Garza Is Still Taking His Time, And That's OK
Jordan Bohannon enjoys the banter with Iowa fans on Twitter.
When one asked whether he thought center Luka Garza would be coming back for his senior season, Bohannon — who has been approved for a medical redshirt season for the 2020-21 schedule — said, jokingly, "He better or I will kill him. Not a threat. A promise."
Garza is still going through the NBA Draft process, and still has plenty of time to make up his mind about whether to play his senior season with the Hawkeyes — the NCAA announced earlier this month that the new deadline for players to withdraw their names from the draft and retain their college eligibility will be 10 days after the NBA Draft Combine or Aug. 3, whichever comes first.
Garza has said he is going to retain his eligibility throughout the process, that if he decides to go it will be for the right fit.
For now, Garza is back working out with his Iowa teammates after a season in which he won six national player of the year honors, was the Big Ten's player of the year, and was a consensus All-American.
Iowa, with all five starters back from a 20-win team that likely would have made the NCAA tournament, would be a Big Ten favorite, and maybe even a favorite to win the NCAA title, if Garza returns. If he doesn't come back, the Hawkeyes are still a strong team.
It's why Garza told CBSSports.com's Gary Parrish that "it would be hard to walk away" from the Hawkeyes.
Garza told Parrish:
"After my freshman and sophomore years, I don't think anybody thought I'd be in this position, and be talked about this much, and be (somebody) everybody's so concerned about what decision I would be making. It's something that I really didn't see for myself. But I worked as hard as I could to make sure this happened, and, honestly, now it's just a blessing to be in this position. And I know, at the end of the day, that I'm going to make the right choice."
Garza has talked to representatives from NBA teams. The feedback he's getting is important — new voices can always give a different viewpoint — and that's something other former Hawkeyes have said when they have gone through the process.
He's also with his teammates, working with old friends while getting to know some of the incoming freshmen. That's important, too.
Garza is getting the best of all his worlds now.
It's unclear what this basketball season will look like during the COVID-19 pandemic. The college schedule could be condensed, or maybe the same number of games in a longer season with a break around Christmas, much like the academic schedule that Iowa and others have adopted.
It's also unclear if Garza will get a chance to work out in person for any NBA team. The league is more concerned now with trying to figure out a way to finish the current season that was stopped by the pandemic.
So Garza waits to make up his mind. And that's a perfect way to approach it.
It's a summer story t
