Per Woodbury's interview yesterday, sounds like recruiting is wide open (top 5)

[hawkIhoops]

What are you smoking? I somewhat agree with the first paragraph but you are way off base on the last imo.

Agree, knocking Fran for not closing on high school kids in year one is absurd. The guy did not have a staff until June of last year and it takes time. Alford and Lickliter did nothing positive for the program with respect to recruiting, so this has been a complete rebuilding process. Watching Gatens toil in mediocrity for 4 years would be enough for me to encourage my kid to look at better programs.

I am happy with White, Olaseni, Hubbard and Meyer for next season. I have my doubts about Oglesby being more than a 3 point specialist, but if he can make them, I am fine with that.

 

[Thawki]

What ever made you think our fan base was savvy in the first place, hawkIhoops?

 

[CAARHawk]

Respectfully disagree, ISU's sweet 16 and final 8 teams had maybe 1 in state player.
Several of Iowa's greatest teams consisted primarily of out of state players.


Iowa's best player last year was a freshmen from New York, aside from Barnes, who, from the in state prospect pool, would you have taken over Basabe?

This is a silly question. Barnes was the one player you needed in-state to develop a strong flagship program. That is my point. You need to retain these types of players. Otherwise, you just have to build with too many outside pieces and you end up over-reaching or having open schollies, which is not a winning strategy. Also, in a state like Iowa, there will be years when no one is worthy of a scholarship.

Now I accept that Barnes and Paige were already gone by the time Fran showed up, but Woodbury is a different issue.

My point was no FLAGSHIP state university can be successful losing the top in-state talent each year. ISU is NOT a flagship school. The top in-state players in recent years have been Barnes, Paige, and Woodbury. Iowa did not get the first one and had one of the worst years in program history. If Iowa somehow got Paige and Woodbury the team would have been back on the map. With Woodbury, things will be moving in the right direction. None, and it is a sign that the staff has not gained traction. But worse, the in-state talent that could have turned the tides for Iowa will be gone.

Now, some national schools will be able to pull kids from all over. But most flagship schools rely on securing their top in-state kids and supplementing from other places.

 

[NewMexHawk]

Iowa needs to catch a break with these kids...What Alford and especially Lickliter did to this program was brutal...

I'm not writing him off just yet...but I AM tired of Iowa kids making Kansas and NC look so good.

 

[SirJamaLot]

This is a silly question. Barnes was the one player you needed in-state to develop a strong flagship program. That is my point. You need to retain these types of players. Otherwise, you just have to build with too many outside pieces and you end up over-reaching or having open schollies, which is not a winning strategy. Also, in a state like Iowa, there will be years when no one is worthy of a scholarship.

Now I accept that Barnes and Paige were already gone by the time Fran showed up, but Woodbury is a different issue.

My point was no FLAGSHIP state university can be successful losing the top in-state talent each year. ISU is NOT a flagship school. The top in-state players in recent years have been Barnes, Paige, and Woodbury. Iowa did not get the first one and had one of the worst years in program history. If Iowa somehow got Paige and Woodbury the team would have been back on the map. With Woodbury, things will be moving in the right direction. None, and it is a sign that the staff has not gained traction. But worse, the in-state talent that could have turned the tides for Iowa will be gone.

Now, some national schools will be able to pull kids from all over. But most flagship schools rely on securing their top in-state kids and supplementing from other places.

CAAR I appreciate your passion but you need to realize this is not an overnight rebuilding job, I think we have the right man leading the way and we need to give him some time, Paige and Barnes are tremendous talents that want to make it to the NBA, Woodbury may feel he has a better chance to develop his post skills at Ohio State because of their tradition, so be it, Fran has started to make connections across the country and it will pay off, just not as fast as we would like,

 

[CAARHawk]

People: Alford got the top Iowa kids. Now some of these kids did not pan out and it became obvious you also need a good dose of out of state recruits. But he got the local guys. Basically, Mr. Basketball in Iowa was Alford's to lose every year.

That wasn't his problem, although his problems were many.

 

[Section136]

I don't see what all the fuss is about…Iowa landed a legit 6'10 high-major recruit in 2011 with Gabe Olaseni, and landed a legit 6'10 high-major recruit in 2012 with Kyle Meyer.

