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

HawkeyeWalker said:
Maybe he's taken a solid squad and achieved pretty solid. Its been posted that there are limited amount of game changers, players that can create their own shot, or clutch players...in that case I would say its been pretty darned solid.

So 4 years from a bare cupboard, Fran has underachieved?? I disagree...but I guess its all in ones perspective.
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It is hard to conceive of this team as underachieving, particularly when you look at what things were like when Fran came. This team is right on the verge.
 
STILLBUSTER said:
I don't know Zach McCabe, personally, but would expect to agree with your description of his character and attributes. I respect and admire his commitment and effort to Hawkeye basketball. I also applaud you for pointing all of them out. However ...

Gliding, c'mon, man; even you would be little surprised if your last sentence prediction comes true.;)
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I have no problem with McCabe as a person and I can respect him for working hard... I worked really hard on my high school team as well. the problem is he just doesn't have the talent to deserve the minutes. It doesn't make him a bad person or someone that others should bad mouth just someone that isn't at the level needed to play especially taking the last shot of a game. How many top 10 teams with stars would have given the ball to a bench player to shoot?? Saying McCabe is a hard worker and has made sacrifices is fine but that doesn't equate to him deserving minutes. Like I said before, if that's true then I should have gotten a lot more minutes in high school but I was much more happy with winning then playing. I don't blame McCabe for anything but Fran is blind if he thinks McCabe is the man to take the last shot.
 
How many quality recruits will Iowa miss out on because some dope thinks he's a better coach than the head coach? Because some dope has to air Iowa's dirty laundry in public?

Think of the program for a change instead of yourself.
 
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MisterLucky said:
Underachieved?!? Yeah, I forgot that all the media and even the posters on this board predicted Iowa to win the Big Ten this season. If I remember correctly, pretty much everyone predicted us to finish 4th to 6th. Did I miss the influx of talent mid season that would have raised those expectations?

BTN.com’s preseason All-Big Ten teams, predictions « Big Ten Network
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Nope. What you missed is the huge overrating of the quality of teams in the league before the season, which led to a raising of expectations over the course of the season.

This is becoming a classic response now. "Well that's where we thought we would be at the beginning of the season." What about after the OSU away game? Is this where you thought they would be? Or on the way to the Elite 8?

What if every other team lost their best player for the year in the non-con? Would you want to change your prediction? Preseason predictions are meaningless and shouldn't be used as an excuse or justification for failure.
 
Hawkstrat said:
Fran didn't need to tell the guy to go be a fan of a different team, and he certainly didn't need to draw up a last possession play for McCabe to make himself feel better. Very immature.
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You're right. I'm sure as Fran laid out that play in the huddle it was based on pure spite. "I'll show those guys! Zach, you're taking the shot!!!!!!". What a selfish man.........
 
SnapBack said:
20 and 22 ... night and day ... big difference from beginning of jr year to end of senior year of college
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Hes a senior and this is his 4th year through. I could see MAYBE an 18 year old freshman responding on twitter the way he did "suck a fat one?" Really?? Embarrassing.
 
SpiderRico said:
And ultimately I think that is a big part of how this year has played out. You've got Woody shushing the home crowd because of the perception outside the team that he can't dunk. You've got White who has spoken up on more than one occasion about the treatment of different players by those in the media, fans, etc. You've got McCabe busting out inappropriate comments on twitter following a bad game. And you've got the coach, who rather than dismissing an ignorant fan on a call in show, made a point to ridicule him and then bring it up again and expound upon it during his weekly press conference.

This is a heckuva team from a talent perspective, but they have obviously been distracted by forces outside the team and I keep hoping for McCaffrey or someone in the organization to put the kibash on it.....but when the head man is apparently distracted as well, then I guess it's probably too much to ask.

It's too bad really....
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While you may be right, this will become less and less an oddity. Yesterday's anonymous coffee shop and barbershop critique is today's cowardly troll brought right to a player's smart phone courtesy of an @ reply.

