There goes Fleming

[NikeHawk21]

True about Jok, I just don't remember thinking he was more of a question mark after his freshman year like Williams is now. I still think we need to find a graduate transfer PG for next season

Agreed. I'm confident that Williams will be a good player for us, but the jury is still out on him being able to handle the PG duties full time.

 

[lightning1]

I will be super surprised if he ends up at a power 5 school. He lacks the agility to play defense and his shooting is over-rated. Just watching him in warm-ups before games moving around and shooting the group I sit with were all wondering if he would make it at this level. Not fluid at all and threw up a ton of bricks. He would be like 1-7 from 3 with no one guarding him with 5 of the misses being absolute bricks. Then you watch Jok canning 10 straight that barely touch the net. Watch Utoff canning shots. Then you realize if you cannot make them in warm-ups how are you going to hit anything in a game with tight defense.

I had high hopes for Fleming but watching him in person you can understand why he got buried on the bench and is transferring. I do wish him the best of luck.

There's another player still on the roster I really wonder about too making it at this level. It just shows how freaking good you have to be to play at a power 5/6 school.

I was surprised at how much muscle Fleming put in in the chest and shoulders, since he got here. Whatever weight routine they had him on was working well! I wondered when I saw the difference if it might not effect his shot. It wouldn't be a long term issue but over the short term, adding that much muscle can make you mechanical vs fluid/smooth.

 

[Hawk4Fan]

Still holding out hope Ellingson leaves, he is just not a BIG player at all...his defense is below average as he doesn't have the speed or agility to guard anybody any good. His ball handling is below average big time, and his shooting from what I saw this year is below average....right now he just taking up space.

 

[deanvogs]

http://www.thegazette.com/subject/s...-fleming-say-program-wasnt-right-fit-20160405

Sounds like Fran is up front with these kids and they know where they stand and what he wants to see out of them.

“Yeah, it was difficult, Coach Fran (McCaffery), he told me all year, ‘You’re more than good enough to play.’ He said he was conflicted all year with playing me in certain situations. But he just didn’t have the trust in me to basically call any set that he would have liked to, and he didn’t necessarily have the confidence in me to maybe execute a certain defense at a certain time of the game. I understand that.
“We had an experienced team, and (McCaffery) obviously went with guys that have been here before at my position. I understand why he struggled putting me in. I get it all, but I just thought looking forward you only get four years to play. So I want to make the most of it.â€

 

[PCHawk]

http://www.thegazette.com/subject/s...-fleming-say-program-wasnt-right-fit-20160405

Sounds like Fran is up front with these kids and they know where they stand and what he wants to see out of them.

“Yeah, it was difficult, Coach Fran (McCaffery), he told me all year, ‘You’re more than good enough to play.’ He said he was conflicted all year with playing me in certain situations. But he just didn’t have the trust in me to basically call any set that he would have liked to, and he didn’t necessarily have the confidence in me to maybe execute a certain defense at a certain time of the game. I understand that.
“We had an experienced team, and (McCaffery) obviously went with guys that have been here before at my position. I understand why he struggled putting me in. I get it all, but I just thought looking forward you only get four years to play. So I want to make the most of it.â€

If that's really the case, he made a really short sighted decision to leave. The experience he was referring to will be gone next year. It would also mean I'm right on my comments about him.

 

[WindsorHawk]

If that's really the case, he made a really short sighted decision to leave. The experience he was referring to will be gone next year. It would also mean I'm right on my comments about him.

Yeah. It sounds like he plays some minutes next year and then plays a lot the next 2 years. I have very fond memories of Gabe and he didn't play his freshman year. And I think he was happy with his Iowa career when he left...and is making some money playing basketball these days.

 

[PCHawk]

Yeah. It sounds like he plays some minutes next year and then plays a lot the next 2 years. I have very fond memories of Gabe and he didn't play his freshman year. And I think he was happy with his Iowa career when he left...and is making some money playing basketball these days.

His year of hardly playing at all is already over. It makes sense if he wants to drop down a class. But he says he wants a power 5 school. You're not going to find a much better situation at a different power 5 school unless it's Rutgers. It's even more strange that it's coming from a kid who went from big fish to the bench at Oak Hill.

