Sad

[hawkeye12345]

Well done, sir.


My go to line is:

I hope you get hit by a truck and taste your own blood today.

Yours in Christ,
NorthKCHawk

lol! Bro - enjoy mediocrity. I wouldn’t know what that feels like and I sure as shit am not going to blow smoke up a mediocre teams ass, which is what this once proud program has turned in to.

Fran is a mediocre coach that came in and stabilized a program that was set reeling when Dr T was given a lame duck season, alfraud sucked, and Lickliter was even worse. But just because he brought us back from absolute garbage does not mean he gets to hang around and make millions and it sure as hell doesn’t mean we have to hand out participation ribbons to those that remained standing at the end of the season.

 

[BigD]

Too bad there have been no threads/posts on Iowa’s victory over Nebraska.

A few comments:

Watched the whole game. Carefully.
The D was solid. Held leading BT scorer to no impact. Thanks, Josh! And our zone!
Our O was a well oiled machine, both in transition and even better than usual in the half court!
Ladji and Brauns were impressive. If Fran could have gotten ahold of Brauns two years ago, it may have been a really big deal!
Ratio of assists to points was incredible. Back Cuts made by Josh, Payton, Brody, Thelwell, and our 5’s, wow!
Payton adjusted his game, went to the hoop and hit a couple of three’s as icing on the cake at the right time.
Payton rebounded well as usual.
Pryce kept us in the game with three’s and attacks to the rim.
Anybody who doesn’t think Brody is a potentially top shelf point guard needs to adjust their eye sight.
Drew was, well, Drew. Got to love that guy. Key threes and assists. Good D.
Take a look at our bench points! Wow. Beat up on Nebbie there for sure.

Since I am an old guy, one of the real highlights of the game was when a senior Husker fouled out after a fine performance. Iowa players showered him with hugs on his way to the bench as he reacted with tears.
Was all over the internet. Good press for the Hawks.

Sorry some of you missed a really good game. Next up in the BT are Ohio State and Illinois. Of course we will not be favored, but I firmly believe we are capable of beating either of them.

There you go.

Total class act on Iowa's part to show appreciate for another player from another team.

 

[BigD]

Love your optimism, Huck!
The Huskers gotta be in shock.

Yep we shucked the cornhuskers............or something like that.

 

[BigD]

Watching those Husker fans file out of the stadium with sadness in their eyes brought great joy to my heart.

Its been a rough season, but these young men and their coaches have never quit.

It takes a sick man to find joy in other people's misery and woes............. but in this case beating the Huskers at home it's acceptable.

 

[HuckFinn]

lol! Bro - enjoy mediocrity. I wouldn’t know what that feels like and I sure as shit am not going to blow smoke up a mediocre teams ass, which is what this once proud program has turned in to.

Fran is a mediocre coach that came in and stabilized a program that was set reeling when Dr T was given a lame duck season, alfraud sucked, and Lickliter was even worse. But just because he brought us back from absolute garbage does not mean he gets to hang around and make millions and it sure as hell doesn’t mean we have to hand out participation ribbons to those that remained standing at the end of the season.

Yawn…

 

[1980HAWKFAN]

Any road win in the Big Ten is a good win for this Hawk team. The reality however is we beat a bad team. We played a good game for about 30 minutes against Sparty and after a few bad shots and a few turnovers Sparty bitch slapped us in a matter of minutes. I think Ohio State beats us by double digits in Indy. This team is not good defensively for 40 minutes and that will be our early exit Wednesday. Take that to the bank.

 

[BigD]

I am checked out on this team. Did I watch it? Yes, on delay and after a band practice and ONLY because someone told me we won. I don't think it's fair to call out fans who are disgruntled and checked out on a program that hasn't been competitive enough to make the dance 2 seasons in a row. I am not going to just blindly follow this program. Iowa has a lot of work to do to bring me back to where I am invested in it past turning it on my TV. PS, I also went to 3 games this year, which were all all 3+ hour drives for me. I've invested and donated enough of my time to this program and team and no one is going to make me feel bad for not supporting it enough.

Just a few years ago I thought I would never see you post a comment like this one. You were a huge supporter of Fran. I lately have been more supportive of him than in the past. It's almost as if we have flipped.

Maybe our meds got sent to the opposite home addresses...............

Nah, its just like at some point you have to accept things. Once you do that then it's much easier. Both sports too. Iowa needs a whole new revamping. Now this upcoming fall will be Tim's second season as OC and we should see significant improvement on the offensive side of things.

You mention "checked out" and I can't wonder if something isn't going on with Fran. Has he checked out emotionally? I only say that because he seems like he is taking some sort of relaxant. Did his doctor give him some high blood pressure meds and tell him he needs to chill a little or else he won't be around much longer??

