Now That The Novelty Has Died Down Some...

InGoodCo said:
I mean coming into this year. Right now, I'll take the Drake starting 5 over Sandfort, Dix and Freeman. That starting 5 proved they can win against good teams. Last years Iowa team didn't. They didn't even beat a team the caliber of Missouri last year at HOME. I think because a few pieces of our team have been coveted, it's diluted our brains into thinking we had a good roster. We had one of the worst in P4.
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Re: bolded, other than a decent Missouri squad they didn't really beat any good teams. They beat 4 P6 teams. Missouri, Miami (dead last ACC), K-State (losing record conference and overall, bottom half of B12), and Vanderbilt (12th in the SEC). I get it that its hard to win consistently at the college level no matter what tier you're in, but what I'm getting at is I don't think that team really showed anything that would say it can compete in the B1G with the size and athleticism BMC is going to see next year. It's a whole new rodeo. You can squeak a game out here and there against a Missouri, but the schedule he has now is relentless because the dog fights down low just keep on coming every week and you have to be able to weather it.

There's some time left in the portal, but unless Iowa can get some big bodies to duke it out every night in this league like an Illinois/Purdue/etc., it's going to be a bad deal. I think if BMC can get Big Ten players he's got a way better shot at it than Fran. That's the key.

The Big Ten schedule is like the saying you hear about race cars...there's no replacement for displacement.
 
I would say the percentage for Iowa to have immediate success (top quarter of the Big Ten - in NCAA's) in year one under McCollum is 25%. As of now, he has no proven P6 players and to think a bunch of Drake players are going to get them there is crazy. I was all in on Fran being let go and couldn't be happier about the coaching hire, but let's all be realistic with the first season or two. Hopefully he'll get the Hawkeyes back up there, but we're at a humungous disadvantage in money, fan support and program name.
 
SwirlinLingerie said:
I'll just throw this out there, too. I think most of us would probably agree point guard is the most important position in college basketball, right? Maybe by quite a bit?

And our new coach recruited, signed and developed two point guards - Trevor Hudgins and Bennett Stirtz - who are better than any point guard Iowa has had over the last 25 years (that being Dean Oliver). And he did it while at a DII school! He had two better points guards in a span of a few years at a DII school than Iowa has had over a quarter century. Think about that.
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Well said.

The point guard position has been Fran's kryptonite. Very disappointing for a coach who played guard in college basketball. Center position? Check. Forward position? Check. Point guard? Failure.
 
Not sure if people realize this, but there are thousands of portal guys that have committed to various schools, but the commitments aren't announced because they need to get the official agreements in place. A player doesn't want a case where the school can't follow through on the promised $$$ and the school doesn't want a Kaden Proctor situation. BMC said on an interview that he does have a silent commit from a big. Just not ready to (or able to?) announce it.
 
99topdawg said:
Not sure if people realize this, but there are thousands of portal guys that have committed to various schools, but the commitments aren't announced because they need to get the official agreements in place. A player doesn't want a case where the school can't follow through on the promised $$$ and the school doesn't want a Kaden Proctor situation. BMC said on an interview that he does have a silent commit from a big. Just not ready to (or able to?) announce it.
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I must be getting hungry. For some reason when I see "BMC" big mac attack comes into my head. I hope it comes in a super size.
 
Fryowa said:
Re: bolded, other than a decent Missouri squad they didn't really beat any good teams. They beat 4 P6 teams. Missouri, Miami (dead last ACC), K-State (losing record conference and overall, bottom half of B12), and Vanderbilt (12th in the SEC). I get it that its hard to win consistently at the college level no matter what tier you're in, but what I'm getting at is I don't think that team really showed anything that would say it can compete in the B1G with the size and athleticism BMC is going to see next year. It's a whole new rodeo. You can squeak a game out here and there against a Missouri, but the schedule he has now is relentless because the dog fights down low just keep on coming every week and you have to be able to weather it.

There's some time left in the portal, but unless Iowa can get some big bodies to duke it out every night in this league like an Illinois/Purdue/etc., it's going to be a bad deal. I think if BMC can get Big Ten players he's got a way better shot at it than Fran. That's the key.

The Big Ten schedule is like the saying you hear about race cars...there's no replacement for displacement.
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I'm just saying that roster probably would have competed LAST season in the B1G better than the one Iowa put out there.

Iowa didn't have a hopes prayer in most games this season and typically were out of most games shortly after half time. I would say a high percentage, they were out of it at the 10 minute mark.

So, I agree with what you are saying here... Drake just had to do that once and get the W... IMO, our roster last year wasn't even THAT good...so, IMO - even more reason to think that Iowa will stand no chance this fall. They could be better overall than last year and that's not saying much, Iowa didn't compete last year either.

