McCaffery's Post Was Enough To Worry Some Fans
Luka Garza said it was Connor McCaffery's idea.
McCaffery said Garza helped encouraged it.
The joking Twitter post from McCaffery, hours before Garza announced he would return for his senior season at Iowa, was enough to scare some Hawkeye fans.
The post made some followers on Twitter think Garza, a consensus All-American last season who was also the Big Ten's player of the year, would be announcing he was going to stay in the NBA Draft process.
Garza said he told his roommates of his decision on Saturday night.
"That's kind of why Connor put that tweet out there, trying to scare everybody," Garza said, laughing. "He knew all along."
"We were all talking last night," said McCaffery, a fourth-year junior guard. "Honestly, it was a little bit of Luka's idea. We were like, oh, should we try to mess with the fans, because you should see some of my mentions (on Twitter). They're pretty insane. A lot of people speculating, threatening — you go up and down the line. It's pretty much everything.
"So you know, I was like, it would be pretty funny if we did something. And Luka's like, 'Dude, you should do it, you should do it.' That's kind of why I did it. Get a little bit of a reaction. But I didn't want to give anything away, either."
Garza told the rest of his teammates of his decision in a video conference on Sunday morning. The Hawkeyes have currently had their summer workouts paused because three players have tested positive for COVID-19.
"That was a lot of fun," Garza said of the meeting. "Especially with guys in quarantine, I thought it was something to boost everybody's spirit, and everybody was excited."
Garza told coach Fran McCaffery on Friday night.
"For me, that was a special moment," Garza said. "It felt really reminiscent when I called him to commit to come to Iowa four years ago. It was really special moment for myself."
