Unlikely Iowa gets into the NCAA Tournament

eyekwah

eyekwah

Well-Known Member
I hate to write it, but from what I have seen from the guard play this will not be a tournament team. It is pretty obvious that you zone defend Iowa and your chances of beating the Hawks goes way up. The outside shooting by the guards is poor. Add to that Geselle and Ogleby are defensive liabilities. You need leadership from the guards in the half court offense and it isn't there. The problems that plagued Iowa at the end of last season are unsolved.
 
Everyone has been harping on the offense, and it's been awful, but we've been alright defensively (we we're pretty good last year on defense too until we fell apart for some reason.) That side of the ball is what gives me hope. If we can continue to play defense we can have a good year. This is pretty much a conference that hates offense so maybe we just have to be a defense first team like everyone else.

We need Gesell to improve though. He just can't play like he's played against other good teams this year. We actually have some excellent big men. It'd be nice if we didn't waste it on an NIT bid.
 
I think it's way to early to say we get in or not. Yes we lost two early important games but the key word is "early". There is a lot of the season left. Iowa doesn't HAVE to win 2 of the 3 against UNC, ISU, & UNI but it sure would help Iowa's resume.

As always, the most important part of a season is conference play. If you beat the teams you should in OOC you'll be fine as long as you show up for conference play.

That being said, like everyone else is saying, guard play is very concerning.
 
HawkPrdatr40 said:
and in Year 5 that isn't a good thing for Fran..
Click to expand...

I hate to blame Fran too much for this because he actually put together a pretty good team with what he's had to work from. There is no way you can blame him for bringing in Gesell and Oglesby and there's jo way anyone could have predicted how horrible of shooters they would be. You just can't have you're point guard and your 3 pt specialist mis wide open 3 after wide open 3.

The only thing Fran could have done better is have better backups in place to take over the starting spots. We were one of the worst power 5 teams in the nation when he came in so I'm going to give him some slack that he hasn't built enough depth to overcome 2 top 150 recruits under performing so badly. If those 2 guys could make open shots, we might be undefeted right now. Probably would have stull lost to Texas but we would have opened some eyes doing it.
 
Another thing is it's kinda unfortunate how the scholarship numbers played out. Fran is getting more and more ground to stand on for recruiting every year so to have such a small recruiting class coming in last year hurts pretty bad. He has definitely had some setbacks to overcome. Next year he has a big class coming in to a program that doesn't suck bad so maybe we will see a big jump then.
 
In his 5th year I think the tenure of McCaffrey is in doubt. Really he hasnt been able to recruit anyone. The kids coming in next year even if they have some potential are not going to make a big difference early. I thought he really needed not only to make the tournament this year, but to do it in a somewhat exciting way. Beat a couple of big boys on national TV. It still could happen but his teams have only been consistent with one thing (they cant shoot).
I liked his style of play but after Lick anything was an improvement, and I'm still not convinced he is a good coach. Last years crash may not have been his fault, but I wonder if Bo Ryan was coaching that team what the outcome would have been?
I hate to think of another coaching change because we are becoming kind of a graveyard of coaches but if we dont make the tournament this year I think its going to happen if not this year then after next as I dont think we will be better. Doesn't help that the mood of Iowa fans in regards to coaches is not real positive either.
On a positive note Wisconsin was a bottom feeder for a long time and now has built a great program in a state where there aren't tons of good high school players. It can be done
 
I think Fran and Iowa fans are learning the harsh reality of College Basketball recruiting. It's filthy and if you want top talent, you have to be willing to get into the mud. Until Iowa boosters and athletic supporters are willing to do that, we will continue to keep fielding mediocre teams.
I don't think it's worth it.
 
Thread is pretty laughable. Blame Fran for coming in with nothing and landing top in-state and top 100 prospects in Woody, Gesell and Oglesby. Woody is starting to show why UNC wanted him and no fault to Fran, the other two haven't met expectations. Then he is close to getting his "guy" in Ulis, but Mudiay goes to SMU and Calipari calls up Ulis. Fran can't control that. Finally, let's not give him any credit for how he found/developed White and Marble. How bad would this years and last years teams been without them?

All I'm saying is look at the whole picture, and be careful what you wish for. And by the way, this season has barely started.
 
Even after this rocky early start I still have Iowa at 20-11.

I think Iowa drops both games against Ohio State, splits with Wisconsin, splits with Minnesota, splits with Nebraska and beats either ISU or Michigan State thanks to the games being in Iowa City. Iowa always plays Wisconsin tough because they matchup well against each other. Iowa never seems to matchup well against OSU though.

Even if two of the wins I listed above turn out to be losses its still a solid resume. Iowa's SoS will be through the roof this year, they just need to avoid the bad losses to bad teams. White/Woody/Gabe/Uthoff are all studs this year. Even average guard play will equal wins for Iowa.... unfortunately so far we've seen mostly terrible guard play.
 
mopkins said:
Even after this rocky early start I still have Iowa at 20-11.

I think Iowa drops both games against Ohio State, splits with Wisconsin, splits with Minnesota, splits with Nebraska and beats either ISU or Michigan State thanks to the games being in Iowa City. Iowa always plays Wisconsin tough because they matchup well against each other. Iowa never seems to matchup well against OSU though.

Even if two of the wins I listed above turn out to be losses its still a solid resume. Iowa's SoS will be through the roof this year, they just need to avoid the bad losses to bad teams. White/Woody/Gabe/Uthoff are all studs this year. Even average guard play will equal wins for Iowa.... unfortunately so far we've seen mostly terrible guard play.
Click to expand...
So, you think "mostly terrible guard play" will turn into "average guard play" when conference games start against much tougher competition.
Makes no sense to me.
 
So who the hell you going to blame???? duh. It shouldn't take 7 years to get to the tourney.
PCHawk said:
I hate to blame Fran too much for this because he actually put together a pretty good team with what he's had to work from. There is no way you can blame him for bringing in Gesell and Oglesby and there's jo way anyone could have predicted how horrible of shooters they would be. You just can't have you're point guard and your 3 pt specialist mis wide open 3 after wide open 3.

The only thing Fran could have done better is have better backups in place to take over the starting spots. We were one of the worst power 5 teams in the nation when he came in so I'm going to give him some slack that he hasn't built enough depth to overcome 2 top 150 recruits under performing so badly. If those 2 guys could make open shots, we might be undefeted right now. Probably would have stull lost to Texas but we would have opened some eyes doing it.
Click to expand...
 
I hate to burst some of your bubbles but it's year 5. It is completely Fran McCaffrey's fault for either his success or his failure. Please stop making excuses. If he came in his first year, landed a top 5 recruiting class and won a BIG title by year 3, nobody would be discussing how he had nothing to work with when he got here. We would call him a fantastic recruiter and a fantastic coach. So, why aren't we willing to look at his short comings with an honest eye?
 
People are discussing the fate of a coach based upon a season that has barely started. College sports fans are awful.
 
Our RPI should be solid this year and I think we'll have a similar record as the last couple of years. I think we'll make it. But you really should find something better to do if it's something you're freaking out about in November.
 
A random post about why we're not going to make the tournament on November 30th points in that direction.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Share this page

Top