Tyler Cook

This year for the Hawkeye basketball team, fans should rely on forward Tyler Cook to take on majority of the scoring after testing the NBA sea level, working out for several teams but ultimately decided to head back to school.

Last season Cook averaged a team-high 15.3 points a game. With almost the entire team returning this coming season, fans can expect Cook to carry a heavy load. The Hawkeyes hope to improve tremendously after a 14-19 record and a missing the tournament for the fourth time in coach Fran McCaffery’s career.

Other than helping the team win games, Cook is trying to set himself apart this year in hopes to make it to the NBA after next season. Cook and teammate Isaiah Moss both flirted with the idea of going pro, but after meeting with scouts and teams, they believed it was best for them to return to Iowa.

This upcoming season I expect Cook to be in the 15-18 points per game range. Expect to see Cook to have a more consistent outside jumper, especially from 3-point range. This is one of the weakness of his game that was exposed at the NBA level.

The Hawkeyes will also heavy lean on Cook because they want to get back into the NCAA Tournament with every starter returning. It’ll be exciting to see how Cook and the team have improved and see them have more impressive seasons.

​— Pat Lynch

Jordan Bohannon

Tyler Cook will get his points in the paint, but it’s a shooter’s league.

Enter Jordan Bohannon.

Bohannon’s numbers jumped last season as the Hawkeyes turned to him as their primary weapon outside the paint. In his sophomore season, he shot 42.3 percent from the field (up nearly 5 percentage points from the previous season), 43 percent from 3-point range (up 2 percentage points), and 90 percent from the free-throw line (up 5 percentage points, with one nationally famous intentional miss), and he scored 13.5 points per game (nearly 3 points better than his freshman season).

Two seasons under his belt gives the point guard added experience, but what will really help Bohannon this coming season in scoring is a freshman.

Joe Wieskamp, a first-year Hawkeye from Muscatine, is a scorer through and through, and he’s expected to start right away in Iowa’s rotation.

Wieskamp can hit from all over the floor, and opposing defenses must be cognizant of that. Bohannon won’t face as many double teams and pressure as he did last year, and because of this, I think he’s going to be Iowa’s top scorer when the 2018-19 season is a wrap. I see a number in the 15- to 17-point range.

— Adam Hensley