I've never seen a team so caught up in the outside distractions

[Hawkstrat]

Under achieved what? Your personal expectations? We're 19-7 and ranked 20th in the country dawg. We were in the NIT last season and aint been to the show since 2006. I didn't know Iowa won any talent contests or had some consistent top 25 recruiting classes coming in to draw this sort of disappointment from everyone. Haha, this board cracks me up.

By about every metric Iowa has a worse record than their talent should indicate. It's because they have been awful in close games, unfortunately this is the second year in a row that has been true.

Iowa is a Top 25 team (won't be after this week), but they are 2-7 against ranked teams. Iowa feasts on bad teams, and chokes against good teams.

 

[Hawkstrat]

I think the main problem with this years team is Fran and the coaching staff have overachieved. Who would of thought that the coaching staff would of accomplished so much in the last two years? The Iowa players talent hasn't caught up to the coaching staffs abilities yet. Olesani is just starting to emerge. Woodbury and Gesell have really developed this year. Marble has come on this year. Basabe and McCabe are good players, but they won't be all conference. The young talent is starting to mature, and hopefully, the coaching staff will bring in a couple of star recruits this spring. Oglesby has really started to mature the last few games too. The point is I don't think the problem is the coaching staff has underachieved, but they have overachieved, and the fans have lost their perspective. The fans have given certain players crap for the last few year, but a lot of the crap is because the see the improvement of the team but have over expectations.

Iowa has plenty of talent. Woody, Gesell, Uthoff and Ogs are all Top 150 players (according to rivals), and Marble is a first team Big Ten player, while White, and Basabe are proven commodities. The only surprise has been Gabe.

Iowa has all the talent they need to be a much better team.

 

[SnapBack]

I can agree with that InGoodCo, Fran has taken a talented team and underachieved.

You clearly have an agenda on this topic and I don't understand why. But, underachieved??? Who picked Iowa to finish better than 4th in the B1G? Iowa wasn't ranked to start the season, they should end the season in the Top 25.

 

[clicheusername3]

You clearly have an agenda on this topic and I don't understand why. But, underachieved??? Who picked Iowa to finish better than 4th in the B1G? Iowa wasn't ranked to start the season, they should end the season in the Top 25.

Well straight from the horses mouth this team has lost to a bunch of team's that they are better than so I would call that underachievement.

 

[Hawkstrat]

Any team that is good enough to compete with any team on their schedule, should be better than 2-7 against the ranked teams. They've wilted multiple times, and that is much more relevant than where Iowa is as a program.

 

[SnapBack]

Well straight from the horses mouth this team has lost to a bunch of team's that they are better than so I would call that underachievement.

yeah, and Drew Crawford thinks they're the best team in the B1G

 

[SnapBack]

Any team that is good enough to compete with any team on their schedule, should be better than 2-7 against the ranked teams. They've wilted multiple times, and that is much more relevant than where Iowa is as a program.

They should have gone 9-0 and be 26-0, #1 overall seed in the tourney.

 

[Hawkstrat]

They should have gone 9-0 and be 26-0, #1 overall seed in the tourney.

Of course not, but they shouldn't be 2-7 either.

 

[InGoodCo]

By about every metric Iowa has a worse record than their talent should indicate. It's because they have been awful in close games, unfortunately this is the second year in a row that has been true.

Iowa is a Top 25 team (won't be after this week), but they are 2-7 against ranked teams. Iowa feasts on bad teams, and chokes against good teams.

why won't we be ranked next week? Did we already lose those games? I get that you're trolling bro, I just don't get your point if you're a Hawk.


We're 7-7 against NCAA/NIT/Bubble teams, it could be and has been worse.

 

[doclee]

Kind of blows the whole "he's a great Senior leader" angle

Nice pile on, drummer.

 

[SpiderRico]

If anyone is being honest with themselves, they would admit that we've underachieved to date. With the talent that we've got in the rotation, with the home court advantage that has returned, with the abundance of juniors and seniors seeing significant minutes (finally), there is no way that we should have continued to see the same results in big game, late game situations.

It would be one thing if we were outplayed or blown out by the teams we lost to, but we haven't. In fact, I think it could be argued that there has been only one game this entire year that it was plainly obvious that we were not the better team on the court that day and that was at Michigan. But to continue to see the same results in close games that we've seen this year can only lead one to believe that we've underachieved.

