IOWA CITY -- Iowa forward Payton Sandfort announced his decision to return to the Hawkeyes on Tuesday evening, opting to use his final year of college eligibility rather than staying in the NBA Draft process.
"I've had about 50 [conversations] over the last three or four days," he said. "I've been talking with my family and trying to figure it out. My gut feeling was always to go back. I got a lot of positive feedback from teams in terms of a pick range. But you just kind of go with the feeling."
"I just didn't know if I could leave behind that feeling of regret of not getting to play with my brother one more year and not seeing this thing out -- what we've helped build at Iowa."
The process was long one, resulting in Sandfort working out for several different teams in addition to competing at the NBA Scouting Combine.
"The travel was really no joke," he said. "I was going city to city for about a month. I think I was in a hotel room for 18 or 19 straight nights."
"I worked out for five teams. Before the combine I went to Atlanta and Boston. After, I went straight to LA, worked out for the Clippers and Warriors and interviewed with the Lakers. Then I went home for Memorial Day Weekend and I was just out in Utah."
It was stressful, but fruitful as well.
"It was a ton of fun," he said. "I learned what it takes to be a pro and I felt comfortable making the jump, but I just felt the pull to come back home."
That pull to return to Iowa City was evident for Sandfort and his camp, but the timing of his announcement left things up in the air for the Iowa fanbase a bit longer than they expected. Just an hour and a half before the 11 PM CT decision cutoff, he announced his plans to return to the Hawkeyes for the 2024-25 season.
"Most of it was out of my control," Sandfort said. "My WiFi wasn't working on my plane -- it kind of went out. We ended up being up in the air longer than we were supposed to because of storms. Then I got there and had a five minute layover, so I didn't really have time."
"I literally just posted [my decision] when I landed in Des Moines."
Now that Sandfort's future for the next year is set, he can apply what he learned over the draft process to his play next season in black and gold.
"A lot of it was centered around athleticism," Sandfort said. "They know that's not what's going to get me drafted or makes me special. A lot of it is continuing to shoot -- shooting on the move. Obviously, the NBA three-point line is a lot further back, so shooting from deep ranges and being comfortable getting into your shot in a lot of different ways is important."
"The guys in the NBA do it at the best level in the world -- so it's about continuing to work on that and maximizing my athletic potential is very important."
He'll return to a team with a lot of potential, too.
"I'm very, very excited about this team," Sandfort said. "I haven't gotten the chance to talk with many of the new guys, but I've heard a ton of good things about them. The core that we're bringing back -- I'm expecting Owen (Freeman) to make a huge jump, Josh (Dix) to be one of the best players in the Big Ten, Brock (Harding) to continue to be a tremendous leader -- and he's going to make a huge jump. Then Pryce and Ladji (Dembele). All those guys."
Expectations in and around Carver-Hawkeye Arena will be high this season.
"Everyone is very excited about this team," he said. "There are a lot of younger guys, and I had established as one of the leaders on the team last year. The staff was really hoping I'd come back and be the leader this team needs and set us over the edge of being a good-to-great team."
"I told them to hold me to a very high standard, and I'll do the same for the rest of the guys. I expect that out of everyone -- to hold each other accountable. I'm super excited for this opportunity, and they know this will be a special team and a special year."
