SB Nation User Blog: Hawkeye State

BLACK HEART GOLD PODCAST #16: GET YOUR WONK ON

Hawkeye State — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 14:28:16 -0000

This week, we're joined by the artist formerly known as Big Ten Wonk, John Gasaway, to talk about the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, the apparent acceleration of conference play, and the abject misery that is Iowa Hawkeye basketball. John is currently writing in his usual prolific manner at Basketball Prospectus, and is the editor of College Basketball Prospectus 2009-10, available at Amazon.com. It's a great stocking stuffer, provided your stocking can fit 190 pages of the best writing and analysis on college basketball available anywhere.

Listen below or on iTunes.

BHGPodcast 16

It's Not Plagiarism If You Link To It Is Tired of Hearing About Kansas

Hawkeye State — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 12:40:49 -0000

More photos » by Charlie Neibergall - AP

Iowa coach Todd Lickliter performs the 'To Be or not To Be' soliloquy from act 3, scene 1 of Shakespeare's Hamlet for point guard Cully Payne. "Yeah, it's unorthodox," Lickliter later said, "but he kept doing it in the Billy Madison voice. It was driving me crazy." (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

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Get Well, Coach Lick. Todd Lickliter was released from University Hospitals yesterday, and discussed his condition with Gary Dolphin during last night's pregame show:

Lickliter, 54, suffered a tear in his carotid artery and the stent was inserted Saturday. The carotid artery supplies the head and neck with oxygenated blood and any disruption in the artery causes headaches and could lead to a stroke, according to medical Web sites....

"I was having headaches when we were in Kansas City (for a tournament)," Lickliter said in an interview on Iowa’s pre-game radio show. "It turned out to be the beginning of a tear in (the) carotid artery. I’m thankful for the thoroughness of the medical staff, very thankful for that. They ran all the scans, they made sure of the diagnosis, then made a decision on what to do. It was not an easy decision; it was very stressful."

We had heard rumors of migraine headaches and undisclosed medical procedures, but I don't think anyone knew it was anything approaching this level of seriousness. Not being medical professionals, we're not going to speculate on the cause of this or its long-term effects; we're just happy to hear that Coach Lick is out of the hospital and improving. He is expected to return to the bench for Friday night's game with Iowa State.

About Last Night. Northern Iowa effectively won the state championship last night with a 67-50 beatdown of the Hawkeyes before a raucous near-sellout crowd. Panther guard/Impossible Wheel of Fortune answer Kwadzo Ahelegbe led the way with 20 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists. The game was never really in doubt after Iowa went into its patented "let's not score for a really long stretch of time" offense, allowing UNI to go on a 22-1 run over a nine-minute stretch of the first half that gave the Panthers a 24-7 lead. Iowa briefly pulled within six early in the second half, but the damage had been done. Northern Iowa converted 15 Iowa turnovers(!) into 31points(!!), as opposed to Iowa's 3 points off 5 Panther turnovers. Iowa got to the foul line a paltry eight times, and made just three of those free throws. And that says nothing for the fact that UNI sold their place out in a blizzard and Iowa City's local networks would rather show fat people in spandex. What I'm saying is this was an unmitigated disaster.

At least Andrew Brommer remains on pace for the most fouls per minute of any player in team history, committing four infractions in 12 minutes. That is nine fouls in his last 22 minutes of game action, which is more carnage than Saw VI. This has already become the season's best storyline.

Brewster, You Got That Crazy Look in Your Eye! Things are getting downright weird in the Great White North, where Ol' WIN FIGHT TRY himself, Tim Brewster, is wrapping up his third season on a five-year contract with Minnesota. He's angling for an extension, but Minnesota AD Joel Maturi -- whose apparent hatred for his head football coach becomes more obvious with each passing day -- has said there will be no discussion of a contract extension until after Minnesota's bowl game.

It wouldn't be such a problem, except recruits are jumping off this sinking ship in droves. Earlier this week, 4-star running back Josh Huff and 3-star cornerback Antoine Lewis both decommitted from Minnesota, citing Brewster's status as one of their reasons. Lewis, who is now committed to Purdue, made comments that were particularly damning of WIN FIGHT TRY BEST GOPHER ROSE BOWL GOPHER:

"I have respect for every program, every individual who (recruited me)," Lewis said Sunday night. "It wasn’t necessarily about switching commitments. It was about making the right decision for me.

"Purdue was a very family-like environment and the coaches seemed very genuine and the players acted the same way around the coaches and away from the coaches. … I knew what I was going to do before I left."

