Scale of 1 to 10, rate Fran's first season

[Iowafarmgirl]

I just don't get how you can give this team a 6 or 7....based on expectations. If you were basing the rating on how competitive they are in the B10...okay, fine. But, I expected a year like last season under Lickliter. Was it better, absolutely! This season the team was FAR more interesting to watch, competitive in most games. Did they let a few slip away, yes, but it could have been A LOT worse.

I rated them a 6.5 based on the fact that they were competitive in some games, but were dog meat on the road, and never seemed to get better in away games. Overall they progressed more quickly than I thought they would, but the lack of development of Gatens and May took me down some. If those guys would have increased production marginally over last season, we could have won 6-7 Big 10 games.

 

[Hawkstrat]

So your expectations were worse than a 20 loss season?! You expected losses against Long Beach State and South Dakota State?

Might as well expect a 5 win season every year so you will never be disappointed!

Why isn't Senor Guerrero banned?

 

[Herkeynerd]

Overall I'm going 7.5. I need a half point system here. I don't think 8 but they were better than 7. I expected struggles. But just the fact that they were as competitive as they were without any true ice-water-in-the-veins type shooters is mind blowing to me. They showed so much more fight and grit than last year that if we were basing it on that alone I would go 10. I never thought "licks" players could fight like that. How many times in the second half of the season did they start to get down about 10 in the second half of a game only to bounce right back and claw back into it, I haven't seen that in forever.
What stings is to think that Jarryd's last big play of his career was a turnover that may have cost them the game. Such a great teammate for those guys, but sadly that play symbolizes his career at Iowa with unmet expectations. I've read a lot just this last week on what kind of guy he is, and I know that he won't let that get him down. Good bye Jarryd, thanks for being a Hawkeye and playing for us through all the dark years. It was nice having you here!

 

[hawkeye2188]

So your expectations were worse than a 20 loss season?! You expected losses against Long Beach State and South Dakota State?

Might as well expect a 5 win season every year so you will never be disappointed!

This was suppose to be ISU's year wasnt it?

 

[coonhawk]

I would say 6. I think we have a lot of hope for the future, but we lost way too many close games this year. I love Fran's energy the players he has brought in and overall I think he will be a great coach here. I disagree with how he managed the clock in some games. It was like he was copying the football team. I know he has his own philosophy, but it felt like we were choking in crunch time.

 

[hawkincal]

5 - though I do like that McCaffery and his staff are aggressive recruiters, which hopefully will get the program turned around.

 

[INTIMIDATORHawk]

I'd give it a 7 overall.

Win a few of those close games (ISU, WF, Wisky) and we would be calling him a miracle worker.

Future is bright. I love watching Iowa hoops for the first time in years.

I'm also excited about Fran's energy. He isn't happy with where they are either, even though he sees the progress.

 

[olivecourt]

Short answer: 7

Long answer: I had no idea how terrible we were until watching the first few weeks of the season this year (and I watched 80% of last year's games). I'll give Lick's system one thing: by slowing down the game dramatically, it helped keep us close in some games and hid our severe lack of athleticism, quickness, and ability to elevate at the rim. Watching Gatens, May, and Brommer trying to operate in an up-tempo scheme, it was easy to wonder if we would win any Big Ten games at all.

Given the absolute lack of talent left by Lick (probably comparable to a lower-division Missouri Valley team, and that's being generous), the injuries to Gatens and Payne, the defection of Aaron Fuller, and the quality of the Big Ten, it should be seen as a minor miracle that we won more games than last year, that we were actually watchable (and even somewhat entertaining!) in the second half of the year, and that we can legitimately talk about getting to or surpassing .500 next year.

 

[tweeterhawk]

That's a tough thing to rate:

If you rate the record its got to be a 3 at best.

If you rate the style of play its a 9

If you rate the play its a 4, maybe a 5.

If you rate the general interest its a 10

The season met my expectations (7) and provided a ton of hope (9) for the future. I didn't like the record (3) and you could tell that the talent just isn't good enough (4 or 5) to compete on a regular basis. The two Fran recruits (10) were excellent and if we could get more of them it shouldn't take long to get back to where we once were.

The development (8) of certain players was exciting to watch. Guys like Brommer (7), Archie (8 at times and 2 at times) and Cole (9) improved dramatically over last year. Guys like Gatens (4) and May (1) regressed so that is discouraging.

The Purdue game (10) was the high point of the season. It showed me that if this season were to be played all over again, our record would be SIGNIFICANTLY better with the same players. I would almost go as far as saying we could have gone undefeated in the OOC schedule.

The low point was game #1 under Fran (1). Losing to So Dak State should never happen.

To boil it down to the OP's question you are a 7. (Do you write government regs for a living ... )

 

[SDK46]

7

Not bad for the lack of talent we have (and youth)...not the record, but the way we were competitive at the end of the year, for the most part.
But, blew some games we really should have won
How do you "fix" bad FT shooting? A real head scratcher.
Talent coming in...dunno...we need a real good "big"

 

[olivecourt]

7

Not bad for the lack of talent we have (and youth)...not the record, but the way we were competitive at the end of the year, for the most part.
But, blew some games we really should have won
How do you "fix" bad FT shooting? A real head scratcher.
Talent coming in...dunno...we need a real good "big"

I haven't looked at the numbers, but it did seem like we were much better from the line in the last month or so. Reality, or wishful thinking?

