Unlikely Iowa gets into the NCAA Tournament

You realize how hard it's going to be to make the tournament consistantly as long as the conference looks like this? Fran got us to the point where we will compete for a spot every year even with the bad luck he had. Having 2 guys who were supposed to be great shooters turn out to be terrible shooters is incredibly unlucky. The way we lost Ulis is incredibly unlucky.

Looking at just wins and loses is how Barta got into the mess with Kirk's contract. It was pretty obvious that Kirk had a lot of things that were unsustainable go his way to get those wins. It seems with Fran it's just the opposite. I sure hope he doesn't make the same mistake with Fran and get rid of him based on only wins and loses. If that's all you want to look at I can understand wanting him gone even though it's boardline. It would just be terribly short sighted to get rid of a coach who is just "not turning the program around fast enough", even though a lot of things out of his control went against him.
 
lightning1 said:
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.
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I agree with this totally, except for the last statement. Iowa needs to do what it can (just like other programs do) to put the best teams it can on the floor. No, I don't want to see Iowa end up on probation and lose scholarships, etc., but I wouldn't mind seeing a coach that isn't afraid to play rough on the recruiting trail and do what he can to get the best players possible. IMO, Iowa is being far too "nice". I doubt very much if other programs are going to give us the same courtesy. It's like buying lunch for the bully who just gave you a black eye.

To me, it's just basketball/football. I don't take it that seriously and I don't personally require that our players and coaches be choir boys. I view it as entertainment, and losing is not entertaining.

I'm all for doing things the "right way", but I'd like to experience winning sometime, too. I'm just not sure if it's reality to expect both at the same time at a school like Iowa.

As far as I'm concerned, as far as our players stay eligible, stay off the police blotter while on our campus, and the teams can win, then I'm good with whatever.

This probably is not going to be a popular sentiment, but that's the way I feel.
 
1977Hawkeye said:
I agree with this totally, except for the last statement. Iowa needs to do what it can (just like other programs do) to put the best teams it can on the floor. No, I don't want to see Iowa end up on probation and lose scholarships, etc., but I wouldn't mind seeing a coach that isn't afraid to play rough on the recruiting trail and do what he can to get the best players possible. IMO, Iowa is being far too "nice". I doubt very much if other programs are going to give us the same courtesy. It's like buying lunch for the bully who just gave you a black eye.

To me, it's just basketball/football. I don't take it that seriously and I don't personally require that our players and coaches be choir boys. I view it as entertainment, and losing is not entertaining.

I'm all for doing things the "right way", but I'd like to experience winning sometime, too. I'm just not sure if it's reality to expect both at the same time at a school like Iowa.

As far as I'm concerned, as far as our players stay eligible, stay off the police blotter while on our campus, and the teams can win, then I'm good with whatever.

This probably is not going to be a popular sentiment, but that's the way I feel.
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It's popular with me.
 
joker said:
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.
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I think the season is 7 games old, we're not even a quarter into the season. Oglesby, Jok, Gessel are all shooting well below their career averages from 3 point range right now. Does it "make sense" that all 3 of them will shoot this bad for the remainder of the season? The odds are very much against it. Oglesby and Jok both dealt with injuries at the beginning of the year as well according to Fran.
 
mopkins said:
I think the season is 7 games old, we're not even a quarter into the season. Oglesby, Jok, Gessel are all shooting well below their career averages from 3 point range right now. Does it "make sense" that all 3 of them will shoot this bad for the remainder of the season? The odds are very much against it. Oglesby and Jok both dealt with injuries at the beginning of the year as well according to Fran.
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I think Iowa will make the NCAA tournament.
 
SnapBack2 said:
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.
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That Fran was even in the top 2 or 3 for Ulis is miracle at this stage. The state of the Iowa basketball program could not have been much lower then it was. Most coaches need 4 or 5 years to get a program that's already in ok shape to be where they want it to be. With the cesspool he came in to, he'll need a minimum of 7 to 8 years to get some top recruits. Iowa fans are the most impatient bunch when it comes to basketball. If he's in his 16th year and not getting anyone, then he's fair game. You know, like another coach we have at Iowa.

