hawkeyecub

Why?

From what I've heard the issue has more to do with how he relates and communicates with players. A lot of stories that he basically only talks to them at practice and in games. Of course if they were winning I think they would be able to handle it. Anyways KCJJ in Iowa City is reporting that he will resign after the year due to health reasons. It will allow everyone to save face and he'll probably get a buyout.

Lickliter rumors are blowing up to the point of hitting the CR Gazette. One of the premium message board posters who has almost always been right says the decision has been made. The Purdue fan/Indiana AAU coach who is connected within Iowa basketball office and posted about all of the transfers before they happened also says it appears that he's out.

As bad as things are for Iowa that would have been an excruciating season for ISU fans. Will be interesting to see if Iowa has already packed it in or if they put together a decent game. Last year they got stomped by Michigan and looked like they didn't want to be there. As it turned out, 1/3 of the team transferred so they really didn't want to be there. Rumors flying about a possible key transfer and Lickliter's future but I'm not buying them yet. If Fuller or another starter leaves he needs to be gone. The only thing I wonder about is if Barta hears about a transfer or two and they decide on a buyout but present it as Lickliter resigning due to health concerns to save face for everyone.

Bilas was outstandingly candid. I love when he gets like that.

Tomlinson is visiting the Vikings on Thursday.

Come on ND, jump in.

I said that before we didn't even show up for two road games this week. The last 3 games were over with 30 minutes to go, playing one really good team and two middle of the pack teams. That's unacceptable.

This season needs to end. I just hope that if we have multiple guys considering transferring that they make it known to Barta before they get their release.

Then he gives that up to Kesler...

Good start for Huet. Holy cow, 7 bodies right in front of the net and Keith gets it through the mass of humanity.

I've seen every play of his for the last 4 years. He excels in the screen game, has very good hands and is very good in pass protection which all makes him a great 3rd down back. As a runner he's a straight-line type guy who has good vision and will consistently get what's there but not much else on his own. All of that seems fairly similar to what I've seen of Forte. Last year was the first season where A.D. was a better receiver than Chester. His best season by far was Adrian's first year in '07.

PFT says a Boldin trade is close. Ravens, Chiefs and Patriots are interested, Schefter says the Ravens are leading contenders.

I've seen more elite DE's last into their mid 30's than elite RB's.... Of course he'll last longer than the RB. But he'll also be paid more for a longer period of time where his contract could be an issue in the last few years. Chester's deal is basically just a ton of money up front in an uncapped year. Individually it's also more because the biggest questions on him are effort, work ethic and consistency which would figure to be more pressing as you get to your mid-30's. Only the 1st 3 years of Peppers deal is guaranteed. I think he will be able to be productive during the 3 guaranteed years, and if his performance falls after that, you cut him no big deal. Gotcha, they way I heard it the first time it didn't sound like that.

Josh Cribbs re-upped with Cleveland. 3 years for $18M, $7M guaranteed.

The Vikings can now sign a UFA for a salary a bit higher than what the Bears are paying Taylor in his first year. I really hope they think Westbrook is healthy. He would be ideal and an upgrade when healthy.

i think they're about even and jones has more mileage, a lot more mileage and is a little older. plus, by getting taylor we also take him away from the vikings, which makes them worse. True. I was just thinking of it from how their skills fit in and mileage not being as important when it's essentially a big one-year deal.

Were the Bears ever linked to Thomas Jones this winter or did everyone agree that they just wouldn't bring him back again? On the field I think he and Forte would compliment each other a little better.

I've seen more elite DE's last into their mid 30's than elite RB's.... Of course he'll last longer than the RB. But he'll also be paid more for a longer period of time where his contract could be an issue in the last few years. Chester's deal is basically just a ton of money up front in an uncapped year. Individually it's also more because the biggest questions on him are effort, work ethic and consistency which would figure to be more pressing as you get to your mid-30's.

Taylor's age shouldn't be much of an issue. Next year he'll be on roughly the same level he was last year. With the salary cap gone and the way the deal is structured, next year is really what matters. With the old system they probably wouldn't have been able to work out a deal like this and his age would have been more of a problem. The only thing that really matters with Chester is how good you think he is and how you think he fits in with Forte. Age is a much more relevant issue with Peppers in my opinion.

I'll miss Chester. He was by all accounts a great dude in the locker room, was the perfect compliment to Adrian and helped him out. I really liked him and the Vikings will miss him next year. He'll help the Bears because their top two backs are now a lot better than their top two backs were last year. It will be interesting to see how they mix and match Chester and Forte because they're extremely similar. Chester's biggest strength is in the screen game and basically getting you 3-4 yards consistently but not the big play which seems very similar to Forte. This uncapped year blows for me. The Vikings couldn't go after a UFA right away (not sure they would've anyways though) and it allows teams like the Bears who have money to be able to spend big and structure a deal like they did with Chester so it won't hurt them in the future.

If they think he's healthy enough that will probably happen.

Perfect fit. Have fun passing against the Jets.

A couple weeks ago on 670, Bernstein was reading an e-mail from a guy who was talking about advanced goaltending stats. Basically pointing out that not all shots are equal so save percentage can be misleading. He was saying it's determined by charting of games similar to a lot of the NBA advanced stats. It certainly could have some flaws but is anyone else aware of where to find some of these numbers?

I'm an Iowa fan and I see no reason Iowa would be ranked higher than eighth or ninth in the Big Ten right now. Iowa may have the worst recruiting area of any Big Ten team, and hasn't been able to snag the few top recruits that have come out of the state. The facilities are Big Ten-average at best. Iowa City certainly isn't a "destination", unless drinking is your game. The fan base support is certainly near the bottom of the league. As far as prestige, the last ten years has eroded a lot of the prestige Iowa built up during the previous 20 years. To my memory there have been no more than two or three Top 25/NCAA tournament caliber teams during that time. One of those teams (the 2002 Recker/Evans debacle) underperformed so much that they settled for a short-lived NIT bid. With this being said, there isn't that much separating Iowa and the four or five teams above them. The right coach can win there, but it certainly cannot be considered a top job at this juncture. That's pretty accurate. The Gazette has been doing a series about the state of Iowa basketball and what led it to this point. Basically you've had a timeline which started with weakened recruiting by Dr. Tom, the botched handling of his dismissal, the Pierce case, the debacle of the '02 team and then now 4 straight non-NIT years that have led to this. The talent base is never going to be great but on the other hand at least you're a relatively short drive to Chicago, Minneapolis, KC/STL. The facilities have really hampered Alford and Lickliter but that will change next year. They won't be elite but at least they'll be competitive with the rest of the league. The 80's and '90's were very solid overall. You had some good coaches, facilities were up to date, they won and had great fan support. In late January of '01 we were something like 18-4, tied for first in the Big Ten, every game was sold out and Alford had a top 5 recruiting class. It all looked so great. Then Recker got hurt and we fell apart down the stretch. But they won the BTT, Recker and Evans both came back and they were top 10 preseason. Then that season went up in flames, Pierce had the sexual assault thing and we underachieved in the Big Ten consistently. Then we had the '06 season that looked so great...