From Indiana to Iowa

Even Dane Fife would have booed Luke Recker.\nAnd he didn't feel sorry for his former teammate. \nFife didn't have to boo. \nHe played defense, and just about every one of the 17,456 fans in Assembly Hall Tuesday night took care of the jeering for him -- loudly, critically and without mercy. \nRecker's misses were cheered -- during warm-ups. Every time the he touched the ball, fans booed. Every time he looked into the stands, he saw signs with the phrases "Traitor," "Luke Who?" and "Luke Sucks." Every time he looked toward the scoreboard, his Iowa Hawkeyes fell further and further behind the Hoosiers until IU finished a 79-51 winner.\nIt was Recker's first game in Assembly Hall since helping IU beat Iowa Feb. 27, 1999. It was about as bad a homecoming as Recker could have ever dreamed. \n"How could you not hear 17,000 people yelling your name?" Recker said. "You try not to hear it and you try not to listen to it. I think I let it get to me. I'm glad it's over…I couldn't have wrote a worse script."\nIU (15-7, 8-2 Big Ten) wrote a pretty bad one for him. \nRecker, who nearly single-handedly beat IU in his first game against his former team in Iowa City last season, fizzled in two attempts this time around. Tuesday, he finished with eight points on 3-of-10 shooting in 25 minutes. Recker finished the regular season 8-of-23 from the field against IU and scored only 20 points in the two games, both IU victories.\nInstead of impacting Tuesday's game down the stretch, he sat four seats down from coach Steve Alford. Recker played only 1:34 of the final 11:59 of Tuesday's Big Ten contest. \nIn fact, Iowa (15-9, 4-6) made its only second-half run with Recker and fellow senior Reggie Evans, the Hawkeyes two top scorers, on the bench. \nRecker checked out with 11:40 remaining and Iowa trailing 54-33. Four minutes later, he watched a parade of Hawkeyes walk to the scorers' bench and enter the game. Still, he sat and listened to fans chant, "We want Recker."\nNot until the 6:24 mark did he re-enter, but by that time, IU had extended the lead to 64-41. \nLess than 1:30 later, Recker was back on the bench and IU was up 71-43.\nAlford didn't single out Recker, but placed blame on his entire senior class.\n"I don't think our seniors stepped up like they had to," Alford said. "Their toughness showed. We're very immature."\nRecker showed signs of that early, and he admitted it. He scored the game's first basket on a lay-in, but he didn't score again until hitting a free throw with 3:05 left in the first half. \nIn the meantime, he missed four shots, then missed a three pointer with less than a minutes left in the half. \n"They rushed me into some bad shots," Recker said. "I got a good look early and from there on I forced it."\nThe second half wasn't much better. Recker hit two of his first four shots, but then took -- and missed -- only two more shots the rest of the way. \nFife, who got in early foul trouble in the first two games against Iowa, stayed away from that problem last night. Junior Kyle Hornsby, who guarded Recker at Iowa earlier this season, picked up two early fouls, and Fife went to work. \nWherever Recker went, Fife followed. \n"He got a few good looks and missed them," Fife said. "His other good looks were pinned against the backboard by (Jared) Jeffries and (Jeff) Newton."\nRecker played up IU's defense and took the fan reaction in stride. He put his own perspective and spin on things, drawing on emotion from a car crash that injured him and left his ex-girlfriend paralyzed. He said he received a warm reception from a number of administrators and former fans. \nMost people weren't, and haven't been, so gracious.\n"I received letters when I first got in the accident saying 'I wish you would have died,'" Recker said. "But, ninety-nine percent of Indiana fans are good people. They booed me and rightfully so. I haven't been here for three years, so it was weird. I have a lot of great memories from here. This obviously won't be one of the great memories."\nFife, who said he hears nearly the same "welcome" when he plays at Michigan, where he grew up and where his brother played, is one of those Hoosiers that still speaks to Recker. About an hour before tip-off, Fife warned Recker the game would be an adventure. \nHe couldn't have been more right.\n"They're angry," Fife said of IU fans. "Would I boo if I was a fan, probably. Any time people transfer, it makes people angry. I don't think it got under his skin, but it sure helped us out. You couldn't help but hear it. It was comical tonight."\nDepends on who you talk to. For Recker, it was a homecoming he can't forget and won't want to remember.