to those who dont trust fran..

[franstheman]

Scout.com: Bryce Cartwright

this is a thread on the fresno state rivals board. in it they talk about how cartwright doesnt have the talent to help iowa and how he shouldn't be on a big ten team and will just be a cheerleader. frankly it sounds like a lot of the stuff some of you have said about wes washpun. 7 months after he signed with iowa he led the big ten in assists. fran can find talent and develop it. this is truly a testament to fran and if fran wants wes i sure as hell want him too!

 

[Gohawks123]

Scout.com: Bryce Cartwright

this is a thread on the fresno state rivals board. in it they talk about how cartwright doesnt have the talent to help iowa and how he shouldn't be on a big ten team and will just be a cheerleader. frankly it sounds like a lot of the stuff some of you have said about wes washpun. 7 months after he signed with iowa he led the big ten in assists. fran can find talent and develop it. this is truly a testament to fran and if fran wants wes i sure as hell want him too!

I like Bryce...he's a good distributor and floor general...but people are acting like he was an All American last year. Kid took the most shots of anyone on the team and shot 39% from the floor and 27% from 3 point range. Kid absolutely shot us out of a number of games. I guess I look at more than assists when I evaluate game.

 

[Gohawks123]

P.S. - I trust Fran...for now. 2011 class is going to be middle of the Big 10 (best case scenario)....gotta bring it for 2012. Can't expect to compete bringing in 3 star players with a couple offers when the top half of the league is bringing in 4 and 5 star guys.

 

[theboat]

I like Bryce...he's a good distributor and floor general...but people are acting like he was an All American last year. Kid took the most shots of anyone on the team and shot 37% from the floor and 27% from 3 point range. Kid absolutely shot us out of a number of games. I guess I look at more than assists when I evaluate game.

I agree, but how much of that was because other guys were incapable of getting their own shots? I look at Cartwright as a Mateen Cleaves type guy. If you need him to score 15-20 a game then you are in trouble, but if he can direct on the court, things are good.

 

[Gohawks123]

I agree, but how much of that was because other guys were incapable of getting their own shots? I look at Cartwright as a Mateen Cleaves type guy. If you need him to score 15-20 a game then you are in trouble, but if he can direct on the court, things are good.

Agree...but who next year picks up the slack? We will basically have the same starting 5 this year. I don't see a recruit that can make that big of an impact the first year. Why would the results be any different?

 

[GoHawks24]

GoHawks123- It's called player development, coaching and gelling as a team. I know we're not accustomed to that but I'm pretty sure Fran can coach.

 

[hawkIhoops]

Incremental progress, that is all I am asking for. Year one was a free pass; too much drama upon arrival, no time to recruit, new staff, etc. Year two, we need more wins than year one and to do that we need better players. Like most issues, folks are at opposite ends of the spectrum with respect to recruiting. Some say "Fran is the man" he brought Basabe and Cartwright. Others argue that we haven't landed any of the higher profile recruits on our radar (thus far) and that is a red flag.

I'd say reality is somewhere in the middle. We don't know what is going to unfold next week, so part of me is trying to be patient. The "I want good Iowa basketball back" part of me is disappointed we have lost kids to other struggling programs like NC State, Okie State, Virginia. On the flip side, we landed White and Meyer (2012); both from states we historically don't recruit in and both with other high D1 offers.

I am conflicted. Disappointed to an extent thus far, but confident, as others have stated, that McCaffrey has a keen eye for talent.

 

[Bluzmn]

Fran inherited a decimated program running at historical lows. Was he supposed to make the Final Four in his first season or can it wait until his second? Patience is needed here and, for me, all the signs are positive.

 

[HawkeyeShane]

Fran inherited a decimated program running at historical lows. Was he supposed to make the Final Four in his first season or can it wait until his second? Patience is needed here and, for me, all the signs are positive.

-clears throat

-sucks on a lozenge

-gargles

-drinks some tea w/honey

-clears throat again

This.

 

[CAARHawk]

My concern centers on a couple things 1) Almost no focus on the Midwest hotbeds of talent. Chasing kids all around the country does not build relationships. It is an all or nothing method. 2) Fran's prior connection pipeline with guys he and (I guess) Speraw were previously recruiting has seemingly dried up already. Katenda is still in the picture, but the talk is that the ship may have sailed on that one.

But I don't think Fran needs to be brining in 4 star guys at this point. It is perfectly fine to be focusing on athletic 3 star types that have room to grow. But, at some point, you want to start developing likely pipelines.

