Fuck off. You guys suck. Go cheer on your racist football coach. Go vote for Trump. Stay in your little COVID-denying bubble, and kill your family this weekend. I'll go somewhere else where people don't refer to teenagers as "pieces" and have a coach who treats his players as machines that must conform to a standard (wonder if there's a connection?). 

America has sports! Who cares if 2000 people a day are dying. At least we get to watch starter kits and pieces compete against each other. Fucking ridiculous.

He did look like he put on some more pure muscle. Like a true running back. I was surprised his handle didn't look any tighter.

Being as I played football, rugby, and wrestling at various high levels, and never played basketball above 8th grade, I'm okay with feeling inferior.

Fuck off, dude. Don't ruin basketball with your ignorant racist ass.

Exactly my thought, but I've been hated for my pro thoughts so often, I didn't want to say it.

If he's a legitimate 6'10", 205 lbs and moves like I just saw? Yikes. He could put on another 15-20 lbs as he gets into his mid-20s eeeeasssy. He has that effortless athleticism that is so appealing and sneaky to see. Maybe he's not a super jumper (but at his size, he's still getting up), and maybe he's not the fastest player, but his body-control is just awesome for a gangly 6'10"-er. And I think that's the difference I see from his HS vids from 2 years ago. He was not quick and smooth, but not THIS smooth.

Good lord.

You were right this time, but I also had Nunge out there who was not in the game. I also didn't like Toussaint as lead ball-handler before or in this game. I think A) Iowa doesn't need a traditional PG because they basically bring the ball up, and then start the action by passing it to a wing, B) He's good in fast transition (even if it's nerve-racking, he's so good at it), but one-on-one full-court pressure scares me. C) I'd love to just see him be on the wing and catch a pass and rip and go to the hoop in one dribble.

That said, no, I don't think I was being mental. They had a great offense without Bohannon last year, and I of the opinion that there is diminishing marginal utility on 3 point shooting as far as the extra benefits it provides. To start games, I'd rather have a stronger defensive team that's still going to be very good on offense than a slightly better offense that could be significantly worse on defense. 

Ugh, that sucks. How awful. I'm getting close to that age...

Man, you talk about these guys as if they aren't humans... pieces, starter kits. Yikes.

Not worried at all about the 3-point shooting. It will come. 

The defense is still to be worrisome, but the guys they brought in, including Patrick, seem to have much better defensive chops than their starters. If one of those guys can be consistently reliable on offense (probably Patrick), that will help. If 1 or 2 other guys (Murray? Perkins? Ulis?) can be situationally reliable, they can mix that player into the mix when they need stops. That won't lead to a dominating defense, but it if it can be a little better overall and a lot better in certain moments, it will really help. it's going to be difficult, though, but there were at least signs.

And Patrick... good lord. He looked so smooth and good. I watched a lot of his high school videos, and he was clearly athletic, but he wasn't THAT athletic. That extra weight and strength, and him seeming to grow into his body.... he looks so smoooth. THey said he was 6'10", and if he is, that's legitimate. Holy cow.

I love Connor's game. I usually am not a fan of the "gritty white point guard" from the B1G because they're usually vastly overrated, but McCaffery is not. He is probably underrated. He truly does "all the little things" - including those that do and do not show up on the stat sheet - and man, that A:TO is just incredible. He might be my favorite player on the team (though that's not saying much because I like so many of them).

Is that what I would? I don't know. Maybe:
C. McCaffery - Bohannon - Toussaint - Ahron Ulis
Fredrick - Toussaint - Bohannon (yes, I think I'd want Bohannon as the lead ballhandler if Toussaint is out there, though it'd probably be roughly equal)
Wieskamp - P. McCaffery - Murray - Murray
Nunge - P. McCaffery - Wieskamp
Garza - Ogundele - Nunge

Good god. Can you redshirt 3 players? I'm joking, but gosh, I don't see how they even have so many guys on the team, let alone guys that seem ostensibly playable. Like, Perkins probably shouldn't be playable on such a stacked team, but if he can be a semi-lockdown defender, he might be forced into a lineup at times.

Bohannon - Toussaint - C. McCaffery - Fredrick - Ulis - Perkins
Wieskamp - P. McCaffery - MurrayA - MurrayB
Garza - Nunge - Ogundele

Oh my god. Just watched highlights of Biliew. Dear god.

Bronx Joe! I did not expect Toussaint to be so good last year. I thought he was going to just be an athletic project. He still is that, but with a much higher ceiling now. I loved his fearlessness, and I think Fran did, too. He has that same mentality as Garza that he's not going to back down from anyone. I'm going to go out on a limb and say he's going to turn in a career similar to Aaron White. Someone who is a solid 3/4-star Top 300 recruit whose skills might be underrated a little but whose athleticism might have been underrated a lot. And that athleticism really shines when put in a coaching system that knows how to harness it and use it to its best potential.

Well, that's what I'm telling myself anyway.

He's fairly quick and decisive with it.

