Hawkeye Basketball | Anthony Hubbard to Nebraska? WHAT!?!

You read that title correctly. Now, it's nothing confirmed or official but, per Rival's Nebraska publisher Robin Washut, Hubbard is at least talking to Nebraska.

Let me remind you that per the official Iowa release Hubbard stated he wanted to be closer to home. Home was Virginia. Here are Hubbards quotes, see:

Hubbard says,

""I truly appreciate the tremendous opportunity Coach McCaffery, the basketball staff and everyone at the University of Iowa provided me. The community and the school and the people were fantastic. However, at this time, I plan to work with my junior college coach and family to select another school perhaps closer to home,"

But! He's in contact with Nebraska? Mr. Hubbard, allow me to educate you a little. The distance from Iowa City to Virginia is roughly 850-900 miles.

Now, the distance from Lincoln, Nebraska is almost 1150 miles! That's a difference of 250-300 miles!

YOU"RE DOING IT WRONG!

Okay, so maybe we should take it easy on Hubbard. As some have alluded to, the "closer to home" reasoning may be Iowa's way of covering up something else. What?

There has been a handful of message board rumors but nothing from creditable sources.

The Cedar Rapid's Gazette's Scott Dochterman and Hawk Central's Pat Harty have written that they aren't buying it. Upon hearing of the Nebraska news the Des Moines Register's Rick Brown commented "If Anthony Hubbard does land at Nebraska, the real reason he left Iowa will come to the surface faster than a Fran fast break."

Stay tuned, I certainly will.

Hawkeye Basketball | More on Anthony Hubbard's Surprise Departure

Here is the official release on the UofI website.

Jon Miller writes that Hubbard's departure really stings.

Mike Hlas writes Anthony Hubbard, we hardly knew ye.

Here is the AP Story.

And finally, I made this to sum up my feelings:

Hawkeye Basketball | Anthony Hubbard Leaving Iowa

The rumors began swirling this afternoon after iowaman30 posted on Hawkeye Report that newcomer Anthony Hubbard was leaving Iowa.

That news has now been confirmed via Iowa City Press Citizen's Ryan Suchomel on Twitter. Suchomel tweets:

RT @RSuchomel: Hubbard is leaving Iowa, according to Iowa sports information via Pat Harty.

Per the Cedar Rapids Gazette's Scott Dochterman, also via Twitter:

RT @ScottDochterman: UI release coming shortly about Hubbard's situation

 ***Update 7/14/11 3:56 PM***

Scott Dochterman, of the Cedar Rapids Gazette, has the release from Iowa right here. Hubbard apparently wants to play basketball closer to home. If that is the case then I wonder why he wasted everyone's time? He played a year of JUCO basketball in Texas and of course spent close to four years in prison. Certainly more details will emerge as time passes.

Hawkeye Football | Wayback Machine | 1957 Rose Bowl Iowa v. Oregon State

The 1956 Hawkeye team would earn the first Rose Bowl trip in school history. Forest Evashevski's Hawkeyes lost only one regular season game, to Michigan. They won the Big Ten Championship and finished the regular season 8-1.

The Hawks would face Pac-Ten Champs Oregon State, a team the Hawkeyes beat in Iowa City the second week of the season 14-13. The Hawks got off to a fast start taking the lead 14-0 in the first quarter behind touchdown runs by quarterback Kenny Ploen and fullback Collins Hagler. Hagler would add a 66 yard TD in the third quarter as the Hawkeyes marched to a 35-19 victory.

The Hawkeyes would finish the season 9-1 and the #3 ranked team in the country.

The Hawkeyes were led by quarterback Ken Ploen. Ploen finished the season with 428 yards rushing and a team leading five touchdowns. Other famous Hawks include Alex Karras, Bill Happel, Bob Prescott, Jim Gibbons, Frank Gilliam, Bob Commings, and Frank Bloomquist.

The Hawkeyes would have to defeat Woody Hayes' Big Ten defending champ Buckeyes to clinch the berth to the Rose Bowl. For motivation Evashevski posted a sign in the Hawkeye locker room that read "You have sixty minutes to defeat Ohio State, and a lifetime to remember it." The Hawkeyes would do just that winning 6-0. It would be Iowa's first Big Ten crown in 34 years.

In the Official Rose Bowl Program Iowa City Press Citizen sports editor Al Grady had this to say about the 1956 Hawks, "When the 1956 football season opened, Iowa's football team was as unpublicized, nationally, as a third party candidate." Some things never change.

