Omnibus Rutgers Basketball Thread

[eclone]

Thankfully there’s an omnibus Rutgers thread. That team really looks like it’s going places!

 

[douglasbader]

I also know it was a short stretch, but visually Iowa played by far their best this year when Connor was playing even at half speed for 5 games. The ball moved, they were better on defense.

 

[Revolver]

It has been a while since I have been this indifferent about the games being played. Usually I’m pumped for a couple of days leading up to the games and look forward to getting to the home games. I still watch, but it isn’t something I’m amped up about doing like it usually is.

 

[Kamala]

They play dumb. They play like a bunch of pussies. The ball doesn't move. The guards can't keep anyone in front of them and can't get by anyone on the other end. They get pushed around and beat up on and quit.

That pretty much sums it up.

I still am confident in them next year.

Connor is a red ass and will make a big difference. Wieskamp is elite talented, well built, athletic and tough and will play on both ends. Garza will be another year older and stronger, and same with Cook and hopefully Nunge. bohannon will improve and bounce back.

I also believe they can be good next year. But if they are not, then I have no interest in seeing Fran here in Fall 2019.

 

[Creed]

I saw at least 4 or 5 times where different players literally dropped the ball on what should have been an easy catch on either a rebound or pass. Their hands are weak, they have stone hands or they have no focus whatsoever at this point. I’m guessing it is a combination of the three. But it was pretty pathetic watching them struggle to just catch the goddamn ball.

 

[Shpadoinkle]

Thankfully there’s an omnibus Rutgers thread. That team really looks like it’s going places!

Typical. It’s currently TCU 23 ISU 8, but who cares, the HOKS lost!!!!!!!

 

[opiate of the masses]

One big concern is fans looking past this game to Purdue.

Toss up or give a point in Vegas, I'm taking the Hawks. #yaneverreallyknowanyonegame

my Hawkeye shaded glasses say Hawks figured something out against Illinois about playing against Rutgers style defense, after struggling with it all year, and Rutgers offense is not good enough to keep up.

If fans look past Rutgers it could cost the team the game

Lmfao @LifelongHawk you just got pwnd here

 

[eclone]

Thankfully there’s an omnibus Rutgers thread. That team really looks like it’s going places!

Typical. It’s currently TCU 23 ISU 8, but who cares, the HOKS lost!!!!!!!

Just got the kids to bed and I haven’t flipped on the DVR yet. Guess I’ll fast-forward through the first few minutes.

 

[douglasbader]

I think after tonight I am on that train. Fran really actually is on the hot seat. He is in zero danger of being fired this year, but if he doesn't make the NCAA Tournament then I would think there is a strong possibility he is done. It actually would be best to do it then so Connor could transfer and Patrick could sign immediately somewhere else.

 

[TurdBurgler]

People were saying in chat that Fran busts his ass on the recruiting trail...what proof do we have of that outside of his first couple of years? Garza and Cook are the only 2 guys on the roster that he had to really go head to head against stiff competition to get. Maybe Nunge?
Dom?

Moss was a late qualifier that took the Iowa offer.
bohannon was a late offer.
Pemsl was an Iowa kid.
Baer was a walk on.
Dailey was a late offer out of nowhere.
Wagner had a couple decent offers but was known for football.
Brady lol.
Kriener was an Iowa kid.

Wieskamp committed when he was a freshman and before he blew up and Patrick/Connor are his kids.

So we can all say it’s a down year and his seat will get warm next year etc. but he went into this season ok with the roster he had when everyone from the media to the fans said they were short of bodies and quickness in the back court and that still hasn’t been addressed and he still added CJ Frederick.

The defense isn’t getting better until he figures out how to recruit guards that can play at this level. And people that say it’s the 8th best job in the Big Ten, well I don’t give a shit. There are small programs all over the country that have better guards than Iowa.

