Miller: These Hawkeyes Are Easy to Love (Post Ohio State)

[tm3308]

THERE IS NO BCS IN COLLEGE BASKETBALL!!!

I freaking hate when people refer to basketball schools as being a bcs team, makes zero freaking sense...

It's just the easiest way to distinguish them. Mid-major is honestly offensive, IMO.

 

[bcl20]

THERE IS NO BCS IN COLLEGE BASKETBALL!!!

I freaking hate when people refer to basketball schools as being a bcs team, makes zero freaking sense...

Major conference/BCS who cares. Everyones knows what it means.

 

[smhawk]

Yes we almost (but didn't beat teams). WE'RE FREAKING AWESOME!!!!!!!

Who ever said anything about awesome? In comparison to the rest of the big ten, yes we're at the bottom... but who didn't expect this? What is your point? I'm still excited to see Iowa fight it out with the num. 2 team in the country and see their freshmen get 22 points. There is a lot to be excited about in lui of the teams potential. The chemistry is twice what it was last season, I don't see anyone transfering at the end of this year.

 

[bcl20]

Fine let's compromise. We're somewhere in the realm of ******/terrible/pretty bad/not that bad because we almost won that one game. Regardless this has been a hell of a boring argument over semantics.

 

[smhawk]

Fine let's compromise. We're somewhere in the realm of ******/terrible/pretty bad/not that bad because we almost won that one game. Regardless this has been a hell of a boring argument over semantics.

gez.. your depressing please go sleep in a highway

 

[TrustKF]

Fine let's compromise. We're somewhere in the realm of ******/terrible/pretty bad/not that bad because we almost won that one game. Regardless this has been a hell of a boring argument over semantics.

Agreed. Peace.

 

[DunderMifflinHk]

The last two Iowa teams almost beat Ohio State and Illinois also. Home court in the Big Ten (and college basketball) is a big deal. Hell Iowa didn't get blow out that often at home under Lick.

We are alot better team right now compared to our bad losses at the beginning of the year. We have gotten better every game. The team is learning a completely different style of play and is young. If we played OSU our first game we would of got smoked. Were playing much better basketball now. We are definitely not terrible. I'd say about average like stormin said.

 

[homes]

If they could just clean up their play in the first 10 minutes of the second half, that's when the game seems to get away from them. Strong finishes, but they've got too much ground to make up. They're getting there. It's just so much more fun to watch this team play than the past 3+ years. Good job Hawks, keep the faith and keep working hard.

 

[SDK46]

For one night....Basabe >>>> Marble

 

[FromFry2Ferentz]

Well dang I screwed up missed the game...thought it was a wednesday game.

 

[83Hawk]

BCL....you have the right to your opinion, but you are way off base here.

Iowa is not "terrible". Wins and losses don't always tell the story. Last year's team was terrible...they lost a lot of games and looked bad doing it. This year...there probably won't be very many more wins, but the difference in play is night and day compared to last year.

The fans know this, too. The excitement is coming back and the players are beginning to feed off of it. I have a season ticket, and the energy level of the fans rises a little more each game.

I am as negative as anyone on this board, but if you can't see the positives that are coming out of the Iowa basketball program right now, I guess you never will.

 

[Cydkar]

If Marcus Paige would somehow choose to stay home (LONG SHOT), it could be one of the biggest commitments for an Iowa team in the past three decades as far as what it could mean to a program. Singularly, I don't know that I could think of anything bigger.

I dont think it will happen, unfortunately. But he could be a program changer.

I don't think Paige is a program changing recruit. However, it would raise some eyebrows and maybe get the attention of other prospects. If that's how you meant it, I agree.

 

[SirJamaLot]

At some point in time, moral victories aren't enough to cut it. This isn't one of those times, and won't be one of those seasons...for the not cutting it part, that is.

Sure, the coaches and players won't want any talk of moral victories while they are in the midst of a challenging rebuilding year in a Big Ten conference that is as talented and deep as it's been in two decades. But sometime this spring and summer, they can look back on games like Tuesday night's 73-68 loss to the 2nd ranked team in the nation and see it as progress.

This wasn't a pyrrhic 43-36 win against Michigan State back in the Lickliter era. This was an Iowa team that led 35-29 at the break, then a team that surrendered a 29-10 run to start the second half, including a 16-0 run somewhere in the middle of the second stanza.

Iowa was down 13 points and on it's way to being another hunk of roadkill on Ohio State's schedule to date.

Yet, the Hawks didn't quit and they kept attacking. Three-point shots started to fall. Iowa came all the way back to get the game to within three points at 71-68. That's when Ohio State was somehow able to call a timeout as opposed to some kind of turnover that should have been called, and after the timeout they were able to get a point blank look and converted.

That was the game, but it was not the story.

