JonDMiller
Publisher/Founder
Before I begin this fun undertaking, I want to make one thing perfectly clear: I am not saying that I believe this year’s Iowa basketball team will be anywhere near as good as the 1986-1987 Iowa basketball team.
With that qualifier out of the way….
As I was writing about the 2013-2014 Iowa basketball team on Thursday morning, I just kept coming back to the depth this year’s squad is going to have. It’s pretty amazing and I believe this is the deepest Iowa roster, as it relates to players you’d feel comfortable with playing in a Big Ten game, since the 1986-1987 Iowa team.
That team went 30-5 and I am not saying this year’s Iowa team does that, but this year’s team is the deepest team since that one. That said I did begin to wonder, as I went down the roster for both teams, how this year’s team might stack up against that fabled Iowa team from 25 years ago…a team some said at the time was one of the best squads who didn’t win an NCAA title and a team the late Al McGuire picked to win the NCAA tournament in 1987.
It’s a crazy comparison to make, especially before this year has even begun, which is why I began this item with the qualifier; I don’t think this year’s team could hang with the 1986-1987 squad. But here’s my attempt at a ‘Power Ranking’ from both rosters and my look at where players from this year’s group would settle out compared to the lot. Keep in mind I ranked the 86-87 players based on where they were in their careers that year, not how some of them ended up. In the case of Ed Horton, he would have ranked much higher later in his career.
1. Roy Marble: We’re talking dad here, the all time leading scorer at Iowa. He averaged 14.9 points and 5.1 rebounds per game that year, as a sophomore and was Iowa’s leading scorer. He could do things off the dribble no current Iowa player can do, or at least not consistently. He would be the most talented player on the floor, even his sophomore self. He had two stints in the NBA but personal demons derailed his basketball career.
2. Kevin Gamble: Big and versatile guard for Iowa, a 6-5 two-guard who was a tough matchup and still would be today. As an aside, he played in nearly 650 NBA games and had four seasons where he averaged double-figures in scoring in the league.
3. BJ Armstrong: The Baby Faced Assassin began to come into his own that year, averaging over 12 points per game during his sophomore campaign and was Iowa’s second leading scorer. He pushed the tempo of Tom Davis’ offense to ludicrous speed at times, as Iowa averaged over 87 points per game. BJ went on to have a solid career in the NBA, leading the league in three-point shooting at one time, winning three wold championships with the Chicago Bulls and today is sports agent, representing Bulls star Derrick Rose, among others.
4. Devyn Marble: This wasn’t an easy decision, as I will explain with my #5 pick. But Devyn is talented and would have gotten some minutes on that 86-87 team, perhaps at the expense of Bill Jones, who would go on to play one season in the NBA.
5. Brad Lohaus: I nearly put Lohaus at #4. He could do a lot of things for you. He led the 86-87 team in rebounding at 7.7 per game and also averaged more than 11 points per game. As I type this right now, I see him leading the point of Iowa’s full court pressure, taking inbounds passes to the face (like he did at Indiana) but wreaking havoc. He could step back and hit the three for you as well. He was just a great piece of the puzzle that year but more than just a role player. Lohaus enjoyed a long career in the NBA, playing with seven teams over an 11-year career.
6. Aaron White: Perhaps a mini-version of Lohaus from a size standpoint but every bit as active if not more so. White is better with the basketball with Lohaus and does have some shooting ability and both players used extra effort to score. Two years from now White moves up on this list.
This is the point I reached where I stopped this exercise…the challenge of ranking the players below this point was a bit muddied. Jeff Moe averaged over 11 points per game for that 86-87 Iowa team and although I remembered him playing a significant role, I didn’t remember it being THAT big of a role. You also had contributors like Al Lorenezen and Ed Horton who I’ve yet to mention. Iowa has a deep bench this year but so many of their stories are yet to be written and it will be more fair to revisit this topic at the conclusion of this year’s basketball season.
The thought I reached after comparing these two rosters is this year’s Iowa team is a poor man’s version of that 1986-1987 Iowa team. One who might lose by 15 to 20 points to that team, but it’s not playing in an era of hoops anywhere near the golden times we witness in the 1980′s as it relates to college basketball. It’s a poor man’s version of that team playing in a poor man’s version of college basketball, so it fits.
Aaron White and or Jarrod Uthoff may fill the role of Brad Lohaus. Iowa’s guard court of Devyn Marble, Mike Gesell and Anthony Clemmons are not bad and will be fun to watch, but they definitely couldn’t hang with Roy Marble, Kevin Gamble and BJ Armstrong. Moe was the sniper off the bench and Iowa hopes it has that in Peter Jok and a rejuivenated Josh Oglesby. Gabe Olaseni, Adam Woodbury and Mel Basable could provide this year’s Iowa team with a better paint game than the 86-87 team.
Yet the kinship I wonder about between these teams is not going to be found comparing the rosters. It’s the stylistic and depth angles that make me wonder.
10 players averaged double-figures minutes in 1986-1987, the same number as Iowa has last year. You lose Eric May from last year’s Iowa team and you add Jok who should average at least 10 minutes per game. Five players averaged double figures in scoring for the 86-87 bunch while two did for Iowa one year ago. I think that number will grow to at least three this year with several players on the cusp. There may be just as many capable players this year as there were from the 86-87 team at making offensive contributions, perhaps not at the same level.
The 1986-1987 Iowa team was the deepest in the league that year; Indiana had five players average double figures but there was a huge drop off to man number six. The Big Ten was also very good that year, placing 6 of the 10 teams in the NCAA tournament (60%) with Indiana winning the national title and Iowa making it to the Elite Eight. Purdue and Illinois joined those two teams to see the 1986-1987 end of regular season AP standings look like this as it relates to the Big Ten:
3. Indiana
6. Iowa
7. Purdue
11. Illinois
Iowa, Indiana and Purdue were ranked in the Top 10 for every in-season poll that year. It was a glorious time for Big Ten basketball and in my opinion it was the zenith point for both the Big Ten and college basketball in general. The game has not been played as good as it was in the 1980′s. Someone told me yesterday that I have now become ‘back in the day’ guy but as it relates to this specific topic, I was saying and writing this nearly 10 years ago as an early thirties guy who was then less than 15 years removed from the 80′s. Too young to be that nostalgic and too close to the era to have forgotten.
Today’s game isn’t as good as it was back then, but the last couple years of Big Ten basketball is the closest thing we’ve seen to the glory days since the glory days. This year we're likely to see Michigan State, Ohio State and Michigan in the preseason Top 15, with Iowa, Indiana and Wisconsin flirting with preseason Top 25 polls.
As it relates to this year’s Iowa team, they have a chance to be the closest thing we’ve seen to those late 1980′s Iowa teams since they were on the court. The depth is there, some talent is there and they have a coach who wants to push the ball and tempo more than anyone else in the Big Ten. Sound familiar?
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