Going to witness one of the bigger collapses in our lifetime. Going to go from a 3% chance of missing the tournament pre-Maryland to actually missing the tournament. Somewhere Fran is chuckling. Unbelievable.
This team is done, no NCAA
- Thread starter HawkeyeGenius
- Start date
If we can beat Ohio St and Penn St and win a game in the tourney, we’ll be in. I hope. 
This year would’ve been a complete utter ******* disaster in every way if Fran was still the coach.
The one saving grace today is at least I don’t have to watch Fran-coached teams anymore. Thank ******* God. I will take at least a little bit of upside to that for sure.
The one saving grace today is at least I don’t have to watch Fran-coached teams anymore. Thank ******* God. I will take at least a little bit of upside to that for sure.
AgreedIf we can beat Ohio St and Penn St and win a game in the tourney, we’ll be in. I hope.
And then we’ll lose to Miami of Ohio
They won'tIf we can beat Ohio St and Penn St and win a game in the tourney, we’ll be in. I hope.
You're overreacting. Its been a rough past couple of games but we still have a pretty damn good chance of winning both games. Ben won't let us lose against a team like Maryland or Penn State again this year (I'm thinking optimistically of course)
I've gone from confidence that not only will we go to the tournament, but get a first round win to thinking it may take 2-3 years before Ben gets the team to a competitive level. There were a lot of signs during interviews that this team doesn't gel very well. Now we're coming apart at the seams now that the going it getting tough.
Fran had one of his highest rated classes ever coming in and rarely if ever finished in the bottom half of the big. He performed more with less. I’m not sure who looked at this roster and thought it could compete
Yeah no.
I agree. Fire Ben and hire Matt Painter.
All I'll say is that we knew coming into this year that we'd be giving up size to most big ten teams, and we needed to make up for that by hitting our 3s. The last three games we have been awful at three pointers. 5-16, 7-28, and 6-22 this game. Not going to get it done. In the game at Purdue, we were 12-25 from three and Purdue was only 6-14. We should've won that game, and then the refs had other ideas in that last 10 minutes.
Oh man, such good comedy! He tries so hard folks, won’t you please give him a like? Please like his posts!
Iowa has played some bad games and still found a way to win. We have played two of our worst 3 games this week.
It is not ideal for this to happen right now but let's be real, we have one player playing well.
AF is lost on offense and has to keep guarding big dudes he isn't ready for. His shot has disappeared. He is playing as bad as he has all year.
Kael is playing dreadful. He is lacking all confidence on offense and is not getting it done on D. He is playing as bad as he has all year.
Banks is clearly not 100%. He isn't playing terrible but isn't there.
Koch is struggling with his shot and struggling on defense. He is having some moments that are fine and others that are head scratches.
Cam is an enigma. He has moments where he is great and others he struggles. I think he takes a step forward next year but we need him to just be more consistently good.
Howard and Sage, I believe, need more minutes. I'm not sure why Sage isn't playing nearly as much as he was before. Ben must see something in practice he doesn't love right now. Sage is still attacking but fell asleep on d a few times.
Hausen is still not shooting super hot yet and it is February.
This team will be okay if we all just stop playing their worst.
It is not ideal for this to happen right now but let's be real, we have one player playing well.
AF is lost on offense and has to keep guarding big dudes he isn't ready for. His shot has disappeared. He is playing as bad as he has all year.
Kael is playing dreadful. He is lacking all confidence on offense and is not getting it done on D. He is playing as bad as he has all year.
Banks is clearly not 100%. He isn't playing terrible but isn't there.
Koch is struggling with his shot and struggling on defense. He is having some moments that are fine and others that are head scratches.
Cam is an enigma. He has moments where he is great and others he struggles. I think he takes a step forward next year but we need him to just be more consistently good.
Howard and Sage, I believe, need more minutes. I'm not sure why Sage isn't playing nearly as much as he was before. Ben must see something in practice he doesn't love right now. Sage is still attacking but fell asleep on d a few times.
Hausen is still not shooting super hot yet and it is February.
This team will be okay if we all just stop playing their worst.
