Iowa Hoops...there was once a time...
- Thread starter JonDMiller
- Start date
ssckelley
Well-Known Member
But the one thing Tom Davis did well was recruit the local kids, again a lot of that was due to the success Iowa had as everyone in eastern Iowa grew up dreaming to be a Hawkeye. He got Acie Earl (who was from Moline), Bowen, Bullard, ect the knock on Mr. Davis was his ability to recruit on the national level and when Raef Lafrenz spurned Iowa to attend Kansas the grumblings started getting loud. Had Lafrenz came to Iowa Mr. Davis would probably have retired as coach of the Hawks.
Who knew all you had to do to reach the NCAA tournament every year was just be able to recruit the state of Iowa.
Who knew all you had to do to reach the NCAA tournament every year was just be able to recruit the state of Iowa.
So do you normally just make up facts to support your opinions?
1977Hawkeye
Well-Known Member
I too grew up in the 1980's and 90's, and the great 1986-87 team made me a hardcore Hawkeye fan. BJ Armstrong, Roy Marble and Ed Horton were my idols, and they still remain my favorite trio in Hawkeye history, to this day.
Even though other posters are correct that Tom Davis benefited largely from Raveling's recruits and really never got back to the level of those 1987/88 teams, Davis still had alot of success, and had a Top 10 team in 1992/93 until Chris Street was tragically killed. I believe to this day that team would have been more like a #2 seed (they were actually a #4) and could have made a run at a Final Four that year, if only....
Davis had a couple of bad years, sure, but by and large, you could count on Iowa to win 20+ games, make the NCAA Tournament, and win a game, maybe two. It got frustrating not being able to get past the 2nd round, but things were pretty good. Hawkeye basketball was fun to watch and they were (nearly) always competetive. They beat the cupcakes they were supposed to, and could still get some upset wins from time to time, particularly in Carver. He just couldn't get us to that "next level" we all heard so much about.
Alford was a subpar hire. The Lickliter hire was even worse. Two straight misses, and that's how we ended up where we were when Fran took over, who seems to be digging us back out.
I haven't forgotten what Iowa Basketball used to be, which has made it all that much more difficult for me the past 5-6 years. It's tough seeing what you grew up loving so much become such a poor product.
Even though other posters are correct that Tom Davis benefited largely from Raveling's recruits and really never got back to the level of those 1987/88 teams, Davis still had alot of success, and had a Top 10 team in 1992/93 until Chris Street was tragically killed. I believe to this day that team would have been more like a #2 seed (they were actually a #4) and could have made a run at a Final Four that year, if only....
Davis had a couple of bad years, sure, but by and large, you could count on Iowa to win 20+ games, make the NCAA Tournament, and win a game, maybe two. It got frustrating not being able to get past the 2nd round, but things were pretty good. Hawkeye basketball was fun to watch and they were (nearly) always competetive. They beat the cupcakes they were supposed to, and could still get some upset wins from time to time, particularly in Carver. He just couldn't get us to that "next level" we all heard so much about.
Alford was a subpar hire. The Lickliter hire was even worse. Two straight misses, and that's how we ended up where we were when Fran took over, who seems to be digging us back out.
I haven't forgotten what Iowa Basketball used to be, which has made it all that much more difficult for me the past 5-6 years. It's tough seeing what you grew up loving so much become such a poor product.
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1977Hawkeye
Well-Known Member
Alford left Iowa basketball in worse shape then where Davis left it. And Lickliter left it in FAR worse shape then where Alford left it.
In defense of Alford, his last two seasons saw 11-5 and 9-7 conference records. The program wasn't truly in shambles until the Lick years.
Tom Davis left Alford with Dean Oliver and a pile of crap.
wundergrape
Well-Known Member
Raef Lafrentz never committed to Iowa at any point. He didn't really even consider it, from what I understand.
eveningnewsteam
Well-Known Member
Im sure he considered it. I remember Gary Close at an I Club function telling Iowa fans not to worry about it as Greg Helmers would be twice the player as Lafrentz. LOL
Hey if you needed to get a computer for cheap, Greg was your man.
hawkdrummer1
Well-Known Member
Why do I get the feeling you'll be writing a similar story about Iowa football in about 5-6 years.
ssckelley
Well-Known Member
You are right, he never actually committed to Iowa. But Iowa was considered the favorite to get him right up to the point he committed to Kansas, which sent shock waves throughout the state. People would go to Mar/Mac games to just boo LaFrenz for his college choice. Our local school played them once in Monona and it was crazy, every time he touched the ball he got boo'd.
