As Horace noted,  “Nothing is swifter than rumor.”   Those with interests in the Iowa basketball program found that out last week.  With rumors surfacing Thursday that proclaimed anything from Lickliter would be resigning to a buyout had been reached and Lickliter would be fired after Iowa’s inevitable opening round loss to Michigan.  It turns out, none of these rumors are true at this point in time.  Todd has come out and stated he is healthy and plans to remain as Iowa’s head basketball coach.

Here’s the thing with this current situation we find ourselves in.  What really happened behind the scenes recently in Iowa City, what has happened over the course of the year, and what has been promised to some will likely never come to light.  It comes down to anonymous sources, some more connected that others, and the information they are giving out.  I have no doubts that some information being exchanged is filtered, some of that information is being tweaked, and some of that information is purposely incorrect.  Don’t expect to get a clear answer to what went down even after the dust settles.

So what of Coach Lickliter?  As this season progressed, some Hawkeye fans that frequent the boards here at Hawkeye Nation (myself included) were ready to give Lickliter another year, as long as he didn’t have the same player issues that plagued his program in his first couple years at Iowa.  Just as long as a key contributor of this program didn’t transfer after this season, another year was warranted just to see if the ship could be righted.  Assuming player issues have yet again crept up, it would be hypocritical to not make the realization that it was time to move on.

Just a month ago, Barta came out and publicly supported Lickliter and what he was doing with the program.  Things looks as if, even though Iowa was in the midst of one of the worst years in Iowa history, that Gary was ready to give Lickliter more time.  However, moments after Iowa’s loss this past Thursday, it appeared as if Barta’s faith (at least publicly) had been shaken.  Instead of coming out and backing Lickliter once more, he released a statement in which he said, “With the season ending today, I’ll do what I do at the end of every year. I’ll evaluate 2010 and make preparations for next year.”  Read that how you will.

If it’s a forgone conclusion that Barta is going to make a move, then he had best be prepared to make a big splash hire.  Fortunately for Iowa’s A.D., this time around, the Hawkeyes are a bit more attractive than his first attempt three years ago.  This Iowa team has some good building blocks in Gatens, Fuller, Payne, and May, with nothing to say of the #26 ESPN ranked 2010 recruiting class assuming the incoming coach could retain them.  On top of that, Barta can dangle the carrot of a new practice facility being contructed.   Talk is cheap – Alford was promised a practice facility would be coming, Lickliter was promised the same thing… finally it’s getting done.  In the past, it was all talk, now Barta has the moved Earth to show a prospective coach.  It’s an incredible opportunity to get the Iowa program back to where it used to be, where it should be… like Top 10 all-time type of stuff.

So what’s going to happen?  At the time of this article, the posters at Hawkeyenation.com have drawn the conclusion that Lickliter will be terminated.  While the opinion of the users of just one of the many Iowa message boards doesn’t represent the entire Hawkeye population, it does seem to project what most of the fans are thinking.

My thoughts are the same as they have been since the rumors came out on Thursday.  Barta will meet with Lickliter sometime this week, they will talk about what’s happening in the program, wherein Todd will be given an Alfordian-like ultimatum.  This meeting will certainly cover a broad spectrum of topics, but will likely focus on current players’ opinion and what (or if any) changes can be made.

No matter how you look at it, money will not be a deciding factor in Barta’s decision.  Iowa’s athletic department has consistently been in the black somewhere in the ballpark of $10M per year.  The money is there to buyout Lickliter’s contract, to buyout a current coach’s contract, and to offer said coach a gob of money.  The money is also there to allow the attendance to continue to dwindle, ticket sales to plummet, and fan interest to decrease.  I’m not sure the program loses that many more fans should Lickliter be retained, the folks that pay attention to Iowa right now are already the die-hard fans.  So no matter how you look at it, money is not a factor in what goes down in Iowa City.