When you are in the public eye, the only way to not get caught up in it to some degree is just to avoid it. Easier said than done and it's taken me 14-15years to get to the point where I don't seek out haters and pay it no mind.

But when you are a teenager or 22? Good luck with that.
 
JonDMiller said:
While you may be right, this will become less and less an oddity. Yesterday's anonymous coffee shop and barbershop critique is today's cowardly troll brought right to a player's smart phone courtesy of an @ reply.

When you are in the public eye, the only way to not get caught up in it to some degree is just to avoid it. Easier said than done and it's taken me 14-15years to get to the point where I don't seek out haters and pay it no mind.

But when you are a teenager or 22? Good luck with that.
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Agree 100%.

I imagine we could all (athletes and fans) learn a lesson from this and avoid message boards, Twitter, etc. until we have cooled off after a tough loss. It's far too easy to say things that you shouldn't in the heat of the moment, when emotions are running high. But like you said, all of that is easier said than done.
 
SpiderRico said:
If Fran really did ban Twitter for the rest of the year, then kudos to him....I hadn't heard that.

But as it relates to the caller, there are two things he could have done. One was to ridicule the caller by questioning his fandom and making a big point about it. The other was simply to look at Dolph and say "Next caller please". Sometimes there are comments made that don't deserve a response....that was one of those times in my opinion and I think Fran made the wrong decision there.

But then when he was asked about it, he could have simply said that if callers want to call and complain about him (Fran) then he is more than willing to take those calls, but that calls critical or demeaning of players are off limits and he won't dignify those with a response. But instead, he continued to ridicule the caller and continue to call attention to it by once again questioning the caller's fandom and making it a much bigger deal than it needed to be.
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SIAP (didn't want to read the whole thread):
I disagree with you Rico.
Idiots spewing garbage deserve to be called out for being idiots spewing garbage.

Especially when it's as constant and consistent as it has become.

The players or coaches shouldn't have to close their eyes and hope the idiots go away. They aren't going away.

In fact the light that has been shed on it the last several days has been a bit of a rallying cry for diehard/dedicated/sane fans to come out in support.

Another point in regards to Fran: if he doesn't at least make a comment when that caller phones in or when it comes up in a press conference (about a "fan" comment on twitter), would that not show a sign that he's not sticking up for his player?
 
SpiderRico said:
And ultimately I think that is a big part of how this year has played out. You've got Woody shushing the home crowd because of the perception outside the team that he can't dunk. You've got White who has spoken up on more than one occasion about the treatment of different players by those in the media, fans, etc. You've got McCabe busting out inappropriate comments on twitter following a bad game. And you've got the coach, who rather than dismissing an ignorant fan on a call in show, made a point to ridicule him and then bring it up again and expound upon it during his weekly press conference.

This is a heckuva team from a talent perspective, but they have obviously been distracted by forces outside the team and I keep hoping for McCaffrey or someone in the organization to put the kibash on it.....but when the head man is apparently distracted as well, then I guess it's probably too much to ask.

It's too bad really....
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In fairness to Mccaffery, he didnt bring up the caller. A reporter asked him the question. As always, Mccaffery doesnt give the media a generic response. He says what he wants to say, which is a good thing.
 
clicheusername3 said:
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.
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How do you know they are "better"? Because we lost close games to them we shouldn't have? So what if we had lost all these games by 10? 20? Would we still be under achieving or would we just not be as good as "expectations"?

I personally believe this team has over-performed true expectations at a very disappointing expense. This season would be a lot easier to swallow if we would have just been outplayed by the teams that were/perhaps are perceived to have been better than us. It's how we've lost that makes it hard to realize where we've gotten and how close we are. Still doesn't change the fact that most sane fans would be happy with where we are with pre season at mind. Knowing you, had myself or anyone here stated we were the best team in the big ten or that we were gonna win it you would have taken the time to call me out....

I will edit to include that I do agree that this team is way better than their record indicates. I'm just trying to keep in perspective that I didn't think before the season we would be this good or as competitive in every game or to this point not have lost a game or 2 to the bottom feeders like we have in the past.
 