Grady went on to add, "It (Iowa) was one of eight Big Ten teams which wasn't supposed to have a chance at the conference championship. That was being reserved for either Ohio State or Michigan."

Finally, Grady quipped, "Obviously, somebody goofed and it wasn't the Iowa football team."

Luckily for us the wonderful invention YouTube has a half-hour film documenting the Hawkeye trip to Pasadena. If you haven't seen it and have the time give it a watch.

Hawkeye Basketball | Watch Recruit Prospects Woodbury and Gesell Live

Thanks to ihigh.com we can watch Hawkeye recruiting prospects Adam Woodbury and Mike Gesell play live. Tonight, at 5pm CST, the All-Iowa Attack will take on the Mac Irvin Fire of Illinois. These are the Under 17 Nike Peach Jam Finals, click the link below for the live stream.

EYBL Finals at Nike Peach Jam 17U: Mac Irvin Fire (IL) vs. All Iowa Attack (IA)

Since this is the finals I thought I would add some of the rumblings coming from around the web about Woodbury and Gesell's camp.

Woodbury is one of Tubby Smith's top targets. The Minnesota Star Tribune had these things to say about Woodbury.

Woodbury got a mention in ESPN blogger Dana O'Neil's July 13 post.

For more from the Nike EYBL, NBE Basketball Report has this blog entry.


The Hoops Window has this: Q & A: 2012 Sioux City (IA) East HS – Adam Woodbury


The Big Red Today says that Gesell has eliminated Creighton but still has Nebraska on his list.

Moving on to Tweets:

RT @tonysroe: Players of interest from this morning's Howard Pulley vs. All-Iowa Attack game: Mike Gesell: 16 pts (7-10 FG, 2-2 FT), 9 REB, 5 AST, 1 TO

RT @tonysroe: In addition to Mike Gesell and Adam Woodbury from All-Iowa Attack, Tyus Jones (2014 PG) from Howard Pulley has #Iowa interest.

RT @HuskerExtraBR: Mike Gesell tells HawkeyeSports.com he's no longer considering Creighton. Nebraska, Iowa and Stanford are the frontrunners.

RT @GophersBBGuy: Kyle Washington really raising his stock at Peach Jam. He just battled Iowa's Adam Woodbury.

RT @rellevent21: Roy watching Marcus Paige and Adam Woodbury again

RT @HeelIllustrated: Adam Woodbury persevered despite the tough challenge against Nerlens Noel, and Marcus Paige is back to full strength.

RT @FuneralPharoah: Marcus Paige passed the eye test, he's an elite PG#Acc  Adam Woodbury had alot of trouble with Nerlen Noels#PeachJam

RT @Bluedevilsreign: Coach K and Wojo now watching Nerlens Noel and Adam Woodbury.

RT @clintjackson1 Adam Woodbury tells us that Wisconsin is one of his most recent, new offers.

RT @GophersBBGuy: Tubby, Vince Taylor watching Iowa big Adam Woodbury right now.

Hawkeye Football | Wayback Machine | 1957 Wisconsin at Iowa

It was Homecoming at Iowa on October 19, 1957. The Wisconsin Badgers came to Iowa Stadium to take on a 3-0 Hawkeye team that pounded Utah State 70-14 in the season opener and drubbed Indiana 47-7 the week prior.

The 1957 Hawkeyes were a special squad that would end the regular season 7-1-1. Iowa was coming off a magical season in 1956 that ended with a Big Ten Title and a defeat of Oregon State in the Rose Bowl. The 1957 Hawkeyes were defeated in the eighth game of the season by Ohio State in a game that decided the Big Ten Champion.

The 1957 season was the last as a Hawkeye for Alex Karras. Karras won the Outland Trophy Award in 1957 and finished second in the Heisman voting. Jim Gibbons and Karras were named All-Americans. It was the second time Karras was honored and in 1957 it was a unanimous selection. Gibbons and Karras were selected to Iowa's All-Time team in 1989.

Jim Gibbons was the captain of the 1957 squad and received a full page spread in the program.

Karras, along with Jim Gibbons, Randy Duncan, and Frank Bloomquist were named to the All-Big Ten team. Other notable Hawks on the roster include Bob Jeter, Bill Happel and Bob Commings.

The Hawkeyes would stomp the Badgers 21-7 on this day and would move to #3 in the AP Poll. After a tie with Michigan and the loss to Ohio State the Hawkeyes would finish the season ranked #6.