One person is not bigger than the program; that goes for player, coach, booster, parent, former player, you name it.  However, one person is going to have to be the guy to make the ultimate decision.  It’s going to come down to Gary Barta deciding what he thinks is best for his coach, for the players, for the University of Iowa, for his job, but more importantly, for the future of the program.  The ball is in Barta’s hands, will he pass or take the shot?

But this team has fought, and they’ve competed hard all year, and I’ve always been proud of them for that. It doesn’t mean it’s always looked real good. The last two games on the road people were very critical, but that’s what happens sometimes. This team is trying to become a good team, and I’m proud of them for the effort today.

Cully played beyond his years today, I thought, and that’s a real good thing. I think he enjoyed it. I told him coming in here, he’s going to love Conseco, and I think he must. Jarryd has been a very good leader for us. We’re obviously going to have to shoot better than 5-for-20 from the three to be able to beat them. But it was it just wasn’t to be today.

But it’s a really good group.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student athletes?

Q. Cully, you seemed to be more inclined to really push the ball and be offensive minded today. Was that by design or by nature, or just because you like Conseco Fieldhouse?

CULLY PAYNE: Coach kind of joked about it coming here, he’s like, you’re going to play great at Conseco Fieldhouse. I’m like, what’s so great about this place. I love it, but it’s great. That was kind of our game plan today, push the ball a little bit more. We got a lot of transition stuff, which was good for us, so that was kind of the game plan.

Q. Jarryd or Cully, can you talk about switching to a zone defense? What was that like for you?

JARRYD COLE: You know, in practice this week we were trying to trying to mix things up a little bit. You know, in Big Ten play, everybody knows what you’re going to do basically. You scout all year for each other, and most likely are going to play each other twice. You get into a tournament it’s nice to mix things up, give people a different look, and we did, and it ended up being successful for us, but not successful enough.

CULLY PAYNE: Like coach kind of said in practice, the zone will throw them off a little bit and take a little time off of the shot clock in the backcourt, and I think the zone was good for us today.

Q. Either player, I’ve heard speculation about your coach’s future. Have you guys heard anything of that, and has it affected the team at all?

JARRYD COLE: Personally, no, I’ve never heard anything. I don’t know if you’re talking about us as players leaving or him going anywhere. I’ve never heard anything. Whatever you hear, I don’t know, it’s news to me, I guess, too.

CULLY PAYNE: I think like Jarryd said, we haven’t heard a lot about it, but I know that I came here to play for coach, and our staff, and we’ve got four great guys coming in. With the freshman class I know me, Eric and Brennan, that’s coach’s first class he recruited. We’ve got a great, true foundation and we’re excited for coach, so we’re kind of by his side the whole way. I can speak for us freshman class and the whole team that coach is our guy.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach Lickliter?

Q. Coach, three seasons ago, take me through this: If I had sat there and told you that by this point almost the entire team would have transferred out, most of them would have been guys that could start and Iowa basketball would be in the state it’s in now, would you have said I’m crazy or would you have said that’s part of the plan to begin with in the sense that you have freshmen coming in that are your guys?

COACH LICKLITER: I’m not sure I follow the question.

Q. The question is, this is the worst Iowa basketball I’ve seen in probably 35 years as far as the amount of wins. What I’m asking you is because of the style of play that you had at Butler, you knew you’d have to come in and shape this over the course of time. Has that went like you thought it would or is this beyond what you thought it would be as far as a bad season?

COACH LICKLITER: Well, I didn’t anticipate you don’t look and project wins and losses, you prepare daily and try to put the best players out. I think the hardest thing coming in here has been that the recruits that we’ve been that we have targeted, that we feel like are going to be able to compete have got to go through some tough times. We’re not recruiting All-Big Ten players to Iowa their freshman year. If we do, great, if we can find them.

But realistically what we’ve had to do is recruit players that will develop into that, and that has been hard for players to go through the frustration, the grind, the hard work. So we’ve had to continue to fight through some of that.

