The Day After

[Hawkfnntn]

Jerry Palm agrees with your analysis, NorthSide. Today he put Iowa as a SIX SEED for the tournament.

We also have the fourth most Quad 1 wins of anyone in the country. Remember that stat....it is huge.

I think 3 more Big Ten wins and we are safely in the field. 4 or 5 more and we might keep that Six Seed. It would be great to steal one or two more Quad 1 wins.

That'd be huge to avoid that dreaded 8/9 seed... Just huge. Anything better then that and Iowa fans shouldn't complain. We have the worst loss a team in the tourny can have pretty much so beggars can't be choosers too much. But a strong finish to the year and we could be a 5. But we've been streaky this yr. Once we go back on the road again things will be interesting

 

[Hawkfnntn]

CM's game management and court presence are very underrated. He's the leader of the team regardless of who's starting and the rest of the team would and has said the same thing.

There's not another program out there that wouldn't want CM on it playing 20 or more mins a game. Some might not need him to play more like we have but he's a net positive player for lots of reasons. The other BIG coaches all speak glowingly of the guy as much as they despise playing against him. It's the best compliment a player can get if you ask me.

 

[InGoodCo]

Sandfort, Harding and Dembele all in the top 150.

Freeman should have been in the top 150 too but just missed - Fran is bringing in one of his best classes next year and we haven't seen any portal targets...... We are losing Kris and Fillip but will return a lot of minutes, IMO, Iowa could very well be better next season or still pretty good.

When we lost Luka I thought we'd be better
When we lost Keegan I thought we'd be better - though I was SUPER worried after the game in Lincoln this season

I'm starting to convince myself that next years team might be pretty pretty good

 

[InGoodCo]

I can remember when Fran first got here and we would get 1 top 150 kid and start mortgaging our house on final 4's - now we're bringing in 3 next season. There was a poster here saying Fran hasn't increased his recruiting acumen on the backs of recent successes. I think that is an extremely weak take.

 

[NorthKCHawk]

Sandfort, Harding and Dembele all in the top 150.

Freeman should have been in the top 150 too but just missed - Fran is bringing in one of his best classes next year and we haven't seen any portal targets...... We are losing Kris and Fillip but will return a lot of minutes, IMO, Iowa could very well be better next season or still pretty good.

When we lost Luka I thought we'd be better
When we lost Keegan I thought we'd be better - though I was SUPER worried after the game in Lincoln this season

I'm starting to convince myself that next years team might be pretty pretty good

Losing Connor also hurts.

I love what we have coming in. I also hope Fran again tries to find a transfer big. I assume Josh or Riley or both will transfer. At least one of them should. We will be deep and talented 1-3. A couple of those guys can swing out to play the 4 (PM and Sandfort), but we will be really young and untested at the 5. We need to buy a center/stretch 4 from somewhere.

 

[HawkGold]

You and I are watching different games. I don't know where Iowa would be if Connor had not come back this year, but it would be with less wins. Connor has never played the shooting guard position at Iowa. This year or any year. He either has played forward or point/forward. Iowa starts four guys who can all score double digits. Connor is in the game to stir the drink. He does it as well as anyone. Like everyone, he has good games and bad, but this team would be less than it is without him.

You would be seeing more Ullis and Sandfort. I'd take that in the long run. He just isn't great across the board. I don't buy the coach on the floor beyond understanding what the coach wants. He is terrific at feeding the post. That isn't going to work well alone against big teams which aside from IL hasn't gone well.

 

[HawkGold]

I can remember when Fran first got here and we would get 1 top 150 kid and start mortgaging our house on final 4's - now we're bringing in 3 next season. There was a poster here saying Fran hasn't increased his recruiting acumen on the backs of recent successes. I think that is an extremely weak take.

Fran acrltilually has done decently olif you consider legacy players which is what that poster was getting at. If Murray was coming back next year I would be really pumped. Patrick has potential to bring an equivalent but equal game.

 

[InGoodCo]

Fran acrltilually has done decently olif you consider legacy players which is what that poster was getting at. If Murray was coming back next year I would be really pumped. Patrick has potential to bring an equivalent but equal game.

