Iowa basketball recruiting has once again captured the imagination of Iowa fans....well, recruiting has a tendency to do that, even when your program is going through some tough times. Heck, that's all some fans have had to look forward to over the course of the last four years, that being the future due to the bleak prognosis of the then present...sorry if that is a little Back to the Futurish with tense travel and all.
On Monday,
Hawkcentral.com had a write up with quotes from seven-foot hoop star Adam Woodbury of Sioux City. He was recently named the MVP of the NBA Top-100 Players Association Camp, a big honor for the big man.
Home grown Top 100 seven-foot centers don't come around all that often...the last I can recall was a mid-1990's player from Monona named Raef LaFrentz, and he went to Kansas and went on to become one of the five greatest Jayhawks of all time and has earned more money playing professional sports than any Iowan in history. OK, perhaps Raef was a shade under seven-feet, but you get the idea.
Woodbury is not a make or break recruit...he's a make recruit. Meaning, if Iowa doesn't get him it doesn't doom the Fran McCaffery era. However, if Iowa can land him, and get a commitment from him by say September, it could be like jet fuel with regards to turning this program around. Get Woodbury in that time frame and then you can use that momentum to perhaps convince a few other players to come your way.
In the item linked above, Woodbury says he wants to get his decision out of the way before the start of his senior season. That begins in late November. While the above scenario would be ideal, Iowa would be more than happy with a commitment from Woodbury at any time over the course of the next 10 months...
But fans are remaining cautious,
as you can read in this thread...it's just one example of the mindset that has crept into the minds of some fans due to the Todd Lickliter years.
I won't lie to you and say I don't understand that mindset; I do. Lately, I have sort of taken the stance of 'Hey, when something good happens to the program I will be real excited about it, but I am not going to sit around holding my breath.' I can understand some that don't care for that mentality, but I am not a player or coach and what I think has no bearing on the success or lack there of the program.
However, that thawed a bit for me this spring as Iowa grabbed a couple of late commits that have the fan base energized...that and a
favorable 2011-2012 schedule is a nice foundation for optimism that seems to be creeping throughout Hawkeye Nation as it relates to the hoops program.
Iowa is after another Sioux City prep in the form of Mike Gesell, a sharp shooting guard. The Hawks have a commitment from 6-9/220 forward Kyle Meyer of Georgia who has had a solid spring.
While Iowa's most recent recruiting class was ranked near the bottom of the Big Ten, McCaffery feels he added a solid mix where Iowa needed help...we'll soon get a chance to see all of those pieces in action, but adding a player like Adam Woodbury in this next class would be pretty exciting.
However, the competition may be stiff by the time summer gives way to fall. Ohio State has offered, and they have been a big man factory in recent years. Kansas and North Carolina are sniffing around, and possibly Duke.
No, I don't think he is make or break...but he could break a lot of bad juju that has surrounded the program since Steve Alford's last year and the three year rock bottom that was the Lickliter era.
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