It's hard to articulate and quantify. But the product under Fran is simply not visually appealing. Sure, they've had some great players. Sure, they consistently score a lot of points. But I think the latter serves more as an excuse to gloss over the ugly way they do it, simply from an eye-test standpoint rather than truly represent an exciting brand of basketball.
Ironically, Tyler Cook was probably their most watchable player from a casual observer standpoint. Then maybe a pillow fight between Joe Wisekamp, Jarrod Uthoff, and Luka Garza who all have their physical limitations despite the fact that they all can technically dunk, which I think also glosses over their shortcomings.
Yes, Keegan Murray is good, but you can tell he's a late bloomer whose skill set is sketchily playing catch-up with his recent athletic surge. He's all arms and legs with an average handle, and he roughly rattles home a lot of his makes, a trait rarely found in most similar players of his acclaim. It would take an Anthony Bennett type class to justify taking him in the lottery right now. He's not realistically an early impact guy, more of a intriguing project with a lot of potential as long as he can continue to make substantial uncharted leaps every single year in his game (which he has so far to his credit).
For comparison, I think Keegan Murray is a less polished Craig Brackins. More guard ability, but less shooting ability. More raw athleticism, but much less time fine-tuning his skillset against high level competition. The game IS different now, which probably will help Murray in that regard as opposed to Brackins.
Iowa has maybe 5 NBA fans in the whole state, so this point is probably lost on most. Iowa could average 100/gm, with this current roster, or even their last roster, nothing they do on the court will move the needle visually for the modern casual basketball connoisseur. It would be like Chinese water torture to primarily consume Iowa basketball, slowly whittling away one's taste for the game.
The same can't be said for many past Hoks like Ricky Davis, Reggie Evans, BJ Armstrong even a monster dunker Doug Thomas or pure PG like Dean Oliver. Etc... Even your "token Iowa guys" like Greg Brunner and Jeff Horner were fun watches that made you think, "Not quite NBA guys but maybe only a few inches or a step or two off."
This is the true culprit at the heart of the problem for Iowa basketball. You won't hear it. Firstly, because their media coverage is shamelessly biased. But secondly, from a basketball standpoint they probably don't fully understand and appreciate this is a primary reason apathy has crept in and continues to settle. Wins are only a treatment for it, but will never be the cure.