California and Atlanta are NOT likely pipelines to IC.

 

[CAARHawk]

Fran inherited a decimated program running at historical lows. Was he supposed to make the Final Four in his first season or can it wait until his second? Patience is needed here and, for me, all the signs are positive.

Then you don't know ALL the signs. Some are positive, but some are not.

 

[Husky28]

Then you don't know ALL the signs. Some are positive, but some are not.

What's not positive? The part where he's not geting kids you want? Or the part where he's shown at multiple programs that he finds and develops talent (that others seem to overlook) to make the program competitive. Until then he's going to have a hard time landing the talent to take a program (at all time lows by the way) and pull it out of the cellar immediately... the 4 to 5 stars want to see him coach up the 3's and prove he's able to develop them before they commit. If he proves he can develop them, then it shows he'll be able to develop better talent... that's the battle he's dealt with before and currently dealing with at Iowa.

Yes, we get the fact you are very critical of the recruiting the last year... we get the fact you expected Iowa to get a high profile coach to do an immediate turn-around of the program and we get the fact that the current coach hasn't impressed you any. Is that what you call not knowing the signs?

You really seem to be very negative against this coach and I'm not sure why... Didn't his first season even give you a glimmer of hope? You remind me of the guy that sat behind us during the 2001 & 2002 football seasons... He'd stand up and yell how bad the coaches were and leave soon after half time because he was so upset. I think both of those seasons turned out pretty good... considering where the program was the previous three seasons.

Sometimes you just have to be patient and allow the things set in motion to play itself out...

 

[1977Hawkeye]

Fran inherited a decimated program running at historical lows. Was he supposed to make the Final Four in his first season or can it wait until his second? Patience is needed here and, for me, all the signs are positive.

Nobody is talking about making the Final Four. But facts or facts - if we're ever going to be in a position to even be a solid NCAA Tournament team, we have got to upgrade the talent on this roster, which means getting commitments from a couple of these players we are competing for. We won't get there with nothing but players that nobody else, save mid-majors, wants. If we keep swinging and missing on every recruit that is getting much attention from other programs, it won't happen in year 2. Or year 3. Or year 4. Or year 5.

People are gushing over players we have not even seen play a single college game yet, and I guess that's fine, but I sure hope they're right. Problem is, I also remember a few people doing the same thing with most of Lick's recruits as well, so time will tell if it's different with Fran.

With Basabe and Cartwright, it does appear that Fran has an eye for talent, so I can give him the benefit of the doubt until we see otherwise, but blind faith isn't my strong suit after the past decade of mediocre/poor basketball. I'm a little slow to drink the kool-aid after the past decade of seeing most of our recruits turn in to busts, or in Lick's case - most recruits simply not being Big 10 talent.

 

[elijahhawke]

print this thread and send it to Charmin.

 

[dnads]

But I don't think Fran needs to be brining in 4 star guys at this point. It is perfectly fine to be focusing on athletic 3 star types that have room to grow. But, at some point, you want to start developing likely pipelines.

At some point, yes. Fran has been with the Iowa program for barely over a year now. It does take time to establish these pipelines, as much as we'd like them to happen overnight. Especially for an East Coast guy.

I'm not one of these people that is never going to question anything Fran ever does. The "look at what Basabe and Cartwright did in their first year, Fran gets a free pass from me for the rest of his coaching career" argument has some weight now, but he will miss on some players. Most coaches do.

But he has shown good knowledge of the game and just listening to his press conferences and interviews, you can tell the guy just "gets it". Sure, this argument is just as played out as the "he hasn't missed on a recruit yet" one, I won't dispute that, but usually these guys excel eventually.

It's really blowing my mind that an offer to a certain player who may or may not be a Big Ten talent is causing this much controversy over this staff's recruiting ability. Does it mean we weren't in as deep on some of these guys we are recruiting as we thought? Possibly. But it could also mean we are in deep on 2 of them, and with Cully's departure we suddenly have a spot open to take a risk on someone we were thinking about offering anyway.

The good news is, this staff's recruiting decisions are getting people talking and fired up about the team, which is refreshing. Let's just let it play out a bit and see what happens.

 

[Husky28]

With Basabe and Cartwright, it does appear that Fran has an eye for talent, so I can give him the benefit of the doubt until we see otherwise, but blind faith isn't my strong suit after the past decade of mediocre/poor basketball. I'm a little slow to drink the kool-aid after the past decade of seeing most of our recruits turn in to busts, or in Lick's case - most recruits simply not being Big 10 talent.

