Keeping Fan Expectations Real

eyekwah

eyekwah

Well-Known Member
It's great that Iowa is now 8 and 3 with the latest win against ISU. Coming off that win Iowa may find itself without Bohannon going forward and a bench that is a bit depleted with Nunge done and Pemsl hurting. The schedule ahead is difficult with so many B1G teams highly rated. Iowa has 2 games vs MD, 1 more vs MI, 1 vs OSU and 1 vs MSU. Teams like Indiana, Illinois, Purdue, Rutgers and Penn State are on a similar level record wise with Iowa and Iowa has 8 games with those teams.

It is my hope that Iowa could get to 11 wins in the conference season and win the last two non-conference games. It is going to be tough. I just hope the team health can hold up.
 
eyekwah said:
It's great that Iowa is now 8 and 3 with the latest win against ISU. Coming off that win Iowa may find itself without Bohannon going forward and a bench that is a bit depleted with Nunge done and Pemsl hurting. The schedule ahead is difficult with so many B1G teams highly rated. Iowa has 2 games vs MD, 1 more vs MI, 1 vs OSU and 1 vs MSU. Teams like Indiana, Illinois, Purdue, Rutgers and Penn State are on a similar level record wise with Iowa and Iowa has 8 games with those teams.

It is my hope that Iowa could get to 11 wins in the conference season and win the last two non-conference games. It is going to be tough. I just hope the team health can hold up.
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Yeah I agree, also PMac is still on the bench. It will be interesting to see if he redshirts or is able to come back.
 
The expectation from fan's was that Iowa was gonna suck, that the coach couldn't coach, that he couldn't recruit, his kids couldn't play and that this team was full of slow white kids. There was room for them to rise.
 
InGoodCo said:
The expectation from fan's was that Iowa was gonna suck, that the coach couldn't coach, that he couldn't recruit, his kids couldn't play and that this team was full of slow white kids. There was room for them to rise.
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That last one is still true! LOL!

But the team is gritty and plays with an attitude. Me likey! :)
 
Yea, fans should prob pull back the reigns a little bit. That Iowa St. team doesn't look to be that good, to be honest. They aren't gelling at this point and don't look to be very good shooters.
 
MelroseHawkins said:
Yea, fans should prob pull back the reigns a little bit. That Iowa St. team doesn't look to be that good, to be honest. They aren't gelling at this point and don't look to be very good shooters.
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Don't be guilty of assuming a team sucks just because we punked them. That's an all to common response around here. We made Syracuse look like the worst team ever. They've since destroyed Georgia Tech. They aren't good but they aren't horrendous like we made them look. Minnesota looked one step better than Syracuse when we bitch slapped them, so now everyone says they're the worst. They have a really good big man and are a really good 3 point shooting team (ironic since they sucked shooting against us). They aren't that good but they aren't as bad as fans are saying. Now Iowa State (a bubble team with some good wins already) has to suck because we took their manhood. Ok nevermind, they still suck. But the other ones don't.
 
ModebaSan said:
Yeah I agree, also PMac is still on the bench. It will be interesting to see if he redshirts or is able to come back.
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Hopefully if they are planning on getting Patrick a medical redshirt, they have him "give it one last go" against Cincinnati before shutting it down. We need that win bad.
 
PCHawk said:
Don't be guilty of assuming a team sucks just because we punked them. That's an all to common response around here. We made Syracuse look like the worst team ever. They've since destroyed Georgia Tech. They aren't good but they aren't horrendous like we made them look. Minnesota looked one step better than Syracuse when we bitch slapped them, so now everyone says they're the worst. They have a really good big man and are a really good 3 point shooting team (ironic since they sucked shooting against us). They aren't that good but they aren't as bad as fans are saying. Now Iowa State (a bubble team with some good wins already) has to suck because we took their manhood. Ok nevermind, they still suck. But the other ones don't.
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Georgia Tech is 3-8... Yikes. I don't put much stock in that one.

This Iowa team can score points, absolutely, but I looked the other day and my main concern is that they are once again dead last in the conference in FG% defense, and 220's nationally in defensive efficiency. So I'm not sold that this team's defense won't be an issue. Guess we'll see how it all plays out, but until we see our defensive stats improve significantly, I personally am inclined to pump the brakes on my own expectations. The schedule isn't going to get any easier.

Point taken though.. I'm going to enjoy the W's while we have them and hope for the best going forward. Not gonna worry about what might happen next month and into February/March until we get there. We'll see.

Even though our best wins are against teams that are not what they were last year or in the past, those are still solid wins.
 
Syracuse and ISU may be a little down this year but both of those places are extremely difficult to win at. We've certainly lost to worse ISU teams at Hilton in the past. Those wins, along with Texas Tech, are all very quality wins make no mistake about it.
 
1977Hawkeye said:
Georgia Tech is 3-8... Yikes. I don't put much stock in that one.

This Iowa team can score points, absolutely, but I looked the other day and my main concern is that they are once again dead last in the conference in FG% defense, and 220's nationally in defensive efficiency. So I'm not sold that this team's defense won't be an issue. Guess we'll see how it all plays out, but until we see our defensive stats improve significantly, I personally am inclined to pump the brakes on my own expectations. The schedule isn't going to get any easier.

Point taken though.. I'm going to enjoy the W's while we have them and hope for the best going forward. Not gonna worry about what might happen next month and into February/March until we get there. We'll see.