Of the players that have left, I had recruited one of them to-date if I’m not mistaken. It’s not if you look back, players have left the University of Iowa before I came. If you look at Butler, I had very few players leave. I had a few. I didn’t have a plan for as a matter of fact, I take it very seriously your commitment to student athletes. I want them to progress and graduate, and that’s been my commitment to them.

I think that because student athletes can leave, there’s probably some of you sitting out here right now that if you could leave your job and go to another job that was very similar without any repercussions, you might do it. And there might be some days you’d do it more readily than others. But that’s the state we’re in right now, and so we’ve had to do a little fighting through that.

We do have a foundation. I don’t know what’s going to happen. People have to make those decisions. But we’ve invested; players have gotten better, and this team is better than the first two teams that won more games.

Q. There has been a lot of speculation today about your future, and it’s unavoidable. Are you confident you’re going to be the coach of this team next year?

COACH LICKLITER: You know, my future is that I’m healthy, I have a great family. I love what I do. I’ve done it well, and that’s not in my hands.

Q. Along those same lines, have you met with Gary Barta to discuss whether or not you’re going to be the coach?

COACH LICKLITER: No, I haven’t, no. I’m trying to prepare for the Big Ten tournament and give my undivided attention to this team.

Q. Either specifically with you or for any coach, is three years a reasonable amount of time to judge the progress or not?

COACH LICKLITER: I think it depends on what you go into and the amount of support that you have and that sort of thing. You can judge some coaches as far as wins and losses immediately depending on the situation that they go into.

Q. You mentioned how much this team has improved throughout the course of the season. What can you say about all the freshmen that contributed and played today, where they were at the beginning of the season, where they are now, guys like Cully, who had a huge game.

COACH LICKLITER: Yeah, he shows a lot of toughness, and that’s handled the grind pretty well. Now they have a whole year of Big Ten experience. It’s a Big Ten that I’ve talked to a lot of time, media personality a couple days ago and said he cannot remember now, he’s been at it a while. He can’t remember the Big Ten being this good, and we played 18 games this year. They’ve had a little bit more of a grind than past teams possibly. I think they’ve held up pretty well. They’re pretty beat up emotionally, they’re pretty beat up physically. You saw today they don’t have any quit of them. They’re going to be successful these guys. I think anyway, I think they’ve got the right approach.

Q. How long is this going to go on? I assume you’d like to know whether you’re going to be the coach or not. It’s kind of a tough situation.

COACH LICKLITER: Do you think that would have to do with me? I mean, it’s not you’re asking me to answer on speculation. I don’t have any. I haven’t been told I’m not, so until I’m told I’m not, I’ve got to I am.

Q. A month ago, Gary said without hesitation that you will be back. Is he not saying that now to you?

COACH LICKLITER: He doesn’t say we don’t talk about that. We just talk about what the task at hand, and I really don’t we haven’t met on anything of that.

THE MODERATOR: Coach, thank you.

Interviews with Devan Bawinkel, Matt Gatens, and Aaron Fuller. 

Devan Bawinkel talks Senior Day
Lickliter on Devan: “He’s been a pleasure and just a real asset to the program. He’s going to represent this program in a positive way forever. It’s good to be able to remember his last day in Carver with a win.”

Matt Gatens talks about the rest of the season as well as scoring more points than his dad.
Lickliter on Matt: “I thought Matt Gatens was very active.  He’s got toughness about him”

Aaron Fuller on Iowa bouncing back to win at home.
Crean on Fuller: “Fuller is so much better than last year.  We played Fuller in a switch-and-deny because we were as concerned about his three-point shooting as anything else he did.  Fuller has made himself an upper-level Big Ten player.”

Iowa Head Basketball Coach Todd Lickliter talks with the media after the Hawkeyes defeated the Indiana Hoosiers

Coach Lickliter

Aaron Fuller

Cully Payne

Eric May

Matt Gatens led the way with 20 points as four Hawkeyes scored in double figures. Gatens would also record a team high eight assists, half of their total of 16, to just two turnovers. He added five rebounds as well to complete an amazing floor game.

