The State Of Texas Has 7 Schools In The Dance

[Fryowa]

Think about that.

As a side note, I had the day off and have watched every game so far. Anyone who has seen a few can see that Iowa would get absolutely curb stomped by any of these teams. Totally wrecked.

Watching these teams play lockdown D and drive to the hole at a full sprint makes you realize that our team plays at 1/4 speed and wouldn’t even last five minutes in the NIT. So depressing when you look at the product put out in IC in the context of teams that actually play hard and put forth effort for a full 40 minutes.

 

[trj]

Meh, it is a bigger mystery why the Texas football program can’t average 10 wins a season.

 

[Northside Hawk]

Wow! That doesn't bode well for my pick of Nevada in the "Adopt Another Team" thread. Hopefully Shaka Smart has and off night. Obviously the game still has to be played.

On the flip side, the Gucci Gucci Pac 12 is OUT. (They couldn't get USC in the dance in the first place). Oh well. They still have palm trees and beaches and suntanned co-eds and Armani stores.

 

[1hawkeye1]

Think about that.

As a side note, I had the day off and have watched every game so far. Anyone who has seen a few can see that Iowa would get absolutely curb stomped by any of these teams. Totally wrecked.

Watching these teams play lockdown D and drive to the hole at a full sprint makes you realize that our team plays at 1/4 speed and wouldn’t even last five minutes in the NIT. So depressing when you look at the product put out in IC in the context of teams that actually play hard and put forth effort for a full 40 minutes.

This is tough to accept, but 100% true.

 

[eyekwah]

Not any more after round one, only three.
I watched parts of some games; mostly Big Ten games. Since all four B1G teams won there first round games I don't think one can say Iowa would get curb stomped by the lower seeded teams. Looking at the last eight games they were much more competitive. They lost close games to Michigan (OT), Michigan State (-3), Indiana (-2), Minnesota (-4) and had wins against Illinois and Northwestern. There are teams in the tournament with a lot less talent than Iowa.

Jon Beilien after Michigan's OT win was far more positive about Iowa's talent than the people on this forum would ever want to admit.

 

[Fryowa]

Jon Beilien after Michigan's OT win was far more positive about Iowa's talent than the people on this forum would ever want to admit.

He can be as positive as he wants, but the proof is in the pudding. That pudding, by the way, is 4-14 which is rancid. And of course Beilein is going to shower opposing teams with praise, he’s on tv, and he also just won a game in OT. Have you ever heard a coach say after a win, “You know Pam, that team is really bad and we didn’t have a lot of trouble with them. They play terrible defense and don’t hustle, and they’re just not coached very well...” No, you haven’t because no one does that. Ever.

How many, “But wait till next year, this team’s gonna turn it around!” does a team get?

Quite a few according to the overwhelming majority of (homer) Iowa fans.

 

[Northside Hawk]

He can be as positive as he wants, but the proof is in the pudding. That pudding, by the way, is 4-14 which is rancid. And of course Beilein is going to shower opposing teams with praise, he’s on tv, and he also just won a game in OT. Have you ever heard a coach say after a win, “You know Pam, that team is really bad and we didn’t have a lot of trouble with them. They play terrible defense and don’t hustle, and they’re just not coached very well...” No, you haven’t because no one does that. Ever.

How many, “But wait till next year, this team’s gonna turn it around!” does a team get?

Quite a few according to the overwhelming majority of (homer) Iowa fans.

Barring transfers, they return their top ten players. Intact. Many of those players were over their heads this year. But they were thrown in the fire. And they will be better for it.

We can look at examples of history or any measurable modern metric. I'd bet there are very few instances where a team returns ALL of it's top ten players and does NOT make a huge improvement.

You can argue that coaches have screwed this up, from recruiting too many at too few positions to substitution patterns. You can argue that they base playing time more on how players are practicing more than on how they are playing that night. You can argue that led to the Helter skelter substitution patterns and lineups. You can argue that by Late February Fran should have been able to separate the wheat from the chaff with this team.

I had this conversation yesterday. It sucks that we're not playing right now and watching these tournament games and seeing everything we don't have just doubles it all down. I watched Jalen Brunson make one of the sickest moves in the I've ever seen.

But many of these tournament teams are driven by juniors and seniors. Next year, for the first time in what seems like forever, we'll have a veteran team. Let's just take a deep breath and see what happens.

 

[Northside Hawk]

Let me take this another direction. We have not fired a football coach since 1978. We have fired one basketball coach since 1974. Don't remember if Angie Lee was fired. If not, we haven't fired a woman's coach since pre Stringer. Gable and his henchmen will never get fired. An athletic director hasn't gotten fired since before Bump Elliot, if then

Is that what's bothering people the most? That we are behind the curve when it comes to upper level employment in the work force? In a modern age where people not only thrive on constant change, they can't seem to function without it?

