Graham Couch: Iowa Basketball is a mid-major roster

As a hawk fan I just dont see how losing 1 Friggen guy in Jok can contribute to a complete collapse. I think it was upper classmen leadership that tanked along with the inability of the coaches to get it under control. We lost 1 guy in Jok, who could shoot the lights out, but then proceed to collapse on the DEFENSIVE side of the court. Jok was not a defensive player. He was average at best.

My guess is that it had something to do with chemistry, hope Fran can fix it.

You have a bunch of low ceiling players and may have overachieved Jok's senior year.
 
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We played ISU tight, PSU, MSU, Michigan all with upper classmen that did not want to be there (Uhl, Wagner, Ellingson) now they are gone. Does Cook want to be there? Pemsl? I am not sure what to expect with this team. The formula is there to be a really good fundamental team but Fran's history of defensive philosophy concerns me. All I got is hope.
Why do you think that is? Doesn't that concern you at all that there are so many players who don't want to be there? I mean most of them are getting minutes in Fran's Oprah style "You get to play! You get to play! Everybody gets to play!" system. Something seems to be wrong. What makes you confident that there won't be more players behind them becoming disenchanted when they watch the coach's kid(s) get starts and playing time ahead of them? Even when handled well, those situations have easily gone wrong when a player doesn't think he is getting the time he should and the coach's kid is an easy target. Add to that the coach's kid's unfortunate tweeting history when a teammate gets an honor that he and his brother thought should have gone to him. Hopefully that was just a poor decision and not a harbinger of poor teammate behavior in the future.

These are honest questions. Let me know why you are so confident.
 
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Yeah we did play them tight is what I was saying.

For the side of not taking a grad transfer I am looking at playing time. We have 5 guards already. Connor and CJ Frederick as the new faces for PT. How will that pan out? will they be better than what a transfer would bring in. I guess I am taking an OK Fran I see your logic and will give you a chance" stance. If that makes sense.

WIll it work out? I have hope for it is all. A lot can happen between now and then and maybe someone will emerge. Maybe then look at taking a late transfer in the summer (has ISU done that in the past?) if Cook leaves and they have an open scholarship for that.

Penn State's average margin of victory against you guys was 14 points. Michigan's was almost 10 and you only had to play Michigan State at home

Iowa's guards are terrible, if a grad transfer was going to come in he'd be getting plenty of PT. Maybe Connor and CJ will prove me wrong but if a grad transfer isn't better than them they must be bad
 
If Cook indeed leaves, and that seems to be the way the wind is blowing:

1. Iowa will likely improve defensively. Cook was completely uninterested in either individual or help defense.

2. Iowa will almost certainly drop on offense. Cook was very interested in offensive stats.

3. There is no way, even in a down Big Ten, that Iowa stays out of the bottom third of the league.
 
That is a good analysis, but when I look back at some of the close games I keep thinking man just a little defensive adjustment might help. I coach basketball and us as a coaching staff are already game planning what type of defense to teach and how to teach it for next year. This is at the high school level. I just think/ HOPE (big leap of faith here) that Fran is considering the same thing.

We played ISU tight, PSU, MSU, Michigan all with upper classmen that did not want to be there (Uhl, Wagner, Ellingson) now they are gone. Does Cook want to be there? Pemsl? I am not sure what to expect with this team. The formula is there to be a really good fundamental team but Fran's history of defensive philosophy concerns me. All I got is hope.

I will admit that I was bummed when we did not go after a grad transfer harder, but I can see the side of why we didnt. At least I am trying to understand it.
Iowa played a few teams tight, but how many games did they have double digit deficits? Wasn't it most of their Big 10 schedule? Let's not pretend that this was a team that was just a tweak away from competitiveness. It wasn't.
 
Iowa played a few teams tight, but how many games did they have double digit deficits? Wasn't it most of their Big 10 schedule? Let's not pretend that this was a team that was just a tweak away from competitiveness. It wasn't.