Freshman Eric May continued to add to his impressive season, scoring 18 points and grabbing a team best eight rebounds. May was 7 of 11 from the floor.

Jarryd Cole added 19 points and five rebounds on 8 of 10 shooting, while Aaron Fuller scored 12 in 25 minutes.

Iowa was 17 of 24 from the foul line while SCS attempted just nine free throws, making seven.

Brennan Cougill started the game and scored five points in just 12 minutes of action, and he did not have any personal fouls.

Iowa improved to 5-7 with the win.

Here are some additional game stories and content items related to Iowa’s win:

Cume Stats Thru SCS
Iowa vs SCS Box Score
Door Appears Open For Tucker Return
DMR Game Story

Has sophomore guard, Anthony Tucker, played his final game as a member of the Iowa Hawkeyes men’s basketball team?  Who’s to blame for what has happened?  Has Todd Lickliter’s rocky tenure at Iowa started its final descent to freefall?

Iowa City Police officers arrested Tucker, 20, at 2:05 a.m. at 100 Hawk Ridge Drive after a dispute with a taxi cabdriver. According to the police complaint, Tucker accused the cabdriver of taking his cell phone and allegedly was beating on the side of the cab. The cabdriver locked his car doors and called police.
The police report described Tucker with bloodshot, watery eyes, slurred speech and a strong smell of alcohol. Tucker swayed when he spoke and “had trouble forming logical, understandable sentences and repeated himself frequently.” Tucker was taken to the Johnson County Jail and was released around 10:30 a.m. Sunday after posting a $325 bond. He pleaded not guilty.

Shortly after the news about Tucker’s arrest was released, the Hawkeye Fan Interweb Investigation Unit (TMZ’s got nuthin’ on them) scoured the Internet for “inside information” on what went down and what was to transpire from these events.  Tucker’s Facebook status read: “Im Outta Here” (a post that has since been removed).  Armed with that information, fans starting making assumptions that such an update meant Tucker had left the program, others (myself included) thought perhaps Anthony wrote that after getting out the clink.  Hours later, another update (GASP!!!), “Im home” was posted, now fans REALLY knew what was happening, right?  Look, I use Facebook, it’s a great tool to communicate between friends and family, but to base decisions on cryptic status updates of a college basketball player is a bit over the top, in my humble opinion.

Let’s look at the options…

• Maybe it’s the coaching staff.  They’re the guys that recruited Tucker.  They’re the guys that need to be watching their players at all times.  So it’s the staff’s fault, isn’t it?  Nope.
• Maybe it’s Tucker’s teammates.  I mean, according to Lickliter’s system, players hold each other accountable.  So it’s on those guys, right?  Wrong.
• Maybe it’s Gary Barta.  He’s the guy that hired Todd Lickliter; he’s the guy that runs the show.  Perhaps it’s Gary Barta’s fault this happened?  Um, no.
• Maybe it’s the alcohol assessors/counselors that Tucker saw after his first incident.  If they did their job correctly, there’s no way this would have happened, yeah?  Wrong again.
• Maybe it’s the bars and places that sell alcohol.  They’ve got to be the ones to take the blame.  If they didn’t provide the alcohol for Tucker, then this wouldn’t have happened, right?  Negative.
• Maybe it’s the breweries’ fault.  If those companies hadn’t made a business that combined barley and hops to provide people with an intoxicating beverage, surely this would have been avoided.  Nah.
• Well, then, it’s society’s fault.  With all the violent video games, mind-warping movies, and cah-razy music, it’s no wonder something like this happened.  It’s just the world we live in.  Society, it’s YOUR fault, isn’t it?  Lord no.

If not any of those people, who’s to blame?  It’s simple.

