It's Not Plagiarism If You Link To It is BHGP's regular news roundup. Send all tips to any of the email addresses at the bottom of the page. But preferably not all of them at once. We usually end up laughing at people who do that.
McNutt injured: OMG THE SKY IZ FALLING OH NOES. We kind of already knew this was the case after seeing Marvin McNutt show up in the front row of a recent Iowa hoops game with a giant wrap on his hand, but Mas Casa provides confirmation anyway:
Iowa WR Marvin McNutt had surgery on a thumb and shoulder recently. He probably wouldn’t have done much this spring anyway, being a decorated senior receiver who’s put up numbers the last two years, but this clinches it. He is expected to be ready for fall camp.
On the bright side, it's not expected to be a serious or lingering injury and he should be fine for summer practice and beyond. It's unfortunate that he won't be able to work on his chemistry with the new quarterback(s) during the spring, but he should have plenty of time to do that during the summer. His absence during the spring also means more reps for the other receivers, which is important, given the production drop-off Iowa has at that position after McNutt.
McNutt's also not the only player who's going to be missing time this spring due to injury: Shane DiBona and Tanner Miller are both out after shoulder surgeries. Considering they were two guys expected to contend for starting spots on the defense, their absences hurt a little more -- although they also provide more opportunities for other guys to strut their stuff.
Caring is creepy likes high school gyms. As we watch another season of Iowa basketball (mercifully) draw to a close, it's pretty obvious what this team needs more than anything is more dudes, both in terms of general depth (Iowa really has no depth at point guard or among the bigs) and in terms of skill. Luckily, Fran is proving to be nothing if not a tireless recruiter: he's turning over every stone he can find to hunt down prospects -- and he's getting a pretty positive response, even with with Iowa's miserable 10-18 record. Cezar Guerrero, a highly-touted PG recruit (4* Rivals / 3* Scout / 3* ESPN) from Bellflower, CA who's drawing interest from Oklahoma State, West Virginia, and Kansas, is scheduled to visit next weekend and Iowa's also drawing some interest from Eli Carter (3* Rivals / 3* Scout / 2* ESPN), who also lists offers from Oklahoma and UCLA. Point guard is a pretty big need and either Guerrero or Carter would be a pretty excellent get to satisfy that need.
Meanwhile, creepmaster extraordinaire Van Coleman says Iowa's also looking at Anthony Collins, a well-regarded guard in Texas, and Andrej Pajovic, a productive point guard from Montenegro by way of a Massachusetts prep school. There isn't quite as much news on the big men Iowa's after, but Eric Katenda (3* Rivals / 3* Scout / 4* ESPN) and Gabe Olaseni (no rankings) are apparently two of the names still considering Iowa. And in news about guys who are committed, Aaron White continued his big senior season by pouring in 36 points in a 86-79 win over Garfield Heights, the top team in Ohio. Considering how badly Iowa needs additional scoring options, it's pretty exciting to see White lighting it up like this, especially against quality competition.
Well, at least one of our basketball teams can shoot well. If the rules of NBA Jam applied to real basketball, Jamie Printy and Kachine Alexander would have spent most of Sunday's 93-79 win over Indiana sprinting around the court while engulfed in flames -- Printy poured in 28 points on 8/11 shooting and Alexander had 27 points and 10 rebounds. Although maybe we should just say that the whole team was on fire -- and that they have been for a while: the win was Iowa's fifth straight and clinched them the 4-seed and a first round bye in the Big Ten Tournament this weekend. Iowa went through a bad spell earlier in the season, but they appear to be playing their best ball right now -- and there's no better time for them to be peaking. Up next is a third tussle with Ohio State and the ever-volatile Samantha Prahalis; Iowa and OSU split the two regular season meetings.
This combine gets terrible gas mileage. The NFL's annual meat market for incoming prospects is half-finished and so far it's pretty much status quo for the Iowa guys that attended. No one's dramatically improved their stock, but no one's seriously harmed their stock, either -- although Allen Reisner didn't do himself any favors with his 40 time (4.9) or bench press (14 reps, lowest of the tight ends). Ricky Stanzi also remains a divisive figure: he ran a glacial 40 (4.9) and was erratic throwing the ball in the eyes of some; that said, he also drew praise for his passing from some of the talking heads on the NFL Network. Personally, I think he was around a 4th round pick when he went to Indianapolis -- and he's still probably around a 4th round pick now. The guys with the most to gain (or lose) might be going today -- strong performances in the workouts could answer some concerns about Adrian Clayborn and firm up his first round grade and also improve Christian Ballard's resume and vindicate some of the chatter about him sneaking into the late first round. For more info, you can always look at SEG's NFL combine thread or check out Morehouse's coverage; he was on-site all weekend.
WELL-EXECUTED BOUNCE PASSEZ
* Adam Robinson's mother wrote into The Des Moines Register to defend her son after an editorial earlier in the week; if nothing else it provides a little more food for thought on post-concussion treatment -- and is certainly more interesting than the banal back-and-forths that go on in the My Two cents feature.
* What's former Iowa kicker Kyle Schlicher doing now? Training Navy SEALS, of course.
* A week after getting silver at the Cerro Palado Invitational in Cuba, Brent Metcalf was back in action at the Takhti Cup in Iran, where he won silver. After the tournament, he challenged the Iron Sheik and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to a three-way dance; no response was forthcoming.
* Fresh off their first national ranking in over a decade, the Iowa men's track and field team had three individual champions and finished 4th at the Indoor Big Ten Championships, their best finish since 1997. The women didn't do quite as well: just one individual champion and an 8th place finish.