Murray isn't coming back. Patrick has a long ways to go, but could be much better next season, I think Iowa will get 2 more years from him. Murray's are his only legacy recruits as far as I know, and props to Fran for knowing what he had. He could have just told them to walk on or delayed offering them because they were "legacy" after all right? They were 100% coming to Iowa with no other options and no one was going to discover them over the next several months of recruiting from what I heard. Those kids just fell into his laps and nothing to do with how Fran has welcomed former players back into the program and embraced Iowa's history unlike the 2 previous coaches. He should get 0 credit.

 

[Northside Hawk]

I'm willing to bet this team doesn't take a huge step back next season. Maybe a slight step back but I wouldn't bet on a bottom half conference finish since Fran's only done that 3 times in 13 seasons and 2 of those were his first. I don't know much, but I know that predicting anything other than a top half finish for this program is a bad beat. Iowa continues to compete regardless of what they lose, NPOY, early NBA exits, doesn't seem to matter when you have a coach that develops at the rate of Fran.

We will get mauled inside next year unless

Freeman is ready from day one.

Josh O or Mulvey take a gigantic step forward

We get help in the portal

Fran makes the commitment to go small and the team spends the off season preparing to go small.

But good golly miss Molly. You may see lineups where Dembele is the tallest player on the floor for Iowa.

 

[InGoodCo]

We will get mauled inside next year unless

Freeman is ready from day one.

Josh O or Mulvey take a gigantic step forward

We get help in the portal

Fran makes the commitment to go small and the team spends the off season preparing to go small.

But good golly miss Molly. You may see lineups where Dembele is the tallest player on thfor Iowa

Let's bet right now, Iowa finishes in the top half of the conference. You name the price.

 

[Northside Hawk]

Let's bet right now, Iowa finishes in the top half of the conference. You name the price.

I go to @InGoodCo for all my basketball knowledge.

Wait, that one's been taken. But let's analyze.

Rebraca is going to be a massive loss, and bigs behind him aren't seizing the opportunity for playing time.

Kris is Kris.

Connor is Connor.

That's some huge losses, but here's why you may be right and I may be wrong.

Fran has become a better coach the last five years.

He will shorten the bench to get the hot hands in there, and worry about tomorrow when tomorrow comes. He has beefed up November and December schedules, and that has improved our conference road record and February overall record tremendously.

I based my original thought on the premise that we have little returning inside, and that our incoming bigs will go through some growing pains. But we have a boatload of guards and swing players returning, thanks to the type of player Fran has been recruiting as of late. I think he realized we had to sacrifice shooting for defense and athleticism, and in the process has recruited players who can do a little of both. I think Dix can step into Murray's shoes and hold his own.

 

[Northside Hawk]

This is a good take and I appreciate the optimism. I guess my worry is that in just about every year above you could kind of see who would be stepping up as the next team Batman. With Garza leaving, we thought Keegan could be special. With Keegan leaving, we thought Kris could be pretty special. Etc. I see a lot of good pieces coming back and I like the incoming class, but I personally don't see someone special on the level of the players you mentioned above. I hope I am wrong, and Fran has earned the benefit of the doubt when it comes to developing talent passed over by just about every other D1 program. With the exception of Tyler Cook and Uthoff, those guys were not heavily recruited by power schools.

Dix is poised to take a huge step next year, as defenses gear up to stop Sandfort and Perkins and PMac and Josh himself is another year removed from his horrific high school injury. He may step into Murray's shoes without skipping much of a beat.

 

[HuckFinn]

If I had to pick a relative weakness and still be encouraged about a team, I would prefer that weakness to be at the 5.

I am not so sure Kris Murray won’t return next year. What players nationally are highly likely to be lottery picks in 2023? How many would be more highly rated than Kris? Would he be better off in 2024? I don’t know sick’em about the NBA and the draft. Just curious. I am not disregarding Kris’s ability. Love his game!

 

[trj]

If I had to pick a relative weakness and still be encouraged about a team, I would prefer that weakness to be at the 5.

