Iowa hoops 2025 recruiting needs and possible targets
The world of college basketball recruiting and building a team is very different these days. Not long ago the construction of a team was done by recruiting high school players and occasionally dipping into the junior college ranks.
Today with the explosion of the transfer portal there are some high major programs that essentially ignore the high school ranks and simply find players from other programs who are looking to transfer and putting a team together that way.
For Fran McCaffery and the Hawkeyes, it’s generally a mix. McCaffery uses the portal to fill more pressing needs on his roster. Last year he went out and signed Ben Krikke to give his squad a proven scoring threat in the frontcourt. This year he signed point guard Drew Thelwell to pair up with Brock Harding and recently added Seydou Traore for more depth up front and help in the rebounding department.
But, McCaffery still wants to be a coach that primarily recruits players out of the high school ranks and develops them during their four years in Iowa City. He’s been very successful doing that and the general feeling is he will continue down that road with the Class of 2025 and beyond.
Speaking of that class, this was the first weekend that coaches could be out at AAU events. Over the course of the next two weeks the expectation is that as the Iowa staff gets out to see more prospects that they have been monitoring and get Fran McCaffery into the gym to watch those players, more offers will be extended.
The interesting question will be what positions do the Hawkeyes prioritize in the Class of 2025 and how many players would they like to sign versus leaving those rides open for the spring to use to find portal prospects?
Regardless of what happens with Payton Sandfort and the NBA in the next week or so, his scholarship will be open for the Class of 2025. In total, Iowa goes into this cycle believing they will have four rides open. Again, that number is always a moving target because coaches should always assume some portal attrition.
Let’s assume that Iowa will sign three players this fall in the November signing period. What positions will they prioritize? My sense is point guard would be one of them. They will also likely look for a wing shooter, perhaps two, and depending on how they feel about the trio at power forward, they might want to land a more traditional center.
At point guard, Iowa will have Brock Harding returning. Now, they could just wait and see what about landing a point guard in the portal instead given that they could be looking at 2026 prospect Navon Shabazz as a point guard of the future. One name to watch in the 2025 class is recently offered Juan Guerrero Hernandez from Wisconsin.
Moving over the center, Iowa remains in contention for Malachi Moreno a four star prospect ranked in the Top 40 nationally. Fran McCaffery spent time this past weekend watching him. Eric Reibe is a name to watch, along with Jack Bailey.
At the shooting guard or small forward spot, perhaps a couple of new names to watch should be mentioned first. One is Ryan Crotty, who Iowa offered over the weekend. Another player who could be in the mix is Ryder Frost, a 6-foot-6 wing forward. One other guard to monitor is Kevin Odih from South Kent High School.
The post Iowa hoops 2025 recruiting needs and possible targets appeared first on On3.
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