Top scorer Tony Freeman leaves Iowa

[Da Coach]

Iowa's only All-Big Ten player (3rd team) and top scorer, Tony Freeman, has requested and been granted his realease, and is leaving Iowa.Freeman averaged 13.8 ppg. He also lead Iowa in assists. He is a junior and has only 1 year of eligibility left.
He was injured early in last season, and did not play against Bradley in South Padre Island. He is a native of Maywood, IL, where he attended St. Joseph's HS.--

http://www.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/stories/050208aap.html

Iowa stats--

http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaab/teams/ian/stats;_ylt=AkmA7HrxqmKYzMZrVNLOEJZU07YF

[Da Coach]

Here is a litttle more on Freeman's departure from Iowa. It seems Coach Todd Lickliter didn't want him at Iowa, and didn't think his game was compatible with their system.--

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080503/SPORTS020504/805030336/-1/SPORTS12

http://www.hawkcentral.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080503/HAWKS0102/805030352/1056

[tornado]

Tony Freeman fires back with a few comments to the press...

After Freeman was told by Coach Lickliter that his "‘free styling’ tendencies needed to be changed", he responded...

Lickliter showed "a lack of respect" during their post-season conference.
Lickliter "asked me did I ever think about transferring,” Freeman said in a telephone interview after being granted an official release of his scholarship.
“When I heard that, I was dumbfounded. I was like, ‘What? Why would you ask that question?’”
"I want to be here,’ but I also wanted to be respected
"the conversation I had with him insinuated that I wasn’t compatible with the system that he’s trying to run,” said Freeman"
"The final undoing, Freeman said, was when Jarryd Cole and Cyrus Tate were named co-captains for next season."

Wow....I can't recall ever seeing so many big schools booting so many of their top players as we have seen the past few days!

[Stryker]

Maybe the players are starting learn the affects of their heads getting too large?

[MacabreMob]

Maybe the players are starting learn the affects of their heads getting too large?

I agree.

Chickens comin' home to roost?

We live in an era of "All About Me" in the "Land of Litigation".

[PTownHawkeye]

As a Bradley and Iowa fan I must weigh in here. Tony Freeman leaving Iowa has been reported on the Iowa Rivals message boards for the past week. When I first heard about it being a possibility, I was disappointed. Tony is known to be a good person off the court and I like guys who are of high character. However he is absolutely not fit for Lick's system.

Any team losing their leading scorer takes a hit in the short term, but Tony only had 1 year of eligibility remaining so there can't possibly be more than a 1 year fallout. Fact is, I honestly believe this will make us better. Tony is a chucker...has never met a shot he didn't like. Guys like this are great energy players to have coming off the bench because they can help you make a comeback or help you pull away from a close game when they're on (take David Selby, Boogie, and Franklin as Bradley examples).

The problem is that Tony was playing the majority of the minutes rather than a bench role and always wants to be the #1 option. It seemed like we often were setting up a play and the play was suddenly disrupted by an errant 3-ball taken by Freeman. On top of this, at 6'1 he was unable to handle point guard duty and didn't defend 2-guards very well. All of these factors led to a transfer. I hope Tony finds success elsewhere.

Iowa has a young nucleus and there is really only 1 impact player older than a soph for next year.