CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. -- Iowa's Andrew Brommer went to the line with less than a tenth of a second left to attempt the front end of a one-and-one free throw and a chance to send the game into overtime.
Attempting his first free throw of the game and 3-of-14 at the line on the season, Brommer missed.
The game was over; Iowa lost to Boston College 57-55 in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge on Tuesday.
Coach Todd Lickliter, in his second season at Iowa, wasn't crushed. He understood the situation Brommer was in and understood his own position in coaching the Hawkeyes through a complete rebuilding job in what has become the greatest coaching challenge of his career. That's because Lickliter did something that fellow coaches such as Southern Illinois' Chris Lowery, Creighton's Dana Altman and Davidson's Bob McKillop haven't done -- he left a comfortable situation with NCAA tournament access for a higher payday and ultimately more exposure in a conference like the Big Ten.
"This is tougher,'' Lickliter said of the job of coaching Iowa as opposed to Butler, where he led the Bulldogs to the Sweet 16 in 2007. Lickliter's Bulldogs, whom he had coached to the NCAA's Sweet 16 in 2003, as well, lost in '07 to eventual champ Florida.
"[Butler] was established,'' Lickliter said. "Barry [Collier] had done a great job and Thad [Matta] had done a great job, and they had a sense of pride and tradition and knew exactly what they were doing. Iowa has tradition and we have to rekindle it. We've got to do some things. We need to show we're committed.''
Collier left Butler for a higher payday at Nebraska. He was ultimately nudged out the door and returned to Butler as an athletic director. No one could blame Matta for leaving Butler to go to Xavier (and then to Ohio State).
Iowa is a much tougher gig in the Big Ten than OSU. The Hawkeyes don't have a natural recruiting base. Iowa is also one of only two schools in the Big Ten (Michigan is the other) that either doesn't have a practice facility or isn't in the process of building one.
Iowa officials say they have two anchor donations of $5 million each but need to get up to the $30 million to $40 million price tag for an all-encompassing facility. The hope is that they can build in the spring or summer, but with the economic downturn -- now officially called a recession -- there is trepidation that this won't get done anytime soon.
When Iowa returned from playing the The Citadel on Nov. 21, the Hawkeyes had to practice at a local health club in preparation for the Nov. 23 home game against Oakland. That may not sound like something to get out the violin for, but in the cutthroat world of recruiting, it is a negative hit.
Lickliter said players want to come to a program at which they know they can develop, and when other programs are telling them they have other options for working out, it can go against Iowa. Former Iowa coach Steve Alford said something similar last summer when discussing how hard it was for Iowa to compete against Big Ten programs such as Michigan State because of the facility disparity.
Despite the disadvantages, Lickliter isn't going for the quick fix. JC transfer Jermain Davis is contributing (10 points off the bench against BC), but Lickliter is leaning heavily on freshmen. Anthony Tucker, Aaron Fuller and Matt Gatens, a local Iowa City product who was committed regardless of the coach, all start as freshmen. (Tucker is the leading scorer at 13.3 points per game, but he played only eight minutes against the Eagles due to feeling ill.)
Lickliter is looking mostly at high school juniors and seniors, not necessarily at JC or four-year transfers. He said he wants to find the right fit for Iowa, just like he did at Butler.
"I want players who are involved with their teams, who enjoy playing with their teammates,'' Lickliter said of what obviously worked at Butler. "I want players who appreciate each other, who understand the sense of team. That's what people saw at Butler. That's my vision here, but [also] getting a player who is at the next level for the Big Ten -- players we couldn't get at Butler.''
Lickliter said he was enjoying his life at Butler; he didn't have to move.
"But I just felt like if I was going to go, then I wanted a challenge,'' said Lickliter, who was a Butler graduate and a Butler assistant coach. "I felt like we had accomplished a lot at Butler. I thought the challenges of the Big Ten and what the administration was telling me would be a good fit.''
Lickliter said he isn't going to limit himself to some sort of five-year plan. He wants to win now, but the players have to understand the speed and physical style of the game. He said they didn't do so when they got popped by West Virginia in Las Vegas this past weekend, 87-68. And despite nearly coming back and beating BC, he didn't think the Hawkeyes matched the Eagles' physical play Tuesday night. Beating Kansas State in the consolation round of the Las Vegas Invitational was a positive step forward for a team that will be dominated by freshmen.
Lickliter finished his first season with Iowa at 13-19 (6-12 Big Ten). A similar fate could await Iowa again. Lickliter is trying to bring Tom Davis back into the fold; the current Iowa coach has reached out to the former coach, who now lives in Iowa City following the move of his son Keno, the former Drake coach, from Des Moines to Providence. But Lickliter will need to do more. He has shooters, but no size or post play to offer balance. The plan is that those players will come, as long as they are a fit.
"If you want something of substance, you have to stay true to who you are, who we are, and you've got to believe that we can implement what we want and grow,'' Lickliter said. "If we didn't have any competition for two or three years, you could be patient. But that's not the way it works.''
• Officials made the right call on BC's Corey Raji when he tied up and fouled Brommer with less than a second left Tuesday night. ACC coordinator of officials John Clougherty was at the game and said that if an official sees a foul before time expires, there is a natural time difference between acknowledging the foul and signaling it. So officials can go to the monitor to put time back on the clock. That's what occurred Tuesday. Brommer was fouled with 0.01 left on the clock, but the signal came after it said 0.00. So Brommer went to the line with less than a tenth of a second on the clock.
• Boston College's Tyrese Rice was in quite a funk; he committed four unnecessary fouls to limit himself to 24 minutes. He still scored 15 points and was 9-of-12 but never got untracked offensively.
• BC is maximizing Vermont transfer Joe Trapani, who hit one of the two key 3s for the Eagles.
Andy Katz
