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Post by NOTTHOR on Feb 25, 2014 23:49:41 GMT -6
Do u feel it was waisted time as only 2 people read it? Do u often have 'bouts' of inspiration? Are they always sudden? I'm happy to get it out of my system, so to that end, I don't care if no one reads it. I do liek feedback however, and am prepared to defend my views, so obviously I want many people to read it. Yes, I frequently get bouts of inspiration. They don't usually yield something liek this, and they're often fleeting. Ghost, I read it. And I'm worried. Really worried. You have always been one of a handful of realists and you seem to have suddenly lost your shit. You suddenly have expectations. You know the Hox will gag, but yet you expect something big. This is uncharacteristic for you. The Iowa basketball that existed when we were kids is gone, man. It sucks, but it is true. It ain't coming back. Creighton has been a better program than us for a decade. Wichita is currently materially better. Butler reached heights we never will. These smaller schools see basketball as a way to raise their profile and they are getting damned good coaches and building followings. The whole Big Ten save for MSU and very little spurts by a few other teams is now a fucking tire fire. Last year it was sick, but that was a huge fucking anomaly. Indiana with Zeller looked like Indiana. But sans Zeller, Indy has sucked for like a decade. Illinois ain't what it was when we were kids. Purdue has fallen off a cliff. Shit has just changed, bud, and I don't want you to ever get your hopes up because you will set yourself up for a letdown. Yeah, we suck, but a lot of decent programs of yesteryear have been gutted, so we aren't alone.
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Post by GhostMod 5000 on Feb 26, 2014 8:31:06 GMT -6
I'm happy to get it out of my system, so to that end, I don't care if no one reads it. I do liek feedback however, and am prepared to defend my views, so obviously I want many people to read it. Yes, I frequently get bouts of inspiration. They don't usually yield something liek this, and they're often fleeting. Ghost, I read it. And I'm worried. Really worried. You have always been one of a handful of realists and you seem to have suddenly lost your shit. You suddenly have expectations. You know the Hox will gag, but yet you expect something big. This is uncharacteristic for you. The Iowa basketball that existed when we were kids is gone, man. It sucks, but it is true. It ain't coming back. Creighton has been a better program than us for a decade. Wichita is currently materially better. Butler reached heights we never will. These smaller schools see basketball as a way to raise their profile and they are getting damned good coaches and building followings. The whole Big Ten save for MSU and very little spurts by a few other teams is now a fucking tire fire. Last year it was sick, but that was a huge fucking anomaly. Indiana with Zeller looked like Indiana. But sans Zeller, Indy has sucked for like a decade. Illinois ain't what it was when we were kids. Purdue has fallen off a cliff. Shit has just changed, bud, and I don't want you to ever get your hopes up because you will set yourself up for a letdown. Yeah, we suck, but a lot of decent programs of yesteryear have been gutted, so we aren't alone. I did address this in a few ways. One, this is the worst BoneG we have seen in a very long time. As it is, we currently stand tied for 5th with FUCKING NEBRASKA! I don't think my expectations are too high when I think we should be having a much better season than Nebraska. Also, it is not liek I am expecting amazing things out of the future. I made the point that this season alone should be better because we have the depth and experience we waited 4 years to build. My only expectation is that the plan pays off, and it didn't. We have depth and experience, but still fall apart in close games, still don't have players who know their fucking role on the team, and (worst to me) can't protect our home court.
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Post by #70 on Feb 26, 2014 10:25:34 GMT -6
Why can't this board swing in and out of jocosity and sincerity once in while? The 'Apparition' spent a fair amount of time with an in depth analysis of Iowa basketball and all we get is typical retort. He made many valid points. My brother made the same ones shortly before the minny tip off. He claimed that if Ryan, Izzo, Belein, or few others in the B1G had our cast, that we would win this conference going away. I told him that I would not go that far, but that there are serious questions going forward. I brought up the fact that he adjusts to the team he is playing. Brought up Kirk, and how he refuses to change anything for different styles and personnel of the opposing team. Can we not have any serious debate here? Cue Skier here with a zinger he thinks will make internet history. Monotony revisited. Seems to me that there was an asylum in Oregon that resembles this board. O'keef being Randle. So Cal being Ratchet. Where the fuq did Boat go? Did Eric drive him away again? Where da fuq did Boss go? How bout Bluz? HN at a certain point in time had a decent blend of both conversation and frivolity. I can guarantee you I've stated my true feelings about the state of Iowa basketball on this site about 10 times more than you have. But nice troll.
