Tuesday's Clicks: Hawkeyes Still A 3 Seed
The movement on men's college basketball rosters in the last week hasn't done much to change the opinion the bracketologists and others have about Iowa for next season.
The Hawkeyes are still a 3 seed in the latest mock bracket by ESPN's Joe Lunardi.
Lunardi has Iowa as a 3 in the East Region, playing Georgia State in the first round in Lexington, Ky. The winner would play either 6 seed Florida or 11 seed Arizona in the second round.
Iowa's roster has had just two changes since the end of the season — forwards Cordell Pemsl and Riley Till are leaving as graduate transfers.
Much of the way-too-early buzz around Iowa centers on the return of center Luka Garza, the Big Ten's player of the year who won six national player of the year honors. Garza announced last week he would go through the NBA Draft process, but would not hire an agent to retain his college eligibility.
If Garza returns, the Hawkeyes will have all five starters back from a 20-win team that went 11-9 in Big Ten play.
Lunardi has nine Big Ten teams in his bracket.
Quiet playgrounds
Iowa guard Joe Toussaint grew as a player playing on the playgrounds of New York City.
It's that kind of toughness that Iowa coach Fran McCaffery appreciated when he was recruiting Toussaint.
But now, though, those playgrounds are quiet as the city is shut down because of the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus.
The city has a historic basketball culture and that has been halted. Legendary parks are closed, hoops have been taken down, and lives have been lost. The basketball community has been left mourning as New York is the epicenter of the pandemic. Sports Illustrated's Kevin Armstrong detailed the sad reality of how a cultural phenomenon that is city basketball has been silenced.
National clicks
• Michigan's top basketball recruit takes back commitment to play professionally overseas.
