Hawkeyes' pedal to the metal? More like stuck in neutral

[pullout_quote credit="Fran McCaffery" align="left"]"What I do is go to work. I stay after it and go to work. Our players will go to work." [/pullout_quote]

IOWA CITY – So I got to Carver-Hawkeye Tuesday night and intently watched the pregame presentation on the video screens touting “UP GOES THE TEMPO” and “UP GOES THE FINAL SCORE” and “PEDAL TO THE METAL” as Iowa players ran and jumped and scored on videotape.

The montage of promised excitement closed with “ARE YOU READY?” Oh yes, by all means, let's see some racehorse basketball with scoring galore. Who doesn't enjoy that?

The Iowa Hawkeyes then proceeded to tally 20 points in the first half in their Big Ten/ACC Challenge game while they gave up 34. The final was Clemson, 71-55, after Iowa trailed by as much as 24 points.

That, combined with the $1 hot dogs used to entice fans to the arena, produced more heartburn than hysteria.

Students got in free for this game. You get what you pay for.

I kid, I kid. I'm sure the hot dogs were fine, and I'm sure the students enjoyed neglecting their studies for two hours.

Iowa's 7-for-30 shooting in the half with nary a 3-pointer (five different Tigers made treys), however, was indigestible if you were among those who withstood an 8:15 p.m. tipoff time only to fail to be entertained.

With 11:16 left in the game and the Hawkeyes trailing 48-27, the Iowa pep band launched into a version of Twisted Sister's “We're Not Gonna Take It.” It isn't clear if the band were making a statement or merely following a set list.

When I last saw Iowa, against Michigan State in the opening round of the Big Ten tournament in March, it was an undermanned team that scrapped. The Hawkeyes lost that day in Indianapolis, 66-61, to close with an 11-20 record, but you walked away thinking Fran McCaffery clearly had the program pointed in the right direction.

He still does, despite the dreadful present. However, many of us thought this season would be a bridge from the present to next year's infusion of some pretty prominent recruits. Who knew the team would have no interior presence whatsoever?

Who knew sophomore forward Melsahn Basabe would become good for only two points a night against competent teams? At the team's Media Day, McCaffery told us Basabe had double-double (double-digit points and rebounds) potential. Add the points and boards together, and you have single digits in each of the last four games.

Basabe is far from the only offender. The quality of play from this team over the last four games has ranged from mediocre to wretched.

McCaffery, to his eternal credit, was calm and rational in his postgame remarks to the media.

"I've been doing this a long time," he said. "I stay positive. I never get too high, I never get too low. You do that and you'll be taking a year off or two to get yourself straightened out.

"I've seen everything. Nothing I haven't seen. I've seen teams that couldn't shoot, I've seen teams that struggled, I've had great teams. I don't stress about it. What I do is go to work. I stay after it and go to work. Our players will go to work."

Last week, Campbell (picked by league coaches and media to finish ninth in the Big South Conference) clobbered the Hawkeyes. Tuesday, Clemson dissected Iowa.

Clemson, by the way, lost at home to College of Charleston and Coastal Carolina. The Tigers were picked to finish seventh in the ACC by that league's media.

You saw the Hawkeyes' nonconference schedule and thought, 10-3 or 9-4. Now, Iowa is 4-3 with games next week at Northern Iowa and Iowa State. They have 5-1 marks, have won away from home, and seem to have actual clues what they're trying to do.

Iowa's offense is less smooth than wine from a box. The Hawkeyes still have their decades-old tradition of failing to defend against the 3-point shot. They got crushed on the boards. They shot 29 percent and allowed 52 percent.

They got crushed period by a team that shot just five seven free throws to their own 22. Pedal to the metal? Up goes the temp? Up goes the final score? Somebody was fibbing.

"We are better than we're playing right now," McCaffery said, "and we'll get it figured out."

In the meantime, next up for the Hawkeyes is Brown University, here Saturday. Brown was picked to finish fifth in the Ivy League. Uh oh.

[nggallery id=706]