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clicheusername3 said:
Nope. What you missed is the huge overrating of the quality of teams in the league before the season, which led to a raising of expectations over the course of the season.

This is becoming a classic response now. "Well that's where we thought we would be at the beginning of the season." What about after the OSU away game? Is this where you thought they would be? Or on the way to the Elite 8?

What if every other team lost their best player for the year in the non-con? Would you want to change your prediction? Preseason predictions are meaningless and shouldn't be used as an excuse or justification for failure.
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Inaccurate predictons that Iowa will be a final four team... Pretty caustic when they don't materialze, wouldn't you say? Shouldn't some blame go to prognosticators?
 
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eveningnewsteam said:
Hes a senior and this is his 4th year through. I could see MAYBE an 18 year old freshman responding on twitter the way he did "suck a fat one?" Really?? Embarrassing.
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I'm sure McCabe has been taking crap from fans for a long time. There are some other players that have been taking crap too, but the Wisconsin game probably was pretty important to the team. One player was out because of illness, and they almost won at the end. The garbage he was getting from the fans probably had something to do with it, but I'm sure he was pretty disappointed how it all turned out. McCabe probably is a guy that takes things to heart to much.
 
Tierney said:
I'm sure McCabe has been taking crap from fans for a long time. There are some other players that have been taking crap too, but the Wisconsin game probably was pretty important to the team. One player was out because of illness, and they almost won at the end. The garbage he was getting from the fans probably had something to do with it, but I'm sure he was pretty disappointed how it all turned out. McCabe probably is a guy that takes things to heart to much.
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You think? I think the guy wears his heart on his sleeve. I've never seen anyone bothered by being whistled for a foul so much in my life. Every whistle you can see the emotion whether its a questionable call or not. The guy is the poster child for taking things to heart. Not necessarily a good or bad thing, but that said when these type of guys slump they slump very hard as they simply struggle to shake it off and get past it, as I think we're seeing now.
 
kicker22 said:
You think? I think the guy wears his heart on his sleeve. I've never seen anyone bothered by being whistled for a foul so much in my life. Every whistle you can see the emotion whether its a questionable call or not. The guy is the poster child for taking things to heart. Not necessarily a good or bad thing, but that said when these type of guys slump they slump very hard as they simply struggle to shake it off and get past it, as I think we're seeing now.
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Unfortunately, that's disappointing given his position as a senior and a captain. You expect your seniors to play thru frustration and disappointment and other elements that you would expect to get a freshman or sophomore down. But McCabe just hasn't learned to flush things.....at least that's what it looks like from the outside.
 
patmyne said:
How do you know they are "better"? Because we lost close games to them we shouldn't have? So what if we had lost all these games by 10? 20? Would we still be under achieving or would we just not be as good as "expectations"?

I personally believe this team has over-performed true expectations at a very disappointing expense. This season would be a lot easier to swallow if we would have just been outplayed by the teams that were/perhaps are perceived to have been better than us. It's how we've lost that makes it hard to realize where we've gotten and how close we are. Still doesn't change the fact that most sane fans would be happy with where we are with pre season at mind. Knowing you, had myself or anyone here stated we were the best team in the big ten or that we were gonna win it you would have taken the time to call me out....

I will edit to include that I do agree that this team is way better than their record indicates. I'm just trying to keep in perspective that I didn't think before the season we would be this good or as competitive in every game or to this point not have lost a game or 2 to the bottom feeders like we have in the past.
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I believe he is referring Aaron White saying in an interview he is tired of losing to teams they are better than.
 
SpiderRico said:
Unfortunately, that's disappointing given his position as a senior and a captain. You expect your seniors to play thru frustration and disappointment and other elements that you would expect to get a freshman or sophomore down. But McCabe just hasn't learned to flush things.....at least that's what it looks like from the outside.
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Like throwing his arms in the air every time hes whistled for a foul or violation. Its beyond old.
 
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