Nothing says earn like the musical chairs Fred was forced to play. We had no choice but to play them and hope some of the best players in Cyclone history could pull them along until they developed. Btw, you are clearly forgetting Naz's freshman year.
They played before they were ready, but thankfully had guys like Georges, Kane, Ejim, and even Hogue to rely on. Had they been ready that's not a team a few shots away from 9-9 in conference. They had modest numbers and roles due to being with great players is a reasonable defense in the comparison, but at the same time it's incredibly insecure to deny they had the benefit of getting to be the side-kicks to great players. Iowa's freshman pg would have played and the others right there with a freshman Thomas or freshman Naz. The EIU bigs undoubtedly win this argument as they're better than the void of freshmen bigs we've had since Georges.
Iowa's freshman pg would have played and the others right there with a freshman Thomas or freshman Naz.