Ulis would have been a big get, I know its sad to point at a miss as a sign of being a good recruiter. I just remember The Criminal who almost seemed to have low self esteem and wouldn't even offer a guy like that.

Basabe, White, Gabe, Garza, etc were all good solid finds. Fran went to every single one of Woody's HS games and beat out UNC.

 

[CamelTones]

I don’t want Fran fired but if he looks around and takes another job then I’d thank him for his service in restoring Iowa basketball and get excited for Gary’s 3rd attempt at a basketball coach.

I think his biggest failure here will be that he wasn’t able to recruit anyone here from Philly or New York outside of Basabe.

 

[CamelTones]

People were saying in chat that Fran busts his ass on the recruiting trail...what proof do we have of that outside of his first couple of years? Garza and Cook are the only 2 guys on the roster that he had to really go head to head against stiff competition to get. Maybe Nunge?
Dom?

Moss was a late qualifier that took the Iowa offer.
bohannon was a late offer.
Pemsl was an Iowa kid.
Baer was a walk on.
Dailey was a late offer out of nowhere.
Wagner had a couple decent offers but was known for football.
Brady lol.
Kriener was an Iowa kid.

Wieskamp committed when he was a freshman and before he blew up and Patrick/Connor are his kids.

So we can all say it’s a down year and his seat will get warm next year etc. but he went into this season ok with the roster he had when everyone from the media to the fans said they were short of bodies and quickness in the back court and that still hasn’t been addressed and he still added CJ Frederick.

The defense isn’t getting better until he figures out how to recruit guards that can play at this level. And people that say it’s the 8th best job in the Big Ten, well I don’t give a shit. There are small programs all over the country that have better guards than Iowa.

Ulis would have been a big get, I know its sad to point at a miss as a sign of being a good recruiter. I just remember The Criminal who almost seemed to have low self esteem and wouldn't even offer a guy like that.

Basabe, White, Gabe, Garza, etc were all good solid finds. Fran went to every single one of Woody's HS games and beat out UNC.

Right but all those guys other than Garza were his first couple years and a lot of people here were not excited about Garza. Other than Cook who was the last out of state recruit Iowa was in on and had a legit shot at that you were excited about for the duration of their recruitment? Francis and Dillard have been gigantic failures in that regard.

 

[bigazzturkeylegs]

I don’t want Fran fired but if he looks around and takes another job then I’d thank him for his service in restoring Iowa basketball and get excited for Gary’s 3rd attempt at a basketball coach.

Gary can follow Fran out the door.

 

[Thomas Wolsey]

They play with too much confidence and too little awareness. The unforced turnovers and wide open shooters are inexplicable.

 

[Thomas Wolsey]

Getting destroyed by that Rutgers team is not acceptable

 

[Herbie2]

did iowa really come out of a timeout and run a play for a 3 from garza in the corner?

 

[TurdBurgler]

Right but all those guys other than Garza were his first couple years and a lot of people here were not excited about Garza. Other than Cook who was the last out of state recruit Iowa was in on and had a legit shot at that you were excited about for the duration of their recruitment? Francis and Dillard have been gigantic failures in that regard.

"Other than" is way too easy. I really don't think its a recruiting problem, necessarily. He has missed in major ways at PG, and had no backup plans. This team should have someone like Bryce Cartright at PG. But alas...

 

[Shpadoinkle]

This coaching staff has like 100 years of experience. Almost everybody on this team has at least a year and a half in the system. Everybody got 10 extra practices and four extra games to start the year.

Yet, the players are so lost on both ends of the floor they are unable to do simple things they’ve been doing since they were playing Y basketball.

It makes zero sense.

 

[Thomas Wolsey]

This coaching staff has like 100 years of experience. Almost everybody on this team has at least a year and a half in the system. Everybody got 10 extra practices and four extra games to start the year.

Yet, the players are so lost on both ends of the floor they are unable to do simple things they’ve been doing since they were playing Y basketball.

It makes zero sense.

