McCorkle continues to improve his game

It was almost a year ago to the day that Iowa offered Carson McCorkle a scholarship.

Last year the North Carolina native was traveling to the Snow Valley basketball camp in Waverly, IA and made a stop in Iowa City that led to a scholarship offer from Fran McCaffery and the Hawkeyes.

This month he just wrapped up the AAU season in Las Vegas, where his Garner Road AAU team took 2nd place in the 15U group at the Adidas Summer Championships. This squad put together an impressive month with the second place showing in Vegas and took third at the Adidas Gauntlet in early July in South Carolina.

The 6-foot-1 guard is a key player in the guard court for his AAU team and it’s clear why college coaches are interested in him. McCorkle has a smooth shooting style from the outside well past three point range and is a very good playmaker as well.

He says that his focus this summer has been to work on his ball skills and becoming a better defender.

“I am trying to do more to develop my skills with the ball in my hands and defense has also been a really important focus for me. I’m working to become a better all-around defender and keep guys in front of me better,” he said.

McCorkle, who has drawn comparisons to Grayson Allen, is also starting to hear from more schools in the recruiting process as he continues to have success on the floor.

“I’m hearing from the new NC State staff and they are going to Italy next week on their foreign trip and want me to make an unofficial after they get back,” he said. “Iowa is keeping in contact with me a lot. Wake Forest and Davidson have been in regular contact and Gonazga reached out to my AAU coach and they were going to watch me in Vegas.”

The guard made a return trip to Iowa this past winter to watch the Hawkeyes play in person and came away impressed with what he saw on and off the court.

“I loved it. It’s a lot different than North Carolina where I am from. The campus is really nice and you really notice the fan support there, which is better than I had seen anywhere else that I have visited.”

Since jumping on to Iowa’s recruiting radar, McCorkle has also developed a relationship with Fran McCaffery’s son, Patrick, who is a prospect in the Class of 2019.

“Ever since Iowa offered me, we have been in touch. We spent some time together when I visited and we have kept in pretty close contact since then.”

Obviously, McCorkle is in no hurry to make a decision and he says that distance will not be a factor in his college choice.