JonDMiller
Publisher/Founder
'Break the Rock' was the Iowa football's internal rallying cry when Kirk Ferentz became its head coach back in 1999. I believe it came from Strength & Conditioning Coach Chris Doyle and was prevalent in the weight room.
The thought is that you cannot break a rock with one swing of the hammer; it takes many swings and a lot of work over time to get the job done. Those were the obstacles facing the football program when Ferentz and Doyle arrived and the mantra took root in the heart of the players.
Iowa began the road to breaking the rock with a disappointing 1-10 season in 1999. Iowa lost it's final eight games of that season. That was followed by a rough start to the 2000 season, where the Hawkeyes lost their first five games, thus a 13-game losing streak.
The Hawks got a home win against #25 Michigan State then dropped the next three games, which mean the Hawks had a 2-15 start to the Ferentz era.
Then, the Hawks got a breakthrough win; they topped Penn State in Happy Valley, in overtime. They came back the following week and beat #18 Northwestern team in Kinnick. The Cats were coming off a 50-point outburst at the Big House in beating Michigan. Iowa closed the 2000 season with a close loss at Minnesota without the injured Bob Sanders and Benny Sapp.
The second half of the 2000 season saw the football program gaining confidence and becoming more competitive. The team had put the weight room work in, they had paid the price and they began to be rewarded on the field.
In 2001, the team made more breakthroughs, but were still not yet ready for prime time; they put up more than 30 points per game, one of the 10 best offensive totals in school history, but they were not quite there on defense. They were an inconsistent team, capable of blowing out weaker foes yet not good enough to beat them all (see the 17-14 loss at Iowa State). Iowa finished with a 7-5 record but they could have beaten every team on their schedule.
The 2011-2012 Iowa basketball season has a 'breaking the rock' sort of feel to it.
Last year's Iowa team beat #6 Purdue in the final regular season game. That was after they had two close calls against ranked teams, losing two overtime home games against Wisconsin and Michigan.
Iowa began this season with higher hopes, but things quickly turned ugly as the Hawks were blown out in back to back games against Creighton and Campbell. They were then beaten badly by Clemson, UNI and Iowa State.
This caused a lot of fans to think, 'same as it ever was.'
The Hawks won their final three non-conference games and played Purdue tight in the Big Ten opener, losing by three points.
Then things changed. Iowa won at Wisconsin for the first time in a decade and became just the second unranked team to beat Wisconsin in the Kohl Center in 61 games. The Hawks then won at Minnesota in their next game, the first time they had won back to back road games since 2007, the last time the program was relevant and/or had an above .500 team.
The Hawks would lose badly against Ohio State and Michigan State before blowing out a ranked Michigan team at home before losing at Purdue in another close game where Iowa led by 11 with 2:43 to play in the first half.
Iowa went 3-4 in their first seven games to start Big Ten play when I felt 1-6 or 0-7 marks were far more likely.
Things fell off the rails a bit in their 8th game, one of the most winnable conference games on their slate, when they lost at home to Nebraska after leading by 11 with under five minutes to play in the first half. That one hurt. That's one you'd love to have back.
After that game, the Hawks were embarrassed 103-89 at Indiana before coming home to win back to back games against Minnesota and Penn State. Again, they had double-digit first half leads in both of those games and actually came back from a 10-point deficit in the second half to beat the Gophers.
Then it was two bad losses at Northwestern and Penn State. The Wildcats confused Iowa with their 1-3-1 half court trapping defense and it was an ugly loss. Iowa fell down 16 to Penn State early in the second half and pulled to within two points late in the contest thanks to numerous Matt Gatens three pointers, but the Nittany Lions held on.
Then on Sunday, just when some fans were leaving this team for dead again, the Hawks controlled the 20th ranked team in the nation for the final 37 minutes of the game, beating Indiana 78-66.
It's been a wild and crazy season, one without much rhyme or reason. It may be folly to compare football and basketball teams, but when I examine the rebuilding process, I can see similar signs of life from the Iowa basketball program that we saw at the end of the 2000 season and for much of the 2001 season.
This basketball team may be a bit of a mix of both of those teams; farther along than the 2000 team but probably not as good, respectively, as the 2001 Iowa football team.
