Tyler Cook Pulls Name Out of NBA Draft, Returning to Iowa

[Hawkfnntn]

I gotta feeling we'll be in the NIT and then we'll hear more of the "on the right trajectory" comments along with the "next year we're gonna be a veteran team, so we need to give Fran an extra year, plus we can't afford the buyout...."

1. Hope your wrong but you may be right (try reading that without singing)
The rest of it absolutely would be the domino effect of that. It's a script that's already been written before by these writers. It does kinda suck that this group if they do play well and go dancing would be looked at as overachieving. Because to me they should be in NCAA tourney. It'll be a veteran group with Wieskamp and Garza being the main younglings being asked to contribute a lot. And Wieskamps a bit of a crap shoot to what extent he will. He could be an over the top kind of help or hardly contribute off the bench kind of player we'll just have to see... It feels like if he does well Iowa will for sure be great based on everything else but for Iowa to do well without him it's a bit of a crapshoot there too...

 

[ChosenChildren]

Great news. Huge talent with unbelievable potential. Iowa is going to bounce back in a big way

 

[WinOneThisCentury]

I don't think there is any doubt this team has the potential to be an NCAA tourney team. Let's face it...they scored enough points to be last year. Offense certainly won't be the issue. If we are going to be an NCAA tourney team we need the following to happen.

1) Connor Mac needs to take the reins of the point guard role and rotate Jobo and Moss from 1 to 2...it could be a great rotation. It's a defensive upgrade. Dailey will get fewer minutes, but we need a defensive stopper at guard...or at least someone who doesnt' get broken down with penetration every trip down the floor.

2) We need to be tougher period...at every position. To say last years team was soft would be an incredible understatement. We played alot of young players who were getting their feet wet last year. Well, they are wet now and hopefully they come back and try to flip the script on intensity and toughness. We have a ton of fouls to give in the front court...let's play physical.

The talent is there...offensively you have four guys that can get 20 on any given night (Jordan, Moss, Cook, & Garza), plus a top 25 freshman coming in who is a scorer. Can they be a physical defensive team who battles on the defensive end? If they can...then this is an NCAA team with Cook back.

 

[ArvadaHawk]

Yeah there's a better chance of Cook expanding his game and cutting down on his turnovers than Pemsl doing as your suggesting... Cook should be a 20/10 guy. Now he may not be and doesn't necessarily have to be to have a great year. But he's beyond capable of it. Pemsl just has such a limited offensive game that it's hard to keep him out there long stretches. As good of a screener as he is he's not a pick and pop guy obviously. Nunge with more experience can get better at setting screens and then reading them to either roll to hoop or pop out to hit jumpers. It just makes playing offense so much easier when you can do everything out there.

I agree. The only thing I would point to is that (as I recall) Pemsl's HS video showed him as a decent shooter out to 3pnt range. So, I think it's "there" for him to develop but, of course, he has to develop it. I honestly was very surprised when Pemsl came in as a FR and didn't take jump shots. I thought that was part of his game. We shall see. I am also surprised Pemsl is coming back with Cook also returning. I suppose there is still time for Pemsl to find a place to transfer before the season starts, but, as it stands right now, Pemsl is the 5th wheel (Cook, Garza, Nunge, Kriener.)

 

[hawkdrummer1]

Fran will get another year after 18-19, as long as the team improves over last year (which ain't sayin' much). That's the Barta way. IMHO anything under .500 in the B1G says enough is enough.

Thing is, after testing the waters this year, very unlikely Cook comes back for his Senior year. So our most physical inside player will be gone and we're left with the Fran template... a roster loaded with tall skinny guys who aren't strong inside or quick ball handlers. (with all due respect to Garza, much like at point guard...one guy can't do it alone)

 

[tksirius]

Sometimes, pulling out isn't easy.

 

[WindsorHawk]

My prediction...Iowa 2018-19 season equals Ohio State 2017-18 season. I'm not saying they finish in the exact same spot or Tyler is POY. I'm saying they go from bottom feeder to contender.

