is this washpun stuff good or bad?

[SteveGarvey]

You can probably remove the "probably" from this statement. I'll end the suspense and say that Waspun is not going to leave Iowa early to enter the NBA and within his first 2 seasons become arguably the best PG in the NBA.

There's always a .001% chance that Washpun ends up being as good as Rondo so technically you don't have to remove the "probably". But the probably was probably a figure of speech on my part.

Oh, and Rondo isn't arguably the best PG in the NBA. Rose is the best without question.

 

[twinhawkfans]

More Sioux City kids, really? Cougill and McCabe havne't left enough of an underwhelming impression on you. The hoops program isn't going to recover if the roster is packed with mid major (at best) Iowa high school talent. Have you seen who is after the Cougillnator? It's not high D1 programs. Better teams can bring these kids in and give them two years to develop into a role, we are not one of those teams right now.

Don't know anything about Jackson, But the Gesell kid can play. Reminds me alot of Kirk Hinrich. Let's hope Roy doesn't swoop in!! Watched him play in the Neb state tourney this year, he was unstoppable, could get to the hole whenever he wanted to, and if they sagged him he buried the three. also a very good passer. He will excel at the next level, and it will be D1. Hope it's Iowa City!!

 

[hawkeye2188]

78 is the number of losses Iowa has had in the last 4 years. Most recruits arent serious about where they want to go to college when they are in 8th grade or a freshman in high school. So the only Iowa history they know is the last 2-4 years(unless they are from Iowa) That isnt an attractive number and easy to use for other schools to recruit against Iowa.

Fran is going to have to get it done with undervalued, underrated, (and any other "under" word I forgot) type of players. I trust in his decision to offer Wasphun, he said he wouldnt offer a player just to fill a spot on the team, and is only offering players that can make an immediate impact.

 

[CAARHawk]

Everything I have heard about Gessel sounds like Iowa's chances are about as good as they were for Barnes, Hinrich, or Paige. Hope I have heard wrong. But that is what I have heard.

 

[ColumbusHawk]

I can't believe the criticism of McCaffery & his staff. Give the man a break! McCaffery only has been on the job for about a year and a week. His staff has been here less than a year.

As far as recruiting goes, this is the hardest working staff since Lute & Raveling. McCaffery and his staff are working there tails off. At least, they don't have Davis' laissez-faire attitude towards recruiting. Davis preferred golf over recruiting. Alford wasn't ready for the Big Ten and Lickliter & his amateur staff were lost.

At least, McCaffery & his staff don't have the attitude that good players & athletes won't come to Iowa. Lute & his staff worked very hard for a few years before they could get players like Payne out of Illinois, Stokes from Ohio & Lohaus from Arizona.

Of course, McCaffery can shut everybody up by signing the top junior college prospect.

Top junior college recruit considering Iowa | Hawk Central

I'm not enamored with Washpun, but with recruits from California, Long Island, Ohio & Georgia (if Meyer signs), McCaffery is recruiting beyond Iowa and the six contiguous states.

As far as Cully Payne, anyone who says "I'd still be a Hawkeye if Lickliter were here" needs to take a hike. I'll take Washpun over anyone with that attitude.

 

[9YRPLAN]

hinrich, jacobson, funk

 

[smoot27]

I'd rather have Matt Bohannon than Washpun. It's pretty bad when two of our recruits played on the same team and got killed by Linn Marr. Bohannon + Paige >>>>> Oglesby + Washpun


Our recruiting has been moderately disappointing, but I guess we'll have to give Fran a little time before judgement.

 

[hawkeye2188]

I'd rather have Matt Bohannon than Washpun. It's pretty bad when two of our recruits played on the same team and got killed by Linn Marr. Bohannon + Paige >>>>> Oglesby + Washpun


Our recruiting has been moderately disappointing, but I guess we'll have to give Fran a little time before judgement.

Only problem is those two recruits were practically play 5v2.

 

[smoot27]

Only problem is those two recruits were practically play 5v2.

