I don't get it...

[TheIowaHawkGuy]

It all comes down to expectations. Nebraska was picked to finish last in the B1G and finished fourth. We were picked to finish 4th and finished 6th. Were those fair expectations? You be the judge.

But I'm not ready to call the SEASON a failure or a disappointment yet. The final chapters have yet to be written on this season. I think it's safe to say that the last 6 games have certainly been disappointing. On the flip side, I don't remember too many people complaining when we were 16-4 and ranked #10 and that happened this season.

Let's see how the BTT plays out and how things fair in the NCAAs before we declare this season a success or failure.

That's a good point as well. Next year will be Iowa with low expectations and predicted from anywhere to 6th-10th probably where Nebraska is going to have all the hype Iowa received this year, so anything less than what they end up doing this year will be failed expectations.

Why I think Iowa is going to better next season is because of lower expectations and have addressed a critical need that's kept Iowa from living up to expectations the past 2 years - athletic, playmaker at PG.

 

[BryceC]

Losing is bad enough. The problem is the WAY Iowa is losing.

 

[HawkMD2007]

Face it, well into February we were still having numerous threads on winning the Big 10 (Jon kept this thinking alive on the home page). We always semm to overreach with our expectations to the point of being delusional. When we finally grasp reality we dive deep in the opposite direction. Maybe this is more a fan problem than we think....

 

[ibahawkeye]

I truly think if you had said at the beginning of the season that Iowa would win 20 games and be seeded 10 or better in the ncaa tournament everyone would be ecstatic, just the ending of the season has shocked most of the fanbase, hopefully they can right the ship and have a good showing in the big ten tournament and make a run to atleast the sweet 16 in the big dance. Overall I'm happy with this season and hopefully we can take another step forward next season.

I'm not sure I agree with this. I think coming into the season I said I expect to be dancing and anticipate even being able to win a game... possibly two.

Limping into the dance we not my expectation. I predicted 3rd in the Big 10. Didn't reach that.

So maybe my expectations were too high for the team but they were definetly in reach at one point when we were still talking about battling for the conference title half way through the conf season.

 

[1977Hawkeye]

I think it's fair to be disappointed with this. It's the missed opportunities and "what could've been" narrative that's disappointing. But ISU can same the same thing the past 2 years as well. So could every team except ones that don't lose a a single game.

I get what you're saying. I realize that Iowa isn't going to win ALL of the close games, but 2-6 in games decided by 5 or less.. And I looked it up, 2-7 last year. That's bad.

If Iowa could even be 4-4 or 5-3 in these types of games, it would make a night and day difference. That would put us at 22-9 or 23-8 right now, and project much higher in the tournament.

I'm still glad Iowa will be back in the tournament this year. It's been a long time coming.

 

[JHHawk]

I had Iowa finishing 4th in the league behind MSU, Mich and OSU in the preseason. Overall, I had us at 21-10 overall. So, they met my pre-season expectations. Still, losing 5 of the final 6 is going to set a sour mood among the fans and media, until they win another game.....lets see how it changes if Iowa wins a couple this weekend.

 

[1977Hawkeye]

I truly think if you had said at the beginning of the season that Iowa would win 20 games and be seeded 10 or better in the ncaa tournament everyone would be ecstatic, just the ending of the season has shocked most of the fanbase, hopefully they can right the ship and have a good showing in the big ten tournament and make a run to atleast the sweet 16 in the big dance. Overall I'm happy with this season and hopefully we can take another step forward next season.

I am not in this group. As I've said already in this thread, I'm glad Iowa will be back in the dance at all, absolutely. But pre-season, I was expecting somewhere closer to a 6-7 seed, maybe 4-5 if things went well.

A 10 seed, to me, essentially means getting in without much margin for error, and I did expect a little more than that this season. I felt that Iowa was close to being at this point LAST year, and with basically everyone back, plus a couple new faces (Jok & Uthoff) I felt Iowa could do quite a bit better than a double digit seed.

Things aren't over yet, though. I still have hope that a good BTT run can get them back to the 6 seed range, give or take. Gonna be interesting to see how this team responds this Thursday and beyond.

 

[PCHawk]

I love how many people say that people are disappointed now because of unrealistic expectations. It would be different if we lucked our way into the top 10 by getting all of the bounces to go our way and playing the easiest part of our schedule first. If that were the case then it would have been reasonable to think there was a good chance that some bounces were due to go against us and we might struggle with the tougher part of the schedule. But that wasn't the case at all.

Instead we got into the top 10 by dominating most opponents, and the ones we didn't, we actually got unlucky at the end. It was very reasonable to assume that we diserved where we were ranked and we actually could have even been ranked higher if not for some bad luck. Not to mention that we had already played the tougher half of our conference schedule.