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Post by GhostMod 5000 on Feb 26, 2014 11:21:35 GMT -6
This DB Cooper character is...intriguing.
Thanks for the White Knight Coop, but I still won't have sects with you.
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Post by GhostMod 5000 on Feb 26, 2014 12:48:56 GMT -6
This DB Cooper character is...intriguing. Thanks for the White Knight Coop, but I still won't have sects with you. he's bildo, perhaps In that case, I might have sects with him. Billdo's teh funnay.
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Post by GhostMod 5000 on Feb 26, 2014 14:41:19 GMT -6
where "funnay" = "in love with himself" Funnay = super awesome in every way.
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Post by TaterWanger on Feb 26, 2014 16:49:10 GMT -6
Jocosity? Apparition? Who be trollin who? Send out an AP b for the most superfluous wordsmith on this vacuous wasteland, albeit - our cherished wasteland? Ya got the wrong man Laker...I think your're looking for this guy*... *Needs to update opticals Lulz, what is that your Ashley Madison profile picture?
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Post by TaterWanger on Feb 26, 2014 20:19:40 GMT -6
I have moar hair than you. Yer back hair aint impressive.
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Post by GhostMod 5000 on Feb 26, 2014 20:41:22 GMT -6
So...tournament's not good enough...provocative stuff there.
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Post by #70 on Feb 26, 2014 20:43:49 GMT -6
I haz moar career than you. What's with the angry brows? You mad brah?
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Post by GhostMod 5000 on Mar 7, 2014 8:18:59 GMT -6
This rant is dedicated to a certain section of Iowa fandom that claims criticism of the way this season has progressed is unacceptable. You know their refrains; "We haven't been to the tournament since 2006", "I'm just happy to be ranked after the dark times", and my favorite, "What, do you want Lick to come back". The common element to all of this is that since Iowa has been terrible in the recent past, we should celebrate any success, and ignore any warts; The thought being that we know it can be so much worse, so why complain when we lose and are still ranked and still a tournament team. To me, this is an terrible way to think. While success certainly should be celebrated, and we have come a long way since the darkest point in recent Iowa basketball history, it is not a all-encompassing shield to protect the program, and more specifically the coach, from criticism. Success should engender a desire for more success, not a toleration of mediocrity because it's better than before. And yes, I said the word "Mediocre". My argument rests on the fact that Iowa basketball is currently mediocre, that mediocrity rests on the the actions of the coaching staff, and this mediocrity will only continue with the bizarre complacency that the fan base has developed. The first point is that we have come a long way since the unholy terror of the Lick years, and that is a very good thing. And while that in itself is an achievement, that was never the goal. The goal isn't to be a not-terrible program, the goal is to be a great program. While we have achieved the former, I see no movement towards the latter. Coach McCaffery is in the 4th year of his regime, and things have certainly improved over that time. Iowa is no longer a laughingstock basement dweller. Besides that, what is our identity? Think about it. Pretty good but not terrible? That's the stamp that Iowa has had under McCaffery. He put in hard work to build up the program, and we are at year 4 of the rebuild, and we are seeing results. However, those results are very, very inconsistent, and show no signs of changing. In his forth year, Iowa is currently has 6 players who are juniors or seniors playing 15 or more minutes a game(7 if you count Jared Uthoff, an academic junior). These players are 100% McCaffery players, playing McCaffery's system for years. You would expect there to be a great deal of consistency and leadership among those players, but there isn't. Why is this? I wish I knew. There are many instances during a game when the players on the court look lost. Why is this happening on a very, very experienced team with coaching continuity? How does a veteran team fall apart at nearly every opportunity? I could accept the fact that we are being beaten on the court physically, which is what happened at Michigan. But why is this deep experienced team consistently fail mentally, like at Iowa State, home against Michigan St., Ohio St., and Wisconsin? I see it as a failure of leadership. This is both on the coaching staff and the players. The players are at fault because it is clear no one has stepped up to be THE GUY when it matter most. We have to come to accept that Roy Marble will not be the Jarryd Cole of this squad. He might go off for 30 one night, but he'll probably go 3-14 the next night. Marble checks out mentally of the game all the time, so he is obviously not suited for a leadership role. So if your best player, senior captain can't stand up, any other leadership on the team will seem false on the surface. However, the