We are all used to a red faced fired up Fran hounding the officials. I mean when I took my family to the NIT game against Utah last year and saw blatant terrible calls by the officials that favored Utah, Fran just seemed disconnected and indifferent. I kept thinking "Where's Fran???" Yes, it was just a NIT game, but Fran by nature is a competitor regardless of the situation, and these last two seasons have had to be hard on him.

We were just a few rows directly behind the Iowa bench so I could pretty hear Fran anytime he raised his voice.............. Crickets. He did give me a stare down at one point. I know I posted on the forum my dissatisfaction several times over the years for the perennial poor defense and weakness at the point guard recruiting, and I did say I would be at the game a behind the bench,....... so does Fran actually read some of these boards?

The year we won the BTT over Purdue and then dropped a turd in the NCAA tourney was very disappointing. That should have been our year for Fran's first sweet sixteen, and maybe even an elite eight.

Ironically Fran is an example of what happens when defense isn't instilled in to your players. Lickliter is an example of what happens when offense isn't present.

 

[NorthKCHawk]

I think most reasonable people on this board appreciate Fran and what he has done for Iowa basketball. There have been a lot of great moments, players, and wins. If Fran comes back next season, I will be fine with it, but will question Beth's long term plan for her second largest cash cow.

At this point, it just feels like Fran is not the right man for this time. Without placing blame for why, the reality is that Iowa MBB cannot continue to play home conference games in front of a half full arena. Change is needed in many areas to get the program back to a place where the fans care about the product, but the easiest and most impactful change that can be made is at HC. Its just true.

 

[Gander Hawk]

Too bad there have been no threads/posts on Iowa’s victory over Nebraska.

A few comments:

Watched the whole game. Carefully.
The D was solid. Held leading BT scorer to no impact. Thanks, Josh! And our zone!
Our O was a well oiled machine, both in transition and even better than usual in the half court!
Ladji and Brauns were impressive. If Fran could have gotten ahold of Brauns two years ago, it may have been a really big deal!
Ratio of assists to points was incredible. Back Cuts made by Josh, Payton, Brody, Thelwell, and our 5’s, wow!
Payton adjusted his game, went to the hoop and hit a couple of three’s as icing on the cake at the right time.
Payton rebounded well as usual.
Pryce kept us in the game with three’s and attacks to the rim.
Anybody who doesn’t think Brody is a potentially top shelf point guard needs to adjust their eye sight.
Drew was, well, Drew. Got to love that guy. Key threes and assists. Good D.
Take a look at our bench points! Wow. Beat up on Nebbie there for sure.

Since I am an old guy, one of the real highlights of the game was when a senior Husker fouled out after a fine performance. Iowa players showered him with hugs on his way to the bench as he reacted with tears.
Was all over the internet. Good press for the Hawks.

Sorry some of you missed a really good game. Next up in the BT are Ohio State and Illinois. Of course we will not be favored, but I firmly believe we are capable of beating either of them.

There you go.

A good game, a little hard to watch when Iowa went into running down the clock mode and stopped passing the ball. Such a strange season, very uneven results. Hope they can get at least one more win in the BiG.

 

[Gander Hawk]

I caught the last 5 minutes of the game. Nice to get a win and finish the conference play at .500 given what has transpired. This empathy Iowa players showed to Nebraska's Gary when he fouled out was first class sportsmanship. Many Iowa players had played against him multiple times over the past three years. In today's world it was an example many athletes should follow.

There is no point now to rehashing the strength and weaknesses of the team. The members of the team probably know better than all of us why they struggled.

Compare that to the Michigan players who tried to interfere with the MSU seniors trying to kiss the floor at the end of their final game at Breslin.

 

[InGoodCo]

Iowa is a long way from being a top half of the conference team, regardless of who comes back next season and I would say chances are high that MOST of it won't return even if Fran is back. I mean, a lot of us expected Iowa to be pretty good this year, they aren't, and they aren't really close. So, the question arises in my mind, what is the upside of keeping Fran other than to NOT pay his buy out?

 

[Zstatman]

If Fran is retained, I hate to think of the negative backlash, that is unless apathy wins out......

 

[NorthKCHawk]

Iowa is a long way from being a top half of the conference team, regardless of who comes back next season and I would say chances are high that MOST of it won't return even if Fran is back. I mean, a lot of us expected Iowa to be pretty good this year, they aren't, and they aren't really close. So, the question arises in my mind, what is the upside of keeping Fran other than to NOT pay his buy out?

I agree that if Fran is not bringing back the core of this team, along with the transfer and two frosh, there probably is no great rationale for staying the course. Giving Fran a rebuilding year next year makes ZERO sense. But, as I posted elsewhere, if Fran tells Beth the players are all staying, and the players back that up, I could see running it back with a veteran squad with some really good and athletic additions.

That all said, I am not sure Fran would be able to convince me he can hold the players together. Beth has to make this call in March, and how can Fran or she know for sure how this all shakes out personnel wise? Every player in the country is a free agent now. Stability no longer exists.