I got a fever, and the only prescription, is more..... Hawkeye sports.  Thank God there will be plenty of action in the coming days.  The weather is beautiful in Iowa City and things are actually looking just about as beautiful in the world of Hawkey sports.

The culmination of spring football practice comes this Saturday as the Hawkeyes take on, well the Hawkeyes in the Spring Games.  Kickoff is scheduled for 1:00 pm on Saturday, April 17th at historic Kinnick Stadium.  A crowd of 20,000-plus is expected. 

Unfortunately, the one position group most fans are looking forward to watching next fall will not be on display Saturday.  It is rumored that none of the projected top four running backs for 2010 will be on the field on the 17th.  RS sophomore Jewel Hampton is still recoving from his torn ACL and has not practiced all spring.  His two replacements last fall, Brandon Wegher and Adam Robinson, are also recovering from injuries (although minor) and will not be participating. 

The fourth running back is said to be the next coming of Shonn Greene.  Unfortunately, incoming freshman Marcus Coker did not graduate early to enroll at Iowa in the spring so Hawk fans won't get a taste of his abilities until next fall at the earliest.  Some are speculating that Coker may red-shirt this season to add some balance to the class spread in the running back corps going forward (the top three RBs are all sophomores this season).

Even without the star-studded running backs, this weekend looks to be an exciting glimpse into what could be in store for Hawk fans come August.  Big question marks remain about how the void at corner back will be filled and who exactly will be stepping in to the many holes on the offensive line.  Many of those questions will remain after Saturday, but we should all at least have an idea of what the coaches are thinking.

Off the gridiron, there is a lot of other excitement around Iowa City this weekend.  Elite Sports USA will be hosting an AAU tournament for teams in the 15-Under, 16-Under and 17-Under groupings at the Field House (the athletic facility, not the drinking establishment) beginning Saturday at 8:00 am and ending Sunday evening. 

Among the players expected to be on hand are several 2011 prospects from within the state of Iowa, including Josh Oglesby, Jarrod Uthoff and Seth Tuttle.  In addition, a few 2010 prospects are expected to participate, including 6'4" Chim Kadima, who originally committed to ISU, but has since re-opened his recruiting.

While D-1 coaching staffs are not allowed to attend, there is no question there will be a few "friends of coaches" hanging around Iowa City to see the talent.  Hawks fans can only hope the beautiful weather matched with the hype from the spring game will serve as a beautiful scene for these prospects to keep in mind come signing day.  If all goes well, we may just see a familiar face or two in the coming years.  Be sure to get out and enjoy everything Hawkeye Nation has to offer this weekend, it is shaping upto be a good one.

It has happened again, folks, and just a few short moments after we plastered our excitement for next season all over the internet. Yes, Iowa players are once again defecting. This marks the 4th consecutive year at least one player has transferred out of the Iowa Hawkeye basketbal program.  As of our little post of joy on Friday, Cody Larson had already asked for a release from his letter of intent and now others have begun to follow suit. It's not the recruits decommitting that gets to me.  What concerns me is the ripple effect we are now seeing, as well as our leading rebounder, one of the best in the Big Ten, jumping ship. Friday afternoon, Aaron Fuller announced that he would be transferring to a school closer to his home in Phoenix, Arizona. I can't blame the kid for wanting to be in the warmer weather and closer to home (although I can say that there's a reason they call it the dessert). What I can blame him for is for not playing this one out a little more. I mean, you really wanted to play for Coach Lickliter, but not for White Magic? You really wanted to sit in the half court and let the shot clock run down to 3-2-1 and watch your guards throw up three-balls instead of grabbing the defensive board, hitting the outlet man and then being on the receiving end of an alley-oop?

I can understand you being frustrated by the losing and being homesick, but I would expect those thoughts to be expressed when prompted by reporters. Thus far, you have said nothing. You haven't said anything about why you are leaving and you haven't said anything about the new coach. So you don't want to cause any rifs, huh? Maybe you should have considered that before you played one of the biggest roles in getting Todd Lickliter run out of town. You heard me, Aaron Fuller. One of the prime reasons Lick lost his job (and some - not this guy - would say prematurely) was of rumblings that players would be transferring again.   

