I have to take a little time out of my NFL draft prep, and yes I’m working on my Mock Draft 2.0 (BTW if anyone wants to go to the Draft in Chicago with me let me know, seriously I want to go and I need some company) but I had to acknowledge the Iowa Hawkeye Men’s basketball team. Quick caveat, I don’t watch women’s basketball but I’m really happy for Lisa Bluder and the women’s team for making it to their first Sweet 16 since…well a really long time ago. Back to the guy’s. Fran McCaffery led the men’s team to their first NCAA tournament win since 2001 and accomplished something that looked almost impossible five years ago during the darkest days of the Lickliter era. Back in the day when little John Lickliter was getting minutes on his dad’s team the NIT seemed like an impossible dream let alone an NCAA bid. The Hawkeyes came up short against an incredible Gonzaga team in their quest to make the Sweet 16 but it doesn’t diminished what McCaffrey has accomplished.
This year’s Hawkeye team was trying to replace one of the best players in school history Devyn Marble. Many believed that the Hawkeyes couldn’t overcome losing such a huge part of the team especially since Marble was the top scorer and go-to guy. At the beginning of the season it looked like people might be right because Iowa didn’t seem to have that alpha dog type of player to take over a game when need be and then Aaron White rose to the challenge. White has always been a solid player but he has limits to his game (he’s not a good 3-pt shooter and his post up game had never been his strong suit). White decided that his shortcomings didn’t matter and he learned to play to his strengths (he also improved his post up game considerably, his 3-pt shooting is still iffy). He is far more athletic than he gets credit for and the backdoor lob became every Hawkeye fan’s favorite play. The last half of the conference season and the first game of the NCAA tournament Aaron White imposed his will on the opponent and made sure this regular season didn’t end like last year’s regular season. White became the leader the Hawkeyes needed and I thank him for that. Senior Gabe Olaseni has come farther than any Hawkeye in the last 4 years and he has a future playing basketball professionally and that’s incredible considering how raw he was when McCaffery recruited him. He became a huge part of the Hawkeye team and he won Big Ten Sixth Man of the Year and he couldn’t be more deserving. He embraced his role off the bench and never felt slighted even when Adam Woodbury struggled yet remained the starter. While I’ve never been Aaron White’s biggest fan it’s possible you could say I’ve been Josh Oglesby’s worst critic and if you’re expecting me to apologize don’t hold your breath. Oglesby never became the shooter his reputation would have you believe he is and while McCaffery saw some reason to keep playing him I’ve never figured out why. That said, you can’t find fault in Oglesby’s effort and the kid never did anything to make you think he isn’t a true Hawkeye and I guess it’s nice when there is a reminder that sometimes 4 years of eligibility is enough. The final senior is the guy nobody ever heard of but the guy who got the loudest cheer from his teammates when he hit a late three at the end of the blowout of Davidson last Friday, Kyle Denning. Denning was a walk-on until his final season with the Hawkeyes and he really only received a scholarship because McCaffery had one left over for the year. He gave it to Denning as a reward for sticking it out with this team and going through all of the practices, film sessions and giving up all of his time to be a part of the team. I loved watching him hit that three in the NCAA tournament because that’s a memory he gets to have for the rest of his life and I love those stories.