Just food for thought. Because if we did launch Fran were going to be going through this same cycle in about four years. Anyone have thoughts, good or bad on this?

 

[Fryowa]

Barring transfers, they return their top ten players. Intact. Many of those players were over their heads this year. But they were thrown in the fire. And they will be better for it.

We can look at examples of history or any measurable modern metric. I'd bet there are very few instances where a team returns ALL of it's top ten players and does NOT make a huge improvement.

You can argue that coaches have screwed this up, from recruiting too many at too few positions to substitution patterns. You can argue that they base playing time more on how players are practicing more than on how they are playing that night. You can argue that led to the Helter skelter substitution patterns and lineups. You can argue that by Late February Fran should have been able to separate the wheat from the chaff with this team.

I had this conversation yesterday. It sucks that we're not playing right now and watching these tournament games and seeing everything we don't have just doubles it all down. I watched Jalen Brunson make one of the sickest moves in the I've ever seen.

But many of these tournament teams are driven by juniors and seniors. Next year, for the first time in what seems like forever, we'll have a veteran team. Let's just take a deep breath and see what happens.

Iowa was a top 20 offensive team at the end of the year. There’s no way that sort of team shouldn’t make the NCAA.

They were dead last in defense in the P5+Big East, and not far from dead last in the entire D1.

Iowa is not going to improve measurably on offense. You just don’t get much better than that and they don’t need to improve offense. The sole area that’s losing them all these games is the most putrid defense in all the land. That’s not something that’s going to magically go from last to even top 100 over the summer in my opinion, especially considering that the B1G is in a down year and thy the schedule is tougher next year. In a way, returning this exact same squad is probably not so helpful. They need to find a way to stop teams from scoring 85 points a night and I just don’t see it.

 

[Fryowa]

Just food for thought. Because if we did launch Fran were going to be going through this same cycle in about four years. Anyone have thoughts, good or bad on this?

Im generally not a fan of firing coaches. I don’t think KF should be fired because there isn’t a better available replacement.

I also think Fran should get 1 more year to sort it out and if not should be sent packing.

So to be clear I’m not calling for all the heads to roll. Where I think 90% of the blame rests is with donors in the case of football, and Barta in basketball. Giving coaches Wall Street-level golden parachutes and basically guaranteeing their employment is never, EVER a good idea. Barta has given Fran zero incentive to be creative and win games, and to make it worse he’s come out in public and basically told everyone that win or lose Fran is the guy Period.

With football, Barta couldn’t touch Ferentz with a 50’ pole, but the homer donor base has shown time after time after time that they want Norman Rockwell instead of a football coach.

In neither case can I do anything about it, so I don’t get mad. I just DVR games and watch later when it’s not emotional anymore.

 

[Northside Hawk]

Im generally not a fan of firing coaches. I don’t think KF should be fired because there isn’t a better available replacement.

I also think Fran should get 1 more year to sort it out and if not should be sent packing.

So to be clear I’m not calling for all the heads to roll. Where I think 90% of the blame rests is with donors in the case of football, and Barta in basketball. Giving coaches Wall Street-level golden parachutes and basically guaranteeing their employment is never, EVER a good idea. Barta has given Fran zero incentive to be creative and win games, and to make it worse he’s come out in public and basically told everyone that win or lose Fran is the guy Period.

With football, Barta couldn’t touch Ferentz with a 50’ pole, but the homer donor base has shown time after time after time that they want Norman Rockwell instead of a football coach.

In neither case can I do anything about it, so I don’t get mad. I just DVR games and watch later when it’s not emotional anymore.

All good points. What I would REALLY like to see is Fran get the classes balanced. Like lute used too. So we always had a nucleus of juniors and seniors.

I believe that if you unexpectedly lose a player, via transfer or early NBA entry, you replace him with a transfer, grad transfer, or juco transfer. You can't keep loading up on freshman and causing pileups on the roster and playing 75% freshman and sophomore four years out of five. Fran tried to get Dickerson a few years ago and it didn't work out but he has to keep trying. The only disadvantage to returning all your top players, plus the potential stud they have coming in, is that Fran is going to be in the same boat next year with keeping everyone happy. Two or three are going to have to accept diminished roles whether they like it or not. Brought that up in several threads.

 

[HawkGold]

Meh, it is a bigger mystery why the Texas football program can’t average 10 wins a season.

Baylor Texas A and M TCU T Tech SMU Houston OK O K State are some good reasons.

 

[HawkGold]

Iowa was a top 20 offensive team at the end of the year. There’s no way that sort of team shouldn’t make the NCAA.

