In a report first published by XOfan.com Jarrod Uthoff made it official that he will end his recruitment after transfering from Wisconsin and has picked Big Ten rival Iowa as his new home.
Uthoff will return to his roots, as the Cedar Rapids native, will play his basketball about 25 minutes from his home town. He will have to sit out next season and because he redshirted this past year at Wisconsin will loose a year of eligiblity. He’ll also be paying his own way at the University of Iowa for next year as he decided to go to a school on the restricted list and thus by Big Ten rules can not recieve a scholarship for the next year.
Most of this isn’t exactly earth shattering news as we talked about it earlier in the day on MadTownBadgers own radio program – Badgers Power Hour – so check that out for opinions galore.
However, one section of this article really caught my eye and may be the most head scratching part of this whole saga: His reasoning for leaving Wisconsin – you know, the “Style of Play” reason.
Well, here’s how they describe Uthoff’s style of play and why he’d fit in as a Hawkeye:
“The 2011 Iowa Mr. Basketball has the ability to score facing to the arc, he can take bigs off the dribble and has a deadly mid-range game off the dribble. He is an excellent passer, who can hit open man out of post or facing the rim. he is similar in a number ways to current HAwkeye Aaron White. So he will add to Iowa’s inside-out game in the half-court and their transition game. He is very quick in open court and has ball skills to get to rim off one-two dribble drive and finish. He is a solid rebounder who uses his length to snatch board and to finish with jump hook or turnaround in the paint.”
So, where exactly does his “style of play” not fit in at Wisconsin? I’m just curious? Last time I checked that’s exactly how the 4 position plays for the Badgers. Sure, I could be off the mark, but the years of studying the fundamentals of basketball and growing up with the swing offense as religion in the Green Bay area might give me a good grasp on the basics of the offense at least, huh?
His quotes about liking their style of play vs. Wisconsin’s also begs the question of what the heck this young man was watching when he was being recruited by the Badgers and Hawkeyes. I mean, seriously, not sure you could get offenses much different than that in the game of basketball. If you wanted to run and were thinking Wiscnosin would change then that’s on you and your team of advisors for not doing your homework.
I’ll give him credit for at least seemingly finding in his soul just what he wanted to do, but don’t expect Wisconsin fans to applaud you anytime in the future. Leaving Wisconsin is one thing, but going to the enemy and the way you did it is a totally different subject all together. This sure is going to be an interesting ride over the next four years of Iowa vs. Wisconsin.
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