What if Fran banks scholarships for 2011?

[storminspank]

Have to use your best judgement. If you can get either Brust or Larson back (or one of them), obviously you do that. Otherwise, you look at the available talent, if they fit the mold of what you want in a player, try to grab him. If not, bank it.

 

[koolhandlick]

I doubt if Zeller still has much interest in Iowa. That was mostly an Indiana connection with Lickliter. We will also have to wait and see if Fran decides to save a 2013 spot for Quinten Payne. He was given an offer from Lickliter last summer.

 

[olivecourt]

but, 'th GD plane has crashed into the mountain' is a quote from The Big Lebowski ... not clark griswold. he said something like 'how could it get worse? we're in the seventh circle of hell.' hope that helps.

you're totally right, it is "seventh circle of hell." can't believe i blew that one... but both phrases are probably appropriate for the situation we're in.

 

[IATrainMaster101]

It's "we're standing at the threshold of hell."

I'm all for banking schollies if it means bringing in the best talent. I am prepared for next season to be a season where I get more excited about recruiting than what's going on in the win collum. I think many Iowa fans will still feel warm and fuzzy if the team of the floor is struggling, but we are getting solid/ exciting commitments.

I do however think that Fran will add 2 this year. Nothing to base it on just a feeling.

 

[Hawke]

It's "we're standing at the threshold of hell."

I'm all for banking schollies if it means bringing in the best talent. I am prepared for next season to be a season where I get more excited about recruiting than what's going on in the win collum. I think many Iowa fans will still feel warm and fuzzy if the team of the floor is struggling, but we are getting solid/ exciting commitments.

I do however think that Fran will add 2 this year. Nothing to base it on just a feeling.

Whenever I see your handle I can't help but think of this song because of the line "I can hear that whistle blowing, I see the stationmaster too"

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07z-UqOooRE]YouTube - Tonight I'll be staying here with you ? (lyrics) ~ Bob Dylan[/ame]

 

[IATrainMaster101]

LOL too funny..

 

[drldm]

Recruitiung goes till May 19 according to newspaper.

 

[drldm]

Recruiting gos till May 19 according to the newspaper.

 

[drew003]

My concern is that if Fran doesn't get some immediate help in here, that at least makes this team competitive and show signs of progress, then he will never get this program off the ground. If we bank scholarships, but suck next year, it might be hard to convince many of the 2011 kids to come. The fans likely won't be turning out, recruits will see an empty-carver, a non-competitive team, and think this is just the same-old-same-old. Once Fran starts losing he can no longer sell hope. If he can show progress, he can still sell hope, fans will be behind him, and recruits might think he turn this around.

Thus I think it is essential to bring in a couple of guys who can help next year. What good is 3 or 4 scholarships in 2011 if nobody wants them because all the excitement is gone. Plus, if you can bring in a few JUCO's the scholarship will be open by 2012. While we might not get impact JUCOs, I'm sure there are some JUCO guys that can dribble and play aggressive perimeter defense. And that will help us next year. I really think that if Fran is going to get this thing off the ground, he needs to show signs of progress next year.

 

[CAARHawk]

He can bring on an assistant with a very good PG in tow and connections for 2011. That along with Basabe will get things moving in the right direction.

However, if the deal does not happen, it will be tough to get this thing turned around. It has to all start now and it has to start with a key player that can pull others along. Otherwise, as the previous poster said, it will be very hard to convince 2011 players that Iowa is the right destination.

As I have said earlier, things need to turn around quickly, or the likelihood they will turn around drops significantly. Of course, you could always get hired by Wake if that is the case.

If you were shocked at how our recruiting class disintegrated, it will be nothing compared to Wake's.

 

[CAARHawk]

It's "we're standing at the threshold of hell."

I'm all for banking schollies if it means bringing in the best talent. I am prepared for next season to be a season where I get more excited about recruiting than what's going on in the win collum. I think many Iowa fans will still feel warm and fuzzy if the team of the floor is struggling, but we are getting solid/ exciting commitments.

I do however think that Fran will add 2 this year. Nothing to base it on just a feeling.

If Iowa goes into the next season with this roster, I say they come up with an excuse of the Carver renovation to have to play all road games.

 

[Hawk4Life25]

Best case looking at the future and rebuilding process would be get Basabe in here and then try and get either Brust or a JUCO guard.

Roster with Brust and Basabe (provided no one else leaves)
Seniors: Cole
Juniors: Gatens, Brommer, Achie
Soph: Payne, May, Cougill
Fresh: Marble, McCabe, Basabe, Brust
(Not counting Neari as he's not on scholarship)

In order for Iowa to press and really pressue the ball for all 94 feet. They will need to upgrade the overall athleticism of the team. If you look at the current roster there are probably only a couple of guys who fit the mold (Marble, May, Gatens?).

If Basabe and Brust don't make their way to Iowa City.....not going to make a huge difference in the W/L record but it will make a difference in the how competitive the team is next year.

