Who's excited for hoops?

[Herkyalert]

Each year I look forward to Iowa basketball, but this season has me a little more ready than usual. I liked Lick but knew it was time for him to move on, and thus far have been very impressed with Fran. I'm excited to see some of the new guys on the roster and the new style of offense. It's probably going to be a long year with some growing pains, but I'm pumped to see things head in the right direction. I'm excited for hoops more than I have been in some time.

 

[Hawkize1]

I am more this year than the past two years. (Combined)

 

[hawkeye12345]

My order of preference as it relates to sports:

1) Iowa Hawkeye Basketball
2) Iowa Hawkeye Football
3) College Hoops
4) College Football
5) NFL
6) MLB
7) Golf

These past 10 or so years have been miserable. I'm looking forward to this upcoming season to the point of being ****** when the B10 network failed to re-broadcast the exhibition game. An exhibition game for christ's sake!

I hope that we can win 16+ games this year. That's my goal. >20 would be awesome and <12 would be utterly disappointing.

 

[1977Hawkeye]

I always am excited for basketball season to start, but especially so for this year, particularly after the 111 points in the exhibition game. The last couple years before this one were probabely the least excitement I have felt for an upcoming season, but was still looking forward to some hoops.

I'm not sure how many games to expect this team to win, but I do feel a little better about things after hearing that the team played so well this past Sunday.

Am I expecting the team to win 20 games and make the NIT or NCAA? Nope. But I do like our chances of getting to the the 15-16 win territory a little better than I did this time a week ago. I suppose I'll stick with the 12-13 win prediction that I had just to try and keep expectations low until the team shows the goods, but it wouldn't totally shock me if they win a couple more than that.

 

[atxhawk]

More than I have been for the past couple of years. The team is still not going to be great and the only way they'll be going to the post season is to win the conference tournament, but at least they'll be more enjoyable to watch. Boring Lickliter ball is only enjoyable when the team is winning.

 

[RADMAN]

More than I have been for the past couple of years. The team is still not going to be great and the only way they'll be going to the post season is to win the conference tournament, but at least they'll be more enjoyable to watch. Boring Lickliter ball is only enjoyable when the team is winning.

Not sure I agree. Let wait and see through the first 13 games and then re-evaluate. I see a very good chemistry on this group and they will suprise teams. Probably the biggest plus for this team isn't the players, its the coaching staff that Fran has put together. That will help win games that they have lost in the past. We have solid players and if the coaches and players connect, they could make the NIT on their own merit. I am excited if they finish .500. Anything else is a plus and they could suprise me.

 

[1977Hawkeye]

Probably the biggest plus for this team isn't the players, its the coaching staff that Fran has put together.

This is what I think would make the biggest difference, assuming that Fran is the right guy. A good coach can make an almost immediate impact.. No coach is a miracle worker, but I think a good coach could get a group of players playing much better basketball almost right away. Is that what we saw on Sunday? I'm hoping so.

Just look at where Texas Tech was when they hired Bobby Knight.. They were terrible before then, and he got them to the NCAA Tournament in YEAR ONE.

I'm not sure what talent level Tech had at that time, but I think it just goes to show how quick a good coach can change the culture in a program.

Note: NCAA is not my prediction for this year's Iowa team. I'd be happy if this team got to around .500 overall and maybe have a shot at that one post-season tournament (don't remember the name) that is a step below the NIT.

 

[SheagleHawk]

I always am excited for basketball season to start, but especially so for this year, particularly after the 111 points in the exhibition game. The last couple years before this one were probabely the least excitement I have felt for an upcoming season, but was still looking forward to some hoops.

I'm not sure how many games to expect this team to win, but I do feel a little better about things after hearing that the team played so well this past Sunday.

Am I expecting the team to win 20 games and make the NIT or NCAA? Nope. But I do like our chances of getting to the the 15-16 win territory a little better than I did this time a week ago. I suppose I'll stick with the 12-13 win prediction that I had just to try and keep expectations low until the team shows the goods, but it wouldn't totally shock me if they win a couple more than that.

I've been looking for some old school Iowa Basketball shirts with your
avatar. I love that design as it takes me back to when I was a kid, attending a ton of games at Carver with my Dad.

 

[burky247]

I have been excited for Iowa hoops since I saw FM's introductory presser.
It's gonna be a great weekend. We get to watch the football team beat the hell out of the purple ******* on Saturday, and then get to watch Iowa basketball on Sunday. Doesn't get much better.

