Unwarranted pessimism





Good Post Farmer, your only mistake is in thinking you will find many reasonable people on message boards. I often make the same mistake
 


Right now, Iowa has tweener players just about everywhere you look - players who are playing out of their natural positions.

I know, when Fran came to Iowa, Lick left the Iowa talent cupboard bare. Iowa's talent is still pretty bare.
Recruits are, except for Gesell (who's undersized), projects. IMO, Gesell will be a 2 so, right now, he's also a project.

Two future recruits are 3s. As if we don't have enough 3s on Iowa already. This possibly means more projects. With the injury he sustained in secondary school, Jok may be a project.

Fran's coaching has led a little to be desired.

Yeah, Fran is a better coach than Lick.
What is that really saying, though?

Realistically, right now, we all should hold off talk on the worthiness of Iowa for the NCAA tournament.
 


Right now, Iowa has tweener players just about everywhere you look - players who are playing out of their natural positions.

I know, when Fran came to Iowa, Lick left the Iowa talent cupboard bare. Iowa's talent is still pretty bare.
Recruits are, except for Gesell (who's undersized), projects. IMO, Gesell will be a 2 so, right now, he's also a project.

Two future recruits are 3s. As if we don't have enough 3s on Iowa already. This possibly means more projects. With the injury he sustained in secondary school, Jok may be a project.

Fran's coaching has led a little to be desired.

Yeah, Fran is a better coach than Lick.
What is that really saying, though?

Realistically, right now, we all should hold off talk on the worthiness of Iowa for the NCAA tournament.

So White's a tweener / project at the 4? He needs to add a few pounds of muscle, but, a tweener he is not. And a project? I dont think so at this stage.
 


So White's a tweener / project at the 4? He needs to add a few pounds of muscle, but, a tweener he is not. And a project? I dont think so at this stage.

White would start for most any B1G team or be a major contributor.
 


QUOTE=ILHawk;1078473]White would start for most any B1G team or be a major contributor.[/QUOTE]

White can't effectively post up down low which is part of the offensive job description for a 4.
 




Alf was never within sniffing distance of tremendous.

Agreed. Alford had ONE season out of 8 that I would really call "tremendous", that being the obvious 25-win season in 2006. Maybe could have had two if Luke Recker had not gotten injured in 2001.

Otherwise, it was mostly a lot of 17-14 type seasons when Alf was our coach. Heck, Fran is already matching that level of success.
 


I was strictly analyzing and have you taken and passed the CCA? Can you predict the price of corn for fall given current stocks, projected trend yields and use? Most farmers aren't...and can't. Do you want help determining you machinery costs per acre?

Self did it pretty fast, but the cupboard wasn't bare due to Kruger...give you that one.

The discussions are the same. I don't hate Woody. I wish him well. Btw, why is a top 50 recruit working on a jump shot as you describe? I hope you are right about him. I strictly said it was an unknown. His hand and arm positions on rebounding and defense are the most concerning things. Poor fundamentals but should be easy to clean up...by the end of year 1. Habits are hard to break when you didn't really need to learn it properly.

By the way, I would sure be sandbagging my revenue if we get a trend line yield. Crop insurance deadline is fast approaching. Get the harvest price option.


yes, I can, not only do I help my dad farm, but I have a Ph.D. in genetics and statistics. So yeah, I can. Not that anyone (including you) really can since crop prices are extremely dependent on the weather and foreign production, but you can estimate it based on current conditions and projected acre allotments.
 


Big 10 Tourney Mr Alford. I guess not within sniffing....
Iowa# 663–61Indiana# 4Reggie Evans, IowaUnited Center
2002Ohio State [SUP][note 1][/SUP]# 281–64Iowa# 9Boban Savovic, Ohio State [SUP][note 1][/SUP]Conseco Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Indiana
2003Illinois# 272–59Ohio State# 8Brian Cook, IllinoisUnited Center
2004Wisconsin# 270–53Illinois# 1Devin Harris, WisconsinConseco Fieldhouse
2005Illinois# 154–43Wisconsin# 2James Augustine, IllinoisUnited Center
2006Iowa# 267–60Ohio State# 1Jeff Horner, IowaConseco Fieldhouse
 


QUOTE=ILHawk;1078473]White would start for most any B1G team or be a major contributor.

