[bears9]

Welcome to basketball under Lickliter, where the team concept comes before everything else and where playing defense is taught to be fun.Lickliter avoided mentioning the names of any specific players as a way to promote the team concept and to stress being unselfish.
Lickliter said it wasn't a calculated move when asked midway through the news conference why he hadn't mentioned any players. It apparently just goes against his beliefs as a coach.
And it's hard to argue with the results, considering Lickliter is the reigning national coach of the year after leading Butler University to the NCAA Sweet 16 in March.
"I think it's so hard to single people out in a team sport," Lickliter said before a packed room of reporters and UI faculty members at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. "We will at times. You'll see things.
Part of that focus called for redecorating the players' locker room and the lounge area inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Gone are all the photos of past and current players that lined the walls under former coach Steve Alford, except one of last year's team captain and first-team academic All-American, Adam Haluska. The individual shots have been replaced by photos of some of the greatest teams in school history.
"We have our championship teams on the wall," said Lickliter, who was given a seven-year contract that will pay him $1.2 million annually. "I want our guys to recognize and see that.
"We want to pursue championships. I want them to see the Iowa history."
The players are seeing it, and they're listening closely to what Lickliter has to say about playing as a team.

'Everything is team'