[Herky] Status of Men's sports

[Patrick ORourke]

 Jeff,I also agree with the comments that you made regarding the men's athletic programs at Iowa.
The men's basketball program is in a serious need of getting better talented players. The Murray twins and Luka G. provided Iowa a "Goto" option when a basket was needed.  This year's team did not have a player of that caliber. P. Stafford had some good games(Kansas State) followed by a horrible game (Utah).The need to be able to play better defense is a huge issue.   When a team plays poor defense, it allows bad teams to look good and good teams to look great.  The current staff appears not be able to have a team play good defense. Iowa made the Utah team appear to be an offensive juggernaut. 
The lack of height will definitely hurt Iowa in the tournament.  I am amazed by how many tall players there are playing in the women's  tournament this year.
Pat O'Rourke
    On Monday, March 25, 2024 at 10:32:16 AM CDT, SRINIVAS REDDY Chirra <hawkeye_fan at hotmail.com> wrote:  
 
 Jeff,That was wonderfully stated. I think we are satisfied with having a winning season and no post-season accolades. Anytime we ask for a change to change for the better, Lickliter is brought up. Our recruiting is catered to above strategy od .500+ season and not winning championships. 
One thing that you missed discussing is the WBB. I am disappointed that no serious effort was made to recruit the shortcoming in the team, height. With the season we had last year, we should have gotten a good center from the transfer portal. I am afraid we will not be able to go past the Final-4 because we did not fix what led to us losing the finals last year.  Hope the girls catch fire and drain the 3s. Last few games, teams have started to figure out how to control CC a little bit. Hope the girls prove me wrong. Eternally hopeful but bitten by HUS. Go Hawkeyes
Get Outlook for iOSFrom: Herky <herky-bounces at lists.herky.net> on behalf of Jeff Napier <jnapier111 at outlook.com>
Sent: Monday, March 25, 2024 8:06:54 AM
To: herky at lists.herky.net <herky at lists.herky.net>
Subject: [Herky] Status of Men's sports After watching the NCAA wrestling tournament this week and then the Iowa basketball game, I had some general thoughts that align with your comment. 
The three main Iowa men's sports are not in a bad place but are all in need of some major changes to stay where they are or improve.
All three coaches have been at Iowa for a long time. All three are extremely loyal to their assistant coaches.  Very few have been fired. The changes that we see are mostly due to them moving on to better things.   And finally, all three tend to be old school and somewhat stubborn in their ways.
All three have what is to me a major issue that needs to be addressed.  In football it was the offense. Not sure if Kirk would have made a move or not, if he was not forced to. But a major change was needed on offense for Iowa to continue to do well in the new BT. Hopefully Lester is what is needed.
In basketball it is defense.  Not sure what needs to happen whether it is just an emphasis or they need to bring in someone who can teach defense but I can't see where Iowa is going to be any better than .500 in the BT and bubble NCAA team that exits early if they cannot play defense.
In wrestling  I think there are two things and they may be tied together.  Wrestling has changed and the good wrestlers/teams are the ones that scramble well.  In my limited understanding I would say that Iowa's scrambling is like the Football offense or the basketball defense.  I don't know how many times I watched Iowa get in on a shot and not be able to finish and often get taken down because of this weakness.  The problem right now is that Iowa does not have anyone on their staff who is good at scrambling.  I think this is or will hurt recruiting which is the second area of concern.  It seems like we need a pretty big change to get someone who can help with the clear weaknesses of the Iowa Style and hopefully that someone is a younger guy who might have more appeal than a Morningside or a Telford to potential recruits.
I don't think we need new head coaches but it does seem that all are at a crossroads and need some significant changes.

From: Herky <herky-bounces at lists.herky.net> on behalf of larry edwards <larryed6124 at gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, March 24, 2024 9:55 PM
To: herky at lists.herky.net <herky at lists.herky.net>
Subject: [Herky] Half Utah 48 Iowa 36 No defense by Iowa_______________________________________________
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