White can't effectively post up down low which is part of the offensive job description for a 4.[/QUOTE]

Except if we had a solid 5 in the starting rotation, it would take off pressure. He would start for most.
 


You need to stick to having discussions with your Dad about farming. Not basketball.

Hahaha! This is classic. Says the guy with BASKETBALL in his moniker that has proven time and time again that he really doesn't know that much about basketball. How long did you play bball until, Bman? Middle school?

Your comment is pathetic. Stating what is true is not bashing. He lacks certain fundamentals and quickness and could go either way. Stick to farming.

His recruiting is unknown and is not stellar. I neither gloated about it or bashed it. My residence doesn't make me an Illini fan, but IL has had several coaches (Kruger and Self) come in and do things right away without getting into trouble and put together stellar recruiting classes.

This is a discussion forum for discussing. Hope you don't ever say, the ground is dry and we need rain. Don't bash your corn crop.

Lulz... did you know that the university of Illinois is located in close proximity to Chicago, which is a hot bed of talent? One might say that being the home state's biggest basketball school would be advantageous in their situation. You think you'd know that being from IL... your comments are pathetic.

It's crazy how many people don't remember where we were just 3 seasons ago. It's like they expect us to bring in top talent because Iowa is such a stellar basketball destination for the top players around the country, and located in a recruiting hot bed :rolleyes:. Get a freaking clue.
 


The OP and others make some very valid points. You can slice this apple however you like, but McCaffrey does not have an indefinite free pass...no coach does. Gatens caught fire last year and got us in the NIT and the fans responded by selling out CHA. Year 3, with a very weak non conference schedule and no home-home with OSU, MSU and MI, expectations were a bit higher. Weaknesses we hoped would be addressed in recruiting (offense, scorers) were not, despite hearing incessantly from FM that we need shooters, guys who can drive the ball, etc. Outside of Gesell and Woodbury, recruiting has been extremely pedestrian IMO. Uthoff, Meyer, Ingram, Clemmons, Olaseni and Oglesby need to do something on the court in games before I buy the hype. For those who are still blaming Lickliter for recruiting, you need to move on. Watch the MVC tournament in a couple weeks and observe the talent on display. I would wager almost every dude out there would rather be playing in the big ten than the MVC. My point is that there is a lot of talent out there that would love to play at a higher level and FM and staff need to start finding it, or we will be NIT participants for his tenure as coach. I am not asking for 4 star elite players who offers from KY and Duke, but I would like to see some more athletic players who can create their own shots, make open shots and finish at the rim. Losing to Nebraska, who got absolutely thrashed at WI last night, does not give anyone warm fuzzies about the trajectory of the program.
 


The OP and others make some very valid points. You can slice this apple however you like, but McCaffrey does not have an indefinite free pass...no coach does. Gatens caught fire last year and got us in the NIT and the fans responded by selling out CHA. Year 3, with a very weak non conference schedule and no home-home with OSU, MSU and MI, expectations were a bit higher. Weaknesses we hoped would be addressed in recruiting (offense, scorers) were not, despite hearing incessantly from FM that we need shooters, guys who can drive the ball, etc. Outside of Gesell and Woodbury, recruiting has been extremely pedestrian IMO. Uthoff, Meyer, Ingram, Clemmons, Olaseni and Oglesby need to do something on the court in games before I buy the hype. For those who are still blaming Lickliter for recruiting, you need to move on. Watch the MVC tournament in a couple weeks and observe the talent on display. I would wager almost every dude out there would rather be playing in the big ten than the MVC. My point is that there is a lot of talent out there that would love to play at a higher level and FM and staff need to start finding it, or we will be NIT participants for his tenure as coach. I am not asking for 4 star elite players who offers from KY and Duke, but I would like to see some more athletic players who can create their own shots, make open shots and finish at the rim. Losing to Nebraska, who got absolutely thrashed at WI last night, does not give anyone warm fuzzies about the trajectory of the program.

