Driving solo down a Midwest county highway can be soothing, free from any sense of immediate obligation and shackled only by the depth of your music collection. In Iowa City this winter, Todd Lickliter’s Iowa Hawkeyes (10-11, 3-5) have persevered in similar seclusion with a deaf ear to the myopic chatter of the Bracketocrat ruling class.
Freed from the glare of gaffers from Big Ten headquarters who obsess over Tubby Smith’s every move, heading into tonight’s game at Purdue (15-5), Lickliter’s solitary teaching efforts should earn him another coach of the year plaque.
Pedestrian Roster
Unlike the senior dominated roster inherited by Tubby Smith in Minnesota, Iowa was left with crumbs. With the exodus of Tyler Smith to Tennessee and the graduation of Adam Haluska, expectations, other than copious amounts of pain, were low entering the season in Iowa City. The vacant office afforded Steve Alford’s whining exit from Iowa created an incubator for prodigious coaching and an opportunity for the Hawkeyes.
In a true wise hire, Lickliter arrived from Butler University as the reigning National Coach of the Year, which was earned by blending fundamental basketball concepts with a cast of willing, able Indiana players en route to a Top Ten ranking and wins over Tennessee, Gonzaga, Indiana and Notre Dame and a run deep into March.
But in Iowa City, Lickliter inherited a once proud Hawkeye program in shambles by Steve Alford and marked by consistent underachievement. Nearly a decade into his tenure, Alford left Iowa in the hands of borderline role players Seth Gorney, Cyrus Tate, Kurt Looby, Justin Johnson and Tony Freeman. But fortunately for Iowa, Alford’s void became Lickliter’s slate. Soon after his hiring, Lickliter struck with customary understated effectiveness and landed point guard Jeff Peterson as the first commitment in a new era of Iowa hoops.
A Time to Coach
At 10-11, no one will mistake Iowa for a upper tier Big Ten team. But as the season has unfolded, it’s become apparent that with a great coach, Iowa’s spare parts become more formidable. Similar to the system employed by Bo Ryan at Wisconsin, Lickliter teaches basketball fundamentals that emphasize limiting turnovers, defending with great purpose, playing with intelligence and controlling the pace of the game.
As basketball sage Skip Myslenski observed, Lickliter and Ryan are “cagey fundamentalist coaches who propound distinct yet similar styles. Both preach a defense that depends on positioning. Both practice a motion offense that utilizes screens and ball movement. Both prefer performers with multiple skills and demand that a merely good shot be ignored if an extra pass can deliver one that is better.”
Defend with Purpose
So how is Iowa competing? Stingy defense. Iowa is giving up a meager 58 points a game, good enough to rank second in the Big Ten behind only their role model Wisconsin. They’ve been able to force opponents into bad shots to the tune of 40% shooting and the low scores indicate Iowa’s been able to generally control the pace of the game.
Development on Offense
Like most rebuilding projects, consistency on offense is the last component to come into focus. True to form, Iowa is dead last in the conference on offense, averaging 57 points a game. Like roadkill, you often don’t want to look but you can’t restrain yourself. But they’re getting better. In their 11 losses, including 3 and 5 point losses to Indiana and Purdue, missed free throws and turnovers (they average 16 and falling) was the noose around their necks.
Certainly, injuries to promising frosh Jarryd Cole, Tony Freeman and Jeff Peterson have depleted Lickliter’s tools on offense. With only Justin Johnson and Tony Freeman as true scorers from the perimeter, Iowa has often found itself mired in long scoring droughts. Such is the time when Lickliter has reinforced the simple but elusive concept of one possession. In road victories against Michigan and Penn State and a near miss against Purdue, Iowa showed the composure to play one possession at a time and to survive an off nights by one of its scorers.
As the Big Ten moves into February, Iowa is becoming more confident with Lickliter’s offense. The turnovers are down and the scoring is more balanced. It’s evident from the maturing roster that has seen the development of Tony Freeman into one of the league’s best guard, Seth Gorney as a competent passing big man and Cyrus Tate as a low post threat, Iowa will not likely suffer similar 40 point nights as they did against Michigan State (in victory) or Indiana or Ohio State (in defeat).
Miles to Travel
Heading into tonight’s Purdue game in Mackey Arena, Iowa is 3-5 in conference and improving. With a group of players that is slowly molting into a team, Lickliter is positioned to make a minor run at a winning steak. The schedule favors Iowa down the stretch, as they finish the season’s last six games at Minnesota, Michigan, Northwestern, at Michigan State, at Penn State, Illinois. 6 to 8 conference wins for Iowa, which is within reach, would constitute a minor miracle.
As Lickliter told Myslenski, “I think we’re making progress. So much of it is just having an understanding of making winning plays, understanding the game is played a possession at a time and that you can’t hurry up and win a basketball game. A game like this emphasizes how important it is to stay committed to those rules. Hopefully what you do is look at it and try to move forward and continue to grow.”
Another Lion Transfer
This time, Penn State scores. After another night where their offense abandoned them as Geary Claxton leaned on his crutches curbside, Penn State welcomed the announcement of the transfer of Andrew Ott, a 6′10″ redshirt freshman from Villanova. Another academic stalwart passed over by Carmody, Ed DeChellis will have Ott in the lineup and crashing the boards late next December.
Ron Neikamp Shines On
Way back in November, Ohio State joined Michigan State as fellow Big Ten victims of Division II basketball when they lost to the University of Findlay coached by Ohio legend Ron Neikamp, who recently earned is 500 career win. Findlay is 16-3 and currently ranked #11 in Division II. Ironically, one of three defeats came at the hands of Spartan nemesis Grand Valley State, 82-60. Great coaching and competition happens at all levels, and most likely, with more fulfilling results than occur in Calipari’s Memphis. Congratulations, Coach Neikamp.
What About Kellogg?
From the outset of the season, one of the rays of light for Iowa has been freshman Jeff Peterson. Obviously well coached at DeMatha Catholic (MD), Peterson, who graduated with a 3.98 gpa, was sitting on an offer to play Ivy League basketball for Princeton. Until Iowa hired Lickliter. Link to Press Citizen. Battling a bad wrist for much of the season, Peterson is a mature player who is playing more slowly, and consequently, taking better care of the basketball.
Almost apologetically explaining his rejection of the Ivy League, Peterson said “Princeton is a great school, I’m not taking anything away from it. The academics there are top of the chain. There’s no doubt in my mind about that. But at the same time, I wanted to be able to compete at the highest level as far as basketball.” An apology, or at least an explanation, should come from Coach Carmody to Wildcat fans as to why Peterson wasn’t even on Northwestern’s radar. Last time we checked Northwestern has a decent business school.
Agree with all of the comments on the great job Lickliter is doing at Iowa. And now he has a victory against his former colleague and friend, Thad Matta. Lickliter outcoached Thad en route to an impressive win on Sat. Of the three new coaches in the Big Ten, Lickliter will go down as the most successful, in my opinion. Agree on the comments about the failure of Northwestern to have Jeff Peterson on their radar screen. As to academic rankings, Northwestern has more strong programs than their first rate MBA factory. Undergrads not only get a great liberal arts curriculum, but now can get a business oriented undergraduate degree, something Princeton can not offer.
Left by J. Elsass on February 4th, 2008