Transfer Portal Preview: Busy week for Iowa hoops
It’s will be a busy week on the transfer portal front for the Iowa basketball team as the Hawkeyes are slated to host at least two guard prospects this week. There is also a possibility of an unidentified big man who could make his way to campus later in the week.
First, a reminder of the scholarship situation for the Hawkeyes. With Patrick McCaffery officially moving on and committing to Butler this past weekend and Tony Perkins zeroing in on his next college destination, those two scholarships are officially off the books. That means Fran McCaffery and his staff have three open rides.
A source close to the program has indicated to us that Iowa would like to land a point guard to pair up with sophomore to be Brock Harding and they would like to land a big man who could help on the glass and potentially bounce between power forward and center.
The search for a point guard appears to be going fairly well so far. Guards tend to be more plentiful in the portal, so the marketplace isn’t as crowded from the schools perspective. On Monday, Iowa will host Drew Thelwell on Monday for his official visit.
This past season, Thelwell averaged 10.0 points and 6.2 assists per game at Morehead State, who won the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament. In his junior year, the 6-foot-3 guard originally from Orlando, averaged 3.0 rebounds per game and shot nearly 34% from three point range.
Let’s look at a scouting video of Thelwell.
Watching the video, what jumps out is his ability to get to the rim on a regular basis. He also shows that he can finish with either hand around the rim and at different level, either drive or short floater. His three point shot is more of a set shot, but making 34% is pretty solid overall. I also noted in his season long stats that he shot just 64% from the foul line, which isn’t great. This past season did dish out 211 assists and had 78 turnovers. Overall those are good numbers and he also appears to handle screen roll action pretty well from the point guard side of things.
As far as schools to watch with Thelwell. He is from Orlando and UCF has already had him on campus. He is also slated to see SMU and Miami later this week. One thing that could be potentially concerning with both of those schools have had significant collective resources, but we don’t know if Thelwell is one of their main targets.
The other player who is slated to be in Iowa City this week is Camern Hunter. He’s a 6-foot-3 guard who is powerfully built and an intriguing player. He’d be a point guard more in the mold of Tony Perkins in terms of skill set.
This past season, Hunter did not play due to a broken foot. He is Freshmen of the Year at Central Arkansas and All-Conference as a sophomore. He was All Conference as a sophomore, averaging 16.7 points and 4.9 rebounds per game. The lefty shot 32% from three in his sophomore year.
Hunter did enter the portal after his sophomore year and was briefly committed to Butler before returning to Central Arkansas. He broke his foot in October and decided to redshirt this past season.
Let’s look at a scouting video of Hunter.
He’s bouncy and a powerfully built player who can get to the rim with either hand. Looks more natural going to his dominant left hand. His shot is a little funky and as the video says, perhaps that takes a step in the right direction after a year off. He had 90 assists and 75 turnovers in his sophomore year, which makes me wonder if perhaps Iowa is going to look at him as more of a two guard than a point guard. It does make me wonder if the Hawkeyes are starting to get concerned that Payton Sandfort might be getting some positive NBA Draft feedback that could mean he could move on instead of returning for his senior season.
As far as the competition for Hunter, that is unknown. There have been no other visit dates released to the public beyond Iowa on the 18th and 19th of April. His name was initially mentioned with schools like Missouri, Ole Miss, and New Mexico.
As mentioned earlier, Iowa is still in the market for a big man. However, that hasn’t quite firmed up yet as far as visitor, but stay tuned on that front as the portal news tends to develop fairly quickly this time of year.
The post Transfer Portal Preview: Busy week for Iowa hoops appeared first on On3.
