Postscript: Extra voices on Iowa basketball series

When journalists report news, we often must decide what information to include in a story/blog/column and filter out the rest. That includes facts and quotes.

For the six-part series on Iowa basketball that concluded today, there were thousands of words that never were posted on GazetteOnline or written for The Gazette. But some of the quotes that landed on the cutting room floor are relevant even without a specific filter.

Iowa Athletics Director Gary Barta hired Coach Todd Lickliter in 2007. The program since has lost 56 games including a single-season record of 20 this year. Here's what Barta had to say to a few questions:

On looking back at the four players with eligibility who left the program last year:

"I liken to the fact that we're not where we want to be and maybe we're a year behind where Todd or I would have imagined where we'd be. But I can look back at some circumstances. No excuses, I'm not going to sit down and break down, 'Well, this happened and that happened.' But some of those departures had very specific reasons and so I can't look back now. There's nothing I can do to change that, nor is there anything Todd can do.

So what have we done since then to go forward? Well, we've brought in this freshman class, and I'm very excited about the way they play, the type of people they are. I look on the floor and at any given time there's three freshmen and two sophomores often on the floor. So I'm excited about that. Then, this past year, this November when we had our latest signing class, and not by our coaches' account, but by people who follow basketball recruiting closely, by all estimations a top 25 or 30 recruiting class in the country, a top four or five in the Big Ten. So the combination of this young group that I'm enjoying watching grow up quickly on the floor and then the new recruiting class shows me the past is what it is but we're starting to make progress and turn the corner."

On if he would have handled Steve Alford's departure any differently:

"First of all, I don't spend much time looking back in any situation. I'll look back enough to make sure I learn whatever it is that I'm going through, but all I can do is look forward. So I would say, and I said it then and I say it now, Steve Alford is a good coach. He left here. His relationship and my relationship is fine. He didn't leave on bad terms with me. So more than that, I haven't spent any more time on it than that. I'm looking forward, I'm focusing on making our program better. So really I don't have much to add to that."

On what the future may hold:

"One of the things that I say every year, to those that ask, how do you assess this year, how do you look to the future? And I always say, and I'm consistent, at the end of the year, we'll sit down and we'll take a look at the year in total. ...  At the end of the year, Todd and I will sit down, we'll evaluate the season and we'll talk about what we want to do going into next year."

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Kenyon Murray played at Iowa under Tom Davis for four years and now broadcasts games for the Big Ten Network. Murray lives in Cedar Rapids and is involved with alma mater, most recently helping raise funds for a new practice facility. Here is some of what Kenyon had to say about the program.

On what separates Iowa from other Big Ten schools:

"If you look at the Big Ten as a whole, the coaching is pretty much, I wouldn't say a wash, but there's good coaches at every school. Right now, it's just a talent thing. Iowa is not the deepest team. It doesn't have stars on their team, guys that can take over a game. You've got every team in the Big Ten has somebody that can take over a game if they need a basket or need an assist or need a rebound. They have guys that have NBA talent that can do that. I think that's probably the biggest thing that Iowa is lacking right now is a go-to type of player.

"Matt Gatens is a very good player, but you saw last year he was able to excel because Jake Kelly was able to create shots for him or Jeff Peterson was able to create shots for him. So we just need somebody like that who's a playmaker that can blend with the guys he has now that are workhorses, and I think you'll see Iowa turn the corner and become one of those middle-to-upper division type teams."

On the program's recent problems:

"When you have turnover like you have and some upheavals, you've had different legal things going on here, the program really hasn't been stable. You've had two coaches here that have come in under different circumstances and had to battle different circumstances, and Lickliter is just kind of caught in the perfect storm but it's been like a perfect storm of situations that haveled to transfers and things like that. Right now, what you see in basketball that you don't see in football is one or two players can make a difference. If they are able to get some of those four or five-star recruits here at Iowa, I think they can do it and turn it around."

On what Iowa needs to do to win in the Big Ten:

It's possible but we really have to evaluate what's going to allow us to win in the Big Ten Conference as a university.  I think what the other schools have shown is we have to go out and recruit. Tubby Smith left Kentucky to come to Minnesota. What's he been able to do? He's been able to recruit and get guys to come to Minnesota. I don't know if that's a better place than Iowa City but you know I think we have the facilities, we have the academics, we have everything here that we can get those top athletes here. You look at football and some of the programs that are able to recruit the top players to come to Iowa City and play and you're able to go into St. Louis and Chicago and Detroit and get players regardless of the sport. Right now, we've just got to figure out what hasn't happened for us in the past and what's going to work for Iowa in the future and I think once we get an understanding of that, we can go out and execute. Right now, it's a matter of getting guys in here that can help us win basketball games because in the Big Ten it's not as much about coaching as it is about the players. Because they're the ones that shoot, rebound and play defense. We've got to get some guys in here that can make a difference.

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Veteran TV broadcaster Mac McCausland used to call most of Iowa's basketball games before the league shifted games away from the ESPN-Plus network. He said fans struggled to find Iowa games on television which puts the program at risk of losing potential customers:

On current TV deals:

"I think television contracts with ESPN and especially with the Big Ten Network where it spread out your weekday games over Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, it hurts in terms of your sales, in terms of people don't have regular opportunities to go, ‘OK, I know when I buy season tickets, I'm going to go every Thursday and every Saturday.' So season tickets now drop because with families their kids have musical events, they have soccer, they have their own basketball and people look at their schedule as a family and their schedule with Iowa or any Big Ten school, and I think that's why you see season-ticket sales are down. That's one of the reasons they just can't get there, and they can't afford to spend $300 or $400 on tickets knowing they can't go. I think that has a real effect, and it just multiplies in terms of now other people don't need to buy season tickets because they know there will be single-game tickets available. Go to the Michigan State game, go to the Purdue game, that sort of thing."

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Basketball coach Steve Alford presided over one of the most controversial eras in Iowa basketball history. He led Iowa to seven straight winning seasons but only one NCAA Tournament win in eight years. He left Iowa for New Mexico in 2007 and now has the No. 8 ranked team in the nation.

Does he enjoy special satisfaction at New Mexico considering how his Iowa tenure ended:

"Not really, because I had a great time there. I was the one that ended that tenure because I wanted to come to New Mexico. I still had five years left on a big contract there. Had eight great years there, seven winning seasons, which had never happened there. We won two Big Ten titles , we weren't able to advance in the NCAA Tournament, which that's what as a staff we were most frustrated about because we just weren't able to do that.

"Overall as I look back it was a great eight years, and I thought it was time to move. When I an opportunity came here at New Mexico, I thought this was an incredible basketball environment with an incredible commitment to basketball and all those have come true."

On if Iowa fans misunderstood him while he was here:

Fans are going to have their ideas, and thoughts about how you do. I am very fortunate here. We've got a great knowledgeable fan base that loves basketball, is very committed to basketball and they appreciate a product that works hard and plays unselfishly. That's really all I've tried to do through my 19-year career is just make sure I put a product out there that people can appreciate following. I think for the most party we've been able to do that.

Does he think Iowa's administration did enough for basketball during his tenure:

I don't know about all that. You've got an administration at Iowa and you've got an administration at New Mexico. I enjoyed my time at Iowa, we had a lot of fun, we graduated our players and won a lot of games along the way. Now we're trying to do the same thing here at New Mexico.