Take A Step Back From The Ledge, Hawkeye Fans

I know how some of you Hawkeye fans are feeling. As one of them myself, I am disappointed with the way this basketball season has gone. Losing to a team that is as bad as Indiana this year isn't going to sit well with many of you, but I say this: take a breather!

There was a great point-counterpoint article in Tuesday's Daily Iowan that took three different stances on why Iowa has been struggling this season. One suggested that it was because the rest of the Big Ten, as a whole, is improving, which is true. Another said that it was because the fans aren't showing up, which is also true. College-aged fans don't want to watch a slow-it-down style of play. They want flashy plays, dunks, transition and excitement, but that isn't always what you get with this Iowa team. But the last point said that it was basically prior coach Steve Alford's fault, which I just don't buy.

This is Todd Lickliter's second season and after last year's six-member recruting haul, he has players that fit his system. When he arrived in spring of 2007, many wondered if Lickliter could get his "Butler Way" to work at Iowa and if he could recruit against the giants of the midwest. So far, it hasn't really worked. One of those members, freshman Anthony Tucker, for all accounts, is probably not going to return next season. I'd love to see him come back, but when black out to the point of getting hospitalized and fail to keep up with your classes, the writing is pretty much on the wall.

Iowa's freshmen bigs, Andrew Brommer and Aaron Fuller, need seasoning. There is no debate about that. Is there potential? Absolutely. But to ask both of them to come into this season, especially Big Ten play and go up against more mature, more experienced and frankly better big men is unreasonable. For a team that doesn't have much size to begin with, I think too much pressure was placed on their shoulders. Now, Brommer doesn't even sniff the floor, but to Fuller's credit, he has played well at some points and poorly at others, but that's the life of a freshman in the Big Ten.

Let's not forget that this team is playing without its senior leader, Cyrus Tate. There's no question that Tate would have made a difference in some of these games, but if you take your most experienced player out of the lineup, you're inevitably putting the fate of the game in the hands of sophomores and freshmen. Traditionally, that doesn't work in the Big Ten. Experience does.

Some may ask, well why doesn't Iowa show improvement in its second year like Minnesota and Michigan has done with their second-year coaches? For Lickliter's system to work, it requires a certain player. Both of those schools have more range of freedom to run their offenses and both of them simply have better athletes. Iowa doesn't. That was painfully on display last Thursday when Michigan State ran up and down the floor at will against a slower, less athletic Iowa team. But when the system is at its best, Lickliter's offense values each possession with an emphasis on the three-ball and doesn't turn the ball over much. This Iowa team still seems to struggle with it. Sure the three's are there (and there are plenty of them), but the turnovers are also aplenty. That needs to change if Lickliter is going to be successful at Iowa.

Despite all this, let's remember that Iowa is still a young team. There is potential. Jeff Peterson, in only his sophomore season, seems to grasp the system better than anyone on the floor and I think is destined for great things in his next two years. Don't forget he is playing with a fracture in his left wrist (non-shooting hand) that will require surgery and at least three months of rehab after the season. Jake Kelly has got size and is probably Iowa's most polished player offensively, but he is too inconsistent. There are time when he is a wizard with the basketball and other times when he makes head-scratching decisions.

The best player on the team and the most complete player continues to be Iowa City's own Matt Gatens. Much like Iowa natives Jeff Horner, Greg Brunner and Adam Haluska before him, Gatens is the proverbial flag waver of the Iowa Hawkeyes. He has black and gold in his blood, and he's a pretty damn good player, too. He can shoot and defend, a player that, in theory, fits Lickliter's system perfectly.

They've clearly got a lot to work to do, but the Hawkeye fans (myself included) need to be patient. Peterson and Gatens are two pretty good building blocks for the future and to date, are Iowa's best players. If they can get some size on the floor, they can be a very good team (6'9" center Brennan Cougill from Sioux City should help next season). But let's be realistic -- it's not going to happen this season.

However, the jury is still out on whether Lickliter is a good fit for Iowa. What do you think? Post comments below...