The wholesale decommitment of the heart of Brewster's 2010 class would usually be enough, but Joel Maturi has apparently been hearing rumors about Kansas potentially hiring Brewster to replace Mark Mangino. To his credit, Maturi --who is one of the country's sharpest AD's when he's not searching for a football coach -- clearly sees what this really is: an attempt by Brewster and his people to extort a contract extension out of Minnesota with the threat of his departure. In fact, there is only one scenario in which this rumor is true, that being an Alford-esque golden parachute out of a situation that has obviously become toxic for all parties. Fortunately for all of us who enjoy college football soap operas, Maturi isn't afraid to call a bluff. Also, just to remind you, he clearly hates Brewster:

"There are rumors that he's going to Kansas, so I don't know," Maturi said Tuesday. "What can I say? So I can't guarantee it, no. I can't guarantee the decisions of other people...."

"I'm smart enough to know that (Brewster's) not going to tell me, nor is the athletic director (Lew Perkins) at Kansas going to tell me until it's a done deal," Maturi said, adding that Kansas had not contacted him. "I chatted with (Brewster) about it very, very briefly. I told him I'm getting tired of all of these Kansas calls. That's kind of been my conversations with him. I know how the game is played. I know how it is. I'm respectful of that. I'm not going to believe the rumors until they're fact. I'm not going to knee-jerk react one way or the other because of it."

Barring a quick termination for concocting a fake rumor in an attempt to get a pay raise, we still have two more years of this. I know, I can't wait either.

Foot's Notes:

It's award season: Michigan DE Brandon Graham and Penn State QB Darryl Clark split the Silver Football, given to Big Ten Player of the Year. It's the first time the vote was tied in the 86-year history of the award. Wisconsin RB John Clay took third.
ESPN.com released their all-conference selections: Bulaga and Richardson on the offense; Clayborn, Angerer, and Sash on defense. The only semi-egregious omission is Amari Spievey, who was omitted in favor of Northwestern's Sherrick McManis in what looks like a "we need a Northwestern guy" decision. Otherwise, I can't complain.
Ndomukong Suh, who could well win the Heisman, beats out Pat Angerer for the Bronco Nagurski Award, given to the country's best defensive player.
Adam Rittenberg interviews Big Ten commissioner and BCS defender emeritus Jim Delaney. His reaction to those complaining about the TCU-Boise Fiesta Bowl matchup? Essentially, go fuck yourselves.

It's Not Plagiarism If You Link To It Welcomes Our New Mid-Major Overlords

Hawkeye State — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 12:40:10 -0000

More photos » by Charlie Neibergall - AP

Iowa coach Todd Lickliter reacts as guard Matt Gatens dribbles down the baseline and throws the ball away again. Lickliter checked into University Hospitals soon after, complaining of headaches. I can't imagine why. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

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INPIYL2I is the BHGP daily roundup of news, gossip, and good stuff from Blogfrica. Send your tips to hawkeyestatebhgp@gmail.com.

That Smells Like Pure Gasoline. Iowa basketball (3-5) travels to Cedar Falls tonight to take on in-state basketball Jedi masters UNI (5-1) in the first game of three straight against in-state opposition. Northern Iowa comes in after pwning Greg McDermott and Iowa State (again). Iowa is trying to follow up its best performance of the season, albeit against Prairie View A&M. I honestly don't even remember last year's game; fortunately, the Panthers are there to remind me:

Included in that run was last year's 65-46 Hawkeye triumph during which Iowa limited UNI to just 40 field-goal attempts - the Panthers' fewest in non-conference play.

It would appear the "IOWA" written across the Hawkeyes' jerseys still puts the Panthers on edge. UNI will try to alter that perception Tuesday night at 7:05 p.m., when it hosts Iowa at the McLeod Center.

"The state of Iowa really plays it up. It means a lot when we go head-to-head," said UNI guard Ali Farokhmanesh, who prepped at Iowa City West. Last year, Farokhmanesh added, "everybody on the team was pretty frustrated with the (Iowa) loss - we just didn't play like ourselves."

"The excitement level is higher for our fans and the excitement level is higher for our players," UNI coach Ben Jacobson said of an intrastate series that Iowa leads, 32-7, all-time. "It's such an exciting game," the coach noted, "for the entire state."

Iowa has won the last two games in the series and three of the last five, which sounds good until you realize that Northern Iowa hasn't won a football contest against Iowa in more than a century and, while UNI has slowly become one of the premiere programs in the Missouri Valley Conference, it's still the Missouri Valley Conference. Nevertheless, UNI has already dispatched the Cyclones and Boston College this season; Iowa's just another brick in the wall.

