In its final exhibition, men’s basketball will take on the top-ranked Division-III school, Augustana.
By Kyle Mann
Iowa men’s basketball coach Fran McCaffery will be faced with an interesting challenge tonight, especially for the game with Augustana being only an exhibition.
“Only an exhibition” doesn’t quite give Augustana justice, given that the Vikings enter the 2015-16 season as the top-ranked Division-III team in the nation. Now, in Iowa’s final exhibition before the regular season, McCaffery has to juggle his rotation against a particularly formidable preseason opponent.
“There’s two ways to look at exhibition games,” he said. “You can look at it where you’re playing somebody that know you’re going to beat and play everybody and work on some things, and you can play somebody that won 31 games who’s experienced and has really talented players, and they’re going to challenge you in a different way.”
But here’s the rub: After going 27-5 in 2014-15, Augustana clearly is more the latter, with experience and talent. However, with a team chock-full of newcomers, McCaffery and the Hawkeyes are still very much in need of the experience and learning opportunities.
Transfer Dale Jones and freshman Ahmad Wagner seemed to be the only newcomers to distinguish themselves in the first exhibition, but fellow freshmen Christian Williams and Andrew Fleming also appear to be on the cusp of regular-season playing time. With freshmen Brandon Hutton and Isaiah Moss also representing talented prospects on the bench, there remains a logjam to be sorted out.
McCaffery has said leading up to this season he would ideally like to have a 10-man rotation, which means not everybody will see steady playing time. For the freshmen, however, it means someone has to redshirt.
With that in mind, how much of this game will be an all-out effort to beat a good team and how much will McCaffery allow his young players a chance to audition?
“I would probably lean toward playing the guys I think deserve to play and play the game as if we’re obviously trying to win,” McCaffery said. “As opposed to ‘I don’t really care what happens, we’re going to run a bunch of guys out there.’ ”
Jones will play, because he offers an experienced rebounder who can also shoot from the outside. After that, Wagner appears safely in the rotation given his ability to play at the No. 3, 4, or 5 spot. McCaffery’s high praise of Williams as a versatile 6-6 point guard, and Fleming’s shooting and maturity at Oak Hill Academy (Virginia) would suggest playing time for them, as well.
Given that Iowa’s starting lineup and bench depth will lead to some unconventional lineups, one may notice that the theme for getting on the floor is simple: be dynamic.
“You’ve just got to show Coach that you understand what he’s talking about,” Wagner said. “Defensively, offensively, you’ve got to know what he wants, what we have to do on the court. Play smart, no turnovers, and his big thing is play hard. Always play your heart out.”
Regardless of who it may be, the Hawkeyes know they’re working with a talented bunch.
“We’ve got a great core group of veteran guys who know what to do, and we’re just trying to bring these freshmen along, because we’re going to need them this year,” senior Mike Gesell said. “There’s a lot of potential, a lot of talent in that class.”
Follow @KyleFMann for Iowa men’s basketball news, updates, and analysis.
