IowaLawWasRight
Well-Known Member
This team is a mediocre pg away from being something special. We've got some of the more talented bigs in recent memory in Cook and Garza. We've got talented wings who can shoot the rock as good as any in JBo, Moss, & Baer. We've even got a guy who will land on the Big 10's all-freshmen team for the first time in ages in Wieskamp.
But what about the gaping hole at PG? Let's take an honest look at why Fran has not been able to land a point guard in 4 or 5 years. My guess is that it's because Fran's own son was a highly touted PG who committed to come to Iowa lonnnng long ago (believe it or not, while Conner committed in 2014, the same year as long forgotten Hawks like Trey Dickerson, and even before Dale Jones and Christian Williams). The mediocre level PGs we've offered likely did not like the prospect of sitting on the bench while the coach's son started 3-4 years. This is a reasonable assumption.
The flip side is that McCaffrey came in as a stud 4**** recruit. An argument can be made that landing a 4 **** PG offsets any recruiting losses associated with having the coach's son commit so early, right?
So far, it's not looking like it. He is two years into the system, yet ranks last among all guards in college basketball at 3 point shooting, hitting an ice cold 12% (2 of 16). This is a % exceeded by most high school girls guards in Iowa). He's playing 20 mins per game, including ends of games, but his points per game are last on the 8 man rotation at 4.8. Perhaps his role is more of a ball handler than a scorer? That argument is blown by the fact that he's got 29 turnovers (by comparison, Moss, who starts and plays a lot more minutes, has 32 turnovers, and Wieskamp has 31).
Make no mistake, this team is better with McCaffrey on it, and he's bound to improve his shot. But is McCaffrey seeing minutes because of his talent or because of the lack of point guards his dad has recruited to compete with him since he committed? If Bohannon's class or Garza's class or even Wieskamp's class brought in a single serviceable PG, it is more likely than not that 4**** Connor would be seeing walk-on minutes even after redshirting a year. Rivals.com only goes back to 2002, but every 4**** recruit we've had in that time period has started from the day they walked on campus.
Here's to hoping next year's PG recruit out of NY is that missing ingredient that this team lacks.
But what about the gaping hole at PG? Let's take an honest look at why Fran has not been able to land a point guard in 4 or 5 years. My guess is that it's because Fran's own son was a highly touted PG who committed to come to Iowa lonnnng long ago (believe it or not, while Conner committed in 2014, the same year as long forgotten Hawks like Trey Dickerson, and even before Dale Jones and Christian Williams). The mediocre level PGs we've offered likely did not like the prospect of sitting on the bench while the coach's son started 3-4 years. This is a reasonable assumption.
The flip side is that McCaffrey came in as a stud 4**** recruit. An argument can be made that landing a 4 **** PG offsets any recruiting losses associated with having the coach's son commit so early, right?
So far, it's not looking like it. He is two years into the system, yet ranks last among all guards in college basketball at 3 point shooting, hitting an ice cold 12% (2 of 16). This is a % exceeded by most high school girls guards in Iowa). He's playing 20 mins per game, including ends of games, but his points per game are last on the 8 man rotation at 4.8. Perhaps his role is more of a ball handler than a scorer? That argument is blown by the fact that he's got 29 turnovers (by comparison, Moss, who starts and plays a lot more minutes, has 32 turnovers, and Wieskamp has 31).
Make no mistake, this team is better with McCaffrey on it, and he's bound to improve his shot. But is McCaffrey seeing minutes because of his talent or because of the lack of point guards his dad has recruited to compete with him since he committed? If Bohannon's class or Garza's class or even Wieskamp's class brought in a single serviceable PG, it is more likely than not that 4**** Connor would be seeing walk-on minutes even after redshirting a year. Rivals.com only goes back to 2002, but every 4**** recruit we've had in that time period has started from the day they walked on campus.
Here's to hoping next year's PG recruit out of NY is that missing ingredient that this team lacks.
