Tyler Harris to....

[hawkeyemark]

I just don't see any reason for panic at this point. A little frustration at seeing these good recruits like Harris commit elsewhere seems natural. But in the big picture we seem on the right course. And let's face it either McCaffery turns this thing around or we will stay buried in basketball for likely a good long time to come. Fran has the experience under his belt doing this other places and has assembled about as good of a staff as we could possibly ask for.

Fran seems to like the core of this team and interest among recruits should pick up once they the style of play and some positive energy around the program. It will take time and patience to get the program where we want it. Fans who don't have the patience to endure the growing pains this project will involve simply won't hang. And the perception that Iowa fans really don't care about basketball and don't fill up Carver hurts us on the recruiting front.

 

[Gohawks123]

Their star ratings are very debatable. All three were 3-star recruits on rivals.

All were top 150 recruits too.

 

[Gohawks123]

I just don't see any reason for panic at this point. A little frustration at seeing these good recruits like Harris commit elsewhere seems natural. But in the big picture we seem on the right course. And let's face it either McCaffery turns this thing around or we will stay buried in basketball for likely a good long time to come. Fran has the experience under his belt doing this other places and has assembled about as good of a staff as we could possibly ask for.

Fran seems to like the core of this team and interest among recruits should pick up once they the style of play and some positive energy around the program. It will take time and patience to get the program where we want it. Fans who don't have the patience to endure the growing pains this project will involve simply won't hang. And the perception that Iowa fans really don't care about basketball and don't fill up Carver hurts us on the recruiting front.

I don't think anyone is panicking, but we just fired a coach after 3 years. It took that coach until his third year to have a nice recruiting core coming in for the 2010 class...and then we fired him before they could come. Unless we land some diamonds in the rough or a couple big recruits late, Fran will have 2 recruiting years under his belt with players that look a lot like the ones Lick brought in the first two years.

The same people that are poo-pooing the rankings here are the same people that attacked posters for questioning Lick's recruiting of players that only had MVC offers....I'm not panicking or declaring that Fran won't be able to turn things around, but I'm not going to put on the black and gold glasses and pretend like the 2011 class is coming out exactly how I wanted it to.

 

[sportstalent]

The same people that are poo-pooing the rankings here are the same people that attacked posters for questioning Lick's recruiting of players that only had MVC offers....I'm not panicking or declaring that Fran won't be able to turn things around, but I'm not going to put on the black and gold glasses and pretend like the 2011 class is coming out exactly how I wanted it to.

I believe you when you say there is no panic, but you have urgency. Urgency to see the 2011 class be something on paper. I don't have a panic or urgency about Iowa Basketball. What I don't want to see happen is Iowa just throw classes together like Alford and Lickliter did. Now to Lickliter's credit he did have a nice class coming in and to Fran's credit there are still two of them on campus. Let Florida and Wisconsin have those that wanted something different. Really, if you would rather play for Lickliter than Coach Fran then they are better off where they are and I say good luck to them...
If Iowa goes the JUCO route for the 2011 class, then they have reasons, if they choose to build with freshman, then they have their reasons.
The recruiting rankings only matter when that player lives up to the ranking, not when they flounder and underachieve or when that player develops into something more. JuJuan Johnson was the lowest ranked recruit the year Purdue brought in all those superstars, but look at how is preseason 1st team All-American (Hummel probably would have been if not for his injury), but Moore was more highly rated and so was Scott Martin (who?), exactly.
All the ballywho is nice, but I would rather Iowa get down to earth kids with potential that understand what the meaning of team is. It must be the coach in me coming out, but seeing both ends of the spectrum, it is easier to coach kids that just want to be more than kids that are.
I don't see the 2011 kids, either White or Oglesby, being MVC caliber kids when Oglesby is a Top 150 kid and White is a player that I am glad to see Iowa reel in when they did. Had White decided to wait and see, then I don't think Iowa gets him.
A player in the same general living area that doesn't seem to be getting a ton of Big Six offers is Anton Grady, 6-8, PF from Cleveland Catholic Central. He was at one time a Top 150 kid and has fallen off a little, but still a 3-Star kid that is has skill and athleticism.
One thing Iowa needs above and beyond are players that fit what the staff wants and depth. Depth is something that Iowa has been unaccustomed too the past few years.