What I do think though - is Iowa could get a lot of tweeners with these next 5 or 6 spots (think WAC, A10, Mountain West) to surround a good PG and a good shooter and do ok...especially if they play solid defense and rebound the basketball.

We already know that the #1 spot is going to play 40 minutes a game and I bet Koch is a higher to upper 30's guy. Iowa is going to look and try and win basketball games much different then we have the last 15 years.
 
InGoodCo said:
I'm just saying that roster probably would have competed LAST season in the B1G better than the one Iowa put out there.

Iowa didn't have a hopes prayer in most games this season and typically were out of most games shortly after half time. I would say a high percentage, they were out of it at the 10 minute mark.

So, I agree with what you are saying here... Drake just had to do that once and get the W... IMO, our roster last year wasn't even THAT good...so, IMO - even more reason to think that Iowa will stand no chance this fall. They could be better overall than last year and that's not saying much, Iowa didn't compete last year either.

What I do think though - is Iowa could get a lot of tweeners with these next 5 or 6 spots (think WAC, A10, Mountain West) to surround a good PG and a good shooter and do ok...especially if they play solid defense and rebound the basketball.

We already know that the #1 spot is going to play 40 minutes a game and I bet Koch is a higher to upper 30's guy. Iowa is going to look and try and win basketball games much different then we have the last 15 years.
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“Iowa is going to look and try and win basketball games much different then we have the last 15 years.”

You mean play defense?
 
Fryowa said:
Re: bolded, other than a decent Missouri squad they didn't really beat any good teams. They beat 4 P6 teams. Missouri, Miami (dead last ACC), K-State (losing record conference and overall, bottom half of B12), and Vanderbilt (12th in the SEC). I get it that its hard to win consistently at the college level no matter what tier you're in, but what I'm getting at is I don't think that team really showed anything that would say it can compete in the B1G with the size and athleticism BMC is going to see next year. It's a whole new rodeo. You can squeak a game out here and there against a Missouri, but the schedule he has now is relentless because the dog fights down low just keep on coming every week and you have to be able to weather it.

There's some time left in the portal, but unless Iowa can get some big bodies to duke it out every night in this league like an Illinois/Purdue/etc., it's going to be a bad deal. I think if BMC can get Big Ten players he's got a way better shot at it than Fran. That's the key.

The Big Ten schedule is like the saying you hear about race cars...there's no replacement for displacement.
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Yup
 
File this under crazy, but maybe Iowa should stop playing Men's Basketball to bolster the football program and women's basketball. On April fools day someone wrote an article about Penn State dropping men's and women's basketball as a joke. In reality for a college like Iowa, it has to pick and choose wisely what sports it can realistically compete in. Given today's circumstances with the portal, NIL and the pending settlement payments to athletes, it isn't all that crazy. After the way the Men's tournament went with the 4 one seeds in the final four and the direction non-football schools are headed (see Creighton) how does Iowa compete for talent?

Iowa will be a laboratory for finding out what happens to an established basketball program without the resources and the demographics to support playing in a major conference under the new circumstances. I wish the new coach success, but I'm obviously not optimistic.
 
eyekwah said:
File this under crazy, but maybe Iowa should stop playing Men's Basketball to bolster the football program and women's basketball. On April fools day someone wrote an article about Penn State dropping men's and women's basketball as a joke. In reality for a college like Iowa, it has to pick and choose wisely what sports it can realistically compete in. Given today's circumstances with the portal, NIL and the pending settlement payments to athletes, it isn't all that crazy. After the way the Men's tournament went with the 4 one seeds in the final four and the direction non-football schools are headed (see Creighton) how does Iowa compete for talent?

Iowa will be a laboratory for finding out what happens to an established basketball program without the resources and the demographics to support playing in a major conference under the new circumstances. I wish the new coach success, but I'm obviously not optimistic.
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Iowa will have football money and schools will pay for play. Football schools will be able to keep up with Big East, trust me. Creighton was still flying commercial as recently as last season to games. It’s not all glitz and glam and when you combine settlement with NIL, Iowa has better than 60% of the sport I bet, maybe higher. Now how close are they to the other 40%, that’ll be debatable. But when the chips all finally land, Iowa is going to be just fine. So will basketball. It’s the 2nd revenue generating sport and most visible sport there is at Iowa from a TV and eye balls for brand standpoint. It’s important, very important and Iowa knows that. Beth wasn’t set up to fail and I think she’s good at what she does. Iowa is trying and made a change the old regime wouldn’t have. No one was coming to the games, so what do they have to lose? Iowa is going to continue to invest in Men’s Basketball. They went out and got the coach they wanted. There is a TON of fucking talent in the portal right now lol. Iowa was never going to sign lottery picks in the portal. They weren’t doing that before. People realize that you can sign after the portal closes right? Like ya just can’t go back in. There’s thousands of players. Iowa isn’t panicking, they are scouting and they are behind but other places are filling up. Iowa has some resources right? We’re still a BIG team and McCollum’s name is pretty hot right now: We’re not playing with nothing. Let this play out, I’m excited to see who we do sign.
 
