Offseason - Major Disappointment

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?

Since you know it's the state of affairs and it's the same at every other program. Why wonder if there is a hidden reason? Every other school in the nation has players getting evaluated for no reason other than to get the free evaluation, but they do it at iowa because the coach is mean?
 
Clearly "major disappointment" is over the top.
I bet 80% of the posters here had never heard of DJ before three weeks ago.
The Hausers were always a long shot.
TC and Daily leaving were expected and probably for the best.
IM leaving is totally weird. But the jury is out on whether it's for better or worse.
Francis leaving- sorry, can't get that upset about it. Unless the next asst coach hire is a bad choice.

A hair's breadth from the sweet sixteen in 2019. Reasonable chance we're back in the NCAA 2020. Senior season for the greatest shooter in Iowa history. Recruiting class still TBD.

It's not all roses but it's definitely not worth whining about.
It’s not any one thing it’s sort of the cumulation of all them.

On your point about the “we should be an NCAA tournament team next year.” Yes I would agree with that statement, however when you have to endure two consecutive non tournament seasons with this senior group (one with four conference wins - lowest since the 1960s) the hope was that this would be a season Fran has a team that can compete in the B1G and shoot for a higher seed and a deeper tournament run. It doesn’t appear that’s what we have as a roster. This looks like a roster that will be in that 7-11 seed range at best next season.

How about the future. Is there anything out there indicating we can take the next step as a program? To me not really, we should be solid probably make the tournament level teams but nothing that indicates anything better.

Again I’m not always a doom and gloom guy, it just seems like we are kind of stagnated where we are at.
 
Since you know it's the state of affairs and it's the same at every other program. Why wonder if there is a hidden reason? Every other school in the nation has players getting evaluated for no reason other than to get the free evaluation, but they do it at iowa because the coach is mean?

Are you calling Fran mean? I don't think I did.

He obviously has minor anger control issues and is slightly sensitive. ;)

Joe W. is no where near NBA ready. Kind of silly to see fans react with anxiety on this one.
No harm in getting evaluated but have we had any recent freshman do that?

Serious question. Has any Iowa BB coach ever had so many players come and go and failed completely on entire recruiting classes as much as Fran?
 
I don't think it is a stretch, by any means, to say Fran just plain sucks at recruiting and retaining players.

Maybe because as he likes to point out he plays by the rules and will actually turn in coaches who he knows cheats. The first is admirable. The second? Maybe he doesn't need to do that as that could seemingly affect recruiting as other coaches might retaliate in some manner. ??

Basically what I am saying is I have no idea why Fran sucks at it. Currently some players could be scared off by the nepotism (even Rob eludes to this) OR maybe his rages do extend beyond game situations? Who knows. I just don't see how you can turn that on and off.
 
It's not been a great off season for news for the Hawks, no other way to really spin it. Losing Moss hurts, losing Cook hurts. Losing Dailey? Not as much. The only solace you can take is that Iowa did stash some pieces on the bench this off season and they are all players at positions I'd consider in need.


Agreed. And if that is the only solace, then this has indeed been a horrible off-season.
 
It’s not any one thing it’s sort of the cumulation of all them.

On your point about the “we should be an NCAA tournament team next year.” Yes I would agree with that statement, however when you have to endure two consecutive non tournament seasons with this senior group (one with four conference wins - lowest since the 1960s) the hope was that this would be a season Fran has a team that can compete in the B1G and shoot for a higher seed and a deeper tournament run. It doesn’t appear that’s what we have as a roster. This looks like a roster that will be in that 7-11 seed range at best next season.

How about the future. Is there anything out there indicating we can take the next step as a program? To me not really, we should be solid probably make the tournament level teams but nothing that indicates anything better.

Again I’m not always a doom and gloom guy, it just seems like we are kind of stagnated where we are at.

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.
 
I think the future of Iowa BB will all come down to how well Iowa does next season. If we have a terrific season and make a deep run into the NCAA tourney, we start getting some of those high profile recruits we’ve missing out on lately. If end up being a middle of the road team or worse, then we will lose out on those recruits once again, and I believe it will be the beginning of the end of Fran. Did coach Francis see the writing on the wall? Next year will be pivotal for Hawkeye basketball.
 
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.
I figured Cook was gone as there was no indication anything had changed with his plans. I still was optimistic for this team, but I think the loss of Moss hurts. We were already weak in the backcourt.

We go into next year with 10 scholarship guys, 3 we’ve never seen play at this level, 1 I'm not sure is good enough for this level (Cmac), and 2 that don’t appear to be anything more than role players (Kriener / Pemsl). Could we make the tourney? Absolutely, but anything more seems a stretch.

