This Team Answered the Critics

[uihawk82]

Over Fran McCaffery’s 11 years at Iowa, the Hawkeyes are 43-39 in February. Only twice was Iowa worse than 3-4 in February (2011, 2-6; 2018, 1-6). The other nine years: 40-27.

Stop the Fran fade BS.

I am not a big Fran fade guy but has March been very kind to Fran and the Hawks?

I am not even going to look up the record but I do not think so. Lots of early tourney exits losing as higher seeds. A real good NIT run and some other good games but I bet overall not very top 25ish even.

 

[uihawk82]

If you split the conference season exactly in half, from 2016 on till now Fran is .607 in the first half, and .413 in the second half of the season.

I'm in no way suggesting getting rid of Fran, but he definitely slides in the last half of the season. It's not viable to say that it's because of a grueling season because there are 13 other teams that play the same number of games and only a finite number of losses to go around.

I think the other teams get video and play against us and they make good adjustments. While usually Fran stays with the same offense and defense.

 

[uihawk82]

Yep, the games where they let the lead slip away and couldn't close out. I hear ya! Those are tough to swallow.

Maybe you were around but if not you would have really suffered the end of the 1968 season. RMiller had Sam Williams and the new sophs like Vidnovic and Calabria playing for the title at home against a medium to slightly above avg Mich team. Listened to it on the radio and the hawks played sluggish?, tight? not sure what and let a bunch of easy baskets go in to lose by 2 pts iirc.

Then the one game playoff with OSU to see who went to the NCAAs and the hawks got blown out. Tough way to see a really good season go south and watch one of the great players in Williams finish his career. Sam was a leaping, athletic agile forward at 6 ft 3 inches who now would be a perimeter guard and slasher.

 

[uihawk82]

Iowa getting a 1 or 2 seed would be the best thing that could happen to my March Madness bracket. Every other sucker is going to bring them to the sweet 16 or elite 8. Anyone following Iowa basketball knows from experience this team is a second round upset loss- almost guaranteed. The first team Iowa plays under a 14 seed will take them down.

I think Iowa will have problems with most tourney teams with really good guards. I haven't seen Virginia this year but a Virginia team like the last few years with those tough defensive guards would be rough for our offense.

 

[HuckFinn]

Iowa getting a 1 or 2 seed would be the best thing that could happen to my March Madness bracket. Every other sucker is going to bring them to the sweet 16 or elite 8. Anyone following Iowa basketball knows from experience this team is a second round upset loss- almost guaranteed. The first team Iowa plays under a 14 seed will take them down.

Oh good. Now I won’t have to watch the NCAA’s! Thanks!

 

[HuckFinn]

Maybe you were around but if not you would have really suffered the end of the 1968 season. RMiller had Sam Williams and the new sophs like Vidnovic and Calabria playing for the title at home against a medium to slightly above avg Mich team. Listened to it on the radio and the hawks played sluggish?, tight? not sure what and let a bunch of easy baskets go in to lose by 2 pts iirc.

Then the one game playoff with OSU to see who went to the NCAAs and the hawks got blown out. Tough way to see a really good season go south and watch one of the great players in Williams finish his career. Sam was a leaping, athletic agile forward at 6 ft 3 inches who now would be a perimeter guard and slasher.

Watched with season ticks in the grad student seats, which were great in those days.

 

[WindsorHawk]

Iowa getting a 1 or 2 seed would be the best thing that could happen to my March Madness bracket. Every other sucker is going to bring them to the sweet 16 or elite 8. Anyone following Iowa basketball knows from experience this team is a second round upset loss- almost guaranteed. The first team Iowa plays under a 14 seed will take them down.

Weak trolling.

 

[thedukeofearl]

I think the other teams get video and play against us and they make good adjustments. While usually Fran stays with the same offense and defense.

Familiarity breeds contempt

Playing in the Big year after year

Other coaches and teams know what is coming

Personnel and ironing the wrinkles help

 

[WindsorHawk]

I think it's possible to get a 1 seed by winning the Big 10 tournament if Illinois wins one, but I don't think it will be if they win both. Being 2 clear of us in the conference standings is too much to overcome. The love they would have after winning those two games would dwarf the love we are getting now,, and rightfully so.

As far as winning the next two and locking up a 2 or 3 seed goes. How could we possibly drop off the 2 line at that point. We will be sitting as the top 2 which means four teams would have to pass us by loss in to a Maryland type team in the first round. No way four teams can pass us at that point. Win the next two and we are either a 2 seed or sneak into a 1.

Conference standings don’t matter to the SC...especially with unbalanced schedules. So we can toss that out. We will have just beaten them head to head and won 10 out of 11...having just beaten Michigan as icing on the cake.

And I agree their next 2 wins this week would dwarf our 2 wins this week. But our 2 wins over NCAA projected 1 seeds in back to back (with Illinois losing...head to head no less) games trumps their wins IMO.

3 Seed..,Lose our Friday game. OSU win BTT. Down to 6th. Houston wins out. Probably down to 7th. WV wins conference tournament down to 8th. Villanova wins out. That’s a 3 seed. Virginia or FSU could also be in play.