real failure of leadership is by the coaching staff. How can we expect our players to be calm and focused when their coach is most famous for his irrational tirades? The players will not remain composed when their coaches do not set and follow the example for them. Coach McCaffery is good at winning the press conferences. He says the right things, and he sticks by his players, and he is accessible to fans...But that's not enough for me. This isn't Iowa State. I don't want to judge a coach by his good performance off the court. I want to see him do the right things on the court. Lately, I don't see this. Others may say "At least we don't lose games we are supposed to win anymore". That's fine and good, but I am not going to give credit to anyone for winning games they're supposed to win. All of the games we have lost to this year were very good teams. They're all ranked, and for the most part, we played each team tough. Almost winning isn't good enough. Again, this isn't Iowa State. You cannot consider yourself a good team if you beat all of the bad teams before you, but lose to the good ones. And while we have beat a few good teams along the way, we've lost a majority of them. As of right now, we're 2-7 against teams that are ranked. Even more disturbing, we're 1-3 against ranked teams we've played at home. Like I said at the beginning, my premise is that this team is mediocre. The proof is in the pudding. What's more maddening is that fact we've been so close, yet have failed for reasons that seem to escape logic. Again, this appears to be a failure of coaching leadership. I can hear it now, "Well then, maybe you'd like to go back to Lick. I'm happy with Fran". Is there a more ridiculous path of logic than that? It's like saying that if you believe your car needs a tune up, you obviously want to go back to the horse and buggy. Believe it or not, there is a plane of existence besides those two options, and I am sure Fran can achieve this, if he's willing to adapt and change, rather than just do it his own way no matter what. So we're back from the Lick malaise. So what? What's next? I hate to again compare ourselves to Iowa State, but if you look at their program, they've been rebuilding the same time we did. Granted, Iowa started further behind than them, so it has taken us longer to catch up, but if you look at the comparison, it does not look good for us. Iowa fans praised Fran for doing it "The right way", by building a program slowly and developing four year players and depth into a tight and cohesive team that the fans love and can do damage in tournament time. The right way doesn't appear right... Iowa State, with their mish-mash of cast-offs, transfers, and recruits seem to have surpassed Iowa's team at the very time we should be reaping the benefits of our patient approach. While we are, in a way, they have blown by us. How is this possible? We have six upperclassmen playing significant minutes, while only one rotation player on Iowa State has been with the program longer than 2 years. However, they have a much better record against ranked teams, and they have won close games against tough opponents like Texas, Oklahoma, and yes, even Iowa. This was the year that our depth and experience is supposed to pay off, but the dividends seem pretty paltry compared to what ISU has achieved using their method. I am not saying that the Iowa State way is better. What I am saying is that the way we executed out plan seems to have stalled. Still, Iowa is ranked. We still sit high upon the conference standings, although we won't win the conference (although that wasn't really a realistic goal). Even so, that achievement seems rather hollow. This might be the worst the Big 10 has been in a decade. As of this writing, we stand only 1/2 game ahead of Nebraska in the standings. I say this not to discredit Iowa's achievements, but to highlight how weak this league truly is. That only makes our failure to put away the good teams we face even worse, since many of our numerous wins are against terrible competition, which makes the prospects of a possible 25 win season seem empty. So, in conclusion, I am not just happy we are making the tournament. I feel this team could have, and should have achieved so much more than they have this season. While it is possible they could prove me wrong in the future with a big tournament run, given our recent history, I sincerely doubt it. The problems I mentioned in this rant are systemic, and not something that will be corrected on the fly in March. And I didn't even get into the issues that I believe can be fixed, but probably won't be (The illogical substitution patterns, using players out of position, designing plays to get shooters shots, smarter use of time outs). What will probably happen is that we beat a bunny in the first round, then face a tough team and lose a close one, like we almost always do. This season was supposed to be the reward for years of patience, but that reward seems unsatisfying. And even worse, I feel more patience is due in the horizon. /rant //tl;dr //didn't proofread I gotta point out, I wrote this hours before the Minnesota game, and almost all of it has played out just liek I described. I AM A BASKETBALL GENIUS!!!
