Please answer this question about Iowa basketball

Howler

Howler

Well-Known Member
Having grown up in East Lansing, I've always been accustomed to seeing D-1 athletes on the court. Guys like Shannon Brown, J-Rich, Shawn Respert, Draymond Green, Mo-Pete, etc... Even the second-tier guys on these teams were jumpers, rebounders, speedsters, and ultimately talented physical specimens. You turn on a Big Ten game, you expect to see athletes who pass the eyeball test, right?

Yet year in and year out at Iowa, I see a lot of Pollyanna-like scrubs who have no business playing at this level. It seems to me that some of the WORST D1 programs are able to regularly recruit athletes, and that includes Iowa State. Yet Iowa City seems to consistently be a void for athleticism. I find it maddening, but these days just laughable.
 
You don't follow Iowa basketball very close, obviously. Do you know where our facilities ranked in the B10 prior to this season? Do you know who was running the program prior to Fran?
 
I think we need more slow nonathletic white guys. All our guys are so gangily and awkward out there.
 
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Howler said:
Gohawks123 said:
I think we need more slow nonathletic white guys. All our guys are so gangily and awkward out there.
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That's the way it's seemingly been forever, which was the point of the original post. Mind boggling.
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Again, do you think that it's easy to recruit to Iowa when we had the worst facilities in the B10 or when the previous coach played one of the most boring styles of basketball ever? It's pretty obvious why we don't have better athletes. It doesn't do much good to harp on it. Fran will improve what he has to with now and things will start really looking up once the '12 class arrives on campus.

PATIENCE, people, PATIENCE!
 
They had promised Alford facilities improvements when he came, but he got stuck scheduling practices at like 7 in the morning and junk to accommodate the freaking volleyball team. Alford would have had us winning big years ago if the admins would have come through.
 
okeefe4prez said:
They had promised Alford facilities improvements when he came, but he got stuck scheduling practices at like 7 in the morning and junk to accommodate the freaking volleyball team. Alford would have had us winning big years ago if the admins would have come through.
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As of now, Alford > Fran in Year 2 > Lick
 
Howler said:
okeefe4prez said:
They had promised Alford facilities improvements when he came, but he got stuck scheduling practices at like 7 in the morning and junk to accommodate the freaking volleyball team. Alford would have had us winning big years ago if the admins would have come through.
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As of now, Alford > Fran in Year 2 > Lick
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Duh... you realize that Lick took Stevos 8 foot grave and made it 2000 feet deep???? Hop off the bandwagon homie.
 
Hate to stress the obvious,but the best player from East Lansing was Magic Johnson,while the best player from Iowa City was Gatens. Notice the difference?
There are only about 10 dozen athletes in the East Lansing/Detroit area for each one out of the Iowa City/CR area. And that one is going to North Carolina next year.

Just re-locate Flint to Johnson County and Iowa will have athletes on the floor. Barring that, we have to be patient until Fran scratches out enough athletes to fit his system from around the nation. I hate to say it,but clearly the most expedient approach would have been to clean house in year one and fill the roster with the best jucos from around the midwest. Give Fran a fighting chance with athletes that can play his system....frustrating to watch lick style players try to play fast,and they cannot shoot like lick style players to boot.
 
Excellent post. It's absurd to think Iowa can't get better players / athletes here. Our recruiting has been poor at best for as long as I can remember and thus far, McCaffrey hasn't done much to raise the bar. We have Speraw, Francis and Dillard, yet we can't dig up a couple juco players to come in here to bridge the gap. Any mildly intelligent bball fan could have watched two Iowa games last season and drawn the conclusion we need to replace Cole's toughness down low and add a PG. So we don't recruit Washpun, chase Guerrero and roll the dice with Hubbard? The fact that McCaffrey went after Hubbard and he got into Iowa, while not getting in virtually everywhere else, shoots a hole in the "academics too tough" theory. McCaffrey thought he could coach guys up and he was wrong.
 
