Offseason - Major Disappointment

[Robowe]

Wait. What? Who is this dude? I don't follow recruiting that closely. How did this guy slip under the radar?

https://www.dailyprogress.com/caval...cle_0c9b0749-70f8-54ef-a273-9dbb457182b5.html

“He’s an all-around guard. He plays with some fire and is extremely competitive,” Plona said. “The immense success Virginia has had is something Tomas wanted to be a part of.”

 

[tksirius]

Reporter: "How hard was Fran McCaffery recruiting you?"

Tomas: "Who?"

 

[SCHawkeye2]

I do agree that next year was supposed to be the big pay off. It will be Fran's second chance to have a big year with seniors. The first one didn't turn out great, but it's not like he missed by much. He was a couple close losses away from a conference title (as long as one of those was the home game against Indiana). His next chance hasn't even happened yet so we will see if it fails too. Odds are it will, but mostly because Cook turned pro. Not much you can do about that.

As far as the future goes, there are a lot of reasons to be optimistic. The problem is most of them need to happen for us to be great and the odds of most happening aren't great. Guys like Nunge, Joe T, CJ, and Patrick need to be good. Individually, they all have a pretty decent chance. But we need at least 3 of them to be good and the odds aren't great of that happening. I think as long as Wieskamp stays we are a bubble team at worst.

Next year is always the 'big payoff' for the McCaffrey program.

 

[PCHawk]

Next year is always the 'big payoff' for the McCaffrey program.

Well that's pretty far from true. 4 years in a row we lost a 1st team conference player that most fans thought would make us worse. There have probably only been a few years where most fans thought we would be better than the previous year and those probably all came after the worst seasons like last year. If Cook and Moss would have stayed, next year would have been a year fans were optimistic about. Since they didn't, no one will be saying "next year".

 

[SteveGarvey1]

ISU evaluated him and didn't offer.

Why is it that I trust Tony Bennett a lot more than Prohm or Fran as far as talent evaluation at this point?

 

[Tierney]

ISU evaluated him and didn't offer.

I have a feeling he wasn't interested in Iowa or Iowa state.

 

[hawkeyebob62]

We need a total bomb season. Like 8 wins total.

That's the one and only thing that will make donors' ears perk up. They're the final say in who the basketball coach is, not Gare Bear

I think anything below 10 wins is "Ok, time for a change..." FM built enough equity this past season to stay with a good NIT run (unfortunately).

 

[oldhawk12]

We need a total bomb season. Like 8 wins total.

That's the one and only thing that will make donors' ears perk up. They're the final say in who the basketball coach is, not Gare Bear

It’s clear we need new donors because they are part of the problem. Dealing with the nonsense in football and basketball for many yrs and an AD that keeps playing the same movie over and over

 

[InGoodCo]

Well that's pretty far from true. 4 years in a row we lost a 1st team conference player that most fans thought would make us worse. There have probably only been a few years where most fans thought we would be better than the previous year and those probably all came after the worst seasons like last year. If Cook and Moss would have stayed, next year would have been a year fans were optimistic about. Since they didn't, no one will be saying "next year".

I'm still saying "next year", my expectations have not been lowered. Iowa needs to make it to the 2nd weekend and IMO they will still have the team to do it. When you have Jordan Bohannon, Joe Wieskamp and Luka Garza - who I think will all go down as some of the better players to play during the Fran era at their positions, there is no reason to NOT be optimistic for this year. That's just my opinion. But Moss leaving is a loss, it's not the end of our season. People swing hard here tho so I get it.

 

[N8theGr8]

I'm still saying "next year", my expectations have not been lowered. Iowa needs to make it to the 2nd weekend and IMO they will still have the team to do it. When you have Jordan Bohannon, Joe Wieskamp and Luka Garza - who I think will all go down as some of the better players to play during the Fran era at their positions, there is no reason to NOT be optimistic for this year. That's just my opinion. But Moss leaving is a loss, it's not the end of our season. People swing hard here tho so I get it.