They can’t do high school level stuff sometimes, it is so painful to watch

 

[douglasbader]

Right but all those guys other than Garza were his first couple years and a lot of people here were not excited about Garza. Other than Cook who was the last out of state recruit Iowa was in on and had a legit shot at that you were excited about for the duration of their recruitment? Francis and Dillard have been gigantic failures in that regard.

I had a post like this typed out the other day, but then started thinking about how things can change quickly.

Not sure if that will happen for Fran, but a few years ago Purdue very nearly ran off Painter as he looked like he stalled out and had some shitty recruiting and teams. Then he turned it around and all the talk right now is how he has the #1 team in the country.

Iowa won't ever do that, but I think we can point very clearly to the shit 2014/2015 classes along with some injury and illness this year and a bad roster mix. Adding in a Top 50 player next year along with a healthy Top 150 PG could fix a lot of this.

 

[Thomas Wolsey]

Right but all those guys other than Garza were his first couple years and a lot of people here were not excited about Garza. Other than Cook who was the last out of state recruit Iowa was in on and had a legit shot at that you were excited about for the duration of their recruitment? Francis and Dillard have been gigantic failures in that regard.

I had a post like this typed out the other day, but then started thinking about how things can change quickly.

Not sure if that will happen for Fran, but a few years ago Purdue very nearly ran off Painter as he looked like he stalled out and had some shitty recruiting and teams. Then he turned it around and all the talk right now is how he has the #1 team in the country.

Iowa won't ever do that, but I think we can point very clearly to the shit 2014/2015 classes along with some injury and illness this year and a bad roster mix. Adding in a Top 50 player next year along with a healthy Top 150 PG could fix a lot of this.

I agree, but other than Cook and Garza the rest of the frontline is bad. Nunge has potential but that is pretty much it. Fran is going to play baer, pemsl and kriener way too much next year

 

[douglasbader]

Right but all those guys other than Garza were his first couple years and a lot of people here were not excited about Garza. Other than Cook who was the last out of state recruit Iowa was in on and had a legit shot at that you were excited about for the duration of their recruitment? Francis and Dillard have been gigantic failures in that regard.

I had a post like this typed out the other day, but then started thinking about how things can change quickly.

Not sure if that will happen for Fran, but a few years ago Purdue very nearly ran off Painter as he looked like he stalled out and had some shitty recruiting and teams. Then he turned it around and all the talk right now is how he has the #1 team in the country.

Iowa won't ever do that, but I think we can point very clearly to the shit 2014/2015 classes along with some injury and illness this year and a bad roster mix. Adding in a Top 50 player next year along with a healthy Top 150 PG could fix a lot of this.

I agree, but other than Cook and Garza the rest of the frontline is bad. Nunge has potential but that is pretty much it. Fran is going to play baer, pemsl and kriener way too much next year

I don't think that is true at all. They aren't bad. They are playing bad. They played pretty fucking good last year.

 

[CamelTones]

Nebrantska had a similar problem last year and a few of their ‘good’ players left and they’re better off for it because they were able to adjust their roster. Wouldn’t be the worst thing for Iowa to have something similar happen.

 

[Dr. Zaius]

Fran definitely needs to make some staff changes or at least show some willingness to change. I don’t expect he’ll be around after next year.

 

[CamelTones]

Pemsls problem is the tapes out there and no one goes for his head fakes anymore. He has to develop a 10 footer or he’s always going to struggle.

 

[Dr. Zaius]

Pemsls problem is the tapes out there and no one goes for his head fakes anymore. He has to develop a 10 footer or he’s always going to struggle.

Also needs to eat some more baconnators

 

[Thomas Wolsey]

I had a post like this typed out the other day, but then started thinking about how things can change quickly.

Not sure if that will happen for Fran, but a few years ago Purdue very nearly ran off Painter as he looked like he stalled out and had some shitty recruiting and teams. Then he turned it around and all the talk right now is how he has the #1 team in the country.

