I sense a new found optimism on the board!

[1977Hawkeye]

On the surface, yes no one would see improvement with those records. But sometimes you need to just take a step back. If the transfers hadn't happened I would have been optimistic about this year as well. Last year after the losing Cyrus Tate the team took a step back but regrouped towards the end of the year and played some good games. This year if they continue to play well it will be even better situation because all key contributors could come back (unlike last year with Tate) and this is clearly Lick's best recruiting effort coming in.

More experience squad should translate to more wins in nonconference and a deeper team should account for more wins during the Big Ten. Thus the cautious optimism. To get there this team needs to continue to play well, no significant transfers/academic problems, a couple of our bigs (Archie, Brommer or Cougill) make strides in the offseason and at least 3 of the freshman can contribute off the bench. If all of those happens we have at least a shot at the NCAA.

Yes, that's exactly why eliminating the transfers is so important. We can't keep starting over every year without any depth or experience. Next year is going to tell us alot about which way the Lickliter era is going to go. Either the team stays together and next year is a good year (or not, depending on how everyone develops) or we have more transfers and we are in the same boat next year as we were coming into this year. Either way, I think we'll have alot to base our opinions on a year or so from now.

 

[BeerZaux]

If somehow Hawks can manage to beat OSU tonite that optimizism wave will roll-

But prolly we will lose by 20 or something and be reminded that "o ya, we suck"

hoping for a win personally

 

[hawkeye12345]

With the exception of Jake Kelly and Tyler Smith, every transfer is on the head of Lick. No excuse for anyone other than those two to leave the program. None. Not one of them transferred to a better program, academic institution or bigger conference. They all took their ball and left because they didn't like what they saw either from a playing time standpoint, personality conflict or direction. We're not talking about NBA talent here.

Not one of the players on this years roster should transfer. Its up to Lick to figure out a way to get these kids to stay. No more excuses and no more revolving door. These are all Licks players.

 

[urohawk]

I agree. The only exception would be if 1 of the 3 of Archie, Brommer and Cougill left than I could see that because of playing time. Everybody else playing time is not an issue.

 

[HawkeyeMike23]

Find it interesting that everyone expected the conference to be tougher, but since Iowa has won a couple games and that some middle tier teams are challenging the top tier teams makes it weaker... maybe I'm interpreting it wrong. Did the Big Ten significantly lose some big games prior to conference start? I can't seem to recall but a couple...

I don't think the Big Ten is as good as I thought it would be based on out of conference results. Purdue and Wisconsin had good showings, but Michigan started the season ranked and was barely over .500 going into conference play. Minnesota and Illinois also had some bad non-conference losses, and Michigan State didn't quite live up to preseason expectations either.

 

[ForeverHawk]

I have said that player retention at the end of this year is a key factor. I could see an Archie, or maybe even a Tucker or Brommer and I would be fine. At this point, I think Tucker owes the coach and this team to be a better contributor all around. I really don't think Cougill should have any complaints about playing time as he has contributed pretty well for a freshman. We all know who the core players are, and none of them can transfer in my opinion.

And to adress Hawkeyes12345, yes I would consider that a significant improvement this year over last with on a 1 game improvement in the big 10. We lost 3 full time starters off of last year's team, including two of the top three players. You can blame whoever you want, but obviously they did not want to be Hawkeyes, so bye bye!!! I don't put all of that on Lick. If it were to happen at the end of this season, then yes, there is a problem!!!

 

[hawks23]

Sagarin predicts a loss by Iowa tonight by 11 points. Assuming we have made progress on the year then we should win or at the very least lose by less than that, right? If we play to our predicted capabilities based on the year as a whole then we will lose by 11 points or more and the team really hasn't progressed too much throughout the year, and we have simply beaten teams that aren't that good, agreed?

Sagarin had us as a 5 point dog on the road at IU and we won....nice step but keep in mind that IU was a coin-flip without home court advantage points (4).
Sagarin had us as a 19 point dog on the road at MSU and we covered nicely...good.
Sagarin had us as a 1 point favorite at home vs PSU and we won by 3...decent.
Sagarin had us as a 12 point favorite at home to TSU and we won by 5...not that good.
Tonight we are an 11 point dog at home (15 if you don't factor in home court), we shall see if we have progressed.

I don't put all of my faith in Sagarin ratings but I used it to show why some of your optimism really isn't warranted. Beating bad teams isn't something to be proud of as we are considered one of those bad teams as well.

I will agree that tonight is going to paint a really good picture of where the program has progressed this year and I'm looking forward to the game. I hope we win and the signs are all pointing towards a great turnaround for our program from where we were but lets play the game first.

Sounds like you might have lost some bets on Iowa? You don't need to respond to that. Most coaches could care less about spreads. I'm sure that Lickliter didn't go over the spreads with the team or his coaching staff. Maybe at the end of the year they will look at Sagarin's spreads to see if Lickliter keeps his job. A win is a win. A loss is a loss. All I want to see is some more wins with them competing against tougher teams like Mich St. Earlier this year at CHA we got killed and then went to Mich St to play a respectable game. That would show some improvement in our team.

Being in games against top tier programs like Mich St creates confidence. Even beating bad teams creates confidence. This team needs some wins to help get through this year so that everything isn't a negative in terms of wins or losses. Things to improve on.

I agree with someone else early saying that they are cautiously optimistic. I don't think we will play with Ohio State tonight, but I'm hoping for the best effort and we will see.

It's hard to be pessimistic with wins, but I guess you have done it. Good work. I also don't like people being too optimistic with a few wins. So you do have a valid point with some of what you have said, but poor way of showing it. I did see that you don't put all of your faith in Sagarin's. Maybe reaching too much for a way to not be excited while Iowa fans can. We probably won't have a lot of other chances to enjoy some wins.

 

[HawkForce]

Hey! This was the first game I've been to in a while at CHA and MAN! not only did we "play with" OSU...we LET THEM OFF THE HOOK! WE had them beat! if Cougill's 3 goes down we are on the verge of blowin OSU out of the arena. I feel like this team is getting very close to getting the 2001 PSU win that the football team had as their "turning point." I will say that I am disheartened with the way we wait to get a bad shot off sometimes until 7 seconds on shot clock...but I don't agree with KOK very much either so eh...but tonight gave me a reason to go back to CHA....it was fun again!

(I meant Cougill's 3 that would've put us up by 11.)

 

[Lionhawk]

The reason you are sensing some optimism on the board is due to Cliche and his buddies hiding until we see a setback.

Then they will be back in full force.

 

[FreddyBrown]

Hey! This was the first game I've been to in a while at CHA and MAN! not only did we "play with" OSU...we LET THEM OFF THE HOOK! WE had them beat! if Cougill's 3 goes down we are on the verge of blowin OSU out of the arena. I feel like this team is getting very close to getting the 2001 PSU win that the football team had as their "turning point." I will say that I am disheartened with the way we wait to get a bad shot off sometimes until 7 seconds on shot clock...but I don't agree with KOK very much either so eh...but tonight gave me a reason to go back to CHA....it was fun again!

(I meant Cougill's 3 that would've put us up by 11.)

I was there and I don't see it that way. Ohio State didn't play very well until the last seven minutes, and when they did it was lights out for us. Same old same old.

 

[oskyhawk74]

OP is right I sense more optimism.

 

[knighthawk13]

"I was there and I don't see it that way. Ohio State didn't play very well until the last seven minutes, and when they did it was lights out for us. Same old same old."

Could that be because our team was fatigued? Unreal defense and rebounding the first 3/4 of the game. With more depth, we win games like last night.