sportstalent
Well-Known Member
For starters, I love looking at recruiting and enjoy seeing who Iowa signs.
When I look at teams around the country, freshman make some big impacts on teams, but the teams that are good have quality upperclassmen. Just look within the Big Ten, Oladipo is a Jr, Watford is a Sr, granted those guys are pretty good, but there are others, all the teams except Michigan have "older" teams that are really good, but they even have Morgan who is a RS Jr.
Let analyze Fran's upperclassmen contributors since he has been at Iowa:
Jarryd Cole (1st year), Matt Gatens/Bryce Cartwright (2nd year), Eric May
Now we look at the Junior class: Marble, Basabe, McCabe
So when I say that Iowa was in the worst shape of any Big Ten program and maybe any of the Power Six conference teams, look at that list. There were some others mixed in there, but not contributors whatsoever.
When you look at those players, Gatens has been Fran's best player that has graduated. He was a good player, but was not close to being one of the top players in the Big Ten.
As I look at the current roster, the youth that are contributors are already a better collection of overall talent than what Fran has had graduate. Iowa went through some struggles this season, but the talent is definitely there for Iowa to be good for the long haul.
I find it funny that some still question what Iowa "doesn't" have rather than what they do have. The roster is still flawed and the longer Fran is there the better it will become. The hole he has dug out of and just getting to two NIT tournaments is far better than I thought Iowa would be given where Fran started.
When I look at teams around the country, freshman make some big impacts on teams, but the teams that are good have quality upperclassmen. Just look within the Big Ten, Oladipo is a Jr, Watford is a Sr, granted those guys are pretty good, but there are others, all the teams except Michigan have "older" teams that are really good, but they even have Morgan who is a RS Jr.
Let analyze Fran's upperclassmen contributors since he has been at Iowa:
Jarryd Cole (1st year), Matt Gatens/Bryce Cartwright (2nd year), Eric May
Now we look at the Junior class: Marble, Basabe, McCabe
So when I say that Iowa was in the worst shape of any Big Ten program and maybe any of the Power Six conference teams, look at that list. There were some others mixed in there, but not contributors whatsoever.
When you look at those players, Gatens has been Fran's best player that has graduated. He was a good player, but was not close to being one of the top players in the Big Ten.
As I look at the current roster, the youth that are contributors are already a better collection of overall talent than what Fran has had graduate. Iowa went through some struggles this season, but the talent is definitely there for Iowa to be good for the long haul.
I find it funny that some still question what Iowa "doesn't" have rather than what they do have. The roster is still flawed and the longer Fran is there the better it will become. The hole he has dug out of and just getting to two NIT tournaments is far better than I thought Iowa would be given where Fran started.
