Until Iowa can recruit competent guards and a"power forward/center"

[HaydenHawk56]

they won't go much farther than this. Only a miracle is going to save Iowa in this game.

Fran is going to have to majorally upgrade his recruiting because his schemes are not going to generally out X and O athletic teams.

 

[drew003]

they won't go much farther than this. Only a miracle is going to save Iowa in this game.

Fran is going to have to majorally upgrade his recruiting because his schemes are not going to generally out X and O athletic teams.

Correct. Our style of ball requires the Jims and Joes. We desperately need shot creators off the dribble.

 

[ColumbusHawk]

they won't go much farther than this. Only a miracle is going to save Iowa in this game.

Fran is going to have to majorally upgrade his recruiting because his schemes are not going to generally out X and O athletic teams.

Recruiting has been a huge issue at Iowa since Raveling left the program. Davis accomplished very little at Iowa without Raveling's recruits.

 

[HaydenHawk56]

Recruiting has been a huge issue at Iowa since Raveling left the program. Davis accomplished very little at Iowa without Raveling's recruits.

Perhaps, but I feel Davis still recruited a better product. This is better than Lickliter, but still incomplete. Iowa has a bench of tweeners with some length. But not much in between the ears and talent in guard play. Just not smart enough, big enough, and skilled enough to play with the big boys when it matters the most. This can be true even playing teams beneath us when we are not playing our A or B game.

 

[WestCoastHawk]

We have a center that can barely dunk, all teams need to do against Woodbury is feed the rock inside. You can see guys matched up on Woodbury just licking their chops when they're down in the post. Our whole offense the past two months has been jacking up 3s. Uthoff can't handle athleticly superior defenders. We have no perimeter D. Next year is going to be even worse.

 

[socalhawk]

Winner, winner, Chicken dinner.

 

[hawkdrummer1]

No killer instinct, no power inside, no real offense, no mental or physical toughness. To many skinny guys taking long shots. This is Fran ball.

A team full of Sr starters fell apart on a regular basis. The reality is, we had a couple of great shooters get hot for a few weeks. Once teams figured that out and got in their face...the anomolous run was over.

Like Fran, I'm about to hit the 5 yr anniversary in my job. If my results looked like Fran's...there wouldn't be a 6th year.

 

[hawkdrummer1]

No inside power at all, no real offense, no mental or physical toughness. Too many skinny guys taking long shots. This is Fran ball. edit: and no apparent player development from Frosh to Sr years. WTH are all those great assistant coaches doing?

A team full of Sr starters fell apart on a regular basis. The reality is, we had a couple of great shooters get hot for a few weeks. Once teams figured that out and got in their face...the anomolous run was over.

Like Fran, I'm about to hit the 5 year anniversary in my job. If my results looked like Fran's...there wouldn't be a 6th year.

 

[Dadman]

Recruiting has been a huge issue at Iowa since Raveling left the program. Davis accomplished very little at Iowa without Raveling's recruits.

I would completely disagree. Davis developed big men. There was always optimism and potential. Do I think Davis was a better coach than Miller or Olson? No, probably not. But that we have to think back to the Davis years, and coach's before, to find a semblance of coaching is sad. I have been following the program for many years, though I may not have 1000 posts, doesn't make me less passionate about my support. Right now, we are a mid major program, with mid major coaching, with mid major players. And that is the level of success we can anticipate. It will happen, but not very often. We will have brief glimpses of glory, but not very often. This is the best we have, and the best we can hope for. Sorry, but that's the way I see it.

 

[Bigtenchamp]

they won't go much farther than this. Only a miracle is going to save Iowa in this game.

Fran is going to have to majorally upgrade his recruiting because his schemes are not going to generally out X and O athletic teams.

Ehh Not really going to agree with you.

Villanova gets 90% of their scoring from guards/wings.

Iowa had 3 guards... only one of them could shoot or score.

That was the big issue this year.