The fuss is about a true 7 footer that very well could be a Top 50 player nationally by the time he is done with high school ball. He is also from the state of Iowa and his family is known to be huge Hawkeye fans.

If Woodbury commits, he is the crown jewel of the 2012 class.

Gotta love the panic on here over an interview done in May. Must be the offseason. I think Woodbury does end up being a Hawk.

 

[PalmettoHawkFan]

One thing that Lute, Ravelling, Davis (yes, Davis -- he lost Raef, but Collison was an Iowa lock before Bowlsby made the announcement...Hinrich was an ISU lock and then Floyd quit...both got scooped up by KU as a result) all did was get the best players out of Iowa. Alford lost out on Bohannon, but grabbed every other quality in-state kid.

Lick killed in-state recruiting. Woodbury is important for the reasons posters have noted. Getting Woody and Gesell, and posting a winning record next year, are two big steps for getting the program back to it's pre-Bowlsby level.

 

[SirJamaLot]

One thing that Lute, Ravelling, Davis (yes, Davis -- he lost Raef, but Collison was an Iowa lock before Bowlsby made the announcement...Hinrich was an ISU lock and then Floyd quit...both got scooped up by KU as a result) all did was get the best players out of Iowa. Alford lost out on Bohannon, but grabbed every other quality in-state kid.

Lick killed in-state recruiting. Woodbury is important for the reasons posters have noted. Getting Woody and Gesell, and posting a winning record next year, are two big steps for getting the program back to it's pre-Bowlsby level.

agree 100% important to get gessell and woodbury but not the end of the world if the Hawks don't.

 

[JHHawk]

OSU brought in 3 frontcourt players in the 2011 class(two 4 star,one 3 star).
OSU is recruiting 5 centers in the 2012 class,including Woodbury. The other 4 are all higher rated than Adam (#17) the others(#4,#7,#11,#16). It does not indicate that OSU has offered Adam on their website. The way that Matta recruits,would it shock anyone if he gets one of his higher rated targets? If he lands another center to go with the 3 frontcourt guys from 2011, do you think they continue to pursue Adam,or that he would want to play behind that many guys?

I am not saying that OSU is not a possibility for Adam,but I think the odds are rather long. KU and UNC have not offered either. I still think Iowa is in good position for Adam.

 

[Cydkar]

ISU is NOT a flagship school.

What a relief. Now Fred is free to recruit wherever he sees fit.

 

[cycloneone]

This is a silly question. Barnes was the one player you needed in-state to develop a strong flagship program. That is my point. You need to retain these types of players. Otherwise, you just have to build with too many outside pieces and you end up over-reaching or having open schollies, which is not a winning strategy. Also, in a state like Iowa, there will be years when no one is worthy of a scholarship.

Now I accept that Barnes and Paige were already gone by the time Fran showed up, but Woodbury is a different issue.

My point was no FLAGSHIP state university can be successful losing the top in-state talent each year. ISU is NOT a flagship school. The top in-state players in recent years have been Barnes, Paige, and Woodbury. Iowa did not get the first one and had one of the worst years in program history. If Iowa somehow got Paige and Woodbury the team would have been back on the map. With Woodbury, things will be moving in the right direction. None, and it is a sign that the staff has not gained traction. But worse, the in-state talent that could have turned the tides for Iowa will be gone.

Now, some national schools will be able to pull kids from all over. But most flagship schools rely on securing their top in-state kids and supplementing from other places.

With Coach Hoiberg, ISU Basketball is the flagship program in this state- you might want to get used to it. Even if a player like Woodbury chooses iowa because he's already a fan, he won't turn the tables in iowas favor. If CH wants Woodbury, it'll be hard for Adam to turn him down because all Fred and ISU Basketball has to offer kids.