You can't really bring Uthoff (transfer) and Meyer (RS) into this discussion as they are sitting out a year. Olaseni hasn't been playing organized basketball that long and is definitely a long-term project, they took a chance on him and might be a bust, but was he really sought by others. Woodbury is averaging 5 and 5 in 15 minutes of play, double his time and nobody is complaining. The team has taken a step forward this year compared to last year. Gatens carried the team for a few games, nobody has really done that this year and they'll still wind up with more wins overall and maybe in the B1G. Nobody says McCaffrey gets a total free pass, they're saying you can't blame it all on him. Yes, recruiting needs to pick up, but if you look at what the program was before McCaffrey then you have to give a couple years to start winning again and building then the recruiting will pick up. Iowa isn't a destination basketball school, sure they've got good history, but it isn't that of other schools. If Iowa doesn't improve next year and the next recruiting class (after Jok) isn't better then you can have some gripes, but now isn't the time with the current state. Iowa is starting 2 freshmen and a soph., at times it was 3 freshmen, very young and raw. They're doing pretty good for their experience. They just need to become more consistent and finish out games. You know how that happens? Experience. I agree and many others do as well that the substitutions are a bit off and that you can blame on McCaffrey, but a bad shooting night, bad passes isn't all on McCaffrey. He can coach them up as much as he wants, but they still have to execute. And before you say then he shouldn't have recruited them, they probably made those plays in high school mostly against inferior competition. Iowa doesn't have great talent around the freshmen like other schools due to help them out. It takes time for that.
 




Good Post Farmer, your only mistake is in thinking you will find many reasonable people on message boards. I often make the same mistake

I wouldn't say people are being unreasonable; Just impatient. That's just human nature. Even after the Hebrews witnessed God part the sea and drop food from the sky, they were still so impatient to wait for the promised land that they melted down their gold and worshiped a cow.

Fran will lead us their, and our faith in him will not be for nothing. The signs are there that we can believe in coach's plan, but we just need to repay him with patience.
 


I wouldn't say people are being unreasonable; Just impatient. That's just human nature. Even after the Hebrews witnessed God part the sea and drop food from the sky, they were still so impatient to wait for the promised land that they melted down their gold and worshiped a cow.

Fran will lead us their, and our faith in him will not be for nothing. The signs are there that we can believe in coach's plan, but we just need to repay him with patience.


Then they were stricken to 40 more years in the desert and the elders would never be allowed to see the promise land!
 


Hahaha! This is classic. Says the guy with BASKETBALL in his moniker that has proven time and time again that he really doesn't know that much about basketball. How long did you play bball until, Bman? Middle school?



Lulz... did you know that the university of Illinois is located in close proximity to Chicago, which is a hot bed of talent? One might say that being the home state's biggest basketball school would be advantageous in their situation. You think you'd know that being from IL... your comments are pathetic.

It's crazy how many people don't remember where we were just 3 seasons ago. It's like they expect us to bring in top talent because Iowa is such a stellar basketball destination for the top players around the country, and located in a recruiting hot bed :rolleyes:. Get a freaking clue.

If you had a clue Go you'd understand the IL culture and that Chicago and the rest of the state are not one and the same. Madison and almost IC are about as close as Champaign. Over the years, Iowa has done better at times in Chicago than did IL. If you had a clue you'd know there are at least 4 D1 programs in Chicago alone.

Maybe you'd like this to be the Stepford Fans Forum?
 


Only an Alf apologist or an illini troll would put up Alfs BTT achievements as evidence of anything tremendous.

Dear Stepford Sioux: You can't handle facts? Just pointing out that the coach of a current top 15 team wasn't exactly further than smelling distance from success. Of course facts don't mean much to some people.

Iowa forever. Hawks always win unless the refs get in the way. Best players and coaches always.
 




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