I want to be optimistic, but we need a replacement for the loss of Moss and Dailey. They were our two best defenders against opposing guards. That means at least one of CMac, Toussaint, or Fredrick has to step into a lock down defender role, or preferably, have all show signs of being average to plus defenders. Bohannon was improved this season on defense, but will always be a liability. CMac can't afford to be a liability if he's going to be a major part of the rotation, and the advanced stats show him being a slightly worse than average defender last season. Toussaint will likely struggle a bit, but Clemmons was a plus defender from day one, and I'm hopeful he can be too. Fredrick is a complete unknown at this point, but appears to be athletically capable of defending. Offensively, I don't think we'll have a problem.

Looking toward the future, the early departures might actually help us overall. If we make it work slightly shorthanded this year (which I'm in agreement that it's possible), we will have an extra season to be recruiting for those losses and have gotten our younger guys on the court a lot more. Losing Cook, Moss, Bohannon, Dailey, and Kriener all in one go would have been a lot worse than losing half and half. I'm just hopeful we can get something like the Hauser situation would have been where we even out our scholarship distribution rather than banking scholarships for multiple years.

 

[Stanzi]

We were so bad defensively the past two seasons that losing below average defenders in Moss, Dailey and Cook has people worried. Newsflash: they weren't good defenders. They just looked slightly better in comparison to some of our other guys.

 

[PCHawk]

We were so bad defensively the past two seasons that losing below average defenders in Moss, Dailey and Cook has people worried. Newsflash: they weren't good defenders. They just looked slightly better in comparison to some of our other guys.

Daliey was a really bad defender. I'm not sure why people keep saying he was good.

 

[NikeHawk21]

I'm still saying "next year", my expectations have not been lowered. Iowa needs to make it to the 2nd weekend and IMO they will still have the team to do it. When you have Jordan Bohannon, Joe Wieskamp and Luka Garza - who I think will all go down as some of the better players to play during the Fran era at their positions, there is no reason to NOT be optimistic for this year. That's just my opinion. But Moss leaving is a loss, it's not the end of our season. People swing hard here tho so I get it.

I don’t need to change your opinion, but I’ll tell you why I’m not as high on Iowa next year and you can see what you think.

Iowa has 10 scholarships players.

-5 of them did not play college basketball last year (includes Pemsl who played 15 minutes)

-3 of them have never played college basketball

-7 of them have never proven to be anything higher than a role player at the college level (3 frosh, Cmac, Nunge, Pemsl, Kriener)

-We lost 3 of our top 6 from a 10 seed team last year, and lost likely 4 of our top 6 defenders. That was a sub 100 level defensive team.

Personally I would guess it’s just as likely to expect next years team to take a step backwards than it is to expect them to improve.

 

[PCHawk]

I don’t need to change your opinion, but I’ll tell you why I’m not as high on Iowa next year and you can see what you think.

Iowa has 10 scholarships players.

-5 of them did not play college basketball last year (includes Pemsl who played 15 minutes)

-3 of them have never played college basketball

-7 of them have never proven to be anything higher than a role player at the college level (3 frosh, Cmac, Nunge, Pemsl, Kriener)

-We lost 3 of our top 6 from a 10 seed team last year, and lost likely 4 of our top 6 defenders. That was a sub 100 level defensive team.

Personally I would guess it’s just as likely to expect next years team to take a step backwards than it is to expect them to improve.

I get that Cook and Moss could be good at times (especially Cook) but I just don't know if they were "winning" players. Did they help the team more than the hurt them? I'm sure Cook did a little bit. But when you factor in how inefficient he was on offense and how average he was at rebounding and defense, I'm not sure he was all that much of a positive.

There's no point in even getting going on Moss. You know my thought on him. My only worry about losing Moss is we that we won't have an average player to replace him. That would mean Vonnor doesn't improve to average and it means CJ, Joe T, and Patrick are all not average. If that happens people will get their wish on Fran in 2 years.

 

[NikeHawk21]

I get that Cook and Moss could be good at times (especially Cook) but I just don't know if they were "winning" players. Did they help the team more than the hurt them? I'm sure Cook did a little bit. But when you factor in how inefficient he was on offense and how average he was at rebounding and defense, I'm not sure he was all that much of a positive.