1977Hawkeye
Well-Known Member
Yeah, that's true. Guess that's no suprise though considering most of the team graduated after the 1998-99 season, and Tom Davis's lame-duck status didn't allow him to recruit much of anything the year prior. And you have to wonder how much effort he would have spent recruiting for a team that he wasn't going to coach, either.
It's like an employer laying off an employee, but telling them that their last day in a month from now, and then you wonder why that employee's productivity goes off the cliff that last month. That situation was all on Bob Bowlsby IMO.
That said, all the more reason for why I think Lick is more to blame for how bad the program was, than it was on Alford.
PalmettoHawkFan
Well-Known Member
the lame duck year killed momentum for the program
collison was an iowa lock, and only went to kansas because of the uncertain coaching situation at iowa
oliver-henderson-collison-jaacks would have made a competitive foundation for 99-00
collison was an iowa lock, and only went to kansas because of the uncertain coaching situation at iowa
oliver-henderson-collison-jaacks would have made a competitive foundation for 99-00
Revisionist history. We had tons of momentum in the early stages of Alford's tenure. Top ten recruiting class, pre-season top 10 ranking.
JonDMiller
Publisher/Founder
Back in the day, landing Iowa kids as the Iowa HC was not a hard thing. Iowa pretty much got who it wanted in state as the kids grew up wanting to play for Iowa because they saw Lute win, get to 1980 final four..then they saw the run from 86-89...which would have been when Raef Lafrentz was a kid...
After Chris Street died, that took some wind out of Mr. Davis's sails. I have had a lot of VERY connected people tell me that (about as high as you can get, at the time I was told)...he was never a voracious recruiter. Didn't spend the kind of time on Raef like Fran spent on Woodbury.
Losing Nick Collison was a bigger foul than Raef, as Collison absolutely grew up an Iowa fan. BUT that was less about Mr. Davis and more about the lame duck year. Hinrich was a Sioux City kid who had committed to ISU, but Tim Floyd left for the NBA and that coincided with Hinrich having blown up a bit during his senior year...Kansas was there.
Those were the things that began to sour me on Tom Davis.
Bullard went to Valley HS, but signed with Colorado out of HS then transfered to Iowa. I don't believe Bowen was highly recruited.
wundergrape
Well-Known Member
Believe it or not, there were some darned good reasons people wanted Mr. Davis gone. We were willing to gamble, and we lost the gamble. It's like if, ten years from now, Fran was pulling in recruiting classes of guys like Oglesby, Clemmons and McCabe every year. Sure, we'd win a few games, but would you be satisfied?
Paging Captain Kirk...
Paging Captain Kirk...
JonDMiller
Publisher/Founder
Iowa had Evans, Reiner (top 50), Worley (Top 75) in one class..it was a Top 15 class universally...and Recker and Hogan became eligible that next year, too. Iowa was 14-2 to start the 2000-2001 year..then Recker got hurt. They were 14th in the nation at that point.
They began the next year ranked inside the Top 10 in some polls..#9 preseason AP...that was one of the most disappointing Iowa hoops seasons ever.
nationalchamps
Well-Known Member
MisterLucky
Well-Known Member
Frankly, knowing what we do now, I would have gladly settled for this until the good Dr. would have decided to retire. Lots of angst between his tenure and the current coach's.
And anyone that's willing to argue that Alford's stint as Iowa's coach, by any measure, was better that Mr. Davis's is either a fool or a relative.
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PalmettoHawkFan
Well-Known Member
no
a team program off a sweet 16 would have momentum
99-00? no momentum
alford restarted the program, and everything was rolling until Dec of 2001
losing control of his players
pierce
sommerville transfer
at that point the air was out
the nucleus of horner-brunner-haluska kept the team deceptively lively, then the seeds of 2001-02 were sown
no revisionist davis apologist here
the program had flatlined
alford put it into a lower flatline
lickliter almost killed it
if fran brings in some 2014 top 50, back to the 80s level
if not, a return to the alford flatline