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Post by #70 on Mar 7, 2014 8:33:12 GMT -6
What in there did you predict would happen? Cuz it wasn't hard to see they weren't good.
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Post by GhostMod 5000 on Mar 7, 2014 8:36:24 GMT -6
How dare you question a basketball genius
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Post by #70 on Mar 7, 2014 8:40:42 GMT -6
How dare you question a basketball genius At least you trolled me. Cuz I read that damn thing finally and didn't see any damn prediction. And I read it. Ugh.
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Post by Presidential Immunity Cock on Mar 7, 2014 8:49:07 GMT -6
How dare you question a basketball genius At least you trolled me. Cuz I read that damn thing finally and didn't see any damn prediction. And I read it. Ugh. Troll Level TL;DR
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Post by egadsto on Mar 7, 2014 8:53:39 GMT -6
This rant is dedicated to a certain section of Iowa fandom that claims criticism of the way this season has progressed is unacceptable. You know their refrains; "We haven't been to the tournament since 2006", "I'm just happy to be ranked after the dark times", and my favorite, "What, do you want Lick to come back". The common element to all of this is that since Iowa has been terrible in the recent past, we should celebrate any success, and ignore any warts; The thought being that we know it can be so much worse, so why complain when we lose and are still ranked and still a tournament team. To me, this is an terrible way to think. While success certainly should be celebrated, and we have come a long way since the darkest point in recent Iowa basketball history, it is not a all-encompassing shield to protect the program, and more specifically the coach, from criticism. Success should engender a desire for more success, not a toleration of mediocrity because it's better than before. And yes, I said the word "Mediocre". My argument rests on the fact that Iowa basketball is currently mediocre, that mediocrity rests on the the actions of the coaching staff, and this mediocrity will only continue with the bizarre complacency that the fan base has developed. The first point is that we have come a long way since the unholy terror of the Lick years, and that is a very good thing. And while that in itself is an achievement, that was never the goal. The goal isn't to be a not-terrible program, the goal is to be a great program. While we have achieved the former, I see no movement towards the latter. Coach McCaffery is in the 4th year of his regime, and things have certainly improved over that time. Iowa is no longer a laughingstock basement dweller. Besides that, what is our identity? Think about it. Pretty good but not terrible? That's the stamp that Iowa has had under McCaffery. He put in hard work to build up the program, and we are at year 4 of the rebuild, and we are seeing results. However, those results are very, very inconsistent, and show no signs of changing. In his forth year, Iowa is currently has 6 players who are juniors or seniors playing 15 or more minutes a game(7 if you count Jared Uthoff, an academic junior). These players are 100% McCaffery players, playing McCaffery's system for years. You would expect there to be a great deal of consistency and leadership among those players, but there isn't. Why is this? I wish I knew. There are many instances during a game when the players on the court look lost. Why is this happening on a very, very experienced team with coaching continuity? How does a veteran team fall apart at nearly every opportunity? I could accept the fact that we are being beaten on the court physically, which is what happened at Michigan. But why is this deep experienced team consistently fail mentally, like at Iowa State, home against Michigan St., Ohio St., and Wisconsin? I see it as a failure of leadership. This is both on the coaching staff and the players. The players are at fault because it is clear no one has stepped up to be THE GUY when it matter most. We have to come to accept that Roy Marble will not be the Jarryd Cole of this squad. He might go off for 30 one night, but he'll probably go 3-14 the next night. Marble checks out mentally of the game all the time, so he is obviously not suited for a leadership role. So if your best player, senior captain can't stand up, any other leadership on the team will seem false on the surface. However, the real failure of leadership is by the coaching staff. How can we expect our players to be calm and focused when their coach is most famous for his irrational tirades? The players will not remain composed when their coaches do not set and follow the example for them. Coach McCaffery is good at winning the press conferences. He says the right things, and he sticks by his