Who should Drake hire?

[DUBulldog]

One thing you DON'T need at Drake are Iowa connections. Iowa produces very few D1 basketball players. Iowa and Iowa State take who they want, and what's left go to UNI. When Drake has had good players, they have not been from Iowa. Des Moines should be much more appealing to players from metropolitan areas that produce a lot of talent. not counting Chicago, Des Moines is easily the nicest and most vibrant city in the Valley. Drake has one of the more appealing campuses, and it should not be difficult to recruit here. None of the news people around here, including Chris Williams have any knowledge of or interest in Drake. their comments are meaningless.

Never been to Des Moines. What's special about it?

Thriving economy, rapidly growing (both downtown and suburbia). It seems like very time Forbes or somebody puts out a list of Top 10 cities for whatever, Des Moines makes the list. Here's a link with some of those top 10 lists https://www.catchdesmoines.com/media/des-moines-rankings/

[Wufan]

One thing you DON'T need at Drake are Iowa connections. Iowa produces very few D1 basketball players. Iowa and Iowa State take who they want, and what's left go to UNI. When Drake has had good players, they have not been from Iowa. Des Moines should be much more appealing to players from metropolitan areas that produce a lot of talent. not counting Chicago, Des Moines is easily the nicest and most vibrant city in the Valley. Drake has one of the more appealing campuses, and it should not be difficult to recruit here. None of the news people around here, including Chris Williams have any knowledge of or interest in Drake. their comments are meaningless.

Never been to Des Moines. What's special about it?

Thriving economy, rapidly growing (both downtown and suburbia). It seems like very time Forbes or somebody puts out a list of Top 10 cities for whatever, Des Moines makes the list. Here's a link with some of those top 10 lists https://www.catchdesmoines.com/media/des-moines-rankings/

Thanks!

[tribecalledquest]

Im not sure how awesome a city is matters at all.

The best two college football programs in America is in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and Clemson, SC. Those towns aren't going to be confused with Austin and Portland anytime soon.

[uniftw]

One thing you DON'T need at Drake are Iowa connections. Iowa produces very few D1 basketball players. Iowa and Iowa State take who they want, and what's left go to UNI. When Drake has had good players, they have not been from Iowa. Des Moines should be much more appealing to players from metropolitan areas that produce a lot of talent. not counting Chicago, Des Moines is easily the nicest and most vibrant city in the Valley. Drake has one of the more appealing campuses, and it should not be difficult to recruit here. None of the news people around here, including Chris Williams have any knowledge of or interest in Drake. their comments are meaningless.

Iowa doesn't produce very many good basketball players?

I...um...?

UNI players from Iowa over the last 10-15 years
Jeremy Morgan
Jordan Ashton
Spencer Haldeman (better than pretty much anyone Drake has had in the same time frame sans Emmenecker and Spencer is a FR)
Wyatt Lohaus
Seth Tuttle
Matt Bohannon
West Washpun
Nate Buss
Klint Carlson (struggled last year but still better than anyone Drake has)
Ali Farokhmanesh
Jordan Eglseder
Brooks McKowen
Grant Stout
Benny Jacobson

Iowa State (recruits fewest Iowa kids)
Bubu Palo
L.A. Pomlee (flamed out but would have dominated MVC)
Sean Huluska
A ton of kids that never played but likely would have been pretty solid at the MVC level - see Jordan Ashton going to UNI and playing well

Iowa
Jordan Bohannon
Peter Jok
Ryan Kriener (RS last year but was between UNI and IA. He'll be good)
Riley Till (May not play much at IA but would be real good at MVC level)
Cordell Pemsel
Nicholas Baer (Was a RS until this year)
Dale Jones (had some injury issues that kept him off court. Would be solid at MVC level. 6'7 220lb wing. Grad transfer for this coming year
Josh Oglesby
Mike Gesell
Kyle Denning (didn't play at Iowa but would have at Drake)
Jarrod Uthoff
Okey Ukah
Adam Woodbury
Zach McCabe
Darius Stokes
Eric May
Cody Cox
Matt Gatens
Chris Rickert
Branden Stubbs
T.J. Sayre
Brennan Cougill