 

[Lonoclone]

With Coach Hoiberg, ISU Basketball is the flagship program in this state- you might want to get used to it. Even if a player like Woodbury chooses iowa because he's already a fan, he won't turn the tables in iowas favor. If CH wants Woodbury, it'll be hard for Adam to turn him down because all Fred and ISU Basketball has to offer kids.

no, man. You're embarrassing the rest of us ISU fans. ISU has potential, but nothing concrete to offer, especially compared to the KU's and OSU's of the world. I'm excited about ISU, too, but put down the Kool-Aid

 

[1977Hawkeye]

I know no one is going to agree with me on this, but Fran may want to consider starting to look elsewhere for a big man.

Now I'm by no means saying Fran should pull Woodbury's offer or anything along those lines because there's no reason to. I don't blame Woodbury for being interested in top programs, especially when they're interested in him as well.

I just don't want Fran to waste a lot of time pursuing a kid who won't end up at Iowa.

Woodbury knows Fran wants him at Iowa. If he wants to commit he will. Fran shouldn't have to keep stroking his ego in order to get him to IC.

I agree with your post, except for the last sentence. Where our program is at these days, I think we need to do everything it takes to get this kid on campus. Even if it means "stroking his ego".

I can't blame a 4-star recruit from entertaining offers from other big name schools and checking out his options. If that's ego, then so be it.

 

[Benddontbreak]

With Coach Hoiberg, ISU Basketball is the flagship program in this state- you might want to get used to it. Even if a player like Woodbury chooses iowa because he's already a fan, he won't turn the tables in iowas favor. If CH wants Woodbury, it'll be hard for Adam to turn him down because all Fred and ISU Basketball has to offer kids.

Get used to what? You winning ONE conference game? As of now, UNI is the flagship program in the state, as they are the only team with recent success.

Don't act like Fred can hand pick who he wants from the state of Iowa.

 

[Section136]

With Coach Hoiberg, ISU Basketball is the flagship program in this state- you might want to get used to it. Even if a player like Woodbury chooses iowa because he's already a fan, he won't turn the tables in iowas favor. If CH wants Woodbury, it'll be hard for Adam to turn him down because all Fred and ISU Basketball has to offer kids.

How can you honestly believe all this?

 

[Cydkar]

How can you honestly believe all this?

I hope he doesn't and is just trying to ruffle feathers. His whole post is ignorant.

To be honest, there isn't a flagship basketball program in Iowa. UNI would be the closest but it will never happen. Iowa and ISU can both be good and nearly equal but so far they haven't.

 

[hawkIhoops]

ISU is a flagship program for what is wrong with college sports. Don't try to build a program with recruits and basically ignore all in state kids at the expense of casting the transfer net. JUCO recruiting will work as well in basketball as it has for your joke of a football program. Both Iowa and ISU are on the bottom looking up, but somehow Cyclown fan is talking smack because of all the transfer talent assembled. Let's see how all these personalities mesh, if they stay in school, etc., and guess what, if it does, you are rebuilding again after they leave.

Hoiberg is doing his best Frank Martin impression minus bulging neck veins during timeouts.

 

[cycloneone]

Get used to what? You winning ONE conference game? As of now, UNI is the flagship program in the state, as they are the only team with recent success.

Don't act like Fred can hand pick who he wants from the state of Iowa.

First of all, UNI won't be the flagship program in this state on a yearly basis. No offense to UNI but they just don't have the resources of ISU or iowa. Second, I didn't say that Fred can hand pick who he wants from this state, but its hard for an instate recruit to turn down what Coach Hoiberg and ISU basketball has to offer. If CH walks into a school or home in Iowa to visit a recruit, the impact and appeal is much greater if not superior to fan mccaffery/iowa. Third, I'm not sure a fan of a 10 win iowa team should be knocking what ISU's first year coach did last year.

When CH targets a player and gets him on campus, he usually ends up committing or putting ISU to the top of the list. Honestly fran is losing most of his battles, he really doesn't offer anything that moves iowa ahead of their recruiting competition. Right now it looks like he's having a tough time selling lots of playing time- which iowa has lots to offer in the near future.

 

[MikeyJoe]

but its hard for an instate recruit to turn down what Coach Hoiberg and ISU basketball has to offer. If CH walks into a school or home in Iowa to visit a recruit, the impact and appeal is much greater if not superior to fan mccaffery/iowa.

You keep saying this but haven't indicated why you believe it's true.