I don't get it...

T

TheIowaHawkGuy

Well-Known Member
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.
 
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TheIowaHawkGuy said:
I don't 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, an 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.
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It's all in how you get there. When a team is 16-4 at one point and in the top 10, only to see the wheels fall off the last 2 weeks of the season, that's how you get labeled a disappointment. Were the expectations too high? Probably. But this team and the coach did nothing to temper the high expectations.

The final chapter on the season hasn't been written yet. I hope the players realize there is a great deal left to play for.
 
Because this team was projected to be top 2-3 in B10, easily a top 25 team, potential final 4 team, Frans perfect mix of seniors-freshman, etc.... and they have under performed.
 
I agree, but I can see how people are disappointed as well with the start Iowa got off to. Expectations got crazy high for this team and the national media didn't help calling Iowa a dark horse final 4 team. Here is what I don't get, last year at 20-11 (9-9) people thought Iowa should have received a bid and were ****** they didn't, now this year at 20-11 (9-9) against a much tougher non-conference and conference schedule people don't think they are deserving or won't make it at all. I guess morons will be morons is the only explanation I can come up with.
 
Maybe you missed the point where the hawks were projected to be a final four team? The late season collapse has soured a lot of fans who perhaps had unrealistic expectations.
 
I think part of the reason is that ISU went on to have back to back epic second round tournament runs in each of those years. As any Clone fan will tell you, they were basically a final four team both years.
 
I think it's pretty hilarious actually...

Nebraska lost 5 of their first 6 big ten games (including bad losses to Purdue and Penn State) and then finished strong = everyone jumps on the Nebraska bandwagon.
Iowa started strong and then lost 5 of their last 6 big ten games (including a bad loss to Illinois) = the wheels have completely fallen off.

I guess we live in a "what have you done for me lately" society. Nebraska could lose their first BTT and Iowa could win it all and suddenly Nebraska is garbage and Iowa is going to the Final Four.
 
sioux34 said:
Maybe you missed the point where the hawks were projected to be a final four team? The late season collapse has soured a lot of fans who perhaps had unrealistic expectations.
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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.
 
sioux34 said:
Maybe you missed the point where the hawks were projected to be a final four team? The late season collapse has soured a lot of fans who perhaps had unrealistic expectations.
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I guess I never bought into that. I also said back in August this team was looking at 20-11/10-8 and that's pretty much exactly what happened. Few reasons why I thought this - schedule was tougher, Iowa added no pieces to the roster that would make an impact, team still lacked a playmaker (like last year), and toughness (like last year). Iowa's addressed the playmaker/athleticism part already with Dickerson so that aspect improves next year already.
 
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.
 
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mopkins said:
I think it's pretty hilarious actually...

Nebraska lost 5 of their first 6 big ten games (including bad losses to Purdue and Penn State) and then finished strong = everyone jumps on the Nebraska bandwagon.
Iowa started strong and then lost 5 of their last 6 big ten games (including a bad loss to Illinois) = the wheels have completely fallen off.

I guess we live in a "what have you done for me lately" society. Nebraska could lose their first BTT and Iowa could win it all and suddenly Nebraska is garbage and Iowa is going to the Final Four.
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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.
 
SpiderRico said:
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.
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I agree 100%.
 
Fans have short memories and even shorter attention spans. Mired in the middle of a major slump "The wheels are falling off" - or - in the middle of a nice little run "Final Four Baby!" The pendulum swings way too far in both directions. Add 24/7 media coverage, the interweb forums, etc. and it's downright bipolar sometimes.

Enjoy the games. Respect the players and coaches on both teams. What will happen will happen - good or bad. We cannot influence any of it.
 
Team has got worse as the year has gone on...that is a HUGE disappointment.
 
Biggusblockus said:
Fans have short memories and even shorter attention spans. Mired in the middle of a major slump "The wheels are falling off" - or - in the middle of a nice little run "Final Four Baby!" The pendulum swings way too far in both directions. Add 24/7 media coverage, the interweb forums, etc. and it's downright bipolar sometimes.

Enjoy the games. Respect the players and coaches on both teams. What will happen will happen - good or bad. We cannot influence any of it.
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Agreed, but at the same time it wasn't like the fans were coming up with this on their own. The media and talking heads were doing as much if not more to raise the expectations of this program, a lot of fans just bought into the hype.
 
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.
 
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I think the media and fans are down on this team right now because we have all seen what Iowa is capable of and 20-11 (9-9) is probably at the low end of it. This team showed against Villanova, ISU, Wisconsin (double digit leads in the 2nd half on neutral/road floors, & Michigan (home blowout) that they can play with great teams.

I'll use the 2003 FB team as an opposite example. That team is looked on very favorably is the KF era not because they won a championship but because they maxed out. They lost great players from the previous team, had a brutal schedule, injuries to key players, yet they fought as hard as any team I've ever watched and physically just were tougher than the other teams. That team did about as well as they could have and fans appreciate that. Even if its not a championship or a great season.

And yes things could be worse, like the Lick era. However only fans who haven't been paying attention can see that this team is capable of far more than it has achieved.
 
1977Hawkeye said:
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.
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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.
 
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