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The Iowa Hawkeyes are currently 15-8 overall with a Big 10 conference mark of 6-4. They also have a pretty promising RPI rating of 36. Yet no one is talking about coach Fran McCaffery’s team making the NCAA Tournament these days.
Rather, the conversation has turned pernicious and vitriolic in recent days. And it all revolves around junior center Adam Woodbury.
Standing 7-foot-1, Woodbury is often asked to play not only in the post, but also defend opposing frontcourt players on the perimeter. In fact, the Sioux City native has become well known for his combination of length and aggressiveness during his three years with the Hawkeye program.
All of that leads us to the issue of eye-poking. Yes, you read that right – eye poking. Seems Iowa’s starting post has gotten into the bad habit of sticking his fingers where they don’t belong. First, it was Wisconsin‘s Nigel Hayes. Later in the same game, it was Frank Kaminsky. And now, we have a third incident involving Maryland‘s Melo Trimble.
An accidental eye-poke is one thing. Two might even be worthy of a collective shoulder shrug. Three starts looking like a trend and apparently that fact isn’t lost on McCaffery. When asked about Woodbury’s third such transgression after the Hawkeyes spanked Maryland 71-55, the fifth-year coach asserted the query lacked intelligence before moving on to other topics.
McCaffery’s response was predictable. After all, diplomacy is clearly not his thing. This is the same coach who took to Twitter demanding an apology from ESPN commentator Dan Dakich after the former Indiana assistant took issue with Woodbury’s wayward fingers. Apparently realizing where there’s smoke there may indeed be a fire, McCaffery sought to shut down the conversation in short order.
Unfortunately, what had been a minor footnote has now exploded into a full-on debate. ESPN personalities have called out both McCaffery and Woodbury while even questioning whether he’s being coached properly on the defensive end.
At the very least, Woodbury’s actions are meant to distract opponents into oblivion. Moments before the Kaminsky eye poke, Woodbury was seen rubbing the Badger star’s head as if he was expecting a magic genie to appear.
In any case, Iowa now has a problem. How will both McCaffery and Woodbury respond to all the criticism?
Undoubtedly, McCaffery feels it a necessity to defend both his player and coaching. But the last thing the Hawkeyes need now is a hot-button issue in media circles. Having successfully navigated the toughest stretch of their Big 10 slate, Iowa closes the regular season with eight very winnable games. If the Hawkeyes can maintain their recent form (which has seen them win two straight), they should be comfortably back in the NCAAs before the conference tournament begins in early March.
For that to happen, Iowa needs to turn the focus back to actual games. That mission starts Thursday against Minnesota. If the Hawkeyes can put forth a strong effort without incident, they will have taken a major step towards putting Woodbury on the back-burner.
If the Hawkeyes come up short against Richard Pitino’s Gophers, conversations on the matter figure to continue. The time is now for McCaffery, Woodbury and the rest of his team to shut everything out, forget the nonsense and just play. Otherwise, a potential NCAA bid could become derailed over the next few weeks.
Matt Johnson is a Big 10 basketball writer for www.rantsports.com. Follow him on Twitter at mattytheole or “like” him on Facebook.
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