Bryce Cartwright's emergence adds to intrigue to Iowa's future at the point

IOWA CITY - In early December, Iowa appeared vulnerable and inexperienced at the point guard position.

Sophomore Cully Payne, who started every game last year, opted for season-ending surgery in late November to repair a sports hernia and a torn oblique. Junior Bryce Cartwright, a junior-college transfer who backed up Payne, was untested in major conference basketball. After Cartwright was Devyn Marble, a freshman who naturally filled an off-guard role rather than the point.

But in Big Ten play, Cartwright became a valuable asset for the Hawkeyes and provided steady leadership in Payne's absence. In league play Cartwright led the Big Ten in assists with 6.83 and scored 11.2 points a game. He's currently ranks sixth in Iowa's single-season assists with 176, just four behind fifth-place Jeff Horner in 2005.

Monday, Cartwright was named honorable mention all-Big Ten by league media.

“It's just a great story,” McCaffery said. “I'm really proud of him. He really worked on his game this year. He worked on being the kind of point guard we needed him to be. If you remember how he was when he started, you would not have predicted that he would have ended up leading the Big Ten in assists. He worked to make that happen. I think that is an example of the kind of character that he has.

“Anything short of that - if he was selfish at all - he would not have been able to do what he did. So the fact that he was recognized by the league or by the media is really I think special for him and for us.”

But Cartwright's emergence does beg the question about Payne's future at the position. Payne will apply for a medical red-shirt, which he's likely to receive after playing only five games. Payne was a member of the Big Ten's all-freshman team last year, averaging 8.7 points and 3.2 assists a game. Payne scored 25 points in the Big Ten Tournament last year against Michigan.

Payne still is not practicing with the team more than three months after his surgery. He can do just about everything but scrimmage and is not allowed any contact.

“I think I saw enough of Cully to know that he can play,” McCaffery said. “I think they can play together. I think Bryce is better with the ball. Not that he couldn't play off the ball. He did, and he has in the past, but he seems to be pretty good with it.”

Cartwright was brought in primarily to back up Payne and also play off-guard with both in the backcourt. They did compete head-to-head in preseason workouts.

“We played in pickups here and there all the time so there's no problem there,” Cartwright said.

McCaffery also is actively recruiting another point guard with a pair of visitors - Cezar Guerrero and Anthony Hubbard - last weekend. That could mean at least three players at the point. So there's potential for one or more to see action at the off-guard slot.

“Ultimately we need to have a team consisting of really good players, all of whom contribute and put winning above all else,” McCaffery said. “If someone doesn't figure into that equation, I don't want them around anyway.”

McCaffery said he doesn't see any players bolting the program like in the past years. Under former coach Todd Lickliter, nine scholarship players with eligibility transferred away from Iowa. Two scholarship players with eligibility - Aaron Fuller (transfer), Brennan Cougill (academics) - and two signees (Cody Larson, Florida; Ben Brust, Wisconsin) left before this season.

“I don't see anybody leaving,” McCaffery said. “But I've been in this business a long time. You never know what's going through somebody's head and what somebody wants out of their career.”