Oh give me a break. When is the last time you've seen 2 division one caliber players on the same team get dominated easily like that? Did the other 3 players on the court cause Josh to go 1-10 for 3's? You sure know how to polish a turd. And to assert that the other players for Linn Marr contributed greatly is exaggerated at best. The tournament was dominated by Paige and Bohannon. In the finals game against Hoover only 3 other Linn Marr players recorded a point and none above 4 total points. Bohannon and Paige combined for 48 of the 56 total points.

 

[Smarthawk]

Who gives a s***. Good bye to Paige and Bohannon. Washpun and Oglesby are Hawkeyes and Paige and Bohannon aren't. Nuff said.

 

[uofihawkInation]

LOL. Really? Bohannon? He is more of a stand and shoot guy. There's a reason he is going to UNI, and its not that he was overlooked. He had 2 or 3 good tourney games and now he's a high D1 guy? And Paige was never coming to Iowa so theres absolutely reason to talk about him. And yes, Washington had 2 players on that entire team. The coach is smart, and fairly good. He knew what he had and that's why Josh took 10 3pt shots a game. That's an insane about. If you think Wash had anyone else you didn't watch them play, and they didn't lose to cupcake schools.

 

[smoot27]

LOL. Really? Bohannon? He is more of a stand and shoot guy. There's a reason he is going to UNI, and its not that he was overlooked. He had 2 or 3 good tourney games and now he's a high D1 guy? And Paige was never coming to Iowa so theres absolutely reason to talk about him. And yes, Washington had 2 players on that entire team. The coach is smart, and fairly good. He knew what he had and that's why Josh took 10 3pt shots a game. That's an insane about. If you think Wash had anyone else you didn't watch them play, and they didn't lose to cupcake schools.

If not for Iowa and a Tennessee team in shambles, Washpun is at a mid-major, so I don't understand your point ripping Bohannon going to a UNI team that's been better than Iowa more years than not the last decade. I'd take a shooter over a guy that shoots less than 40% fg and 50% ft throughout HS. Good luck working with that in the Big Ten. You'll continue to be the 3rd or 4th best team in the state for a long time to come. Hoiberg is killing Fran in acquired talent this season.

 

[Hawkstrat]

"I'd take a shooter over a guy that shoots less than 40% fg and 50% ft throughout HS."

Are you really saying you want Matt Bohannon as Iowa's backup PG because of his shooting ability?

Please tell me you are really saying that.

 

[JDavis11]

Man this thread was disappointing.

Don't get me wrong Washpun was clearly a fallback option which is discouraging but that doesn't mean the staff is terrible. We took a chance on Guerrero and came in 2nd for him. It doesn't matter how good a recruiter you are there is a margin of luck in recruiting and if we had landed him would they all the sudden be a great staff?

It's not like we started offering all kinds of back-up plans because no other recruit is working out. The staff has to be aware of other under radar players who could contribute or they could wait and see who qualifies (Phillip Miller from Houston, there was a player from Cincy). To offer Washpun now means they feel he can contribute.

Wait and see how the class finishes up before saying Fran needs to reconsider his staff. Geesh

 

[DesMoinesHawki]

I guess this surprises me. I would like to think there is a better juco or high school point guard out than one who shoots 52 percent from the free throw line and does not have the best outside shot. Yes, we need someone who can handle the ball but you need a point guard who can shoot and who can especially make free throws. Makes me wonder if Fran is not feeling good about landing any other point guards he may be in on.

 

[smoot27]

"I'd take a shooter over a guy that shoots less than 40% fg and 50% ft throughout HS."

Are you really saying you want Matt Bohannon as Iowa's backup PG because of his shooting ability?

Please tell me you are really saying that.

I'm not saying that at all. I'm just showing what level of recruit I think Washpun is. Maybe he'll shock most of us and pan out, but one has to reasonably assume he is practice squad material at this stage. I was just throwing Bohannon out there to say that Linn Mar's tandem of Bohannon-Paige is far superior to Wahington's. Paige>Oglesby & Bohannon>Washpun. It was more hypothetical than anything. Hopefully we'll at some point get to the level where we can compete for the state's top prosepects because it is a joke that guys like Barnes and Paige don't even give us a sniff being that we are from a power conference. I think a lot of Hawk fans are delusional as to where we are at right now. That is, bottom feeders in the conference.