players, and he is accessible to fans...But that's not enough for me. This isn't Iowa State. I don't want to judge a coach by his good performance off the court. I want to see him do the right things on the court. Lately, I don't see this. Others may say "At least we don't lose games we are supposed to win anymore". That's fine and good, but I am not going to give credit to anyone for winning games they're supposed to win. All of the games we have lost to this year were very good teams. They're all ranked, and for the most part, we played each team tough. Almost winning isn't good enough. Again, this isn't Iowa State. You cannot consider yourself a good team if you beat all of the bad teams before you, but lose to the good ones. And while we have beat a few good teams along the way, we've lost a majority of them. As of right now, we're 2-7 against teams that are ranked. Even more disturbing, we're 1-3 against ranked teams we've played at home. Like I said at the beginning, my premise is that this team is mediocre. The proof is in the pudding. What's more maddening is that fact we've been so close, yet have failed for reasons that seem to escape logic. Again, this appears to be a failure of coaching leadership. I can hear it now, "Well then, maybe you'd like to go back to Lick. I'm happy with Fran". Is there a more ridiculous path of logic than that? It's like saying that if you believe your car needs a tune up, you obviously want to go back to the horse and buggy. Believe it or not, there is a plane of existence besides those two options, and I am sure Fran can achieve this, if he's willing to adapt and change, rather than just do it his own way no matter what. So we're back from the Lick malaise. So what? What's next? I hate to again compare ourselves to Iowa State, but if you look at their program, they've been rebuilding the same time we did. Granted, Iowa started further behind than them, so it has taken us longer to catch up, but if you look at the comparison, it does not look good for us. Iowa fans praised Fran for doing it "The right way", by building a program slowly and developing four year players and depth into a tight and cohesive team that the fans love and can do damage in tournament time. The right way doesn't appear right... Iowa State, with their mish-mash of cast-offs, transfers, and recruits seem to have surpassed Iowa's team at the very time we should be reaping the benefits of our patient approach. While we are, in a way, they have blown by us. How is this possible? We have six upperclassmen playing significant minutes, while only one rotation player on Iowa State has been with the program longer than 2 years. However, they have a much better record against ranked teams, and they have won close games against tough opponents like Texas, Oklahoma, and yes, even Iowa. This was the year that our depth and experience is supposed to pay off, but the dividends seem pretty paltry compared to what ISU has achieved using their method. I am not saying that the Iowa State way is better. What I am saying is that the way we executed out plan seems to have stalled. Still, Iowa is ranked. We still sit high upon the conference standings, although we won't win the conference (although that wasn't really a realistic goal). Even so, that achievement seems rather hollow. This might be the worst the Big 10 has been in a decade. As of this writing, we stand only 1/2 game ahead of Nebraska in the standings. I say this not to discredit Iowa's achievements, but to highlight how weak this league truly is. That only makes our failure to put away the good teams we face even worse, since many of our numerous wins are against terrible competition, which makes the prospects of a possible 25 win season seem empty. So, in conclusion, I am not just happy we are making the tournament. I feel this team could have, and should have achieved so much more than they have this season. While it is possible they could prove me wrong in the future with a big tournament run, given our recent history, I sincerely doubt it. The problems I mentioned in this rant are systemic, and not something that will be corrected on the fly in March. And I didn't even get into the issues that I believe can be fixed, but probably won't be (The illogical substitution patterns, using players out of position, designing plays to get shooters shots, smarter use of time outs). What will probably happen is that we beat a bunny in the first round, then face a tough team and lose a close one, like we almost always do. This season was supposed to be the reward for years of patience, but that reward seems unsatisfying. And even worse, I feel more patience is due in the horizon. /rant //tl;dr //didn't proofread I gotta point out, I wrote this hours before the Minnesota game, and almost all of it has played out just liek I described. I AM A BASKETBALL GENIUS!!!