Even though our best wins are against teams that are not what they were last year or in the past, those are still solid wins.
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Yea I wasn't trying to argue that Syracuse is good or anything. Just that they aren't the worst like fans here were saying. They do have one really good player tho and Wieskamp shut him down big time.
 
Losing JBo will hurt, but it should improve our overall defense. We are going to have a short bench and not playing a lot of different players. Our rotations have been much shorter and that seems to be a positive at the moment. Anymore injuries to a starter would be hard to overcome.

I think the formula of shooters around Garza in the middle is really tough to defend. This league has some really good big men and I think that will be a big challenge for this team heading forward.

I feel like Touissant is the wildcard on this team if JBo sits. He has the ability to play in this league. Him being in more on defense will help this team. I've been impressed with him so far and him getting more minutes won't be a terrible thing. As with most freshman we will probably have some sort of learning curve. Both Touissant and Fredrick seem to have an edge to them which I like a lot!

This original post should probably be put up in every school playing college basketball. Most teams lose some games they shouldn't every year.

As much as I hate to say it, Dakich might have been right about the Depaul game being a wake up call for this team. They have played much better since they got punched in the mouth.
 
PCHawk said:
Don't be guilty of assuming a team sucks just because we punked them. That's an all to common response around here. We made Syracuse look like the worst team ever. They've since destroyed Georgia Tech. They aren't good but they aren't horrendous like we made them look. Minnesota looked one step better than Syracuse when we bitch slapped them, so now everyone says they're the worst. They have a really good big man and are a really good 3 point shooting team (ironic since they sucked shooting against us). They aren't that good but they aren't as bad as fans are saying. Now Iowa State (a bubble team with some good wins already) has to suck because we took their manhood. Ok nevermind, they still suck. But the other ones don't.
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everyone's good and gonna blow our doors off until we beat them, then they must suck.
 
Said this in another thread, but if Iowa can beat Cincy and then go .500 in the big ten they're likely a tournament team.

Iowa's not going to win the Big Ten and I don't think anyone really believes that they will either. I dont think anyone could have predicted Garza was going to be this friggin good though either. I'm just gonna enjoy the ride.
 
Health is gonna be the key. Garza plays so physical hoping his body holds up all year. I was skeptical on CJ before the year started as I've heard the Fran hyperbole before with similar players, but the kid can play and has some of that JBo swagger. Really liking Tousaint, where have guys like him been the last 10 years ha ha.
Honestly, I think the key with this team has been its unselfish play. They play hard and seem to enjoy playing with each other and don't care who the leading scorer is on any given night. Better ball movement and other than maybe Pemsl anyone on the court can knock down a shot when needed.
 
PCHawk said:
Don't be guilty of assuming a team sucks just because we punked them. That's an all to common response around here. We made Syracuse look like the worst team ever. They've since destroyed Georgia Tech. They aren't good but they aren't horrendous like we made them look. Minnesota looked one step better than Syracuse when we bitch slapped them, so now everyone says they're the worst. They have a really good big man and are a really good 3 point shooting team (ironic since they sucked shooting against us). They aren't that good but they aren't as bad as fans are saying. Now Iowa State (a bubble team with some good wins already) has to suck because we took their manhood. Ok nevermind, they still suck. But the other ones don't.
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No, I'm definitely not saying that Iowa is not better because they clearly are. I don't want to not give Iowa credit in these games because they are clearly finding ways to disrupt what other teams want to do and are a hard guard on offense. I guess I'm still in surprise mode and still a bit cautious, BUT EXCITED!
 
MelroseHawkins said:
No, I'm definitely not saying that Iowa is not better because they clearly are. I don't want to not give Iowa credit in these games because they are clearly finding ways to disrupt what other teams want to do and are a hard guard on offense. I guess I'm still in surprise mode and still a bit cautious, BUT EXCITED!
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I'm still cautious too and this team is gonna lose games. They will go thru a stretch this season at some point where they seemingly can't find a way to win and they drop a few in a row. That's kind of the normal ebb and flow of a mid tier basketball program....which Iowa is. I want it to be better too and I want to be elite, but I am just really excited and happy that we aren't HORRIBLE... ya know? Cause I think a lot of people thought we were going to be. There is hope. It appears we have some good players. It appears that we can lose players the caliber of Cook and Moss and come out the other end just as good. That's a terrific sign that our basketball program is in good shape. I don't feel like I've felt that for a long time, in fact I was closer to the other end of the spectrum ....and to me, that's a relief.
 
PCHawk said:
Yea I wasn't trying to argue that Syracuse is good or anything. Just that they aren't the worst like fans here were saying. They do have one really good player tho and Wieskamp shut him down big time.
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Gotcha. Despite my concerns about the defense, the D wasn't good last year and Iowa made the dance despite it, so I'm feeling there's a chance they could pull that off this year, too. Just to clarify where I'm at.

In fact, IIRC, JBo was out an extended stretch during the second half last night, and it seemed the team still did just fine. So I'm not convinced that it's season over if he shuts it down. I still have some hope. We'll see.
 
I know I'm not going to be cautious. If they don't make the dance I'll be bummed. But I won't be bummed because of my lack of caution. I'll be bummed because I don't get to watch them in the tournament. Me having caution now would in no way prevent me from being bummed if they don't make it. I know this because I had extreme caution we weren't going to win our last 3 second round tournament games, but I was extremely bummed anyway after all 3 loses.
 
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