The blame lies solely on the shoulders of Anthony Tucker.  It’s all about personal accountability. Part of Tuck’s tatoo he had inked on his shoulder says, “My mistakes do not define my character.”  While I can agree with that, what does define you is what you learn from those mistakes.  Mistakes happen to people all the time.  In fact, most successes happen on the heels of multiple mistakes.  You can scour the Internet for quotes on how mistakes make you a better person, how mistakes are necessary for progress, etc…  However, the greatest mistake someone can make is the one where they learned nothing from it.  That’s the case for Anthony.  He was given a second chance to have the privilege to play basketball for the University of Iowa mens basketball team, and get a free education to boot.

One line stands out at me:  “Stay with it even when things are tough because in the end it will work itself out or you will have the self-satisfaction that you stuck to your values.”  I believe this is something that can be applied to Barta’s decision in regards to Lickliter, Lickliter’s decision in regards to Tucker, and Tucker’s decisions from here on out.  Read into that how you will.

While the events surrounding Anthony Tucker aren’t on the same level as those that occurred back in 2002, Todd Lickliter’s decision could create a rift between the fan base a la Alford/Pierce.  There remains a part of the Hawkeye fan base that would prefer to see Tucker shown the door, yet there are others who believe that what occurred does not merit dismissal.  One side says he’s had enough chances, the other side says it’s no big deal because everyone drinks in college  And while it is ultimately up to Lickliter and the Iowa Athletic Department, the decision handed down will not likely be accepted by all who call themselves Iowa fans.

To make matters worse, there is a faction of the fan base that has been calling for Lickliter’s head even before this situation came up.  Now, with this decision lingering for Todd, there is more fuel for the fire to give him the boot.  Personally, I think it’s still premature to look at removing Todd Lickliter from his current position.  He should and will likely get at least until the end of next year to see if he can improve things around Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

I think it’s far too early be calling for Coach Lickliter’s resignation, and an event such as this should not induce a call for his termination.  However, he needs to start showing progress.  This includes progress with his interpersonal relationships with his players and increasing player retention, progress in the area of recruitment, and more importantly, progress in the win column.

According to Lickliter’s system – “Toughness is doing what is right.”  Well, Coach Lickliter and Gary Barta are going to have to decide what is right in this situation.  No matter what decision is made, there will be someone unhappy with it.

It’s never been a secret that I have been pro-Tucker since the day he verballed to Iowa.  Watching him in high school, I had never seen a prep athlete shoot the ball so effortlessly, with such perfect form.  Anthony had the greatest looking shot I had ever witnessed from a prep athlete, and his impressive range and basketball IQ were icing on the cake.  I just hate to see talent like that wasted.

When looking at recruits, here’s what Lickliter’s principles are based around:  “We are in the people business, recruit good people (character).”  Looking at that, you would have to assume the staff felt there were no character issues with Tucker’s recruitment, either.

Let’s face it, I wrote an article on how I thought he would be back and better than ever, having learned from his mistakes.  He didn’t learn from the last one, will he have a chance to learn from his second one?  That’s to be determined.

If Lickliter decides to give Anthony Tucker his third and final chance with the team (the University mandates dismissal after a third alcohol-related infraction), I have no problem with it.  If Anthony Tucker has been asked to leave the University of Iowa for good, I cannot fault the staff for that decision either.  Whatever is handed down, it won’t be an easy one for Coach Lickliter.

I have to wonder, though, if Todd thinks back to the day when his son, John, looked at him and said, “Dad, it’s Iowa.”

Coach Lickliter was released from University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics earlier Tuesday.

“I wish I were there, it’s good to have the chance to talk to Hawkeye fans everywhere.

First of all, John Streif and our medical staff is terrific. I’m so appreciative. They made sure I was evaluated Friday at the neurology clinic, they ended up keeping me in the hospital. Dr. Recober, was so through, I don’t know that you could be in a better place than the University Hospitals.

