Kurt Looby is Tearing Up the NBA D-League

Kurt Looby didn't lack for hustle at Iowa (AP photo)

Frankly, I never pictured Kurt Looby as an NBA prospect when he played at Iowa. I didn’t even picture him as an NBA D-League prospect.

Well, Looby is playing his way toward a roster spot on somebody’s NBA summer league team, and he’s doing it in the D-League.

POLL on Brent Metcalf’s Post-Match Actions

The YouTube videos are on the post immediately below this one.

Iowa’s Brent Metcalf Doesn’t Surrender NCAA Title Without One Last Shot

Look, I got this from YouTube. If Disney or whoever owns ESPN these days says it can’t be used, strike it from YouTube. Do not sue the Hlog, Corporate Monolith.

That said, this is from the end of the NCAA Wrestling Championships’ 149-pound final, won by North Carolina State’s Darrion Caldwell over Iowa’s Brent Metcalf, a 2008 national-titlist who had owned a 69-match winning streak.

Former Hawkeye WR Clinton Solomon Has Huge Night Friday

Clinton Solomon in a happy Hawkeye moment

Clinton Solomon had three touchdown catches Friday night, and seven receptions overall for 146 yards.

Alas, the ex-Iowa Hawkeye wide receiver’s Wichita Wild lost 41-36 to the Omaha Beef in Omaha in the season-opener for both.

The league? Indoor Football League. Seems like a sensible enough name.

A Tornado May Have Helped Ex-Hawkeye at “Pro Day”

Matt Bowen

Matt Bowen played seven years in the National Football League after having a distinguished career at safety for the University of Iowa.

His career may have been jump-started by a tornado in Iowa City, if you can believe that.

Post-Mortem on Iowa’s Basketball Season

DeShawn Sims of Michigan, Jarryd Cole of Iowa (AP photo)

INDIANAPOLIS — All five first-team All-Big Ten men’s basketball players this year are sophomores.

Only four of the 28 league players who averaged 10 or more points this season are seniors.

Just one of the league’s top 10 players in assists per game is a senior.

Michigan State, which was 15-3 in winning the conference, presumably returns its top two scorers next season.

After Horror of 55-0 Loss to Iowa, Gophers Abandon Metrodome Altogether

Gophers don't dig the Dome anymore

 

Last November, the University of Minnesota’s Metrodome farewell was a full-fledged disaster. Iowa savaged the Gophers, 55-0.

Minnesota was still scheduled to play its 2009 spring game in the Dome before it moved into its new on-campus stadium this fall. But Gophers Coach Tim Brewster has reportedly said he will never step foot in the Dome again after the horrific Dome-ination his team endured in its finale there.

So on April 25, Minnesota will conclude its spring practice season in St. Paul with a free spring game at the University of St. Thomas.

Now, it’s possible Brewster simply wanted his team to get used to the notion of playing outdoors in Minnesota. But I like the version I heard this morning at the Big Ten men’s basketball tournament in Indianapolis a lot better. Which is, no more Dome for Brewster.

But it’ll still be there, Coach. You can’t miss it anytime you drive past downtown Minneapolis on the freeway. Don’t close your eyes when you’re driving past it. It’s simply not safe.

You Spend Too Much Time Working – Goof Off Today at Our Live Blog from the Big Ten Tournament

The Hlog tries to make your life better, and you know it. Today, we invite you to join a live blog from the Iowa-Michigan game at the Big Ten men’s basketball tournament in Indianapolis.

We’ll comment. You’ll comment. We’ll be working. You’ll be … at work.

You can’t see the Hawkeyes tangle with the Wolverines from Conseco Fieldhouse? It’s OK. Gazette sportswriter Scott Doctherman and I, your faithful servant who manages this site, will put you inside the arena. Or at least in the arena’s parking ramp.

Look, this could be Iowa’s last game of the season. Do you want to spend it alone in your cubicle, or with many of the best friends you’ll ever have who you’ve never met? Talk about a no-brainer.

We’ll fire up the live blog at http://gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090312/SPORTS/903119974/1008 around 1:15 p.m., Iowa time. So make sure you’ve used your entire lunch hour for lunch. Then use work time to follow the game.

What’s the worst that can happen, you’re non-productive for two hours and the whole national economy tanks?

Ferentz Hangs With Heavy Hitters at Spring Training

Kirk Ferentz's pal, Tony La Russa

Recruiting’s over, spring football hasn’t started … if you’re Iowa football coach Kirk Ferentz, why not escape to Palm Beach?

That’s where Ferentz was Tuesday – Jupiter, Florida, to be precise, in Palm Beach County. Ferentz was there enjoying an exhibition game between the Detroit Tigers and St. Louis Cardinals and meeting up with Tigers Manager Jim Leyland and Cardinals skipper Tony La Russa.

Steve Alford: Coach of the Year

A champion once more

Steve Alford is the men’s basketball Coach of the Year  in the Mountain West Conference.

Alford got his first regular-season Division I conference title as a coach Saturday when his New Mexico team earned a share of the MWC title with BYU and Utah with its win at Wyoming.

Monday, he got his first D-I conference Coach of the Year honor. New Mexico, a so-called basketball school, hadn’t won a regular-season league-title since 1994.

From this article: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/basketball/ncaa/03/09/alford.mwc.ap/?eref=sircrc

Alford’s two Lobos teams have won 14 road games. New Mexico won a total of 14 road games over the previous seven seasons.

Now it’s on to the MWC tourney in Las Vegas and another game against Wyoming.  It feels like time for a poll.