Brust Betrayal...

T

tmurph2643

Well-Known Member
I will probably get railed for this, and I realize he is an 18 year old kid, and things changed with Lickliter being gone... but... I feel a huge letdown from Brust, Larson I don't really care as much about and same with Fuller... but here is my reasoning.

Brust wore his Iowa gear down in Phoenix to the Insight Bowl to cheer against ISU.

Brust was a big Iowa fan all year, came to games and supported the team even when they were losing, and appeared to be proud to be a hawkeye.

It seems that his success this year has gone to his head a little bit and with Fran coming in he had an opportunity to feed his ego with more offers from other schools. I guess I just got the impression that Brust wanted to be a Hawkeye because he was a Hawkeye.... not because of what the coaches could do for him.

Maybe I am being a little harsh here, but it makes me lose a lot of respect for him to want to court a bunch of big programs around because he can do it now. He wouldn't have had that option after his junior year...

Once again, I realize he is 18, but I don't want guys to come and play for Coach Fran who will be proud to wear the black and gold.
 
First of all, anyone who would wear Iowa gear specifically to go root against ISU in a bowl game...is a loser. And yes, the same applies to an ISU fan wearing Cyclone gear to a bowl in order to root against Iowa. That's just pathetic. And it likely says something bad about the kid from the get-go...indicates the maturity level of about a 3rd grade student.
 
Part of being a Hawkeye when he committed to Iowa was playing for a certain coaching staff. When that coaching staff left, part of what it meant to be a Hawkeye was altered, so he chose to no longer be a Hawkeye. If the kid was in the band instead of on the basketball team and the band director left the school, would you blame him for wanting to go to a different school?
 
tmurph2643 said:
I will probably get railed for this, and I realize he is an 18 year old kid, and things changed with Lickliter being gone... but... I feel a huge letdown from Brust, Larson I don't really care as much about and same with Fuller... but here is my reasoning.

Brust wore his Iowa gear down in Phoenix to the Insight Bowl to cheer against ISU.

Brust was a big Iowa fan all year, came to games and supported the team even when they were losing, and appeared to be proud to be a hawkeye.

It seems that his success this year has gone to his head a little bit and with Fran coming in he had an opportunity to feed his ego with more offers from other schools. I guess I just got the impression that Brust wanted to be a Hawkeye because he was a Hawkeye.... not because of what the coaches could do for him.

Maybe I am being a little harsh here, but it makes me lose a lot of respect for him to want to court a bunch of big programs around because he can do it now. He wouldn't have had that option after his junior year...

Once again, I realize he is 18, but I don't want guys to come and play for Coach Fran who will be proud to wear the black and gold.
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Understandable feelings, and I have had some of the same.

OTOH don't you think Brust, Larson, Marble, McCabe might have some justification to feel the same way? They liked Lickliter and his staff and committed to play for them. They had a sense -- or at least felt they did -- of what it would be like to be a player in the Lickliter program and how they would be utilized on the court.

That has all been tossed out the window. They know very little about the new guy, how he views them as players and assesses their skills, whether they fit in his program, whether they even get playing time. Recruits pretty well know who else is being wooed by a coaching staff and (think they) have an idea of where they fit in. Coach Caff is largely a blank slate to them right now.

Gradually he can fill in the spaces for them. But that may take some time, and Brust and Larson are wise to keep their options open at this point.

Who knows? It is possible that after looking at their video highlights and learning more about them, Caff may see them as little more than reserves or role players in his style of play.

Or perhaps he sees them as three- or four-year starters.
 
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I try to remember that he's only 18. I did a lot of squirrelly things when I was that age and wasn't the most mature either.

On the other hand if he goes to Wiscy and Larson goes to Indiana, I know I'll be rooting against them. Human nature I guess.
 
thejumper5 said:
Part of being a Hawkeye when he committed to Iowa was playing for a certain coaching staff. When that coaching staff left, part of what it meant to be a Hawkeye was altered, so he chose to no longer be a Hawkeye. If the kid was in the band instead of on the basketball team and the band director left the school, would you blame him for wanting to go to a different school?
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Yes, I would blame the band kid. No part of being a Hawkeye was altered when the coaching staff was fired. So, would I not be a Hawkeye anymore because the coached resigned or retired. If you want to be a Hawkeye you are a Hawkeye, Brust apparently never wanted to be a "Hawkeye" he just wanted to play basketball, which is fine. But don't saying being a Hawkeye changes because coaches change.
 
I doubt that any of these guys really had a relationship with Lick; hell, he didn't have a relationship with the guys that played for him for 3 years(oops, did anyone actually stay for 3). The relationship was with Walthall for Brust and Larson; what his role here is we don't know other than he won't be part of Fran's staff.
 
