Olaseni, Logic are top league picks

IOWA CITY - Iowa reserve center Gabe Olaseni was the first overall pick in the 2014 Prime Time League draft, and it didn't take his coach, Kevin Sanders, long to pick him.

Forwards Jarrod Uthoff and Aaron White were picks two and three, respectively, while Mike Gesell was the fourth overall pick in the six-team league. Northern Iowa forward Seth Tuttle went second-to-last and Adam Woodbury capped off the first round.

'I was excited about it. I thought the teams were really even,” said Randy Larson, the founder, director and a coach in the Prime Time and Game Time Leagues. 'And of course having the UNI players back means that you're 5-6 players deep in each team before you get to a non-division-I player, so I was excited with the draft.”

Players from UNI have been absent from the league the past two summers, citing too much time goes into traveling for games played in North Liberty. But the addition of two games in Waterloo to this year's schedule made playing in the league more appealing to the Panthers, and they'll once again get the benefit of playing against and alongside players from the Iowa program and other surrounding colleges and high schools.

'I understood it, because we're asking so much of our players in the offseason between strength and conditioning, individual workouts, team practices and going to school,” Larson said. 'But I think it's fun for them to be back and see what they can do against the Iowa players. Certainly the fans enjoy seeing that competition. What I like the most is having the Iowa and UNI players be teammates and not just adversaries.”

The Prime Time League will offer a chance for people to get a first look at some of Iowa's incoming recruits before they ever put on a Hawkeye jersey. Highly touted shooting guard Brady Ellingson will play alongside Uthoff and UNI's Jeremy Morgan on Team 2, coached by Dan Ahrens, while top junior college transfer Trey Dickerson will get to play with White on Team 3, coached by Ron Nove.

Team names have not yet been assigned based on sponsorship.

Iowa's lone power forward recruit, Dominique Uhl, will play alongside Mike Gesell and touted UNI recruit Wyatt Lohaus on Team 4, coached by Ray Swetalla.

The league begins play Thursday at 6 p.m. in North Liberty.

logic top pick

All-Big Ten guard Samantha Logic was the first overall pick for the Game Time League draft, taken by former Iowa City Regina girls' coach Clark Anderson.

Melissa Dixon was taken No. 2, followed by Bethany Doolittle, Ally Disterhoft, Nicole Smith and Kali Peschel.

Whitney Jennings, one of the highest-touted recruits in the country for the Hawkeyes, was taken seventh overall and will play alongside Peschel on the team coached by Patrick McCool.

The Game Time League will begin play on Wednesday.