Coach Lickliter, who was hospitalized for approaching perfection severe headaches late last week, is scheduled to be released from University Hospitals today but is not likely to be in attendance. Assistant coach Chad Walthall will again assume the head coach's chair in his absence. Walthall was formerly head coach at Loras College, so this is basically a lateral move.

Good luck seeing the game: Something called the Panther Sports Network (Their slogan: "60% of the time, we work every time") is responsible for tonight's broadcast. KWWL, which would normally broadcast the game, would rather show fat people working out, so unless you get the KWWL digital alternate or Mediacom Connections, you're left to the dulcet tones of Gary Dolphin and Bobby Hansen. Given that fact (and that we're recording the podcast tonight), a liveblog is doubtful.

Ain't No Party Like a Harty Party 'Cuz a Harty Party Can't Read a Simple Chart. Everyone's favorite "columnist" and "reporter" is none too pleased with Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh's final coaches poll ballot:

I'm not here to whine on behalf of the Iowa team, but rather to say that Wulff and Harbaugh should be ashamed and embarrassed for picking Orange Bowl-bound Iowa so low. I've never been a fan of the coaches poll because you don't know who does the voting each week. All we do know is that somebody associated with Stanford voted Iowa 16th, and I can't imagine it being Stanford athletics director Bob Bowlsby.

If Harbaugh did vote Iowa 16th, you wonder what his motives were. Maybe he is still bitter over Michigan's 12-10 loss to Iowa in 1985 when he was the starting quarterback for Michigan or maybe he just doesn't like Iowa. Whatever the case, Harbaugh and Wulff did nothing to help the credibility of the coaches poll.

That first sentence is possibly the greatest thing Pat's ever written: "I'm not here to whine about Iowa's low standing with two Pac-10 coaches, I'm just here to whine about Iowa's low standing with two Pac-10 coaches." But Pat takes it one step further, attributing Harbaugh's snub to a game from 25 years ago, because he's probably still mad that our student section wouldn't shut up and let him run a play at the goal line. And he probably convinced Paul Wulff to do the same, because they all hate Iowa on behalf of Schembechler.

The problem is, Harbaugh's vote clearly is less about Rob Houghtlin and more about his current conference: He ranks his own Stanford Cardinal an absurd 12th, Oregon State 13th, and Arizona 14th (by the way, Stanford lost to both of those teams). That leaves little room for actual sanity. The indignation would be warranted, of course, except for the fact that Big Ten coaches practice the same kind of abject homerism; Tressel ranked Wisconsin 15th, Bill Lynch put the Badgers at #16 and found room for jNWU, and Zook and Dantonio found room for Wisky in the top 20. Pat may want things so democratic and cool, but forgets there's no guidance when random rules. We just rely on the sheer number of coaches to limit the effectiveness of the outliers; it's not very good at that, but it's all we have.

Caring is Creepy. No, Seriously, TDG? It's Getting Really Creepy. Minnesota high school offensive lineman (and we don't mean that in a derogatory sense), national 5-star prospect, and Daily Gopher fetish object Seantrel Henderson has narrowed his list of potential schools to eight. Iowa is one of those eight schools. TDG doesn't understand this development:

Iowa - this is the surprise new-comer to the Seantrel Sweepstakes. Iowa received an unofficial visit for the Gopher game. Who knows how serious this visit is, maybe they are just doing their due diligence. OR maybe Ferentz has convinced the Henderson's that he's the one player missing to take them to a BCS game next year. Who knows, all I know is that I might cry if he goes to the Hawkeyes. I can understand leaving for USC, Florida, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Ohio State; but Iowa? No doubt they are much more successful than the Gophers in recent years but it's not like they are perennial anything except a good second tier B10 team. I digress.

It could be that Seantrel wants to stay close to home, but would rather play for a former NFL offensive line coach who worked with players like Jonathan Ogden in the pros and Steinbach, Gallery, Nelson, and Yanda at the college level. Or it could be that he's worried Tim Brewster will try to convert him into a cornerback. Either way, your tears taste like chicken fried steak.

i am in a glass box of emotion southern cal coach pete carroll is clearly too distraught over his team's emerald bowl trip, or his recent feud with charlie weis, to find the shift key and throw in his usual mix of capital letters and exclamation points on yesterday's twitter update

it's going to be ok, pete. the sun will rise tomorrow at your house in malibu and OMG YOU'RE PLAYING IN THE NUT BOWL LOL

Foot's Notes:

Freshmen defensive lineman Tyler Harrell and offensive lineman Matt Murphy are transferring at the end of the semester, per Morehouse. Both were two-star recruits who redshirted their first season. There had been some buzz about both players entering this year, but the fact that it took us five days to post something about their departure could mean something. No word yet on where they're headed.
This is along the lines of "What if the Nazis won the war?" fiction (Hitler? Who said anything about Hitler?), but The Dagger's Hunt for the Most Interesting Team in the World caught Tennessee at #7. Why are the Vols so damn interesting? Former Iowa player Tyler Smith and former Iowa assistant Bruce Pearl, that's why.
Rittenberg previews the Orange Bowl at The Worldwide Leader's Big Ten blog (now the second-biggest sports talking entity in the world behind BHGP WHAT).
Ohio State star guard (and Club Trillion contributing author) Evan "The Villain" Turner broke his back on a dunk and will miss eight weeks. Turner had been a frontrunner for Big Ten Player of the Year honors; his injury is a real backbreaker for OSU. I crack myself up.
Blue-Gray Sky reads the Twittering tea leaves and thinks Brian Kelly to Notre Dame is as good as done.

via EDSBS's outstanding "Weekend in Graphs" feature.

Hawkeye State — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 15:10:37 -0000

via EDSBS's outstanding "Weekend in Graphs" feature.

Hey Jealousy: How This Season Created a New Iowa Fan, Who Then Immediately Trumped Me

Hawkeye State — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 11:21:51 -0000

I am not just a fan and chronicler of Iowa athletics. No, much like the Apostles or missionaries or Scientologists of yesteryear, I believe it is my solemn duty to convert as many people to the cause as possible. Fandom is a communal experience, after all, and that community should be as big as possible.

My latest target for conversion was my friend Lauren, a bartender at one of my favorite local establishments. This was no easy task, mind you: Not only is she not an Iowa alum, but she has never been a fan of any sports franchise and likely wouldn't know a football if it hit her between the numbers. Despite growing up in St. Louis, she had little interest in baseball and even less in football.

I took a cue from the Jehova's Witnesses who routinely show up at my door¹ and started innocuously. Last winter, I'd ask her to watch basketball games; she looked on in detached bemusement as I suffered, repeatedly asking why she should agree to become a fan of something that brought me so much pain (a valid question, mind you). I told her about the good times, like that one November night during my salad days in Iowa City, when an upstart group of Hawkeyes knocked off #1 UConn, and I spent the evening running through the ped mall singing "In Heaven There Is No Beer." It was then that I issued a warning: If you think this is the definition of insanity, just wait until football season.

I saw her after having screamed myself hoarse during the Penn State game, drunk on victory and cheap pitchers of beer. She shook her head at the triviality of the contest and the ridiculous effect it had. She was bewildered by the roller coaster of emotions that accompanied the Indiana game ("Why did you keep saying we were going to lose? We are ahead by 11. Isn't that good?") She was occasionally watching -- this was a big step forward -- but the season was flying by; something had to happen, and soon.

We took a short road trip in the immediate aftermath of the Wisconsin game -- coincidentally to the Iowa-Wisconsin border -- where I gave a terrorist fist jab to every person in black and gold. It was here that she finally admitted that she didn't yet understand why that happened, why it was that every person making an outward showing of support for one school's football program was apparently and immediately a longtime friend. I gave the most honest answer I could: "Being an Iowa fan is simply joining a community of people, united in their irrational love for a school and a place and a group of post-adolescents they have never met, and their equally irrational hatred for people who attended a different school or love a different group of post-adolescents." This sounds insane, and it is; "fan" is a shortened version of "fanatic," a word that, prior to the moment organized sports took hold in America, was generally reserved for revolutionaries and partisans. Fanaticism was not to be celebrated; it was to be crushed. Lauren may well have been slightly concerned by this, but she attempted to conceal it at the time. And then came Michigan State, and Stanzi hit McNutt on the slant pattern, and the bar where she worked exploded. Ten minutes after the game, while I was still hugging strangers and reveling in the euphoria, I got a text message: I now had permission to make her a fan.² Mission nearly accomplished.

I had to finish this conversion -- it had taken on a life of its own by this point -- so I scored a couple of tickets to the Minnesota game, and Lauren suddenly got the entire weekend off, and we went for the full Iowa City experience: bar-hopping through Friday night, 6:00 tailgating wakeup call for Saturday, a brief stop at Carver-Hawkeye. All systems go.

And then came one of the most excruciating football games I've ever witnessed. I was openly complaining about the lack of offense. She was asking questions about the marching band. My plan was eroding with every successive three-and-out. I needed a game-changer, and I got it three hours later in a downtown establishment. Well into my seventeenth vodka tonic of the evening, I caught sight of a familiar face. Two minutes, one drunken request, and a quick snapshot later, and my task was complete...

