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I think Hoiberg has done pretty well so far. Love the influx of talent he has brought in through the transfers. The lack of defense concerns me a little but I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt on that one and blaming it on our lack of depth.
In the future I expect to be in the NCAA tournament three out of every four years and contending for a B12 title once every three or four years.
I'm very happy with Fred so far. The cupboard was incredibly bare when he took over. He turned Diante Garrett into a major scorer, and went .500 in his first season. We had absolutely no depth while playing an uptempo style (difficult), and played a 6'11" 3 pt shooter and freshman in the paint. Hopefully his strategy of picking up transfers will pay off next year with an injection of "expereinced" talent into the lineup. Most of us hope he will recruit HS players better as time goes on, but on paper the decision to bring in the transfers looks good for now given the dearth of upperclassmen on the roster.
I think its still way to early to judge Fred, especially considering the mess he inherited. Last season was kind of a surprise ,but some really poor execution in close games kept this team out of NIT consideration. I think a lot of factors played into those loses but its an area Fred will have to improve upon starting this year as expectations are going to be completely unfair for a guy in second season. At the very least Fred has kind of unified the fan base and for the first time in a while theres a lot of positive energy around the program, lets hope that equates to wins! I dont think you'll find a Cyclone fan that isn't happy that Freddie is back in Ames, or that doesn't think he'll get this thing turned back around.
As you can probably see with this thread, there is a lot of satisfaction with the direction of the program. Most people see the quality of talent and the number of wins trending up, relative to where the Cyclone program was two-three years ago.
The biggest debate within our community is the transfer strategy being utilized by Hoiberg, to build talent. As in bringing in transfers from other programs - especially ones that have been booted off other teams. There are people who aren't very comfortable with this approach. I was one of those to begin with, but i am seeing some wisdom in it now. At least from a talent standpoint, Iowa St. has a difficult time getting 4 or 5 star high school players with any consistency. And as good as i feel Hoiberg is at coaching, there is an upper limit to how far your team can go without top-shelf talent.
The trend in college basketball is definitely up for D-1 transfers. But this strategy could backfire. Selecting the right transfers, the ones that will make good fits into the Iowa St. program, will be key. Especially in the next three years, as the program is re-built. I embrace the strategy, but like many others, feel a little apprehensive about the possible results.
Welcome Sammy11. This is a great question to ask and you might be surprised on some of the responses you get given our record this year (3-13 conf rec, .188 conf wp 16-16 ovrl, .500 ovrl wp)......dead last for the 1st time in awhile.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sammy11
The truth is, the Mayor has brought a lot of optimism back to Ames and our team played very hard with a very thin bench this year. If you've never met Fred or if you haven't heard him speak very much, you probably can't really understand....but Fred has a major impact on those around him and he seems to bring out the best in everyone - that's what excites me the most.
We all love him b/c of his loyalty to Iowa State (made even more apparent by the recent star Ames native Harrison Barnes going to UNC), but also b/c he is such a great person all-around. Not to mention the guy is very smart and I just don't see him failing at anything he puts his mind to. I'm sure he's made a few bad decisions in his life, but they are probably few and far between.
A lot of people will over-hype the new transfers coming in and set some pretty big expectations, but most importantly, the cyclone fan base (including myself) are getting very excited about Cyclones MBB again.........and a HUGE part of that is b/c our hometown hero not only came back, but he wanted to come back and he knows better days are ahead.
Watch this interview with Mr. Hoiberg and you'll see what he's all about...
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6a4wF0YBxU]YouTube - An Interview with Fred Hoiberg: Matters of the Heart[/ame]
Good luck to the Bears in the new Big XII - I think we'll all need it.
Jonecy
Mostly happy with Fred, so far.
We lost a lot of games late, but I think that the coaching victory was that we were ahead in those games.
I was pleased with the intangibles....the team played hard almost every game this season (Texas Tech and 1/2 of Oklahoma game, which sucks since we should have beat those teams). They came out of timeouts and halftimes very focused. The team seemed to get along and really seemed to like Hoiberg, which was maybe a bit different.
Don't look now but we're right behind you and closing fast!Quote:
Originally Posted by Sammy11