I've heard that about those two quite a bit. Yet I'm just not sold on them. Granted I'm no draft guru and nor have I watched a lot of their games. It's just from what I have seen nothing about them screams future great NBA player. I could be wrong wouldn't be the first time. It's just odd to me how the team they are on could be just that bad. There's a lot of room inbetween being a 1 seed in the tourny and not getting in at all and having lost to Iowa.
Now That The Novelty Has Died Down Some...
- Thread starter Fryowa
- Start date
InGoodCo
Well-Known Member
I listened to the podcast with Ben, he said an uncomfortable truth, it was hard to keep any guys because the last 2 seasons have been miserable and the fans stop supporting them. They now don’t have a connection to Iowa and it’s one that was more negative than positive in most ways. It was a tough sell.
kicker22
Well-Known Member
Talent maybe, but Drake was a complete team that played defense. We didn't do that last year or prior to that. At full strength I'll take the team that plays hard on both ends and doesn't depend on simply outscoring opponents.
Hay Man
Well-Known Member
Apathy has turn a lot of us negative towards the men's basketball program over the past few years, myself included. I believe that coach McCollum will get this thing turned around. Even if he only grabs a couple more quality guys in the portal or HS, my excitement hasn't been this high since Slick Steve showed up. He's no Alfraud... Ben cares about the state and the program
Fryowa
Administrator
Don't disagree on BMC, I just think he probably hamstrung by the amount of money he has available. Not his fault.
Also 6'4". That's 1 of about 3 key pieces needed to be competitive next season. Wonder why he left K-State?
InGoodCo
Well-Known Member
Former 4 star recruit - originally had offers from Villanova, Arizona State, Butler and Creighton.
The more I think about it, this is basically the replacement for Pryce Sandfort. Similar size and stats over the past 12 months. Altho Pryce has two years remaining, Brenden only 1.
My bad -- Pryce is 6'7".
BigD
Well-Known Member
Totally agree about chemistry and how important that is to a team's success.
Remember our thoughts and feelings atter our last loss of the season? Who wouldn't buy into Fran being let go and replaced with a new coach who is bringing five of his players from a team that have over thirty wins and then went on to win their first game against Missouri in the big dance this year???
Also, how many Iowa players would have bailed on Fran after two dismal years in a row? How many have followed Fran to Penn?
Any in favor of calling Fran back and Dumping Ben all stand and type "I". I will be waiting for any responses from the "I's" I'd better go get a weeks' worth of food while waiting for these responses.
BigD
Well-Known Member
I'd take 6th best portal team and do back flips.......... let me check on my life insurance policy first. (;
thedukeofearl
Well-Known Member
HawkeyeHypnosis
Well-Known Member
Players aren’t following Fran to Penn because they are all getting raises going to other schools. I personally don’t feel that 19 wins is dismal. It’s not great but it’s not dismal. All the Drake players got raises to follow Ben here. It’s still too soon to say whether fans will be missing Fran. You would have to wait quite a while for any Iowa fans to say they won’t give Ben a chance. I’ve said it a bunch, I like the hire and will support him and the team. I think Fran will do just fine at Penn. Two years ago we had 19 wins so to me it wasn’t that unbelievable that they didn’t do as well this last season dealing with all the injuries from the start of the year.
NorthKCHawk
Well-Known Member
I am confident Ben took the job knowing what the financial constraints were at Iowa and developed a plan accordingly. Also, I think the new hire alone probably loosened some purse strings with donors who had Fran fatigue.
Fryowa
Administrator
My hope as well.
99topdawg
Well-Known Member
From a guy with 46,000 followers on Twitter with the bio (to legitimize a bit):
College basketball analytics at http://EvanMiya.com. PhD Statistician / Data Scientist. Featured in
@ESPN, @CBSSports, @TheAthletic, @SINow
College basketball analytics at http://EvanMiya.com. PhD Statistician / Data Scientist. Featured in
@ESPN, @CBSSports, @TheAthletic, @SINow
99topdawg
Well-Known Member
The guy above also posted (an interesting fact which has little/nothing to do with the thread):
Since the portal era started, every national champion has had over 50% of its minutes played by returning players:
2025: Florida (70%)
2024: UConn (61%)
2023: UConn (53%)
2022: Kansas (81%)
Roster continuity is as important as ever.
Since the portal era started, every national champion has had over 50% of its minutes played by returning players:
2025: Florida (70%)
2024: UConn (61%)
2023: UConn (53%)
2022: Kansas (81%)
Roster continuity is as important as ever.