 

[hawkeyemark]

I believe you when you say there is no panic, but you have urgency. Urgency to see the 2011 class be something on paper. I don't have a panic or urgency about Iowa Basketball. What I don't want to see happen is Iowa just throw classes together like Alford and Lickliter did. Now to Lickliter's credit he did have a nice class coming in and to Fran's credit there are still two of them on campus. Let Florida and Wisconsin have those that wanted something different. Really, if you would rather play for Lickliter than Coach Fran then they are better off where they are and I say good luck to them...
If Iowa goes the JUCO route for the 2011 class, then they have reasons, if they choose to build with freshman, then they have their reasons.
The recruiting rankings only matter when that player lives up to the ranking, not when they flounder and underachieve or when that player develops into something more. JuJuan Johnson was the lowest ranked recruit the year Purdue brought in all those superstars, but look at how is preseason 1st team All-American (Hummel probably would have been if not for his injury), but Moore was more highly rated and so was Scott Martin (who?), exactly.
All the ballywho is nice, but I would rather Iowa get down to earth kids with potential that understand what the meaning of team is. It must be the coach in me coming out, but seeing both ends of the spectrum, it is easier to coach kids that just want to be more than kids that are.
I don't see the 2011 kids, either White or Oglesby, being MVC caliber kids when Oglesby is a Top 150 kid and White is a player that I am glad to see Iowa reel in when they did. Had White decided to wait and see, then I don't think Iowa gets him.
A player in the same general living area that doesn't seem to be getting a ton of Big Six offers is Anton Grady, 6-8, PF from Cleveland Catholic Central. He was at one time a Top 150 kid and has fallen off a little, but still a 3-Star kid that is has skill and athleticism.
One thing Iowa needs above and beyond are players that fit what the staff wants and depth. Depth is something that Iowa has been unaccustomed too the past few years.

Good comments here and appreciate a coach's perspective. I love having kids in the program like Cully Payne and Bryce Cartwright out of the JUCO ranks who appreciate the opportunity they have here and will work hard and give this program everything they've got. It matters far more in the long run when it comes to recruiting that we get kids who fit and and work well together as a team. I also think you can easily overlook the importance of depth that sportstalent refers to here. We have a very young team that loses only one senior from Fran's first season here. I think we will like what we get from Oglesby and White and add in some size from the JUCO ranks and we could have a nice ball club going into year two.

 

[sportstalent]

Good comments here and appreciate a coach's perspective. I love having kids in the program like Cully Payne and Bryce Cartwright out of the JUCO ranks who appreciate the opportunity they have here and will work hard and give this program everything they've got. It matters far more in the long run when it comes to recruiting that we get kids who fit and and work well together as a team. I also think you can easily overlook the importance of depth that sportstalent refers to here. We have a very young team that loses only one senior from Fran's first season here. I think we will like what we get from Oglesby and White and add in some size from the JUCO ranks and we could have a nice ball club going into year two.

I know Iowa has had some sucess with JUCO players in the past, but I like building from the ground up. If there is a JUCO player that comes along that Iowa cannot help but go after then I trust the staff. Depth is huge, think about last season, the one thing Iowa missed was a player that could provide a spark off the bench. This season Iowa will have some players to turn to for that spark, I like McCabe to be that guy.
The need for big guys isn't as high as what I would have originally thought, but if Brommer shows something then Iowa can get away with one big guy in the 2011 class, but two would be nice for depth purposes. The Iowa roster is in good shape and I do not think there is as big of lack of talent as some would believe. The only real problem I see with this group is frontcourt depth and a lack of overall size, but it depends on Brommer and Archie.
The one thing Iowa has done for the 2012 class is not only offered Woodbury, but another 6'10 C out of Georgia with the first name of Prince. I find that very interesting, Iowa is going after a lot of size in that class to date.