Iowa Basketball: The Season That Wasn’t

After finishing 7th in the Big Ten in 2017, falling one big win short of making their fourth straight NCAA tournament, expectations were pretty high for this Iowa basketball season. They only lost one starter, and in a weak Big Ten conference, making it back to the NCAA tournament felt like the baseline outcome.

Needless to say, we couldn’t have been more wrong.

Maybe we underestimated just how good and important Peter Jok was. Maybe we overestimated the talent level of a roster made up primarily of underclassmen. Maybe Fran McCaffery put too much trust in his “deep” bench in the early part of the season. Maybe McCaffery didn’t give guys like Isaiah Moss or Jack Nunge a long enough leash, or maybe they didn’t show enough effort/engagement in practice or the film room to warrant the kind of playing time the fanbase wanted them to get.

In a season full of maybes, one thing is for certain. It wasn’t good enough.

Now, call me an optimist, but I don’t think the Hawkeyes’ 14-19 (4-14) record is reflective of their true talent level. Tyler Cook is already an All-Conference caliber player, he’s only a sophomore. Point guard Jordan Bohannon averaged over 13 points on 43 percent 3-point shooting this season, and he could break the school’s 3-point record by the end of next season. He has two more years in Iowa City.

Luka Garza showed real improvement from November to February. The 4-star 7-footer seems poised to become a 15 and 10 guy sooner rather than later. He’ll be here for three more years. While the 2018 Isaiah Moss experience was maddening at times, he averaged over 11 points and shot close to 40 percent from three this season. He has two more years left, and the 6’4 guard isn’t getting any shorter or any less athletic.

Jack Nunge is 6’11 and has shown a pretty, natural shooting stroke and the ability to guard multiple positions on the floor. He’s here for three more years. Maishe Dailey is a 6’7 wing who can shoot, handle and defend. He’s got two years left.

Former Big Ten 6th Man of The Year Nick Baer will provide Iowa with a capable senior presence next season, something this year’s team didn’t have.

That’s seven players that should provide real value in 2019, and that’s not including incoming freshman shooting guard Joe Weiskamp, who’s the #42 ranked player in his class by Rivals.

Now if McCaffery decides that players such as Cordell Pemsl and Ryan Kriener, who both have two years of eligibility left, deserve a combined 27 minutes per game again next season at the expense of Cook and Garza, that could cause a problem. If he decides that Brady Ellingson and Ahmad Wagner deserve to see the court every night during their senior campaigns, that could cause a problem. If his son Connor comes back healthy and steals minutes from Bohannon/Moss/Weiskamp, that’ll cause a HUGE problem. (To be fair, he has shown nothing to make fans skeptical of nepotism. Accusing him of such behavior would be uncalled for).

There are questions looming, with none more significant than Tyler Cook’s future status as a Hawkeye. Regardless of whether or not Cook stays, the rotation needs to shorten. Playing 11 or 12 players, especially when players 9-12 are as flawed as Iowa’s are, is a recipe for failure.

There will be a lot of pressure of Fran McCaffery next season, and honestly they should be. The success Iowa had the past five years earned him some breathing room, which is why he isn’t on any sort of hot seat after this disastrous season.

Next season is a different story. Missing the tournament for the third straight season with the talent on this roster would be a huge disappointment.

I don’t have the answer for immediate improvement, but I would imagine that managing rotations like a Big Ten coach, rather than a park district coach, would go a long way towards improving Iowa’s chances of winning in 2019.