Ben Brust Leaving Iowa Too, Because Hey Why Not

“hey that guy that liked how you played basketball and wanted you to come to Iowa before I got the job is a moron”

I was very upbeat about this hire, but if your sources are correct, I already have some serious doubts.

But hey, maybe the guy is just some mad scientist and knows exactly what he is doing. I mean, this program really can’t get any worse

It was a bit early for me on a Friday, the weekend had arrived with some great weather and so I did what most would do in that situation: Got drunk as fuck.

Now, I’m sitting on the can this morning paying for my transgressions. I’m trying to figure out if all what occured after I left the office truly happened. My head hurts, my vision can’t catch up to the movement of my eyes and typing on a Droid keypad is proving nearly impossible.

I guess what I’m trying to say is “fuck hangovers” and “son of a bitch, transfers and release of intents suck.”

 I think Van Coleman has a lot to do with the hype this class is/was getting. He’s a state of Iowa homer and he is pretty much the godfather of “caring is creepy” and carries a lot of weight within recruiting circles. If he says he likes someone then chances are other recruiting services are going to up their rating on a particular kid. As for McCaffery, I gotta believe he is just being honest with these kids, which is good I suppose. Better to have them leave now than after their freshman or sophomore year.

my kids somehow allowed me to sleep in and I’m thinking “hey, this is going to be a good day”. Now I’m reading this story roughly five minutes after reading four different stories on the NY Times and Chicago Tribune about how the greatest generation of Polish political minds was just wiped out in a plane crash and that an entire nation is now in despair. Granted, when juxtaposed with the crash, I don’t feel as bad about the transfers as I normally might, but still…this morning is a fucking downer.

always feels painful. As long as the program doesn’t “bleed out” we’ll be just fine.

Zach McCabe and Devyn Marble sound like they still want to come here. So not everyone is bailing out.

He was clearly the only piece holding this team and recruiting class together.

To thinking that approaching 15 wins in the next couple of years should be considered an achievement.

And I’ll say it again.

This looks to me like a full-blown, Kremlin-style housecleaning. And I, for one, don’t mind a bit. The rest of you can wail and gnash your teeth all you want off of losing these players from a 10-22 team who mailed in the last two weeks of the season. Not me. You guys can wail and gnash your teeth all you want about these recruits we’re losing who barely had any other big program offers. Not me.

And don’t mistake this for bashing those players – given the complete trainwreck they just went through, and having played for a coach who according to recent accounts was a distant, cold, control freak – I can understand why they want nothing to do with Iowa basketball. They probably have Sports Traumatic Sports Disorder.

But I really have a hard time thinking a guy with an Ivy league degree and experience with the Wharton School of economics – not to mention two-decades plus working in college basketball – didn’t know EXACTLY what he was doing when he decided to take the approach he did. For all we know, he’s a freaking genius by using his badmouthing Lick has a way to clear out players he didn’t want without making him look like the asshole new coach who comes in and yanks scholarships.

Until I see actual, on-court, during-season evidence of McCafferey’s ineptitude, I’m going to go ahead and assume he is pulling the strings he wants to.

of the “successful meeting” between MC, Fran and the Fullers was the decision it would be best for Fuller to leave? Fran seems to have a good grasp on his style of play as evidenced by him being successful at several places. Maybe Fuller wasn’t going to excel in his system and is going to do better somewhere else.

Fuller was our best player last year and will be missed but maybe this is a long term good thing.

Some smell shit, I get just a hint of roses.

Just makes me want it to be September right now. Enough nancyball.

and I have been out of comunication range so this might be restating some views…

is if ANY of these guys end up at mid-majors or “lesser” schools, then this was never about them achieving at that highest level and playing big time basketball. It is about these guy’s interests. And they are entitled to protect their interests and do what they feel will make them happiest. But if they go to lesser schools then they just wanted attention and not competition. So see ya. If they Tyler Smith and go to a better program, that is when you look at Fran and say “Fran!” but I don’t see that happening with any of them. Larson might surprise and go to Kansas State or something, but Ben Brust had a broken back, he was damaged goods and Iowa was the only big time program that offered to him I think I read. Fuller seemed to just be tired. Lick treated him like shit in my opinion and maybe Fran told him he would have to compete and he said, fuck that. So I can live with him going to Northern Arizona or wherever. Maybe I’m wrong but the bigger issue at play here is…

I noticed that Fran had no scholarships to offer, really, for two years. I was wondering how he felt about that. He was going to have to make this thing go with Lick’s dudes. Which he probably wasn’t thrilled with…Unless I am mistaken, there was the Tucker scholly and then after next year there was the Cole scholly. That is all he had to play with. Pretty hard to get YOUR program going with HIS guys. I was never Lady Gaga over this incoming class to begin with. It was not that highly regarded, outside of Coleman. But that was based mainly on the lack of recruiting competition for them. I just was concerned that few elite teams even looked at these guys. That doesn’t mean they are not great players waiting to happen, just not sure deals.

As for Fran trashing Lickliter…I have zero problem with that. The guy is very confident. He is his own man and frankly, he made it clear in his news conference that he was essentially offended at the thought of Lickliter and him in a side-by-side comparison. And let’s face it, Lickliter was a total disaster. So what is he supposed to say to Fuller and his dad? He was hired to be a different guy.

I would not be surprised to find him getting a nice four player class next year…Tucker, Brust, Larson and Fuller schollys to play with now, and maybe there is another player out there yet. I would also bet he isn’t losing sleep on these losses. It is easier to change culture with fewer guys and there can now be a survior’s mentality on the team.

Or is someone yanking my crank?

Welcome to my nightmare.