Darkest before the Dawn

Prior to this year, my memories of Hawkeye basketball have been limited to about 2 things. 

• First, the team with Luke Recker and Reggie Evans caught my attention during the NCAA tournament while I lived out in New York.
• Second, the team with Jeff Horner and Adam Haluska made some waves about 5 years ago but fell short in the first round of the tournament.

My introduction this year has been pretty disappointing.  Coach Todd Lickliter had his work cut out for him at the beginning of this year.  The biggest issue over the past few years has been retaining the talent that has come through the program and system.  Solid role players and veterans (Jake Kelly, Jermain Davis, Jeff Peterson, Chanse Creekmur, Tyler Smith, Tony Freeman just to name a few) have parted ways with the team and Coach Lickliter has been forced to give some very important minutes to very young players, namely Brennan Cougill and Cully Payne.

All this has meant some slow progress on the court.  He’s had to basically start at square one with new players this year.  He’s had to keep his finger in the dam all the while battling some serious health issues and accusations of favoritism with this son, who is also on the team, John Lickliter.

Here’s my advice to all Hawkeye basketball fans out there...Be patient and be supportive.

In Todd We Trust

Coach Lickliter may not have swept you off your feet when he came to Iowa City, but he is doing his job.  Consider this, recently the team has lost to Top 25 teams OH St and MI St by 8 and 7 points respectively.  Strangers to the situation are probably already clicking away from this page in disgust, but the truth is that that is quite an accomplishment!

Coach Todd is doing this with younger, less experienced and, let’s be honest, less skilled players.  He is getting more out of these players than most coaches could.  Hopefully these guys will stay around long enough to see some positive results in the win column.

Meanwhile, fans need to understand that this is a process.  Everyone had hoped that the program would be further along, but a lot of what happened was outside anyone’s control.  It’s not perfect, but it’s always darkest before the dawn.  Right?