Pre-game Iowa-Purdue notes: Top recruit in the house, tourney seed set, Jarryd Cole send-off

Jarryd Cole will play his final game as an Iowa player today against Purdue. It's been a well-documented, rough ride for Cole at Iowa -- torn ACL, four straight losing seasons, three coaches -- but his positive influence on the program will remain long after he quits wearing the Hawkeye jersey.

"Jarryd Cole, sincerely one of my favorite players I've ever had for a number of reasons," said Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery. "His maturity, I don't know if I've seen that in anyone before. For someone who's been through what he's been through, his third coach, he's been on losing teams but his positive approach has never been questioned. He has never been negative one second, he never point fingers atanybody else, he takes full responsibility and full accountability for everything that he does, which gives him credibility in the locker room to be able to say something to somebody else who may be doing the opposite. He's able to do it in a way that's always taken by that player appropriately and has a positive outcome.

"The only disappointing thing to me is I won't get to coach him next year and won't have him around. Only good things happen when Jarryd Cole is around."

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Point guard recruit Cezar Guerrero made it to Carver-Hawkeye Arena this weekend, and students have brought signs "hailing" him around the arena. Guerrero, a top-100 player from St. John Bosco (Calif.) High School, has visited Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Western Kentucky.

Fifty minutes before tip-off about 100 fans chanted "Come to Iowa" to Guerrero, who stood with McCaffery at mid-court.

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Iowa will enter the Big Ten Tournament as the 10th seed next week but its opponent is undetermined. Iowa could play any one of four teams -- Penn State, Michigan, Michigan State or Illinois -- and the game starts around 4 p.m. CST Thursday in Indianapolis.

Iowa has lost its last four Big Ten Tournament openers, including the last three to Michigan.

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Junior post Devon Archie is in uniform and has practiced the last two days. Archie has played in only once game since Feb. 5 after suffering from post-concussion symptoms.

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Iowa has lost a series-record eight straight games to Purdue dating to Steve Alford's final game as head coach in 2007.