I know there are people out there who believe Iowa will take a step back next season because of the loss of Aaron White, Gabe Olaseni and well, maybe Josh Oglesby but I don’t see it happening. Fran McCaffery has built something here and I believe it’s not only sustainable but it’s just the beginning. Everywhere McCaffery has coached his teams have improved each year he was there and that is true of Iowa. The difference is that this used to be the time that McCaffery would move on to a bigger job after turning around the program. McCaffery isn’t leaving Iowa anytime soon so Hawkeye fans get to see what comes next. While he may be losing 3 seniors who contributed heavily his team next year he will return 4 starters (Mike Gesell, Peter Jok, Jarrod Uthoff and Adam Woodbury) along with part-time starter Anthony Clemmons and true freshman Dom Uhl. Shooting guard Brady Ellingson redshirted this season due to injury and he will hopefully add some outside shooting help this team needs. Next year’s team will need someone to step into White’s leadership role and take on the go-to player role and that guy is Jarrod Uthoff. Uthoff took quite a step this year and became the secondary scorer behind White and he had a few games where he took over. It’s been fun watching Uthoff grow and I can’t wait to see him embrace his role as top dog in the offense because he has some moves that are absolutely unstoppable (his turnaround jump shot is deadly). He can be a lockdown defender and he’s one of the best weakside shot-blockers I’ve ever seen. Uthoff can be a special player and all he has to do is believe it. The other player that has to step up next season is Peter Jok. Jok can be a deadly scorer and the quantum leap he took from his freshman year to his sophomore year was impressive. He still makes mistakes and he can be frustratingly boneheaded from time to time but the more he plays the better he’ll be and McCaffery has shown just how good of a coach he is when it comes to developing talent. Jok has a chance to be one of McCaffery’s finest projects. Mike Gesell and Adam Woodbury are two tough, hard-nosed players that aren’t flashy and don’t get a ton of credit but they play the two most important positions on the court and they set the tone for the team. It’s only fitting because Gesell and Woodbury were the two major 4-star prospects that McCaffery got that seemed to give him some legitimacy when he first came to Iowa. They were a caliber of recruit that the Hawkeyes just weren’t able to get until McCaffery got here. It’s hard to believe they are going to be seniors but those two helped turn around the team not only on the court but in recruiting also. Anthony Clemmons is another senior-to-be that showed quite a bit of character by not being the guy who got upset and transferred like so many college players these days but stuck it out and became an important piece of the Hawkeyes. Clemmons backs-up Gesell at point guard and also plays alongside him at times, he’s become a fantastic on-the-ball defender and he actually found his outside shot late in the year. Freshman Dom Uhl gave the Hawkeyes some valuable minutes as a backup to Aaron White and Jarrod Uthoff at forward and he has some great potential. I think Uhl becomes a starter next season in White’s place and he will excel. He won’t be asked to replace White’s production offensively (that’s Uthoff’s job) but he can play great defense, get rebounds and maybe he can learn the backdoor lob play, unless that becomes Uthoff’s too. Redshirt Freshman Brady Ellingson played sparingly early in the season as he was coming off an injury he sustained in high school but when it became obvious he wasn’t completely healed and he wasn’t going to break into the rotation McCaffery shut him down for the year to let him completely recover and now he’ll have his chance to become the outside shooting specialist Oglesby was supposed to be.
McCaffery also will be bringing in a recruiting class that I think can pay immediate dividends. Shooting guard Andrew Fleming should also bring in some long-range shooting and he and Ellingson can compete for those minutes. Guard/Forward Isaiah Moss was a bit under the radar until he broke out this season and became a pretty good scoring threat. As a wing player who can attack the basket Moss should find some playing time as a scoring threat off the bench if nothing more, and I actually expect more. Small Forward Brandon Hutton is my favorite recruit because at 6’6 and about 200 lbs. Hutton is the type of power athlete Iowa hasn’t had in a very long time. Hutton is also a lockdown defender who can guard anyone from point guards to power forwards. He probably won’t be a major scoring threat right away but he’s going to be the designated stopper on defense. Power Forward Ahmad Wagner is only 6’7 so that’s not tall for a power forward but he’s 215 lbs. with a solid build and great athleticism. If he can be a Melsahn Basabe type of player that would be fine by me. The latest commit is Christian Williams a 6’5 point guard out of Illinois that people can’t help but compare to Devyn Marble, I see why, it’s an easy comparison to make. Williams is a long smooth athlete and his point guard skillset with that height make the Marble comparison inevitable. McCaffery has one more scholarship to give and as of right now the odds-on favorite is a junior college transfer from Tyler, TX named Dale Jones. Jones is a 6’8 power forward, originally from Waterloo, that shoots very well from 3-pt range, imagine an Aaron White type of guy that can actually hit the three. I have to give McCaffery major kudos for breaking into Illinois in a big way this recruiting cycle. Hutton, Moss and Williams are all Illinois kids and one way for McCaffery to sustain the success he’s already achieved at Iowa and build on it would be to establish a recruiting pipeline into Illinois.
The idea of adding these 6 newcomers to the 7 players already on the roster makes me quite confident that the Hawkeyes can sustain the momentum they have created under McCaffery and I’m actually excited about the team next year. It’s taken time but I like the way McCaffery has built the Iowa program over the last five years and I think the future is bright for the Hawkeyes.
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