The third-team all-Big Ten guard who led the Hawkeyes in scoring and steals will complete his college career elsewhere after asking for and being granted a release from his basketball scholarship at Iowa.
“I don’t know where I’m going. I just know that I’m not going to be here,” Freeman said. “I didn’t feel like I was wanted. That’s pretty much what it came down to.”
Freeman reached that conclusion following a meeting with coach Todd Lickliter one week ago.
He said he mulled his future after the end of the season and initially planned to return for his senior year.
“I was ready to come back and work on what I needed to work on, but in our meeting, I was asked if I had ever thought about transferring,” Freeman said. “That hit me hard. I know I’m not perfect, that I could do better, but if I’m not wanted it’s better to know now than later.”
With one year of eligibilty remaining, Freeman said he weighed his options carefully.
“I have to do what is best for my future,” he said.
Associate athletic director Fred Mims, the director of Iowa’s office of student services and compliance, made the announcement early
Friday evening that Freeman’s request had been granted.
In a statement, coach Todd Lickliter wished Freeman “nothing but success in the future.”
“Tony informed us of his decision that he will complete his college career elsewhere,” Lickliter said. “Tony worked hard to come back from his injury last season, and we appreciate the effort he provided throughout the course of the year.’’
By opting to transfer, the 6-foot-1 guard will be required to sit out the 2008-09 season under NCAA transfer rules if he enrolls at another Division I program. Freeman would be eligible immediately if he opted to transfer to a lower division.
His exit makes Freeman the second player who was on scholarship last season to announce his intentions to not be part of the Iowa program next season.
Guard Dan Bohall previously announced he planned to remain at Iowa as a student but opted not to continue his basketball career.
Freeman averaged a team-leading 13.8 points and 3.2 assists in 22 games this season for the Hawkeyes.
He also shot 37.6 percent from the field, 38.3 percent from 3-point range and 69 percent at the free-throw line.
Freeman’s average of 3.0 3-point baskets a game in Big Ten play ranked second in the league, and his conference scoring average of 14.2 points was the seventh-best total in the conference.
His junior season, however, was filled with inconsistency as Iowa dropped seven of its last nine games to finish 13-19, an overall record that only added to Freeman’s frustration.
“It was a tough year, right from the start,’’ Freeman said.
He missed the Hawkeyes’ first 10 non-conference games after suffering a stress fracture of the fifth metatarsal in his left foot during a Nov. 1 exhibition game against Simpson.
Freeman contemplated redshirting at that point, an idea rejected by Lickliter because of the early-season timing of the injury.
Freeman returned to score 15 points in a road win at Northern Iowa on Dec. 5 but sat out a game later that week at Iowa State. He went 3-of-14 from the field in his return one week later in a 56-51 loss to Drake.
That type of sporadic play typified a season that saw Freeman lead the Hawkeyes in scoring eight times and lead the team with five or more turnovers on six other occasions.
During three seasons, Freeman started 40 of the 86 games he played for Iowa, totaling 648 points, 200 rebounds, 240 assists and 74 steals.
Steve Batterson can be contacted at (563) 383-2290 or sbatterson@qctimes.com.
