A few random thoughts...
Some Iowa fans are taking the loss hard in part because they don't know this is just typical Curtis Jones. This is who he was second half of last year and all this year. He's a statistically elite player in the entire nation. Long, plays tough defense, doesn't make mistakes, good hands/finishing, crazy range on his threes. They might be hung up on him not starting every game, if you made an All Big 12 team statistically right now he'd be on edge of 1st team and zero doubt second team.
Iowa's trio of Sandfort, Dix and Freeman is a very good core but there's not much beyond it. Ignore that they're nerdy white guys, it is a good core, but they're still missing a dynamic playmaker who can get to the rim. They are always missing a true elite point guard. Harding gets assist stats sometimes but it's really because he just dribbles around with the ball a lot and possesses the ball so much, he's not an attacking point guard like all 3 of our current combo guards or even a less heralded guy like Jaren Holmes . It's been a loooooooong time since they had a Dean Oliver or Andre Woolridge and ISU has had like 10 to 15 very good attacking pgs since then. Fran is just somehow Kryptonite to recruiting or developing elite pgs.
As an NBA fan I kind of scoffed at the Sandfort-to-NBA craze last year and I'm still on that line of thought. He's really similar to like Matt Thomas if Thomas had shown less defensively. Thomas absolutely TORCHED the summer league every chance he got and still couldn't stick beyond some cups of coffee. In terms of looking at a guy who could be dropped into an NBA game tomorrow and contribute as a role player, it's by far Curtis Jones. The next guy might actually be Jefferson if he could improve his jumper a little. Then the tier below that you've got Gilbert, Momcilovic, and Sandfort who all have something that would need to take a big step forward but there's maybe an outside chance, MM with the obviously highest ceiling of those guys.
Some Iowa fans are taking the loss hard in part because they don't know this is just typical Curtis Jones. This is who he was second half of last year and all this year. He's a statistically elite player in the entire nation. Long, plays tough defense, doesn't make mistakes, good hands/finishing, crazy range on his threes. They might be hung up on him not starting every game, if you made an All Big 12 team statistically right now he'd be on edge of 1st team and zero doubt second team.
Iowa's trio of Sandfort, Dix and Freeman is a very good core but there's not much beyond it. Ignore that they're nerdy white guys, it is a good core, but they're still missing a dynamic playmaker who can get to the rim. They are always missing a true elite point guard. Harding gets assist stats sometimes but it's really because he just dribbles around with the ball a lot and possesses the ball so much, he's not an attacking point guard like all 3 of our current combo guards or even a less heralded guy like Jaren Holmes . It's been a loooooooong time since they had a Dean Oliver or Andre Woolridge and ISU has had like 10 to 15 very good attacking pgs since then. Fran is just somehow Kryptonite to recruiting or developing elite pgs.
As an NBA fan I kind of scoffed at the Sandfort-to-NBA craze last year and I'm still on that line of thought. He's really similar to like Matt Thomas if Thomas had shown less defensively. Thomas absolutely TORCHED the summer league every chance he got and still couldn't stick beyond some cups of coffee. In terms of looking at a guy who could be dropped into an NBA game tomorrow and contribute as a role player, it's by far Curtis Jones. The next guy might actually be Jefferson if he could improve his jumper a little. Then the tier below that you've got Gilbert, Momcilovic, and Sandfort who all have something that would need to take a big step forward but there's maybe an outside chance, MM with the obviously highest ceiling of those guys.