 

[NikeHawk21]

I don't think there is any doubt this team has the potential to be an NCAA tourney team. Let's face it...they scored enough points to be last year. Offense certainly won't be the issue. If we are going to be an NCAA tourney team we need the following to happen.

1) Connor Mac needs to take the reins of the point guard role and rotate Jobo and Moss from 1 to 2...it could be a great rotation. It's a defensive upgrade. Dailey will get fewer minutes, but we need a defensive stopper at guard...or at least someone who doesnt' get broken down with penetration every trip down the floor.

2) We need to be tougher period...at every position. To say last years team was soft would be an incredible understatement. We played alot of young players who were getting their feet wet last year. Well, they are wet now and hopefully they come back and try to flip the script on intensity and toughness. We have a ton of fouls to give in the front court...let's play physical.

The talent is there...offensively you have four guys that can get 20 on any given night (Jordan, Moss, Cook, & Garza), plus a top 25 freshman coming in who is a scorer. Can they be a physical defensive team who battles on the defensive end? If they can...then this is an NCAA team with Cook back.

1 - I disagree. I don’t expect Cmac to be much of an upgrade on the defensive end. He would have to be an absolute lockdown defender for him to make sense as the starting PG, which I have never heard anything of the sort. Right now I’d probably rank him as our 9th or 10th best player on the roster. Also Rob just said that Dailey was our best perimeter defender so I wouldn’t advise lowering his minutes.

2- I absolutely agree and glad you brought that up because I don’t think that can be understated, last years team was mentally and physically soft, hopefully that changes but it’s hard to say.

 

[BryceC]

Yeah there's a better chance of Cook expanding his game and cutting down on his turnovers than Pemsl doing as your suggesting... Cook should be a 20/10 guy. Now he may not be and doesn't necessarily have to be to have a great year. But he's beyond capable of it. Pemsl just has such a limited offensive game that it's hard to keep him out there long stretches. As good of a screener as he is he's not a pick and pop guy obviously. Nunge with more experience can get better at setting screens and then reading them to either roll to hoop or pop out to hit jumpers. It just makes playing offense so much easier when you can do everything out there.

High major 20/10 guys are incredibly rare now. There have been 2 since 2010 - DeAndre Ayton and Marvin Bagley last year.

 

[99topdawg]

Sometimes, pulling out isn't easy.

 

[BryceC]

this year. Iowa's RPI shouldn't be a problem this season if they can win some. That's just it, they gotta win some and avoid bad loses. The parts are there and Fran will have more at his disposal in the back court where he was limited last year.

It could easily still be a problem.

You're probably looking at 3 buy games against really bad teams, 2 bad teams from the 2k Classic. Then you've got the 3 teams from the 2k classic, of which UConn will be one, which you'll really want to avoid in those 2 games. UNI will have Green but they've got a lot of improvement to make. Then ISU at home which fans are hoping will improve to be an NCAA team. As for the Big 10/ACC and Gavitt Games, Iowa is likely to get a bad draw based on what happened last year.

So you're looking at having potentially 2 NCAA teams likely at best in that noncon, and 9 anchors. The Big 10 schedule was not a benefit to some teams last year. Iowa is going to have to make some major hay in the noncon next year. I'm thinking 1 loss at most.

 

[InGoodCo]

I am excited about next season, but only time will tell if Fran can make all the pieces work this year. He definitely should have more options with a more mature team. There is no reason this team shouldn't be able to play their way into the dance this year, and if they don't, Fran needs to go.

 

[Hawkfnntn]

High major 20/10 guys are incredibly rare now. There have been 2 since 2010 - DeAndre Ayton and Marvin Bagley last year.

To do it Cook would need 5 more pts and 3 more rbs/game off of what he did.. Increase his jump shooting & free throws and work a little harder on the boards and I don't see why he couldn't do it. In fact I think what probably would keep him from doing it more than anything will be his teammates. There is a lot of offensive firepower on this team. If JBo/Moss/Garza are all taking turns lighting it up as teams double and try taking Cook away it's the path of least resistance. Iowa doesn't have to force feed Cook touches. So he'll have a mixture of great monster games and I'm sure he'll have the occasional 12/5 game. Just hope those are few and far between

 

[InGoodCo]

It could easily still be a problem.

