Would you recruit that state or North Dakota for basketball Talent? I remember Alford getting a big guy from up there who was supposed to be so good at Iowa top 50 if I recall. Who didn't turn out to well, what was his name again? Like Reiner maybe?
Reiner was a lot better than "just ok." If not for injuries in his last two years, he might have been all-B1G. I thought that there was a very good argument for giving him a medical red shirt year (by playing injured a few games, he played more than the allowed portion of the season, and he missed part of the prior season), but, as usual, the decision didn't go Iowa's way. It almost seemed like Settles playing so many years impacted future Iowa requests for medical red shirts. I read somewhere that Izzo had written a letter against giving Reiner a red shirt (maybe out of concern that Iowa could build some momentum under Alford, who did have a great second-year recruiting class). When he was healthy, Iowa was a much better team, and Iowa would have gotten off to a much better start under Alford.
Do you actually remember watching Reiner play? He might have been the best center in the B1G his last couple of seasons, but injuries took that away.
If you remember Reiner his last couple of years, this is the correct assessment. He only played about 75% of his Junior year due to an injury, and then only played a few games his Senior year before he was injured. Reiner continued to play for several games injured (another really stupid decision by Alford and his staff), and that cost him from getting a medical red shirt. Reiner was not a flashy player, but he was a really good nuts and bolts center. Because of limited playing time for two years and injuries the next two, Reiner's statistics do not reflect how good he was when healthy.
