Just turned on the Women's game (beating C Michigan by 9) and they are interviewing Luke Recker. Just finished his playing career overseas and decided to move back to Iowa City. He had positive things to say about McCaffery and it's always good to see Hawks coming back home!
Luke Recker
- Thread starter JDavis11
- Start date
HawkPhreek
Well-Known Member
Nice post good to hear his thought about Mccaffery, glad McCaffery took time to visit with Luke.
V
VintageHawkeye
Guest
Reck Luker was a great Hawkeye.
1977Hawkeye
Well-Known Member
Recker was a great college player for us, no doubt about it. I still remember some folks criticizing him for being "selfish" his senior season when he was pretty much carrying the entire team. I never could understand that. He was our go-to guy.
That whole season would have turned out differently if that injury hadn't happened. Instead of sneaking into the NCAA's by winning the BTT, we probably win 25 games and get a nice NCAA seed, and maybe make a run. Who knows, maybe that would've kept the recruiting momentum going and Alford's tenure turns out totally different. All water under the bridge I guess.
sportstalent
Well-Known Member
What recruiting momentum? Recker was a good player at Iowa and he was a transfer, like many of the viable Iowa players under Alford.
There were many recruits that didn't qualify academically (over 50%) and I think there were only 6 (Boyd, Horner, Brunner, Angle, Gorney and Henderson) freshman (if I left one out let me know) out of 20 signees that finished their career at Iowa under Alford.
JonDMiller
Publisher/Founder
Had a chance to talk with Luke quite a bit yesterday...he's a dad now and married and said he was so happy to be living back in Iowa.
burky247
Well-Known Member
One of the most dominating performances I have ever seen at Carver was when he pretty much single handedly took over the game against Indiana. We were down by 17 or so and he just started lighting it up. That was actually the game that he messed up his knee. One of those rare instances where no matter where he shot it from, it was going in.
Another great memory I have of his was his senior day when he addressed the crowd and talked about how much greater it was to be a Hawkeye than a Hoosier.
Another great memory I have of his was his senior day when he addressed the crowd and talked about how much greater it was to be a Hawkeye than a Hoosier.
bcl20
Well-Known Member
I'm pretty sure that we were in the lead in the Big Ten at that point when he got hurt. It would have been nice to win a title and gotten that drought over with.
That comeback against Indiana that year at home has to be one of the highlights of the 2000's (not that it was filled with a bunch of them)
JonDMiller
Publisher/Founder
Yes, I remember that one well. It was a great game. He had a game in the B10 tourney...or maybe it was two, that were unreal performances. He scored 926 points over his two years at Iowa, with his first year, the year you reference, being where he played in 18 games...and the next year he totally reworked his game into a deadly jump shooter.
Here is his senior year info from Hawkeyesports.com
layed in all 35 games, with 32 starts...led team in scoring (17.1) and ranked third in rebounding (3.4)...shot 44.4% from the field, 41.3% from three-point range and 88.5% from the free throw line...led team with 56 steals and was second in assists (88)...12 points and four assists vs. LSU...21 points and three rebounds in Big Ten title game vs. Ohio State...17 points in win over Indiana, including winning basket with 1.4 seconds remaining...28 points and career-high five steals in win over Wisconsin, including winning basket with 1.4 seconds remaining. Made 9-14 FGs and 6-6 FTs, scoring 16 of Iowa's final 19 points over the final 10:14 of the game...25 points in win over Purdue, hitting 9-10 FGs and 5-7 FTs...20 points and four rebounds at Michigan State...25 points (11-11 FTs) and three assists vs. Minnesota...20 points, five rebounds and four assists at Purdue...16 points and two steals in win over Michigan State...16 points and three rebounds at Illinois...20 points, five assists, three rebounds, two steals and two blocked shots in win over Northwestern...11 points, six rebounds and two assists at Ohio State...23 points, six rebounds and three steals in win over Wisconsin...nine rebounds, four assists and five points in win over Mercer...29 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals in win over Kansas State, making 12-12 FTs...career-high 31 points at Missouri, plus four rebounds, two assists and two steals...24 points, (9-13 FGs), four assists and four steals vs. Drake...21 points, five rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocked shots at Northern Iowa...22 points, six assists and three steals in win over SMU...15 points, five rebounds and three assists vs. Duke...17 points, three rebounds and three steals vs. Missouri...20 points and five rebounds in win over Memphis...17 points, three steals and two assists vs. Louisiana Tech...recorded first double-double at Iowa with 18 points and 10 rebounds vs. Boston University, along with five assists...25 points, two assists and two steals vs. Globetrotters.
Hawk4Life76
Well-Known Member
That is a positive outcome scenario for SA...Most folks still believe he kicks puppies for fun...
j/k
Bubbrub
Well-Known Member
AcctHawk99
Well-Known Member
Luke was also at the season opener for basketball against SDSU which I attended. I wasn't sure if it was him so I introduced myself and jokingly asked if he had any eligibility left to help us out. He said that it wasn't a good game, but he likes the changes he's seen. I could really tell that he cared about the program and felt connected to the school which I thought was pretty cool. He's an "adopted son" of sorts as a transfer, but it made me happy to be a Hawk fan when someone who in the global scheme was a pretty minor, wanted to come back to Iowa City because of the fans and the environment. Welcome back home Luke!
1977Hawkeye
Well-Known Member
Exactly my point. If we have a bigger year in 2001, maybe we keep getting better recruits instead of marginal big-ten talents, guys that had academic issues, were head-cases, etc. and we have a little more continuity in the program. Or maybe the end results what have been the same, I don't know. But I guess that's all just blind speculation on my part.
The "recruiting momentum" I talked about was what was supposedly a Top-10 recruiting class that Alford had just gotten on campus (Reiner, Worley, etc.). Recruiting fizzled quite a bit after the first couple years. Yeah, that first big class didn't turn out real great, but I always thought that was more due to coaching and weak assistants early in Alf's time at Iowa than it was from lack of talent.
Sirhouseman
Well-Known Member
I stood in line with him for a porto o potty before the football game on Saturday. Am I awesome?
Iowafarmgirl
Banned
Nope. I met Luke at a Gamma Phi party in 2003. I'm much more awesome.
Igothawked
Well-Known Member
Coaching and weak assistants had something to do with. It also had a lot to do with off-court transgressions of may of the players. A lot of those players were not totally committed to playing basketball at the time. I was in school at Iowa those years and know of several players that were out too late regularly and engaging in activities that no one (let alone D1 basketball players) should not have been involved in.
hawkfan8691
Well-Known Member
Great to hear that Luke is back and supporting the Hawks. For some reason, with that class, I always assume they have to have a bad taste in their mouths about Iowa seeing as how things went down with Alford. Good to know he's still a Hawkeye. He was one of my favorite players ever at Iowa. I can still remember exactly what I was doing and how it felt when he won those 2 games in the Big Ten Tourney. Too bad we couldn't win the championship that year for him