Dr Adams, Dr. Ludwig, who is a neurovascular radiologist, Dr. Ellison, and their teams, were outstanding. I had to make a decision Friday night and Saturday morning, to go ahead with the procedure, which ended up being stenting the carotid artery. Everyone I talked to back home, long time friends in Indianapolis in the medical field, said without question it was something I needed to do.

I’m appreciative and thankful for the care. I feel like I am on the mend, and I’m extremely thankful for the prayers. I’m a firm believer in that, and I know there were a lot of prayers. It means a great deal to me and my family.

I was having headaches when we were in Kansas City. It turned out to be the beginning of a tear in carotid artery. I’m thankful for the thoroughness of the medical staff, very thankful for that. They ran all the scans, they made sure of the diagnosis, then made a decision on what to do. It was not an easy decision, it was very stressful. I’m thankful, because it’s something that I might have dismissed. Our medical staff would not let that happen, they made sure I got to the right people.

Joez has been terrific, and my three sons have been with me the whole time. Joez is a pharmacist, she understands the medical field, I’m lucky.

The doctors have said I probably need this week to try to recover, it’s been pretty stressful. I love the game, and I’m thankful for the opportunity to coach basketball and to be the head coach at Iowa. But at the same time, your health has to take precedent over everything. I hope everyone will pay attention to the way they feel and follow up. I had bad headaches and a few other symptoms. The physicians were well in tune. When I gave them the symptoms, they were great in following up.

I respect our fans and appreciate them. Most everyone who knows me knows I’m not going to miss basketball unless it is an emergency, and that was the case. It was something where I had to make a decision on to get better. We went with what the medical team told us, and they wanted to do it right away.”

On team and Assistant Coaches:

“I’m proud of my assistants and our team. I have an incredible staff, a great group of guys on this team. They are just a pleasure to coach. They must have played really well Saturday; we’ll have to play well tonight against a great team in Northern Iowa.”

Tell the team to play with the spirit they have been playing with, do the things they are capable of doing. Don’t make it tougher than it is. You can’t be casual, but you can’t be uptight either.

Thanks for letting me come on and tell my story.”

Anthony Tucker hit the 20-point plateau for the second straight game, getting an even 20 on 6-11 shooting from beyond the arc. Eric May scored 14 points and pulled down 11 rebounds, the first double-double of his career in his first start of his career. Brennan Cougill played just 14 minutes as he has been under the weather as of late. May also had three assists and three blocked shots.

Matt Gatens scored 12 points and four assists, and point guard Cully Payne also had four assists and eight points. Iowa dished out 21 assists but also had 21 turnovers, yet they still won the game by 29 points. PVAM also had 21 assists. Devan Balwinkel added 11 points and attempted the first free throws of his career; he made them both.

Iowa’s next three games are against in state rivals UNI, Iowa State and Drake. Iowa improved to 3-5 with the win on Saturday.

Iowa Head Team Physician Brian Wolf

On Head Coach Todd Lickliter’s absence from the game:

“Coach Lickliter was in the hospital yesterday for some testing and he has been in the hospital since yesterday and did have a procedure done this morning. Everything went extremely well, he’s doing extremely well. He will be in the hospital for a little bit over the next day or two. He should be able to give you more details regarding the situation over the next couple of days. We’ve been talking with his family and he’s doing really well, but that was the reason for his absence here today. I think we’re going to avoid too many details regarding the procedure, and we’ll leave it to Coach Lickliter to provide those details in the next few days per his wishes and his family’s wishes.”

Coach Chad Walthall

Note: Eric May’s first career start and double-double (14 points, 11 rebounds)

Opening Statement:

“It’s really tough when your leader’s gone. I was really proud of the way they pulled together. All our guys just did a really good job of getting themselves ready to play. The plan was in place, and sometimes when you have a plan in place you can just rely on the players to go execute and that’s what they did. I’m really proud of the players. They did a wonderful job, and we are going to appreciate the win for a little while, but certainly look forward to the UNI game on Tuesday.”

