yup - like I said, I'll give you PG - it's been the knock but his recruiting all around seems questioned a lot- it's not like MG was a fall back... he was at the time a huge upgrade at the position and the type of player we hadn't had in a while. IMO we can stop with the Fran can't recruit deal cause he's killed it and it's getting better, so that's pretty exciting. Can not wait to see this team next year... my expectations are NIT and anything better is gravy
Overall Fran has done a very, very good job in taking the Iowa program from oblivion of the Lickliter years to stability and respectability, with 3 straight NCAA tournament appearances. But to say that the recruiting overall in that time is Fran "killing it" isn't accurate, in my opinion. The other players in the Gesell/Woodbury class were Clemmons (good, solid player, low-ranked 3 star), Kyle Meyer and Patrick Ingram. Meyer and Ingram never played a meaningful minute for Iowa.
In 2013, Fran had one scholarship and chose to bet on future potential with Jok. At the time of his commitment, Jok was still dealing with the after-effects of the patellar tendon injury. There was no guarantee Jok would be able to be a B1G player. Fran gambled on the upside and it paid off. Big time. Huge win for Fran.
The 2014 class was Dickerson, Ellingson and Uhl. None highly-rated. And of the 3, only Uhl looks like a potential above-average B1G player. More than 1 class like this in a 4-year cycle and you are fighting uphill. Missing on Ulis hurt here.
The 2015 class was big in numbers, but low on stars. Hutton, Fleming, Wagner, Moss, Jones and Williams. Jones was the most ready to contribute but 2nd ACL took him out. Hutton and Fleming gone. Wagner is a B1G athlete, but at 6-6 is his ceiling what we saw last year? Williams looked encouraging in his late-season play, but now we get to see if he's ready for big minutes. Moss has a nice skill set, how soon until he can play at a high level? When you get lower-ranked/development guys, it takes longer for them to become capable of playing at a winning level. Still time for really good players to emerge.
It's very hard to build a team that wins a conference title or goes deep in the tournament without recruiting better than Iowa has. Yes, Wisconsin went to consecutive Final 4's, but they did have 5-star Decker and a lightning in the bottle transformation of Kaminsky from low-ranked recruit to player of the year.
Getting Cook was very important. As is/was the commitment of Wieskamp. Wieskamp is the real deal. Not just a unathletic guy who hangs out at the 3-point line and scores a lot of points against weak high school competition. He has an all-around game. 1-2 more of those type of players and Fran is really in business.