Specifically, there were rumors that you would be leaving IF he stayed. That was said to of set off a chain reaction, causing Brommer and Gatens to jump ship too (if thescenario was allowed to play out). So, Mr. Barta obliged and Lick got the boot (obviously, the poor attendance and horrible record also played a role). Now, you mean to tell me that you are leaving anyway? With all the rumors floating around regarding the Lick, it seems as if at least your teammates should have been clued in to the fact that you were leaving regardless.  Especially when considering there are now rumors guys like Brommer and Archie are considering following your actions and leaving anyway. In any event, you are gone.  You are dead to me.  I hope you enjoy your time back in sunny Arizona while you either sit out the next year or dominate some Division II conference.  To be honest, I am moving more and more to the camp of folks decalring, "If they don't want to be here, we don't want them here!"  I didn't think i'd say it, but at this point, we are starting from scratch with an exciting new coach and aspirations of getting back to where we were in the '80s.  If you don't want to be along for the ride, don't let the door hit you on your way out.

That goes for you too Ben Brust.  We have been counting on this for a while now, and you made it official yesterday.  I have to be honest again here, you seem pretty slimy to me.  Sure, Fran has said that both you and Larson are open to being "re-recruited," but I don't think he should be wasting his time.  It is pretty clear that both of you have been tampered with by other, more established programs.  So go ahead, take youre 18 scholarship offers (yeah, you weren't tampered with, yet grabbed 18 offers within hours of being released from you LOI??) and enjoy Madison or Indianapolis, or wherever the hell you end up.  We are going to enjoy beating you in the years to come with MUCH better athletes.   

I know, I know, this year is going to be rough again and I am prepared for that.  Hawk fans may even start grumbling about the cycle starting over, but there is certainly light at the end of the tunnel.  We will be watching basketball "the way it's supposed to be played" and seeing some things we haven't seen in a while.  Come next year, I would venture to say we will see a LOT of things we haven't seen in a while (like, say, some true athletes who can play basketball, not just shoot the 3-ball) and I am looking forward to it.  If all the hype on the message boards from Siena fans is true, we are in for a great ride and I am excited (more to come in a later post).   

I am excited to see Fran hit the recruiting trail for the next year and bring some guys in for 2011-2012 that will get us going right.  I am thankful that guys like Cody Larson and Ben Brust are out so we can start the rebuilding right away.  I will admit, I hate to see us lose a guy with some experience (Fuller) as those guys are few and far between, but at least we have another scholarship to fill either this year or next.  I think we are in for a nice surprise with this team over the next few seasons and perhaps we should all just sit back and enjoy the ride.

This just doesn't seem right folks.  It is the middle of April, the Spring Game is just over a week away, and I am absolutely thrilled about next season.... Next basketball season.  You heard me.  I cannot wait until next November when I get my first taste of the new and improved Hawkeye basketball program.

I know, I know.  It's a little early to be all in on the Franimal House, but I am really drinking up this Kool-Aid.  We've already talked up the record and success he had at Siena, but things are starting to get in motion in Iowa City and the more I hear about this guy, the more excited I get. 

Couple that with the fact that we are finally getting some support for the program from the marketing department and the athletic department's wallet and I can't help myself.  We have a $20 million addition to Carver that will finally give our basketball program a practice facility, along with a nice little recruiting tool.  The Sports Marketing Department is hard at work trying to sell Hawk fans on being "Mad Again" - that is, being excited about getting back into March Madness - and I have to be honest, I am.  Heck, there's even talk about changing the floor markings in Carver and throwing new uniforms on the players.  In any event, I think the University is taking the right steps to give the program a face-lift and McCaffery is working to do the same.

The first step in rebuilding this program was to start building the support staff around Fran the Man.  Yesterday, Iowa did just that.  While the Hawkeyes didn't land Fran's ex-right-hand man, Mitch Buonoguro - who was named the new head coach at Siena, they did bring over one of his top recruiters.  Andrew Francis (hmmm, I'm spotting a trend here with the "Fran" thing) is a Brooklyn, NY native who is said to be great at finding top talent and helping to develop players both in practice and in-game. 

I'm excited about this guy and what he brings to the table.  Hawk fans surely have some nightmarish memories of the success Iowa State had with it's New York recruits and I can only pray we get similar results with Francis' NYC ties. 

