If Ferentz doesn't pick it up, Fran will be the new man on campus

How much can Fran bench?

Book it - fans are transient and wimpy and will eat Fran up if we don't win AND win the way desired with the players wanted.

Otherwise, we wil be slow unathletic, poor scheme, etc.

It is better to admit it - then healing can begin. Baby steps.
 
cecilB said:
And iowans first love will always be football, regardless of how bad, average, or good a BB team is.

It was the one thing Alford understoodvwith clarity.
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Alford didn't understand jack sh!t. That was his excuse for failing. Plenty of schools succeed in both and we can too. If you don't think Carver will be packed on a regular basis if Fran gets this thing rolling you are dead wrong.
 
EddyP said:
Alford didn't understand jack sh!t. That was his excuse for failing. Plenty of schools succeed in both and we can too. If you don't think Carver will be packed on a regular basis if Fran gets this thing rolling you are dead wrong.
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You Gym rats are an over sensitive and blind group. I am a big fan of Fran, love Iowa BB...only team worth watching, only team that can drag me out of the house to watch.

What you don't get is what is what you just said....if Fran gets it going, Carver will be packed.

Difference is, it is always packed for FB at Kinnick always has been, it's a happening that brings in men,women,kids, from all over the Midwest. Yes, there are only 7 chances a year, and always on a weekend. However, what happens at Iowa Doesn't happen at Indiana, Kansas, Purdue.

And, for the reading impaired, I for one am looking forward to the season.

It's ok to be a football school, with a BB team people love.
 
cecilB said:
You Gym rats are an over sensitive and blind group. I am a big fan of Fran, love Iowa BB...only team worth watching, only team that can drag me out of the house to watch.

What you don't get is what is what you just said....if Fran gets it going, Carver will be packed.

Difference is, it is always packed for FB at Kinnick always has been, it's a happening that brings in men,women,kids, from all over the Midwest. Yes, there are only 7 chances a year, and always on a weekend. However, what happens at Iowa Doesn't happen at Indiana, Kansas, Purdue.

And, for the reading impaired, I for one am looking forward to the season.

It's ok to be a football school, with a BB team people love.
Click to expand...

Look, you and Alford can call it whatever you want. Makes no difference to me. Is Wisconsin a football school? OSU? Sure, when it is football season. I guess I'm not sure what your argument is. My point is you can succeed at both and it has nothing to do with being a "football school" whatever that means. Do you think if the football team goes through what Iowa basketball has been through Kinnick is going to still be packed?
 
Ian said:
I like listening to Fran's interviews. The guy knows basketball and doesn't give the same canned answers to questions. I like the amount of info he gives the fans, very refreshing.
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Agreed! I've learned a lot of basketball 101 just by listening

Fran - The Great Communicator
 
I think the 'Iowa will always be a FB school and Kinnick is always packed' people might not know/remember pre-Fry.

"Also, there's a guy in the wrestling room who might be in the conversation but you might not care for him either because he's big on execution as well."

Fran, along as any good coach, is about execution. People get tired of Kirk's attitude towards reporters. Fran will give fairly detailed answers, he understands that talking with the media is another venue to communicate with the fans. Kirk on the other hand snorts at questions he doesn't like and often gives incomplete or even nonsense answers- see Minnesota onsides kick.

That being said, Brands coaches wrestling, pretty much taking him out of contention. Wrestling is a dying sport, but I do wonder if the UFC thing will start a resurgence.
 
cecilB said:
You Gym rats are an over sensitive and blind group. I am a big fan of Fran, love Iowa BB...only team worth watching, only team that can drag me out of the house to watch.

What you don't get is what is what you just said....if Fran gets it going, Carver will be packed.

Difference is, it is always packed for FB at Kinnick always has been, it's a happening that brings in men,women,kids, from all over the Midwest. Yes, there are only 7 chances a year, and always on a weekend. However, what happens at Iowa Doesn't happen at Indiana, Kansas, Purdue.

And, for the reading impaired, I for one am looking forward to the season.

It's ok to be a football school, with a BB team people love.
Click to expand...

I can recall an awful lot of empty seats in Kinnick (on a consistent basis) as recently as 2008. It isn't always packed, and it won't be if we keep posting 6-7 win seasons.

And if it is, it's mostly because a football game is an excuse to get wasted. Carver/Field House was always packed up until about 5 years ago, when people starting walking away to voice their displeasure with Alford, and then stayed away because Lick gave them nothing.

You don't hear guys like Scott Van Pelt saying "College football is just better when they're good" in reference to Iowa. You DO hear him say that about Iowa basketball. Why? Because we have one of the most prestigous programs in college basketball.

We're a basketball school that has had success on the gridiron, and fans love football, too. But if both teams are on equal footing in terms of performance, fans will flock to Carver first. The fact that we just set the season-opener attendance record for the past decade, coming off of back-to-back 20-loss seasons, should be evidence of that.
 
I would love to see Iowa BB get back to making tourny appearances regularly but the overall product of NCAA BB is at an all time low and there doesn't seem to be much desire from anyone to address it.

I grew up watching it in the mid 80s when teams had serious talent. Now its almost laughable.

Quite honestly, I'm concerned about the long term of the sport. Just think of how much its changed in the last 15 years. What is it going to look like in another 15 years?
 
EddyP said:
Look, you and Alford can call it whatever you want. Makes no difference to me. Is Wisconsin a football school? OSU? Sure, when it is football season. I guess I'm not sure what your argument is. My point is you can succeed at both and it has nothing to do with being a "football school" whatever that means. Do you think if the football team goes through what Iowa basketball has been through Kinnick is going to still be packed?
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Yes, OSU and Wisky are football schools. And yes they love both sports. Iowa is very similar and I believe is on the cusp of being that way again...from an excitement, success, and w/ following

If the FB team goes through what Alford and lick gave us, it won't see $400 tix on stub hub, but people will fill it.