Fryowa said:
Re: bolded, other than a decent Missouri squad they didn't really beat any good teams. They beat 4 P6 teams. Missouri, Miami (dead last ACC), K-State (losing record conference and overall, bottom half of B12), and Vanderbilt (12th in the SEC). I get it that its hard to win consistently at the college level no matter what tier you're in, but what I'm getting at is I don't think that team really showed anything that would say it can compete in the B1G with the size and athleticism BMC is going to see next year. It's a whole new rodeo. You can squeak a game out here and there against a Missouri, but the schedule he has now is relentless because the dog fights down low just keep on coming every week and you have to be able to weather it.

There's some time left in the portal, but unless Iowa can get some big bodies to duke it out every night in this league like an Illinois/Purdue/etc., it's going to be a bad deal. I think if BMC can get Big Ten players he's got a way better shot at it than Fran. That's the key.

The Big Ten schedule is like the saying you hear about race cars...there's no replacement for displacement.
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Rumor on the other board that he has locked up a big man.

Amazing how we are burying the new coach before he even coaches a game for Iowa.
 
InGoodCo said:
I mean coming into this year. Right now, I'll take the Drake starting 5 over Sandfort, Dix and Freeman. That starting 5 proved they can win against good teams. Last years Iowa team didn't. They didn't even beat a team the caliber of Missouri last year at HOME. I think because a few pieces of our team have been coveted, it's diluted our brains into thinking we had a good roster. We had one of the worst in P4.
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Nothing diluted about it. The schools our players have gone to and the amounts they have been offered proves that they had a good roster. Injuries derailed last season. Dix was a special player.
 
HawkeyeHypnosis said:
Nothing diluted about it. The schools our players have gone to and the amounts they have been offered proves that they had a good roster. Injuries derailed last season. Dix was a special player.
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Iowa lost to every good team they went up against when they were healthy. I saw it in person a couple of times. When we played Utah State, we looked like a Valley team. That was as bad of an Iowa team that I can remember and I've been a diehard since like 1990. That was a 15th place roster. We had a lot of good players, but so does every B1G team. Good players don't mean good team - look at Rutgers.
 
InGoodCo said:
Iowa lost to every good team they went up against when they were healthy. I saw it in person a couple of times. When we played Utah State, we looked like a Valley team. That was as bad of an Iowa team that I can remember and I've been a diehard since like 1990. That was a 15th place roster. We had a lot of good players, but so does every B1G team. Good players don't mean good team - look at Rutgers.
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Yeah Rutgers was a weird team this yr. 2 one and done freshman that'll be lottery picks but they weren't very good at all. Pickiel isn't a bad coach but he couldn't make the tourny with those 2 kids leading the way. If I'm the NBA looking at those two kids I'd sure do a deeper dive into how good they are.
 
InGoodCo said:
Iowa lost to every good team they went up against when they were healthy. I saw it in person a couple of times. When we played Utah State, we looked like a Valley team. That was as bad of an Iowa team that I can remember and I've been a diehard since like 1990. That was a 15th place roster. We had a lot of good players, but so does every B1G team. Good players don't mean good team - look at Rutgers.
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Hawkfnntn said:
Yeah Rutgers was a weird team this yr. 2 one and done freshman that'll be lottery picks but they weren't very good at all. Pickiel isn't a bad coach but he couldn't make the tourny with those 2 kids leading the way. If I'm the NBA looking at those two kids I'd sure do a deeper dive into how good they are.
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Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey are going to be top 5 picks. Shit, they might be 2nd and 3rd after Cooper Flagg. We all saw how disjointed they looked against Iowa at home. So yeah, there is more to it than just accumulating talent. If that was the case, Calapari would still be at Kentucky.
 
InGoodCo said:
Iowa lost to every good team they went up against when they were healthy. I saw it in person a couple of times. When we played Utah State, we looked like a Valley team. That was as bad of an Iowa team that I can remember and I've been a diehard since like 1990. That was a 15th place roster. We had a lot of good players, but so does every B1G team. Good players don't mean good team - look at Rutgers.
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Good players don’t always make a good team is definitely a true statement. I don’t necessarily think this last squad was ever fully healthy from the start. How long was Payton dealing with the shoulders? Chemistry is more important overall. I’m not sure everyone on the team meshed well but you can’t judge that until personalities get on the court together.
 
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