Iowa won't ever do that, but I think we can point very clearly to the shit 2014/2015 classes along with some injury and illness this year and a bad roster mix. Adding in a Top 50 player next year along with a healthy Top 150 PG could fix a lot of this.

I agree, but other than Cook and Garza the rest of the frontline is bad. Nunge has potential but that is pretty much it. Fran is going to play baer, pemsl and kriener way too much next year

I don't think that is true at all. They aren't bad. They are playing bad. They played pretty fucking good last year.

Baer excelled in a lesser role. Pemsl has finished better, but he jas always turned it over. None of those three have been plus defenders. I see potential, but they are all small role players. Imwo

 

[douglasbader]

I have said multiple times that Baer is a nice story, but he is turning into Weisman at this point. He shouldn't be starting or playing near starters minutes. He is a 15-17 min per game energy player, not the 20 min + player from the last year or so.

The best thing would be that Wieskamp is the stud we think he can be right away. He starts immediately. bohannon still starts, but Connor comes in early and bohannon can slide to the 2 and Wieskamp can slide to the 3 at times. Nunge develops and can play starter type minutes. Cook is a stud and Garza takes a big step forward. Baer does his 17mpg thing, Moss or Dailey fill in off the bench and maybe a big man gives a few spot minutes.

9-10 players max with 8 getting the vast majority of the minutes.

 

[Shpadoinkle]

I have said multiple times that Baer is a nice story, but he is turning into Weisman at this point. He shouldn't be starting or playing near starters minutes. He is a 15-17 min per game energy player, not the 20 min + player from the last year or so.

The best thing would be that Wieskamp is the stud we think he can be right away. He starts immediately. bohannon still starts, but Connor comes in early and bohannon can slide to the 2 and Wieskamp can slide to the 3 at times. Nunge develops and can play starter type minutes. Cook is a stud and Garza takes a big step forward. Baer does his 17mpg thing, Moss or Dailey fill in off the bench and maybe a big man gives a few spot minutes.

9-10 players max with 8 getting the vast majority of the minutes.

“Shorten the rotation” is the new “stop running right into 8 man fronts “ or “blitz more”.

Maybe next year we’ll get #newfran.

 

[Geese]

I'm not ready for Fran to go yet. I love the man for what he has done getting us out of the Lick years. Like Doug has said things can change awfully fast with bball. I loved what I saw from Connor so the addition of him and Wies could make a huge difference. I'm holding out hope Fran makes the necessary adjustments next year and we see serious improvement. If not I guess I'm fine with whatever happens even though it's hard to imagine him being fired at this point.

 

[L. Wade Childress]

It has been a while since I have been this indifferent about the games being played. Usually I’m pumped for a couple of days leading up to the games and look forward to getting to the home games. I still watch, but it isn’t something I’m amped up about doing like it usually is.

Don’t be a fucking vagina

 

[Talkin' Goat]

How the fuck did this team succeed last year in those few B10 games without Jok? Can’t remember if it was two or three games and I know it was against shitty teams (Rutgers and OSU and ???), but JFC they actually looked good in those games. I remember thinking they looked more balanced and that not relying on Jok seemed to be a good thing. It gave me some hope for this year. Defense must not have been that bad either. How can essentially adding Garza and dropping Uhl turn everything to shit (compared to the team that played last year without Jok)?

Makes me wonder if the random off the court stuff is legit. The effort and focus just doesn’t seem to be there this year.

 

[douglasbader]

I fucking hate that Fran didn't run off Ellingson and Wagner after last year. I would have rather had Williams over those two terrible players.

 

[Slidewilly]

I don’t want Fran fired but if he looks around and takes another job then I’d thank him for his service in restoring Iowa basketball and get excited for Gary’s 3rd attempt at a basketball coach.

I think his biggest failure here will be that he wasn’t able to recruit anyone here from Philly or New York outside of Basabe.

