By Blake Dowson
The Iowa men’s basketball team officially kicked of its season on Oct. 1 during its first practice of the fall, and the team, as well as head coach Fran McCaffery, met with the media on Wednesday to discuss the upcoming year.
Here are a few of the things that the team repeatedly touched on in Carver-Hawkeye.
Tyler Cook could be a program-changer
The freshman from St. Louis commanded the biggest group of media around him, he commanded the biggest pair of shoes on the team (he wears size 18), and he probably commands the most weights in the weight room.
Cook is huge, especially for a freshman. His arms are not only big but also cut, and his calves look like the fat end of a big-barrel baseball bat.
McCaffery said he has the highest ceiling of any player he’s ever coached.
“I think he’s capable of being a star. I really do,” the coach said. “You guys that have been around me know that I say what I think typically, so it’s not like let’s go easy and not push him. I have a responsibility to be honest, and I think he’s an impact player, certainly on our team, in our league, and on a national level. I think he’s that good.”
Cook rebounds beyond his years, he runs like a deer, can stretch a defense out to the 3-point line, and can even handle the ball.
How will they replace the four starters they lost?
Mike Gesell, Anthony Clemmons, Adam Woodbury, and Jarrod Uthoff combined for 392 starts among the four of them.
That’s a lot of production to replace. McCaffery and his players seem to think they are set to do it, and they were pretty convincing make their argument.
Cook seems to slot into a starting role pretty easily, and the overwhelming consensus is that Christian Williams will be the point guard.
Williams played sparingly at the beginning of his freshman year but played some valuable minutes late in the spring.
“I don’t feel any pressure at all,” Williams said. “Honestly, I just have a lot of motivation because I have big shoes to fill. Mike Gesell did a great job all four years, and I just got to follow behind that.”
What kind of offense will the team run?
The Hawkeyes want to score as fast as possible in transition, and if they can’t do that, then they will pull the ball out and run a set.
But walking the ball up the floor won’t be an option this year, and McCaffery thinks he has the horses to do it.
“You will see the guys get it off the glass and go. Tyler will do that, Ahmad Wagner will do that, Dom Uhl will do that,” McCaffery said. “We kind of did that with Jarrod [Uthoff] and with Aaron White, but pretty much everybody we have can rebound the ball and go … But when you have a front court that can run like our group, we take off rather than worry about who we’re getting the ball to because that takes time.”
Is Peter Jok capable of carrying the team?
In April, the answer to that question was a resounding, “He better be.” But now, it might not all fall on the senior.
Dale Jones is almost all the way back from surgery, Cook will shoulder some of the load, and the often-forgotten Isaiah Moss, who redshirted last year, will also score the ball quite often.
But Jok is no-doubt the guy, and he will be depended on to lead the team.
“Last year I didn’t have to lead that much because we had four seniors who did a great job leading,” Jok said. “This year, now, I have to be the main leader.”