On the eve of last month’s Big Ten Basketball Tournament, Archie Miller discussed Iowa and coach Fran McCaffery during The Field of 68’s “After Dark” show.
“Fran McCaffery does not get enough credit for how he evaluates, recruits and develops players and his playing style,” the former Indiana coach said.
Keegan Murray, a finalist for both the Naismith and Wooden Awards, is the most recent exhibit A. Luke Garza, who won both of these awards in 2021, was exhibit B. And it goes deeper than that. First-team all-Big Ten players Devyn Marble, Aaron White and Peter Jok were not recruited by any other Big Ten schools. Another first-team player, Jarrod Uthoff, moved to Iowa from Wisconsin.
Point guard Jordan Bohannon, who did not have significant Division I opportunities as a senior at Linn-Mar of Marion, received his only Big Ten offer from Iowa. He left as the program’s third 2,000-point scorer, Big Ten’s most prolific 3-point shooter and Hawkeyes’ leader in assists through time.
McCaffery offered Garza a scholarship as an obese sophomore. Garza left Iowa City as consensus-all-American, national player of the year and twice Big Ten player of the year.
Murray, with a Division I offer as a senior at Cedar Rapids Prairie, was also a consensus all-American and a unanimous first-team all-Big Ten committee. He also won the Karl Malone Award as the country’s best power forward.
McCaffery and his coaching staff deserve praise for helping the easily recruited players take their game to the next level.
McCaffery is looking for players who fit his up-tempo system, and does not worry about how high they rank on the nation’s list of Top 100 prospects. More times than not, these guidelines have been spot on.
And the recent fluctuations in the list give McCaffery another chance to upgrade its list for 2022-23.
Murray’s leaps to the NBA and the transfers of scholarship players Joe Toussaint, Josh Ogundele and Austin Ash mean there are some vacancies.
Iowa will definitely try to add a big man through the transfer portal. And while McCaffery and his staff are still sorting through their options, there’s a good chance the Hawkeyes will add another player this spring if the right one is out there.
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This will be in addition to point guard Dasonte Bowen and big guard / small forward Josh Dix, who signed declarations of intent in November last year. Bowen reminds McCaffery of Ronald Moore, who played for him at a high level in Siena.
Finding the right pieces and making sure they fit with the returning players on the list is the challenge that McCaffery and the company face in the future.
“I know how to put a list together,” McCaffery said. “I know what I’m doing.”
McCaffery is an old-school coach in the sense that he builds his program with high school students and runs on their development throughout their careers. He is not against the transfer portal. In fact, McCaffery is looking for a great man there.
“I’m taking someone,” he said. “But you can only do that if guys go. There’s a reaction to every action.”
In other words, do not look for him to try to pick someone out of the portal in a position where he has a significant number of returning players.
“If you go into the portal and get a guy, you could lose three of your guys,” he said.
At the last count, there were 1,255 players on the transfer portal, a number that includes walk-ons. It is more than three per. Division I program.
McCaffery went to the portal and got Filip Rebraca from North Dakota last season. Now Murray’s departure puts Iowa in dire need of a big man. But remember this. Numbers alone will not determine who the Hawkeyes pursue. The player must fit in well with the returning players and have the ability to play an up-tempo playing style.
Iowa has been connected to several centers, most notably the 6-11 Fardaws Aimaq from the Utah Valley. He averaged 18.9 points and 13.6 rebounds in 2021-22. Aimaq, which started its career at Mercer, said last week that it was considering Arkansas, Kentucky, Iowa, Texas Tech, Washington, Gonzaga, Texas and Arizona. He has arranged visits to Iowa, Houston, Texas Tech and Washington.
The competition to find a great man of high quality will be challenging, especially with Aimaq, which can also test the NBA Draft waters. But Iowa has a legitimate selling point with the success and national recognition that Garza and Murray have had in the program over the past three seasons.
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