Luka Garza at some point has to be certain during uncertain times
By Pat Harty
IOWA CITY, Iowa – If Luka Garza decides to return for his senior season, this could be the most hyped Iowa men’s basketball team since the days of B.J. Armstrong, Roy Marble and Ed Horton in the late 1980s.
This could be Fran McCaffery’s best team at Iowa, and arguably the best team on the paper in the Big Ten, outside of maybe Wisconsin.
This could be the team that finally ends Iowa’s 41-year drought without winning a Big Ten regular-season title, and the first Iowa team to advance to the NCAA Sweet 16 since 1999.
Heck, if Garza returns, some might even go as far as to say that Iowa is potentially a Final Four team.
Garza, along with a healthy Jordan Bohannon and a more-determined-than-ever Joe Wieskamp would give Iowa one of the top triumvirates in college basketball, let alone the Big Ten.
Iowa also announced on Wednesday that sophomore shooting guard C.J. Fredrick would have foot surgery, but is expected to be fully recovered by the start of the season, whenever that might be.
That’s the problem, nothing is for certain in the new normal.
Iowa’s roster is loaded from top to bottom and fans are hoping and praying that Garza chooses to return.
I haven’t gone as far as to pray that Garza returns, but I sure hope he does because what a story that would be.
The questions is what would Garza be returning to if he chooses to play for Iowa as a senior?
The COVID-19 pandemic has turned the sports world upside down, and just when it looked as if things were starting to tilt back in the right direction, the highly contagious Coronavirus is now spreading in more than 30 states.
The plan still is to play college and high school football this fall, but time is running out on that plan with the virus still spreading in mid-July.
At this point, nobody can say with certainty if football will start on time, or if there will even be a football season.
A decision on basketball isn’t quite as urgent with practice not set to start until October, but the 6-foot-11 Garza only has until Aug. 3 to withdraw his name from the 2020 NBA Draft to maintain his college eligibility.
Garza will reportedly announce his decision on Aug. 2, and you can almost be certain that he won’t have any guarantee that the college football season will even be played as scheduled.
And what if the college football season gets pushed back to the spring?
How would that effect basketball?
And what if games are played, but with no fans in the arena?
Garza won’t have the answer to any of those questions before he has to make a decision that could ultimately have life-changing ramifications.
That’s a lot for anybody to handle, but Garza seems well-equipped with a strong family structure and environment and with a good head on his shoulders.
Garza would seem to have four realistic options at this point.
He could stay in the draft.
He could return to Iowa for his senior season.
He could try to play professionally overseas.
Or he could sit out a year, take classes online to work toward his degree, and then pursue whatever he chooses after that from a basketball standpoint.
There is no certainty that Garza would be selected in the two-round draft, especially with regard to the first round, since his name doesn’t appear in most mock drafts.
Garza would seem to be, however, a strong candidate to play in a top European league for a year, a near 7-footer who can shoot threes and score in the block, and whose motor and intensity never stops.
But would it even possible for Garza to travel to Europe under the circumstances with the virus?
It has been hard for Garza to showcase his skills to NBA decision makers due to the lock down and to the emphasis on social distancing.
He has spoken with multiple teams, but conversation only goes so far.
So that could bode well for Iowa.
If Garza had his way, he’d stay in the draft and become a first-round pick because that’s why he declared in the first place.
If Iowa fans had their way, Garza would choose to return for his senior season, and then let the hype begin.
Garza said when he declared for the draft that he would stay in the draft only if he felt there was a guarantee that a team would pick him.
He said that in the spring and probably under the assumption the situation with the virus would be more under control than it is now.
It’s weird that time is running out on Garza to make a decision, while time also seems to be on hold with regard to the status of sports.
There is no certainty about fall sports, and yet, Garza has to make a decision in the summer about playing a winter sport, and has to do it during a global pandemic.
And he isn’t alone as there are other college players trying to make the same decision under the same surreal circumstances.
But again, if Garza chooses to return to Iowa, and there is a season at some point, it could prove to be something special.
Could be is all we have right now.