Should we have been 9-0 against those teams? Nope, probably not. But the talent, experience and coaching is much better than the 2-7 record against those teams would indicate. And that's classic underachieving.

 

[atxhawk]

A portion of the fan base needs a big reality check. These people that are ripping on individual players are probably the same ones that rip ISU's fans when it comes to football or criticizing players for excessive celebration, saying things like "act like you've been there before." The way they are acting you would think Iowa was a perennial top 5 team that was having a terrible year instead of one that has been rescued from the depths. They have forgotten that in Zach's freshman year the team was 11-20. His sophomore year he was 5th in scoring, 3rd in rebounding, led the team in 3pt% and was a key part of Iowa's run to the post season.

I hate to admit it, but Dakich is right in calling out the fanbase for being whiney. It may not be the majority of the fans, but it is a VERY vocal minority.

30 years ago it was easy for teams to ignore the outside distractions since they weren't always in your face. I doubt people are complaining and berating players much more than they were then, it's just the berating is visible to the world now. It used to be done in the coffee shop, the town diner, around the water cooler, or at the local high school game. These days it's sent directly at the player over facebook and twitter, or done publicly on a forum like this or on 24/7 sports radio. The internet has also made people more fearless since you can hide behind a computer and say things.

I'd love to run into Zach and tell him exactly how I feel about him right now, mainly because I'm in his corner which makes it easy. I challenge anybody who's talking **** about him to say it directly to him in front of his teammates.

 

[doclee]

A portion of the fan base needs a big reality check. These people that are ripping on individual players are probably the same ones that rip ISU's fans when it comes to football or criticizing players for excessive celebration, saying things like "act like you've been there before." The way they are acting you would think Iowa was a perennial top 5 team that was having a terrible year instead of one that has been rescued from the depths. They have forgotten that in Zach's freshman year the team was 11-20. His sophomore year he was 5th in scoring, 3rd in rebounding, led the team in 3pt% and was a key part of Iowa's run to the post season.

I hate to admit it, but Dakich is right in calling out the fanbase for being whiney. It may not be the majority of the fans, but it is a VERY vocal minority.

30 years ago it was easy for teams to ignore the outside distractions since they weren't always in your face. I doubt people are complaining and berating players much more than they were then, it's just the berating is visible to the world now. It used to be done in the coffee shop, the town diner, around the water cooler, or at the local high school game. These days it's sent directly at the player over facebook and twitter, or done publicly on a forum like this or on 24/7 sports radio. The internet has also made people more fearless since you can hide behind a computer and say things.

I'd love to run into Zach and tell him exactly how I feel about him right now, mainly because I'm in his corner which makes it easy. I challenge anybody who's talking **** about him to say it directly to him in front of his teammates.

Good stuff, atxhawk! I think Hawkstrat should take up the challenge and face off with McCabe. I would buy a ticket. Hawkstrat is a troll and should be ignored, so I am breaking one of my own rules, but since he is one of the biggest cowards I have run into on this board, I don't feel so bad about calling him out. I sure he will have a whiny comeback for me in the near future, so thanks in advance.

 

[jacknicholson]

I'm guessing that the majority of people on these forums are adults... 25 years +

That said, those of us who are that age or older didn't have social media as such a huge part of our lives. Young people live and die on social media these days. It's a primary method of communication for teenagers, and it has provided a platform for young people to voice their opinions and display their emotions to a large audience. It allows them to connect with people that they could never reach before the social media age. Such a platform wasn't available when I was younger, so I just kept quiet and/or had a tantrum in my room after my parents took away my Nintendo 64.

I would venture to guess that a lot of the people saying negative things are just dumb teenagers who don't know any better. With age comes wisdom? Nah, with age comes experience, and that includes knowing when to keep your mouth shut.

You can't teach common sense, but you can learn logical and rational thinking with age. It's the number one personality trait that separates adults from children.

Unfortunately it doesn't guarantee that adults will not act like vindictive children though.....

 

[jacknicholson]

A portion of the fan base needs a big reality check. These people that are ripping on individual players are probably the same ones that rip ISU's fans when it comes to football or criticizing players for excessive celebration, saying things like "act like you've been there before." The way they are acting you would think Iowa was a perennial top 5 team that was having a terrible year instead of one that has been rescued from the depths. They have forgotten that in Zach's freshman year the team was 11-20. His sophomore year he was 5th in scoring, 3rd in rebounding, led the team in 3pt% and was a key part of Iowa's run to the post season.

