I think the whole situation is weird. Playing it close to the vest is likely to be impossible. These kids report who has reached out to them and Iowa is nowhere to be found
Tough day for EIU hoops hopes
- Thread starter MuskieCy
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I think the whole situation is weird. Playing it close to the vest is likely to be impossible. These kids report who has reached out to them and Iowa is nowhere to be found
I can't see how Iowa makes the tournament next year with what they have coming back and their struggle with the portal.
We need Iowa to do good enough to warrant another Fran extension.
If he doesn’t get a year extension this off season, it will be very telling since he will go into next year with only four years remaining on his contrat. Have a feeling he will be dead man walking next year.
There's not a chance that happens under their new AD unfortunately
Agree, but with literally only TWO guards on the team - and those 2 are Harding and Dix - they are looking at <15 wins. And maybe <10 wins. How can you only have 2 guards??
Fran absolutely MUST bring in 2-3 guards from the portal, that are upgrades over those two. At least the talent bar is set low. But there still is absolutely no reason to believe that will happen based on his history. They won't be Prohm bad, but they could be historically bad.
IDK why Freeman would stay - he won't get developed much, and they won't win much. Other than being the only stud on a team of puds, that's all I can figure. But you'd think he would be high-profile enough already, why play there another year? Unless he just is a huge Iowa guy.
My biz partner (Iowa fan, hates Fran) hypothesized that Fran may just play 1 guard and 4 power forwards, and see if that works out.
Fran will get canned after next season.
Just you wait. Once the top 400 to 500 portal guys have found homes Fran will swoop in and nab guys from Grand Valley State and Simpson College.
- Mar 27, 2006
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Starting to look like Fran plans on rolling with the freshman from this year's team, the new recruits coming in and then hoping that Sandfort comes back for his senior year.
A starting lineup of Sandfort, Dix, Harding, Freeman and one of the young kids at center looks like a team struggling to get to .500 at best.
It's going to be very interesting next year at this time, his youngest son will be a senior this season, he will have three years left on his contract with no sight of an extension coming along. No way he walks away and leaves 10 million sitting on the table, so they either fire him and pay the buyout or let him stick around and bury the program.
A starting lineup of Sandfort, Dix, Harding, Freeman and one of the young kids at center looks like a team struggling to get to .500 at best.
It's going to be very interesting next year at this time, his youngest son will be a senior this season, he will have three years left on his contract with no sight of an extension coming along. No way he walks away and leaves 10 million sitting on the table, so they either fire him and pay the buyout or let him stick around and bury the program.
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He will 100% be back.
It's pretty bleak future for Fran. He's just not built for this era of college athletics. He needs a GM. He blames a lot of it on NIL but there's always mid majors that can somehow get solid players via the portal. Sad thing is if he got a solid Pg and another guard for depth they'd probably be a tournament team next year. Fran will probably have unused scholarships or give 1 to a walkon next year which is insane nowadays
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Easier said than done. Starting caliber point guards are not cheap in the portal. And even if the money is there, how many of them would pick a team with the bubble as their high water mark? If you're a power conference caliber point guard, you're going to have a lot of options on teams with higher ceilings.
I only caught a handful of EIU games last year, but I just do not see the talent on this roster to be a tournament team even if they add players. Freeman is a very good player, Sandford is off and on, Dix came on at the end of the year, but that just got him up to average at best and I see nothing in the Harding kid besides being a good passer.
Unless Sandford and Freeman can get you 45 to 50 a night, its going to be a long season over there to the East.
Guys want to play though at end of day. A solid pg could come in and play 25-35 minutes in a wide open free flowing offense i think thats enticing to some. He definitely won't have his pick of the litter but you can find solid players that teams sleep on. Drake did it with Roman Penn and most recently Atin Wright. There's an abundance of guys in the portal.
They weren't far off this year with a guy that can replicate Perkins production assuming everyone else comes back I think they'd make it but I think finding that guy is a tough ask for Fran.
Iowa men's basketball is now a bad Power 5 job, worse than when Lick left, because administration, fans, and NIL fundraising have left it for dead at least as much as Fran has.
If Goetz was thinking ahead she would encourage their collective to give the program big NIL dollars and pull the biggest fish possible this year knowing it will be McCaffrey's last season. If they don't demonstrate the commitment, they won't be positioned to hire anyone who can start repairing the damage next year at this time.
If Goetz was thinking ahead she would encourage their collective to give the program big NIL dollars and pull the biggest fish possible this year knowing it will be McCaffrey's last season. If they don't demonstrate the commitment, they won't be positioned to hire anyone who can start repairing the damage next year at this time.
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Nah. We will be just fine with whomever they end up hiring when that day comes.
I will miss Fran though.
100% correct. Before you get to that point Fran would need to contact and recruit some high level guards which I haven't seen yet... not this year or the past 3.
