Luke Recker

[JHHawk]

Recruiting momentum: Top 5 class in 2000 with Top 35 recruits Reiner and Worley,plus Luke and Reggie Evans.
2001: Two top 50 recruits in Pierce and Sommerville
2002: Two top 60 recruits in Horner and Brunner.
Loss of momentum:

2003: Mike Henderson,Adam Haluska
2004: Carlton Reed,Alex Thompson

SA had it going his first 3 years,but Luke breaking his knee, and the following year when Luke was still hurting...then PP incident, ect...it started falling apart.

 

[storminspank]

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.

Beat me to it.

His Big Ten tourney game was amazing too.

 

[DesMoinesHawki]

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.

Crazy how fast time flies by. I often do a double-take in my mind when I think a player was at Iowa in the last five years or so and then you find out the player last played for Iowa 10 or more years ago ...

 

[DubuqueHawk]

I know I'm going to get blasted for saying this, but my lasting memory of Recker is him and Reggie Evans hot dogging it at the end of Iowa's victory at Missouri. The clock was still ticking, the Hawks had the ball in the front court and Evans and Recker were in the backcourt, with Evans picking Recker up to celebrate.
It was a side of Iowa basketball I did not like to see, and frankly I was very disappointed. For some reason this memory sticks with me.

 

[CAARHawk]

That term "hot dog?" I do not think it means what you think it means.

 

[sportstalent]

Recruiting momentum: Top 5 class in 2000 with Top 35 recruits Reiner and Worley,plus Luke and Reggie Evans.
2001: Two top 50 recruits in Pierce and Sommerville
2002: Two top 60 recruits in Horner and Brunner.
Loss of momentum:

2003: Mike Henderson,Adam Haluska
2004: Carlton Reed,Alex Thompson

SA had it going his first 3 years,but Luke breaking his knee, and the following year when Luke was still hurting...then PP incident, ect...it started falling apart.

My point exactly, you listed 4 players that didn't make it through the Iowa program and you left out Sonderliter. Sommerville never played a game for the Hawks. Horner and Brunner were two I listed that did actually play all four years. Haluska was a transfer, I think he would have been a Hawk if we had the scholarship available.
I don't think Luke breaking his knee had that big of an impact on recruiting. Iowa did win another Big Ten tournament and then Iowa had Reed and Thompson transfer off that team, I believe.
The Iowa program degraded with the type of players Alford recruited. There were so many that he signed that didn't qualify. Hansen, Looby were guys that had positive impacts on Iowa, but I believe there were academic issues with Hansen in the beginning, which was why he went to JUCO and Looby was not ready for the Big Ten, but he contributed nicely in his two years.
The montra that surrounded Alford, his agrrogance, or seemingly arrogance is what left a sour taste with people. Being at the B10 tournament the last time they won, it didn't seem like there was much team unity during the celebration. Some players didn't even talk to one another the whole celebration. It was really weird and I do think that was evident from people looking at it.
The only real difference between Alford and Lickliter was Alford won, but with zero integrity.
Players that Alford signed and didn't finish or get to campus at Iowa:
Josh Rhoades, Nick DeWitz, Tony Freeman, Nathan Skinner, Josh Crawford, Tyler Smith, Jamie Vanderbeeken, Alex Thompson, Carlton Reed, Pierre Pierce, Marcus Sommerville, Sean Sonderliter, Sam Okey and David Palmer...there may be others that I am missing. We as fans had a problem with Lickliter and the players transferring, but it wasn't much better with SA. Add in the transfers, which I don't have a problem with in general, think about how the roster turned over like it did. There was a nice transition from Recker/Evans to Horner/Brunner group, but don't think Iowa wasn't hurt after the knee injury to Recker for recruiting. 14 players I can think of off the top of my head that did not make it to campus or play 4 years for Iowa, not counting JUCO and transfers, that is sad.

 

[HawkI1969]

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

I've always wondered about the dynamic with former players and whether they consider themselves "Iowa guys" or "Alford guys". I'm sure it's a little bit of both, but it's good to hear that Fran is reaching out and making former players feel welcome, and the former players are responding.

It's something that I never got the impression happened much under the Lickliter or Alford regimes.

 

[SDK46]

From Recker/Evans to lil Lick.

What a tumble.

Sigh.

 

[chinahawk]

I still remember that game at Indiana when we were down by 20 or something at the half. Recker led a huge comback for a win. I also remember his clutch shot against Indiana in the Big Ten tourney. One of my favorite Hawkeye Basketball players of all-time

 

[colbol9]

Nope. I met Luke at a Gamma Phi party in 2003. I'm much more awesome.