Kids that went elsewhere
Doug McDermott
Harrison Barnes
Grant Gibbs
The Korvers
A couple more Bohannons
A couple NBA players

Are we getting the picture yet? Yes, many of those guys were "above" Drake. The reality is that many/nearly all of the guys that went to Iowa or Iowa State and rode the bench would have been better than 95+% of what Drake has been rolling out. Hell, guys that barely played at UNI would have been better players than what Drake has played. Remember a few years ago when Drake fans were bragging about "Stealing" Casey Schlaterr from UNI even though UNI had pulled his offer? How's that working?

Iowa produces more D1 basketball players, on average per year, than Minnesota. This article/map is a few years old, but the numbers haven't really changed. Iowa had more D1 players than Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Colorado, Oregon, and Massachusets.

https://blog.modeanalytics.com/where-co ... s-recruit/

Maybe the issue isn't there isn't D1 players in Iowa. It's that Drake thinks they are better than Iowa kids, and fails to identify talent.

[SubGod22]

One thing you DON'T need at Drake are Iowa connections. Iowa produces very few D1 basketball players. Iowa and Iowa State take who they want, and what's left go to UNI. When Drake has had good players, they have not been from Iowa. Des Moines should be much more appealing to players from metropolitan areas that produce a lot of talent. not counting Chicago, Des Moines is easily the nicest and most vibrant city in the Valley. Drake has one of the more appealing campuses, and it should not be difficult to recruit here. None of the news people around here, including Chris Williams have any knowledge of or interest in Drake. their comments are meaningless.

Never been to Des Moines. What's special about it?

Thriving economy, rapidly growing (both downtown and suburbia). It seems like very time Forbes or somebody puts out a list of Top 10 cities for whatever, Des Moines makes the list. Here's a link with some of those top 10 lists https://www.catchdesmoines.com/media/des-moines-rankings/

Wichita has looked a lot at Des Moines, as well as Omaha and OKC, with their recent movements the past few years with investing in downtown and trying to attract more business and the massive efforts to push entrepreneurship and the mentorships and capital investments. There was actually an article in the past couple months talking about the Silicon Valley of the Plains or whatever they call the area, and it talked about Wichita starting to make an impact in that with all the tech startups and investments.

I have never been to Des Moines either, but I've been following the actions of the City of Wichita the past few years and Des Moines has been mentioned a lot. And the cities can definitely work together to boost the region over time.

Now, how that impacts recruiting I have no idea. But it certainly can't hurt.

[lime]

Never been to Des Moines. What's special about it?

Thriving economy, rapidly growing (both downtown and suburbia). It seems like very time Forbes or somebody puts out a list of Top 10 cities for whatever, Des Moines makes the list. Here's a link with some of those top 10 lists https://www.catchdesmoines.com/media/des-moines-rankings/

Wichita has looked a lot at Des Moines, as well as Omaha and OKC, with their recent movements the past few years with investing in downtown and trying to attract more business and the massive efforts to push entrepreneurship and the mentorships and capital investments. There was actually an article in the past couple months talking about the Silicon Valley of the Plains or whatever they call the area, and it talked about Wichita starting to make an impact in that with all the tech startups and investments.

I have never been to Des Moines either, but I've been following the actions of the City of Wichita the past few years and Des Moines has been mentioned a lot. And the cities can definitely work together to boost the region over time.

Now, how that impacts recruiting I have no idea. But it certainly can't hurt.

Can definitely be harnessed. More things to do outside basketball, good for internship opportunities. Obviously Drake hasn't done that well selling it.

[DUBulldog]

Never been to Des Moines. What's special about it?

