10 Iowa

On most days, guard Luke Recker will punch in his alias to log on to the Hawkeyes' Internet message board and read the latest tabloid talk among fans about his star-crossed career. The most recent nonsense? News reports that Recker had surgery on the right kneecap he fractured last season (he never went under the knife) and that his longer-than-expected recovery will keep him off the court until January. (He has been playing since August and says he's 100%.) "It's great to see how interested people are," Recker says of his cyber-sojourns, "but people have absolutely no clue what they're talking about."

Recker's health is crucial for a reason: Iowa was 17-4 and leading the Big Ten at the time of his season-ending injury; without Recker's team-leading 18.1 points a game, the Hawk-eyes went 6-8 and were eliminated by Kentucky in the second round of the NCAA tournament. "We had it rolling," coach Steve Alford says. "Luke was the leading scorer in the Big Ten after sitting out 15 months [following transfers from Indiana to Arizona to Iowa], and he was just on the brink of breaking through."

Talking about breakthroughs, senior forward Reggie Evans returns after a remarkable year in which he led the nation in double doubles (22) and free throw attempts (346) and was second in rebounding (11.9 a game). Like fellow Pensacola, Fla., native Roy Jones Jr., the world's best pound-for-pound boxer, the 6'8" Evans gets the most out of his body. Though he weighs 245 pounds, Evans ran the fastest 40-yard dash during preseason workouts.

"If you watch tape, Reggie isn't a great block-out guy, but he gets all the rebounds," says Alford. "He's like the pianist who, instead of reading music, plays by ear." So skilled (and feared) is Evans during Iowa's Rodman Drill—a no-holds-barred rebounding melee held during practices—that he recently told Alford it should be renamed the Evans Drill. If Evans can polish the rough edges of his offensive game and improve his 63.0% shooting at the free throw line, the Hawkeyes should have one of the best one-two punches in the nation.

Alford has his concerns, though. Foremost is finding a replacement for point guard Dean Oliver, who graduated. (The addition of explosive freshman guard Pierre Pierce, the runner-up to Eddy Curry—the fourth player taken in the NBA draft—in last year's Illinois Mr. Basketball voting, promises to help in that department.) The Hawkeyes also must find a reliable center, and, perhaps most important, they must play the kind of tight defense that was lacking last year.

As for Recker, in the wake of those transfers, his most recent injury and a horrific car accident two years ago, he's finally ready for a turmoil-free season at the wizened age of 23. "Coming out of high school, I was just like any other kid," he says. "I thought I'd be in school two years and go to the NBA-I still think I've got a chance to play at the next level. I just took a different route than anybody else."

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