Iowa Basketball's Four Freshmen Expected to Play in 2023

IOWA CITY — The Iowa men's basketball roster experienced a significant amount of turnover from 2022 to 2023. The Hawkeyes not only lost their leading rebounder and scorer in Kris Murray to the NBA Draft, but starting center Filip Rebraca and guard Connor McCaffery left following graduation. Josh Ogundele and Ahron Ulis also exited the program via the transfer portal.

In order to fill the gaps, Fran McCaffery did some work in the portal as well, bringing in two big men from the Missouri Valley Conference: Ben Krikke and Even Brauns. The 2023 recruiting class of Brock Harding, Owen Freeman, Pryce Sandfort and Ladji Dembele is expected to help fill that void in production this season, too.

As McCaffery said at the team media day on Monday, all four freshmen should be in the mix this season.

"The young guys have done really well," McCaffery said. "We expected all four of them to contribute. All four of them are going to play. They're all good players, they're not mistake guys and they compete."

McCaffery credited the freshmen's physical preparation for their ability to be part of the rotation from Day 1.

"Sometimes you have a guy whose body isn't ready, and you say 'Well, they're really good and they're going to be good, but it's going to take a year'," McCaffery said. "I wouldn't say that for any of those guys."

By the sounds of it, McCaffery believes they'll do more than add a few minutes to the box score this season.

"One of them may start," he said. "But, in any given year -- depending upon what we have -- all four of those guys, I would feel comfortable starting as freshmen. It's because of their feel for the game, their body and their talent level. I think they all deserve to play, and they all will play."

Iowa's head man delved into what he has seen from each of the newcomers, and why he has that added level of trust with them.

"Brock has made a seamless transition. Pryce, we all know what he is. He can really shoot it, but he's also incredibly versatile. Owen, he's going to be an impact player for us. He's a really good rebounder, is physical and he's starting to figure it out. Ladji -- same thing. He's 260 pounds and he knows how to play. He can put it on the floor, move the ball and cut. He's doing a little more posting up. He played a lot on the perimeter, even with that size in high school. But he and Owen are first-class rebounders, and obviously, we need that."

The 2023 class isn't shy about their confidence level, pointing to one another's performance throughout the summer and their belief in themselves.

"We think we're a really special class," Harding said. "We get along really well off the court, and you can kind of see that on the court. We all kind of understand what each other like to do, what each other's spots are and that's transferred to a lot of success for us in practice so far."

"I figured none of us would redshirt," Sandfort added. "I've been really impressed with the other three freshman. I know that we could have a big mark on this team and this year, so I'm excited to see what we can do."

With Harding and Freeman coming in as former teammates and state champions at Moline High School in Illinois, they see their prior experience together aiding all four in getting more time on the floor in their freshman campaign.

"I think Brock and I playing together has helped us all," Freeman said. "We all compliment each other and make each other better. We all have that drive to make it to the next level. So, being able to rely on each other, that's huge and it really helps us in the end."

"I think Owen and my chemistry has transferred to the whole freshman class," Harding added. "They saw how we played and got along together and they thought that if they got on that train it'd be special. It's been cool to see everybody come together like that."

Though not a native Midwesterner like the remainder of the quartet, Dembele can feel the cohesion building as well.

"On the court, we talk to each other," he said. "Like, if we don't understand one play, we're not just going to run it. We're going to talk to each other first and get on the same page. That's a really good thing about our guys."

The older guys have liked what they've seen from the younger group, too.

"Their engagement has impressed me," senior guard Tony Perkins said. "They're willing to pick up the plays, willing to come out here and be competitive every day, willing to trash talk with me. They score, rebound, pass and make smart plays. They do it all."

"The new guys have picked stuff up really fast," added sophomore guard Josh Dix. "They've all been doing really well in practice. I feel like they've all grown. When they all got here, I felt like they didn't really understand the offense, but they've all picked it up."

Perkins and Dix saw the overseas trip as an important factor in the team as whole growing together, especially for the younger players.

"The foreign trip helped a lot," Perkins said. "Those guys coming over with us and seeing how it is to work in college -- it's been good. Especially being able to bring them in and talk to them one-on-one about certain plays or things they need help with -- I think the communication is taking the chemistry where it needs to be for us to be good."

"I think it really helped," Dix added. "All the returning guys have been really good at helping the new guys, especially Patrick (McCaffery), Payton (Sandfort) and Tony. They're the leaders of the team. They've been doing well getting the new guys involved."