Recognizing the situation that the Iowa program was in, I think Fran's plan to bring on all the experience in the assistants was to be able to recruit solid basketball players with above average athleticism. It makes sense when you look at how Iowa developed as a team as the season went along. The one thing about building a program this way is it is almost like building from scratch...would that not be a fair statement for Iowa basketball, just start over. There was nothing left in the cupboard, even if Fuller would have stayed. That would have meant that Iowa would have two solid players that may start for a mid-level Big Ten team and be top bench performers for a good Big Ten team.
Iowa should give Fran about 6 years to get the job done, at least, unless it is blatantly obvious that Iowa will never get better after year 4. In that time, if Iowa improves with the types of talent they are getting and start sniffing the NIT/NCAA by filling their roster with good, not spectacular players, better players will come. Unless I am mistaken, wasn't Iowa rated as one of the Top 25 basketball jobs prior to the previous staff?
Iowa has a solid NCAA history and has had some excellent players, so the new facilities to be able to showcase that will do nothing but help the ignorant youth who have watched the last decade of Iowa basketball and have had to hear all the negativity around the program.
This Ingram kid would be a nice addition, he should be able to play both guard spots, something Iowa really needs more players to do if they can't get a pure PG in this class. Even if Ingram doesn't turn into an all-conference player, but is a good spot starter, or a player that can provide a significant spark off the bench, won't that help? Iowa hasn't had depth for as long as I can remember, probably since 2005-06...that is sad. The one thing that I could look forward to with Iowa in the offseason is hear what players got arrested or ruled academically ineligible...then it turned into who was going to walk away two weeks after the season was over.
Fran has built programs and I could care less if it is at the mid-major level, at least he has done it. This first year of full recruiting has been a learning curve when a coach is trying to recruit against Izzo, Painter, Weber, Belien and others and that is just in the Big Ten. For some time, I have felt that Peter Jok and Akoy Agau are the most important Iowa recruits in many years. Fran will get players to come to Iowa and will fill scholarships, but I don't think he wants to fill them for the sake of filling them. The problem is, by not getting someone that eats into depth and development of the current players. With the latest scholarship opening up, I hope he saves three for the 2013 class, but can fill all the rest for 2012 as Jok/Agau could be players that are impact players from day one. There is also a kid near me named Jackson Lamb, he is a growing 6-7 athletic forward, but here is the thing, he plays little AAU because he was a starter on his HS baseball team at CF/P and ended this season as their leadoff hitter and lost in the State Championship. This is one of those hidden gems to keep an ear out for. Lamb is still growing and is working hard on his whole game and a 2013 kid.
