Next year's men's basketball team for the Iowa Hawkeyes will definitely be going through a transition phase, as we break in new coach Todd Lickliter and lose a lot of talent from last season's 17-14 squad, but the long term results should be fantastic. Lickliter is a proven winner at the mid-major level with limited resources and talent, twice getting Butler to the Sweet 16 and winning the National Coach of the Year Award for this past season. He is a good recruiter who knows how to find the players to fit in his guard-oriented, three point shooting system. Hawk fans should be ecstatic to see what this man can do with a few good recruiting classes and tons more resources/better facilities than he had at Butler. Obviously he has to prove he can recruit in the Big Ten and compete in one of the toughest conferences around, but I have faith that he is the coach that will bring Iowa back to national basketball prominence. Steve Alford won only 1 tourney game in his 7 year tenure, with no regular season Big Ten titles and two Big 10 tourney titles. He never truly became a Hawkeye and seemed to place himself/his own agenda before the players and before the people of Iowa. His arrogance never sat well with Iowans and he didn't win games, simple as that. His ignorant "football school" comment was simply a result of the basketball team playing crappy and the football team playing fantastic, not because of a bias against him.

We lose two seniors from last year's team, leading scorer in the Big 10 Adam Haluska and point guard/team leader Mike Henderson. Haluska carried our team with scoring and big shots all through last season. He was streaky from downtown but when he was hot he was unstoppable, and he always founds other ways to score (transition, free throws, etc.). Henderson suffered a thumb injury that kept him out for most of the non-conference and really hurt us because we missed his experience and leadership. He never truly found his groove or got back to where he was before the injury, committing silly turnovers and lacking confidence. But his leadership and ability to set up our offense and make big plays will be missed. The big loss, however, is our star player, Tyler Smith, transferring to Tennessee. Smith was a freshman last season and was second on the team with an average of 15 points a game. He was a stellar athlete/leaper with an amazing understanding of the game and all-around ability. He would have carried our team with his scoring this upcoming season if he would have stayed. There was plenty of speculation that he might leave because he wasn't a true Hawkeye and was only loyal to the coaches that recruited him, not the university. Well, those coaches left, and supposedly his dad back in Tennessee was sick with cancer, so those factors led him to transfer. Another minor transfer that will have no effect on next season is Josh Crawford, a tall and lanky noodle of a man from Long Beach, California. He was too skinny to really earn any minutes with us and with Alford gone he saw no reason to stick around.

We should have some good talent at guard next year, with PG Tony Freeman leading the way. The Hawks will have major trouble scoring unless someone steps up big time, and our posts will have to play much better and more consistent than they did last year. We relied too much on Haluska's 21 ppg and Smith's ability to improvise when a play broke down. With Lickliter you can bet that his system will be guard-heavy and that they will have a lot of freedom to shoot threes, but everyone else is going to have to step up and play better if we want a chance to make the NCAA tournament. Our posts need to do a better job securing the boards and scoring some more, as the Hawks lack that go-to scorer that we can rely on to get buckets. Freeman will be the unquestioned leader and go-to guy at the start of the season at least. He made great strides as a playmaker and passer last season, positive signs seeing as he used to just be a scorer to complement Henderson. Freeman will be relied on to make threes and set up the offense, as well as push the tempo, and the other players will look to him for leadership and motivation. I think Freeman can provide this as the season progresses but it will take some time, and I believe it will be a season-long transition for Freeman, like our team, to fully grasp his role. Luckily, he is only a junior. We are very fortunate he did not leave because he was an Alford supporter, but I think he realized how bare the cupboard would be if he were to leave. At SG we have long-range specialist Justin Johnson. Johnson did a fantastic job draining spot up three pointers last year and will be a valuable sharpshooter once again, only he will be counted on for even more offense now. Cyrus Tate should man the PF spot. He was a great rebounder last season and he always played hard. He's a good complementary role player who did his job and hit the occasional open shots, but he will have to emerge even more this season and become more of a scoring threat while continuing his board work. He definitely showed flashes last season, just watch the MSU game for evidence. Seth Gorney and Kurt Looby will both platoon the Center position. Gorney is a big guy who can make shots, but he is slow and not very active on the boards or on defense and his feet are glued to the ground. Looby couldn't be more different. It's like he has springs in his legs and he will be our most athletic player by far next season. Last year he had many highlight-worthy alley oops and blocks, but he will need to tune-up the rest of his raw offensive game and add some bulk/muscle on the boards if he wants to earn more playing time. SF will be a big hole, but hopefully we can get David Palmer on the floor somehow. He is more of a post than a SF, but he provides size at 6 ft. 9 and some solid scoring/rebounding down low. He was a high-profile transfer from Seton Hall and it would help us out a lot if he could contribute now that so much talent has departed. J.R. Angle will also be back. Angle is an Indiana boy with a decent set shot and a good knowledge of the game, but he's not much of an athlete and he needs to put on more strength. We also have some solid incoming freshmen considering Lickliter only had a couple weeks to finalize recruiting and maintain the guys that Alford was going after. Jake Kelly is a good looking guard out of Indiana. He needs to put on muscle and improve his jumper but he has a lot of skills and understanding of the game and will give us some good depth. Jeff Peterson is probably the gem of the recruiting class, a talented pass-1st point out of powerhouse Demataha. He didn't put up elite stats because he played with a bunch of studs and was a playamker 1st, shooter 2nd. He should bring plenty of stability to the point and make those around him better, as well as backing up Freeman. The final recruit is Jaryd Cole, a beast of a man who should push his way around and bang down low. He needs to add more basketball skills to his football body but his size alone makes him a valuable recruit. So while it looks like our guards should give us some scoring, we will need the posts to play better, Palmer to become eligible, and some of our other players to step up the scoring if we want to have a chance at March Madness. With a new coach and a lack of returning talent, I think another 15-17 win season and a possible NIT berth would be considered a success. Give us a few years with Lickliter at the helm and we will be great once again, just not this year.