Boy was I wrong and a big surprise

Boy was I wrong. Lickliter is out as U of I basketball coach. Now the question is who to hire. First and foremost, I think it has to be someone with Iowa ties. Neither Lickliter nor Alford before him had those ties or seemed to develop them.

My short list includes Bruce Pearl, the head coach at Tennessee, who was an assistant to Tom Davis at Iowa; but to expect him to leave a successful program and rebuild at Iowa? I think not.

Then there is Tom Davis's son Keno. He continued his dad's rebuilding at Drake and took them to the NCCA tournament before leaving for a bigger school out east.

The big surprise this year is Ben Jacobson's UNI Panthers. Just a few minutes ago they upset #1 Kansas! The man can obviously coach. Go Panthers!

My first choice would be Keno Davis. He lived here for a long time. His dad still lives here, and the Davis style of basketball with constant pressure is nothing if not exciting to watch.

Second would be Ben Jacobson, almost sure to be named coach of the year after advancing his team to the sweet 16. But then I remember that Lickliter was also named coach of the year after coaching a mid major team to the sweet 16.

The key is to make Iowa basketball fun to watch again. The hard pressing Davis system provides that and success besides. We'll see what happens. For now good night.