Who's in the Portal?
- Thread starter RobHowe
- Start date
Gander Hawk
Well-Known Member
Iowa could use the best defending guard, IMHO.
Anyone else a little surprised no Iowa guys have jumped in? Guys like Bowen and Mulvey kinda jump off the page as guys that might. Maybe they still will but I'm not sure what good waiting does. They wouldn't be the kind of guys in high demand for a power 5 school. I guess we'll see how it plays out but let the floodgates open.
STILLBUSTER
Well-Known Member
I get the defense angle but let it go ... It's Iowa and defense hasn't been a priority going back 25+ years. Even longer that it's actually been any good.
(Even tho Mr. Davis emphasized it in his presses, his teams still sucked at defending the 3.)
Iowa has enough guards and tweener 3 & 4's. They desperately need 2 more quality, true 5's. Owen is a great start but he needs a helluva lot more than Mulvey to back him up. We're not talking 6'8 - 6'9 guys, we're talking 7'0+ who loves to rebound and defend the rim with an attitude.
Bowen only seemed like a transfer candidate before it was announced he was hurt. He was getting more minutes than Harding before that so as far as he's concerned he just needs to stay ahead of him to start.
His PT had been diminishing noticeably prior to him getting hurt I think it felt like Harding had passed him up. It kinda seems like if Perkins comes back he may leave and even if Perkins doesn't come back he might look around for something closer to home. I could be totally wrong and so far he's not in the portal and I am. We'll know sooner or later I suppose
InGoodCo
Well-Known Member
I think our coach has strong enough relationships with his players that unless they go rogue, they aren't stepping out on the team while the team is still competing. It's a luxury that many I don't think consider here, we don't really have a revolving door at Iowa. Iowa's been more of a family type of feel Fran's entire time. Most of the guys that move on have either been beat out or don't feel like their going to be the guy heading into next year. I think Mulvey is gone for sure but Fran's been pretty good to him, I am sure he won't leave before they have their end of the season exit meetings. I think Bowen could still be gone and I would be for sure unless TP is gone for sure. It's not like he's going to find a better school that's going to give him the opportunity that Fran will, which is to compete for a starting role on a pretty solid squad next season. So, I think it's possible he sticks around.
Gander Hawk
Well-Known Member
Not many teams have a pair of 7-footers and you don't need to be that size to rebound. I think Iowa should be okay next year with Owens, Dembele, and Tadjo. If Mulvey is around for emergency minutes against someone like Eyde I wouldn't have a problem with it.
InGoodCo
Well-Known Member
No one is mentioning it here, but figured I might as well. Evan Brauns, who contributed a lot more than Mulvey ever has, still has 1 year of eligibility remaining and while he didn't set the world on fire, he's fine in some scenarios and likely will have a much better grip on things heading into next season. He indicated when transferring he was likely going to play 2 seasons fwiw.
InGoodCo
Well-Known Member
until May 1st - lots of time
There was a small window where he was getting noticeably fewer minutes before he went to no minutes at all. But it's possible he was playing hurt during that time. I don't know either way.
STILLBUSTER
Well-Known Member
My bad - thought he was done. I remember he had some moments of being serviceable.
Hope this was an acclimation year and next he will be a solid backup at the 5 - Krikke like?
Gander Hawk
Well-Known Member
I'm not a Mulvey booster but I think you're short changing him. He provided some valuable minutes in the Big Ten tourney run last year if I remember correctly.
InGoodCo
Well-Known Member
Right, but with that in mind, would there be any other reason to redshirt him this season except to protect his eligibility for going to another school? He wasn't injurred. We were extremely short on depth in the post. Did he get worse over the year? Or could he not get any minutes? I would say that if he could have contributed he would have this season but it's clear he's not going to be able to play at this level. Keep him on the roster, use him for the practice team, RS him so he can retain his eligibility at another school. That's the only thing that makes sense to me personally.
The timing of his redshirt was a little strange for that to be the reason. Why didn't he just do something like Christian Williams where he transfered right away once he knew he couldn't play. Instead he stayed a little longer and then announced a redshirt. It's entirely possible both he and Fran regretted him leaving high school a year early and wanted to get that year back.
A lot of kids are pretty good as juniors and really good as seniors. Without this redshirt he would have missed his really good year. If they think he will be a decent contributor for a couple years without a redshirt but a good contributor for a couple years with one, this move makes sense. I still lean towards your way of thinking. Bit I think what I lm saying is a legit possibility.
RobHowe
Administrator
Mulvey was a year younger than his class when he arrived. He graduated high school early. The redshirt basically gets him up. Maybe he should have red shirted Year 1 here. I don't know. Student-athletes' development is not linear. Hopefully it clicks for him here or elsewhere.
InGoodCo
Well-Known Member
I guess I don't understand it from the aspect of, if he could contribute, we desperately needed him this year and if he has a future playing basketball at Iowa, why in the world would he RS THIS season when we were so short on bodies in the post, rebounding etc.. We likely missed the tournament this season being a guy short in the post. If he stays at Iowa I will be shocked. I never say never though, just seemed like a weird move to do unless you're just trying to help him out for being a great teammate and not eat up another year of his eligibility.