What about into the future? I’m starting to get nervous that next year could be Wieskamp’s last as a hawk. If that happens the 2020-2021 team is in serious trouble as well. As I noted in the OP things aren’t looking promising on the recruiting trail for 2020 right now, that could change, but as it sits today it doesn’t like great.
 
I had it in my head that this was TC last season. So I was prepared for that. Moss is the one I wasn't prepared for. The Tennessee game you saw the really good and the really bad of both Moss and Cook. I thought the really bad for Moss was fixable, at least on the offensive end. He could have been a 15-20 pt. scorer for Iowa next year. A Peter Jok lite if you will.
 
I had it in my head that this was TC last season. So I was prepared for that. Moss is the one I wasn't prepared for. The Tennessee game you saw the really good and the really bad of both Moss and Cook. I thought the really bad for Moss was fixable, at least on the offensive end. He could have been a 15-20 pt. scorer for Iowa next year. A Peter Jok lite if you will.
Moss and Cook were both part time contributors on both ends of the court. We need max effort players, with heart and smarts.
 
I figured Cook was gone as there was no indication anything had changed with his plans. I still was optimistic for this team, but I think the loss of Moss hurts. We were already weak in the backcourt.

We go into next year with 10 scholarship guys, 3 we’ve never seen play at this level, 1 I'm not sure is good enough for this level (Cmac), and 2 that don’t appear to be anything more than role players (Kriener / Pemsl). Could we make the tourney? Absolutely, but anything more seems a stretch.

What about into the future? I’m starting to get nervous that next year could be Wieskamp’s last as a hawk. If that happens the 2020-2021 team is in serious trouble as well. As I noted in the OP things aren’t looking promising on the recruiting trail for 2020 right now, that could change, but as it sits today it doesn’t like great.

If Wieskamp leaves next year we are probably screwed. We would need Nunge, Patrick, Fredrick, and Joe T to all be studs. Or we would need 2 good freshmen. It seems like we've had 1 commit over the last 3 years if you don't count Patrick. Was Fredrick the last guy before Joe T? Who was before Fredrick? Nunge and Garza? That was a LONG time ago.
 
If Wieskamp leaves next year we are probably screwed. We would need Nunge, Patrick, Fredrick, and Joe T to all be studs. Or we would need 2 good freshmen. It seems like we've had 1 commit over the last 3 years if you don't count Patrick. Was Fredrick the last guy before Joe T? Who was before Fredrick? Nunge and Garza? That was a LONG time ago.
We aren’t keeping many players on the roster for four years and yet we aren’t bringing in many new players. Right now we are scheduled to have 3 scholarships banked next season. In essence we are spinning our tires.
 
Purdue lost 4 starters and started 6-5 this year while they figured it out...lots of youth. They had a good season IMO.

I’m not saying Iowa will do what Purdue did. But we return 3 out of 5 starters from a competitive team. And we add 5 guys. I’m not going to worry until I see the team play a few games.
 
Your recruiting comments are exactly why I'm ready to move on from Fran. We desperately need guards and he hasn't freaking offered any. There's no reason why we shouldn't have offered Beard and Pack by now. We aren't getting Foster. I'm very confident of that. Not when blue bloods are sniffing around and likely to offer. I just don't understand what Fran is doing with recruiting.

Maybe Fran wants to crash and burn, get fired, and sit at home collecting his big paychecks.
 
Clearly "major disappointment" is over the top.
I bet 80% of the posters here had never heard of DJ before three weeks ago.
The Hausers were always a long shot.
TC and Daily leaving were expected and probably for the best.
IM leaving is totally weird. But the jury is out on whether it's for better or worse.
Francis leaving- sorry, can't get that upset about it. Unless the next asst coach hire is a bad choice.

A hair's breadth from the sweet sixteen in 2019. Reasonable chance we're back in the NCAA 2020. Senior season for the greatest shooter in Iowa history. Recruiting class still TBD.

It's not all roses but it's definitely not worth whining about.

You really think it is OK for basically a two year starter who scored about 10 pts a game, has a decent all around game, who has been improving to transfer before his SR year. Yeah it is weird and bad. Bad as in some bad mojo in the locker room or between player and coach.
 
You really think it is OK for basically a two year starter who scored about 10 pts a game, has a decent all around game, who has been improving to transfer before his SR year. Yeah it is weird and bad. Bad as in some bad mojo in the locker room or between player and coach.
Maybe I'm being optimistic, but it sounds like he's leaving because his minutes will be eroded by players that have more value to bring. IM was never all conference. Some nights he could carry us, many nights he left us with a big hole at the 2.
 

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