 

[hawkfan8691]

Sounds like everyone is ready to get mad again. I for one, am irate

 

[Chankinks]

Scale of excitement from a 40 yr old Hawk Fan at the time of hire.

-Alford being Hired 8/10 Upset about Mr. Davis being a lame duck coach but here was an up and coming coach with a name, thought recruiting would go thru the roof with athletes and shooters.
-Link being Hired 5/10 After Alford, Any kind of change was needed, here was what I thought would be a great X's and O's game coach that would resemble what Mr. Davis did with players that were deciding between mid majors and Iowa.
-Coach Fran. 9/10 First reaction "What" after getting stoked with the talk of Pearl, Lavin ect...After reading his bio and seeing some more. I think this is going to be great, he has proven the he can rebuild a program unlike his predecessors. I loved the Davis years, yes it was frustrating at times and the players were not the most athletic but you had to love the style and the fact that every year there was hope if only because they played a different style than most of the country. I think what we will see is a team that runs, (Maybe not as much as the Davis teams in the past, but with better athletes). He seems to appreciate being a Hawk, every step he has taken seems right from coaching hires to recruiting and involving former players ect. I am getting sick of fans saying give him time, bla bla, THE TIME IS NOW AND THE TEAM IS HIS. If this team plays like the are having fun, and plays an up tempo style, I will be watching and attending. Go Hawks and Welcome to the family Coach Fran!!!

 

[1977Hawkeye]

I've been looking for some old school Iowa Basketball shirts with your
avatar. I love that design as it takes me back to when I was a kid, attending a ton of games at Carver with my Dad.

Ditto - This avatar reminds me of the days in the late 80's when we were good, and those late 80's teams were about the earliest I can remember clearly. I remember idolizing the guys on those teams (BJ, Marble, Horton, Jeff Moe, etc.). That logo brings back alot of good memories.. It would definitely be cool if they made shirts with that on it.

I was hoping maybe changing my avatar to this logo would help spark a little 1980's magic, hehe. Yeah I know, things don't work that way, but I can't help but be a little superstitious.

Seriously though, I get the feeling Fran will bring back the feeling of the Mr. Davis era, with the style of play especially, and hopefully the level of success. Can't wait.

 

[SPGroth]

For the first time in about 6 years, we bought tickets to a game and will take the boys down to watch the Hawks in person. Have only gone to tickets when they were free during the late Alford and Lick era.

We used to plan our nights around Iowa ball games when they were on. Have not done that in a long time. Hopefully, with Fran in charge, it will change how we watch the Hawks.

 

[atxhawk]

Not sure I agree. Let wait and see through the first 13 games and then re-evaluate. I see a very good chemistry on this group and they will suprise teams. Probably the biggest plus for this team isn't the players, its the coaching staff that Fran has put together. That will help win games that they have lost in the past. We have solid players and if the coaches and players connect, they could make the NIT on their own merit. I am excited if they finish .500. Anything else is a plus and they could suprise me.

I hope you are right, but I'm going to keep my enthusiasm tempered for now after getting burned by the last two coaches. I never DVR'd a game last year or even made it a point to watch one on TV. If they were on and there wasn't anything I wanted to watch on, I would flip over to the game. Between the boring play and the losing I didn't care. This year, I'm actually going to DVR the first game if I'm not home and make it a point to watch as it looks like they will at least be fun to watch again. Any record above last year's record is a bonus and will make me happy.

 

[HawkeyeMike23]

During the last few years, I never once felt nervous or upset or anything about an Iowa game. I didn't look forward to upcoming games, I watched them like I was watching two teams I didn't care about. I don't think I've had that on the edge of my seat feeling like I get with Iowa football since the NCAA loss to N'western St. I can't wait to have that back and actually be excited about basketball again.

 

[1977Hawkeye]

During the last few years, I never once felt nervous or upset or anything about an Iowa game. I didn't look forward to upcoming games, I watched them like I was watching two teams I didn't care about. I don't think I've had that on the edge of my seat feeling like I get with Iowa football since the NCAA loss to N'western St. I can't wait to have that back and actually be excited about basketball again.

Funny you mention the NWST loss, because I think that was the last straw for me personally with Alford. Just a horribly disappointing (and typical) ending to what had been a great season up until that point. There had been too many leads blown within the last few minutes of a game, buzzer beaters, 1st round tournament losses, etc. and that NWST game was it for me.

