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2008 Iowa Basketball Preview & Season Predictions

Written October 14, 2008 by Luke Knight

The second year of the Todd Lickliter era begins with the teams leading scorer and 3rd team All-Big Ten pick leaving the team for Southern Illinois. Lickliter preaches an extremely disciplined team-first philosophy, and that clashed with Tony Freeman. It is generally considered to be best for both sides. This is definitely a program in transition, but the Hawkeyes add seven incoming players, including a couple of JuCo transfers and local star Matt Gatens, who was Iowa’s Mr. Basketball. Iowa was 13-19 overall last season and 6-12 in the Big Ten so there is a lot of room for improvement. Those of you who follow college basketball betting might find it interesting that the Hawkeyes are +20000 odds at BetUS to win a National Title this season.

Cyrus Tate improved last season and turned out to be one of the few bright spots for the Hawks, and he should be expected to lead the frontcourt. Tate began as a role player off the bench, but became a go-to player by the end of the season. He averaged a team-high 5.4 rebounds per game last season and was 3rd in scoring at 8.3 points. Jarryd Cole had become a starter before he was injured in the 13th game of the season. Before the injury he was averaging 6.6 points and 4.8 boards. David Palmer, a 6’9” junior who began his career at Seton Hall, has decent offensive skills, but couldn’t crack the rotation last season. Andrew Brommer, an incoming freshman, should provide some size and he put on 20 pounds since high school to brace himself for the wear and tear of the Big Ten season. Aaron Fuller will also bolster the frontline. Fuller averaged 18.1 points and 10.1 rebounds a game as a senior at Mesa High School, in Arizona. Fifth year senior J.R. Angle could pick up some minutes at small forward.

Anthony Tucker was a finalist for Mr. Basketball in the state of Minnesota, who spent the summer honing his point skills. Jeff Peterson could start the season at the point position. He showed flashes last season, but struggled in the Big Ten, and ended the season with more turnovers than assists. Jake Kelly started the final 25 games as a freshman a scored in double figures 11 times, and six of the last seven games. Gatens is also a shooting guard and was ranked among the top 100 seniors in the country last season. Junior college transfers Devan Bawinkel and Jermain Davis will get some minutes at shooting guard. Bawinkel began his career at West Virginia and is a solid perimeter shooter. Davis is more of a defensive stopper.

Final Analysis

With Steve Alford’s departure, Todd Lickliter had a free pass last season because of the lack of talent and depth on the team. Iowa still lacks the talent and depth that some of its competitors in the Big Ten possess. The Hawkeyes should certainly be better with a solid mix of incoming freshman and JuCo transfers, as well as a several returners. The Hawkeyes are a dangerous team to pull off a major upset, because they play hard every game, but they are probably not quite ready to jump up the Big Ten rankings. We have them finishing toward the bottom of the Big Ten season and it seems the NCAA basketball odds makers are agreeing with our assessment. Check out BetUS where Iowa is +3000 odds to win the Big Ten Conference. This will be a team to keep an eye on, due to low expectations.

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