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Post by Stan's Field on Mar 10, 2014 7:18:30 GMT -6
Read long ; didn't too
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Post by GhostMod 5000 on Mar 10, 2014 7:43:28 GMT -6
Wow, last year, we finished the regular season 20-11 (9-9) for a 6th place BoneG finish. This year, we did the same, but we're back. We're getting a sweet 11 seed in the NCAAs, so this was a great season. Thanks for all of your hard work Zack McCabe!
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Post by Earl Slick on Mar 10, 2014 7:50:26 GMT -6
The team has bottomed out and has nowhere to go but home.
I hope the coaching staff proves me wrong.
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Post by #70 on Mar 10, 2014 8:14:47 GMT -6
Wow, last year, we finished the regular season 20-11 (9-9) for a 6th place BoneG finish. This year, we did the same, but we're back. We're getting a sweet 11 seed in the NCAAs, so this was a great season. Thanks for all of your hard work Zack McCabe! Hmmmn
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Post by NotMyKid on Mar 10, 2014 10:03:09 GMT -6
Wow, last year, we finished the regular season 20-11 (9-9) for a 6th place BoneG finish. This year, we did the same, but we're back. We're getting a sweet 11 seed in the NCAAs, so this was a great season. Thanks for all of your hard work Zack McCabe! Of course 100% correct but they have a chance to pull their head's out of their asses and actually play good ball IN THE FUCKING NCAA TOURNEY not the fucking NIT. Like it or not that is a step in the right direction even though they shit their pants in the last month. And I can guarantee any potential coach we are scheduled to face is hoping that Iowa doesn't figure it the fuck out.
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Post by GhostMod 5000 on Mar 10, 2014 10:10:59 GMT -6
Wow, last year, we finished the regular season 20-11 (9-9) for a 6th place BoneG finish. This year, we did the same, but we're back. We're getting a sweet 11 seed in the NCAAs, so this was a great season. Thanks for all of your hard work Zack McCabe! Of course 100% correct but they have a chance to pull their head's out of their asses and actually play good ball IN THE FUCKING NCAA TOURNEY not the fucking NIT. Like it or not that is a step in the right direction even though they shit their pants in the last month. And I can guarantee any potential coach we are scheduled to face is hoping that Iowa doesn't figure it the fuck out. Yeah, if they can't pull their heads out of their kiesters on senior day at home verses a huckleberry like Illinois, I am sure they will snap out of in the tournament! I mean, they have had such a good record against top 25 teams, and I am sure all of the NIT experience has prepared Marble and Co. for the Big dance. Plus, Fran has proven he's nails in big situations. With a few good bounces, an Elite 8 run wouldn't surprise me at all.
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Post by thunderhawk on Mar 10, 2014 10:25:54 GMT -6
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Post by #70 on Mar 10, 2014 10:34:30 GMT -6
Of course 100% correct but they have a chance to pull their head's out of their asses and actually play good ball IN THE FUCKING NCAA TOURNEY not the fucking NIT. Like it or not that is a step in the right direction even though they shit their pants in the last month. And I can guarantee any potential coach we are scheduled to face is hoping that Iowa doesn't figure it the fuck out. Yeah, if they can't pull their heads out of their kiesters on senior day at home verses a huckleberry like Illinois, I am sure they will snap out of in the tournament! I mean, they have had such a good record against top 25 teams, and I am sure all of the NIT experience has prepared Marble and Co. for the Big dance. Plus, Fran has proven he's nails in big situations. With a few good bounces, an Elite 8 run wouldn't surprise me at all. bahahahhaahha
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Post by GhostMod 5000 on Mar 10, 2014 12:23:56 GMT -6
Look slick, I made this in April of 2013, and I won't be proven wrong. As this thread has demonstrated, I am always right about everything basketball, soooooo
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