The Alford era was pretty disappointing overall, but the Lickliter era is when it really started to turn to apathy. I cared enough to still watch the games, probably out of habit more than anything else, but I just didn't care that much about the outcome. If they won, great. If not, I didn't get upset in the least.

I'm hoping to really start caring about the outcome of the games again now like I do about the football games. If that happens, it means that we are doing well and I'm buying in to what's happening with the program.

 

[greghammel]

Do we want to get mad again? Yes! I think that marketing theme is great. Iowa basketball is a sleeping giant! Have people forgotten this soon how crazy Iowa basketball fans were? How difficult it was to win AT IOWA even on our down years? This run, run, run philosophy has historically been the best way to win at Iowa... to not back down... to attack.
I think our current coaching staff has the experience and the mentality to instill this and indeed get MAD again.
BTW... I like the "I ain't mad, I am irrate!" comment above. Oh, for good old Iowa basketball again! This team is much more talented that what they have been limited to previously. The cards have been shuffled... it is going to be interesting.

 

[clicheusername3]

Too many fmailiar faces for me to get excited at this point. Lick totally sucked but pretty much everyone is apparently forgetting that our players kind of sucked too. Even with our level of offensive ineptitude last season one exhibition game against some high school team has casued people to get that "watch out for this team. they're going to surprise people" mentality.

However what no has grasped is that defensively, this team is going to get toasted. I don't care how athletic your freshman are they aren't going to be even decent defenders in year 1. The returning players are the same slow and under-athletic players (except May) that lost all of those games last year. A major contributor is gone and I don't know where people expect Fuller's defense and his production to replaced from.

I don't want people to get all hot and heavy on the team before a real game has been played, only to then become disappointed after we lose games early to more experienced but less "name" teams. I think low to temperate expectations would be the way to go. As I'm typing this I'm seeing this posted above the reply box:

">20 would be awesome and <12 would be utterly disappointing."

I think everyone should calm the expectations a little bit, I'm more interested in seeing changes on the court and in the players than the win total.

 

[HawkeyeMike23]

Too many fmailiar faces for me to get excited at this point. Lick totally sucked but pretty much everyone is apparently forgetting that our players kind of sucked too. Even with our level of offensive ineptitude last season one exhibition game against some high school team has casued people to get that "watch out for this team. they're going to surprise people" mentality.

However what no has grasped is that defensively, this team is going to get toasted. I don't care how athletic your freshman are they aren't going to be even decent defenders in year 1. The returning players are the same slow and under-athletic players (except May) that lost all of those games last year. A major contributor is gone and I don't know where people expect Fuller's defense and his production to replaced from.

I don't want people to get all hot and heavy on the team before a real game has been played, only to then become disappointed after we lose games early to more experienced but less "name" teams. I think low to temperate expectations would be the way to go. As I'm typing this I'm seeing this posted above the reply box:

">20 would be awesome and <12 would be utterly disappointing."

I think everyone should calm the expectations a little bit, I'm more interested in seeing changes on the court and in the players than the win total.

I don't think anyone thinks we're going to be good. I think we'll be lucky to win four games, but for the first time in a long time people are excited about the program again. There's no denying that Lickliter's slow down style did not bring in any casual fans, it had quite the opposite effect. Lickliter also looked like he was miserable during every game, and this rubbed off on the players. Having a coach who looks like he's enjoying coaching, and having the players look like they are having fun playing basketball again will be a welcome sight. Fran has rebuilt several programs already, he knows this is not going to be an overnight fix, but for the first time in a long time there's reason to be optimistic again.

 

[sportstalent]

I don't think anyone thinks we're going to be good. I think we'll be lucky to win four games, but for the first time in a long time people are excited about the program again. There's no denying that Lickliter's slow down style did not bring in any casual fans, it had quite the opposite effect. Lickliter also looked like he was miserable during every game, and this rubbed off on the players. Having a coach who looks like he's enjoying coaching, and having the players look like they are having fun playing basketball again will be a welcome sight. Fran has rebuilt several programs already, he knows this is not going to be an overnight fix, but for the first time in a long time there's reason to be optimistic again.

Four wins doesn't seem too optimistic...Anything over 12 is reasonable, we have more talent than what is given to the roster, but not enough to scare many B10 teams.