Iowa - pretty much no effort
- Thread starter julescat
- Start date
The Hogeyes poop the bed every year. I think they get tired of Fran and just mail it in during the last quarter of the season. It seems to happen every season.
I think Fran must just wear his teams out. He is a pretty caustic guy, I wonder if the kids get tight as the season goes on. They pretty much played no defense today and apart from Baer did nothing on offense. Uthoff is a shell of his former self.
You might be on to something there. Also, they didn't have much of a bench this year and just looked like a tired team toward the end of the year. They're losing four senior starters, so Fran better have a good class coming in next year, or he'll be in trouble.
Seth Davis said it best. Other teams scouted Iowa and forced the senior PG, C and SG to beat teams. Seth Davis pointed to the point guard as not having enough tools in the tool box to carry his team and win games. If we apply that to NU that is why we need five viable options on the floor to score and defend and not rely on one-dimensional players. Upper level Big 10 teams or power conference schools will locate your weaknesses and exploit them. That is part of the reason for the Iowa collapse. Now NU should be able to capitalize on the players graduating from Iowa - Uthoff and others, Indiana - Ferrell and my guess is Thomas Bryant and Troy Williams leave early; Purdue will lose - Hammons, Rapheal Davis and maybe Swanigan; MSU will always be tough because they have a top 5 recruiting class, but they will have to replace Valentine, Forbes and Costello; Maryland will lose their entire starting five. NU should be able to improve with their returning players and incoming frosh and with the return of Law. The top tier with a ton of quality returning players will be Wisconsin (if Nigel Hayes stays); OSU and UM.
At least with Collins whatever talent we put out there (it will be increasing from here) will try. That Iowa game was horrifying. Those guys didn't give a shit.
Losing Tyler Ulis (who had verbally committed to Iowa), before Calipari and Kentucky changed his mind at the last minute really hurt the Hawkeye program. Fran had put all his eggs in the Ulis basket, so didn't have a back-up point guard plan after that loss. I think the effort was there by Iowa; however, when teams play physical on Jok and Uthoff and the refs allow such play, it really hampers Iowa as other starters are not great scorers.
Right... just like when Isiah Thomas, after his courtesy visit, decided to go to IU instead of NU. It set back Falk and the Northwestern program. That Iowa effort today was laughable. I think that program has some problems if that guy can't get his team to play in the NCAA round of 32. I hate bleepin' Iowa.
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Sorry that you were not aware of Ulis' recruitment where he actually did originally pick Iowa over MSU (all Hawk fans were ecstatic about this), then Kentucky came in with last minute offer. Don't really care if you believe me or not, but research it if you want. However, Fran and his staff put in a lot of time on his recruitment. The blue blood programs weren't in early in his recruitment due to his perceived lack of size. Ulis turned out to be even better than I thought he would. Fran can be faulted for many things, including his end of game coaching, but he does have a keen eye for talent.
Saddest thing was that yet another Illinois player got out of state. The Illini should be top 25 every season.
I'd love to see a source that says Ulis committed to Iowa over MSU and then decommitted to go to Kentucky.
Even BHGP has him picking MSU over Iowa, if UK hadn't come along. I know Iowa was all over him, but I have no recollection of him actually committing to them.
And yet:
"I really liked Iowa, Coach McCaffery," Ulis said. "I really liked him, guys on the team. But at the end of the day it was between here and Michigan State because I always grew up around Michigan State. I liked (Coach Tom) Izzo. I really wanted to go there, then Kentucky came in, and I just felt like that was the best for me."
So I asked if he would have picked Michigan State over Iowa.
"Most likely," he said.
----
'Here' means UK in the above quote.
Sorry, my memory must be going in my old age, I swear at one point he said that even though he had a cousin (don't recall the name) that attended MSU, he would have chosen Iowa over MSU. I guess kids that age change their minds all the time. BTW, how did Northwestern do in the NCAA tourney this year? 
Ah yes, the classic non-sequitur trash talk after being proven wrong. A classy, and important aspect of every interaction with fellow fans. Glad to be of help when it comes to accurately remembering events in your life.Sorry, my memory must be going in my old age, I swear at one point he said that even though he had a cousin (don't recall the name) that attended MSU, he would have chosen Iowa over MSU. I guess kids that age change their minds all the time. BTW, how did Northwestern do in the NCAA tourney this year?
I think that's true for every team, and I think every team aspires to have five viable players. Look around the Big Ten, though. Nearly every team had a weak link in the starting five.
Wow. A lot of nonsense in this thread.
Iowa ran into the RPI #4 team in the country playing really good basketball. Even the announcers commented that Iowa was playing hard, but that Villanova was making them look bad.
