Iowa notes: Close connections between Hawkeyes, Panthers

IOWA CITY - There's 90 miles of distance between the Iowa and Northern Iowa campuses, but the competitions between the basketball programs were measured in blocks rather than miles for many of today's players.

Iowa senior guard Josh Oglesby and UNI red-shirt junior guard Wes Washpun lined up next to one another for four years at Cedar Rapids Washington. They became friends in elementary school and played together with the AAU Iowa Barnstormers growing up.

Their shared history culminates on Saturday when the Iowa and UNI face off at Wells Fargo Arena as part of the Big 4 Classic. But the game between those two players started in earnest on Wednesday night and ends only after the final horn Saturday.

'I think it makes it even better because you know the guys, you want to beat them,” Oglesby said Thursday. 'For example (Wednesday) night when Wes was talking crap to me, all I want to do is beat him. I'm just thinking, ‘We've got to win this game.' I think it just makes it more fun and more exciting.”

Oglesby defined Washpun's language as 'normal trash talk.” But Washpun also told Oglesby, 'They'd better not put me on him or he's going to go for 30. Stuff like that.”

That's just one of several local match-ups to watch. Oglesby and Jarrod Uthoff (Cedar Rapids Jefferson) played alongside several UNI players with the Iowa Barnstormers. Nine current UNI players, including two from Iowa City West (Wyatt Lohaus and Jeremy Morgan) and four from the Cedar Rapids metro from Cedar Rapids (Washpun, Kennedy's Max Martino, Jefferson's Taylor Olson and Marion's Kasey Semler) played for the Barnstormers. Seth Tuttle, Klint Carlson and Nate Buss all are former Barnstormers from outside the Corridor.

UNI guard Matt Bohannon (Linn-Mar) played AAU hoops with Martin Brothers, as did Iowa's Adam Woodbury and Mike Gesell. In all, 18 players on both rosters played for high schools in the state. Additionally, they competed with and against one another in the summer Prime Time League at North Liberty.

Those connections make the match-up as regular as a Tuesday night in Cedar Rapids for players like Oglesby, who mentioned he had never beaten Bohannon in high school.

'It's the same thing,” Oglesby said. 'Obviously it's a way different level, but it's the same approach.”

BIG 4 CLASSIC EXTENSION

Wednesday, the schools announced plans to extend the Big 4 Classic by two years through 2017. The four in-state schools played an annual round robin from the late 1980s through 2012, when they shifted to a one-day format in Des Moines.

This year marks the third edition with Iowa playing Northern Iowa and Iowa State playing Drake. Next year Drake will play Iowa and UNI will face ISU. Officials also announced the classic had sold out for the first time.

'I'm sort of indifferent to it,” Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said. 'To me it's the next game on the schedule. In regards to whether we play that or not, I'm not part of that decision. I like the fact that it's sold out. I do think from that standpoint it's a great thing for college basketball fans in this state. I think they're enjoying watching all four teams come to one place. But as far as I look at it, it's just the next game on the schedule, and it's always going to be a good team. This year in particular, one of the best teams on our schedule.”

TIDBITS

McCaffery said sophomore guard Peter Jok has the potential to start, but junior Anthony Clemmons will continue as the team's starting shooting guard in part because of his defense.

'You want to say, ‘OK, he hasn't scored as much recently. Do you want to make a move and get him out of the starting lineup?” McCaffery said. 'Well, you can do that, but he's typically a defensive guy that changes things for us. So he'll still be in the starting lineup.”

Freshman guard Brady Ellingson, who has been considered a red-shirt prospect, will continue to play, McCaffery said. Sophomore point guard Trey Dickerson, who was withheld last week because of a knee injury in practice, will play against Northern Iowa.

Senior center Gabe Olaseni returned to Iowa City late Wednesday night after attending a funeral for his father in London.

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