Yet this Iowa team is a dangerous out. This Iowa team is capable of beating most teams in the league on a given night, something we have not been able to say for at least five years. There were a few false starts in the Todd Lickliter era, some 'pyrite' moments.
There have been a few steps back this year after some nice wins, but more like two steps forward and 1 step back; yet the momentum is forward moving.
Iowa is 3-3 against ranked conference teams this year, the third best record in the league:
Michigan State: 5-1
Michigan: 4-3
Iowa: 3-3
Ohio State: 3-3
Illinois: 2-2
Indiana: 2-4
Wisconsin: 2-4
Northwestern: 1-3
Minnesota: 1-4
Nebraska: 1-5
Penn State: 1-7
Purdue: 0-5
As I wrote on Sunday, Iowa's three wins against ranked teams this year are as many wins against ranked teams as the previous five Iowa basketball seasons, combined. McCaffery had the one last season and Todd Lickliter had one (a fluke 43-36 home win against Michigan State) and Alford had one during his final season at Iowa.
Had Iowa been able to hold on to those two first half double-digit leads against Purdue and Nebraska, this team would be 8-6 in the Big Ten and not 6-8. They would be 16-11 overall and not 14-13. They would still be in the bubble discussion with four games left to play in the regular season.
But this team, much like the 2001 Iowa football team, is just not there yet. They are inexperienced which leads to inconsistency. The 2001 Iowa football team was, in a word, inconsistent. They had to learn how to bring a winning effort each time out, the way that this basketball program must do.
Iowa will return so many key players next season, so many talented players. They will bring in their best recruiting class in over a decade, which includes a scoring point guard and a highly coveted 7-footer, both players ranked in the Top 100 in the nation.
I think we'll see some inconsistency next year, too. Perhaps it will more resemble the 2001 Iowa football team, which made it to the post-season. If next years team can make it to the NCAA tourney, they would have a leg up on the 2001 Alamo Bowl. An NIT bid would be more in line with an Alamo Bowl bid.
But what I hope for most of all is for this program to take this year's lessons to heart. Realize that when they give maximum effort from the start, they are pretty good and figure out how to give that sort of physical and mental effort night in and night out.
if this team finishes strong, they can set themselves up for just such a renaissance in 2012-2013 and make this one of the more exciting basketball off seasons in recent memory.
The thought is that you cannot break a rock with one swing of the hammer; it takes many swings and a lot of work over time to get the job done. Those were the obstacles facing the football program when Ferentz and Doyle arrived and the mantra took root in the heart of the players.
Iowa began the road to breaking the rock with a disappointing 1-10 season in 1999. Iowa lost it's final eight games of that season. That was followed by a rough start to the 2000 season, where the Hawkeyes lost their first five games, thus a 13-game losing streak.
The Hawks got a home win against #25 Michigan State then dropped the next three games, which mean the Hawks had a 2-15 start to the Ferentz era.
Then, the Hawks got a breakthrough win; they topped Penn State in Happy Valley, in overtime. They came back the following week and beat #18 Northwestern team in Kinnick. The Cats were coming off a 50-point outburst at the Big House in beating Michigan. Iowa closed the 2000 season with a close loss at Minnesota without the injured Bob Sanders and Benny Sapp.
The second half of the 2000 season saw the football program gaining confidence and becoming more competitive. The team had put the weight room work in, they had paid the price and they began to be rewarded on the field.
In 2001, the team made more breakthroughs, but were still not yet ready for prime time; they put up more than 30 points per game, one of the 10 best offensive totals in school history, but they were not quite there on defense. They were an inconsistent team, capable of blowing out weaker foes yet not good enough to beat them all (see the 17-14 loss at Iowa State). Iowa finished with a 7-5 record but they could have beaten every team on their schedule.
The 2011-2012 Iowa basketball season has a 'breaking the rock' sort of feel to it.
Last year's Iowa team beat #6 Purdue in the final regular season game. That was after they had two close calls against ranked teams, losing two overtime home games against Wisconsin and Michigan.
Iowa began this season with higher hopes, but things quickly turned ugly as the Hawks were blown out in back to back games against Creighton and Campbell. They were then beaten badly by Clemson, UNI and Iowa State.
This caused a lot of fans to think, 'same as it ever was.'
The Hawks won their final three non-conference games and played Purdue tight in the Big Ten opener, losing by three points.