For perspective, Villanova played 6 Rivals four star players and 1 five star player today, while Iowa played 1 four star player.
Looking back, it was amazing that Coach McCaffery was able to achieve 3 NCAA tourney appearances and an appearance in the NIT final with Gesell and Clemmons playing major roles. I loved the way both represented their university, but they would each be below average guards in the Missouri Valley Conference.
As for Iowa fading "every year," the Hawkeyes won the last 6 conference games just last year to surge to third place. That said, it's happened 2 out of the last 3 seasons and needs to be addressed. This season, it was far more about the limitations of the starting guards, the absence of a third consistent scoring threat and an inconsistent and inexperienced bench. The loss of JUCO big man Dale Jones to injury certainly didn't help with any of those categories.
Coach McCaffery's players rave about how positive he is and how much they love playing for him. If you saw Uthoff as a sophomore, you know he was terrified to shoot and lacking confidence in general. Like he did with Marble and White, Coach McCaffery made Uthoff into a First Team All-Big Ten player and (likely) NBA draft pick. The "Coach McCaffery is abrasive with players" argument doesn't hold any water.
As for next year, Iowa has 4 players debuting who were 4 stars by at least one service, including Rivals Top 50 big man Tyler Cook. Iowa also has a Top 100 player committed in 2017 and Top 50 players coming in for 2018 and 2019. The future looks bright for sure.
Iowa ran into the RPI #4 team in the country playing really good basketball. Even the announcers commented that Iowa was playing hard, but that Villanova was making them look bad.
For perspective, Villanova played 6 Rivals four star players and 1 five star player today, while Iowa played 1 four star player.
Looking back, it was amazing that Coach McCaffery was able to achieve 3 NCAA tourney appearances and an appearance in the NIT final with Gesell and Clemmons playing major roles. I loved the way both represented their university, but they would each be below average guards in the Missouri Valley Conference.
As for Iowa fading "every year," the Hawkeyes won the last 6 conference games just last year to surge to third place. That said, it's happened 2 out of the last 3 seasons and needs to be addressed. This season, it was far more about the limitations of the starting guards, the absence of a third consistent scoring threat and an inconsistent and inexperienced bench. The loss of JUCO big man Dale Jones to injury certainly didn't help with any of those categories.
Coach McCaffery's players rave about how positive he is and how much they love playing for him. If you saw Uthoff as a sophomore, you know he was terrified to shoot and lacking confidence in general. Like he did with Marble and White, Coach McCaffery made Uthoff into a First Team All-Big Ten player and (likely) NBA draft pick. The "Coach McCaffery is abrasive with players" argument doesn't hold any water.
As for next year, Iowa has 4 players debuting who were 4 stars by at least one service, including Rivals Top 50 big man Tyler Cook. Iowa also has a Top 100 player committed in 2017 and Top 50 players coming in for 2018 and 2019. The future looks bright for sure.
The point of the thread was how bad the effort was in this game today. Anyone who watched the game and had a basic understanding of that team through the season would say that they didn't put out effort. Round of 32 NCAA Tournament. That is bad.
Except that the announcers who were there commended the Hawkeyes for their effort and said they just ran into a great team playing their best basketball of the season. But I should instead take the word of someone who a few posts ago said how much he hates Iowa?
thewildcate2011 -I wasn't "trash talking" when I indicated that I one point in Ulis recruitment he had Iowa at the top of his list and made a comment after his visit to Iowa that he had Iowa higher than MSU (before Kentucky even got involved), so no you didn't prove me "wrong" in anything.
As far as Iowa's game today, I don't think it was as much a lack of effort as it was just playing a superior team with the area crowd behind them. This tournament is about 2 things: seeding and guard play. Iowa screwed the pooch in final month of season by not closing the deal to get at least a 4 or higher seed, allowing them to play in Des Moines with a huge crowd following. As far as guard play, they lack the ultra quick Ulis type athlete to consistently compete with the big boys. If anyone just watched UNI choke away their 12 point lead in last 44 seconds to Texas A&M, I think that loss would be harder to take than the way Iowa lost today. In either case, at least Iowa and UNI were in the tourney, which is more than I can say for Northwestern.
As far as Iowa's game today, I don't think it was as much a lack of effort as it was just playing a superior team with the area crowd behind them. This tournament is about 2 things: seeding and guard play. Iowa screwed the pooch in final month of season by not closing the deal to get at least a 4 or higher seed, allowing them to play in Des Moines with a huge crowd following. As far as guard play, they lack the ultra quick Ulis type athlete to consistently compete with the big boys. If anyone just watched UNI choke away their 12 point lead in last 44 seconds to Texas A&M, I think that loss would be harder to take than the way Iowa lost today. In either case, at least Iowa and UNI were in the tourney, which is more than I can say for Northwestern.