They played Penn State tight though, even though Penn State didn't even make the tourney and beat Iowa 82-58. Good highlight real if you like a lot of dunks

 
Iowa played a few teams tight, but how many games did they have double digit deficits? Wasn't it most of their Big 10 schedule? Let's not pretend that this was a team that was just a tweak away from competitiveness. It wasn't.

Iowa was bad last year. Excluding the OT loss to Michigan in the BTT, the close losses by Iowa were:

3-point loss to Michigan State at home.
2-point loss to Indiana at home
4-point loss at Minnesota
4-point loss to PSU at home

Iowa also lost to Michigan by 7 at home, but that game was not close. Other losses by 15 to Michigan, 18 to OSU, 24 to PSU, 14 to Nebraska, 23 to Purdue, 16 to Rutgers, 18 to Maryland, 11 to OSU, 13 to Indiana.

It wasn't quite as awful to watch as the Lickliter years, but those were funny just due to how overmatched Iowa was. This year's team had some talent, but for whatever reason determined they didn't need to try on defense.
 
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They played Penn State tight though, even though Penn State didn't even make the tourney and beat Iowa 82-58. Good highlight real if you like a lot of dunks



I was talking about one game at home. Yeah they got trounced at PSU but the home game was closer then that and you know it. I was talking about 3-4 games that could have gone either way with a few breaks here or there is all. Not saying we were good but 3-4 more wins plus 2-3 more with the new guys is a 5-7 game swing. That is what I was getting at by those comments.

I was simply responding to the why you think that you could be a fringe bubble at best and that is my logic. It is a lot of hope and probably wont happen, but it could if we win 5-7 more games than we did last year then who knows.

The guard play is terrible, but Dailey and Moss have a lot to prove, as does Bohannon and McCaffery. Frederick probably will not play next year. 4 guys plus another for 40 minutes a game is about 20 minutes per player. Add in another player and more people are upset they are not playing as much. Fran must want Moss and Dailey to have their shot and I can support that.
 
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The guard play is terrible, but Dailey and Moss have a lot to prove, as does Bohannon and McCaffery. Frederick probably will not play next year. 4 guys plus another for 40 minutes a game is about 20 minutes per player. Add in another player and more people are upset they are not playing as much. Fran must want Moss and Dailey to have their shot and I can support that.

You can't possibly be serious when you say this. This isn't little league baseball
 
Fran must want Moss to have his shot because the first 3 years in the program he didn't get a chance to prove his worth. 4th time is the charm lol
 
Iowa was bad last year. Excluding the OT loss to Michigan in the BTT, the close losses by Iowa were:

3-point loss to Michigan State at home.
2-point loss to Indiana at home
4-point loss at Minnesota
4-point loss to PSU at home

Iowa also lost to Michigan by 7 at home, but that game was not close. Other losses by 15 to Michigan, 18 to OSU, 24 to PSU, 14 to Nebraska, 23 to Purdue, 16 to Rutgers, 18 to Maryland, 11 to OSU, 13 to Indiana.

It wasn't quite as awful to watch as the Lickliter years, but those were funny just due to how overmatched Iowa was. This year's team had some talent, but for whatever reason determined they didn't need to try on defense.

The Indiana and PSU games came on the heals of the loss to ISU, by that time I think the team had all but given up. Which is not good for the coaching staff. Once that happened I feel like they stopped playing for each other. Coach or no coach if people do not like one another or feel confident in them things fall apart. Add in the early season Baer injury, Pemsl injury, Transfer by Williams, and Connor being hurt, things unravelled quickly.

Wagner not wanting to be there was obvious after Christmas, Ellingson was not good for the BT and Uhl mailed it in.

ISU had worse injuries, but they took a toll for Iowa too, as did the lack of upper classmen leadership.
 
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Fran's got the fans right where he wants them

It's so funny.

"I understand why Fran didn't want to bring in a grad transfer to try to win because he didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings" all while he plays a 10-12 man rotation every year. He can never leave Iowa City
 
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The Indiana and PSU games came on the heals of the loss to ISU, by that time I think the team had all but given up. Which is not good for the coaching staff. Once that happened I feel like they stopped playing for each other. Coach or no coach if people do not like one another or feel confident in them things fall apart. Add in the early season Baer injury, Pemsl injury, Transfer by Williams, and Connor being hurt, things unravelled quickly.