I've liked him since I first saw his highlights. It;s easy to compare him to Wieskamp because of his height, dirty blonde hair, and flushed red cheeks, but I agree: he's not as athletic. I don't know if he's the playmaker Frederick has been, but a taller CJ would be nice. Not sure if they'll redshirt him, but I think it might take him a year or two to be ready for the B1G. Definitely like his potential, though. He moves really well, and has a good shot (would like him to raise his release point, but whatever). Good start.

This site has gone down the whole being taken over by shandemic right-wing truthers.

How completely unsurprising that right-wingers all of a sudden love Sweden. Or that those saying don't be afraid make their votes 100% out of fear of Brown and Black people taking away "their" America.

I won't be surprised if Kirk Ferentz et al. still get paid their full salaries.

there's just so much more to bsketball than just raw box score numbers. If watching the NBA bubble has confirmed anything to me, it's that the center is ABSOLUTELY the QB of the defense. The best centers don't just have numbers and tools, they talk... a LOT. I think this is one reason Woodbury's teams were so good. Kriener was just always in the right place at the right time last year. He was the epitome of giving more value than the numbers showed. I think it will be next to impossible for Nunge to provide that value.

But even so, I think Bohannon will be better than Evelyn (not a hot take), and that McCafffrey can provide enough equal to Pemsl. That if Nunge can just provide the numbers of Kriener, he won't be "as impactful" but goood enough that it won't be a huge drop off overall.

It's going to be interesting. Their 6, 7, 8 guys are all relative unknowns. Bohannon off of an injury (should be fine, but one never knows) and Patrick and Nunge. Evelyn started off slowly but slowly rounded into form. I have the most confidence that, overall, Bohannon will outplay  him (even if not a "guarantee"). But Patrick and Jack outplaying Pemsl and Kriener is unliekly in my opinon. Kriener is one of my favorite players of the Fran era - an underrated try hard dude that actually DOES make a difference and not just gets plaudits for doing so despite not are awesome - and Pemsl had huge moments, both in play and leadership.

Toussaint - JBo - Ulis
Frederick/JBo - JBo/Frederick
Conor - PMAc - Perkins???
Weiskamp - PMac
Garza - Nunge - Josh

Fact is, replacing Evelyn, Pemsl, and Kriener with 3 unknown players is risky. Getting Bohannon back and having had Nunge on the team and McCaffery being a high recruit are all good things. That's how the best teams reload - with established guys and high recruits. But it's still a wonder. The 5 starters shoudl be very, very good. We SHOULD know what we'll get from Bohannon. if Patrick and Jack have what it takes, it will be a very, very exciting year.

The good thing is: if those 3 do come out and contribute at a high level, hopefully Fran won't feel pressured to use the freshmen. Murrays can redshirt if they want (ready to play RSSr year at age 35), and Ulis and Ogundele can play 0-10 mpg depending on the blowout or closeness. You can easily run a close game with almost exclusively 8 players.

Post return-to-school pre-season rankings: Iowa #6 

This is awesome. I've always been hoping for some kind of basketball season for obvious reasons, but now I really want one, if only for it not to be a lost season for him. (That said, as I've mentioned before, if the NCAA cancels the season, I'm confident there will be something set up for those who want to prepare for the draft. Probably loads of scrimmages and leagues in LA or LV or something.)

I'm not even convinced they would have fired Doyle. I think if he would have fought to stay, they would have let him. As fast as his son opted to transfer, my guess is the family just thought, "Fuck this. This is stupid. We're out."

Fuck this. I'm out on this team. Kirk Ferentz sucks. He rewarded Doyle for putting 13 kids in the hospital. He lied about knowing about these allegations. He's a stubborn, arrogant dickhead that believes knows he's beyond reproach.

The only thing that has ever forced him to change anything, from football strategy to treatment of players, is public exposure and/or public pressure. And now they're purposely keeping it all private. As if he's going to do a damned thing to discipline his son. He's already let him off light when he was a player. I'm confident he doesn't believe his son has done anything wrong. Hell, he probably wouldn't have even fired Doyle if he hadn't re-signed.

Yeah, Kirk. Blame the Black players for being too-sensitive bunnies; it's their fault. Not your bestie's Chris Doyle. I'm sure you'll be on a yacht somewhere with him next winter and laugh about he got paid millions to be a racist bully and then to not even coach.

Fuck this. Bring on basketball and wrestling.

I just don't get it. Even if he's "learning" and making slow but albeit forward progress, what's mean? That some students are slowly treated better? That Black players might now start when they hadn't before, and they might be resented? And what if he doesn't "get it" and only makes half changes? Does he get fired in a year, another year after that? Is someone going to hold him to task and we have another time when Ferentz promises to be better? 

Let's not forget that Ferentz straight lied about being caught unaware. There was a report a year that made light some of these issues, there was a promise to have a meeting at the end of the year, but Ferentz felt it wasn't necesary.

So he knew about this, promised to change, then decided he didn't need to even have a meeting at the end of the year. Then he lied about not knowing about any of this.

Let Kirk Ferentz et al. go and become a better person on his own time. Why does Iowa have to pay him to learn something he should have learned long ago? Hire someone, Black or white, who has shown or shows a desire to be inclusive and change the culture of the program. 

Move on. There are more important things than win-loss records.