McCaffery looking to earn a scholarship offer

When you are the son of the head basketball coach at the University of Iowa, the eyes of Hawkeye fans are going to be on you early on in your high school career.

Connor and Patrick McCaffery experienced that as standout players at Iowa City West and on the various AAU circuits. Now the youngest of the McCaffery children, Jack, is starting on his own journey.

Jack McCaffery, 6-foot-8 forward, recently completed a strong freshman campaign playing varsity for the Trojans, averaging 10 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 2.1 assists per game. This month he started his AAU journey playing with D1 Minnesota on the Adidas circuit.

So far, the youngest McCaffery is enjoying the experience.

“It’s a really talented team and everyone is really good on our roster and we get to play against the best teams in the country,” McCaffery said.

Each of the McCaffery boys has a different type of game. From a size and strength standpoint, Jack is probably the most developed at this stage of his career, but the high school season taught him that there’s still work to be done.

“It was very physical and it took a lot out of me, but it prepared me for AAU and it helped me realize that I need to continue to get stronger and work on other parts of my game.”

Those other parts of his game include quickness, ball handling, and according to Jack, his father has suggested he hit the offensive glass harder.

At this point, Jack McCaffery doesn’t have a scholarship offer from Iowa or any other school. He knows he has to go out and earn it from the Hawkeyes and any other school.

“I need to keep working on my game to earn my way to play on the D1 level and not just get it because of my name,” he said.

While his older brothers have more memories of their time at Siena, where their dad coached before coming to Iowa, Jack’s memories are basically all from the University of Iowa. That’s why the Hawkeyes run to a title in the Big Ten Tournament last month was so special for him.

“That was probably one of the best days of my life,” he said with pride. “I was so happy for them and just being on the court with them was really cool. To see my dad that happy, I mean, he deserves it so much and then to see my brothers play a role in the win was so special.”

Maybe someday down the road there will be that moment for Jack McCaffery as an Iowa player, winning a Big Ten title.

For now, he will keep grinding away this spring and summer to improve his game and earn that scholarship offer.