vanilla Gorilla"?

Also, if you count transfers, you almost have to include Andre. He was not a McD A-A for reasons I can't fathom, but he was invited to all the other big all-star games back then such as the Dapper Dan in PA.
 
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All sounds very encouraging. But I've gotta side with Cydcar.....I would hate to see the tourney expand even bigger. I'd be cool with 4 play in games for the last 4 seeds...but more than that....Iowa doesn't need that. Get things on track, try to snag a 10 or 12 seed in a perfect world next year....if not, hopefully within 2 or 3 years be back in the dance. It doesn't take long in basketball, especially with the right people running the show. Everything I have heard from Jon, Rob and Stormin is very very encouraging. Seems strange to say it again but I am extremely excited for next year....any improvement at all will be a great thing.....but lord, could you imagine vying for a tourney or NIT.....ah, to be relevant again....
 
tweeterhawk said:
This is a trap, Jon. Don't take the bait! If she's already started down the beach get the heck out the door and run as fast as you can to catch up, telling her how happy you are to be able to spend this time with her!
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She changed the plan. She said 'How about we take a bike ride over to Captiva Island for lunch?'

I knew that was going to happen at least once this week, so why not today...didnt seem like any wind, and its just a 10 mile ride...until we got halfway through and faced sustained 10-15mph headwinds...even she said it was more than she bargained for. we left at 9:30 Iowa time and got back at 1 Iowa time with about a 30 minute stop...I told her I was done for the day..gonna take a nap on the lanai and she said no problem..she is shot too...so that is the good thing!
 
Freddy, yeah, I'd say you are nitpicking, since I said rarely and a few, and you listed the rare and few's ;)
 
I actually liked the questions that Deace asked. He didn't lob anything up there and asked questions that he had been talking about prior to the interview. I'm not saying Jon would have. Just commenting on Deace.

But what I really was impressed with was Mac's answers. I was expecting a round about answer kind of like what we got with Lick and Alford. But he went right after the question(how recruiting has changed since his time at ND and why he felt the hire was justified) and tackled it head on. There was no spin....he actually answered the question and I have to think even Deace was impressed. More importantly, I came away impressed and have little questions about his ability to recruit at this level.
 
burky247 said:
I actually liked the questions that Deace asked. He didn't lob anything up there and asked questions that he had been talking about prior to the interview. I'm not saying Jon would have. Just commenting on Deace. l.
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Deace's question on recruiting in the midwest and why he thinks he will have success there since its been so long since he's been here was one on my list to ask. I think Fran did a solid job.

Now, time to do the work ;)
 
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