There's no point in even getting going on Moss. You know my thought on him. My only worry about losing Moss is we that we won't have an average player to replace him. That would mean Vonnor doesn't improve to average and it means CJ, Joe T, and Patrick are all not average. If that happens people will get their wish on Fran in 2 years.

I understand that Cook and Moss had their deficiencies, but if you don’t have top flight talent, experience is huge in college basketball.

I wonder if our defense could take a step back. Bohannon and Garza are defensive liabilities, and that isn’t changing. Connor was a below average defender. Kriener and Pemsl are okay I guess but they lack the footspeed. Normally freshman take some time to figure it out on that end. So out of 10 guys how many are we looking at as plus defenders? How many average? Below average? Defense is a major question mark again to me.

On offense I’m sure we will be solid but you’d have to think we might take a slight step backwards without Cook, Baer, and Moss.

So potential fall back on defense and offense from a team that was a 10 seed last year. I think this group could make the tournament if things go well, but I’m not so sure it would be surprising if they didn’t based on all the information we have.

I think we are on the same page here in that at one time we were hoping this would be a year we fought for high finish in conference and a higher seed with a veteran team. I don’t see that right now.

 

[WindsorHawk]

Well that's pretty far from true. 4 years in a row we lost a 1st team conference player that most fans thought would make us worse. There have probably only been a few years where most fans thought we would be better than the previous year and those probably all came after the worst seasons like last year. If Cook and Moss would have stayed, next year would have been a year fans were optimistic about. Since they didn't, no one will be saying "next year".

I suspect we will be fine next year. I’m not part of the gloom and doom the sky is falling crowd.

Baer was always out of eligibility. Cook was gone unless he got hurt. Most of us figured (by mid season) Dailey was gone.

I’ve assumed Moss would leave all season. When he went through the draft evaluation last year I thought it was highly probable. He’s been here 4 years. The only thing surprising to me is that he’s (potentiality) transferring instead of going overseas and getting paid.

I guess he hopes to “go off” in a different environment and make an NBA roster next year at age 23. Anything is possible I suppose.

 

[Hawknigh]

I suspect we will be fine next year. I’m not part of the gloom and doom the sky is falling crowd.

Baer was always out of eligibility. Cook was gone unless he got hurt. Most of us figured (by mid season) Dailey was gone.

I’ve assumed Moss would leave all season. When he went through the draft evaluation last year I thought it was highly probable. He’s been here 4 years. The only thing surprising to me is that he’s (potentiality) transferring instead of going overseas and getting paid.

I guess he hopes to “go off” in a different environment and make an NBA roster next year at age 23. Anything is possible I suppose.

Nothing about this post leads me to "suspect we will be fine next year."

 

[NikeHawk21]

Nothing about this post leads me to "suspect we will be fine next year."

Was thinking the exact same thing. We lose 3 of our top 6 guys from a 10 seed team.

 

[thedukeofearl]

I think you are joking but I really don't get this whole mindset. He is no where near that level. Yet perhaps. He tends to disappear against more athletic players which the NBA is full of.

Don't get me wrong, I really like the kid but he needs a couple more years of experience to strengthen his all around game.

I know this is the state of affairs in college basketball these days as it is a good way to get a free evaluation, but it makes me wonder if some of these kids get restless or worn down playing for Fran?

Joe seems to be one who probably enjoys the university attitude at Iowa, especially being one of the best players to ever play HS basketball in the state. He is a legend, and definitely needs more playing time to perfect his game, the prospects of which are enormous. I could be wrong, but he appears to be one who just might value the benefits of a college education.....

Idle speculation merely that

 

[BILLBUCKNER]

I won't miss Cook except for his monster dunks. Thats what he did best. He was a selfish player. He thought he was much better than he was.After the Tenn game he said he was the best player on the court..really? Nunge and Pemsl know their limitations and play team ball. They will kick the ball out instead of playing hero ball and get stripped or throw up a prayer and piss away a pocession. Defense?? Moss is a head scratcher. Must have got tired of Fran screaming his head off.