Unselfish Hawkeyes ready to go
One thing that clear on Monday, the Iowa basketball team is an unselfish group and they are ready for the start of the season.
One problem is no one seems to know exactly when that season will get underway.
The returning players that lead the nationally ranked Hawkeye team into the 2020-21 season met with the media to discuss the upcoming season and they are ready to go. Now all they need is a schedule.
Senior guard Jordan Bohannon, who is not one to shy away from taking a few shots took aim at the NCAA and their tournament.
“I have faith that there will be an NCAA Tournament because that’s where the money comes from.”
Beyond that, we have some idea of the schedule, but not when all the non-conference or Big Ten games will take place.
For All American Luka Garza, he’s not too concerned about the schedule. Just tell the big man when to be there for a game and he will be ready to go.
“We will play the games when they arrive, so that’s really not a focus for me,” he said. “I just want to see this team get better. We see what’s happening with other teams and people saying the season should be delayed or whatever, but all we can do is focus on improving ourselves until we are playing another team.”
Its Garza’s mentality that is what is driving the unselfish attitude on the court and it certainly helps Fran McCaffery and his staff when your best player is also your most unselfish leader.
“My main focus going into this season is winning,” Garza said. “I want to win a lot, as much as I can. As an individual player I have done a lot. I put him enough good numbers to make it at the next level so for me it’s about winning and leading this team to its potential.”
Garza talks about the unselfish nature of this group of Hawkeyes and that theme resonated in their comments. Sophomore point guard Joe Toussaint’s eye light up when he talks about the prospect of being on the court with Garza, Bohannon, Joe Wieskamp, and C.J. Fredrick.
It’s not only an unselfish group, but a healthy one right now.
While Wieskamp is nursing a minor ankle sprain, the rest of the Hawkeyes are healthy and ready to go.
Shooting guard C.J. Fredrick is fully recovered from foot surgery in the off-season and says he feels great. Big man Jack Nunge is fully recovered from his ACL repair and while he still wears a brace on the knee, he says he feels great as well.
Last year Patrick McCaffery desperately wanted to play as a true freshman for his father’s team, but his weight dropped so much that Toussaint, his roommate, actually weighed more than he did in the fall. Thanks to a hearty diet of food during the pandemic, McCaffery is now tipping the scales at around 205 pounds and more importantly, he’s kept on the weight in practice.
“When I came back this summer my conditioning was bad,” McCaffery said. “I was able to work my way through that and I’m obviously good now.”
Then there was Bohannon, who had to endure back to back hip surgeries. The first one was after his junior year and he returned in time to play in ten games last year before shutting it down and having surgery on his other hip.
Bohannon said last year he wasn’t in great shape and was probably overweight, but now he’s taken off 15 pounds and is in the “best shape of my life” heading into the season.
As we wait to find out when and where the Hawkeyes will be playing this winter, the news of everyone being healthy and ready to go only adds to the most anticipated season of Iowa basketball in many years.