Northside Hawk
Well-Known Member
Some good points. And I've been on the "replace the Old Capitol Mall with a downtown arena" train since I joined this forum in early 2018.I read a lot of good talking points to put on the white board at the "retreat".
For an older guy, someone who loves the game of basketball and is a born-n-bred Hawkeye (also alum), it really boils down to:
1) Performance. Obviously prefer W's but, even more-so, consistent competence and playing to capability.
No lectures needed about "that's sports", blah, blah, blah. I played, I know, off games, etc. I'm talking about the same shit, year after year, that it's to the point (for me, at least) that the only consistency is what is not going to happen / which one is not going to reliably perform.
No single outs but, in general ...
How many years have we heard what GREAT shooters we have, only to routinely watch terrible shooting performances that are inexplicable by the "had an off game"?
How many years (decades) have we watched below average to just plain bad defense, along with many other basic fundamentals (pick-n-roll; box out and go get the damn rebound; move the ball inside out through the air)?
This is especially the case with Fran's fast system. I get it, it can be fun to watch but if you're gonna do it ya gotta have the guys do it.
In Good Co frequently references Fran's accomplishments as far as making the tourney and developing high caliber players. Duly noted. However, I'm of the opinion that, in basketball, if you have consensus All-American players - even 1 - do as well as you do in the Big10-ish (even win the tourney), which means you also have a decent enough supporting cast (i.e. Bohannon + Garza + Murrays + Mac boys) you should be able to get to the S16 and you certainly can't piss away a 1st round game to Richmond.
Those years were disappointing, missed opportunities. We are now getting to 3-4 years removed and that seed of waning enthusiasm is starting to bear fruit.
** Side note ** I had little expectation for this year but see a lot of reason to be excited about Harding, Freeman and (hopefully) Koch over the next couple years. None the less, it's going to mean WINS and hearing their names as they become stars to get fan attention.
2) Convenience. Between the weeknight schedule, weather and that the reasons above, for someone who would have to travel, it's just too easy to watch on TV.
As far as generating local and student enthusiasm, consider the audience. It might be lame excuses for some to accept but I think students / culture is different from the 80's when I attended. They need ease and excitement to motivate them. Right now, there's neither.
I think the ease would be satisfied by relocation. Fantastic idea to relocate to replace the OC Mall - which looks to have become a ghost town that is little more than a shelter and a piss stop between the ped mall and the games. It would be a prime spot that is a few blocks from where most students live and go for entertainment. They wouldn't have to wait for Cambus. They wouldn't have to pay for Uber. They could maintain the pre-game buzz from bar to game (Only on weekend games, kids!)
That extends to paying public. Right now, if you go to Carver (which I'm planning to do next Friday for Ohio State), you have to find a place to eat, probably somewhere in Coralville - because it's closer. You have to get back in the car and find a place to park. Carver lots are a half-hour in traffic to get in, an ordeal to find a space, a long walk to the arena and and hour to get out. I usually grab a spot in someone's lawn, which is an adventure itself navigating the 1-lane neighborhood roads near Carver and will be even worse with piles of snow obscuring entry ways and taking up spaces. I'd love to be able to park, walk to eats / drinks, check out campus, maybe visit the book-n-crook, walk to the game AND would probably hang a bit after the game before heading home.
Right now, Carver is like going to Field of Dreams ... Cool to go to the event but there's no amenities around it. You either have to create a ped-mall west or move it to where the action is. Either way, if you build it, they will come!
Excitement would be satisfied by a couple things:
-- The #1, do it now with little to no effort is the long-stated no-brainer ... swap the students for the blue-hairs.
-- More difficult is #2 ... You have to have "star" power. You need a Garza, Murray ... or, God willing, a Caitlin Clark! If you don't have that then you have to have a team that plays well and gets WINS.
Which brings me full circle ...
These are just product and convenience issues that address Iowa's attendance. So many fixables - I hope it doesn't take the U elders as long to figure out as it took to simply paint the water tower.
However, there's still other challenges that basketball, itself, faces ...
-- It's not football.
-- A fifth of it's schedule takes place when students aren't around.
-- There is no other sport more poorly / inconsistently / subjectively officiated and where officiating can have such a negative impact on the flow and outcome of the game. This is especially true in the Big-10-ish.
If you made it this far, thanx for reading. Please understand it's just this old Hawkeye fan's 99 + 2 cents. No need to go ad-hominem if you disagree. Go Hawks!
I think losing to Richmond in the first round after winning the BTT was a bounce from which we have yet to recover. We could have used a Friday draw that year, or at least a Thursday evening draw, after playing four in four but got neither. Of course, neither did Richmond.
Not getting out of the first weekend the year before as a two seed was another crippling blow. We had Garza, Wieskamp, both Murrays, both Mac boys, JBo, and a solid supporting cast and still couldn't advance.
Carver, for the 5,298th time, isn't the issue. They pack em in for the women and for Wrestling.
I think fans want to see a deep tourney run, something that a fan born after 1985 or so has yet to experience. T-Rex dinosaurs might have just as well been roaming the earth since out last sweet sixteen run. Add to that the fact that the women have a once in a lifetime game transcending talent, that there is no true star power on the men's team anymore, that Fran's "fire and passion" is too often misguided, that his kids have unfairly been made the faces of the team, and it's a perfect storm of growing apathy. Now add on that his youngest doesn't want to play here and then was involved in a tragic off court accident...
....February could get ugly. Finding consistency on the court, playing like they did two weeks ago, would be a good place to start regaining some equity. Peyton's public on the court dressing down of Freeman was not a good sign. He is always the one preaching "stick together" after tough losses and then he goes and does that.
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