hawkIhoops said:
Excellent post. It's absurd to think Iowa can't get better players / athletes here. Our recruiting has been poor at best for as long as I can remember and thus far, McCaffrey hasn't done much to raise the bar. We have Speraw, Francis and Dillard, yet we can't dig up a couple juco players to come in here to bridge the gap. Any mildly intelligent bball fan could have watched two Iowa games last season and drawn the conclusion we need to replace Cole's toughness down low and add a PG. So we don't recruit Washpun, chase Guerrero and roll the dice with Hubbard? The fact that McCaffrey went after Hubbard and he got into Iowa, while not getting in virtually everywhere else, shoots a hole in the "academics too tough" theory. McCaffrey thought he could coach guys up and he was wrong.
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Isn't Frans class next year ranked 19th?
 
Anybody watch the game last night? Iowa lost the game last night not because they were not athletic, they rebounded well, created more turnovers, shot/made more free throws, and at times played good defense. The problem is no one could put the dam ball in the hole! Iowa is not going to win many games shooting 29% I don't care how athletic you are. I cannot remember a time where Iowa outscored the opponent by 16 at the free throw line and won the turnover battle by 8 but still lose by 16 points at home. Even if Iowa would have only shot 40% they would have been right there.

My other complaint is Iowa's inability to identify their hot shooter and make defensive adjustments. It seemed like every time I look Andre Young was wide open.

These are fixable issues. If Iowa can shoot 40-50% from the field and tighten up their defense they are going to win a few games.
 
Yeah they could have rebounded better but if they make more of those shots and there is less easy rebounds for Clemson to get.
 
Real athleticism is better than perceived athleticism, and true Basketball skill is better than real athleticism. You can win a lot of BB games with 5 guys that have true basketball skills. You can have 5 guys that can run and jump out of the gym, but it takes more than just great athletes to win D1 ball.

Eric May for example is one heck of an athlete. Maybe one of the best real athletes to wear an Iowa BB uniform. But, if he can't shoot the ball his usefulness on the court is severely limited.

Duke's Bobby Hurley was not a perceived as an athlete, nor was he really athletic, but he had tremendous basketball skills.

Don't be fooled into thinking playing 4 white guys means we don't have ball players. Games aren't won at the airport. That being said, this current team does lack more than just perceived athleticism. They cannot seem to shoot the ball, their lack of a post player allows open perimeter scoring, and there is no real fire or emotion from several of the starters.

As I look into the abyss that is the current state of the Iowa BB program it's pretty dark down there. This season will be a huge struggle, but there is a chance this is the bottom and things will get better from here.
 
Biggusblockus said:
Real athleticism is better than perceived athleticism, and true Basketball skill is better than real athleticism. You can win a lot of BB games with 5 guys that have true basketball skills. You can have 5 guys that can run and jump out of the gym, but it takes more than just great athletes to win D1 ball.

Eric May for example is one heck of an athlete. Maybe one of the best real athletes to wear an Iowa BB uniform. But, if he can't shoot the ball his usefulness on the court is severely limited.

Duke's Bobby Hurley was not a perceived as an athlete, nor was he really athletic, but he had tremendous basketball skills.

Don't be fooled into thinking playing 4 white guys means we don't have ball players. Games aren't won at the airport. That being said, this current team does lack more than just perceived athleticism. They cannot seem to shoot the ball, their lack of a post player allows open perimeter scoring, and there is no real fire or emotion from several of the starters.

As I look into the abyss that is the current state of the Iowa BB program it's pretty dark down there. This season will be a huge struggle, but there is a chance this is the bottom and things will get better from here.
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Great post. The most impressive player I have seen play this year was Doug McDermott. He was always in the right position on the basketball court no matter the situation. He was the right spot to get the rebound, to hit the 3 point shot, to make the right pass, to play good help defense. I walked out of that game impressed by his basketball skills. He is not going to be mistaken for the best athlete on the court, but in most games he is going to be the best basketball player on the court.
 
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