Lol, I don't apologize for breaking you. Your family can bill me.
I don't watch the player interviews so thanks for the observation. The not gelling I don't get and that seems like a key part of the culture Ben wants. We haven't just stopped playing well something or a few somethings look off. A poster in the game thread noted Ben crouching mid court. I agree it looks and seems odd. This has the making of a train wreck in motion with the upcoming schedule. Nobody including Ben saw this coming. He needs to figure some things out.
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This MAYBE gets us a spot in the tournament and then LIKELY blasted in round 1.
Nobody gives a sh*t about that. Iowa bball still sucks and it is very, very frustrating.
A lot of pressure on Ben come year 2.
I agree. As far as Cam goes, he's undersized at the center position. And, he doesn't possess a long range jumper. He can hit the mid-range shots, but he needs to develop better outside shooting skills so he can be a threat from the forward position once Ben gets size in the paint. Something for him to develop and work on over the summer.
I agree with you on the others. They've gotten away from playing together as a TEAM. They also look as though they've sped up just a bit on offense.
The Men's BB forum is starting to sound like the Wrestling forum.
Grim.
Grim.
I don't follow wrestling. How else would you describe that game today other than grim?
Can't argue with that.
Almost wept when I saw the almost doubled at one point box score.
I used to watch John Johnson and Sam Williams.
Nothing against Ben. He needs to have 2 recruiting classes for a fair judgement.
Careful, you’ll get berated by the game day thread warriors for suggesting such a thing.
Yeah. A spot in the tournament with the roster we have, two players on the entire roster who saw high-level basketball and the rest at mid-majors learning how to play at this level, is not terrible.
I get it, people are mad and we haven't played great every game. To say pressure on Ben on year two is crazy... He was way behind on the portal last year and seems to have some higher level recruits he is looking at, one who picked us over Gonzaga.
I don't think you can blame Ben right now for this. He isn't missing open 3s, missing free throws, or missing bunnies on offense. The ball is getting in the right spot, it isn't going in.
Defense is frustrating. Zone wouldn't have made a difference today. Purdue was making open looks already. Way too many blown help assignments and not seeing ball and man. Yet we STILL held Purdue below their average.
I think Ben is a good coach. It is year one. I think he is learning what he needs to do and who he needs to get. I think Thompson will help, Jirak will have to play more and he can stretch us more. The guard play will be the huge question but I'm guessing our NIL will go there.
I'm not a wrestling guy so I'm not following closely but this seems like apples and hand grenades.
One coach is on year one and already doing better than last year.
The other is on year ?? and took us from national title contenders, automatic top 2 Big Ten finisher, multiple AA to a team that seems to not belong in the top 10. Athletes leaving, not getting the top guys recruiting, guys getting worse. I like Brands and think he is a stand up guy. My first option is to cut the wrestling program and put money into other programs or start soccer/hockey but that won't happen. My second option is to find new blood that doesn't make Iowa look so boring wrestling when nobody takes any shots and they are the Iowa football (2010-2025) of the mat.
You have some pertinent things to say here. I for one don't feel mad. I love the game and consider myself a serious fan who doesn't take sports all that seriously in the grand scheme of things. I just feel like I have started watching a different basketball team starting really with the Northwestern game. If this goes completely off the rails then Ben will feel some pressure in year two to get things back on track. That seems too early for a promising young coach just getting started.
This team is fine. We have a great PG and have as good a shot at getting to a sweet sixteen as any team in quite some time. The Big Ten is loaded. There will be bumps along the way.
Have to get through the big ten to make it to the tourney. Right now odds not likely.
We don't hit wide open 3s at home against teams with a pulse
I'm not worried about making the Dance all that much. It's Year One, with a line-up thrown together in a few months, and none of them had P4 basketball experience. They played a very good, very experienced team.
Sure, disappointed with the way they played. But, looking forward to better teams in the future,
Sure, disappointed with the way they played. But, looking forward to better teams in the future,
Is it only us Iowa fans that say crap like this even after getting 20-pointed on our home court? This is pretty laughable.
Don't follow basketball real closely, even though I was a 3rd string, end of bench, Center back in the late 60s whose goal was to be the next Bill Russell.
