#HelloJerry Mailbag Solicitation: Throwing Cold Water on the Fran McCaffery Hot Takes

You know the rules by now... I’m going to ramble on about something in Iowa sports only to trick you into giving me questions for tomorrow’s mailbag. You can throw them in the comments section or send them directly to me on Twitter (@JerryScherwin) or use the hashtag #HelloJerry.

Things aren’t the best at the Franimal House right now. There are glaring issues (defense-defense-defense, the use of timeouts during long offensive droughts to start the second half that always coincides with an opponent scoring run, the lack of a penetrating point guard and the use of too many players in the rotation just to name a few) that we’ve all noticed before, but let go because of the Dark Knight Rises sized pit Fran McCaffery pulled us out of:

While it’s becoming more and more difficult to turn thy cheek in the face of this despair (something my partner in crime admirably described in this weeks Overreaction Monday), I think we need to throw some water on the Hot Seat takes... for now.

This team lost their senior flame thrower (Ewing theory be damned). The sophomore slump we all chose not to believe reared its ugly head to start the season. The 11-man rotation has been wildly inconsistent which is partly on the players on the floor (too many turnovers against defensive pressures they didn’t face last year/high school) and partly on some bad luck with injuries (Nicholas Baer, Cordell Pemsl, Jordan Bohannon) and sicknesses (Connor McCaffery).

Yes there is an effort question at hand but that can’t all be on McCaffery. That’s on everyone. Playing defense and rebounding is all in the effort from the individual. McCaffery can’t MAKE them do that. Can he punish them with playing time? Yes. And he should (as JP said).

The one thing that fixes all of that? Consistency and winning. Two things I expect more of in the second half of this season.

We’ve seen this before throughout college basketball; especially with young teams. Sometimes it just takes a while to vibe.

We bought into the early season sizzle (Remember the Jordan Bohannon is Steph Curry conversation?) and ultimately got burned... but that doesn’t mean we wont see some steak down the stretch.

Like JP, I think that Iowa is going to turn a corner... just like they did last year. This roster is too talented not to. I fully believe that.

Does McCaffery need to make some changes in his Phil Jackson approach to games and recruitment of interchangeable lanky athletes? Absolutely. But when you have nine members of your rotation playing as underclassmen, these things are bound to happen at a program like Iowa.

It may come to a shock (it rattled me too) but we are not Kentucky. We’re not Duke. We’re not Arizona.

Some of you probably don’t want to hear any of this, but watching with patience and keeping this in mind does wonders for the overall product on the floor and the outlook for the program. I did just that with the Iowa State game and came out of it rather impressed with how that team handled themselves in a daunting environment.

And for those that can’t do that, I suggest you keep these on file:

LOLZ:

The result of the troll job?

If McCaffery can just get that missing point guard piece (even if it’s the next Bryce Cartwright) the outlook for this program the next 3-4 years is as high as its ever been.

We just got to keep focused on the forest through the trees.

You can hit me up in the comments section of this post. You can leave them on the BHGP Facebook comment section as well. Or, if you’re feeling ELITE, follow me on Twitter @JerryScherwin and send in your question to me directly or by using the hashtag #HelloJerry.

Love you.