Gamma Phi's are the some of the hottest and easiest girls on campus!

 

[westview]

Does anyone know how Luke's former girl friend is doing? She was paralyzed in a terrible accident she and Luke had.

 

[parquet]

Players that Alford signed and didn't finish or get to campus at Iowa:
Josh Rhoades, Nick DeWitz, Tony Freeman, Nathan Skinner, Josh Crawford, Tyler Smith, Jamie Vanderbeeken, Alex Thompson, Carlton Reed, Pierre Pierce, Marcus Sommerville, Sean Sonderliter, Sam Okey and David Palmer...there may be others that I am missing. .

Sam Okey? Didn't he transfer in for his senior year? Not sure how he makes your case. Also Tony Freeman and David Palmer left because of Lick.

 

[DubuqueHawk]

CaarHawk, please define.

 

[CAARHawk]

CaarHawk, please define.

It was a joke. Can't define for fear of banning. Try Urban Dictionary

 

[sportstalent]

Sam Okey? Didn't he transfer in for his senior year? Not sure how he makes your case. Also Tony Freeman and David Palmer left because of Lick.

Okey was not able to play the full allotment of semesters due to off-court and academic issues. All I can say about Palmer and Freeman is that Cole has decided to stick through it and I have a great respect for him because of that. Sometimes egos must be checked, some of these kids think they are "untouchable" and if the previous coach treated them like that and the next one doesn't then there are issues. Both Palmer and Freeman could have left when Lickliter took over, but chose to stay, then left. I am not saying the fault is all on the players. Alford brought them in and if they were going to leave I would have preferred it be in the beginning and not hold the scholarship for a season under the new coach and leave. Most kids that end up leaving leave immediately. The fact with Okey and my case, he is the perfect example of an Alford recruit or transfer that made zero sense like Josh Crawford. When a program has the roster turnover Iowa has had there is going to be a time when rock bottom comes and last year was it.

 

[didymushawk]

Okey was not able to play the full allotment of semesters due to off-court and academic issues. All I can say about Palmer and Freeman is that Cole has decided to stick through it and I have a great respect for him because of that. Sometimes egos must be checked, some of these kids think they are "untouchable" and if the previous coach treated them like that and the next one doesn't then there are issues. Both Palmer and Freeman could have left when Lickliter took over, but chose to stay, then left. I am not saying the fault is all on the players. Alford brought them in and if they were going to leave I would have preferred it be in the beginning and not hold the scholarship for a season under the new coach and leave. Most kids that end up leaving leave immediately. The fact with Okey and my case, he is the perfect example of an Alford recruit or transfer that made zero sense like Josh Crawford. When a program has the roster turnover Iowa has had there is going to be a time when rock bottom comes and last year was it.

Okey transferred in under Tom Davis. He has nothing to do with Alford.

 

[JHHawk]

Sportstalent: you need to move on from SA. He won ''without integrity''? Get out. Horner,Bru and Haluska had no integrity? Broad brush much?

Tony Freeman was a good kid who Lick basically forced out of Iowa.
Palmer got so jerked around by Lick,why would he stay?
Peterson,Kelly,Fuller....Lick drove them away.
Lick lost,without integrity....ok?

 

[sportstalent]

Sportstalent: you need to move on from SA. He won ''without integrity''? Get out. Horner,Bru and Haluska had no integrity? Broad brush much?

Tony Freeman was a good kid who Lick basically forced out of Iowa.
Palmer got so jerked around by Lick,why would he stay?
Peterson,Kelly,Fuller....Lick drove them away.
Lick lost,without integrity....ok?

Not questioning Horner, Brunner or Haluska, Brody Boyd, or Seth Gorney. All I am saying is the situation Iowa go into didn't happen overnight in the three years that Lickliter was there, although he did nothing to change the evironment when he was there and it just got worse. When you only have 6 freshman graduate in your career as a coach when he was there as long as he was that is when the wholesale roster turnover began and contiued under Lickliter's watch. The year that Iowa won the B10 tournament was a great year, then there was graduations and transfers (Thompson, Reed), not saying Iowa would have been much better, but there would have been some upperclassmen when the next coach took over. Iowa has been a Program in flux since that season, then Alford left and I have no issue with that, but the dominoes were in motion before the last three seasons.
With all the arrests and academic issues that were going on with Iowa Basketball, I dreaded the off-season. I can't remember when the last time until this off-season there wasn't a transfer, arrest or academic casualty.
The kids that left under Alford were for what reasons? There is so much animosity toward Lickliter and there should be, he just didn't win.
Maybe I am just venting 10 years of frustration since I saw this post on Recker. I liked Recker as a player and it is good to see he is doing well and I will leave it at that.