Normally follow wrestling due to living in Iowa, attending a HS with a strong wrestling program, having a kid that wrestled, and a grandmonster that is currently wrestling in the Gopher State.
With that said, based on some commentary on this forum, is our Men's BB squad simply behind the 8 ball athletically against good teams? Like maybe D-2 or Mid-Major level?
Again, zero criticism of Ben. I assume he knows what needs to be done eventually (recruit).
Normally follow wrestling due to living in Iowa, attending a HS with a strong wrestling program, having a kid that wrestled, and a grandmonster that is currently wrestling in the Gopher State.
With that said, based on some commentary on this forum, is our Men's BB squad simply behind the 8 ball athletically against good teams? Like maybe D-2 or Mid-Major level?
Again, zero criticism of Ben. I assume he knows what needs to be done eventually (recruit).
They’ve been punching above their weight all year from a talent standpoint. Seems they’ve hit a wall here in February. Hopefully they can gut out a few more wins down the stretch and find a way into the dance.
the overreactions on here are crazy. The basketball season has ups and downs for pretty much every team in the country. Some teams are just able to handle it better with the amount of talent on the team. Much rather lose a few now and find our groove coming into the postseason, which I think is a real possibility
This is one of the biggest fallacies I've seen repeated out here. Fran had some pretty talented teams that ended up a 7 seed and blown out in the 2nd round. Same goes for those Garza/Murray teams.
If anything, I'd say he did less with more.
As for missing the NCAA's.. Yeah, I'm trying not to overreact to two games, but the sudden regression and lack of competitiveness yesterday is alarming to me. I've seen this movie before, and this wouldn't be the first, second or even the third Iowa team I've seen fall apart down the stretch. I'm looking at you, Fran and Alford..
Guess time will tell if this team follows suit or pulls it back together.
What is it with Iowa basketball and February/March?
Guess time will tell if this team follows suit or pulls it back together.
What is it with Iowa basketball and February/March?
A 20 game BIG conference schedule is a brutal marathon for a patched together roster like Hawkeyes.
The cream rises...and exposes weak links.
Talent- wise Iowa is clearly in the bottom third of league and without stirtz maybe dead last
I have maintained a stance from the start of the season that making the tourny would be a very successful season...still possible.
But, that was mainly due to stirtz.
Next year looks pretty bleak as we lose our two best players.
I hope Ben looks at a re- vamping of our roster.
We will have :
Cam,combs,alvaro,koch,tate,Howard,Jirak,
Thompson,harris are eligible to return.
At minimum, we can add 3 more guys.
We need an athletic rim protector and 2 athletic quick guards...as we desperately need to raise the level of athleticism to BIG standard.
Look at whisky: they have a formula ,big skilled euro-types paired with quick perimeter athletes who can knock down threes.
They landed Boyd and carrington...can we do that this off- season?
The cream rises...and exposes weak links.
Talent- wise Iowa is clearly in the bottom third of league and without stirtz maybe dead last
I have maintained a stance from the start of the season that making the tourny would be a very successful season...still possible.
But, that was mainly due to stirtz.
Next year looks pretty bleak as we lose our two best players.
I hope Ben looks at a re- vamping of our roster.
We will have :
Cam,combs,alvaro,koch,tate,Howard,Jirak,
Thompson,harris are eligible to return.
At minimum, we can add 3 more guys.
We need an athletic rim protector and 2 athletic quick guards...as we desperately need to raise the level of athleticism to BIG standard.
Look at whisky: they have a formula ,big skilled euro-types paired with quick perimeter athletes who can knock down threes.
They landed Boyd and carrington...can we do that this off- season?
Fran thought he could win with only offense and it seems that Ben thinks he can win with only defense.
AF is not a center and he shows that repeatedly. He played his best when Jirak was in the game with him.
We need offense and Hausen isn't going to provide the needed help playing for a few minutes a game.
AF is not a center and he shows that repeatedly. He played his best when Jirak was in the game with him.
We need offense and Hausen isn't going to provide the needed help playing for a few minutes a game.
