^ This post is ridiculous.
Who cares what state the kids we recruit are from. Recruit top level basketball players from all states that will win games, thats the objective.
All this "get Iowa kids, pride, passion, integrity" is complete garbage.
Because if Iowa goes your route and trys to over recruit the state of Iowa, Fran will be out of a job just like Lickliter. I'm all for going hard after the elite Iowa players, but going after Iowa kids because their Iowa kids is completely absurd.
Recruit good basketball players from anywhere, bottom line.
When was the last time an Iowa player was the best player on the Roster? Ricky Davis? Settles? When in recent years especially? Gatens is probably one of the few.
The fact is Iowa must get the best players out of the state, however, they don't need to reach and get players that can't play in the Big Ten. Oglesby is one of the top players in the state and he has multiple offers to Big Ten schools, regardless of what I think of him, if he can play ball then he can play for Coach Fran and I will root for him just as I do for any player on their roster.
The last time I checked, having a solid foundation to build from is what would allow a program to become good and win games. The roster turnover that we have seen is cycle that must be broken.
What is wrong with passion and integrity? If a person is passionate about something, especially helping rebuild a program or being part of that it is for the better.
The 2012 kids breaks that mold right now, they are flat out good and if Iowa owns the in-state recruiting that year they will have one of the top classes in the nation, period.
Uthoff and Oglesby are important for the 2012 class, believe it or not. One of the selling points with Coach Fran is to get back to keeping the best players home is exactly what Uthoff and Oglesby are, the best players in the state.
What got Lickliter in trouble was he never built a program, he walked into a good situation at Butler and it took him too long to figure out how to recruit at Iowa and it cost him his job and a few players.
Get upset at what I originally posted, that is fine, but the facts are the Iowa kids don't traditionally become the top players in the program, but there are always exceptions. Do you think Wade Lookingbill or Troy Skinner were top players in Iowa's history? I hope that answer is no, but... Not every player recruited is going to go down as one of the best in the program, but players are recruited for specific roles and sometimes they become good or great players.
If Iowa goes my route, they will be better off in the end. Keep in mind, if the in-state players stay all four years, or at least three, Iowa would only have to recruit one or two in-state players every two or three years, so where do you get that they would have to "over recruit?" The last thing to do is believe that the in-state talent is better than it actually is, but when a very good player comes along like LaFrentz, Hinrich or Barnes Iowa puts a ton of emphasis to get them.
The fact is this, if Iowa recruited Illinois, Michigan and Iowa consistently since Tom Davis left, the program would not have been in the situation it is today. Trying to get kids from states like Indiana, Minnesota and California hasn't worked for Iowa lately. There are some other states that have potential now because the current staff knows the areas: The Northeast, the Carolinas and now Texas.
