Players that broke your heart

I have two: Ron Artest and Dennis Rodman

If they could have teamed up with Ricky Davis and Sam Okey, wow.

PG? Jordan B
 
Wouldn't Raef have been on the team where Woolridge almost single handedly got us to the sweet 16? I'm pretty sure Kansas was a huge favorite that year but lost to Arizona in the sweet 16.
 
Connie Hawkins. Could have put the Hawks on the national map early and for a long time. U of I acted stupidly, as did the NBA for banning him from playing based upon non-verifiable rumors. What a waste.
 
Off topic a bit, but, in FB, Roger Craig was the biggest Iowa non-get ever. Local boy shunned Fry for Nebby.
 
haydensly said:
I agree on that one. IIRC, Roger was a freshman in 1979, Hayden's first year at Iowa. I think if the timing were a little different, he would have been a Hawk.
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RC was a 79 grad of Davenport Central. All-American-Everything. Hayden would have concluded his first season at Iowa. As I previously stated, it was David vs Goliath (IA vs nebby) in those days. And I get why he went to nebby. But it's still, to me, is the biggest one that "got away." I wonder if he ever considered transferring. Probably not.
 
I'm going to take a different tack on the thread and show my age. The date was 3/12/1970 and the player that broke my heart was Pembroke Burrows III (Jacksonville FL) with a tip-in with 2 seconds left to beat the Hawks in the Mideast Regionals. Iowa truly could have won it all that year. Jacksonville made it to the finals only to lose to UCLA. They didn't give up after the loss and hung 121 on Notre Dame in the consolation game. John Johnson averaged nearly 28 ppg for the season. Very fun to watch at the Field House but lots of time listening to the radio.
 
Ronnie Harmon is probably at the top of the list.

No one will ever convince me "he just had a bad game". He single handedly ruined one of the best seasons in Hawkeye history and the reason Chuck Long came back for a fifth year. Hayden should have had his Rose Bowl win.
 
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WestHawk said:
I'm going to take a different tack on the thread and show my age. The date was 3/12/1970 and the player that broke my heart was Pembroke Burrows III (Jacksonville FL) with a tip-in with 2 seconds left to beat the Hawks in the Mideast Regionals. Iowa truly could have won it all that year. Jacksonville made it to the finals only to lose to UCLA. They didn't give up after the loss and hung 121 on Notre Dame in the consolation game. John Johnson averaged nearly 28 ppg for the season. Very fun to watch at the Field House but lots of time listening to the radio.
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I was considering going that route.

My (long) list of Hawkeye heartbreak started with Toledo's Stan Joplin in the 1979 NCAA'S.

He was no relation to another Joplin but he definitely took another piece of my heart, baby.
 
Seth53 said:
RC was a 79 grad of Davenport Central. All-American-Everything. Hayden would have concluded his first season at Iowa. As I previously stated, it was David vs Goliath (IA vs nebby) in those days. And I get why he went to nebby. But it's still, to me, is the biggest one that "got away." I wonder if he ever considered transferring. Probably not.
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Yes he did. He even talked to Dry who discouraged it.
 
GVGiant44 said:
Sir, read the post above yours, and then put two-and-two together. I have nothing else to say on that subject.
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He wasn't called "Snortin' Eddie Horton" for nothing.

You think the team was bad you should have seen the Delta Tau Delta house in the late eighties. You could have paved a highway with their stash.
 
In basketball, Isaiah Thomas. Lute Olson had him coming to Iowa. He was all in! Then Bobby Knight spent the night before signing day on his sofa. Signed him the next day. Can you imagine having Isaiah Thomas and Ronnie Lester as your starting backcourt!!!

In football, it would have to be losing Adam Robinson, Brandon Wegher, and Marcus Coker all so close together. That sucked because all of them played very well for the Hawks.
 
