Time for some perspective

deanvogs

Well-Known Member
Ok, a day has past, so lets all let perspective sink in.

1) This is the 3rd year in a row Iowa has made the NCAA tournament. The last time they did that it was '90-'91, '91-'92, '92-'93
2) This will be the highest back to back seeding that Iowa will have received since the '86-'87 (2 seed), and '87-'88 (5 seed)
3) This is the most B1G games won in a 3 year span (33) since '86-'89 (36)


Nobody is happy with the way the season ended. At the same time nobody would have guess we finished tied for 3rd for the second year in a row and would be a 6 or 7 seed. It is a whole new season now, and what has happened for the last 4 months is irrelevant, what has happened the last 4 weeks is irrelevant. Win two more games and this is the most successful 3 year run in Iowa basketball since the mid to late '80's run.
 
Thanks dean. It makes me feel better about this team.


And at the same time I feel worse.

This program has been average for most of my life.
 
Thanks dean. It makes me feel better about this team.


And at the same time I feel worse.

This program has been average for most of my life.

Most programs are at best Average really if you look over a 30-35 year period. The blue bloods are about the only consistent winners, they simply get the better players 95% of the time.
 
Ok, a day has past, so lets all let perspective sink in.

1) This is the 3rd year in a row Iowa has made the NCAA tournament. The last time they did that it was '90-'91, '91-'92, '92-'93
2) This will be the highest back to back seeding that Iowa will have received since the '86-'87 (2 seed), and '87-'88 (5 seed)
3) This is the most B1G games won in a 3 year span (33) since '86-'89 (36)


Nobody is happy with the way the season ended. At the same time nobody would have guess we finished tied for 3rd for the second year in a row and would be a 6 or 7 seed. It is a whole new season now, and what has happened for the last 4 months is irrelevant, what has happened the last 4 weeks is irrelevant. Win two more games and this is the most successful 3 year run in Iowa basketball since the mid to late '80's run.

I definitely agree with the above. but you still think what could have been without the 2014 and 2016 losing streaks at end of year. Both of those teams lost their shooting touch but still were in most of those losses if not leading late. To me Fran's teams are usually rebounding and defending pretty well and taking care of the basketball. Both of these 'collapses' seemed to ride shooting woes. Fran just needs to get some better shooters/scorers. He had two this year and in 2014 he only had two in White and Marble.

If he has some shooter/scorers coming in I think that will help.

Fran has had Iowa poised for two finishes close to leaque title but they need to get over this hump.
 
Most programs are at best Average really if you look over a 30-35 year period. The blue bloods are about the only consistent winners, they simply get the better players 95% of the time.

Sadly this isn't going to change anytime soon either.
 
Ok, a day has past, so lets all let perspective sink in.

1) This is the 3rd year in a row Iowa has made the NCAA tournament. The last time they did that it was '90-'91, '91-'92, '92-'93
2) This will be the highest back to back seeding that Iowa will have received since the '86-'87 (2 seed), and '87-'88 (5 seed)
3) This is the most B1G games won in a 3 year span (33) since '86-'89 (36)


Nobody is happy with the way the season ended. At the same time nobody would have guess we finished tied for 3rd for the second year in a row and would be a 6 or 7 seed. It is a whole new season now, and what has happened for the last 4 months is irrelevant, what has happened the last 4 weeks is irrelevant. Win two more games and this is the most successful 3 year run in Iowa basketball since the mid to late '80's run.
agree with most of this. What I can not agree with is that you say the last four weeks is irrelevant. I disagree, the team we have seen the last four weeks is not a good team, I do not think they can get their mojo back to win 2 more games
 
The last 4 weeks are relevant because that is who this team is now. This isn't flipping a coin where each flip is independent of the others, this is a team that has bafflingly forgotten how to play fundamental basketball. This team consistently played like one of the best teams in college basketball, now they are playing like a bubble NIT team. I don't expect them to even find the switch, let alone turn it back on in the tournament.
 
thanks Deanvogs. I still believe in Fran. Always have.

However, as far as this season goes, I've given up hope for the afternoon soaps and a bottle of cold brew. [You youngsters can google that reference]:cool:
 
Ok, a day has past, so lets all let perspective sink in.

1) This is the 3rd year in a row Iowa has made the NCAA tournament. The last time they did that it was '90-'91, '91-'92, '92-'93
2) This will be the highest back to back seeding that Iowa will have received since the '86-'87 (2 seed), and '87-'88 (5 seed)
3) This is the most B1G games won in a 3 year span (33) since '86-'89 (36)


Nobody is happy with the way the season ended. At the same time nobody would have guess we finished tied for 3rd for the second year in a row and would be a 6 or 7 seed. It is a whole new season now, and what has happened for the last 4 months is irrelevant, what has happened the last 4 weeks is irrelevant. Win two more games and this is the most successful 3 year run in Iowa basketball since the mid to late '80's run.

The twenty-four wins the last two seasons are the most B1G wins in consecutive seasons since Davis' first two seasons (26) . That is almost thirty years ago. While I don't like how the season is ending, the last two years have been the best consecutive seasons in a long time.
 
The last 4 weeks are relevant because that is who this team is now. This isn't flipping a coin where each flip is independent of the others, this is a team that has bafflingly forgotten how to play fundamental basketball. This team consistently played like one of the best teams in college basketball, now they are playing like a bubble NIT team. I don't expect them to even find the switch, let alone turn it back on in the tournament.

Meh. Nobody was playing better than ISU last year coming out of the Big 12 tournament. They had lots of press and pub, and tons of people picking them for the final four. Heck JD had them in the NC game I think......they lost first round.