 

[TChawk]

If Fran banks all the schoolies for 2011, the major thing that will happen is nobody is going to go watch any of the Iowa Men's BB games this year.

 

[IATrainMaster101]

If Iowa goes into the next season with this roster, I say they come up with an excuse of the Carver renovation to have to play all road games.

You may be on to something. I wonder if we could divert people's attention enough to not notice the women playing at home...hmmmm......

 

[Hawk123456]

Banking 2 would actually balance the roster in the future. Scholarships

2011 - 3 (Cole, 2 banked)
2012 - 3/4 (Gatens, Brommer, Archie, new JUCO???)
2013 - 3 (Payne, May, Coughill)
2014 - 4/3 (Marble, McCabe, new recruit or 2 - hopefully Basabe and a PG)

New basketball coaches need two things to be successful: the ABILITY to be a successful recruiter and coach, and the ability create the AURA (perception/reputation) of being a successful recruiter and coach. I would argue that the reason that Lick failed was not so much that he lacked the ABILITY to be successful, but that he totally failed at creating the AURA that he was a successful coach. As a result, he lost the ability to recruit, lost the support of his players, and lost the support of the fans.

New coaches have a very short window of time in which to create the AURA of success. Maybe a year or two at best. The thing that started Lick snowballing on his way to total AURA failure, was that he took over a program from Alford, that because of the returning roster, was all but assured of winning fewer games than it won the year before. Thus, Lick's first year was almost guaranteed to keep him from starting out on the path towards creating the AURA of a winner. Then, add to that the player defections, and the lack of recruiting and after three years Lick still had not taken the first step on the path towards creating the AURA of success--by that time his window of opportunity had closed and there was very little chance left for him to be able to get the program turned around.

Fran has the remarkable record of having coached 14 seasons, and having fielded teams in 13 of those seasons that posted better records than the team did the year before. That is the way you build the AURA of winner who can lead the program to future success. That AURA is critical to recruiting. I don't think Iowa has to win 20 games next season for Fran to ultimately turn the program around. However, he, like Lick before him, does only have a certain window of opportunity in which to build the AURA (reputation/perception) that he is the guy that is going to get it turned around at Iowa (and sell that idea to top recruits).

Therefore, I think it would be very helpful (maybe not critical, but very, very helpful) if Fran's first team at Iowa can take the first step at getting on the path to success, that is in other words, if Fran's first Iowa team can win at least one or two more games than Lick's last team. Thus, I think it is important to see if we can get to 11 or 12 wins next year.

So, getting back to recruiting, I think we need to replace Fuller in order to get to 11 or 12 wins next year. I, therefore, am of the opinion that it is critical that we sign a power forward that can contribute now. After that, I would say that Fran should not take more bodies just to fill roster slots. Either give last scholarships to top recruits this year, or if that is not possible, then bank them until next year.

 

[drew003]

I agree with everything you said Hawk123. But I think Fran needs to win more than just 1 or 2 games from last year. I think when the casual fan or pundit looks at the team next year they will see a team that is better. The team needs to be competitive. We were blow-out by over half of the Big 10 last year, can't happen this year. We can't lose to the UTSA's of the world next year. We have to have a team that competes against most Big 10 teams, and beat most of the little fish.

If Fran can do that, than he will keep his new coach excitement and keep the "aura." However, as we saw with Lick and you accurately described one a new coach loses his new coach "aura," it is real tough to ever get it back. Therefore I think Fran needs to do what he needs to do to be mediocre next year, because if we are not mediocre next year I think it will hard to get turn this thing around.

 

[tweeterhawk]

If Iowa goes into the next season with this roster, I say they come up with an excuse of the Carver renovation to have to play all road games.

They found some asbestos somewhere, didn't they?

 

[FreddyBrown]

That leaves 2 or 3 scholarships for 2011, where McCaffery will have a little more time to recruit, however, he is already behind for this class. I do think it is important the team is respectable in McCaffery's first year or two to keep fan and recruit interest.

No doubt Caff is "behind" with some of the local or regional targets we're familiar with, but two things about that:

First, we may jump ahead of where the previous staff was with some of them fairly quickly. For example, if our head coach would just initiate some (legal) personal contact with Chasson Randle, he would have done more to establish a relationship with the kid than our last HC did in three years. I also think that having Caff at Iowa will make us more attractive to many local/regional players than we would have been had Lick stayed.

Second, one of the things people tend to overlook--perhaps because we saw none of this benefit when we hired the previous ill-prepared and poorly connected staff--is that Caff and Francis have already been working prospects in other parts of the country in the next two or more classes and some of those kids might be both good enough for Iowa and interested in Iowa.

An added bit of good news for the 2010 class is that the one position for which they were still recruiting at Siena before they left was point guard, so I feel confident we're going to add a guard or two to the 2010 class even if Brust goes elsewhere.