Impossible For Garza To Get All The Answers Before Deadline

Aug. 2 might just be the biggest day to date in Luka Garza’s life.

That’s when Hawkeye fans will know for sure if the consensus All-American will return for another season with the Iowa basketball team or keep his name in the NBA Draft pool.

The deadline for college athletes to decide whether or not to withdraw their names from the NBA Draft is Aug. 3, a date set by the NCAA.

“This provides the utmost flexibility to student-athletes testing the waters to make the most informed decision about their future during this uncertain time,” NCAA Senior Vice President for Basketball Dan Gavitt said.

However, the deadline doesn’t provide the “utmost flexibility.” If anything, it does the opposite.

In a normal year, the deadline is fine. But this isn’t a normal year. The current deadline doesn’t help potential NBA Draft picks like Garza one bit.

I spoke with Garza’s father Frank right as the news broke of his son releasing a decision date.

I asked him if there was any significance behind Aug. 2, and essentially, there isn’t. It’s just the day before the deadline.

“It’s not even enough time to (make a decision),” Frank Garza said. “If the NCAA came out and said, ‘We’re going to give you till October 31,’ we’d take until October 31.”

Luka Garza, as well as every college basketball fan across the country, wants to know if there will be a winter sports season.

Time is the key factor here. It’s what Garza and other players need. If he takes his name out of the draft pool and there is no college basketball season, it’s a lose-lose.

“Either he’s wrong, he can’t finish what he wanted to here in college, or now he’s a year older and nowhere near – relatively speaking – as high in the draft,” Frank Garza said. “Next year’s draft talent is way higher than it was last year if there won’t be a season… and guess what? He’ll be 22. He’s not 18 or 19. Now he’s old.”

More information, specifically regarding the chances of college basketball, is needed to form a truly informed decision, but that crucial evidence won’t appear in the time frame presented by the NCAA.

“There’s no way by Aug. 3 there’s going to be enough medical knowledge to know,” Frank Garza said. “I don’t know why the NCAA set that date. It has nothing to do with the students’ situation in mind at all.”

There will be no clear-cut vantage point on basketball season by Aug. 3. Considering how COVID-19 spreads and the difference in opinions regarding preventative measures, I’m not sure we’ll have any realistic idea in the near future.

Luka Garza’s in a predicament I’m not sure we’ve really seen. His draft stock is arguably the highest it will be, but a deep run in the NCAA Tournament could change things. Think a meteoric rise on the primetime stage similar to Wisconsin’s Frank Kaminsky, one that could boost his value to NBA teams and chisel Garza into a household college hoops name.

But there’s just one problem: no one knows if there will be an NCAA Tournament in 2021, let alone a basketball season.

And Garza wants to know. He truly believes Iowa has the tools to compete for a deep NCAA Tournament run, and rightfully so — on paper, the roster is loaded. The talent is there. If there was any year Iowa could be in a national title conversation, it’s 2020-21.

If we had an answer to whether or not college basketball would continue as scheduled, I think this decision would have been made a while ago.

But we don’t.

Yes, there are bigger things in life than sports, and people need to realize that. Sports should not be the reason people wear masks — the well-being of others should — but if that’s what it takes, so be it.

We won’t have any idea on the state of college basketball by Aug. 3, and it’s the student-athletes who need to know, players who are in Garza’s position.

Garza has an incredibly tough decision to make in the coming weeks. In my conversations with his father, he’s torn. Frank said he’s had some sleepless nights. He’s wrestling with what might be the biggest question mark the sport has ever faced.

We need to remember student-athletes are people first. Whatever decision Luka Garza makes, fans should support him.

If you want to be upset about something, direct your complaints to the Aug. 3 deadline.

For additional content, follow Adam Hensley on Twitter @A_Hens83.