On Coach Lickliter being absent:

“We had a pretty good feeling last night when we talked that that might be the case. I don’t know when he will be back. I’m not the medical doctor. I don’t know exactly all the details. I do know that he is doing well, and obviously we’re all very thankful. The players know he’s doing well. Obviously he’s done a really wonderful job because you don’t have a team operate like that unless you have a good plan and a good system in place, and obviously we did that tonight. I think it’s natural (to want to win for Coach Lickliter) any time your leader is gone. They obviously trust him a great deal and trust what we do. I think it was just their competitiveness saying ‘Okay our leader is gone; let’s get this done for him.’ I think it’s a natural state of mind and I think our guys did a great job of that.”

On Eric May:

“He is learning every day, and it’s amazing during the course of the game you see some of these first year guys make a great play and another great play and then you say ‘Okay, now we have a couple great plays, what’s going to happen?’ It’s just the learning process. He’s a tough kid and he doesn’t let mistakes get to him. He moves on to the next play. He obviously brings a physical presence, and he shot the ball well today, and I thought he defended well. I think in the first half when they shot 20%, I thought we were doing really great defensively. Guys were helping and stunting in the gap. They’re a team that when they’re feeling right, they can hit some shots that are pretty incredible. It was important that we kept them in front of us, made them shoot over the top, and obviously in the first half I thought we did a really great job of one-and-done. In the second half they started getting some rebounds, but I thought we really set the stage in the first half with our rebounding and as far as our blocking shots and that sort of thing.”

Prairie View A&M Head Coach Byron Rimm :

“It was a downer for us today. We were missing two starters today. Chris Jones is still out with an ankle injury and our starting shooting guard is having a child today so he left the team to be with his fiancé. We were kind of down, and we also had some bad news in that one of our player’s parents died yesterday, so it was one of those days where you try to find positives to make kids play hard but it was kind of a downer. Iowa played a great basketball game today, they knocked down some shots. One thing we were talking about coming in was we didn’t think they shot the ball really well on film, but they proved me wrong today. We gave them some open shots and confidence early, but they did play a lot better than we saw on tape, and we played a lot worse than they probably saw on tape.

Anthony Tucker had a great game. When they were down we were working for a comeback, big Tucker knocked down a lot of key jumpers and our guys didn’t close out hard enough and fast enough. One thing we always focus on is the drive and the penetrating kick, but we didn’t get there fast enough. We have a lot of work ahead of us if we want to be a great basketball team.”

On not getting off to a fast start like previous road games

“We’re a lot better basketball team than we showed today. There was a lot of other stuff going on, but there’s still no excuse. We didn’t come out to play. I always tell our guys you want to leave all your bad days and your sicknesses off the floor when you come to play, but like I said, today was a down day when it came to shooting around, having an early game, and traveling a lot.”

Jon’s Take: While this is great, and the Iowa coaching staff can certainly point to this on the recruiting trails, it does generate cause for pause.

Top 10? All Time? Even before the debacle that was the Steve Alford era, I don’t know that Iowa would have been worthy of a Top 10 of all time ranking.

They had been very consistent with regards to the NCAA tournament before Alford arrived, and I definitely think you could have argued Top 30 of all time. That’s pretty darn solid, too.

On Sagarin’s list, Iowa is rated ahead of Michigan State (15th), Michigan (13th) and Louisville (11th). It’s elite company, as those teams have won national titles. Iowa doesn’t have one yet.

But hey, I don’t want to sit here and throw too many stones…its good to see Iowa basketball in a positive light.

One more that I cannot resist from this list: Illinois is #6, ahead of Duke at #7. In my opinion, and in my lifetime, Illinois might be #5 on the list of what I feel the best Big Ten program have been.

By the way: Todd Lickliter said in Des Moines on 10/6 that this year’s Iowa team is going to prove the preseason publications and predictions wrong…I hope he is right!