There had long been worry that the Lickliter firing, like most coaching regime changes, would precipitate defections from the program. Most of that worry centered on Aaron Fuller, and Fuller has yet to reaffirm fealty to Iowa. What we did not expect, however, was losing a committed recruit--especially the jewel of the class. But alas, here we are and here we go:
Cody Larson, one of four players to have signed letters of intent with Iowa's basketball team last fall, has asked for and been granted a release, the University of Iowa athletic department confirmed today.
Iowa coach Fran McCaffery visited Larson on Thursday. Larson told McCaffery today that he wanted to be released and open up the recruiting process.
Not good. Not something worth killing McCaffery over, either; there were plenty of defections to hold against Lickliter, but nobody ever resented him for Dairese Gary's decision to follow [C. F. REDACTED] to New Mexico. It happens.
If you want good news, at the very least, initial reports on Fuller are promising. According to Tom Kakert (premium material, sorry), McCaffery flew to Arizona to meet with Fuller's father, and the meeting reportedly went very well. So there's that. Losing Larson, though, still sucks; the 6'8" forward was likely to get major minutes this season, and provide desperately needed depth in the frontcourt.
Doubtless, Larson's hometown paper, the Sioux City Journal, will lay the blame for this departure on the inhumane, villainous, borderline treasonous treatment of Mr. Basketball by the whole entire Internet.