I am not so sure Kris Murray won’t return next year. What players nationally are highly likely to be lottery picks in 2023? How many would be more highly rated than Kris? Would he be better off in 2024? I don’t know sick’em about the NBA and the draft. Just curious. I am not disregarding Kris’s ability. Love his game!

Barring injury, Kris isn't coming back. He is already on the clock because of his age. When you get to 21, 22, 23 years of age, NBA teams stop looking at upside and start nitpicking at what you can't do.

Most NBA mock drafts have him being picked in the 15-19 range of the 1st round, it is not worth the risk coming back, IMO.

 

[trj]

Let's bet right now, Iowa finishes in the top half of the conference. You name the price.

Run this back in June and I might have some interest. Let me see how the roster shakes out first.

I watched clips of Moline/Chicago Siemeon on Youtube the other night, Harding/Freeman can play, I just don't know how quickly that it is going to transfer to a big boy level. It might take half a season, it might take two years, I just don't know.

Right now, I am more comfortable with Fran grabbing a couple of established guys out of the portal.

 

[justwinbaby]

The question for next year is how are we going to replace Rebraca and Murray. As others have pointed out we’ve wondered how we would replace Cook, Luka and Keegan in recent years and have been able to do it very effectively. That being said I don’t see an effective replacement for them on our roster. I believe that’s a concern. We have the other pieces in place someone new is going to have to step up. I also think that we are going to miss Connor more than some others realize. I would also agree with others that Fran is becoming a better coach the last few years. I have often thought that he was a terrible in game coach but feel like he’s been much improved over the last couple of years.

 

[InGoodCo]

The question for next year is how are we going to replace Rebraca and Murray. As others have pointed out we’ve wondered how we would replace Cook, Luka and Keegan in recent years and have been able to do it very effectively. That being said I don’t see an effective replacement for them on our roster. I believe that’s a concern. We have the other pieces in place someone new is going to have to step up. I also think that we are going to miss Connor more than some others realize. I would also agree with others that Fran is becoming a better coach the last few years. I have often thought that he was a terrible in game coach but feel like he’s been much improved over the last couple of years.

we didn't see an effective replacement for any of those guys, fwiw. We didn't know Keeagan was going to be who he was, we hoped Kris would be but we didn't know. When we lost Cook, we didn't know what Luka was. I literally can do this for almost every season and every year of Iowa basketball since Fran took over

You don't think it could be Tony Perkins or Peyton Sandfort? Cause I do

 

[Hawkfnntn]

If I had to pick a relative weakness and still be encouraged about a team, I would prefer that weakness to be at the 5.

I am not so sure Kris Murray won’t return next year. What players nationally are highly likely to be lottery picks in 2023? How many would be more highly rated than Kris? Would he be better off in 2024? I don’t know sick’em about the NBA and the draft. Just curious. I am not disregarding Kris’s ability. Love his game!

I wish... But he's gone. He probably won't be a lottery pick but he'll be a 1st rounder I bet. Just based on his skill set and that his brother is doing well he'll get taken high enough to where he's gotta go. I'm sure Fran and everyone would advise him to do so.

The pros and cons to coming back are what? If he came back it'd be with the hopes of playing himself into being a top 5 player or better right? And that may be possible. But that'd come with the risk of injury and time spent not being in the NBA. Remember he and Keegan took that extra yr of HS and Kris redshirted. He'll be 23 in August. Putting him as an old middle aged NBA player almost the day he gets there. For all those reasons he's gotta go.

 

[InGoodCo]

Run this back in June and I might have some interest. Let me see how the roster shakes out first.

I watched clips of Moline/Chicago Siemeon on Youtube the other night, Harding/Freeman can play, I just don't know how quickly that it is going to transfer to a big boy level. It might take half a season, it might take two years, I just don't know.

Right now, I am more comfortable with Fran grabbing a couple of established guys out of the portal.

He'll get a post in the portal this year imo - but it doesn't really change my mind that they'll be in the top half of the conference regardless of roster. We just have a staff that knows how to win in this league.

 

[InGoodCo]

Anyone who thinks Kris Murray might come back is off their rocker.