Stanzi
Well-Known Member
NIT at best? Dang, that's rather pessimistic. I think NIT at worst, 2nd round NCAA at best, and probably a one and done in the NCAA as the most likely scenario.
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- Thread starter RobHowe
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NIT at best? Dang, that's rather pessimistic. I think NIT at worst, 2nd round NCAA at best, and probably a one and done in the NCAA as the most likely scenario.
Pass the kool-aid
In my opinion, Fran has consistently made the team better than the individual players. That has been somewhat evened out by his record in close games. I think that record was 90% on the senior class's inability to handle pressure. This year I expect the team to once again be better than the talent on the roster would suggest. Hopefully they will be able to win their share of close games and over achieve even more.
I think the coaching staff has done a great job too.
InGoodCo
Well-Known Member
NIT at worst - with an outside shot of making the Dance - after graduating one of the better senior classes to ever play at Iowa (win percentage wise) - Iowa will likely have 4 straight years of players getting drafted to the NBA - yeah, Fran is killing it and if you don't think so, you have expectations that are unreasonable. We need to see a sweet 16 stat tho IMO - so it's not all sunshine and rainbows in my point of view either - but I think what's on the roster and in the pipeline is going to get them there over the next 3-4 seasons.
4 straight years of getting a player drafted is great but I'd rather have 4 straight years of NCAA tournament appearances and I think this is the year we have to start over
DP5555
Well-Known Member
I wouldn't be shocked if this is an NIT year. Nor do I really care. What Fran has coming down the pipeline in terms of talent makes me okay with them having a down year. Maybe they'll outperform my expectations and make it another fun season with a chance at an NCAA run. That would be cool, but I'm not expecting it.
I guess I just try to take a birds eye view approach when deciding how to handle my expectations for the Iowa basketball team. Fran has brought Iowa back to relevance. They are consistently competing for and making the NCAA tourney. That's really all I ask for. I feel like I'm a simple man with realistic expectations. The Lick years just demoralized me. Boring, awful, stale, basketball from teams who just couldn't compete. Scores in the 50's and 60's. It was freaking pathetic. Fran has completely turned that crap around. Sure it would be awesome if they could make a deep run every once in awhile. I think the talent coming in down the road will put them in a solid position to do that so I'm more than willing to let this next season be nothing more than a building year.
I think any time you miss the NCAA tournament you should be disappointed. We've made three straight NCAA tournament appearances so I would hope we'd be able to build off that instead of taking a step back but it is what it is
InGoodCo
Well-Known Member
most programs have a year where they have to reload and reshuffle a lil bit - some of the best programs out there go to the NIT every once in a while. - FWIW I think they will still contend for a bid to the tourney so I'm not ready to completely dump on next season just yet... we will have one of the best scorers in the country.
This is true and I bet their fan base is really disappointed the year it happens. I'm not saying we should go to 50 straight NCAA tournament appearances but I do think we should look at the tourney as a minimum bar for season success
InGoodCo
Well-Known Member
Disappointed sure - considering it the end or a sign of anything other than a rebuild year ...no - again, lots of great programs in the country miss the tourney here and there - their fans are disappointed too I am sure but it happens to programs that recruit a hell of a lot better than Iowa.
InGoodCo
Well-Known Member
Absolutely no disagreement with that.
DP5555
Well-Known Member
A measure of success sure... but you're basically saying "Yes, almost all teams go through rebuilding seasons and when they do so you should be disappointed!"
Don't you see why that's a little ridiculous? I mean we're talking about Iowa basketball here. North Carolina slipped to the NIT in the '09-'10 season. Kentucky was in the NIT in '12/'13.
It happens. It happens to the best of teams. It's called sports. You get players who gain experience and fit the right pieces together and they go on a little run. Then they graduate or leave for one reason or another and there's usually a set back before piecing it together again.
What's the point in getting disappointed over something that is expected when the big picture clearly shows that things are on the up and up?
Being happy with a season or disappointed with a season as a fan is normal. Were you not disappointed with Iowa football in 2012 or were you cool with it because rebuilding years are expected?
RobHowe
Administrator
We made it to the NCAA for three straight years. The last time that happened was 1991-93.
The best run was five in a row from '79-'83 and '85-89.
So, the last three years of making the NCAA Tournament is among the top 4 runs in program history.
This isn't Duke or North Carolina.
And, yes, I know it was harder to make the tournament back in the day when it only took conference champs.
The best run was five in a row from '79-'83 and '85-89.
So, the last three years of making the NCAA Tournament is among the top 4 runs in program history.
This isn't Duke or North Carolina.
And, yes, I know it was harder to make the tournament back in the day when it only took conference champs.
WindsorHawk
Well-Known Member
I think we will. It's easier to make up for a drop in experience than a drop in talent IMO. We will have less experience but I think it is probable that we will have more/better/deeper overall talent.
1977Hawkeye
Well-Known Member
It depends on how you define "disappointed". If you consider it to be something that fell short of expectations, then I can't consider this year to be a disappointment if I expect this team to be NIT material, and that's where they end up. But it doesn't mean I'll be thrilled with an NIT bid, either.
Lickliter "met expectations" his last year or two, but (most) people expected that team to stink - didn't mean we were supposed to be happy about it, right?
In other words, I don't put a lot of stock into pre-season expectations in a vacuum as a measure of how I should feel about the season as a whole - I look more at where we've been, and where we're trending to, and how we got to the end result. Besides, teams can be better/worse than expected. That doesn't mean I'll be ticked off this year if the Hawks miss the dance, but we can't stay down at that level, either. Gotta bounce back.
That's my 2 cents.
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DP5555
Well-Known Member
That's not a fair comparison because going into that season for football I had much higher expectations. So of course I was disappointed. My expectations aren't that high for this upcoming Hawkeye basketball team. I expect it to be a rebuilding year so if that's what it ends up being I'm not going to be disappointed. Now if they end up crashing and burning I will be disappointed. They have to at least show signs of growth and improvement. I hope like heck they end up being a pleasant surprise.