I saw an actual insightful post on one of the hawk boards- essentially, if you're going to move on from Mad, this is the best possible time to do it. There is little talent currently on the roster, and next to zero coming in next year. So if you have to start over with recruiting it's no big loss, and probably a benefit. He also added the fear that you'd lose both of the Fran Jr.s should no longer be anything to sweat. Garza isn't going anywhere, Wesikamp isn't going anywhere, who else would matter? Hard to argue any of his or her points.
That is a sensible take, especially with Lipsy being the next HM recruit coming out of the state in couple of years. Considering his ISU ties I don't think EIU is any threat for his commitment. (Nebby is by far bigger threat if he wants to stay close). The issue, of course, is Barta has shown now indication of making a move, even doubling down with the under-the-radar extension for McCaffery. Their fan's only hope would be if Fran wants to jump early to a mid-major to avoid the fan turning on him resulting in him being let go. Plus his kids could transfer to his new school giving them all a soft landing spot.
Well, they're like everyone else who plays for Mad Fran. They're expecting to be developed into NBA material... (Cue the laugh track here)
Poor attendance is what got Lick fired IIRC. I don't know exactly what the numbers were at the end under Lick, but last night's crowd was not good. Also, I'm not totally convinced last night's game couldn't just end up being an aberration. They got punched in the mouth early and often, and were back on their heels for most of the game. I can guarantee they will come into Hilton loaded for bear, no matter their record.
I remember those games. On TV you could see those really interesting looking poles at the scorekeeper's table that lit up a lightbulb for each foul that a team had. Rosemont Horizon must have been an interesting arena. I wonder if it's changed much over the years? It's Allstate Arena now, I guess.
I attended quite a few games at the Rosemont/All-State to watch DePaul...and it got renovated in the early 2000s maybe? DePaul plays in the South Loop now...not too far from Soldier's Field! Can't imagine they draw much of a crowd down there when you have to pay a lot to park and tickets aren't cheap!
Iowa is not a good team. They definitely got punched in the mouth early last night, but this is a 16-17 win team tops.
I will disagree only because this is the slowest Iowa team I can remember for quite sometime. The spiders look like they are playing on six legs. Any team with decent guard play should be able to get to the rim at will on the Hawks.
It’s a nice venue, and a better location, but a smaller on-campus arena would have better. Politics and space issues aside, of course.
That would be a very Greg McDermott-ish type of situation. If it does shake out like that I just hope that they don't have their own version of Hoiberg sitting out there somewhere.
Maybe he just calls it quits on basketball to focus on baseball at Iowa. Isn't that what he's on scholarship for anyway?
Yep. There's ten kids on Iowa's roster that are Iowa natives who grew up around the rivalry. They'll be way up for it. Why, you might even call it their Super Bowl.