They were dead last in defense in the P5+Big East, and not far from dead last in the entire D1.

Iowa is not going to improve measurably on offense. You just don’t get much better than that and they don’t need to improve offense. The sole area that’s losing them all these games is the most putrid defense in all the land. That’s not something that’s going to magically go from last to even top 100 over the summer in my opinion, especially considering that the B1G is in a down year and thy the schedule is tougher next year. In a way, returning this exact same squad is probably not so helpful. They need to find a way to stop teams from scoring 85 points a night and I just don’t see it.

Dude Iowa is terrible on half court O. Seriously you think they are good?

It is also evident the Big is not a good BB conference watching games. Guard play in the Big is lacking period.

 

[Fryowa]

Dude Iowa is terrible on half court O. Seriously you think they are good?

It is also evident the Big is not a good BB conference watching games. Guard play in the Big is lacking period.

They finished the year in the top 20 in offensive efficiency and 3rd in the Big Ten.

Look at their average ppg. You can twist it around however, but the Hawks scored more than enough points to beat just about any team they faced—if they didn’t give over 80 a game.

 

[HawkGold]

They finished the year in the top 20 in offensive efficiency and 3rd in the Big Ten.

Look at their average ppg. You can twist it around however, but the Hawks scored more than enough points to beat just about any team they faced—if they didn’t give over 80 a game.

Don't care about stats. Iowa can't run a 1/2 court under pressure against mediocre teams. Paint it up anyway you want.

 

[HawkGold]

They finished the year in the top 20 in offensive efficiency and 3rd in the Big Ten.

Look at their average ppg. You can twist it around however, but the Hawks scored more than enough points to beat just about any team they faced—if they didn’t give over 80 a game.

Put another way. You can't take much analysis away from the offensive efficiency and scoring average of a team that won only 4 games, beat no one of substance and gave up an astounding amount of points. It's like measuring how well melted butter sticks together.

 

[DDThompson]

Not any more after round one, only three.
I watched parts of some games; mostly Big Ten games. Since all four B1G teams won there first round games I don't think one can say Iowa would get curb stomped by the lower seeded teams. Looking at the last eight games they were much more competitive. They lost close games to Michigan (OT), Michigan State (-3), Indiana (-2), Minnesota (-4) and had wins against Illinois and Northwestern. There are teams in the tournament with a lot less talent than Iowa.

Jon Beilien after Michigan's OT win was far more positive about Iowa's talent than the people on this forum would ever want to admit.

Yes. This.

Anyone can say Iowa would get curb-stomped by every team because they aren’t in the tourney.

If Iowa has a good enough season to make the tourney then no one would be saying it. No one.

But that’s the point. Iowa wasn’t close to making the tourney so it’s a fantastic way to get *likes*

 

[Fryowa]

Don't care about stats. Iowa can't run a 1/2 court under pressure against mediocre teams. Paint it up anyway you want.

Don’t care about stats? Lol.

When they directly relate to wins and losses?

 

[Fryowa]

Put another way. You can't take much analysis away from the offensive efficiency and scoring average of a team that won only 4 games, beat no one of substance and gave up an astounding amount of points. It's like measuring how well melted butter sticks together.

I assume from your post history that you’re at least somewhat educated.

You can take a whole lot away from the stat when you put it in context, which is what all analysis is about. Context being that the top offensive teams in the nation (P6 teams) tend to win a whole lot more ball games than they lose. Iowa is in that group and sucks shit. Iowa also has the worst defense by a mile in major college basketball. Had their defense been even middle of the road tells you they’d easily have won double or triple the hands they did. Not seeing that as a reason for failure is being obtuse. I would say it’s ignorant but I don’t think you’re ignorant. Just stubborn.

 

[HawkGold]

I assume from your post history that you’re at least somewhat educated.

You can take a whole lot away from the stat when you put it in context, which is what all analysis is about. Context being that the top offensive teams in the nation (P6 teams) tend to win a whole lot more ball games than they lose. Iowa is in that group and sucks shit. Iowa also has the worst defense by a mile in major college basketball. Had their defense been even middle of the road tells you they’d easily have won double or triple the hands they did. Not seeing that as a reason for failure is being obtuse. I would say it’s ignorant but I don’t think you’re ignorant. Just stubborn.

We can disagree. I do have a graduate degree, but mostly I'm practical farm educator and the school of hard knocks.

Iowa's lack of talent changes game dynamics. They are good at transition, but then again the other teams just don't pay much attention. If they had stellar D and were fighting for an upper finish, I'd be impressed. However they weren't doing that so game intensity is different.

I've also coached HS basketball.

When you are good, especially really good, everyone wants to take you down even the bad teams. When you aren't they don't come after you as hard.