Also, how many times has he said "We're only Iowa and it's hard to recruit here" and "That's Basketball" and "It's an Ebb and Flow thing".

As I stated in the above paragraph, the fact he's going after them and the recruits are even considering Iowa is a pretty amazing at this time.

Iowa finally has a coach in a major sport with some passion and fire in his belly and many of you still ***** about it. Give me a break.
 
bcl20 said:
A random post about why we're not going to make the tournament on November 30th points in that direction.
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I think it's an educated assessment based off of what this team looks like on the court + the likely quality of BIG competition. Anything can happen, of course. I'd hardly call that "freaking out". Sometimes I wonder if the posts I see are the same as the posts other posters see.
 
I've been pretty optimistic thinking every game that we might turn it around shooting wise. Then every game I watch wide open shots miss over and over and over. With Jok and TD I can hold out hope that they are not comfortable yet. It's too late for that to be an excuse for other guys.

I just can't blame Fran when every other aspect of our game is pretty darn good except knocking down wide open shots.
 
Something like the Football program. From what I've seen so far this year not much excitement this year. Not much for above average players. Will be a long year for the team and FM
 
I certainly am not writing off the season, but based on what I've seen so far against better opponents (the games in NYC), I'm thinking NIT or fringe-bubble. We'll see. I hope to be wrong and this team puts it all together and is solidly "IN" come March.

A win @UNC on Wednesday would be a great place to start, unlikely as it may be.
 
SnapBack2 said:
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.
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A voice of reason speaks up.....

Relax, it is still early days. The past years under Fran, he was severely criticized because of weak perconference scheduling. This year, and to a degree, last year, that has certainly changed.....

No worries, just enjoy the games during another Iowa Winter. Takes some the sting out of the bitter cold......

:rolleyes:
 
I just re-watched the Longwood game, and I like this team. The inside guys are very effective at scoring. The guards played good shut down defense. Oglesby shat the ball well. The overall team defense was great. Holding the opponent to under 50 will win most games.
 
Last edited:
1. The Hawks will make the NCAA tournament
2. They will win 2 games in said tournament
3. Fran is not a POS as a coach or as a human being
4. The right way is the best way... win or lose.
5. Ya'll have no idea if our coaches play nice on the recruiting trail
6. Fran isn't going anywhere unless he chooses to leave for something like Notre Dame
 
bcl20 said:
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.
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Yes, against NIU, Longwood, NDSU, and Hampton. Against the only 2 teams they've played that are worth a d@mn they struggled in every area of the game.
 
1977Hawkeye said:
I agree with this totally, except for the last statement. Iowa needs to do what it can (just like other programs do) to put the best teams it can on the floor. No, I don't want to see Iowa end up on probation and lose scholarships, etc., but I wouldn't mind seeing a coach that isn't afraid to play rough on the recruiting trail and do what he can to get the best players possible. IMO, Iowa is being far too "nice". I doubt very much if other programs are going to give us the same courtesy. It's like buying lunch for the bully who just gave you a black eye.

To me, it's just basketball/football. I don't take it that seriously and I don't personally require that our players and coaches be choir boys. I view it as entertainment, and losing is not entertaining.

I'm all for doing things the "right way", but I'd like to experience winning sometime, too. I'm just not sure if it's reality to expect both at the same time at a school like Iowa.

As far as I'm concerned, as far as our players stay eligible, stay off the police blotter while on our campus, and the teams can win, then I'm good with whatever.

This probably is not going to be a popular sentiment, but that's the way I feel.
Click to expand...

Iowa can't even keep players off the police blotter by doing it "the right way". I'd rather Iowa take risks and get some studs and at least get to experience relevancy and winning while they make the police blotter.
 
Do you all really think Butler is that much better than Iowa???? They beat UNC handily, I think we will too, my prediction is 21 snd 10 this year!!
 
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