 

[DBAHawkFan]

I would completely disagree. Davis developed big men. There was always optimism and potential. Do I think Davis was a better coach than Miller or Olson? No, probably not. But that we have to think back to the Davis years, and coach's before, to find a semblance of coaching is sad. I have been following the program for many years, though I may not have 1000 posts, doesn't make me less passionate about my support. Right now, we are a mid major program, with mid major coaching, with mid major players. And that is the level of success we can anticipate. It will happen, but not very often. We will have brief glimpses of glory, but not very often. This is the best we have, and the best we can hope for. Sorry, but that's the way I see it.

you just described the football program too. We can expect average results, with the occasional greatness

 

[STILLBUSTER]

I'm not convinced MuckCaff would know what to do with a solid 4 or 5.

He misused / destroyed Basabe. He taught Woody zero skills; he did nothing different in his offense from his first day as a freshman. Even as athletically challenged / unaggressive as Woody is, I think he would have at least been capable of a little drop-stop, baby-hook, especially as a frvcking lefty!!

He has yet to show any consistent competence in some sort of inside-out strategy. Look at 1st Indiana game. That game was there for the taking if they would have actually gone to Woodbury a bit more - disregarded. When was the last time he posted up Uthoff and tried to exploit the size advantage / mismatches? Rarely attempted. Sure, he had a few back-door dunks designed for White but I'll tell you, White's motor and aggressiveness drove those plays, not MuckCaff's clipboard.

Which is another point -- 3-M-t ... Motor, Motivation, Mental toughness. When was the last time you saw guys with those characteristics? White? Certainly Baer. Again, those aren't instilled by this coach; those are wired into those guys and they maintain them, DESPITE this coach and all the inherent obstacles his decisions and strategies and game perspective create for his teams.

 

[ColumbusHawk]

Perhaps, but I feel Davis still recruited a better product. This is better than Lickliter, but still incomplete. Iowa has a bench of tweeners with some length. But not much in between the ears and talent in guard play. Just not smart enough, big enough, and skilled enough to play with the big boys when it matters the most. This can be true even playing teams beneath us when we are not playing our A or B game.

What? Throw out their first two years & Fran has out performed Mr. Davis. You do this because Fran got Lick recruits & Davis got Raveling & Lute recruits. Davis never won twenty-four conference games in consecutive seasons after his first two years. In years three through six, Fran has won forty-two conference games. Davis only won thirty-two conference games in years three through six. All Fran has to do next year is win one conference game & he will have the same record as the great Mr. Davis in years three through seven. Plus, Davis never won forty-two conference games in four consecutive seasons. Caveat: Davis did win forty-one conference games his last four seasons when the B1G only played sixteen games his last two seasons. However, inheriting Armstrong, Gamble, Horton, Jones, Lohaus, Lorenzen, Marble, Moe & Wright, the Great One couldn't win forty-two conference in four years. Heck, in Davis' fourth season when the Hawks were four & fourteen, the best player was a Raveling recruit.

 

[Hawkeye32]

Like Fran, I'm about to hit the 5 year anniversary in my job. If my results looked like Fran's...there wouldn't be a 6th year.

After Lick, we would not have been able to hire a coach if that was the case.


Jeez, Im upset with the performance but everyone needs time to calm down

 

[HawkeyeWalker]

We have a center that can barely dunk, all teams need to do against Woodbury is feed the rock inside. You can see guys matched up on Woodbury just licking their chops when they're down in the post. Our whole offense the past two months has been jacking up 3s. Uthoff can't handle athleticly superior defenders. We have no perimeter D. Next year is going to be even worse.

Next year could be a step back, the question will be by how much. Then again, if what so many on here say is true of the 4 starting seniors, we should be better, rihht?

 

[BigD]

I didn't see this subject posted until I posted my feelings on it on another thread so I am just going to copy and post it here.

