By Aidan Joly
This offseason saw tons of roster turnover and NBA Draft declarations come out of the Big Ten. However, the biggest decision came from the Iowa Hawkeyes.
Luka Garza opted to return to Iowa City for his senior season after being named the conference player of the year for 2019-20. He led Fran McCaffrey’s high-powered offense with 23.9 points and 9.8 rebounds per contest while shooting 35.8% from long range. Iowa finished 20-11 overall and 11-9 in Big Ten play, on their way to what would have been an NCAA Tournament bid after ranking as high as No. 17 in the country.
Garza was named a unanimous first-team All-American, runner-up for the AP National Player of the Year award and was the winner of the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar award, given to the top center in the nation.
Iowa’s offense was the best part of its game all year long, fifth in the nation in assists, 30th in scoring and second in field goal percentage. However, the main issue was the defense, which allowed more than 72 points per game and had nine games allowing 80 or more points.
However, they can improve on that with not much turnover. The only key losses are Ryan Kriener and Bakari Evelyn, both of whom came off the bench. Kriener averaged 7.7 points and 4.1 rebounds, while Evelyn averaged 3.7 points and 2.0 assists.
The returners look great. Joining Garza in the frontcourt is Joe Wieskamp and Connor McCaffrey, the older son of the head coach. Looking at Wieskamp first, he was the second-leading scorer from last season with 14.0 points and 6.1 rebounds, also second on the squad in 32 minutes played. It’s easy to think those minutes will increase, so the stats should go up a bit as well.
Connor McCaffrey, who stands at just 6-5, will be a small-ball four. He is the glue guy here. He is able to guard multiple positions, shoot well, rebound and be a facilitator on offense. Last year he posted a 4.59:1 assist to turnover ratio, which is nothing short of jaw-dropping.
As for the depth here, they have two pieces. Redshirt sophomore Jack Nunge will be the backup center and probably get chances to play next to Garza. He played just five games last season due to injury, but he is set to be ready for the season. The second piece is Fran’s younger son, Patrick. The younger McCaffrey missed his freshman season due to health issues but should play this year. He entered Iowa as a four-star prospect, rated No. 86 in 247 Sport’s rankings. He’s a potential x-factor with his skills.
For the freshmen, twins Keegan and Kris Murray are both versatile and three-star Josh Ogundele is now here. The twin brothers probably won’t get a ton of playing time but we may see Ogundele occasionally, but he’s third in line among centers.
In the backcourt, Jordan Bohannon returns at point guard. Bohannon played 10 games last year due to a lingering hip injury and in that time averaged under double digits for the first time in his career. However, he had looked off and hopefully will return to past form. The other guard position will be sharpshooter CJ Fredrick. As a freshman last year, he shot 46.1% from three and averaged 10.2 PPG, despite missing some time due to a foot injury. With his shooting skill, he’s a perfect compliment for Garza.
As for the bench, Joey Toussaint had a solid freshman season with 6.2 points and 2.9 assists per game, but shot just 29.7% from three. He’ll be in a starting role eventually, but that isn’t this year.
The recruits coming in here are Tony Perkins, a three-star shooting guard and Ahron Ulis, brother of former Kentucky star Tyler Ulis. Again, it’s tough to see either of them getting a lot of playing time this year.
Overall, Garza is one of the best players in the country, if not the best coming into the year. They should be very good, but the question as to whether they can win the Big Ten and/or make a deep tournament run depends on how the defense looks. They are capable of it, but that remains to be seen.
AJ Hoops 