“taking a ragtag bunch of kids from Iowa and Illinois — Dean Oliver (Mason City), J.R Koch (Peoria, Ill.), Jess Settles (Winfield), Kent McCausland (Waterloo), Joey Range (Galesburg, Ill.) and Jacob Jaacks (Cedar Rapids) — to the Sweet 16”
I WILL NOT STAND FOR THIS RYAN LUEHRSMANN ERASURE!!!
I love your writing, but I’ll just post what I did in BHGP.
Y’all are just sleepin’. “Fran’s stubborn and doesn’t change.” absolutely does not jive with Fran mellowing out and changing up the type of player he recruits.
I’ll repost what I did in that other room-and-gloom, sky-is-falling piece after 2 good wins and 3 bad losses. I think a lot of you are underestimating the importance of having players in the NBA.
This is crazy. As soon as they move on from Payton Sandfort (who is the very epitome of what you’re talking all mediocre offense, no defense) and unfortunately Drew Thelwell, this team is going to be vastly different than any team under Fran before. it’s no longer kinda to athletic guys that are good on offense but can’t play D, but rather a whole lot of big, athletic guys.
Brock Harding -
Josh Dix - Pryce Sandfort
Cooper Koch - Josh Lewis - Johnson-Arigu
Seydou Traore - Chris Tadjo - Briscoe
Owen Freeman - Dembele - Diakite
(Of course 1 or 2 or 3 will probably transfer out)
They obviously still need guards, and I’m sure they’ll attack the transfer portal again. I’m also wondering if they are still in or think they are going to get Tayshawn Bridges, a guy who is from Wisconsin, has bounced all over, and is currently at Indian Hills CC.
But anyway, that is a long, athletic and fast team that will press for days and be able to recover. It’s just a completely different team than what they’ve ever had. It looks like a complete “rebuild.” I, for one, am excited to see it.
This team is not great, but it’s better than it’s been the past couple of weeks. The sky is not falling. Chill.
There's two proven players in that group - Freeman and Dix. That's it.
The rest is a group one hopes will be good. The hard part is believing that they'll have enough guard play to ever make it work - which is not a new theme to Fran's teams.
This is from someone that has enjoyed nearly all of Fran's teams over the years and remembers when Carver used to rock like the best days of the Fieldhouse. Like Kirk - Fran doesn't seem to have it in him to pull off such a late-stage change in direction - not based on his history in its entirety.
And then Iowa signs a 4-star recruit today out of Florida. Don’t think a player signs on for a coach who’s on the exit ramp. It’s confusing to say the least.
Oh, I also just want to point out that we have no idea what’s going on in Fran’s life. Lots of people think he’s lost fire, but there’s a non-zero chance he’s had either a health scare (blood-pressure related) or a talking to from someone in his family or à mentor/friend. One of those 3 strikes me as far more plausible than “he just doesn’t care anymore.”
I think he cares plenty; he may have had a "life situation" as you say - but at this stage it's hard to see a rebirth - not without the intensity of Fran 1.5-2.0.
“taking a ragtag bunch of kids from Iowa and Illinois — Dean Oliver (Mason City), J.R Koch (Peoria, Ill.), Jess Settles (Winfield), Kent McCausland (Waterloo), Joey Range (Galesburg, Ill.) and Jacob Jaacks (Cedar Rapids) — to the Sweet 16”
I WILL NOT STAND FOR THIS RYAN LUEHRSMANN ERASURE!!!
I love your writing, but I’ll just post what I did in BHGP.
Y’all are just sleepin’. “Fran’s stubborn and doesn’t change.” absolutely does not jive with Fran mellowing out and changing up the type of player he recruits.
I’ll repost what I did in that other room-and-gloom, sky-is-falling piece after 2 good wins and 3 bad losses. I think a lot of you are underestimating the importance of having players in the NBA.
This is crazy. As soon as they move on from Payton Sandfort (who is the very epitome of what you’re talking all mediocre offense, no defense) and unfortunately Drew Thelwell, this team is going to be vastly different than any team under Fran before. it’s no longer kinda to athletic guys that are good on offense but can’t play D, but rather a whole lot of big, athletic guys.
Brock Harding -
Josh Dix - Pryce Sandfort
Cooper Koch - Josh Lewis - Johnson-Arigu
Seydou Traore - Chris Tadjo - Briscoe
Owen Freeman - Dembele - Diakite
(Of course 1 or 2 or 3 will probably transfer out)
They obviously still need guards, and I’m sure they’ll attack the transfer portal again. I’m also wondering if they are still in or think they are going to get Tayshawn Bridges, a guy who is from Wisconsin, has bounced all over, and is currently at Indian Hills CC.
But anyway, that is a long, athletic and fast team that will press for days and be able to recover. It’s just a completely different team than what they’ve ever had. It looks like a complete “rebuild.” I, for one, am excited to see it.
This team is not great, but it’s better than it’s been the past couple of weeks. The sky is not falling. Chill.
There's two proven players in that group - Freeman and Dix. That's it.
The rest is a group one hopes will be good. The hard part is believing that they'll have enough guard play to ever make it work - which is not a new theme to Fran's teams.
This is from someone that has enjoyed nearly all of Fran's teams over the years and remembers when Carver used to rock like the best days of the Fieldhouse. Like Kirk - Fran doesn't seem to have it in him to pull off such a late-stage change in direction - not based on his history in its entirety.
And then Iowa signs a 4-star recruit today out of Florida. Don’t think a player signs on for a coach who’s on the exit ramp. It’s confusing to say the least.
In today's Portalverse, he could get out of his LOI before May the Fourth Be With You if Fran transfers his fanhood to Butler...
Oh, I also just want to point out that we have no idea what’s going on in Fran’s life. Lots of people think he’s lost fire, but there’s a non-zero chance he’s had either a health scare (blood-pressure related) or a talking to from someone in his family or à mentor/friend. One of those 3 strikes me as far more plausible than “he just doesn’t care anymore.”
I think he cares plenty; he may have had a "life situation" as you say - but at this stage it's hard to see a rebirth - not without the intensity of Fran 1.5-2.0.