What if those green things start moving north toward Tuscaloosa?

Wait…I swore I just watched something about little green men.

I am fully ready for the Chris Collins era to start at Iowa.

“…and this team is better than the first two teams that won more games.”

2009-2010 Stats
11th in conference in PPG
10th in conference in rebounds
10th in conference in assists
10th in conference in turnovers/game
11th in conference in assist/turnover ratio
11th in conference in steals
10th in conference in blocks
3rd in conference in fouls per game (EAT A DICK HIGHTOWER WE’RE DISIPLINED)
tied for last in conference FG%
8th in conference in FT% (only .002 away from 11th place)
10th in conference in 3P%
11th in conference in points per shot

I know Lickliter is fighting for his job and the respect of the fans so he’ll say just about anything to show what an awesome tremendous job he’s done so far, but we know what we saw and the stats show we sucked big fucking dick this year. But yeah, good luck staving off Bloodpunch.

Then by all means, Larry Eustachy is your man.

We’d all need to stock up on black mock turtlenecks, but that’s doable.

And we can think of about 2 million things that $2M of athletics money can be spent on.

So, you’re saying Lick is going to stop at Woody’s before he gets on the plane to leave town?

Hlas and a now-beardless Morehouse went on KCRG to talk about the firestorm…

Wow. This season was so bad, that it caused a firestorm that burned off Morehouse’s beard? Should we call the forest service and get one of those helicopters to drop powder on the fire?

Evan Turner is disgusting. Talk about crushing LOLverine Nation’s dreams in one swift shot.

I remember when we were going to fire Monson. Then he got a ringing endorsement from the AD. Then he quit 7 games into the next season. It’s better when it’s not you, like football in the groin.

While convoluted, is actually pretty damning of Lickliter. Granted I don’t follow Iowa basketball that closely (I’ve got Georgetown’s perennial failure to live up to expectations to cause me enough angst), but it’s clear things have gotten bad in Iowa City. It would be worth keeping Lick around if this team were on the verge of something (a run to the NIT?) next season and the rebuilding process were underway. Instead, we find ourselves, at the end of three seasons, counting on current freshmen (sophmores-to-be) and incoming freshmen to begin the rebuilding process. That’s pretty damning. That means the team is 2 years, minimum, from being consistently competitive. I don’t want Iowa to be the type of place where coaches don’t get a chance to succeed, but it’s looking increasingly like Lick isn’t EVER going to succeed. After three seasons we’re not at the end of the beginning, we’re still at the start of the beginning. And that should be unacceptable to anyone.

Is it fair to assume the majority of people agree that Kelly’s transfer had very little to with Lickliter or the struggles of Iowa program?
If your answer is yes, would you also agree that had Kelly been on this team, this season would have been markedly different? If you think about it Lil’ John wouldn’t have seen the floor, Cully could have been used situationally, and there would have been less pressure on Gatens to carry the team. I am not saying they would have qualified for the NCAA (or maybe the NIT). Still, I honestly believe there would have been marked improvement over last year.
If that improvement had occurred, no way are we having this discussion today. I am not one to generally place that much on one event, but I think there is some justification here. Please tell me why I am wrong.

It’s been lost in the discussion of his impending termination (after today, I am 88% sure he’s gone) is one statement in that press conference answer that should be Lickliter’s epitaph:

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.

It’s thinking like this that got Tom Davis fired in the first place, and it’s the most damning indictment of the “one more year” argument. By Lick’s own admission, his incoming freshmen — as touted as they are — aren’t game-changers. Almost certainly this team would improve next year, but not nearly enough to save his job. So with the knowledge that the core guys (save possibly for Payne) will stay regardless, let’s get it over with.

And Todd Lickliter will have Iowa in the NCAA’s. Or we send him packing, and he’ll do that at the next school

It’s like people don’t even realize he’s had to start over twice due to Alford’s recruits bailing on the Hawkeyes.

Man, I just don’t even care anymore. I mean, I care, but I’ve been at varying levels of ambivalence with Iowa BB for so long, I just…. meh. Whatever.

I’ve been a pretty solid Lickliter supporter thus far, but after the past couple weeks that support has waned almost entirely. Mostly though, I’m just ambivalent. If he gets another year…. ok. If he’s gone…. ok. And if he’s gone and we snag somebody really exciting (I think the B10 fraternity of head coaches could use another Bruce, no?), then great – great. My interest will be re-piqued.

But as far as the whole Lick situation goes and whether or not we keep him or can him…. meh. Whatever. It’s entirely out of my hands and I can see pros & cons to both sides, and either way Iowa hoopyball is like eating room temperature chicken noodle soup (from concentrate) for dinner every night – sometimes awful, usually utterly forgettable, and every once in a while pretty good but really it’s mostly just depressingly meh and I’d really rather be doing homeowrk instead or watching something on the Science Channel or Travel Channel or whatever and oh hey nice job with the run-on sentence there, Bucket.

Anyway, whatever. It’s an interesting little drama we’ve got going on but ultimately meaningless and dispassionate.

{shrug}

C’est la vie.