ModebaSan said:
In basketball, Isaiah Thomas. Lute Olson had him coming to Iowa. He was all in! Then Bobby Knight spent the night before signing day on his sofa. Signed him the next day. Can you imagine having Isaiah Thomas and Ronnie Lester as your starting backcourt!!!

In football, it would have to be losing Adam Robinson, Brandon Wegher, and Marcus Coker all so close together. That sucked because all of them played very well for the Hawks.
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It was famously reported that Knight pursued thomas only because he dismissed both point guards from his team early in the 1979 season and he needed one to start immediately.

Lute worked on Mary Thomas, which was huge and put him into "contending bidder" status. Knight worked on Thomas's coach Gene Pignatore, which apparently trumped what Lute was doing. I think Thomas may have lived with Pignatore during senior year, which was better than the west side of Chicago, and that could have swayed things as well.

Mostly Knight could offer the promise of immediate playing time. Iowa had Lester (and Kenny Arnold who was no slouch). Even if Thomas had started immediately for Iowa he would have been deferring to Ronnie for at least one year.

It sure would have been fun to find out. And we would have had Isaiah to step in when Lester got hurt and not missed a beat.
 
Northside Hawk said:
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Mostly Knight could offer the promise of immediate playing time. Iowa had Lester (and Kenny Arnold who was no slouch). Even if Thomas had started immediately for Iowa he would have been deferring to Ronnie for at least one year.
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IIRC .. Knight also offered a spot on the 1979 PanAm team, something Lute couldn't match. It was a stepping stone to the Olympic team .. something Thomas coveted.
 
GVGiant44 said:
Sir, read the post above yours, and then put two-and-two together. I have nothing else to say on that subject.
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The post two posts above mine spoke of players from the mid to late 90s.

The game in question for me happened a decade before.

Thanks for playing.
 
BrueCrew3 said:
IIRC .. Knight also offered a spot on the 1979 PanAm team, something Lute couldn't match. It was a stepping stone to the Olympic team .. something Thomas coveted.
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That ill fated 1980 Olympic team would have had mind blowing talent, at least as much as the 1984 team. Thomas, Ralph Sampson, Joe Barry Carroll, Kevin McHale, Darrell Griffith, Rodney McCray, Danny Ainge, Rolando Blackman, Mark Aguirre, Kelly Tripucka, Andrew Toney, Albert King, on an on and on and on and on.

And Magic Johnson could have been on it had he not turned pro after his sophomore year.
 
Xerxes said:
He also was not a fan of TD's substitution patterns. He mentioned its hard to get in a rhythm of a game when you're always going in and out.

But it was pretty clear he was a "me" guy throughout his college and NBA career. Although its interesting that he continued playing after his NBA career was over just trying to get back for one more shot. Going overseas and then a few seasons in the G League (then D League) in which he took the league minimum, even though he was one of the accomplished players, so his team could sign other players.

I read an article a few years ago in which he sounded like a lot of regular guys in their mid 30s. He realized the mistakes he made in his 20s. He admitted he was a selfish player who mainly looked to score (he even viewed Lebron as a supporting player when Cleveland drafted him).

All in all, just too bad. He could have been such a great player particularly on defense because he was a great athlete even by NBA standards for a backcourt player. I still remember Garnett desperately wanting him on the Wolves back in the the early 2000s. They even signed him to a huge contract but Cleveland had his restricted rights and matched the offer so he had to stay. A decision in which Cleveland ultimately regretted. When he did finally get to the Wolves in 2006 they quickly realized they didn't want him and traded him away after a year.
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Looking back on his career now that it's over that makes sense. He was a streaky player. When he got in a rhythm he wanted to keep that going like every other player that gets in the zone. TD did sub a lot. He wanted everyone playing hard for when they full court pressed and run and gun on O. So to do that he thought subbing often with a deep bench would keep guys fresh enough to be effective at that throughout the games... Ricky wasn't a fan of playing all that hard on D and saving his energy for the offensive end come to find out. Surprise surprise
 
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