Some think losing LaFrentz started a downward cycle

Raef LaFrentz left his mark on the University of Iowa basketball program without playing one second for the Hawkeyes.

In 1993, LaFrentz, then a senior at MFL/Mar-Mac, chose Kansas over Iowa in a move that shook the foundation of Iowa basketball. Here was a small-town Iowa boy, considered the nation's top power forward prospect, spurning the home-state Hawkeyes for a national power.

“In my heart, I feel that I will be more able to reach my goals at the University of Kansas,” LaFrentz said that day.

Two words - “more able” - defined the second portion of Tom Davis' 13-year coaching career at Iowa. Critics on bar stools and newly formed Web sites chirped that Davis couldn't recruit top players. They considered it an embarrassment that one of the state's top basketball programs couldn't land perhaps the state's best-ever basketball prospect. Some even say missing out on LaFrentz was the start of a downward recruiting cycle for Iowa that lasts to this day.

Looking back, Davis thought LaFrentz's departure clouded perspective when it came to that recruiting class. Davis landed Kent McCausland, one of the school's best pure shooters, and Fort Madison's Ryan Bowen, who recently concluded a 10-year NBA playing career. Davis said the fervor over LaFrentz was comparable to fan interest last fall over Ames High School superstar Harrison Barnes, who picked North Carolina over Iowa State and others.

“Like with the Barnes kid, I'm sure that fans at Iowa State and at Iowa feel, ‘Ah man, it would be nice to keep him in state,'” Davis said. “In some cases, that just isn't going to be possible. And (recruiting LaFrentz) was a good example of that. You can't let it dominate you.

“You have to work with who you can get. You're not going to get them all. You're not going to get everybody.”

Davis had early success with players left over from the George Raveling era. Although many of his recruits weren't as high profile as Roy Marble, Kevin Gamble or B.J. Armstrong - all future NBA players - he still landed many of the country's top players. But by losing LaFrentz, Davis was labeled as a top coach and mediocre recruiter, a stigma cited when his contract was not renewed after the 1998-1999 season.

“I think people always say George Raveling can recruit, Tom Davis can coach,” said one person close to Iowa athletics who declined to speak on the record. “But that's really wrong when you look at it. Tom Davis recruited guys in Jess Settles, Andre Woolridge, Chris Kingsbury, J.R. Koch, Guy Rucker, Chris Street ... those guys were highly recruited across the country. So I think there's a little misconception about that.”

Davis battled Michigan, Michigan State and Kentucky for Flint, Mich. star Kenyon Murray in 1992. Murray, who resides in Cedar Rapids and calls games for the Big Ten Network, picked Iowa in part because of Davis' coaching style.

Murray, who ranks No. 17 all-time in Iowa scoring, played with six of Iowa's top 32 career scorers, including No. 2 Acie Earl, No. 6 Settles, No. 9 Woolridge and Bowen (No. 32). The Hawkeyes advanced to the NCAA tournament's second round twice in his tenure.

Among the differences between Murray's era, which ended in 1996, and now is talent, he said.

“Iowa is not the deepest team,” Murray said. “It doesn't have stars on their team, guys that can take over a game. You've got every team in the Big Ten has somebody that can take over a game if they need a basket or need an assist or need a rebound. They have guys that have NBA talent that can do that. I think that's probably the biggest thing that Iowa is lacking right now is a go-to type of player.”

Transfer hurting today's Hawks

Many of Iowa's go-to players this decade have ended their careers inauspiciously. In 2002, guard Pierre Pierce initially was charged with sexual abuse and later pleaded guilty to assaulting a female student-athlete. In 2005, Pierce was kicked off the basketball team and served 11 months in prison after a violent attack on a former girlfriend.

Recently, transfers have caused many of Iowa's player troubles. In Coach Todd Lickliter's three seasons, nine different scholarship athletes have transferred from the program. Tyler Smith averaged nearly 15 points a game and was an all-Big Ten freshman in 2007. Within two weeks of Lickliter's arrival, Smith left Iowa for Tennessee to live closer to his dying father.

Jake Kelly led Iowa in scoring last season and twice was named the Big Ten Player of the Week in the final month. But two weeks after the season, Kelly, whose mother died in a plane crash in 2008, left the program for Indiana State to live closer to his family. Both Smith and Kelly were granted NCAA hardships and allowed to play right away.

“I don't think there's any question there's some unusual things that have happened to Coach Lickliter since he's been here,” said longtime TV broadcaster Mac McCausland, whose son, Kent, played under Davis in the mid-1990s. “In terms of your best player leaves right away because his dad has cancer, can Coach Lickliter change that?

“Then, arguably, you're setting in pretty good position at the end of last year. Then Jake Kelly wants to come home and be closer to his family because his mother died in an airplane crash. Once again, can you blame a coach and a coaching staff? I don't think so. Those are two players, they're all-Big Ten caliber, and now you've got to reteach around them, re-coach around them and replace them. That's hard to do.”

But some of the transfers have resulted from sour relationships with Lickliter. Guards Tony Freeman (third-team all-Big Ten in 2008) and Jeff Peterson (started first 25 games at point guard in 2008-09) left after run-ins with Lickliter. Starting sophomore guard Anthony Tucker was suspended for six weeks following a public intoxication arrest and left the program three weeks ago. He was eligible to return but Lickliter chose not to play him.

“When you inherit (a program), you're not going to necessarily convince players that you haven't recruited ... you've got a vision and a way of doing it that's going to be successful,” Lickliter said. “So you go through some struggles, and that's what we did. A few of those players decided that there was something better out there, and they left.”

More leaving state

Recent recruiting woes have spanned both the Lickliter and Steve Alford eras. Wisconsin senior guard Jason Bohannon, whose father, Gordy, led the Hawkeye football team to the 1982 Rose Bowl, picked the Badgers over Iowa and Alford because of comfort. He also felt Iowa's program was unstable.

“That was a big part of it,” Bohannon said.

Lickliter didn't endear himself to the state's AAU coaches when he arrived, either. For nearly 20 years, Hank Huddleson has run Martin Brothers Select, a premier Iowa AAU team. Martin Brothers has sent eight players to NBA camps, including current NBA players Nick Collison and Kirk Hinrich. Eight different Martin Brothers alumni have played at Iowa, including current Hawkeye Matt Gatens.

Huddleson described Iowa's coaches as aloof in the beginning, but said his relationship has improved dramatically in the last 18 months.

“I just felt coming in that it was more of their attitude was, ‘If you want to be a Hawkeye,' ... it's kind of more of the responsibility of the kids to seek the school out versus them seeking the player out,” Huddleson said. “I think they came into a situation where either (Lickliter) didn't want to or didn't know how to reach out to a number of people to work on some of the kids. Being in the Big Ten is obviously a little bit different level than at Butler as far as an athlete's concerned.”

Many people - none of whom would speak on the record - said Lickliter is too selective in recruiting and almost nitpicks potential players out of the program. That's how one person close to Iowa described the recruiting process with former Chipola (Fla.) Junior College point guard Malcolm Armstead last year. Armstead, who now leads Oregon in scoring, assists and steals, planned an Iowa visit but subsequently canceled it when other schools became interested.

“I think with Lickliter, he just hasn't been at a BCS school to know and really understand how high of a level you've got to go to get players,” one person close to the program said. “You need an Evan Turner (at Ohio State) to win it. You've got to have (Purdue's) Robbie Hummel, E'Twaun Moore and J.J. Johnson to win. Our players aren't there.”