Joe Wieskamp No. 25 in ESPN's New Top 60 for '18
- Thread starter RobHowe
- Start date
docholihawk
Well-Known Member
As the song says, waiting on Joe.
RobHowe
Administrator
Not sure where he was on ESPN.
He's 43 on Rivals: https://n.rivals.com/prospect_rankings/rivals150/2018?soc_src=mail&soc_trk=ma
and 31 by Scout: http://www.scout.com/college/basketball/recruiting/2018-basketball-prospects?start=30
He's 43 on Rivals: https://n.rivals.com/prospect_rankings/rivals150/2018?soc_src=mail&soc_trk=ma
and 31 by Scout: http://www.scout.com/college/basketball/recruiting/2018-basketball-prospects?start=30
ibahawkeye
Well-Known Member
Here's a recruit that I can get excited about. Add in Patrick McCaffrey and I think you have 2 great building blocks for the future.
Wieskamp is likely a 3.
Patrick is already 6'7" and likely still growing so I think he could be a great Stretch 4.
Gotta find a good PG and a Big Man to go with these 2 and I think we could have something special.
The great thing is with Wieskamp and Patrick being such highly rated recruits they should be playing against other top recruits and hopefully developing a relationship that could benefit and open some doors for Fran.
Wieskamp is likely a 3.
Patrick is already 6'7" and likely still growing so I think he could be a great Stretch 4.
Gotta find a good PG and a Big Man to go with these 2 and I think we could have something special.
The great thing is with Wieskamp and Patrick being such highly rated recruits they should be playing against other top recruits and hopefully developing a relationship that could benefit and open some doors for Fran.
InGoodCo
Well-Known Member
With Cook and JW not to mention MG and Woody - can we put this narrative to bed that Fran can't land big fish? Fran is proving to be a hell of a recruiter and is only gaining steam as the wins come. Connor and Pat will be big fish too - but I suppose he doesn't get credit for them
I think the narrative is Fran isn't a good out of state recruiter and struggles to land the PG's he wants. Cook was obviously a step in the right direction
I think all the other sites have Rechon Black quite a bit higher than JW but it looks like we'd be #1 in ESPN
InGoodCo
Well-Known Member
Ok.. I get that - but when all the kids were flocking for KS, NC or WI during Alford and TL all we heard was - SOMEONE has to put a stop to this. We can't keep our guys home... so in comes Fran and Fran does exactly that and we're like, well now we're gonna discredit you for that cause those guys would come here anyways (which they weren't) and now he can't get good recruits out of state. Who cares? The further away they are from home the more likely it aint gonna work - fact of life in college recruiting.... not to mention he's got guys like Marble,White, Olseni and the such who weren't Iowa kids and made them to be pretty good.
I'll give you the PG thing... but MG was a Parade All American - maybe he didn't live up to the high expectations - but he was a good PG get and a solid player who started 4 years at Iowa. It all revolves around Tyler Ullis- which he didn't get - but I think he's hung long enough for that one... also I think Williams and Bohanon will both be good PG's FWIW.
Williams and Bohannon might be fine PG's but they were still fallback recruits so I think that criticism is justified. I agree though, I don't care where recruits come from I just want the best players available
InGoodCo
Well-Known Member
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
The fact we're going from three straight NCAA apperances to probably an NIT at best is because of his recruiting though so I get why some people criticize it. If you say "Fran can't recruit" that doesn't make sense but I do think it's the weakest part of his coaching. If he could improve his recruiting he could take us to the next level
DodgerHawki
Well-Known Member
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.
Iowa basketball was pretty much a joke when Fran took over so I think he has done a pretty good job of recruiting. The more the team advances the more the upper echelon of prospects are looking at Iowa. Iowa doesn't need to get all the recruits that they are looking at; because, they are pretty relentless in searching out prospects, but they do need to show the recruits that Iowa is a team on the rise as a selling point. Look how many quality guys are seriously looking at Iowa for next year with the amount of scholarships available. I doubt they would be in that position three years ago. I think the Iowa coaching staff has gotten Iowa more respectable every year. Its pretty amazing how many pro prospects the state of Iowa does produces. Next years team should be pretty good.
SteveGarvey1
Well-Known Member
All in all, for Fran to recruit as well as he has, for the six year period after the Lick years and the vast wasteland which was Iowa basketball, is commendable. Has his recruiting been a home run the last six years? No, but it's been a solid double.
hawkjunkie
Well-Known Member
Fran will get his PG some day. But it may be a long time out, depending on how things shake out in the next year or two with CW, JB and Connor down the road. That and we simply do not have the scholarships right now. And with what we do have, they are offering bigs. But it will happen...