You trash talked when you brought up the tournament--something I wasn't discussing at all. I refuse to think you're as dumb as your first paragraph indicates...so:
Feel free to provide me a quote where Ulis had Iowa higher than MSU. I have provided you one that states he would have committed to MSU over Iowa...feel free to prove me wrong. You told me to do my research, I did. You were wrong. Either combat that with evidence or go away.
Need I remind you that you actually stated Ulis committed to Iowa before going to UK. So I'm already letting you save face by providing evidence that Ulis simply held Iowa in higher regard than MSU.
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So you want me to go through every post on every recruiting site (which I'm not going to do) to prove a point to you?. At one point I recall reading that yes, even though he had a relative that played (or had played) at MSU, he liked his Iowa visit and since Iowa was the first Power 5 program to offer him, if he had to make a decision at that point, it would be Iowa.
No, I want you find an actual, reputable source that even vaguely supports your position.
Now that you say it, I once remember reading that January Jones and Katy Perry both wanted to go out with me and later engage in a ménage a trois after dinner...shucks I can't seem to find that particular story. Dang.
First off, you "couldn't care less". Second off, I wasn't the one making false claims on someone else's board.
Third, and unfortunate for you, the BGHP story cites The Gazette, an Iowa newspaper, which conducted an interview with Ulis.
http://www.thegazette.com/subject/s...0150404?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
Oh, forgot about the grammar police. Sorry, we'll just have to agree to disagree.
However, since I apparently have a captive audience (and Hawkeye haters in this thread), I have a question for you, or any N'Western fan, that I've been curious about for sometime. With the small arena size of Welsh Ryan Arena, does N'Western have a new, or relatively new, basketball only practice facility? The reason I ask is that I keep reading the optimism about the future of N'Western basketball; however, assuming no new practice facility and with the small arena, I'm wondering what the draw will be for big time hoops recruits? Obviously, there is more than just facilities to attract recruits, such as coaching staff, tradition, quality of education, etc. However, before Iowa added an attached practice facility to Carver, the lack of such was cited by some recruits as a detriment. Carver Hawkeye Arena certainly has it's downside, but does seat 15,500. I know from talking to some of my Gopher buddies that the lack of a practice facility in Minnesota has somewhat hindered their recruiting. Your thoughts?
However, since I apparently have a captive audience (and Hawkeye haters in this thread), I have a question for you, or any N'Western fan, that I've been curious about for sometime. With the small arena size of Welsh Ryan Arena, does N'Western have a new, or relatively new, basketball only practice facility? The reason I ask is that I keep reading the optimism about the future of N'Western basketball; however, assuming no new practice facility and with the small arena, I'm wondering what the draw will be for big time hoops recruits? Obviously, there is more than just facilities to attract recruits, such as coaching staff, tradition, quality of education, etc. However, before Iowa added an attached practice facility to Carver, the lack of such was cited by some recruits as a detriment. Carver Hawkeye Arena certainly has it's downside, but does seat 15,500. I know from talking to some of my Gopher buddies that the lack of a practice facility in Minnesota has somewhat hindered their recruiting. Your thoughts?
It's a written medium. If you can't express yourself well, you're dead in the water.
Agree to disagree on what? At no point in his recruiting period did Tyler Ulis commit to Iowa, nor consider Iowa his number one. Prove me wrong. I'm begging you, show intelligent life.
Beg all you want, but I read it somewhere (don't remember the source). Unless you are a relative of Mr. Ulis, there is no way you would know if at any point in the recruiting process he didn't considered Iowa his #1 choice. Oh and I "couldn't care less" what you think.
Sad. You went from he committed to Iowa to at one point in time maybe he considered Iowa his number one. And you can't come close to even providing a shred of evidence. In a time where the recruiting of 5* talent is covered as closely as presidential elections. Essentially, you're making things up and just hoping it sticks.
Well, if you couldn't care less, feel free to not post here any more. Thanks!
The grammar police come out when someone makes a really stupid grammatical error. How long have you been writing "I could careless" about something when you meant the exact opposite?
Nobody chooses NU for their practice facility. Amazingly, we have had four 4-star players commit because they want a good education and a prestigious degree, being near a world-class city, and playing for Collins and Co. It doesn't hurt having Doug Collins around either. Improvements to the basketball facilities must await completion of the Lakeside athletic facility and the shuffling that will occur afterward.
Last time I saw a team play like Iowa did against Nova it was the Washington Generals.Just a horrible effort or should I say lack of effort.
It's isn't as if Iowa just started slipping in the tourney. They've looked like a tired team for the past month and have been getting little out of their bench. Might be the only team in the league with four senior starters as well, so they'll have work to do next year.
