(Likely) Hawkeye Basketball Player To-Be CULLY PAYNE

Cully Payne appears to be headed for Iowa anon.

If he's a new name to Iowa basketball fans, he probably won't be for long.

Cully Payne is a 6-foot-1 high school senior from Schaumburg (Ill.) High School, in suburban Chicago. He is suddenly very interested in playing basketball at Iowa. And the Hawkeyes, a program without a scholarship point guard, are equally interested in him. So Cully came to Iowa City today (Wednesday) to check things out.

He told the good people at Hawkeyereport.com and Hawkeyenation.com it's "pretty likely" he'll become a Hawkeye during the spring signing period that begins April 15.

Cully Cully Cully. What's your story?

Well, his team was 14-2 and he was averaging 22 points and 5.5 assists when his season was shut down because he had a pair of stress fractures in his L3 (back) vertebrae and was done for the rest of his senior season. Ouch.

Still, he was chosen the Cook County honorary captain of the 2008-09 Daily Herald All-Area Boys Basketball Team.

But Payne's pain is apparently behind him, and he'll return to basketball-playing next week.

Recruiting analysis usually puts me into a semi-coma, but for those of you who like it, here's one take on Payne from last June.

Payne committed to DePaul as an eighth-grader -- yes, an eighth-grader -- but backed out of that as a prep junior and later committed to Alabama.

"I just wanted to play for Coach (Mark) Gottfried," Payne said. "I had a lot of trust in him. That's kind of what made me get out was Coach Gottfried not being there."

But Gottfried resigned under pressure in January, and Payne was released from his letter-of-intent by Alabama.

Click this link for a story on Payne prior to his transfer to Schaumburg High before his junior season.

This fellow has been with two high schools and committed to two universities, and now he's a free agent. Schaumburg to Iowa City is only 218 miles, but some roads are long and winding.

Iowa needs point guards. Cully Payne is available. Tood Lickliter has a "Still Open for Business" sign hanging on his locker room door.

Not really, but you know what I mean.