People are disappointed because this team became a different team down the stretch. The team they were a few weeks ago was a top 10 team and a final four contender. The expectationa were earned and deserved, and they would have been met had they continued to play with the same intensity. They might have even been exceeded had they gotten a few bounces along the way.

 

[sioux34]

While I agree with you on this, the problem is the fact that it was only projections. I agree it leads to disappointment that they failed to reach the level that they were projected at, but is it really fair to the team to blame them for failing to match the hype? I honestly don't know.

I'm disappointed at what could have been and the end of the season slide, but not sure I blame the players and staff busting their ***** up and down the court. If they gave it their all, which I'm sure they did, who's to say they over under achieved. This program has had such little experience with winning lately that to just assume that a team who's struggled to win games the last few years would suddenly figure it out and close games out.

While disappointed, I think I may be more disappointed with myself for buying into the hype. They still showed improvement and will most likely dance, but maybe I'm mad for believing that thru 2/3's of the season this team was a legitimate contender and peaked prematurely.

Sorry, but this makes you sound like you are a member of the participation trophy generation.

 

[clicheusername3]

I would have liked the OP's post if it hadn't brought ISU in to it. Looks like Lil-bro syndrome now.

 

[Husky28]

I had Iowa finishing 4th in the league behind MSU, Mich and OSU in the preseason. Overall, I had us at 21-10 overall. So, they met my pre-season expectations. Still, losing 5 of the final 6 is going to set a sour mood among the fans and media, until they win another game.....lets see how it changes if Iowa wins a couple this weekend.

This was where I was at the beginning of the season. Really felt they could finish in the top 4. If they can make the dance and get into the 2nd round... I'll be comfortable looking back and think they met expectations, but they really had a chance to turn things up a notch. That being said, the team really lacked a dependable 2nd option for scoring... thought White was going to make that happen, but he seemed to disappear in games that had physical PFs. Our inside presence was too inconsistent and it allowed teams to double up on Marble. White really needed to take the pressure off with a perimeter game... without a consistent perimeter game from him it allowed the PF to sag off and plug up the middle.

To be honest, I'm pretty excited about next year's team. Granted, it's going to take some guys stepping up in their roles, but I think we have the personnel to make it happen. Short of any major issues of injuries, I don't see any reason for each player to improve and would like to hope there's major improvement coming from Uthoff (strength), Jok (all around) & Woody (offensively). If those three can make those improvements along with a couple additional players, it could be an interesting year... They got a taste of success and then got slapped in the face with it, which I would think would be added motivation to prove they were worthy of that success and the attention it brought them.

 

[djwoody98]

Losing at home FOUR times is inexcusable. And losing at home to Illinois on Senior Day is beyond awful. But hey, sunshine and lollipops.

 

[HawksMN]

Losing at home FOUR times is inexcusable. And losing at home to Illinois on Senior Day is beyond awful. But hey, sunshine and lollipops.

Ya this. With this season's team I could see maybe ONE home loss. OSU at home was bad. WI at home was worse. Losing to IL at home on Sr Day is just plain pathetic. Nice to put up a true bad loss on the last game of the regular season.

Time to put up or shut up once and for all in the tourney's Hawks. Give the fans something to get excited about for once!

 

[AnyoneButYou]

I don't understand how the local media and fanbase (myself included at times) continue to complain and call this season a failure when this team will still be a 8/9/10 seed in the NCAA tournament for the 1st time in nearly 10 YEARS! When Iowa State was an 8 and 10 seed with a similar record the past 2 years the local media did nothing but praise, cheer, and proclaim those Cyclones teams. Those ISU teams even had Royce White, Babb, Ejim, Niang, Clyburn, Lucious, Booker, McGee, and Allen. Looking at those rosters, if anything, ISU underachieved. Royce White, Melvin Ejim are All-American caliber players. Iowa has no one close to AA talent.

I just don't get the bias. Iowa hasn't made the tourney for so long that they can't just go from an 8 year absence to instant contender. When ISU made their first return to the tourney 2 years ago they were an 8 seed - much like Iowa may be - yet there was no "what a failure this team is" talk on local radio, TV, and message boards like all there has been for Iowa this season.

Give it a rest....UI is not even the best team in the State of Iowa and now you want ALL the hype?

 

[HawkeyeTech]

In 2011 UConn lost 7 of their last 11 and 4 of their last 5. Guess who won the championship that year. Never give up.

 

[PCHawk]

In 2011 UConn lost 7 of their last 11 and 4 of their last 5. Guess who won the championship that year. Never give up.

Duke?

