R
RobHowe
Guest
Hawkeyes Discuss Thursday's Loss to Auburn in NCAA Tournament
HaydenHawk56
Well-Known Member
Man, Fran looks distraught here. I think Fran pretty much said in so many words we got beat by a better team......I laughed out loud to Fran's response to ending the year on three straight losses.
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Northside Hawk
Well-Known Member
Connor: "If we had our choice, we would have preferred it to be a little more neutral."
Even in its proper context, the wrong thing to say. If that was in the player's heads for four days, then they were beat before they took the floor.
And then Fran tries to qualify it with the "perfect mindset" crutch. He should have left that out and launched straight into his "anytime, anyone, anywhere and Duke at the Garden and blah blah blah". Or just come out and say you didn't like your draw, you attitude toward not liking your draw affected your game prep and play, and OWN IT.
And it wasn't the toughest schedule Iowa has ever played. One thing I will credit Alford on is he wasnt afraid to schedule up. But look at the 1988 team. Kansas, Arizona, Villanova (eventual National Champ, Final Four, Elite Eight respectively) They played in Oklahoma's holiday tournament that year (eventual runner up) but a buzzer beater the night before by Jeff Moe's former high school backcourt mate blocked that matchup. Iowa overcame crappy officiating and physical play to destroy Kansas and Villanova in Hawaii that year. They also played at Hilton (the Lafester Rhodes game)
When your season and career are at stake, you don't care if you're playing the Martians on the surface of the moon without oxygen tanks. They played obedient last night from the opening tip. NEVER play obedient.
Even in its proper context, the wrong thing to say. If that was in the player's heads for four days, then they were beat before they took the floor.
And then Fran tries to qualify it with the "perfect mindset" crutch. He should have left that out and launched straight into his "anytime, anyone, anywhere and Duke at the Garden and blah blah blah". Or just come out and say you didn't like your draw, you attitude toward not liking your draw affected your game prep and play, and OWN IT.
And it wasn't the toughest schedule Iowa has ever played. One thing I will credit Alford on is he wasnt afraid to schedule up. But look at the 1988 team. Kansas, Arizona, Villanova (eventual National Champ, Final Four, Elite Eight respectively) They played in Oklahoma's holiday tournament that year (eventual runner up) but a buzzer beater the night before by Jeff Moe's former high school backcourt mate blocked that matchup. Iowa overcame crappy officiating and physical play to destroy Kansas and Villanova in Hawaii that year. They also played at Hilton (the Lafester Rhodes game)
When your season and career are at stake, you don't care if you're playing the Martians on the surface of the moon without oxygen tanks. They played obedient last night from the opening tip. NEVER play obedient.
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kicker22
Well-Known Member
You're not wrong from an internal standpoint as far as the team and preparation goes. However, there is absolutely no reason in a tournament of this magnitude that a 9 seed should be essentially playing at home and have a home environment against an 8 seed and a 1 seed. The players need to look past that, but from an organization standpoint the committee absolutely got that one wrong.
Fryowa
Administrator
They knew exactly what they were doing. Auburn is a way bigger fan base and tv market and they made awesome tv out of it. Can't blame selection committees for doing that, they want to make the most interesting tournament possible (for the most possible fans, not just Iowa fans). Iowa was the perfect whipping boy in this situation.
Northside Hawk
Well-Known Member
Too bad Alabama fans couldn't have bought tickets to root against Auburn.
If Iowa had been placed in Des Moines I guarantee you Iowa State fans would have done the same.
You know what's never brought up about Lute's legendary 1980 final four team? They had to basically play four road games to get through the region. They played Virginia Commonwealth and NC State in Greensboro North Carolina, then had to play Syracuse and Georgetown in Philadelphia.
For the record, in 1981 they had to play Wichita State on their home floor, in 1982 it was Idaho in Pullman Washington. An exhausting fifteen mile trip for the Vandals.