Then things changed. Iowa won at Wisconsin for the first time in a decade and became just the second unranked team to beat Wisconsin in the Kohl Center in 61 games. The Hawks then won at Minnesota in their next game, the first time they had won back to back road games since 2007, the last time the program was relevant and/or had an above .500 team.
The Hawks would lose badly against Ohio State and Michigan State before blowing out a ranked Michigan team at home before losing at Purdue in another close game where Iowa led by 11 with 2:43 to play in the first half.
Iowa went 3-4 in their first seven games to start Big Ten play when I felt 1-6 or 0-7 marks were far more likely.
Things fell off the rails a bit in their 8th game, one of the most winnable conference games on their slate, when they lost at home to Nebraska after leading by 11 with under five minutes to play in the first half. That one hurt. That's one you'd love to have back.
After that game, the Hawks were embarrassed 103-89 at Indiana before coming home to win back to back games against Minnesota and Penn State. Again, they had double-digit first half leads in both of those games and actually came back from a 10-point deficit in the second half to beat the Gophers.
Then it was two bad losses at Northwestern and Penn State. The Wildcats confused Iowa with their 1-3-1 half court trapping defense and it was an ugly loss. Iowa fell down 16 to Penn State early in the second half and pulled to within two points late in the contest thanks to numerous Matt Gatens three pointers, but the Nittany Lions held on.
Then on Sunday, just when some fans were leaving this team for dead again, the Hawks controlled the 20th ranked team in the nation for the final 37 minutes of the game, beating Indiana 78-66.
It's been a wild and crazy season, one without much rhyme or reason. It may be folly to compare football and basketball teams, but when I examine the rebuilding process, I can see similar signs of life from the Iowa basketball program that we saw at the end of the 2000 season and for much of the 2001 season.
This basketball team may be a bit of a mix of both of those teams; farther along than the 2000 team but probably not as good, respectively, as the 2001 Iowa football team.
Yet this Iowa team is a dangerous out. This Iowa team is capable of beating most teams in the league on a given night, something we have not been able to say for at least five years. There were a few false starts in the Todd Lickliter era, some 'pyrite' moments.
There have been a few steps back this year after some nice wins, but more like two steps forward and 1 step back; yet the momentum is forward moving.
Iowa is 3-3 against ranked conference teams this year, the third best record in the league:
Michigan State: 5-1
Michigan: 4-3
Iowa: 3-3
Ohio State: 3-3
Illinois: 2-2
Indiana: 2-4
Wisconsin: 2-4
Northwestern: 1-3
Minnesota: 1-4
Nebraska: 1-5
Penn State: 1-7
Purdue: 0-5
As I wrote on Sunday, Iowa's three wins against ranked teams this year are as many wins against ranked teams as the previous five Iowa basketball seasons, combined. McCaffery had the one last season and Todd Lickliter had one (a fluke 43-36 home win against Michigan State) and Alford had one during his final season at Iowa.
Had Iowa been able to hold on to those two first half double-digit leads against Purdue and Nebraska, this team would be 8-6 in the Big Ten and not 6-8. They would be 16-11 overall and not 14-13. They would still be in the bubble discussion with four games left to play in the regular season.
But this team, much like the 2001 Iowa football team, is just not there yet. They are inexperienced which leads to inconsistency. The 2001 Iowa football team was, in a word, inconsistent. They had to learn how to bring a winning effort each time out, the way that this basketball program must do.
Iowa will return so many key players next season, so many talented players. They will bring in their best recruiting class in over a decade, which includes a scoring point guard and a highly coveted 7-footer, both players ranked in the Top 100 in the nation.
I think we'll see some inconsistency next year, too. Perhaps it will more resemble the 2001 Iowa football team, which made it to the post-season. If next years team can make it to the NCAA tourney, they would have a leg up on the 2001 Alamo Bowl. An NIT bid would be more in line with an Alamo Bowl bid.
But what I hope for most of all is for this program to take this year's lessons to heart. Realize that when they give maximum effort from the start, they are pretty good and figure out how to give that sort of physical and mental effort night in and night out.
if this team finishes strong, they can set themselves up for just such a renaissance in 2012-2013 and make this one of the more exciting basketball off seasons in recent memory.
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