It's probably a little early for judgement, but since this is a message board forum for discussion I might as well open it up. Being that I'm a Timberwolves' fan (haha) I'm afraid we may see a lot of similaritiies between Fran and David Khan from the standpoint that both are transparent and engaged with the fans and know how to create excitement. Neither have achieved meaningful results to this point. If we keep getting guys like Washpun, I don't see us getting anywhere. In a couple years the let's get mad with Fran might become the get mad at Fran.

 

[Hawksel]

I'd rather have Matt Bohannon than Washpun. It's pretty bad when two of our recruits played on the same team and got killed by Linn Marr. Bohannon + Paige >>>>> Oglesby + Washpun


Our recruiting has been moderately disappointing, but I guess we'll have to give Fran a little time before judgement.

I think this post most accurately reflects why people are disappointed with an offer to Washpun. How can Iowa recruit two players from a team that didn't even win state?

However, if you watch Washpun's highlights, you can see that he does have D1 talent, whether it is so called mid major or high major talent will depend on whether he improves his shooting while he's in college. I'm particularly interested in his ability to use his athleticism (hanging in the air) to create separation for his shot. I think he has potential to be solid to very good, depending on how hard he works.

As for people bemoaning Washpun as a fallback recruit, the truth is that ever since we lost out on Marcus Paige, pretty much every other PG we've offered has been a fallback. That's how it goes.

 

[Cydkar]

I'm not saying that at all. I'm just showing what level of recruit I think Washpun is. Maybe he'll shock most of us and pan out, but one has to reasonably assume he is practice squad material at this stage. I was just throwing Bohannon out there to say that Linn Mar's tandem of Bohannon-Paige is far superior to Wahington's. Paige>Oglesby & Bohannon>Washpun. It was more hypothetical than anything. Hopefully we'll at some point get to the level where we can compete for the state's top prosepects because it is a joke that guys like Barnes and Paige don't even give us a sniff being that we are from a power conference. I think a lot of Hawk fans are delusional as to where we are at right now. That is, bottom feeders in the conference.

It's probably a little early for judgement, but since this is a message board forum for discussion I might as well open it up. Being that I'm a Timberwolves' fan (haha) I'm afraid we may see a lot of similaritiies between Fran and David Khan from the standpoint that both are transparent and engaged with the fans and know how to create excitement. Neither have achieved meaningful results to this point. If we keep getting guys like Washpun, I don't see us getting anywhere. In a couple years the let's get mad with Fran might become the get mad at Fran.

Am I the only one that noticed that you cherry-picked your matchups in bold to favor your argument? Why not Paige v. Washpun and Bohannon v. Oglesby since they are similar pairs? I see what you did there.

 

[JHHawk]

Who the heck is David Khan? Is he the Wolves coach? I am a big NBA fan,but I admit that could stump me in a trivia contest.
Comparing an NBA coach to a college coach is really not relevant,you know that,right?
I understand that our recruiting is very much up in the air right now,but so far,Fran's recruits on the floor have been solid,most fans concede.
As we saw this past tourny, college bb landscape is now officially flat....VCU and Butler unranked recruits can beat highly ranked recruits at BCS schools like Kansas.
Beyond the top 30 recruits....it is hard to say any kid is a guarantee star or a bum.
If Fran can get some players like that Rozelle of VCU or VanZant of Butler(both unranked)...Iowa will compete.

 

[Hawksel]

Who the heck is David Khan? Is he the Wolves coach? I am a big NBA fan,but I admit that could stump me in a trivia contest.
Comparing an NBA coach to a college coach is really not relevant,you know that,right?
I understand that our recruiting is very much up in the air right now,but so far,Fran's recruits on the floor have been solid,most fans concede.
As we saw this past tourny, college bb landscape is now officially flat....VCU and Butler unranked recruits can beat highly ranked recruits at BCS schools like Kansas.
Beyond the top 30 recruits....it is hard to say any kid is a guarantee star or a bum.
If Fran can get some players like that Rozelle of VCU or VanZant of Butler(both unranked)...Iowa will compete.

David Kahn is the general manager for the Minnesota Timberwolves. He is notorious for making some questionable personnel moves and also vigorously defending them.