I had a long line of Iowa football jerseys as a kid (even that one with the wings on the shoulders). I had an Iowa Starter jacket when the Fab Five of Michigan was preferred by every fourth grader in the state. I had season tickets for 10 years. I'll be repaying the University for my education until I retire. And I've never had a picture taken with the starting quarterback.

It took Lauren one game.

Yeah, I'm jealous.

---------------------------------------

1 -- A friend of mine once had a roommate who was a member of the LDS church. The roommate would wait for the Jehova's Witnesses to come around, then invite them in to give them a copy of the Book of Mormon. I'm thinking of doing the same thing with the people who come to my house every Saturday at 11:00. "Please come in and have a seat. I'd love to discuss the Book of Leviticus. If you'll just take a quick look at this literature and watch a quick Tavian Banks highlight video set to AC/DC's 'Thunderstruck,' I'll be right back."

2 -- Yeah, I know. Bandwaggon. Better than nothing, though.

Championship Saturday OPENTHREADLIVEBLOG: The Late Shift

Hawkeye State — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 01:27:10 -0000

"...and I don't see any steers here LOL"

Nebraska-Texas and Clemson-Georgia Tech. And Wisconsin bombs Pearl Harbor later. Join us, won't you?

I Don't Need Your Civil War Liveblog

Hawkeye State — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:20:20 -0000

The rules of engagement (per College Game Balls):

Before playing pick a side North (Oregon State) or South (Oregon).

Whenever your side gives up points it’s 1 drink for 3 or less and 2 drinks for 4 or more.

1 drink if the LeGarrette Blount punch is mentioned, 3 drinks if they show the video. Then promptly fist pump.

If your side is the North it’s 1 drink for every dumbass Jesse Palmer comment, if you’re the South do the same for Craig James. (honor system in play here for what constitutes a ‘dumbass comment’)

Any time an announcer mentions the last time Oregon State was in the Rose Bowl was 1965, take a drink.

Any time an announcer laments the fact that somebody who isn’t USC is going to win the Pac 10, finish your drink.

If Erin Andrews says something along the lines of, "it’s getting loud in here", that’s 3 drinks.

Any time the game is compared to the actual Civil War, finish your drink.

Any time Phil Knight is mentioned, 2 drinks. If they show him, that’s 5 drinks.

If an announcer segues from Chip Kelly to talking about Brian Kelly to ND by saying "speaking of Kelly", finish your drink.

If there’s a reference to Appomattox Court House, finish your drink.

Anytime, anything, about Oregon’s uniforms are mentioned that’s 2 drinks.

Comments in CoverItLive (I know, different than usual, but it lets us broadcast on the half-dozen participating blogs).

<a href="http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php?option=com_mobile&task=viewaltcast&altcast_code=f2c7699065" mce_href="http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php?option=com_mobile&task=viewaltcast&altcast_code=f2c7699065" >Civil War For the Roses</a>

Blogfrica unite! We'll be liveblogging tonight's Civil War for the Roses between Oregon and Oregon...

Hawkeye State — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:16:32 -0000

Blogfrica unite! We'll be liveblogging tonight's Civil War for the Roses between Oregon and Oregon State with College Game Balls, Gobbler Country, and Eleven Warriors. We'll also be drinking, pursuant to CGB's ground rules. So join us at 8:00 CST, because what's so civil about war, anyway?

BLACK HEART GOLD PODCAST, EPISODE 15: IN WHICH WE DOUBLE DIP THE PROVERBIAL CHIP

Hawkeye State — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 16:15:58 -0000

For our fifteenth anniversary show (Is it an anniversary when you do one per week? Someone contact Larry King), we have a rare two-guest show. First, HS and OPS are joined by John Bohnenkamp, who acts as sports editor, Iowa basketball reporter, and blogger for the Burlington Hawkeye, to discuss Iowa's recent loss to Virginia Tech and the prognosis for the rest of the campaign. We are then graced with the presence of Graham Filler and Bama Hawkeye from The Rivalry, Esq., the SB Nation blog dedicated to Big Ten football, cigars, and legalese, to wrap up the 2009 BXI football season and talk bowl selection. Also, there's new intro music.

Listen below or on iTunes.

BHGPodcast 15

BREAKING NEWS: Jimmy Clausen Attacker Found

Hawkeye State — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 13:21:34 -0000

Authorities say the attacker was unhappy with recent Notre Dame football results, saying, "I know what I said about peacemakers, but I don't want to inherit an earth where the Irish are 6-6." Clausen is unlikely to file assault charges. However, his former coach is alleging identity theft. More information as the situation develops.