 

[fsanford]

I don't understand how the local media and fanbase (myself included at times) continue to complain and call this season a failure when this team will still be a 8/9/10 seed in the NCAA tournament for the 1st time in nearly 10 YEARS! When Iowa State was an 8 and 10 seed with a similar record the past 2 years the local media did nothing but praise, cheer, and proclaim those Cyclones teams. Those ISU teams even had Royce White, Babb, Ejim, Niang, Clyburn, Lucious, Booker, McGee, and Allen. Looking at those rosters, if anything, ISU underachieved. Royce White, Melvin Ejim are All-American caliber players. Iowa has no one close to AA talent.

I just don't get the bias. Iowa hasn't made the tourney for so long that they can't just go from an 8 year absence to instant contender. When ISU made their first return to the tourney 2 years ago they were an 8 seed - much like Iowa may be - yet there was no "what a failure this team is" talk on local radio, TV, and message boards like all there has been for Iowa this season.

2 different scenarios resulting in 2 different sets of expectations.

1) Pretty much everyone one said what Hoiberg was trying to do with all those transfers was not going to work it was going to blow up.. ISU, in Hoibergs 2nd year was picked to finish near the bottom of the conference. They end up going to the dance, expectations exceeded.

2) Year 3 they lose their top player in White, along with a starting point guard, again not a lot of high expectations, but they had 2 transfers waiting in the wings and they make the tourney again.

3) This year, probably considered a bubble team to start the season and will end up a 3 or 4 seed expectations exceeded. (Another transfer makes a huge impact)

Next year ISU has a couple of really good transfers starting again, but like in previous years, it will be hard to gauge the result until they start playing. So they probably get picked 6th or 7th in the conference . Though I think people need to start figuring that Hoibergs teams will be pretty decent given the experienced transfers they always bring in.

Iowa was picked to finish top 4 in the conference, they just missed the tourney last year and brought virtually everyone back. Marble their best player was returning for his senior year. Fran's team's had improved every year. If not for a poor non-conference schedule last year, they would have been in.

Given all that you kind of expected them to make a big splash into the dance, it just didn't happen that way for whatever reason. Still does not mean people should not be excited about it..

 

[DDThompson]

Maybe you missed the point where the hawks were projected to be a final four team?

Maybe he missed it because that projection was not universally acclaimed. One guy had Iowa as preseason #5; he was basically snickered off the set. The BTN predicted Iowa as a regular season championship contender which they then said, "And that status carried 'Final Four contender' with it."

With Michigan winning the B1G Regular Season the BTN not only had too lofty expectations for Iowa, but also too lofty expectation for Wisconsin, MSU, and OSU who were at least three games behind the conference champion. Are their fans crying about a disappointing season?

 

[DDThompson]

Even though the program clearly has gone in the right direction under Fran, I have very mixed feelings about the last two seasons.

I guess I should be ecstatic about simply getting back to the NCAA Tournament.. Yes, it's nice to be back there and I still look forward to seeing the Hawks be a part of it for a change. So while the optimistic side of me IS happy about being back in the dance and isn't complaining, the pessimist in me sees all of the missed opportunities and wonders what could have been "if only".

If my math is right, I just looked, and Iowa is 2-6 in games decided by 5 points or less this year, and I know it wasn't much better last year. If Iowa had been even average in close games the last two years, it would've danced last year and would be in line for a much higher seed this year. Instead, we're looking at a season, barring a great BTT run, where Iowa is going to most likely get bounced by a 1 or 2 seed early on in the tournament. Just a few points one way or the other can make a difference in winning/losing a handful of extra games and make a huge difference in your post-season outlook. Iowa has failed massively in this department.

I never did buy into the Final Four hype this year, but that doesn't mean a part of me still isn't disappointed in this season with how many opportunities have been frittered away. If that makes me a moron, as scotthawk calls it, then I guess I'm a moron.

To wrap this up, I still want to make clear that I'm still on board with Fran and the recent recruiting success has me optimistic for the future. It's just that the last two years have been very bitter-sweet for me.

I agree with everything in the blue above. Here's a trip down memory lane for ya'.

1977Hawkeye:
"At first, I literally thought Gaudio tabbed Iowa being #5 in the Big Ten.. That I could believe. Then I realized he was saying Top 5 nationally.... Um, I'm not exactly sold on that to say the least!

I expect Iowa could be a good team next year, and how good, who knows for sure? But I was thinking maybe more like Top 20 material. Not Top 5. I don't think our talent level is THAT good, although bringing in Jok & Uthoff should help, and our returning guys could improve."

And don't forget this:

1977Hawkeye
"Truth. Iowa let a lot of games get away late last year. Just finish the deal and that was easily an NCAA team.

It also would help to not have some of those lucky 3's that always seem to go in against us with time running out.. Our luck has to improve at some point.

Sure hope we shoot better, though. We don't have to lead the league in 3 point shooting or anything - just serviceable outside shooting would be a huge help."

Well, one of three was accomplished anyway.

 

[hawkforlife9]

We've lost 5 out of 6 games...pull your head out.