Notebook: Rough homecoming for Lickliter
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By Steve Batterson | Thursday, March 20, 2008 |
INDIANAPOLIS — Thursday didn’t provide first-year Iowa basketball coach Todd Lickliter with the homecoming he wanted at the Big Ten Tournament.
Instead, the Indianapolis native found himself dealing with more of the same as the Hawkeyes ended a 13-19 season by struggling from start to finish in a 55-47 loss to Michigan.
“A year like this, it’s painful,” Lickliter said. “Coming off of the best year in a career (a 29-win season as Butler’s head coach in 2006-07) to this, it hurts. We competed at times, but our margin for error was not great. It was a draining year.”
A number of family members and friends were in the stands to watch Lickliter coach in Indianapolis for the first time since becoming Iowa’s coach.
“We didn’t give them much to watch,” he said.
Lickliter believes his team did make progress from the start to finish of a 13-19 season.
“It didn’t necessarily show in our record, but there was improvement,” Lickliter said. “Individually and collectively, there was improvement and moving forward, we won’t be starting over. That’s a good thing.”
Seniority matters
Lickliter began his opening remarks after the game by thanking Iowa’s seniors for accepting him as their coach.
“It was a difficult transition for them, I’m sure,” he said. “But, they were a pleasure to work with this year. Everyone’s disappointed. It wasn’t the year we hoped for, but they didn’t allow that to affect our effort, and I appreciate that.”
Hawkeyes senior Seth Gorney said the reality of knowing that his college career was over hit as he walked off the court.
“All of a sudden, you’re done,” Gorney said. “I’m remembering back to a year ago when Adam Haluska’s career ended in the Big Ten tourney. You don’t expect it and it just hits you.”
Missed opportunity
Iowa basketball players weren’t the only ones who couldn’t connect Thursday at Conseco Fieldhouse.
John Lickliter, the son of the Hawkeyes coach and a senior on Iowa City High’s Class 4A state championship team, couldn’t pull the trigger when he and his girlfriend, Leah Kite, showed up on the “Kiss Cam” on the Conseco Fieldhouse video board during a timeout.
A surprised Lickliter initially shook off the suggestion, then moved slightly toward his girlfriend before rejecting the idea.
New way to win
Relief pretty much summed up the mindset of Illinois’ basketball players after surviving a 64-63 game against Penn State.
“It’s nice to finally win one of these,” Illini senior Brian Randle said, reflecting on Illinois’ 10 losses this season in games decided in the final minutes.
A quarterfinal matchup with Purdue presents Illinois with a different type of challenge.
“We know they’ll lock down on defense a lot more than Penn State did, come at us with a lot of pressure,” Randle said. “This will be a different style of game.”
Playing with purpose
Chester Frazier, whose game-winning basket allowed Illinois to advance to the quarterfinals, said the Illini are playing with a purpose, and he’s not alone.
Michigan players talked about the second chance that the Big Ten tourney presents as well following difficult regular seasons.
“Everything that happened in the regular season is behind us now,” the Wolverines’ DeShawn Sims said. “We’re 1-0 now, and we have something to play for.”
Frazier wouldn’t disagree.
“We’re still alive, still fighting,” he said.
Steve Batterson can be contacted at (563) 383-2290 or sbatterson@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.
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