After missing the NCAA tournament in 2024, the Iowa Hawkeyes hope to make a return trip next season.
While Iowa awaits a stay-or-go decision on its leading scorer, forward Payton Sandfort, the Hawkeyes brought in two transfers to add to their core for next season.
Iowa added Morehead State transfer guard Drew Thelwell alongside Manhattan striker Seydou Traore.
Thelwell averaged 10.0 points, 6.2 assists, 3.0 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game last season while shooting 43.5% from the floor and 33.8% from 3-point range. Traore averaged 11.8 points, 8.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game while shooting 43.3% from the field.
That duo joins an Iowa team that returns key players such as sophomore forwards Owen Freeman, Ladji Dembele and Pryce Sandfort, sophomore guard Brock Harding and junior guard Josh Dix.
With the spring transfer portal winding down, 247Sports’ Isaac Trotter put together his Very early Big Ten power rankings.
In the now 18-team Big Ten, Iowa is ranked 12th in Trotter’s Big Ten power rankings.
If Iowa can bring Payton Sandfort back for another season (as projected), the Hawkeyes will have a Big Three that can play with anyone. Dix, Sandfort and Freeman will be highly productive. But the development of Iowa’s players will be the crucial point in the middle of the Big Ten standings. If Harding, Pryce Sandfort, Dembele or Traore blow up guys without a doubt, Iowa could overtake more than a few clubs.
Keep an eye out for the addition of Thelwell. The Morehead State transfer point guard needs to prove his value on defense at the Big Ten level, or Harding could take his place and run away with it.
If Sandfort remains in the NBA Draft, the conversation surrounding Iowa will change significantly. – Trotter, 247Sports.
There are certainly a number of reasonable question marks in Iowa. The Hawkeyes finished last season with a 19-15 record (10-10 Big Ten) and saw guards Tony Perkins and Dastone Bowen alongside forward Patrick McCaffery depart in the transfer portal.
The two additions to Iowa’s transfer portal need to be a difference-maker for the Hawkeyes. Coach Fran McCaffery will also depend on Freeman taking a big step forward and developing with several of the Hawkeyes’ other young players.
If several of these players can develop into legitimate Big Ten players, then the Hawkeyes should do well in that regard. figures to be a robust means of the conference.
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