This is where I think most "logical" fans should be... the nice thing about last season, we able to get a spark of hope back when in all reality everybody pretty much felt like the season was going to be loss at the beginning.

 

[RADMAN]

Just got to love the porch sitter Hawkeye Fans on this board. Always knows better than anyone else. Fran came in with no chance to recruit last year and we picked up a couple solid contriburtors and one that will be a possible NBA player in 4 years. He has swung and missed on the recruits that are very good and all of the other "good" programs recognize as players that will contribute. Thats just the way it works and will continue to miss on the majority of those recruits until we get lucky and one accepts the offer. In the Lick era, we didn't even talk to those types of players. I will venture to say that no matter who Fran signs to the open scolly's the same group of people will be making the same negative comments next week, next month, next year. I will just say this. No one really cares what your opinion is except for you. You comments are getting tired. I can only imagine what the people around you think of your negative comments about I am sure an topic. Fran has been here 1 year. I just hope that these same fans won't be responsible for chasing a great coach away.

 

[TheNebraskaHawk]

P.S. - I trust Fran...for now. 2011 class is going to be middle of the Big 10 (best case scenario)....gotta bring it for 2012. Can't expect to compete bringing in 3 star players with a couple offers when the top half of the league is bringing in 4 and 5 star guys.

Wow...just wow! I can see it now...Gohawks123 to spouse, 'Honey, yes, I love you...for now'. That is like saying, 'Honey of course I love you, until something better comes along.' Your support of the Hawkeye program is overwhelming!

 

[Lonoclone]

Wow...just wow! I can see it now...Gohawks123 to spouse, 'Honey, yes, I love you...for now'. That is like saying, 'Honey of course I love you, until something better comes along.' Your support of the Hawkeye program is overwhelming!

ummm... welcome to NCAA athletics?

I remember reading this board after year of Lick and there were people who were saying the same thing about him, and they got railed on in much the same way. Were they wrong? Just because Fran has your trust right now, doesn't mean he'll still have it if he has another eleven win season. And it doesn't make you a bad Hawkeye fan to be cautious, ask questions, or even change your mind. It's a fluid situation.

 

[CAARHawk]

Love the Fox News / MSNBC types on this board. If it is NOT ALL GREAT you are a hater. Don't bring up any possible negative issues. SSHSHHSHSHhhh we don't want to hear it! I am covering my ears, I am covering my ears...

Seriously people, relax! Just because someone raises concerns does not mean they are only negative.

Look at the positive things I have said.

1) White is going to be a serious contributor.
2) He and Basabe are going to be basically unstoppable at some point in the Big Ten.
3) Cartwright emerged as the type of leader the younger players needed.

Here are the wait and see areas.
1) Meyer has time to grow into his body more, moves very well for a kid that looks to be really big by the time he stops growing and has a nice looking shot. But, at this point he is not done developing physically and although he plays on the Celts, he doesn't come close to matching the talent of the kids that really make that a top program.

2) Ogelsby has a very smooth shot. He also has a fairly quick release. But, he is still pretty streaky and doesn't particularly look like a guy who is going to be able to create his own shot in the Big Ten. If you watch his videos, most of his makes are not defended.

Here are the needs improvement areas.
1) Need to find a way to make a connection with Chicago and other strong midwest pipelines. Fran did not hire a coach with these connections and signs are they are not doing much to develop them. This was a huge oversight and is a very important sign. If a member of the current staff cannot get these relationships going, a change will need to be made. Fran's previous turnarounds were in NC and NY. Those areas have way more talent that can slip through the cracks than Iowa. So, you need to widen the local base to the nearby areas where players can slip through the cracks. This will work way better in the long run than chasing kids in areas where you won't logically be able to start a pipeline to IC.

2) Need to be able to get kids to give verbal commitments. You have 6 scholarships to give between now and November. The attention you have to pay to all the kids limits the attention you can pay to future classes. The successful teams are not recruiting the very limited number of spring commits, they are going full bore for fall and beyond.

3) Not being able to close deals on areas of immediate need. After next year there will be no PG and no experienced C. Even this year the C position is questionable at best. Now Katenda and Olaseni can change that immediately, as can a PG recruit. However, this was EXACTLY the problem with Lick and the reason we saw little Lick on the court. What if Cartwright gets hurt? What if Brommer racks up his usual bevy of fouls this year? Is Washpun ready to run the point in the Big Ten?

But, the O'Reilly factor or Rachel Maddow crowd won't see the positive AND negative things I have said. They will just cherry pick what they want.