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#11 Iowa Hawkeyes
Big Ten
2004-05: 21-12,
7-9, 7th
2004-05 postseason:
NCAA
By
Joel Welser
Iowa was up and down last year
before sneaking into the NCAA Tournament with wins over Purdue
and Michigan State in the conference tournament. With everybody
back who finished last season, the Hawkeyes are looking forward
to much better things.
Who’s Out:
Pierre Pierce led the team with 17.8 points in 20 games before
being suspended and missing the final 13 games of the season.
It took a little while for Coach Steve Alford’s squad to adjust
to life without Pierce, but they eventually proved that Pierce
wasn’t a necessity for the Hawkeyes to have success. Seldom
used Jack Brownlee has run out of eligibility and will not
return to Iowa for the 2005-2006 campaign.
Who’s In: Point
guard Tony Freeman should be able to add some depth to the
bench. Freeman is naturally a shooting guard, but at 6-0, he’s
been working on making the move to the point. The Westchester,
Illinois product has the talent to run the show and can light up
the scoreboard when he’s on a roll. Power forward Kurt Looby is
a likely redshirt candidate. Looby played at Tyler (TX)
Community College for the past two seasons, but isn’t an
experienced player. The Antigua native is extremely raw, yet is
a physical player at 6-10 and 210 pounds. A redshirt year will
be good for Looby as he develops his overall game. Shooting
guard Dan Bohall and point guard Brett Wessels will walk-on for
the Hawkeyes.
Who to Watch:
Take your pick among the senior starters. Jeff Horner is a
smart ball handler and Adam Haluska came on strong at the end of
the year after a sluggish start. Greg Brunner averaged 14.7
points and 8.3 rebounds per game and will look to increase those
numbers for his senior campaign. Erek Hansen is an underrated
center. He won’t score tons of points or even grab his share of
rebounds, but nobody gets by him easily on the defensive end.
Hansen averaged a conference high 2.6 blocks per game. His
outside shot is decent and improving, and the 6-11, Bedford,
Texas native should improve on his 4.8 points per game.
Projected
Conference Rank: This is the year for Iowa, because it
probably won’t be pretty next year. A 2nd place
finish in the Big Ten is more expectations than Coach Alford
would like, but the starting five is extremely experienced and
the bench has some quality options with Doug Thomas, Alex
Thompson and Carlton Reed. If the Hawkeyes stay healthy, and
the seniors lead the way in the consistency department, this
will be an enormously tough team.
Projected
Post-season Tournament: NCAA
Projected Starting
Five:
Jeff Horner., Senior,
Guard, 14.0 points per game
Mike Henderson,
Junior, Guard, 4.9 points per game
Adam Haluska, Junior,
Guard, 14.2 points per game
Greg Brunner, Senior,
Forward, 14.7 points per game
Erek Hansen, Senior,
Center, 4.8 points per game
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