McCaffery talks Marble-to-NBA, Ingram eligibility

IOWA CITY - Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery has no problem with junior Devyn Marble talking about the NBA.

In fact, McCaffery would guide his 6-foot-7 shooting guard toward a pro career if Marble has a good enough season.

“It's the reality of the world we live in,” McCaffery said. “The bottom line is, we might as well talk about it. Do you think I have a player on my team that doesn't want to leave and go play in the NBA? They all do. As a 6-7 guard who's made great strides, he's on the radar screen.

“Now he's got to take that next step and be a premier player in this league, which I think he can be. I would expect him to be. If he's averaging 18-20 points in this league, he's probably going to be a first-round draft pick.”

Marble averaged 11.5 points a game last year for Iowa and played primarily point guard. He ranked fifth in the Big Ten in assist-to-turnover ratio. Marble will play off-guard this year.

“If he could be a millionaire and be drafted in the first round, I'd be thrilled for him,” McCaffery said. “I hope he has the opportunity. The beauty of it is, if he falls a little bit short of that, and they don't think they're going to draft him until the second round, he can come back and be a first-round draft pick. Either way, it's going to work out for him.”

Meyer conviction vacated

Iowa freshman forward Kyle Meyer had his conviction vacated for public intoxication after an agreement between his attorney Randy Larson and Johnson County Attorney Janet Lyness.

Meyer was arrested August 18 in the restroom at Hillcrest Residence Hall and taken to the Johnson County Jail, where he bonded out and pleaded guilty the following morning. Larson requested Meyer's conviction be lifted because Meyer was not legally drunk and was not in a public place.

Meyer instead pleaded guilty to underage possession of alcohol and paid a $200 fine. Meyer will face athletics department punishment, including community service, but McCaffery said he won't levy any additional punishment against Meyer.

“Twenty hours of community service, I think, is pretty good,” McCaffery said.

Odds and ends

Freshman guard Patrick Ingram is enrolled, on campus and a member of the men's basketball team, McCaffery said. Ingram had to finish schoolwork this summer but is eligible to play.

“He wouldn't be here if he didn't clear all the hurdles, and he knew that,” McCaffery said. “He had a large mountain to climb, and I'm very proud of how he did.”

Former Iowa City West and Kirkwood player Okey Ukah did not clear the NCAA and won't be eligible to play this year. Ukah, a 6-foot-8 sophomore, will practice with the team as a walk-on player this year.

“Next year he'll be an official member of the team,” McCaffery said.