Thriving economy, rapidly growing (both downtown and suburbia). It seems like very time Forbes or somebody puts out a list of Top 10 cities for whatever, Des Moines makes the list. Here's a link with some of those top 10 lists https://www.catchdesmoines.com/media/des-moines-rankings/

Wichita has looked a lot at Des Moines, as well as Omaha and OKC, with their recent movements the past few years with investing in downtown and trying to attract more business and the massive efforts to push entrepreneurship and the mentorships and capital investments. There was actually an article in the past couple months talking about the Silicon Valley of the Plains or whatever they call the area, and it talked about Wichita starting to make an impact in that with all the tech startups and investments.

I have never been to Des Moines either, but I've been following the actions of the City of Wichita the past few years and Des Moines has been mentioned a lot. And the cities can definitely work together to boost the region over time.

Now, how that impacts recruiting I have no idea. But it certainly can't hurt.

I've seen at least one article talking about how the city of Wichita wants to emulate Des Moines and Omaha.

I think Des Moines has a lot going for it that helps with recruitment of students to Drake, but I'm not sure how much it helps with regards to recruiting basketball players. If you're program isn't winning, not a lot else matters to most players.

[Drakey]

One thing you DON'T need at Drake are Iowa connections. Iowa produces very few D1 basketball players. Iowa and Iowa State take who they want, and what's left go to UNI. When Drake has had good players, they have not been from Iowa. Des Moines should be much more appealing to players from metropolitan areas that produce a lot of talent. not counting Chicago, Des Moines is easily the nicest and most vibrant city in the Valley. Drake has one of the more appealing campuses, and it should not be difficult to recruit here. None of the news people around here, including Chris Williams have any knowledge of or interest in Drake. their comments are meaningless.

Iowa doesn't produce very many good basketball players?

I...um...?

UNI players from Iowa over the last 10-15 years
Jeremy Morgan
Jordan Ashton
Spencer Haldeman (better than pretty much anyone Drake has had in the same time frame sans Emmenecker and Spencer is a FR)
Wyatt Lohaus
Seth Tuttle
Matt Bohannon
West Washpun
Nate Buss
Klint Carlson (struggled last year but still better than anyone Drake has)
Ali Farokhmanesh
Jordan Eglseder
Brooks McKowen
Grant Stout
Benny Jacobson

Iowa State (recruits fewest Iowa kids)
Bubu Palo
L.A. Pomlee (flamed out but would have dominated MVC)
Sean Huluska
A ton of kids that never played but likely would have been pretty solid at the MVC level - see Jordan Ashton going to UNI and playing well

Iowa
Jordan Bohannon
Peter Jok
Ryan Kriener (RS last year but was between UNI and IA. He'll be good)
Riley Till (May not play much at IA but would be real good at MVC level)
Cordell Pemsel
Nicholas Baer (Was a RS until this year)
Dale Jones (had some injury issues that kept him off court. Would be solid at MVC level. 6'7 220lb wing. Grad transfer for this coming year
Josh Oglesby
Mike Gesell
Kyle Denning (didn't play at Iowa but would have at Drake)
Jarrod Uthoff
Okey Ukah
Adam Woodbury
Zach McCabe
Darius Stokes
Eric May
Cody Cox
Matt Gatens
Chris Rickert
Branden Stubbs
T.J. Sayre
Brennan Cougill

Kids that went elsewhere
Doug McDermott
Harrison Barnes
Grant Gibbs
The Korvers
A couple more Bohannons
A couple NBA players

Are we getting the picture yet? Yes, many of those guys were "above" Drake. The reality is that many/nearly all of the guys that went to Iowa or Iowa State and rode the bench would have been better than 95+% of what Drake has been rolling out. Hell, guys that barely played at UNI would have been better players than what Drake has played. Remember a few years ago when Drake fans were bragging about "Stealing" Casey Schlaterr from UNI even though UNI had pulled his offer? How's that working?

