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Tyler Smith Leaves the University of Iowa

Tyler Smith Released from Scholarship - LINK

If I was in the situation he is, I don't think I would do anything differently. The U of I, Coach Lickliter, and Mr. Barta obviously felt that something was honestly wrong in this situation and they granted the release. He wouldn't be transferring back to Tennessee because it makes basketball sense (clearly it doesn't). He'd be transferring for personal reasons, those same reasons none of us can fault him for. He is going through some tough times... he no longer has his coaching staff with him, he misses his kid, and his dad isn't doing well. You cannot fault him for leaving.

Tyler brought a lot of energy back into Hawkeye Basketball. It sucks to see him leave; he is a hell of a BB player. That said, Tyler is no longer a Hawkeye. He is no longer part of the family. I understand why he left, but he is no longer a Hawk. "Once a Hawkeye, Always a Hawkeye" is reserved for those who leave after spending their time at Iowa (i.e. - moving to the next level). Just for arguments sake, do you see the following players as Hawkeyes? Pierre Pierce? Josh Rhodes? Marcellus Somerville? Ben Rand? Courtney Scott? I certainly do not. So I have to stay with my assessment that Smith is no longer a Hawkeye; he is out of the family.

There was speculation that Smith would leave as soon as the Alford rumors started. This is another casualty that might have been avoided by Alford staying, but if his dad's health really is deteriorating, it might not have matter if Nealford was still here.

Good luck to Tyler, I genuinely enjoyed watching him on the court. He will be severely missed.

It's just not great to be a Hawkeye right now...

HOT ITEMS ON SALE ON EBAY: Alford Memorabilia

PICK UP ALFORD MERCHANDISE ON EBAY... YEA.

Autographed Iowa Blimp - $3 MINIMUM BID IS WINNING

Autographed Floor Tile Indiana - $9.99 MINIMUM BID IS WINNING

Autographed Floor Tile Iowa - GET IT FOR LESS THAN AN ANDREW JACKSON (with the bible verse JAS 1:12 reference free of charge)

Autographed Floor Tile - $19.99 - A BIT MORE FOR THE "GOD'S BLESSINGS" INSCRIPTION

Dallas Mavericks Basketball Card - SOMEONE GRAB THIS FOR 99 CENTS

Autographed Golden State Warriors Card - 12.99 READY TO BUY

LAST BUT NOT LEAST: FIRESTEVEALFORD.COM IS FOR SALE - Starting Bid $200.00

Good luck on your bidding.

LICKLITER HIRED: Hawk fans, get ready for some S-L-O-W basketball

BARTA GRABS BUTLER'S TODD LICKLITER...
Get ready for some S-L-O-W paced basketball

Don't get me wrong, I'd take Lickliter over Altman or Stallings any day... it's just going to be crazy to watch 50 point games.

2006-07

Only 4 other teams in the NATION had a slower pace.

Northwestern
Delaware St.
Samford
Princeton

Butler had the 332nd fastest tempo. LINK

2005-06

Only 8 other teams in the NATION had a slower pace.

Birmingham Southern
Northwestern
Georgetown
Richmond
Samford
Air Force
Delaware St.
Princeton

326th pace in the nation.

2004-05

Only 3 other teams in the NATION had a slower pace.

Samford
Air Force
Princeton

327th pace in the nation.


2003-04

Only 2 other teams in the NATION had a slower pace.

Princeton
Air Force

324th pace in the nation

We might as well get ready for 33 second possession every time down the court... I bet Tyler Smith will love that. Ugh.

Maybe we can lull the other team to sleep?

Gary Barta Knows What He is Doing

Gary Barta has slow-played his hand very well in this search for the new Iowa head mens basketball coach. No one has much "inside info" on the matter (at least none that is being whispered around those normally in the know). I believe Barta is ready to get a big name coach into the position. I believe this will all start to be put into motion after the National Championship game and Billy Donovan's decision to stay at Florida or leave for Kentucky. Altman is now going to be a Razorback, that's cool with me. There are a ton of big name coaches out there... pretty much anyone is available for hire short of Calhoun, Coach K, and the like. Altman is not a big name guy. He did ok at an MVC school, but recruits aren't dying to play for him. While Theus hasn't had huge success as a D-1 coach yet, what he has done has been impressive. The reason Theus is a bigger name is because what he has done on the recruiting trails, his NBA career, and what a "name" like his could bring for the Iowa BB program. Again, the main reason I feel Iowa should grab Theus is his recruiting ability and because of who his coaching mentor was.

On my list
Bruce Pearl - #1 on my list
Billy Gillispie
Reggie Theus
John Beilein
Tom Crean (has a HUGE contract w/ Marquette though)
Jay Wright (loves Nova, won't leave)
Dana Altman
Tim Floyd
Andy Kennedy (untested though)
Kirk Speraw


Neutral
Chris Lowery
Craig Neal
Tony Bennett
Lorenzo Romar

Not on my list
Ernie Kent - almost fired by Oregon, haven't heard many good things
Kevin Stallings - ho hum
Lon Kruger - doesn't stay at one place long enough, wining % is actually lower than Alford's
Rick Majerus - too big of a health liability
Quinn Snyder - don't like his style
Steve Lavin - don't think he can coach

INTEGRITY: The Difference Between Alford and McDermott

When McDermott decided to leave UNI, he called up his recruits and told that he was going to leave UNI for ISU. In the same conversations, he told his recruits that they committed to UNI, and that they should honor their commitments.

