Metro Sports Report

NCAA tourneys a priceline puzzle

Kelly and Jeff Printy’s home computer and both cell phones were buzzing Monday night as the Marion couple figured out where they’re going to be this weekend and how they’ll get there.

Earlier in the evening, they learned that daughter Jaime will be playing with her Iowa Hawkeyes basketball teammates in the NCAA tournament late Saturday afternoon in Spokane, Wash.

They’d found out a day earlier that son Jordan has a late Friday night tip-off in Cleveland with his Indiana State Sycamores ball club in the men's NCAA tournament.

For the past two seasons, Jeff and Kelly have been at all of Jaime’s games in Iowa City and many of the road games, too. They’ve also traveled to all of Jordan’s weekend home tilts in Terre Haute, Ind., and to a lot of them elsewhere around the Midwest.

They haven’t counted them up but figure they’ve been on the road at least 35 times this year and last.

When one of their former Linn-Mar star athletes is playing in one place and the other someplace else, they sometimes split up.

“Besides working, that’s pretty much what we do in the winter, is go to basketball games,” says Jeff, 49, an engineering project specialist at Rockwell Collins. “It’s our social life.”

High school basketball needs a shot clock

Organize the bake sales. Schedule the car washes. Mobilize the donors.

Iowa high school basketball needs some dollars for shot clocks. Either that, or the advice of some expert shooting coaches.

With the girls and boys state tournaments completed the past two weeks, there has been some excellent basketball played in Des Moines. Saturday’s Class 3A and 4A boys state title games matched some excellent teams and showcased some of the best individuals Iowa has to offer.

But too many times, high school games are painful to watch. Some of it may be state tournament nerves, or the move to a 94-foot floor or matching up against some truly good defenses. But the game needs help, or at least some tweaking.

In last week’s 16 first-round boys state tournament games, 14 of the 32 teams failed to exceed 50 points. Marion and Cedar Rapids Jefferson shot 20 and 24.4 percent from the field in opening-round losses to eventual state finalists Waverly-Shell Rock and Des Moines Hoover.

In the eight Class 4A substate finals, six of the teams scored fewer than 50.

The girls state tournament was even more anemic. Of the 28 games played, 36 of the 56 teams couldn’t score more than 50 points. The state championship game final scores: 52-40, 50-39, 46-35 and 40-23.

Before I become too critical of the prep game or its shooters, I’m reminded of the horrific Big Ten tournament game this week when Penn State beat Wisconsin by the unbelievable score of 36-33. Those types of games develop at even the highest level.

Are shot clocks the answer for Iowa high schools? Well, they would certainly help speed up the game. Cost is always a concern, of course.

Jarrod Uthoff is Iowa's Mr. Basketball

Jefferson senior Jarrod Uthoff, who burst onto the national recruiting scene last summer on the AAU circuit then went out and led the state in scoring this winter, has been named the 2011 Iowa Mr. Basketball by the Iowa Newspaper Association.

Uthoff, a 6-foot-8 forward who is wiry strong on the inside rebounding yet possesses a light, almost delicate touch shooting from the outside, is the sixth Metro prep to win the award and the first since Linn-Mar's Jason Bohannon won it in 2006. Like Bohannon did, Uthoff is headed to Wisconsin to play for the Badgers.

Uthoff led the state in scoring with a 26.2 average, despite often being double- and triple-teamed by opponents. He led the J-Hawks to a 17-6 record and back-to-back state tournament appearances.

Uthoff is the first Jefferson player to win the Mr. Basketball award. Linn-Mar has had two (Bohannon and Tod Lumsden), and Kennedy (Al Lorenzen), Regis (Adam Spanich) and Prairie (Justin Wessel) have had one apiece.

Twice the Metro has had winners in consecutive years. Lumsden and Lorenzen won back-to-back in 1983 and '84, and Spanich and Wessel did likewise in 1995 and '96.

UNI coach impressed with Bohannon's skills

The Linn-Mar Lions wore the biggest smiles Saturday night after they won the Class 4A state basketball title.

The second-biggest smile belonged to University of Northern Iowa Coach Ben Jacobson. He hit the jackpot in Des Moines.

On Friday night, UNI signee Seth Tuttle led West Fork to the Class 2A title. Then on Saturday night, UNI signee Matt Bohannon helped Linn-Mar win the 4A crown.

Jacobson was there both nights, cheering for his future Panthers, envisioning them in Purple and Gold.

Tuttle, a 6-foot-8 forward, and Bohannon, a 6-4 guard, were delighted to see Jacobson, who had a floor pass and congratulated his prized recruits at Wells Fargo Arena.

Jacobson saw Bohannon torch Cedar Rapids Washington for a career-best 32 points in the quarterfinals Wednesday and saw him scorch Des Moines Hoover for 25 in the finals. Jacobson missed Bohannon's performance in the semifinals Friday afternoon because UNI had practice in Cedar Falls, but a Panther assistant coach was there.

Bohannon was named the captain of the Class 4A all-tournament team and was named the MVP for the entire tournament, regardless of class.

"The thing that we're most excited about is, Matt just keeps getting better and better all the time. He's obviously worked at it," said Jacobson. "He's a competitive kid, he's an unselish kid, and winning is the most important thing to him.

"A lot of the qualities that are hard to find, he's got them," said Jacobson. "And on top of that, he's a good player."