HawkI101 said:
Yes, I would blame the band kid. No part of being a Hawkeye was altered when the coaching staff was fired. So, would I not be a Hawkeye anymore because the coached resigned or retired. If you want to be a Hawkeye you are a Hawkeye, Brust apparently never wanted to be a "Hawkeye" he just wanted to play basketball, which is fine. But don't saying being a Hawkeye changes because coaches change.
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I completely disagree. Whenever a leader leaves or is made to leave from any group or organization, something changes about what it means to be a part of that group. If you were an employee and your boss got fired, that would change what it means for you to be a part of your company. If you were recently hired to a new job and the guy you thought you were going to work for was fired before you started, that would monumentally change what it meant to work for that organization, especially if that boss was going to be your mentor and you were brought into the company specifically by him. Any company/organization/university is, at some level, the things that make it up. When the things that make up the university change, the university changes.
 
tmurph2643 said:
I will probably get railed for this, and I realize he is an 18 year old kid, and things changed with Lickliter being gone... but... I feel a huge letdown from Brust, Larson I don't really care as much about and same with Fuller... but here is my reasoning.

Brust wore his Iowa gear down in Phoenix to the Insight Bowl to cheer against ISU.

Brust was a big Iowa fan all year, came to games and supported the team even when they were losing, and appeared to be proud to be a hawkeye.

It seems that his success this year has gone to his head a little bit and with Fran coming in he had an opportunity to feed his ego with more offers from other schools. I guess I just got the impression that Brust wanted to be a Hawkeye because he was a Hawkeye.... not because of what the coaches could do for him.

Maybe I am being a little harsh here, but it makes me lose a lot of respect for him to want to court a bunch of big programs around because he can do it now. He wouldn't have had that option after his junior year...

Once again, I realize he is 18, but I don't want guys to come and play for Coach Fran who will be proud to wear the black and gold.
Click to expand...


I see Brust thinking, "I won't get to shoot as many threes in this new system". "I might have to play tough defense in this new system." "I might have some competition I don't want in this new system." "If I go to a winning program and don't get minutes everyone will say it is because I am behind good veterans, if I go to IOWA and don't get minutes they will say I'm not very good." and "I had a good year and I am sure happy that the coaching change came because now I can asked to be released whereas if Lickliter stayed it would be harder to ask out."

I also see Fran and Francis moving on and recruiting others at the same time as recruiting Brust again.
 
Mesaclone said:
First of all, anyone who would wear Iowa gear specifically to go root against ISU in a bowl game...is a loser. And yes, the same applies to an ISU fan wearing Cyclone gear to a bowl in order to root against Iowa. That's just pathetic. And it likely says something bad about the kid from the get-go...indicates the maturity level of about a 3rd grade student.
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LOL

Mesaclown your a trip
 
This whole thread (and all similar ones) are just so idiotic. He commited to play for a coach and was super excited to do so, now the coach gets canned and you hold it against the kid because he decides he wants to look at other options. On top of that it makes it worse in your mind because he seemed so excited earlier?

The other thing to consider is not a single person on earth (other than you) gives a rats azz that you "have lost respect for him". You really think that matters.... at all.... even a little bit? Not a single person (other than yourself) cares whether or not you have respect for this kid. Do you expect him to think... "well if I de commit from Iowa this internet guy and a few other fans are going to lose respect for me so I better stay at Iowa".

I seriously wonder how Jon holds his tounge sometimes. You just know he has to be raging against his internal filter at times to say what he really feels before making the PC post....

Sofa king we Todd did.
 
Yea I don't think you can get too down on a kid for backing out of a commitment in this situation. Transferring I think is a little different, but the incoming freshmen should get a little slack. The silver lining is that McCabe is 100% Hawkeye!
 
HawkI101 said:
Yes, I would blame the band kid. No part of being a Hawkeye was altered when the coaching staff was fired. So, would I not be a Hawkeye anymore because the coached resigned or retired. If you want to be a Hawkeye you are a Hawkeye, Brust apparently never wanted to be a "Hawkeye" he just wanted to play basketball, which is fine. But don't saying being a Hawkeye changes because coaches change.
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Betrayal is a very strong word and IMO absolutely not appropriate here. Ben committed to Iowa with certain things in place. Those things changed and it is absolutely appropriate for him to step back and reevaluate his decision. All of these kids and families had their own decision criteria. If they do not have answers for that criteria then they should step back. Brust and Larson's decision critieria were different than Marbles and McCabe's obviously. We may not like it and it may make us uncomfortable but this is a HUGE decision for these kids. If these kids have questions and they still commit or recommit then we run into future defection issues. Don't judge a kid becasue he is not willing to make a blind decison. Give him credit for having good decison making skills and going to the place that is right for him. If that is Iowa in the end, Great! If they decide to go somewhere else because it is right for them then both Iowa and Ben/Cody will be better off in the long run. I feel very comfortable that Coach McCaffery and staff has the ability to recruit and develop the kids they want.
 
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