Fast forward to this year... Alford stands at his presser in New Mexico and says that he has not contacted his recruits in regards to coming with him. Now we find out that Alford has, in fact, talked to his recruit(s) about coming down to New Mexico after LOIs were signed.

Integrity, some people have it, others do not. Unbelievable.

Did Alford/Neal break NCAA rules? We shall see...

Kruger Turns Down Iowa Job; U of I Knew Alford was Leaving

Through a few deductions of a recent article in the LV Review-Journal, I believe that Lon Kruger has already turned down the Iowa job and that Iowa knew that Alford was gone early last week.

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2007/Mar-21-Wed-2007/news/13304441.html

KRUGER PURSUED

UNLV basketball coach Lon Kruger already has turned down a big-school offer, said Dave Cokin, who made the comment Tuesday on KBAD-AM, 920 (ESPN), during his sports-talk show with John Hanson.

Cokin said he could not identify the school because Kruger swore him to secrecy. The school has not yet announced that it is letting its coach go, Cokin said. Kruger has two years remaining on his UNLV deal.

Of course, I could be way off base, but it's not that hard of a conclusion to reach. On March 20th, Iowa still had Alford as their coach. Perhaps Barta already knew that Alford was gone, and he offered the job to Kruger, who turned it down. It's very feasible. Sure, there could be other schools ready to dismiss their coach, but this all happened right around the Alford time-period. Coincidence? I think not.

FREE BRUCE PEARL

Gary Barta needs to go out and get Bruce Pearl. It's as simple as that. Open up the checkbook, promise and deliver on whatever he needs.... just get him back to Iowa City.

Alford to New Mexico might really happen

The past few weeks, banter across the Internet tied Steve Alford to the vacant men's basketball coach position at New Mexico. I had brushed it off, just as I brushed off the Indiana and Missouri "stories" last year. Well, now it looks like this little rumor has legs. Several media outlets are now stating Alford has agreed to coach the Lobos and it's just a matter of getting the contract finalized. If that is the case - who does Iowa replace Alford with? Here's my list.

On my list (disclaimer - not sure if some of these are even possible)
Bruce Pearl - #1 on my list
Billy Gillispie
John Beilein
Jay Wright (loves Nova, won't leave)
Tom Crean (has a HUGE contract w/ Marquette though)
Dana Altman
Tim Floyd
Andy Kennedy (untested though)

Neutral
Chris Lowery
Craig Neal
Tony Bennett

Not on my list
Lon Kruger - doesn't stay at one place long enough, wining % is actually lower than Alford's
Rick Majerus - too big of a health liability
Quinn Snyder - don't like his style
Steve Lavin - don't think he can coach

Final Look at My Bubble Teams - NCAA Tourney Field Predictions for 2007

Updated Look at Bubble Teams for 2007 and Projecting the NCAA Tourney Field

EDIT: I picked 63/65, with one of my locks (Syracuse) snubbed.

Last two years' predictions -
2006: 63/65 teams
2005: 65/65 teams

TEAMS THAT I THINK ARE LOCKS/AUTOBIDS (parenthesis contain total number of bids for the conference; the first number is the locks and the second number is the total bids the conference will get as of right now)

Am East(1/1) - ALBANY
ACC(6/7) - UNC, VaTech, Virginia, BC, Duke, Maryland
A. Sun(1/1) - BELMONT
A-10(2/2) - GEORGE WASHINGTON, Xavier
Big East(6/7) - GEORGETOWN, Pitt, Louisville, Notre Dame, Marquette, Syracuse
Big Sky(1/1) - WEBER STATE
Big South(1/1) - WINTHROP
Big Ten(4/6) - OHIO STATE, Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan State
Big 12(3/4) - KANSAS, Texas, Texas A&M
Big West(1/1) - LONG BEACH STATE
CAA(1/1) - VCU
CUSA(1/1) - MEMPHIS
Horizon(2/2) - WRIGHT STATE, Butler
Ivy(1/1) - PENN
MAAC(1/1) - NIAGARA
MAC(1/1) - MIAMI (OH)
MCC(1/1) - ORU
MEAC(1/1) - FAMU
MVC(2/3) - CREIGHTON, S. Illinois
MWC(1/2) - UNLV
NEC(1/1) - CCST
OVC(1/1) - E. KENTUCKY
Patriot(1/1) - HOLY CROSS
Pac-10(5/5) - UCLA, Washington St., Arizona, USC, OREGON
SEC(4/5) - FLORIDA, Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Tennessee
Southern(1/1) - DAVIDSON
Southland(1/1) - TEXAS A&M - CC
SWAC(1/1) - JACKSON STATE
Sun Belt(1/1) - NORTH TEXAS
WCC(1/1) - GONZAGA
WAC(2/2) - NEW MEXICO STATE, Nevada

BOLD TEAMS WON THEIR CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT

TEAMS THAT I THINK ARE ON THE BUBBLE
So here's who I have on the Bubble... 8 spots are up for grabs

Those teams IN are noted with an asterisk (*).
Georgia Tech *
Florida State
Clemson
UMass
Rhode Island
Villanova *
W. Virginia
DePaul
Illinois *
Purdue *
Michigan
Kansas State
Texas Tech *
Oklahoma State
Old Dominion
Drexel
Bradley
Missouri State *
BYU *
Air Force
San Diego St
Stanford
Georgia
Alabama
Arkansas *
Ole Miss
Mississippi State
Davidson

NUMBER ONE SEEDS: OHIO STATE, NORTH CAROLINA, FLORIDA, KANSAS