the completely unofficial "Fran lost this game" thread

[PalmettoHawkFan]

Do you really think there is an 18 year old alive that would be to tired to play any of the last 15 minutes?

not too tired to play, but too tired to continue to go all out against the likes of nix. i think it's the only reasonable explanation for why fran sits woody for the end of games.

grown man nix > skinny kid woody down the stretch

 

[PCHawk]

not too tired to play, but too tired to continue to go all out against the likes of nix. i think it's the only reasonable explanation for why fran sits woody for the end of games.

grown man nix > skinny kid woody down the stretch

I think a "reason explanation" is he went with experience. I hope your reason is the actual reason tho.

 

[99topdawg]

But you think playing slightly better but still pretty bad teams would have?

Remember the 293rd ranked team (Gardner-Webb) from last year did to us. We weren't ready for the big dogs. If we would have played some better competition, we might have had a disastrous non-conference season and may have had no chance at the bubble. Playing those teams gave us the chance to gain confidence so we could hang with top 10 ranked teams in the conference season.

 

[Hawkstrat]

Outside of playing McCabe instead of Woody down the stretch, Fran was fine. I know meatheads like to take the high road, but this game was lost by the officials. When they decided to let MSU play football in the second half.

 

[Campbell]

Outside of playing McCabe instead of Woody down the stretch, Fran was fine. I know meatheads like to take the high road, but this game was lost by the officials. When they decided to let MSU play football in the second half.

That's how it's been played all year in the Big 10. That's how it's been played in the tournament. Might have been a little more physical than usual, but nothing so far out of the ordinary of what we've seen in the Big 10 all season.

 

[blubberhawk]

So what?

Fran did a great job to get us to a point where our tourney destiny was within our control. I don't think it would have been if we had a tougher OOC schedule.

When schedules are put together, Fran has no idea what the opponents' record will be.
I would contend that for this team, scheduling the teams he scheduled around UNI, ISU, Western Kentucky and Wichita State in addition to whomever we would get in the ACC challenge was a pretty good move. The one thing he couldn't control was how very bad some of these other teams tuned out to be. No one ever knows when you schedule a team like Coppin State, how their record will be. It just so happened that all 3 of the teams Iowa scheduled from the Atlantic Sun Conference lost 24 or more games. South Dakota lost 20. UNI lost 15, as did Western Kentucky. Tex A&M Corpus Christi lost 23 and Central Michigan 20. Iowa's match up in the BIG/ACC challenge with Va tech even turned into a negative as Tech ended up with 18 losses. Yes, maybe some poor scheduling but also some very bad luck.

Kind of Iowa's season in a capsule. Bad Luck. Virtually every time an opponent had to make a "3" to win or tie a game, they did. Most of them very tough shots or just plain luck (wisc. game) Iowa NEVER did the same. IF Iowa would have held on at Nebraska, they would probably be squarely in the tourney conversation, even after last night's loss.
Oh well, how about just winning the NIT now? It is obvious this team is good enough to win it. Iowa should be a high seed and get a couple games at home, for sure. Getting a trip to NYC would be a great send off for Eric May.

 

[oroko]

A couple of years ago, Long Beach State and South Dakota State were on the schedule.
Put them on this year's schedule instead of two of the bigger tomato cans and even with losses, I bet the tournament would be sewed up.

 

[blubberhawk]

A couple of years ago, Long Beach State and South Dakota State were on the schedule.
Put them on this year's schedule instead of two of the bigger tomato cans and even with losses, I bet the tournament would be sewed up.

Yup.

Just for the sake of comparison:
ISU non conference schedule included:
Southern, Alabama A&M, Campbell, North Carolina A&T, Nebraska/Omaha, Drake, UMKC, and Yale. All crap teams but teams that turned out to have better records than the crap teams Iowa played. Just plain luck there.

By the way, the good teams ISU played?
Cincinnati: loss
UNLV: loss
Iowa: loss.

Their big non conference win?? Home win over BYU who finished 3rd in the West Coast Conference, (10th best conference rpi)

I would contend that Fran put together a schedule as tough as the one Freddy put together in Ames. Fred's crap teams just turned out better records.

 

[Hawkstrat]

I would contend that Fran put together a schedule as tough as the one Freddy put together in Ames. Fred's crap teams just turned out better records.

It wasn't luck, people were complaining about the RPI killers before the season started. It was just a terrible schedule.

 

[hawkforlife9]

Isso owns Franny.

 

[bogeyman]

Our defense has been so much better this year it kept us in a lot of games when our offense just flat out sucked.
Fran deserves credit for this.

I do question a few things however last night. As discussed leaving Woody out for so long had me scratching my head near the end. I thought our offense vs. NW and MSU last night ran smoother with him in there setting screens, passing etc. He was also playing pretty solid defense in both games. To me, we just seemed better with him out there. I also have questioned why we don't try and get Basabe more touches on offense, or set plays for him. With our lack of really any true scorers he is one of our best options. I'd like to see him get more consistent shots. I too agree with some posters that we needed a timeout during that run, Fran refuses to use them and let the game get away from us. That run was the ballgame and he could have stopped the momentum when our team was clearly losing its composure.
Just my two cents. I know no coach is perfect and I feel good about our team next year. Only concern is it appears we still won't have a slasher/scorer with some handles and quickness. I gotta think some guys will shoot better from outside than this year.

