Tuesday, February 05, 2002
Recker expects unkind reception in return to Indiana
Iowa player back home for first time
The Associated Press
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — It's been three years since Luke Recker left Indiana and time has not healed the wounds.
The e-mails and letters from his former fans still come. Most bemoan Recker's decision to leave the Hoosiers and criticize the way he went about it, while others have given Recker a glimpse of what he can expect tonight (7 p.m. ESPN) when he returns to Assembly Hall.
“People write things that say "I can't wait till you get back because this is what's going to happen.' It's ludicrous,” said Recker, an Iowa guard. “There's a lot of bitterness toward me from the fans.”
It hasn't always been that way.
Back when the 1997 Mr. Basketball from DeKalb called Assembly Hall home, fans chanted his name, cheered his every move and his jersey was one of the most popular in the crowd. Children pressed him for autographs after each game and many fans pointed to Recker as the symbol of Indiana basketball.
All that ended quickly in April 1999 when Recker announced he would transfer after playing two years for Bob Knight. That's when the hate mail first started arriving. A month later, Recker announced he would play at Arizona.
“I think it's pretty pathetic,” said Marti Pepple, Recker's mother. “He didn't do anything to the state of Indiana, he just decided to go to a different school. It's like when people change jobs.”
Recker attended Arizona for one semester, then decided to transfer again, this time to Iowa to play for former Indiana star Steve Alford.
Recker did not make the trip when Iowa last played in Bloomington — in January 2000 — because NCAA rules required him to sit out a year. Last season Indiana and Iowa met twice — in Iowa City and in the Big Ten Tournament championship at Chicago. Iowa won both games.
So today's game will be the first and only time Indiana fans can vent their frustrations directly at Recker.
“It's going to be brutal, I'm sure,” he said. “I'll be booed the minute I step off the plane.”
If it were only the boos, Recker probably would not have asked his family, which still lives in northern Indiana, to stay home.
At the very least, Recker expects to hear derisive comments laced with obscenities, something that would anger any mother.
“It's just hard to hear people boo my son,” Pepple said. “I know it's going to be very ugly.”
Even Recker's friends agree.
Indiana guard Dane Fife, who roomed with Recker when he was a freshman and still talks to Recker on a regular basis, believes passions will run high — and that they will be directed at the former Hoosier.
“Anytime somebody transfers there's going to be a lot of anger and emotion let out because Luke was like Damon Bailey or Isiah Thomas here — everybody loved Luke,” Fife said. “I imagine it won't be very warm when he comes back.”
Indiana spokesman Jeff Fanter said Monday that the school would rely on its usual security and that Iowa had not requested any additional measures be taken.
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Recker expects unkind reception in return to Indiana