And contrary to what someone else posted, pre fry, when the stadium held 60,000 it would fill up more ties than not, and well over 3/4 full for all games.

It isn't that hard to see. The state comes alive with anticipation months in advance of FB. I80 is parking lot 7 times a year, it is a tradition rich festival atmosphere...in good times and bad.

Part of it is climate, night games during the week, over saturation of college BB on tv...lots of things. None of those things matter at BB first places.

BB is different

Do you know Indiana, purdue or KU fans....they anticipate BB months in advance of a season
 
cecilB said:
Yes, OSU and Wisky are football schools. And yes they love both sports. Iowa is very similar and I believe is on the cusp of being that way again...from an excitement, success, and w/ following

If the FB team goes through what Alford and lick gave us, it won't see $400 tix on stub hub, but people will fill it.

And contrary to what someone else posted, pre fry, when the stadium held 60,000 it would fill up more ties than not, and well over 3/4 full for all games.

It isn't that hard to see. The state comes alive with anticipation months in advance of FB. I80 is parking lot 7 times a year, it is a tradition rich festival atmosphere...in good times and bad.

Part of it is climate, night games during the week, over saturation of college BB on tv...lots of things. None of those things matter at BB first places.

BB is different

Do you know Indiana, purdue or KU fans....they anticipate BB months in advance of a season
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You mean like how we anticipate football every year months in advance? Somehow, I don't see us being super excited about next season. Just like we weren't in 2007 or 2008.

Kansas fans have no reason to expect anything other than success. And Indiana fans are the best and purest basketball fans in the nation. That one's not even up for debate. And even THEY have had some attendance issues recently.
 
cecilB said:
And iowans first love will always be football, regardless of how bad, average, or good a BB team is.

It was the one thing Alford understoodvwith clarity.
Click to expand...

If you were around during the Lute Olson era, you would know that this isn't true. Olson was idolized. Bob Commings, not so much.
 
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I love both sports and follow them equally. Was more of a hoops fan growing up because we couldnt play football til 7th grade.
I think those arguing that Iowa is a football school their argument stems from the fact that football is the money maker. which it is, and that is just the state of the nation we live in. Football is America's sport now. NFL is much bigger than the NBA, college football is much bigger than college hoops. I think there are several reasons for that
1) there are only 12-13 fb games a year (6,7 or 8 home a year) while bball has more than 20.
2) football games have more atmosphere, you are able to tailgate and hang outside weather is much better, etc.
3)the evolution of football has brought so many more casual fans to the game. The rise of the NFL has really helped college football. Not so much for hoops.
4) just when the season is. Fall is such a great of the year. weather still good, school year just starting, no holidays really interfere. Bball goes through yhe worst part of the year. Cold, travel to games can suck and you also have to deal with holidays. Student body gone for an extended part of the season, finals and on and on.
With that said I still really.love my bball and am looking forward to the continued development olf this Iowa program.
Also to the poster who said Alford was right in calling Iowa a fball school, you are wrong. That became Alford's excuse after he ran fans away with his arrogance and split the fans up and brought a lot of negative attention with the Pierce situation.
 
I believe that Iowa is a college sports state. Iowa football went through one of its better periods ever while basketball may have been going through one of its worse. If we become something other than a team who finishes in the bottom half of the conference every year, we'll be popular again. The crowd support during the second half of 2005 or so tells me the passion for b-ball is there. There just needs to be a reason for it to be focused upon Carver and the University of Iowa program.
 
tm3308 said:
I can recall an awful lot of empty seats in Kinnick (on a consistent basis) as recently as 2008. It isn't always packed, and it won't be if we keep posting 6-7 win seasons.

And if it is, it's mostly because a football game is an excuse to get wasted. Carver/Field House was always packed up until about 5 years ago, when people starting walking away to voice their displeasure with Alford, and then stayed away because Lick gave them nothing.

You don't hear guys like Scott Van Pelt saying "College football is just better when they're good" in reference to Iowa. You DO hear him say that about Iowa basketball. Why? Because we have one of the most prestigous programs in college basketball.

We're a basketball school that has had success on the gridiron, and fans love football, too. But if both teams are on equal footing in terms of performance, fans will flock to Carver first. The fact that we just set the season-opener attendance record for the past decade, coming off of back-to-back 20-loss seasons, should be evidence of that.
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I am 30 years old and Iowa has not won a Big 10 title in my lifetime in basketball. We are not as prestigious a program as you're trying to make us sound.

And as for claiming that Carver was packed 5 years ago? Maybe that one season when Brunner, Horner, and Haluska were seniors, but when I was a student at UI at the beginning of the Alford era, the house was definitely not packed. I stopped getting student tickets because no one went. It was boring sitting there by yourself.
 
GhostofBTT said:
I am 30 years old and Iowa has not won a Big 10 title in my lifetime in basketball. We are not as prestigious a program as you're trying to make us sound.

And as for claiming that Carver was packed 5 years ago? Maybe that one season when Brunner, Horner, and Haluska were seniors, but when I was a student at UI at the beginning of the Alford era, the house was definitely not packed. I stopped getting student tickets because no one went. It was boring sitting there by yourself.
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lonely+fan.jpg
 
Your act like Fran being a big deal would be a bad thing. I see nothing wrong with basketball competing with football for fan interest, in fact I think it would be a very good thing.
 
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