 

[blubberhawk]

It wasn't luck, people were complaining about the RPI killers before the season started. It was just a terrible schedule.

Only point I was making was that iowa's schedule was hardly any worse than that of ISU.
The turd teams we scheduled simply had turdier records than the turd teams the cyclones played.
Simple as that.

 

[PCHawk]

Only point I was making was that iowa's schedule was hardly any worse than that of ISU.
The turd teams we scheduled simply had turdier records than the turd teams the cyclones played.
Simple as that.

Sounds like a pretty valid reason to get left out of the tourney to me. Our turd teams were turdier then other teams turd teams.

 

[sportstalent]

When schedules are put together, Fran has no idea what the opponents' record will be.
I would contend that for this team, scheduling the teams he scheduled around UNI, ISU, Western Kentucky and Wichita State in addition to whomever we would get in the ACC challenge was a pretty good move. The one thing he couldn't control was how very bad some of these other teams tuned out to be. No one ever knows when you schedule a team like Coppin State, how their record will be. It just so happened that all 3 of the teams Iowa scheduled from the Atlantic Sun Conference lost 24 or more games. South Dakota lost 20. UNI lost 15, as did Western Kentucky. Tex A&M Corpus Christi lost 23 and Central Michigan 20. Iowa's match up in the BIG/ACC challenge with Va tech even turned into a negative as Tech ended up with 18 losses. Yes, maybe some poor scheduling but also some very bad luck.

Kind of Iowa's season in a capsule. Bad Luck. Virtually every time an opponent had to make a "3" to win or tie a game, they did. Most of them very tough shots or just plain luck (wisc. game) Iowa NEVER did the same. IF Iowa would have held on at Nebraska, they would probably be squarely in the tourney conversation, even after last night's loss.
Oh well, how about just winning the NIT now? It is obvious this team is good enough to win it. Iowa should be a high seed and get a couple games at home, for sure. Getting a trip to NYC would be a great send off for Eric May.

This is partially true, but playing teams that are consistently the worst in D1 should not be scheduled. For instance, TAMCC is a team that has been D1 less than 15 seasons. They have been just a bad program and haven't been able to be a good opponent for anyone. It makes no sense whatsoever to schedule a team like that.

There are some low major programs that have been traditionally good. It doesn't take a lot of knowledge to figure out who those teams are, but even if they have a bad season that doesn't hurt you. It is scheduling 4 or 5 of those teams year in and year out that make people not take your OOC seriously.

I get the thought that Fran needed to schedule some teams that Iowa could beat easily, but not trying to add in a team that from a major conference that will test you is not smart either. ISU is a good team and a rivalry game, it is just one game though. For teams anymore to be taken seriously and to get that RPI under 50 they have to schedule at least one other team. I would like to see K-State be a team that Iowa looks to get on the schedule, until Weber runs them in the ground.

 

[Hawkeye11en1]

wholey ****.

 

[Bigtenchamp]

I'm not sure if I blame him but some of his decisions didn't help - it was pretty much a combo of the players finishing, poor, one sided officiating, and some of it on Fran.

 

[RocknRollface]

Yeah I didnt understand woody sitting but that has been the case all year.

Basabe played well but could have used gabe and woody that last 10 minutes or so.

I just wonder what is going through his mind when Iowa played MSU to a ten point advantage for the first 30 minutes of that game while playing Adam and Gabe almost exclusively at center and playing great defense.

And then he just up and decides its time to do a 180 and go small. Cue repeat of last year on the defensive end.

 

[RocknRollface]

But you think playing slightly better but still pretty bad teams would have?

No but apparently the committee thinks this.

 

[RocknRollface]

i think i get the no woodygabe at the end

it looks like woody's conditioning still isn't there; yes, its been a season. he's still short of strength and stamina and that's simply due to his age.

gabe had done a couple of nervousgabe things before coming out -- he's still getting the experience.

with the game on the line, looks like fran wanted the smaller but more experienced basabe and mccabe down low. both can hit a jump shot and mccabe can hit 3s. the gamble was experience and more offense over two developing players who had played well defensively but may have been hitting their own in-game wall.

this team was in the game because of perfect execution on offense and some luck. there is no kid in a hawk uni who can create his own shot and take control of the last 5 min of a game against a team like msu.

talent and luck caught up. hawks lose.

next year woody and gabe will both see minutes go up -- we'll see an enforcer in the paint at the close of every game. we'll also have two shooters, and clemmons won't be a nervous frosh at the end of game.

No, they had a $h!+ load of turnovers on offense actually and were still in the lead.

They were leading the game for 30 minutes because of defense and having a real big in there to clog the lane and counter MSUs huge front line was essential.

 

[RocknRollface]

It wasn't luck, people were complaining about the RPI killers before the season started. It was just a terrible schedule.

Having this be the determining factor in making the NCAA is an incredibly poor and illogical thought process.

What you did against good teams should be the determining factor.