The Iowa basketball team will hold court today at its annual media day.
By Blake Dowson
For those who are ready to flush the rest of the football season away, the Iowa men’s basketball team will hold its annual media day today.
However, the basketball team is full of question marks as well. Head coach Fran McCaffery has an extremely young squad to handle this year, and a ton of minutes are up for grabs.
Here are some of the biggest story lines to watch for heading into media day.
Who fills the roles left by last year’s seniors?
Mike Gesell, Jarrod Uthoff, Adam Woodbury, and Anthony Clemmons are gone. Gesell, Woodbury, and Clemmons spent four years in the starting lineup, and the reason Uthoff only spent three years starting was because of transfer eligibility.
Each one of them played more than 25 minutes a game. That’s a lot of time to fill this season.
Gesell was the perfect point guard to run McCaffery’s offense, and there hasn’t been a need in that position for four years. Now there is.
McCaffery also praised Woodbury on numerous occasions for how vocal he was on the defensive end, and it was obvious how important he was on that end of the court when he was out of games.
There aren’t really any obvious answers as to who is going to fill their roles.
Peter Jok will obviously be the centerpiece. Christian Williams looks like the apparent heir at point guard, and Dom Uhl will likely play center. After that, it’s open.
Is the hype around Tyler Cook real?
Cook, the freshman from St. Louis, is one of the best recruits Iowa has landed in a long time.
His highlight tapes on YouTube and his performance over the summer in the Prime Time League make it look to be as though he is the real deal. He jumps out of the gym, is tenacious on the glass, and runs like a deer.
But that was all against lesser competition.
Now, he will be playing against a bunch of other highly touted recruits who will have a two- or three-year head start on him in college weight rooms.
There is a good chance Cook will be thrown into the starting lineup from the get-go, so this question will be answered rather quickly.
After Cook, how many freshmen get big minutes?
Isaiah Moss is the most likely freshman candidate to get a bunch of minutes for the Hawkeyes this winter. Also, it’s not cheating to list him here, even though he is a redshirt freshman.
Moss is a 6-5 wing who can play both guard positions and small forward, and he’s got a knack for scoring.
With 44 points per game leaving from the starting lineup of a year ago, someone besides Jok will need to step up and shoulder some of the scoring load. That person could be Moss.
Jordan Bohannon will likely see some time as the backup point guard for Iowa. Bohannon seems to be able to command a team like Gesell did, and he’s a much better shooter than Gesell was.
Maishe Dailey is an interesting candidate for playing time. The 6-6 combo guard can play three positions and has a wide array of skills.
Cordell Pemsl and Ryan Kriener might get some playing time on the frontline, simply out of necessity. The frontcourt — consisting of Uhl, Ahmad Wagner, Dale Jones, Nicholas Baer, and Cook — is rather thin, and none of them stand taller than 6-9.