You're probably looking at 3 buy games against really bad teams, 2 bad teams from the 2k Classic. Then you've got the 3 teams from the 2k classic, of which UConn will be one, which you'll really want to avoid in those 2 games. UNI will have Green but they've got a lot of improvement to make. Then ISU at home which fans are hoping will improve to be an NCAA team. As for the Big 10/ACC and Gavitt Games, Iowa is likely to get a bad draw based on what happened last year.

So you're looking at having potentially 2 NCAA teams likely at best in that noncon, and 9 anchors. The Big 10 schedule was not a benefit to some teams last year. Iowa is going to have to make some major hay in the noncon next year. I'm thinking 1 loss at most.

You could be right, but they get 2 games against either Syracuse, Connecticut and Oregon in the 2k. Northern Iowa, ISU and whoever they draw in the ACC/B1G challenge might not be great, but they won't be an anchor either. Unlike last year, when they lost to Louisiana and South Dakota St early. The 20 game schedule means 2 less games Iowa can schedule against teams with sub 250 RPI's like they have in the past. Those teams are already known

Home: Illinois, Maryland, Michigan
Away: Minnesota, Penn State, Purdue
Home/Away: Indiana, Michigan State, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, Rutgers, Wisconsin

RPI honestly, shouldn't be a problem this year since 24 of their 31 games will be against the power 5 and 1 of them against UNI and not Drake. But I'm with you - with the B1G being considered "down", they can't afford to f up too much early.

 

[NikeHawk21]

I’m not convinced the B1G will be that “down”. I still think they could get 6 or more teams in the dance. Sure they probaby don’t have the top tier teams they’ve had but I think they have plenty of top 15-30 teams that can challenge for the dance. They definitely need a better non conference showing to increase the perception of the teams.

 

[BigD]

I don’t think he leaves. He’s friends with TC and probably had a decent idea which way he was leaning.

Let’s hope they both have monster seasons and are qualified to leave for the NBA. That would really hurt my feelings.

 

[BigD]

More than happy i was wrong. Glad to have him back

Ditto!!!

 

[BigD]

This is great for the team. With Jordan, Cook and Garza, we have 3 legit 20 points a night guys. If you lay off Jordan he can light you up, you double Cook and Garza will get 20, and obviously Cook can put up 20 any given night as well.

Now if the team focuses on D, they have a real shot of being good this year.

Surprised you didn’t mention Wieskamp in your thought process. With out him those are the same players you had last season.

I would give up one of our BIgs for a point guard who can lock down a defender, lead a fast break, distribute the ball, and score about ten to fourteen points a night. Then Fran would have a B1G caliber team that can compete for a conference title. That’s the piece of the puzzle that is missing.

Hopefully Weiskamp brings some chemistry to this team that can get us over the top. Would like to see that chemistry show up in on defensive side of the ball. We all know he can shoot the ball.

 

[thedukeofearl]

Sometimes, pulling out isn't easy.

Therefore the children arrive unexpectedly.....

 

[BryceC]

To do it Cook would need 5 more pts and 3 more rbs/game off of what he did.. Increase his jump shooting & free throws and work a little harder on the boards and I don't see why he couldn't do it. In fact I think what probably would keep him from doing it more than anything will be his teammates. There is a lot of offensive firepower on this team. If JBo/Moss/Garza are all taking turns lighting it up as teams double and try taking Cook away it's the path of least resistance. Iowa doesn't have to force feed Cook touches. So he'll have a mixture of great monster games and I'm sure he'll have the occasional 12/5 game. Just hope those are few and far between

I didn't say it was impossible. But there have been hundreds of players who have played at the power 5 level since 2010 who haven't. Only two guys who will likely be top 5 draft picks in a few weeks are the ones who have.