Sometimes a low profile is better.

Iowa State’s men’s basketball program is making its way through the fall off-season walking a tight rope. It’s been hit hard three times and bounced backed relatively unscathed. But just how long can it hold out?

Last month the first ISU basketball blemish popped up when transfer point guard Belefia Parks was found guilty of second degree theft. Parks was accused of stealing about $1,000 in electronic equipment from the Ames Kmart.

Head Coach Tim Floyd dismissed Parks from the team.

The second incident has yet to fully unfold but promises to be just as riveting. Kenny Pratt, a transfer guard/forward from the College of Eastern Utah, was arrested on Friday for allegedly sexually abusing a 19-year-old female student in Willow Hall.

Pratt was arguably one of the Cyclones’ top prospects in a season where they are predicted to dwell deep in the Big Eight basement.

Last year, Pratt, an honorable mention All-American, averaged 21.5 points a game, but we’ll never know what could have been.

Floyd has dismissed Pratt from the team as well.

“From the first day of school, we have stressed that every person in our program is accountable for their actions. I’m sensitive to the very serious nature of the charge made in this case,” Floyd said in a prepared statement.

And even the Cyclone coaching staff hasn’t been immune to controversy.

Assistant Coach Gar Forman has been accused of academic fraud while he was recruiting coordinator at New Mexico State. An internal probe, seconded by the NCAA Monday, pins several recruiting violations on Forman.

NCAA and New Mexico State officials allege Forman and Chris Nordquist, also a former Aggie assistant, gave tests and papers to players to help them gain credit through correspondent courses several players needed to meet eligibility requirements.

The NCAA also alleges Forman gave a player recruiting inducements in 1993 and made “false and misleading” statements to investigators.

All three situations are major and any alone may have been enough to prompt changes in a normal year for Cyclone basketball. But this is not a normal year. Parks, Pratt and to some extent, Forman, are not yet big-time personalities.

They haven’t had time. The Floyd era is just in its second year; it’s Pratt’s first semester on campus and Parks never played a game as a Cyclone.

And if they were more prominent? Things would be different — very different. Imagine the headlines if Fred Hoiberg and Loren Meyer were in trouble with the law and Jim Hallihan was accused of helping ISU players cheat.

The newsprint shortage would turn into a news ink shortage in central Iowa.

But don’t even go that far; just change the venues. Imagine if two North Carolina players were accused of sexual assault. Chapel Hill would come tumbling down.

Fortunately for ISU administrators, Cyclone fans haven’t yet developed an affection for Parks, Pratt or Forman. None has had time to run for mayor and judging by recent developments, the threesome is not destined for political office.

It’s ironic. At a time when athletic officials are trying to draw attention to a depleted basketball program in the wake of Johnny Orr’s retirement, the faceless names of those players and coaches making headlines may have prevented a Beardshear headache.

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Chris Miller is junior in journalism from Marshalltown. He is head news editor of the Daily.