Payne signs with Iowa......

Cully Payne, a 6'1, 180 lb point guard from Schaumburg High School in Burlington, IL. will be a Iowa Hawkeye at the start of the 2009-10 season. Iowa went throught a lot to end up with Payne, and if this name sounds familiar to those of you who follow Iowa Hawkeye basketball, it's because the Iowa staff heavily recruited Cully after he de-committed from DePaul during his junior year of high school. At that time Iowa was one of the leading schools for Payne's services, but ultimately he chose Alabama. Things changed, however, when Mark Gottfried removed himself from his coaching duties for the Crimson Tide. Bama went on to hire VCU's Anthony Grant and Payne was allowed out of his letter of intent. The lefty is also a deadly three-point shooter who shows equally impressive results after the bounce. His only noticeable liability is that he does not have the quickness to create his own shot on demand, but he does a great job of lulling the defender to sleep before changing speeds with a burst. Overall, he is a tough competitor and a natural point guard who understands what it means to run a team at each end of the floor.