He did make some all-state teams as a senior at Moline High, but even he admits he was then one of those unwrapped packages labeled a project. He was tall but as thin as a vertical hyphen, a shot-blocker but still struggling with his coordination, and though various colleges did drop by to pitch him some woo, he believed always they were viewing him as a gift to be appreciated some time in the future.
Illinois was one of those colleges, but it was then loaded with talent and in line to land LaPhonso Ellis, so Illinois was finally rejected as a place where he would be (in his mind) nothing but a backup. Another was Michigan State, where Jud Heathcote promised both a Big 10 title and a chance to play forward, but he doubted that first enticement would come true and so rejected MSU despite the attractiveness of the second.
Iowa, he finally thought, was the best situation for him, and when the Hawkeyes proffered him the first scholarship offer he received, he committed immediately. ”I think,” center Acie Earl remembers, ”they kinda wanted me more than the other schools.”
As a project?
”Yeah. I was ranked in a few magazines, but the words they used next to my name were `diamond in the rough` or `oozes potential.` I kinda liked that. I had a bit of the underdog in me and felt I could sneak up on somebody that way.
”Then my uncle told me one of these days I`m going to have to step up and have good words after my name. At first I didn`t like that, since you have a lot to lose. But then I thought about it and figured I`d like to be on top instead of always fighting for position.”
– – –
The 6-foot-10-inch Acie Earl is now Iowa`s poster child, an acclamation granted him not only as the most talented of this year`s Hawkeyes. For while he is an exceptional shot-blocker, a rugged rebounder and a dangerous scorer, he is also-more significantly here-an abiding symbol for the group he must often carry on his sinewy shoulders.
He is still laboring to tap into all of his talents, as is the suddenly struggling Hawkeye team (0-2 in Big 10 play) that plays Illinois on Wednesday night. He is still performing at the edge of the spotlight, as does this Hawkeye team that received little attention, even though it entered this season with 11 players back from the one that went 21-11 a year ago. And he is still fighting for a position in the public`s fancy, as is this Hawkeye team, even though it features more tales than a typical daytime soap.
Take 6-5 junior Wade Lookingbill, one of its starting forwards. He was Iowa`s Mr. Basketball coming out of high school in 1988, but for the longest time he appeared headed for Drake or Northern Iowa instead of the college he so hoped to attend. There just wasn`t a scholarship available for him, that was the conundrum facing Hawkeye coach Tom Davis. But then a newspaper columnist started a campaign pushing him, and a sophomore named Mark Jewell announced he was transferring, suddenly Davis had a way to both land Lookingbill and skirt what could have been a public relations gaffe.
Now take a peek at 6-0 senior Troy Skinner, Iowa`s starter at the point. He looks as if he just wandered down from Walton Mountain, and did indeed star for a tiny school (Palmer High) in an Iowa farming community of 262 people. There he scored the second-most points in Iowa prep history while driving his teams to 79 straight victories and three state championships, yet when Davis chose him instead of Lookingbill for the last scholarship he had available back in 1988, he projected Skinner as nothing more than a career backup.
Then there is junior Val Barnes, who starts beside Skinner as the off guard. He passed the college entrance exam on his first try but took it so late he had to play a year in junior college waiting for a scholarship to open up for him at Iowa.
And there is senior James Moses, a backup guard. He`s looking forward to a call from the NBA but hasn`t squawked about being sent to the bench after averaging 14 points as a starter in the Hawks` first nine games. And, finally, sophomore Chris Street, who starts alongside Lookingbill and Earl on Iowa`s front line. He began idolizing Hawkeye heroes while watching them on TV as a 7-year-old and committed to Davis the summer before his junior year at Indianola High.
This mottled band, with Earl at its core, started the season with six straight victories but then stumbled against Iowa State in mid-December, was dumped by South Florida at a Christmas tourney and then opened its Big 10 season with overtime losses at home to Michigan and at Purdue. After averaging 94 points in its 10 non-conference games, it managed but 77 against the Wolverines and 69 against the Boilermakers, and now it limps into the Illinois game as a listing ship fighting to right its position.
”We`ve improved across the board from a year ago,” says Davis, ”but have we improved enough to make a dent in this league?”
What is the key to doing that?
”Good question,” says Davis. ”To me it would be overall development. We have to improve even more because of how difficult the league is.”
And Earl?
”I`m very pleased with him, but I caution everyone not to expect miracles,” he says, echoing his team theme while speaking of its poster child. ”He`s better than last year, but he still has edges he can improve in his game.”
– – –
Acie Earl, project, would redshirt his first year in Iowa City and, as a freshman in 1990, do little more than establish himself as an intimidator by leading the Big 10 in blocks. Last season, with the graduation of 7-foot Les Jepsen, he stepped into the hole for the Hawkeyes and increased his scoring average by 10 to 16.3 points a game, and now, as one of his conference`s best big men, he leads his team in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots.
”I feel,” he says, ”I can do probably more than people thought I could.
”I would say I took a lot of people by surprise last year. They thought what I did was still two, three years down the road. But coach Davis gave me the confidence to do what I could do. That happened to a lot of players who didn`t think they`d play a lot, but he stuck with them, stuck with them, stuck with them, and then they came through at the end. It`s coach Davis` style. If you can do something, he`ll give you the confidence to do it.”
