Sunday was basically Christmas Day for Iowa Hawkeye fans. Since early-April, when Luka Garza announced he was going through the NBA Draft Evaluation Process, Iowa fans had been worried. They feared that Garza was going to leave the program for professional basketball somewhere. The fear that he was leaving was becoming more and more real as the Coronavirus drug out this whole process.
At 12:15 Sunday, Aug. 2, he etched his name as the greatest Iowa basketball player of all time.
Iowa’s G.O.A.T.
Build the statue, raise his number in the rafters, name a street after him. This is the single greatest thing to ever happen to the Iowa basketball program.
The 2019-2020 Big Ten Player of the Year and consensus All-American’s commitment to the Iowa program has never been seen before. No one that is the caliber of Garza has shown this much love for his teammates, city and university. He is Iowa’s adored child now.
If there is college basketball this winter/spring, Garza should go down as Iowa’s all-time leading scorer. Roy Marble is currently number one on that list with 2,116 points. Garza sits 1,559 with one season to go. That is only 557 points that he has to score to tie the record. To put it into perspective, he scored 740 last season. Based on a 30 game schedule, he only needs to average 18.5 points per game to break this record.
Walking bucket
In the 2019-2020 season, he averaged 23.9 points (most in the nation) and 9.8 rebounds per game while shooting 54.2/35.8/65 from those spots on the floor.
Do I think he will score that much a game this season? No, but that’s only because he has four lethal perimeter shooters that he can feed the ball too. However, there have been many workout videos posted this offseason with him working on different offensive moves like a sky hook and Steph-Curry-range three pointers. This dude is playing for his future while also trying to bring a Big Ten Title and National Championship to Iowa City.
Outlook
I’m not going to sit here and tell you he is going to average 30 and Iowa is winning it all. But, Iowa will make it to the second weekend. After that, who knows.
My prediction is that Iowa defeats Illinois to win the Big Ten. Let’s start there and enjoy the ride.
PS – Whether you believe in COVID or not (yes, some people really don’t believe it is real), wear a damn mask so I get to enjoy Iowa basketball this winter. My sports fandom sucks the way it is. Please give me this.