Speaking of ties, did I mention that Siena had some pretty solid recruits who may still be cutting ties with the program?  How about Melsahn Basabe, the 6'7" 225 lb PF who was slated to be in Albany for the next four years..... Until Fran left.  Specifically, Basabe had a clause in his LOI allowing him to be released should there be a coaching change.  Guess who is officially on his radar. 

Thank you Andrew Francis.  While Fran has been in Iowa City schmoozing the locals, Francis was left in his previous role at Siena for nearly a week.  That meant he could still keep in touch with Siena recruits, and keep in touch he did.  When asked about his contact with the Siena staff after McCaffery's departure, Basabe said, "I've spoken to Assistant Coach Andrew Francis."  When prodded about his future, he replied,"I have the option to go to Iowa and that is something I am seriously considering."

Yes sir, we would love to have you over to our house to play.  Carver could certainly use an athletic, scoring big man again.  I can already hear you Negative Nellys out there chirping about us needing a point guard.  To you I say this: wait and see.  Wait and see what pans out with our current recruits and wait and see what happens to our current scholarship players. 

There are already rumors about Fuller and Brommer transferring (if one's going, I sure hope it's not Fuller) and as of this posting, Cody Larson has been released from his LOI to play for the Hawkeyes.  So let's wait and see what it is we really need and just how many scholarships we have to offer.

To me, Brommer could be an odd man out.  If we can snag Basabe and manage to convince Larson that Iowa is still the place for him, we would be fresh out of scholarships and would still have only Payne as a true point man.  I think of all the guys left on the roster with a scholarship, Brommer is the most expendable and if there is a quality PG available, Fran has every right to ask Andrew to pick a new place to play or to start paying for his own schooling.

Speaking of available point guards, anybody for a little Bryon Allen?  As in, Oak Hill Academy's 6'3" 215 PG who verbally committed to George Mason yesterday.  He had narrowed his list to GM, Siena, and a few other mid-majors.  Now that Fran and Francis are at Iowa, I think we have a legit shot at talking this kid into joining the Hawkeyes.  The commitment to GM is a soft verbal and he is still open to recruitment so let's get him on campus.  You can't tell me it's more appealing to play at George Mason than to start right away at a Big Ten school on the rise.

But as I said, I am drinking up the Kool-Aid by the gallon and it's obvious that some others, perhaps, are not (Cody Larson?).  Either way, I think it is an exciting time to be a Hawkeye fan.  Spring football is underway and basketball fans actually have some positive things to talk about for the first time in a while.  We have a nice new facility being built, a new push by marketing to change the face of the program and an exciting new coach who has vowed to make us "Mad Again."  There is a lot going on right now for Hawk fans and if you ask me, I think it's all just Frantastic!

Are you ready for a little White Magic?  I know I sure am!  I know, it's crazy.  It's taken the guy all of a day and a half to completely convince me that Gary Barta may deserve to keep his job for a while. 

Now, I must admit, I was a little skeptical at first.  I mean, who is this Fran guy anyway?  He wasn't one of the myriad of names thrown around as possibilities.  I had heard big names like Bruce Pearl and Billy Gillespie.  I had heard assistant names like Steve Forbes (Tennessee assistant and my personal favorite) and Chris Collins (Duke assistant).  I had heard names of guys who had been recently fired (Ernie Kent of Oregon) and guys in the midst of NCAA runs (Scott Drew of Baylor).  I had heard names of guys whose father's coached here (Keno Davis, son of former Hawkeye head coach Dr. Tom Davis).  I had heard names of guys who coach mid-majors (Ben Jacobsen of UNI) and guys who coach high-majors (Josh Pastner of Memphis).  But the one name I had NEVER heard thrown in the mix was Fran McCaffery. 

Maybe that was just the way Gary Barta wanted it?  Maybe that was best?  All I really know is that the more I learn about this guy, the more I begin to like the hire.  When the announcement was first made, my reaction was, "Sienna, huh?  Well, they've been pretty decent for a mid-major school.  But, jeez, are we really going with another mid-major success who hasn't done it at a big school?"  The long and short of that is yes, and no. 

McCaffery is a VERY successful mid-major coach, but also has some experience at a high-major.  He spent 11 years at Notre Dame, including some time under then coach and now ESPN analyst Digger Phelps (he also managed to find time to meet his wife, who was on the women's basketball squad at the time).  After the long tenure, he took on a head coaching role for the second time in his career in 1999, when he joined the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. 