Melsahn Basabe led Iowa with a career best 22 points, matching likely All American Ohio State forward Jared Sullinger's 24. Sullinger had 12 rebounds, Basabe had 13. Sullinger had one block, Basabe had six, including two rejections of Sullinger. On balance and on the whole, you can say Iowa's freshman Basabe outplayed Ohio State's freshman Sullinger, who has won the Big Ten's freshman of the week honor seven of the eight weeks its been awarded this year. Basable had 16 at the break; his previous career best was 14.

Jarryd Cole and Matt Gatens each scored 14 for Iowa, and Bryce Cartwright added 10 with 8 assists but also 6 of Iowa's 16 turnovers. Devyn Marble went scoreless in 24 minutes starting for the injured Eric May who did not not play; he averages 11.2 points per game for Iowa.

Iowa attempted 59 shots in this game, more than Ohio State. Again, this was an entertaining game to watch and given where this program is coming from over the past three years, that's something.

Though I was not at the game, you could feel the fans trying to will this team to a win, something that was commonplace in Carver Hawkeye Arena for 75% of my life. It's fun to see and hear that, and it's fun to watch Iowa basketball with a sense of optimism, even against the best teams in the nation.

For most of my life, I never, ever felt like Iowa was out of a basketball game until the clock showed 00:00...until the last four years.

14 games into the Fran McCaffery era, and even though Iowa is 7-7 and likely headed for another dismal season record-wise, that apathy has been washed away. I am probably an easy mark on that front, as I look for reasons to be optimistic. Heck, I even found some during the Lickliter era, but that was fool's Hawkeye Gold.

There is a long road ahead, but it feels good to feel good again related to Iowa basketball. It feels good to watch a group of players, down two of their top six performers in May and Cully Payne, take the #2 ranked team to the final buzzer, unwilling to give in.

It might be a different story when this team visits Columbus in a few weeks; I am sure it will be. But Iowa is proving that when you visit Carver Hawkeye Arena, you take off a half mentally at your own peril. That's what Ohio State did on Tuesday night; they were going through the motions in the first half, expecting their extreme talent advantage to be the difference.

They ran into a team that is still on the rise, one that is still a long way from restoring the pride this program has lost over the past decade, but one that believes in itself and the style its head coach employs.

This is easy basketball to get behind and support.

+1

well said, Fran and staff have proven they can coach, now they need to catch a break in recruiting a Ronnie Lester, BJ Armstrong, ect. Paige would be a huge get but there are other talented guards out there also. Hopefully he won't string them along, so they have time to bring in other talented guards.

 

[JonDMiller]

That is why I ask if Iowa should take a chance on a talented JUCO player ala Jamal Tinsley, not Devon Archie.....

Tinsely was at a JUCO for a reason but he stayed eligible and out of trouble long enough at ISU to make a real big difference on that ISU team.

I think under today's rules, he wouldn't be eligible anymore..not sure how many classes he attended in the second semester

 

[JonDMiller]

Iowa was terrible last year. Close to terrible the year before. They are not terrible this year. But I am not going to waste time determining which shade of the south side of average they are.

The program is getting healthier. That is what I care about right now

 

[AIRHAWK]

I dont think this team is 'terrible'

They are an every day example of how one or two players can change the entire PARADIGM of a basketball team.

Wow Jon, great use of the word PARADIGM. I challenge all HN posters to try to squeeze this word into a conversation today. Now go....

 

[DuffMan]

Wow Jon, great use of the word PARADIGM. I challenge all HN posters to try to squeeze this word into a conversation today. Now go....

I'm not sure I'd use great here, though I would say it's probably above average.

 

[1977Hawkeye]

Iowa is ranked 72nd in Pomeroy out of 345 D1 teams.
They are an average team, yes, but not terrible.

Absolutely. We are definitely not terrible. Are we a good team? No. But we are much improved from when we played S. Dakota St, and our record looks far worse than we really are. We just took one of the best teams in the country down to the wire. With May on the bench no less.

It's no accident that we lost the game, but we were basically one terrible 5-minute stretch away from pulling a huge upset. We just need to get more consistent, but I feel like we're getting there.

Even in defeat, we looked far better last night IMO against a 15-0 team than we did in some of our victories earlier in the year.

We lost a few close games early on without Gatens, or without him being 100%. If he was healthy, I'm sure that at least a couple of those early close losses would have been W's and we'd have been something more like 9-3 or 10-2 going into conference play, which looks a whole lot better, and we'd have an outside shot at some sort of post-season tournament.

That's not a terrible team.

It feels to me like the life is starting to slowly creep back into the program, and we are playing more competetive basketball against good teams. The crowd is starting to seem livelier.

There's a long ways to go and it won't happen overnight, but I'm seeing some signs of life. We just need to keep building on what we've accomplished so far, and bring the same intensity against unranked opponents like Indiana, Michigan, NW, etc. and I think we'll win some conference games this year, including an upset or two.

 

[AIRHAWK]

I'm not sure I'd use great here, though I would say it's probably above average.

Not terrible?

 

[DuffMan]

Not terrible?

Jon's writing was terrible two years ago, and and he was average last year. But I'm not going to waste time discussing what shade of the north side of average he is right now.

His writing is improving, and that's all I care about.