I don’t think we drop to a 3 but it’s certainly possible. And I only worded it the way I did because 2 and 3 are equal IMO.

Side Note - I will be stunned if Illinois wins 2 this week. But it’s fun to debate stuff. Usually there’s a long thread about what has to happen for us to make the tournament. Not this year! That bubble is so far away I can’t even see it.

 

[Ree4]

We really need Illinois to go 0-2 this week. If they win a game, there's no chance at the 1 seed even if we win the tournament. If they lose them both, whoever goes farther in the tournament between the 2 will more than likely get the last 1.

I like that their tougher game is first and our easier game is first. It makes it more likely we go into the weekend with hope for the 1.

I've seen a few people suggest that it's better for us to get the best 2 seed in the tourney than the worst 1 seed, any truth to that?

Can't say I'd say no to a 1 seed and make program history, however

 

[1977Hawkeye]

I've seen a few people suggest that it's better for us to get the best 2 seed in the tourney than the worst 1 seed, any truth to that?

Can't say I'd say no to a 1 seed and make program history, however

I don't know, but I'm not sure why a 1 seed would be a bad thing - I'd love to see it happen just to say we've done it. Let the chips fall where they will.

At least on paper, if you're a 1 seed, that technically means you're the best team in your region. If you're a 2, you have another team in your region standing in your way, that is supposedly better than you are. That's pretty much how I see it.

It really depends on the match ups, I guess, though.

 

[okeefe4prez]

Iowa getting a 1 or 2 seed would be the best thing that could happen to my March Madness bracket. Every other sucker is going to bring them to the sweet 16 or elite 8. Anyone following Iowa basketball knows from experience this team is a second round upset loss- almost guaranteed. The first team Iowa plays under a 14 seed will take them down.

Yeah, there's a good chance of it. It sucks because this is a ballclub where if we are draining shots we are as good as anyone in the country and we have a slew of games against top 10 teams to prove it.

 

[okeefe4prez]

I don't know, but I'm not sure why a 1 seed would be a bad thing - I'd love to see it happen just to say we've done it. Let the chips fall where they will.

At least on paper, if you're a 1 seed, that technically means you're the best team in your region. If you're a 2, you have another team in your region standing in your way, that is supposedly better than you are. That's pretty much how I see it.

It really depends on the match ups, I guess, though.

This is the best year to be good because there's no chance we'll have to play Duke in Greensboro or Kentucky in Louisville or something absurd.

 

[PCHawk]

Conference standings don’t matter to the SC...especially with unbalanced schedules. So we can toss that out. We will have just beaten them head to head and won 10 out of 11...having just beaten Michigan as icing on the cake.

And I agree their next 2 wins this week would dwarf our 2 wins this week. But our 2 wins over NCAA projected 1 seeds in back to back (with Illinois losing...head to head no less) games trumps their wins IMO.

3 Seed..,Lose our Friday game. OSU win BTT. Down to 6th. Houston wins out. Probably down to 7th. WV wins conference tournament down to 8th. Villanova wins out. That’s a 3 seed. Virginia or FSU could also be in play.

I don’t think we drop to a 3 but it’s certainly possible. And I only worded it the way I did because 2 and 3 are equal IMO.

Side Note - I will be stunned if Illinois wins 2 this week. But it’s fun to debate stuff. Usually there’s a long thread about what has to happen for us to make the tournament. Not this year! That bubble is so far away I can’t even see it.

I know the committee always says the don't put any stock in conference standings, but I don't buy it. Even if it were true, them winning two more conference games than us would be hard to ignore. The good thing is the committee wouldn't have to swap anything else if all they were doing is swapping us and Illinois depending on the conference championship. I could see your situation playing out and the committee saying "let's see what happens in the championship game".

Your 3 seed scenario makes sense and is definitely possible. Pretty unlikely tho.
Here's another scenario. Baylor loses to #6 west virgina Tuesday, #17 Oklahoma State Thursday, and #18 Texas Tech Saturday. Are they a 1 seed if they lose 4 straight to end the year? That might leave 3 big 10 teams as number 1s.

 

[PCHawk]

I've seen a few people suggest that it's better for us to get the best 2 seed in the tourney than the worst 1 seed, any truth to that?

Can't say I'd say no to a 1 seed and make program history, however

If it's true that they don't want to put Big 10 teams in the same bracket as a 1 and 2, then the difference is huge. If we are the top 2 seed, they would put us in the same bracket as Gonzaga or Baylor. If we are the last 1 seed, they wouldn't put us against Illinois or Ohio State (which might be the best two 2 seeds). Instead we would be with a team like Alabama, Villanova, or West Virginia. That's way better than Gonzaga or Baylor. We would be favored in every game up to the final 4 instead of a big underdog against the 1 seed.

If they decide not to care about conferences in the same bracket, then it wouldn't really make much difference at all because we would be against Illinois either way (assuming we will out).

 

[Northside Hawk]

Nope. Fran has 4 wins in 9 B1G tourneys.

That is the biggest fly in his ointment.

From 2014-17 Fran lost his first BTT game to a double digit seed (Northwestern, Penn State, Illinois, Indiana) and who knows what that cost us in NCAA seeding.