[h=2]Re: Look at the bright side[/h]

Where does our incoming recruiting class rank in our conference? It's all about recruiting and until we get a legit Big Ten level point guard and supporting cast it will be more of the same. Yes this is better than Lickliter and Alford basketball but unless we start to recruit better players we likely have seen the best that Fran has to offer. It can be entertaining at times and fun to watch but it falls way short of EXCELLENCE and a Big Ten title contending basketball program.

I know some of you may feel that the recruiting is improving but that has to be compared with what the other teams in our conference are doing. This is not football with one hundred players on the team. Just five good starters and two or three backups can achieve great results. Often times on most great teams you have players that know what their role on the team is and also great team chemistry.

On our current team I can only identity two players with consistent roles and given that they are the two most prominent positions on the team it doesn't speak well of them because they needed to be doing more than that. The CENTER needed to be more than just a rebounder and POINT guard needed to do more than just get a few assist a game. BOTH at this stage in their college careers should have been been able to contribute more to scoring personally. Our Junior guard is probably the most gifted out of all the players with our senior forward being the next best thing on the team.

I am not ready to throw the towel in on Fran just yet, especially since rumors that better recruits are coming in.

I am not one for gimmick coaching. Usually gimmicks are used to cover weakness in recruiting........ (See Lickliter or Butler Way). However running and gunning twelve players is a gimmick too. Oh for the days of a staring five with roles player skills and two or three backups with role player skills.​

 

[HawkeyeWalker]

Like Fran, I'm about to hit the 5 yr anniversary in my job. If my results looked like Fran's...there wouldn't be a 6th year.

I doubt this...

While the finish was dissappointing, to say this year as a whole wasn't at least on par if not slightly better than last year is incorrect.

 

[hawkdrummer1]

I doubt this...

While the finish was dissappointing, to say this year as a whole wasn't at least on par if not slightly better than last year is incorrect.

We played lousy today, but Villanova was also great. However, it's not just about today.

We had two guys get red hot for about 3-4 weeks. Once teams decided to get somebody in their face...that anomalous run ended. The team you see down the stretch... with any club...is the real team. It was a team with 4 Senior and 1 Junior starters, 4 of which were Fran's recruits...that faded badly. (dare I point out that without Woody's putback, Friday was another major choke job) Not the best reflection on the coach.

 

[ColumbusHawk]

No killer instinct, no power inside, no real offense, no mental or physical toughness. To many skinny guys taking long shots. This is Fran ball.

A team full of Sr starters fell apart on a regular basis. The reality is, we had a couple of great shooters get hot for a few weeks. Once teams figured that out and got in their face...the anomolous run was over.

Like Fran, I'm about to hit the 5 yr anniversary in my job. If my results looked like Fran's...there wouldn't be a 6th year.

If your results were like Mr. Davis's, you wouldn't have had a fifth year. Nothing could be worse than Mr. Davis's first four years. Obviously, you are doing better. If your performance rating was 14-4, 12-6, 10-8 & 4-14, you might have been gone after your third year. Be thankful.

 

[drew003]

We played lousy today, but Villanova was also great. However, it's not just about today.

We had two guys get red hot for about 3-4 weeks. Once teams decided to get somebody in their face...that anomalous run ended. The team you see down the stretch... with any club...is the real team. It was a team with 4 Senior and 1 Junior starters, 4 of which were Fran's recruits...that faded badly. (dare I point out that without Woody's putback, Friday was another major choke job) Not the best reflection on the coach.

This team was never as good as people thought during January. This is still the team that lost to Dayton, Notre Dame, barely beat FSU at home, and couldn't blow out Drake. On the whole, we probably out played our talent this year. We had serious flaws, that could be exposed with film study and planning.

If we want more that this, then we need to recruit better players. It as simple as that, and has been as simple as that since the Mr. Davis era.

The best season in the last 20 years was only because the state of Iowa produced 3 Top 75 players in one year, and it happened when Horner, Brunner, and haluska were seniors. We've struggled recruiting good out of state players for a long time.

We've developed a few in Marble and White, but developing all-big 10 players is tough game. Much easier to recruit them.