Playing time decisions are perplexing for Iowa

The Iowa men's basketball program isn't immune to criticism and Lord knows with 18 losses and mounting, it deserves it. Of the many areas that deserves questioning, I find some the shifts in players' minutes the last two years near the top.

Last night in a 80-78 overtime loss to Michigan, Iowa freshman post Brennan Cougill did not play after appearing in every game to date. His playing time has fluctuated recently from one minute vs. Penn State 10 games ago to posting 23 minutes against Ohio State and 22 minutes at Michigan.

It seems strange to most observers that Cougill didn't play. After all, starting center Jarryd Cole fouled out, which left only one available post, sophomore Andrew Brommer. When asked if Cougill was hurt, Iowa Coach Todd Lickliter said after the game, "No, maybe his feelings. He is fine. No problems."

That's hard to believe but hardly unusual. Brommer, who played 14 minutes, has seen his playing time bounce like a yo-yo this season. His 14 minutes last night were his most in seven games. He played only five minutes in the team's first game against Michigan, while Cougill played 22 minutes. Iowa was slaughtered 60-46  in its first game at Michigan so Lickliter might have thought the personnel switch was necessary to compete with Michigan this time. But we don't know that, either.

Lickliter's moves hardly are unprecedented. Last year as a freshman, Aaron Fuller's minutes were sporadic at best. In four different Big Ten games last year he played five minutes or less. He also had four games where he played at least 33 minutes. He played all 45 minutes last year in an overtime win against Michigan. Four games later he played only 10 minutes in a double-overtime win against Penn State.

One common theme for those players is inexperience. This year Fuller has blossomed into a tough post player with plenty of upside, but Brommer and Cougill have a ways to go to be regular contributors. But inexperience doesn't explain the whirlwind shift in playing time for David Palmer last year.

Over a three-game span last year, Palmer played 22, 33 and 28 minutes, respectively, at Purdue, vs. Wisconsin and at Penn State. Palmer scored 19 points at Purdue, 21 points against Wisconsin and six points against Penn State. Over the next 12 games, Palmer did not play in five of them and played single-digit minutes in four others.

Each example has its reasons, whether its inexperience or inability to grasp Lickliter system. But the recent trend is troubling, particularly with sophomore guard Anthony Tucker leaving the program last week. Tucker, who started the team's first 11 games and averaged 11.9 points, was suspended in December for a second alcohol-related arrest.  On Jan. 25, he was reinstated and returned to practice. He then sat out the next five games despite dressing to play in four of them. When asked why Tucker didn't play before leaving, Lickliter said the team's playing rotations were set.

"I think we're playing good basketball," Lickliter said last week after a 78-65 pummeling of Northwestern. "I like our rotations. We mutually agreed there'd be an opportunity for him (Tucker) to practice and prepared to compete and if we called upon him, to be ready. My feeling was we liked where we were going and what we were doing, and I was going to continue along those lines because I saw the results we were getting."

The problem now for Iowa is the rotations are all over the place as is the playing time. Along with Cougill's shift in minutes, Devan Bawinkel played only seven minutes last night after playing at least 22 in each of the last two games. It's a stretch to say rotations are the reason Tucker didn't play before he quit when the rotations and minutes are all over the place one week later.

Like everything else in a season headed for a school record for single-season losses, this subject bears watching and scrutiny.