Jeff Johnson

Tate Wallace is rated a four-star college football recruit by some services and has a host of schools recruiting him hard. It can be overwhelming for Regina junior, but he gets his mind off of that thanks to playing for Iowa City Regina’s third-ranked boys basketball team.

Wes Obermueller pitched 10 seasons of professional baseball. The Vinton-Shellsburg and Kirkwood Community College grad has taken over as pitching coach for his alma mater at the University of Iowa. The Hawkeyes begin their 2025-26 season Friday afternoon.

Senior forward Christopher Watkins might be the best boys basketball player in the Mississippi Valley Conference that you aren’t completely aware of.

These are through Tuesday.

The Gazette sports writers Jeff Linder and Jeff Johnson talk basketball across Iowa over the past week including boys and girls high school basketball and Iowa Hawkeyes men's and women's basketball.

Christian Stacy had a huge first half offensive for the Marion boys basketball team Monday night in its game against Decorah. Tait Rahe had a huge second half. And don’t forget 10-year-old Taylor Messerli. The daughter of head coach Pete Messerli sat on the end of the bench as a good-luck charm in a 67-50 win over Decorah.

The Iowa High School Athletic Association released all postseason pairings for Class 1A and 2A Monday.

In the latest Iowa High School Athletic Association’s boys basketball rankings, Fort Dodge St. Edmond (Class 1A) and Huxley Ballard (Class 3A) climbed to No. 1 spots this week in their respective classes. It’s the same 10 teams that are ranked in the lower three classes, with two newbies climbing into the 4A poll.

Bennett Stirtz had 32 points last Sunday in a win at Oregon to establish a new career high for points. That career high lasted exactly a week, as the star Iowa Hawkeyes guard had 36 points Sunday in his team’s win over Northwestern.

Iowa red-shirt freshman forward Cooper Koch had been slumping offensively but turned it around on the Hawkeyes’ men’s basketball team’s trip last week to the West Coast.

Iowa ends a two-game road trip with a late-night matchup against Washington.

Cedar Rapids Prairie’s boys basketball team has a goal of hosting each of its Class 4A substate games. The Hawks are unranked in the class and need to get into the top eight in the next two weeks. A 65-59 win Friday night over Linn-Mar was Prairie’s ninth win in 10 games.

Iowa men’s basketball coach Ben McCollum had a media availability Friday morning at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. He was asked about scouting an upcoming opponent and how much video of it does he generally view.

The University of Iowa baseball team begins its 2026 season next weekend in Arizona. While these Hawkeyes have some familiar faces at position spots, the entire pitching staff is very inexperienced, as 434 innings from last season either graduated or moved on to pro ball.

It hasn’t been an easy first season as head boys basketball coach for former J-Hawks player RoyShawn Webb. But he and his team got a huge first victory Tuesday night when Jefferson beat Waterloo West.