I hate to admit it, but Dakich is right in calling out the fanbase for being whiney. It may not be the majority of the fans, but it is a VERY vocal minority.

30 years ago it was easy for teams to ignore the outside distractions since they weren't always in your face. I doubt people are complaining and berating players much more than they were then, it's just the berating is visible to the world now. It used to be done in the coffee shop, the town diner, around the water cooler, or at the local high school game. These days it's sent directly at the player over facebook and twitter, or done publicly on a forum like this or on 24/7 sports radio. The internet has also made people more fearless since you can hide behind a computer and say things.

I'd love to run into Zach and tell him exactly how I feel about him right now, mainly because I'm in his corner which makes it easy. I challenge anybody who's talking **** about him to say it directly to him in front of his teammates.

As hard as I try, I simply can't disagree with you, atx, you arre right on.....

 

[InGoodCo]

Iowa's 5-7 against tourney quality teams, I wish it were better too, but I didn't have the expectation of this being some sort of season where Iowa went 27-4 or something. It's a pretty nice team for Fran's first Iowa squad to dance.

 

[Tierney]

Iowa has plenty of talent. Woody, Gesell, Uthoff and Ogs are all Top 150 players (according to rivals), and Marble is a first team Big Ten player, while White, and Basabe are proven commodities. The only surprise has been Gabe.

Iowa has all the talent they need to be a much better team.

I think Iowa has plenty of talent too, but they are just starting to mature. A team full of top 150 players that are just coming into their own won't be a top ten team. Kentucky has problems with the top ten recruits they bring in every year, and the Iowa recruits are not rated that high. Marble has had a solid year, and he might make first team all-conference, but if Iowa loses a couple of more game it will be less and less likely. McCabe and Basabe are good players, but it is possible neither will make any of the all-conference teams. I think the coaching staff has overachieve with the inexperience of the team. Woody is a great player, but he is going to be a lot better nex year. Iowa is bringing in more talent every year, and they are getting more experienced every year.

 

[SnapBack]

If anyone is being honest with themselves, they would admit that we've underachieved to date. With the talent that we've got in the rotation, with the home court advantage that has returned, with the abundance of juniors and seniors seeing significant minutes (finally), there is no way that we should have continued to see the same results in big game, late game situations.

It would be one thing if we were outplayed or blown out by the teams we lost to, but we haven't. In fact, I think it could be argued that there has been only one game this entire year that it was plainly obvious that we were not the better team on the court that day and that was at Michigan. But to continue to see the same results in close games that we've seen this year can only lead one to believe that we've underachieved.

Should we have been 9-0 against those teams? Nope, probably not. But the talent, experience and coaching is much better than the 2-7 record against those teams would indicate. And that's classic underachieving.

I agree that when you look at the sample size of those 9 games, we should have finished better than 2-7. I would agree that we underachieved in those games. Throughout the course of the season, fan expectations have gone higher and higher because we played better (overachieved) than what we originally thought. So in the big picture of the whole season, I would say we have at least played to expectations.

 

[HawkeyeMHA]

The McCabe thing is the only thing I would say that is an outside factor. I don't think the other stuff is much of anything. Mountains of mole hills

 

[SpiderRico]

I agree that when you look at the sample size of those 9 games, we should have finished better than 2-7. I would agree that we underachieved in those games. Throughout the course of the season, fan expectations have gone higher and higher because we played better (overachieved) than what we originally thought. So in the big picture of the whole season, I would say we have at least played to expectations.

Or, the flipside could be argued....that we undervalued the team at the start of the year.

When you look at it from an experience standpoint, we start 2 seniors, 1 junior and 2 sophomores. In addition, we have a senior and 2 juniors coming off the bench. So within that top 8, we have 3 seniors, 3 juniors and 2 sophomores. Plenty of experience there to anticipate being able to close out games better than we have.

From a productivity standpoint, we've got 3 starters right now that are 1,000 point scorers. Name another team out there with a starting 5 that has 3 1,000 point scorers. I can't think of any off the top of my head.

From a talent standpoint, we've got 4 guys in the rotation that were Top 150 players as well.

So from every conceivable, objective measurement.....from experience, to productivity, to talent.....we should be better than what we are. So there's obviously something missing. Could it be focus....based on all the comments this year from players and the head coach regarding outside fan perceptions? Could be. Could it be coaching.....the inability to get the right guys in at the end of games? Could be that as well. But as I said, from the things that can be measured, we should certainly be better than the results we've achieved.