Previously, he had been a head coach at Lehigh University.  That came back in 1985, when he was the youngest to EVER be named head coach of a Division I program.  In 1986, McCaffery got his first taste of Carver and that game left a good taste in his mouth.

In his introductory press conference yesterday morning, Fran described the feeling he got when Hawkeye fans gave his star player a standing ovation following a 29-point performance in a loss to the Hawkeyes in Carver.  Since that moment, he had done his best to get a game scheduled in Carver whenever possible.  It seems that won't be a problem now. 

After his stint at UNC-Greesnboro, McCaffery took over an abysmal Siena team.  They were 6-24 the previous year and were picked to finish last in the conference (hmmm, sounds eerily familiar).  In his first season, Fran led the Saints to a 15-13 record and a 4th place finish in the MAAC.  Not too bad for a last-place team. 

From there, the magic started to happen.  Every season after his first at Siena, the Saints won at least 20 games.  The last three seasons they have won the conference championship and earned a bid to the NCAA Tournament (something we certainly haven't done in the last three seasons).  During those three trips, the Saints boasted wins over Vanderbilt and Ohio State in the first round.  This season, they were an upset favorite, but were knocked out by Purdue in the first round (just as a note, the Hawkeyes were also knocked out in the first round, just in the Big Ten Tournament).  In total, Fran "The Man" (that will serve only as a secondary nickname) posted a 112-51 record at Siena - a record I think most Hawk fans would be pretty damn happy to even sniff. 

But it's not just the wins and losses that have me excited about this guy.  In addition, he brings with him a 100% graduation rate.  That's right EVERY SINGLE PLAYER graduates.  Now, don't get me wrong, I would rather see us win basketball games than graduate everybody, but don't kid yourselves, those numbers are important to important people. People like Gary Barta, Sally Mason and all those donors that write the checks. 

And write those checks they shall (or so I think).  At the top of his to-do list, McCaffery mentioned filling up Carver-Hawkeye and making the place "rock again."  I don't know about you, but I like the sound of that.  I can't remember the last time that place was rockin'.  Fran promised an exciting style that plays the game the right way. He said we should expect to see some things that have been missing for a while, some things that most Hawk fans have been yearning for.  He said, "We're going to push the ball. We're going to run. We're going to press. We're going to change defenses. We're going to disrupt rhythm, and I think that's how you have to play." 

One thing he didn't promise was instant success.  It's important to understand what we have, where we've been and what it will take to get us where we want to be.  But I also think he understands that if we aren't going to win the Big Ten next season, we should at the very least make significant improvements and put a team on the court that will compete, win some games, and make it enjoyable for Hawk fans to be in the stadium again. 

He mentioned the need to re-recruit our current players and recruits to ensure we have a solid foundation.  Then he turned to the future.  He said we need to be building strong relationships with players, their families, their coaches.  This, to me, is the biggest difference between he and Lickliter (that and the style of play, oh and the whole turning around programs thing).  Lick didn't seem to care a whole lot about developing long-lasting relationships with families and coaches.  He had some connections in Indiana and those didn't quite pan out here. 

McCaffery, on the other hand, has recruiting connections throughout the east coast (coaching in New York and North Carolina no doubt helps build connections in some basketball Meccas) as well as the midwest (don't forget about those years at ND).  He has already mentioned bringing some old staff with him and adding to it with former Hawkeyes.  He also mentioned getting together with some of the best AAU coaches to develop those relationships.  These all seem be things that Lickliter preferred not to do, but will lead to success. 

Maybe it's a little too early and maybe I'm buying too much into the first couple of public appearances.  Maybe the pundits are right and this guy will be just like the last guy.  Perhaps we spend the next three years just like the last three, trying to climb to mediocrity, only to fall back to the bottom of the Big Ten.  But for now, I am buying the Fran Man.  I'm all in on this one.  I'm turning into a Franatic.  Can you smell that folks?  It's White Magic!

So we've backed off Iowa's Star Search for a new head coach but it looks as though Barta has already found his man (go figure). 

Siena's now ex-coach Fran McCaffery is expected to be announced as the new Iowa's Mens Basketball coach Monday afternoon.

In an email from Richard Klatt, Iowa's Associate Athletics Director for External Affairs, the press conference should be at 4:30 tomorrow afternoon.

But there are also rumors of the press conference being at 11:00 a.m.

More to follow later.