Wagner not wanting to be there was obvious after Christmas, Ellingson was not good for the BT and Uhl mailed it in.

ISU had worse injuries, but they took a toll for Iowa too, as did the lack of upper classmen leadership.

Iowa's problems last year was lack of talent. You bring in like 11 guys in two recruiting classes and miss on all of them you're going to suck when they are supposed to be upperclassmen unless you can recruit transfers which Fran is against.

Bear, Pemsl, Williams, Ellingson and Wagner are not good basketball players and jury is out on Connor
 
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Fran must want Moss to have his shot because the first 3 years in the program he didn't get a chance to prove his worth. 4th time is the charm lol

I dont know what the guy is thinking. I hope he turns it around but I am not convinced of that. Taking a wait and see approach with that. He must feel as if Moss, Dailey, and Connor were better options than a grad transfer. I dont agree or disagree with it. I am willing to wait and see what happens next year. WE cant do anything about it with his buy out clause. It is a crappy situation in Iowa City if next year is not good or improved so all we have it hope.

Yes I am a Cubs fan, so now you get my logic.
 
Iowa's problems last year was lack of talent. You bring in like 11 guys in two recruiting classes and miss on all of them you're going to suck when they are supposed to be upperclassmen unless you can recruit transfers which Fran is against.

Bear, Pemsl, Williams, Ellingson and Wagner are not good basketball players and jury is out on Connor

You could also say it was not a lack of talent but a lack of want to due to them being good offensively but not defensively. Again, I am just trying to be positive about the up coming season.

Bear needs to be the 6th 7th man, not starting material and Pemsl needs to be the 7th 8th man, not starting material either. SO I agree with you on all 5 of those guys.
 
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I dont know what the guy is thinking. I hope he turns it around but I am not convinced of that. Taking a wait and see approach with that. He must feel as if Moss, Dailey, and Connor were better options than a grad transfer. I dont agree or disagree with it. I am willing to wait and see what happens next year. WE cant do anything about it with his buy out clause. It is a crappy situation in Iowa City if next year is not good or improved so all we have it hope.

Yes I am a Cubs fan, so now you get my logic.

Hey I appreciate your honesty and being able to have a civil conversation about it but I do think it's pretty crazy to say you don't disagree with it. If you don't think Mooney or some of the other options out there aren't a huge upgrade over Moss, Dailey and Connor you're crazy
 
It's so funny.

"I understand why Fran didn't want to bring in a grad transfer to try to win because he didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings" all while he plays a 10-12 man rotation every year. He can never leave Iowa City

No I guess it isnt I understand, It is I am trying to see why he is thinking the way he is. Just trying to keep an open mind about it and not freak out because then I wont have anything to look forward to for the 18-19 season.
 
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I dont know what the guy is thinking. I hope he turns it around but I am not convinced of that. Taking a wait and see approach with that. He must feel as if Moss, Dailey, and Connor were better options than a grad transfer. I dont agree or disagree with it. I am willing to wait and see what happens next year. WE cant do anything about it with his buy out clause. It is a crappy situation in Iowa City if next year is not good or improved so all we have it hope.

Yes I am a Cubs fan, so now you get my logic.

Good grief, has anyone told him that he doesn't have to choose? He can bring in the grad transfer and keep Moss, Dailey and Connor and let them duke it out for playing time. Rumor has it that competition for playing time can actually make a team better.
 
Hey I appreciate your honesty and being able to have a civil conversation about it but I do think it's pretty crazy to say you don't disagree with it. If you don't think Mooney or some of the other options out there aren't a huge upgrade over Moss, Dailey and Connor you're crazy

I cant say I disagree with something that I havent seen yet. Now if next year comes around and they are like 5-6 in non conference again and sucky then yeah, Fran is a moron for not being more proactive. I hate the fact that I have to try to accept that. It sucks but I am trying to stay a fan and supportive at the same time.
 

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