Please elaborate on the excellent class you reference. The only 3 players from that era that I can / want to remember are Jake Kelly, Jeff Peterson, and Gatens. I can't block out the images of Lickliter Jr. in his 3XL undershirt trying to break MSU's press and the student section commenting that they felt sorry for us after the beating we took in East Lansing.
Ben Jacobson = very underated
- Thread starter Kurt Warner
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Please elaborate on the excellent class you reference. The only 3 players from that era that I can / want to remember are Jake Kelly, Jeff Peterson, and Gatens. I can't block out the images of Lickliter Jr. in his 3XL undershirt trying to break MSU's press and the student section commenting that they felt sorry for us after the beating we took in East Lansing.
The final class included Devyn Marble and Ben Brust, who did turn out to be pretty good. However, Lick had shown ample evidence over his 3 years that he had no idea what to do with an excellent player other than drive them to transfer.
Marble was a legacy and would have come to Iowa no matter who was coaching. Brust, however, was probably a true recruit who craved to play slow ball, probably why he switched to Wisconsin when Lick got fired.
I am not a basketball recruiting expert, but pretty sure we had a Top 20 class signed, including Devyn Marble, Ben Brust who was a multi-year contributor for a very good Wisconsin program, the Larson kid that ended up going to Florida and not really panning out, and I think there was another highly rated kid.
I am in no way defending Lick or suggesting that he should have stayed, but his final class would have been one of the higher rated at Iowa in the last several years.
I Yes, that would have been a good start to a class, but I am not sure it was top 20 or close. Regardless, I overlooked those guys as potentially being the start of something under TL.
It was unquestionably ranked there. That is an indisputable fact. Whether it deserved it or not is an entirely different matter.
I'd agree. Lick did bring I a few decent recruits but it just didn't work out.
Much the same with McDermott at Iowa St, who in the four years in Ames had 5 guys that ended up playing in the NBA....yet his teams couldn't put it together.
Much the same with McDermott at Iowa St, who in the four years in Ames had 5 guys that ended up playing in the NBA....yet his teams couldn't put it together.
Jacobson already has great relationships with the key upper Midwest AAU programs. his rotation is four Iowa barnstormers, two kids from Wisconsin, and two Martin brothers kids, with 2 more stormers and a Minnesota kid on the bench. in his tenure he's had key kids from Minnesota and Wisconsin regularly.
I am not denying this, but I can't recall that it was a top 20 class. Care to share a link?
Lick was a double whammy. Bad recruiter and managed to chase off talented players. Thank you Gatens family for slapping Barta out of his coma.
UNI just got destroyed by Hawaii. They've had 2 Super Bowls where they pulled out all the stops but have been underwhelming otherwise. They should be lauded for those wins but equally panned for their losses. It's a good team...nothing more.
Jake is still a wonderful coach but this UNI team is a notch below his better ones.
Jake is still a wonderful coach but this UNI team is a notch below his better ones.
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