My point is this is the NCAA's, the rest of the year is pretty irrelevant. You can be the hottest team on the planet, you can still lose if you don't play well. You can also be the coldest team on the planet, and if you play well you can win. I don't know if Iowa will even win one game, but I can tell you I won't be surprised if they win two games and get to the sweet 16, it is the NCAA's anything can happen.
 
There's a pattern on this website. A crushing loss happens and the chicken-littles come out with the "Fire Fran", "Fire Kirk","our receivers suck" and "Gesell sucks" kind of posts for the first 24 hours after the defeat. Then, there's a voice of reason thread created which gives us a proper perspective.

Time heals all wounds I guess.
 
thanks Deanvogs. I still believe in Fran. Always have.

However, as far as this season goes, I've given up hope for the afternoon soaps and a bottle of cold brew. [You youngsters can google that reference]:cool:


Do you have too much time on your hands, 1h1? ;)
 
It's hard to be a true black and gold Hawk fan and not be disappointed with the end of the season. Because the nature of the losses were all close games, I think you can look to coaching as a factor in some of the losses. No the coach doesn't take the shot, miss the free throw, not get the rebound, play poor defense...but he is to get the right guys in the right positions to be successful. I know the talent here is different, but in what i'm about to say next you have to assume talent is equal considering the scores of the games. A "great" coach finds a way to win 6 of the last 8...4 of the last 8 if he was very unfortunate in my mind. You don't see the big boy coaches have end of game or end of season issues like we are having. I'm not on the fire Fran he"s terrible team....what i'm saying is, there's a game management issue going on here. It's too consistent in his record in close games...someone else will have to look it up....that we don't win a lot of the close games. Heck, when we were 10-1 didn't we win 9 of those by double digits? Purdue by 8 was our closest win. It's something that he should address in the coming off season. I am happy with the overall success of this year's team, but i'd look in the mirror and correct these shortcomings if i was fran. Not to save his job, but to simply win more games.
 
It's hard to be a true black and gold Hawk fan and not be disappointed with the end of the season. Because the nature of the losses were all close games, I think you can look to coaching as a factor in some of the losses. No the coach doesn't take the shot, miss the free throw, not get the rebound, play poor defense...but he is to get the right guys in the right positions to be successful. I know the talent here is different, but in what i'm about to say next you have to assume talent is equal considering the scores of the games. A "great" coach finds a way to win 6 of the last 8...4 of the last 8 if he was very unfortunate in my mind. You don't see the big boy coaches have end of game or end of season issues like we are having. I'm not on the fire Fran he"s terrible team....what i'm saying is, there's a game management issue going on here. It's too consistent in his record in close games...someone else will have to look it up....that we don't win a lot of the close games. Heck, when we were 10-1 didn't we win 9 of those by double digits? Purdue by 8 was our closest win. It's something that he should address in the coming off season. I am happy with the overall success of this year's team, but i'd look in the mirror and correct these shortcomings if i was fran. Not to save his job, but to simply win more games.


I agree with you, I don't think there's anyone who's not disappointed with how the regular season ended. I know I am. What's driving me nuts are the posters on here who immediately jump to the "Fire Fran" end of the train. As I mentioned in another thread, most people, including me, had Iowa finishing approximately where they did in the regular season. It's HOW we got here that's disappointing. But the idea that Fran is somehow anywhere near the so-called "hot seat" is ludicrous.

Does Fran have things he needs to work on? Absolutely. I think and expect he will be mroe aggressive with his use of timeouts next year for example, due to the youth movement coming in.

Since the Iowa State game, Fran has been 1) on the hot seat; 2) Coach of the Year; 3) hot seat again; 4) good coach; 5) back to hot seat again. Methinks we have people around here who overreact just a wee bit. :)
 
There's a pattern on this website. A crushing loss happens and the chicken-littles come out with the "Fire Fran", "Fire Kirk","our receivers suck" and "Gesell sucks" kind of posts for the first 24 hours after the defeat. Then, there's a voice of reason thread created which gives us a proper perspective.

Time heals all wounds I guess.

There's a few that relish in negativity pretty much constantly. They have huge hatchet wounds that never heal.
 
I agree with you, I don't think there's anyone who's not disappointed with how the regular season ended. I know I am. What's driving me nuts are the posters on here who immediately jump to the "Fire Fran" end of the train. As I mentioned in another thread, most people, including me, had Iowa finishing approximately where they did in the regular season. It's HOW we got here that's disappointing. But the idea that Fran is somehow anywhere near the so-called "hot seat" is ludicrous.

Does Fran have things he needs to work on? Absolutely. I think and expect he will be mroe aggressive with his use of timeouts next year for example, due to the youth movement coming in.

Since the Iowa State game, Fran has been 1) on the hot seat; 2) Coach of the Year; 3) hot seat again; 4) good coach; 5) back to hot seat again. Methinks we have people around here who overreact just a wee bit. :)

Bingo. However, there are just a few who aren't overreacting, cause they never change course, they're just miserable
 
The OP makes good points. On the surface, that's a very good accomplishment, and that's why I'm not one of the guys who wants to run Fran out of town. The program is competitive again.

What's frustrating is when you look at exactly how we got to those results the past few years - two of those three years, Iowa would have had far higher NCAA seed if not for major late-season collapses. It would almost be easier to stomach if Iowa had been a 20-10 type team all year, rather than feeling like a much better season simply got away from us in the final month.

Even 4 years ago - tons of blown games late, and it resulted in an NIT bid when the team honestly should have been dancing.

Just a LOT of missed opportunity to go along with the success. What could have been? 2-3 seed instead of 6-7 or lower? Would that have boosted recruiting?

It's hard to know how to feel about it, but I'm not fool enough to call for the head of a guy who's done a pretty good job of cleaning up the mess Lickliter left behind.
 

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