 

[Tierney]

If that's really the case, he made a really short sighted decision to leave. The experience he was referring to will be gone next year. It would also mean I'm right on my comments about him.

Fran has guys next year that probably were sure to play over the two guys that left. Experience is more important to the coaching staff than natural talent. The guys that were ahead of him aren't bad players, but that doesn't mean they didn't have more natural talent. It probably is true that experience is more valuable when the players aren't that far apart talent wise. I was looking forward to watching Hutton and Fleming play, but that is part of basketball. It would of been nice if Fleming would of been given more minutes when the game was decided. I suppose Moss must be looking pretty good in practice.

 

[sportstalent]

It is disappointing that Fran didn't get Fleming more playing time during the season. In the preconference season their were lots of blowouts that would of allowed him minutes. The first half of the conference season Iowa won most of their games by double digits and he probably didn't play for more that a couple of minutes all season. I enjoyed watching the starters, but I would of liked to see more of the freshmen when the opportunity presented itself. With a little more playing time earlier, the coaching staff might of been able to win some of the games they lost in the second half of the conference season. Williams looked like he was ready to take off in the last few games. I think one of the boring aspects of the coaching staff at Iowa is their unwillingness to showcase some of their younger talent. Their aren't many fans that wouldn't of liked to watch Fleming play when they were secure in the game. If Hutton didn't redshirt it would of been fun to see him play a few minutes. When Iowa has a pretty good lead, the games wouldn't be as boring. I can see where the coaching staff might not want fans reactions if they did play the freshmen some minutes and they did pretty good. Its probably self serving.

This is one thing that did bother me to your point about big leads and blowouts and players not getting in.
In the past I think the staff has relied on worse benches, but we also don't see them everyday. However, last 4 mins when you have 15 PT leads, work them in.
If they are not redshirting and blowout, equals PT.

Iowa's starters also played the 5th most minutes of any power conference starting five, this compounded with lack of trust in bench...late collapse...meh.

 

[hawkdrummer1]

This is one thing that did bother me to your point about big leads and blowouts and players not getting in.
In the past I think the staff has relied on worse benches, but we also don't see them everyday. However, last 4 mins when you have 15 PT leads, work them in.
If they are not redshirting and blowout, equals PT.

Iowa's starters also played the 5th most minutes of any power conference starting five, this compounded with lack of trust in bench...late collapse...meh.

Interesting parallel between the bball and football teams...don't you think?

 

[BigD]

Interesting parallel between the bball and football teams...don't you think?

ROFLMAO!!!!!!! I was just going to post this same thought.

 

[BigD]

Fran has guys next year that probably were sure to play over the two guys that left. Experience is more important to the coaching staff than natural talent. The guys that were ahead of him aren't bad players, but that doesn't mean they didn't have more natural talent. It probably is true that experience is more valuable when the players aren't that far apart talent wise. I was looking forward to watching Hutton and Fleming play, but that is part of basketball. It would of been nice if Fleming would of been given more minutes when the game was decided. I suppose Moss must be looking pretty good in practice.

T,

I really hope the guys coming in are that good but at this point that is all conjecture. Think back to when Hutton and Fleming were recruited and the expectations many had for them. Who would have said about them what some are saying now that they are leaving? How many were bragging them up on how they were going to be a step up for us in recruiting?

Dont get me wrong as there is nothing wrong with being optimistic and hopeful. I have a wait and see attitude at this point, with a tinge of hopeful optimism, but it not fair to the two that left to say the new recruits would be starting before them. I do believe that Fleming is making a mistake because as the old saying goes " things are ripe for the picking" and the opportunity is there for plenty of playing time IF YOUR GOOD ENOUGH.

Although you could be totally right, and I hope you are, we just won't know until the new recruits get on the floor and show us what they can do. I have to be honest and admit that I was disappointed in the performance of Fleming once he got on the court (color me unimpressed) as he did not live up to the hype. How bad was the hype? Some on here thought he would decommitt from Iowa as soon as a higher profile program recruited him. Now we see why that didn't happen. Is our coaching staff starting to slip in their evaluation skills or was this one of those "well this is the best we can get" type of situations? Either way that's not good.