Fran sounds like he did when Adam Woodbury was signed... And did he thrive? Sure, he started games. He came in as the big catch that North Carolina wanted but Fran swooped in and swayed him from being a Tar Heel. I can't tell you what he scored in every game - I hate numbers and that kind of statistics is too close to math for my brain. So, in generalities [(which yes, I criticized the writer who wrote about 'filler' without being specific, but this is not a music review so pipe down! (GRIN)], I remember these things about AW as a player:
- He missed free throws.
- He either fouled out or was a non-factor in critical games.
- He got a reputation for being a 'dirty' player.
The bottom line is that he was not the savior that Fran proclaimed he would be. That's not on Fran - don't get me wrong - that's on Woodbury, who may be the sweetest / likeable guy on the planet - I've never met him. In the end, though, I personally label his career as an Iowa Hawkeye basketball player "underachieving" to the extent that when I read Fran touting Joe Wieskamp in the Iowa City Press-Citizen, I get nervous. This lead-off sentence of an article about Wieskamp conjures up memories of Woodbury:
IOWA CITY, Ia. — Joe Wieskamp is good enough to compete for a starting role on next year’s Iowa basketball team, coach Fran McCaffery said Thursday in his first public comments about the coveted recruit from Muscatine.
Maybe Wieskamp will come in and be the dominant player Woodbury was supposed to be. I hope so. Having a special player at Carver-Hawkeye Arena makes going to basketball games fun and worth fighting the crowd. The Iowa men's team begin their season tonight against Chicago State. I wish them well this season as well as in all future seasons.
Editor's Note: To read more about Fran's comments about Wieskamp, refer to this article: Iowa hoops: Can Wieskamp start immediately?
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