I didn't know much about Fran when he was hired but the primary thing that had me excited about him was that he had been a city guard himself and that he would surely be able to pull some serious guards out of the NY/Philly corridor, even if they weren't high on any lists. Turns out that's the biggest disappointment of his tenure thus far.

 

[Geese]

I also want it on record that @hawkeyealum calls his penus "Tim". He admitted it in chat. Everyone needs to know.

 

[Swingin' Dick Stanzi]

I turned off the Iowa game towards the end of the first half to watch the Pelicans/Hawks game. That’s how much this team sucks.

 

[CamelTones]

I’d be more optimistic about next year if they were actually competing in these Big Ten games but they’re getting their asses handed to them. Penn State was the only close loss and their only win was a 20 point comeback.

It appears even Fran has kinda given up on this year. Usually in games like this he either goes after the officials or rips into the team during timeouts and tonight there was nothing. His comments after the game were basically ‘story of the season, did a couple good things but not enough to win’

 

[Geese]

Fran could get some goodwill from me if he sat Brady and Wagner the rest of the year. Let them know it's over.

 

[L. Wade Childress]

No real reason to run off Wagner.

Brady, yes.

 

[Geese]

No real reason to run off Wagner.

Brady, yes.

Other than he sucks ass and doesn't deserve to play.

 

[Thomas Wolsey]

I’d be more optimistic about next year if they were actually competing in these Big Ten games but they’re getting their asses handed to them. Penn State was the only close loss and their only win was a 20 point comeback.

It appears even Fran has kinda given up on this year. Usually in games like this he either goes after the officials or rips into the team during timeouts and tonight there was nothing. His comments after the game were basically ‘story of the season, did a couple good things but not enough to win’

That is what is painful. They didn’t compete against a bad rutgers team. At one point in the first half Iowa had 9 turnovers for 10 points, (mostly unforced) and had given up 6/8 threes to the worst shooting team in the big 10. That is worse than bad. It is totally negligent.

 

[Hawk4Life25]

Been stated but have to solve the leadership problem...someone needs to emerge and be a leader on the team.

Yes Connor can play PG but they need a grad transfer PG in the worst way.

Connor can facilitate and run the offense but this team sorely lacks an individual who can break down the defense and create an opportunity for someone else...

 

[Billy Butters]

No real reason to run off Wagner.

Brady, yes.

Lol, I'll take any juco guard that can dribble and somewhat defend their position over Wagner.

 

[CamelTones]

Iowa usually starts off the game fine, Fran brings in mass subs, they fall behind by 10-14, he’ll either call a timeout or wait for the official timeout then bring his starters back. The rest of the game is then played between 7-17 points and Iowa would have been fine had he just subbed out a couple guys.

But Fran just can’t help himself.

 

[Revolver]

If he had run Wagner off we wouldn’t get to hear how great he’d be at WR any longer.

 

[Geese]

If he had run Wagner off we wouldn’t get to hear how great he’d be at WR any longer.

I'm sure Dochterman would find a way to slip it in his articles.

 

[StinkyMcFadden]

If we just had Connor this year, we would still probably have the worst PG in the conference.

 

[Geese]

If Wagner comes back he best get the Uhl Senior treatment or else.... I'll be really mad!

 

[howler]

I said in chat that a shitty scenario for Iowa basketball next year is being a bubble team and getting snubbed from the tourney. While many fans are saying NCAAs or bust next year, I'll guarantee Fran gets another year if they get to the NIT. Everyone and their mother will see it as tremendous improvement from this godforsaken season.

 

[Geese]

I said in chat that a shitty scenario for Iowa basketball next year is being a bubble team and getting snubbed from the tourney. While many fans are saying NCAAs or bust next year, I'll guarantee Fran gets another year if they get to the NIT. Everyone and their mother will see it as tremendous improvement from this godforsaken season.

Yeah I have a hard time seeing Fran get fired if we're in the NIT next year.