Iowa produces more D1 basketball players, on average per year, than Minnesota. This article/map is a few years old, but the numbers haven't really changed. Iowa had more D1 players than Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Colorado, Oregon, and Massachusets.

https://blog.modeanalytics.com/where-co ... s-recruit/

Maybe the issue isn't there isn't D1 players in Iowa. It's that Drake thinks they are better than Iowa kids, and fails to identify talent.

Note: The best program in the state has the fewest Iowa players. I wasn't bragging about Casey Schlatter. He should be playing D2.

[uniftw]

One thing you DON'T need at Drake are Iowa connections. Iowa produces very few D1 basketball players. Iowa and Iowa State take who they want, and what's left go to UNI. When Drake has had good players, they have not been from Iowa. Des Moines should be much more appealing to players from metropolitan areas that produce a lot of talent. not counting Chicago, Des Moines is easily the nicest and most vibrant city in the Valley. Drake has one of the more appealing campuses, and it should not be difficult to recruit here. None of the news people around here, including Chris Williams have any knowledge of or interest in Drake. their comments are meaningless.

Iowa doesn't produce very many good basketball players?

I...um...?

UNI players from Iowa over the last 10-15 years
Jeremy Morgan
Jordan Ashton
Spencer Haldeman (better than pretty much anyone Drake has had in the same time frame sans Emmenecker and Spencer is a FR)
Wyatt Lohaus
Seth Tuttle
Matt Bohannon
West Washpun
Nate Buss
Klint Carlson (struggled last year but still better than anyone Drake has)
Ali Farokhmanesh
Jordan Eglseder
Brooks McKowen
Grant Stout
Benny Jacobson

Iowa State (recruits fewest Iowa kids)
Bubu Palo
L.A. Pomlee (flamed out but would have dominated MVC)
Sean Huluska
A ton of kids that never played but likely would have been pretty solid at the MVC level - see Jordan Ashton going to UNI and playing well

Iowa
Jordan Bohannon
Peter Jok
Ryan Kriener (RS last year but was between UNI and IA. He'll be good)
Riley Till (May not play much at IA but would be real good at MVC level)
Cordell Pemsel
Nicholas Baer (Was a RS until this year)
Dale Jones (had some injury issues that kept him off court. Would be solid at MVC level. 6'7 220lb wing. Grad transfer for this coming year
Josh Oglesby
Mike Gesell
Kyle Denning (didn't play at Iowa but would have at Drake)
Jarrod Uthoff
Okey Ukah
Adam Woodbury
Zach McCabe
Darius Stokes
Eric May
Cody Cox
Matt Gatens
Chris Rickert
Branden Stubbs
T.J. Sayre
Brennan Cougill

Kids that went elsewhere
Doug McDermott
Harrison Barnes
Grant Gibbs
The Korvers
A couple more Bohannons
A couple NBA players

Are we getting the picture yet? Yes, many of those guys were "above" Drake. The reality is that many/nearly all of the guys that went to Iowa or Iowa State and rode the bench would have been better than 95+% of what Drake has been rolling out. Hell, guys that barely played at UNI would have been better players than what Drake has played. Remember a few years ago when Drake fans were bragging about "Stealing" Casey Schlaterr from UNI even though UNI had pulled his offer? How's that working?

Iowa produces more D1 basketball players, on average per year, than Minnesota. This article/map is a few years old, but the numbers haven't really changed. Iowa had more D1 players than Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Colorado, Oregon, and Massachusets.

https://blog.modeanalytics.com/where-co ... s-recruit/

Maybe the issue isn't there isn't D1 players in Iowa. It's that Drake thinks they are better than Iowa kids, and fails to identify talent.

Note: The best program in the state has the fewest Iowa players. I wasn't bragging about Casey Schlatter. He should be playing D2.

note, that best program has a losing record vs both UNI and UI the last 15ish years

[DUBulldog]

Keith Murphy of WHO-TV tweeted out that the job is Craig Smith's to decline...sounds like an offer has been made, just waiting to see if he'll accept. I imagine USD will make a counter offer.