IOWA BASKETBALL: so many questions, so few answers

I got a comment Thursday to one of the Hawkeye men's basketball posts from Jorge Vino, whose input I always enjoy.

Jorge wrote: Say what you will about Todd Lickliter, but Iowa Basketball's problems didn't exactly begin with him. They won't end with him either.

There are high school coaches who wouldn't take the Iowa gig if it became available because of the pathetic commitment the UI has made to the program.

Interesting. And probably true.

One noteworthy example is basketball facilities, or lack thereof. I know some of you automatically roll your eyes when you hear Lickliter  say the lack of a basketball practice facility hurts. I'm one of them. In this economy (or any economy), it's hard for some of us to ever sympathize with a big-time athletic program lacking for something.

But the fact -- whether you find it meaningful or not -- is Iowa is behind in Big Ten basketball facilities. The first practice Lickliter held as Iowa's coach in November 2007 was at the North Liberty Recreation Center because Carver-Hawkeye Arena was booked with an Iowa volleyball match.

In an interview with ESPN.com after leaving Iowa for New Mexico last spring, Steve Alford said “The last couple of years at Iowa, it didn't matter how hard I worked. We were going up against [Big Ten teams] that had more bullets in their gun.

“I want to be here. It's got everything I've ever wanted. … But I couldn't get it [at Iowa]. And if you don't have it, then it's not good enough to compete with Indiana, Ohio State and Michigan State year in and year out if your facilities aren't as good, if not better.”

A lot of you in Hawkdom will want to dismiss the assertion simply because it came from Alford. But it is an element that does matter to recruits. Is it a large element? The coaches would say absolutely. You and I might wonder.

Michigan just okayed the construction of a 50,000-square foot, two-court basketball facility. Iowa's own facility -- and a renovation of Carver-Hawkeye -- is on its way, as planned, we are told by Iowa athletic department official Mark Jennings in Scott Doctherman's Gazette story Thursday.

But Iowa didn't answer the bell on building one as soon as nearly all other Big Ten schools did.

Was that wrong, or right? I know it hasn't cost me sleep at night. It's in the eye of the beholder.

Of course, there's a lot more to recruiting than an eye-pleasing practice gym. The style of ball the team plays is fairly important. And it's becoming clearer that Lickliter's style isn't catching the fancy of premier recruits.

Name a high-profile (or even medium-profile) recruit Iowa has landed under Lickliter to date.  Watch the NCAA tourney tonight, Saturday or Sunday, and tell me you don't need to get big-time horses to ride at the big-time level.

Departing junior Jermain Davis, who spent a season at Iowa and whose exit probably won't be bemoaned by Iowa's staff given the way Davis' role decreased as the season grew late, spoke to every media person who contacted him Wednesday.

"The style of play is just so slow," Davis told Pat Harty of the Iowa City Press-Citizen.  "It just wasn't a good fit because I like to push the ball up the court and force turnovers and stuff like that."

OK, that's one disenchanted player, you might say. Every year at this time, college basketball is full of them. This week, freshman Wes Eikmeier announced he was leaving Iowa State to find a school where he can have a more prominent role and make an immediate impact. ISU Coach Greg McDermott reportedly tried hard to persuade young Wes to stay.

Almost all of these guys think they would be stars if they were just in the right system, the right place, with the right coach. Wesley Johnson bolted ISU last year for Syracuse, a blow even more crushing to the Cyclones than Jake Kelly cutting out on Iowa this week.

Johnson sought greener pastures. Was he wrong? Who's to say?

Was Shawn Taggart wrong when he left Iowa State after Wayne Morgan was fired and replaced by McDermott? Taggart, whose career ended Thursday night with Memphis' Sweet 16 loss to Missouri, got to play for a national finalist last season and started for a big winner this season.

I'm all for the players doing whatever they need to do to pursue happiness. Their coaches certainly aren't afraid to put self-interests first.

But back to Davis' comment. From the sounds of things I've heard this week, two different styles have rankled certain Hawkeyes. One is Lickliter's style of offense, which isn't exactly a fan-favorite. Another is Lickliter's purported style of, shall we say, being negative toward players.

Davis sure looked like a target of the coach's wrath in the latter part of the season. David Palmer will never be confused for David Robinson, but how any player who can score 40 points in a two-game Big Ten span can be banished back to the sideline to sit and watch is a question that has yet to be answered.

As for the negativity from the coach,  that's tricky to talk about. We see the body language on the sideline. The Hawkeyes don't always look like happy warriors. But with the exception of the first-round Big Ten flameout against Michigan, they played hard this season.

Do you play hard for someone you don't like or who bothers you with his personal style? It's hard to imagine so.

Yet, Kelly is gone. He was recruited to Iowa by Alford. Jeff Peterson? We'll know soon enough. But his recruitment to Iowa started with Alford. Tony Freeman left a year ago. An Alford recruit.

When Lickliter's own recruits - besides juco signee Davis - start leaving early in twos or threes, you can stick a fork in his tenure at Iowa. Until then, patience may be required. Although, the sting of a player departing with the minutes and responsibility Kelly got raises a flag that's at least some shade of red.

At some point, as all coaches who are given four or five years get, Lickliter will have a roster of players entirely brought to Iowa by ... Lickliter. They should all know what kind of basketball they'll be playing and they should have an excellent feel for the person who will be coaching them.

Right now, the program is in rough waters with people who clearly aren't on the cliched same page. Some have chosen to bail out. Others may feel they've been forced out of the boat.

I don't blame Kelly a bit for leaving. He may have a variety of reasons, the most important of which is deeply personal and unrelated to the Iowa program. If it so happens he didn't believe the coach would bring in Big Ten-quality talent in the next two years and he'd be stuck playing with a loser for four years, it probably made a move all the easier to make.

But the trouble, as everyone knows, is it's highly unlikely Lickliter can come up with adequate replacements for the departing Kelly (and potentially departing Peterson) on short notice, and next season's Hawkeyes could be dreary. As dreary as Lickliter's first Iowa team, in fact. That's dreary.

Right now, Iowa would be picked to finish last in the Big Ten next March. That's how you enter Year 3.

Of course, had Cyrus Tate been healthy and Anthony Tucker academically eligible, and had Iowa won two or three of the close games it lost in Big Ten play, the Hawkeyes would have been in the NIT and maybe would have been .500 in the Big Ten, signalling marked improvement this year.

Maybe, maybe, maybe, that would have been enough to leave Kelly feeling better about a future at Iowa. Maybe means maybe, nothing more.

It is entirely possible the darkest hour for the program will prove to be right before the dawn. But when you thought just a couple weeks ago that the dawn was coming with Kelly emerging, and then things got darker instead, it's difficult to believe morning is coming to Iowa basketball anytime soon.