Adam Woodbury must be suspended by Big Ten

Generally when something happens a series of times, we call that a trend. And trends have very little coincidence to them despite what Iowa coach Fran McCaffery, center Adam Woodbury and the rest of the Hawkeye faithful might think.

Woodbury was called for a flagrant foul late in the first half of Sunday’s 71-55 win over Maryland when he appeared, very clearly, to poke the eye of Terps guard Melo Trimble. This was the third such incident for Woodbury who appeared to do the same thing twice against Wisconsin on Jan. 20.

Now, it’s time for the Big Ten to step in and suspend Woodbury.

For the love of safety, this is illegal in the UFC. Really, it is. It’s a cheap shot and no way to play the game. Yes, it’s about as low as it can get. And really, it’s dangerous. A multitude of serious injuries could happen as a result of such a stunt.

And in case Woodbury, McCaffery or any misguided Iowa fans don’t know: You don’t just need your eyes to play basketball. You need them to see.

Want to intimidate someone? Block a shot.

After Sunday’s game, McCaffery, normally congenial and elaborate in settings with the media, dodged the questions. Heck, he was down right rude. McCaffery told the reporter to “ask an intelligent question.”

On Monday’s Big Ten Coaches Teleconference, McCaffery was more willing to discuss the incident.

There’s benefit to McCaffery defending Woodbury. The junior is having the best season of his career–he scored 16 points on Sunday–and is a vital component to the Hawkeye’s tournament chances.

“I think it’s a combination of things,” McCaffery said during the conference call. “He’s not really a shot blocker. He’s always been a good defender in the fact that he can move his feet as a 7-1 guy. And, I’ve been watching this kid since he was a sophomore in high school. He’s always poked the ball, stripped the ball. You’re playing a team like Maryland. They’re going to drive the ball. No matter who play now, they run ball screen stuff. Guys are coming at him. And his options are to try to take a charge or swipe at the ball. I think the other thing is I know the kid, I know what we teach and I know him. I know his character and I know his background. He does not want this attention. He doesn’t deserve it. It’s not anything malicious, anything intentional. I mean think about it. Here we are, we got the game firmly in hand, do you think he wants to stop and give them two free throws and the ball, get a flagrant foul, be in foul trouble? He’s playing the best basketball of his life. He had 16 points. Think he wants to be out of the game with foul trouble? He’s too smart for that. And all I can tell you is we don’t encourage it, we don’t want him to do it and I think when you have a quick player that’s coming, those kinds of things happen.

Like I said last night, not one time was there a foul called on the play. So if you just watch the game you wouldn’t notice until you slow it down. And I think if you were deliberately trying to poke someone in the eye, that’s hard to do. I don’t think you could do that continuously. So I’m 100 percent behind him.”

Email: sgruen@suntimes.com

Twitter: @SethGruen