 

[CAARHawk]

I have to give it an incomplete until the spring signing period is complete. Because Fran's first full season will not be complete until that point.

If he signs a pair like Cezar and one of the big scoring guards and then ends up finding a way to make some room for a strong big man, I will give him an 8. If he can't close the deal on any more significant additions for 2011, I will give him a 5. If he gets a couple of lesser ranked players I will probably give him a 6. However, we all know with Fran that could end up an 8 by mid-season.

 

[HawkeyeMike23]

This. I'd been to just a couple games in Carver where we had any semblance of a home-court advantage before this season. And this year it was there more often than not. Didn't carry us to a lot of wins (obviously), but this team really wasn't THAT far away.

I give it an 8 overall. Home-court is on the rebound, the style was fun to watch, the team competed from start to finish, and the development from SDSU to yesterday was just astounding.

I'd also go with an 8. I was thinking about this yesterday, how the team that played Purdue and MSU is night and day better than the team we put on the floor of SDSU. I think that's a very good sign for the future. I also think the fact that Cartwright and Basabe have done so well shows that Fran can evaluate talent and more importantly knows what kind of players we need to be successful in the Big 10. I think next year we can really start to get the fans back into the program and get this thing turned around.

 

[HawkeyeMike23]

I have to give it an incomplete until the spring signing period is complete. Because Fran's first full season will not be complete until that point.

If he signs a pair like Cezar and one of the big scoring guards and then ends up finding a way to make some room for a strong big man, I will give him an 8. If he can't close the deal on any more significant additions for 2011, I will give him a 5. If he gets a couple of lesser ranked players I will probably give him a 6. However, we all know with Fran that could end up an 8 by mid-season.

This doesn't make sense to me. You're going to change how you view Fran's first season based on who he signs, but before they even play a game? This is liking grading a draft class the day after the day.

 

[SirJamaLot]

9 Fran still has a lot of work to do before we will consistently contend for Big Ten Titles, I'm hoping for a positive spring: no transfers, academic casualities, ect, some new recruits, new practice facility,

 

[olivecourt]

I have to give it an incomplete until the spring signing period is complete. Because Fran's first full season will not be complete until that point.

If he signs a pair like Cezar and one of the big scoring guards and then ends up finding a way to make some room for a strong big man, I will give him an 8. If he can't close the deal on any more significant additions for 2011, I will give him a 5. If he gets a couple of lesser ranked players I will probably give him a 6. However, we all know with Fran that could end up an 8 by mid-season.

If he signs player A and B that I've never seen in my life, I'll give him x.

If he signs player C and D that I've never seen in my life, I'll give him x-2.

If he signs player E and F that I've never seen in my life, I'll give him x-3.

Makes sense to me.

 

[Iowafarmgirl]

I'll give Lick's system one thing: by slowing down the game dramatically, it helped keep us close in some games and hid our severe lack of athleticism, quickness, and ability to elevate at the rim. Watching Gatens, May, and Brommer trying to operate in an up-tempo scheme, it was easy to wonder if we would win any Big Ten games at all.

Why would you say that May's problem is a lack of athleticism? He's the best athlete on the team, and I say that with Cartwright and Basabe in mind.

 

[CAARHawk]

This doesn't make sense to me. You're going to change how you view Fran's first season based on who he signs, but before they even play a game? This is liking grading a draft class the day after the day.

NOTICE HOW I SAID, KNOWING FRAN IT COULD END UP AN 8? (By this I meant that even if he signed lower ranked players they could easily end up being world beaters).

Okay, maybe I should have said, we can't judge it until his spring signees start playing next season, which is what we all should be doing. I was just trying to answer a question that I don't think any rational person should really be able to answer at this point.

He has four available schollies and has two players signed for next season. Additionally, he has one area of radical need (post) that has not been addressed at all. Also, at this point, there are several scholarship players that have significant limitations to their game that are directly related to their specific positions (shooting, ball handling, defense, etc.)

If you take recruiting out of the equation, you are left with a 20 game loss schedule. Is the team more fun to watch? Definitely. But if there is not an upgrade in talent, the team will not be able to compete next season. Either they need a big to replace Cole, or they need players who can score from the perimeter. So, recruiting is as much of a factor with respect to this season as the actual on court play. At this point, Fran's recruiting has got to be graded as an incomplete.

 

[CAARHawk]

Why would you say that May's problem is a lack of athleticism? He's the best athlete on the team, and I say that with Cartwright and Basabe in mind.

May has some limitations with athleticism. His straight line speed is strong, as well as his leaping ability, but he is limited some with lateral movement and also with body control.

However, May's problem is his ball handling. He is just not close to the type of ball handler that is needed at the 2 or 3 in the BIG. He really looks like a four the way he handles the ball.

 

[theboat]

I say 9 simply for the fact that we are not talking about how many players are going to leave the program.