Nov. 18, 2004
Junior college forward Kurt Looby has signed a national letter of intent to attend the University of Iowa.
Looby is a 6-10, 210-pound forward from Tyler (Texas) Community College and is a native of St. John’s, Antigua. Iowa Coach Steve Alford compares him to current Hawkeye Erek Hansen.
“Kurt is similar to Erek in that he adds size in a very athletic body,” said Alford. “He’s a true shot blocker and runs the floor well. He comes from a very good junior college program and has the potential to be an outstanding college player as he develops. With no senior inside players on our current roster, we can bring him along slowly next season.”
Looby has played organized basketball for just two years. He moved into the starting line-up at Tyler late in his freshman season and has started the first two games for Tyler CC this season. He had 18 rebounds in Tyler’s most recent contest.
Looby is coached at Tyler by Mike Marques, who formerly coached at both Marshalltown Community College and Indian Hills Community College in Iowa. Marques was the junior college coach of former Hawkeye players Jacob Jaacks, Jason Price and Chauncey Leslie.
“This is a special young player who can really run and jump,” said Marques of Looby. “A lot of schools tried to get involved, but he took only two visits before deciding on Iowa.”
Iowa opens the regular season Nov. 19 against Western Illinois before taking part in the EA Sports Maui Invitational Nov. 22-24.