B1G Basketball Previews: Iowa Hawkeyes

Last Season

The Fran McCaffery era ended with a dud. The Hawkeyes finished just 7-13 in the conference and the Iowa AD decided it was tired of top 20 offenses coupled with a conference worst defense. While it would be easy to pile on regarding Fran's complete lack of give-a-shit about the defensive side of the ball, things didn't look too bad in Iowa until Owen Freeman went down to injury. Losing their best post scorer and rebounder for the season put a big damper on the rest of the season and likely clinched Fran's dismissal.

Defectors

• It would be easier to talk about who stayed. 12 scholarship players left including an extremely talented pair to Creighton.
• Sharpshooting 3 point specialist Josh Dix and the aforementioned Owen Freeman are off to Creighton where they will likely anchor that roster's offense.
• Sometimes starting guard Brock Harding is off to TCU.
• Seydou Traore transferred to Utah.
• Pryce Sandfort went to in-conference foe Nebraska.
• Ladji Dembele was entranced by the bright lights of Vegas and will play for UNLV.
• Christ Tadjo (Santa Clara), Riley Mulvey (Siena), and Isaiah Johnson-Arigu (St. Thomas) all went down a level in search of more playing time.
• Even Brauns, Drew Thelwell, and Payton Sandfort exhausted eligibility.

Starters

• PG Bennett Stirtz, 6'4" Senior. Stirtz will be the engine that powers the Iowa offense. He's a top 5 PG nationally and has followed McCollum from D2 Northwest Missouri State to Drake to Iowa. He's an excellent shooter, a great playmaker, and will play all 40 minutes.
• SG Brendan Hausen, 6'4" Senior. Hausen is a high percentage outside shooter. His 38.8% from outside of the arc last season was impressive even if it's not as good as Stirtz. Hausen comes over from Kansas State and will be one of the few Hawkeyes proven at the high major level.
• SF Tavion Banks, 6'7" Senior. Banks was the MVC's 6th man of the year last year averaging double figures for Drake in scoring. He's limited when it comes to shooting from three (just 2 of 22 last year) but rebounds at a high level.
• PF Alvaro Folgueiras, 6'10" Junior. Folguerias was the Horizon League player of the year last year for Robert Morris. He's able to space the floor on offense (41.5% from three last season), and is a well-rounded contributor on both ends of the floor.
• C Cam Manyawu, 6'9" Junior. I have Manyawu penciled in as the starter as he's another Drake transfer and he started for the Bulldogs last year. His size is an obvious question mark for the center spot in the Big Ten but it's either him, Folgueiras, or a 3 star true freshman. Manyawu was the MVC's best rebounder last season and while he is unlikely to be an elite rim protector in this conference, opposing big men will need to watch out for him picking their pockets. Regardless or whether he starts or not, Manyawu will play a lot and be in foul trouble a lot.

Bench

• G Isaia Howard, 6'5" Sophomore. Howard is likely to be part of the guard rotation for Iowa. He didn't get a lot of run at Drake last year - to be fair, none of the backup guards did, but was solid in his opportunities.
• G Kael Combs, 6'4" Sophomore. Copy and paste from Howard's blurb other than Combs being a worse outside shooter.
• F Copper Koch, 6'8" Redshirt Freshman. The lone holdover from last year's Hawkeye roster, Koch played sparingly at the beginning of last summer before a lung issue that forced him to sit out the remainder of the season. He received a medical hardship waiver and is still a freshman eligibility wise.
• F Joey Matteoni, 6'8" Redshirt Freshman. Another Drake transfer. No idea what to expect from him since he didn't play last year.
• C Trevor Jirak, 6'11" Freshman. Jirak was the Iowa Mr. Basketball and likely sees minutes as the backup five due to probable foul trouble for Manyawu and a lack of other options.
• SF Tate Sage, 6'7" Freshman. A 3 star recruit and spring commitment. Probable redshirt.
• PF Trey Thompson, 6'8" Freshman. An odd recruitment. Thompson was originally a member of the 2026 class and rumored to be a Purdue lean. Over the summer he reclassified and then committed to Iowa. That week Thompson was a 4 star prospect in his own class, but at just 17 years old it's hard to see him making an instant impact for Iowa this season. Reclassifying rarely works for anyone but the most talented guys. I guess we will see. Thompson is likely battling Koch and Matteoni for minutes in the F rotation.

Outlook

This isn't Fran's Iowa anymore. Gone is one of the nation's fastest paced offenses. In it's place is a style of play that would make Bo Ryan blush. McCollum's Drake team was the slowest in the nation. Iowa will be extremely deliberate and look to grind out games by getting to the free throw line, forcing turnovers, and winning the rebounding battle.

Depth doesn't matter a ton to McCollum. Last season's Drake team had the 1st and 2nd players nationally in minutes. The backup guards will play sparingly. To be fair, Stirtz doesn't need to come off the court and should be a great PG in the Big Ten. Pairing him with Hausen gives Iowa an effective guard duo. Will the rest of the roster do enough? That's the question that will determine how well Iowa does this season. The stars are capable of carrying their share, but they will need some help for the Hawkeyes to be a conference contender.