Heading into the summer months, Iowa Hawkeyes basketball inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena and across the Big Ten is still months away, but the work never stops in today’s college basketball world.
A newsworthy offseason in Iowa, following the departure of Fran McCaffery and the hiring of Drake coach Ben McCollum, has continued to gain momentum as a result of the Hawkeyes’ activity in the transfer portal.
As is the norm in today’s world, coaching changes have a domino effect on rosters, creating mass departures on the heels of the news, which are followed by a roster revamp through the transfer portal. Iowa underwent both of those processes and relied on Ben McCollum to rebuild the roster with external talent.
McCollum has done that, and his roster rebuild grades among some of the best for first-year coaches in college basketball, per CBS Sports.
Iowa, Ben McCollum
McCollum is bringing five rotation players with him from a 31-4 Drake team that beat Missouri in the NCAA Tournament. None is more significant than Bennett Stirtz, the Missouri Valley Player of the Year who averaged 19.2 points and 5.7 assists for the Bulldogs.
Horizon League Player of the Year Alvaro Folgueiras from Robert Morris will bring some toughness to the frontcourt and stretch the floor. Brendan Hausen is a 3-point gunner (38.8% on seven attempts per game) from Kansas State. But this roster all centers around Stirtz, who will be in his third season (and third different uniform) playing under McCollum. He closed the cycle as the nation’s No. 3 ranked transfer and will be appearing on preseason All-American lists. Grade: A- – David Cobb, CBS Sports
Iowa’s starting lineup is nearly solidified, headlined by Bennett Stirtz and a handful of other transfers. The biggest looming question is who will fill the other guard spot alongside Stirtz and Hausen, or if Iowa will lean on a bigger lineup using multiple bigs.
Whatever the route is, the Hawkeyes are preparing for a new-look offense that will play a slower and more calculated offense, as opposed to the high-scoring track meet offense fans had become accustomed to.
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This article originally appeared on Hawkeyes Wire: CBS Sports grades Iowa basketball roster revamp under Ben McCollum
Reporting by Riley Donald, Hawkeyes Wire / Hawkeyes Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
