Io-what?

Let me just make this clear right off the bat, Iowa basketball has less hope to be successful this season than Israel and Palestine do in resolving their decade long dispute before sundown. In fact, the only good thing that has happened in Iowa City in terms of the roundball recently is the ruling that has placed Sophomore Brennan Cougill academically ineligible for the upcoming season. Maybe that will give him some time to shed some weight so the Iowa basketball faithful don't think that John Daly invaded their teams PF position again. But things just went from poorly executed to downright strange in the "Fields of Opportunity" this fall as the Hawkeyes have now found themselves amid illegal recruiting allegations coming off a 10-22 season a year ago.

When Iowa basketball decided upon the questionable hiring of former Siena frontman Fran McCaffery, we knew they wouldn't be getting big time recruits, which was also interestingly enough the problem with the last coach, Todd Lickliter, who could only spell Schaumburg grad Cully Payne with a few minutes of shameful play from his own son, Johnny "How many" Lickliter's does it take til you get to the center. But things are getting stranger and stranger as Iowa drifts further away from Big 10 relevance for the next presidential term. Apparently, Iowa booster Ashton Kutcher and his wife, "Striptease" star Demi Moore have been involved in unlicensed meetings with Iowa basketball recruits. At first, this prompted me to laugh that Ashton and Freshman recruit Cody Cox (Yes, this a real Iowa recruit) could be screening "What happens in Vegas" together in Ashton's Iowa City loft. A better question is, what big-time college basketball recruit has any ambition to meet the guy who created Punk'd? Did they promise these kids a starting spot if they could sit the Butterfly Effect in its entirety?

I find it hard to believe that Kirk Ferentz and Iowa football can put together a reputable program in the Big 10, as well as nationally and Iowa basketball is subjected to illegal meetings with the star of the Nikon camera commercials. If you want to illegally recruit to try and land a big name, that's fine, at least you're trying. Buy a prospective Iowa recruit a car, or purchase his parents a Tudor Mansion in Corallville, but don't throw your program under the bus because some kid ratted you out on Twitter.

I thought Iowa missed out with their coaching vacancy when they hired an unrecognizable face when a lot of marquee names were still left on the board. Coaches like Bruce Pearl (who once coached at Iowa), Scott Drew (took Baylor to the Elite 8), Chris Collins (midwestern ties) and Keno Davis (son of former Iowa Head Coach Tom Davis) were all still available when the Hawks splurged on Fran McCaffery and solidified their medocrity for a decade to come. I hope Ferentz can somehow finagle a share of the Big 10 title, because it's going to be a long winter in Iowa this year, and many years to come.

As for Pick of the Day, the pick was posted last night as The Pulse Man plans on the Heat's triumverate (-16) to obliterate the lowly T-Wolves in South Beach tonight. Keep an eye out for Mike Beasley to drop 40 on his former suitor though, I still love that guy.

Pick of the Day: Timberwolves @ Heat (-16)- HEAT (-105)

Record:(27-22-0)

Now I'm done. Rack me

Frost