ROSEMONT, Ill. ¬- When Todd Lickliter moved deeper into the Midwest three years ago from a program in the middle of a big city, Butler in Indianapolis, he wasn’t totally sure what to expect.

He’d be moving into the Big Ten. He’d be taking over a program that had won 17 games and had been a frequent NCAA tournament visitor. The year before Lickliter arrived in Iowa, the Hawkeyes had finished fourth in the Big Ten.

Yet since he’s gotten there, it has been a rebuilding project in Iowa City. The Hawkeyes haven’t been over .500 in the Big Ten or for a season since Steve Alford left. They were 13-19 in Lickliter’s first season.

Last year, with a young team featuring just one upperclassman - senior forward Cyrus Tate - in the starting lineup, Iowa went 15-17 and finished 10th in the conference, only ahead of really rebuilding Indiana.

Needless to say, this isn’t what Lickliter could have expected.

“I don’t think you know what the process is going to be until you actually get there,” Lickliter said. “And you assess the strengths and weaknesses and personnel and how you match up against the competition and that sort of thing.”

What he saw was a team that was losing its best player, Adam Haluska, to graduation. The future of the program, then-freshman Tyler Smith transferred from Iowa to
Tennessee to be closer to his ailing father. Smith is now a senior with the Volunteers, averaging 17.4 points a game last season.

He also saw a league that was more bruising than perhaps he realized when he took over prior to the 2007-08 season. It was something, as he said, that “became very obvious to me” fairly quickly.

As his rebuilding job continues, Lickliter is fielding a young team and going through an overhaul in a league that has become markedly tougher over the past two seasons.
Five teams were in the Associated Press Top 25 released Thursday and the Big Ten could end up with as many as eight teams in the NCAA tournament.

Currently, Iowa isn’t expected to be even close to that.

“It’s been difficult,” Lickliter said. “Nobody is where we want to be. I’m not happy with it as far as where we’re finishing. But I do see progress and really like the players on this team. I like their personalities, I like their character and I like their ability. That’s all I can ask for.”

It has already gotten tougher for the Hawkeyes before games even started. Junior college transfer Devon Archie is out for at least the next month after a shoulder injury in practice. Lickliter said it was a non-contact injury where he lost his footing and fell on the shoulder.

Now Iowa must lean even more heavily on senior guard Devan Bawinkel - he played at West Virginia under current Michigan coach John Beilein when he was a freshman - and junior forward Jarryd Cole along with sophomore guards Anthony Tucker and Matt Gatens. Gatens averaged 10.8 points a season ago, the best of any Iowa returning player.

“We know that the expectations are low,” Lickliter said. “But if predictions always came true, then there would be no need to play the games.”

Michael Rothstein covers University of Michigan basketball for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at (734) 623-2558, by e-mail at michaelrothstein@annarbor.com or follow along on Twitter @mikerothstein.