Iowa Basketball: Looks like a pair to start ’11 class

IOWA CITY - Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery expects to sign two players to letters of intent today for his 2011 class.

Cedar Rapids Washington senior guard Josh Oglesby (6-foot-5) and Strongsville, Ohio, forward Aaron White (6-foot-7) have given oral commitments to the program.

“It's probably going to be two in the early period,” McCaffery said last Wednesday. “Yeah, it's probably going to be two. Then we'll regroup. We've got a core group of guys that we're looking at. A number of other players will eventually pop up.”

McCaffery cannot publicly talk about commitments until they sign letters of intent. Today is the first day recruits can submit letters of intent.

Oglesby is ranked the 118th best player nationally by Rivals.com and 36th at shooting guard. He averaged 16.2 points and 5.1 rebounds last season. He had 36 assists, 29 steals and hit 40 percent of his 3-point attempts. He picked Iowa over Minnesota, Illinois and Arizona State.

White committed Oct. 3, picking the Hawkeyes over Duquesne. He averaged 18.8 points a game last year.

Iowa will have two open scholarships for 2011. McCaffery said he could look at junior college players in the spring to fill that void.

“Well, I think you look at it two ways,” McCaffery said. “Obviously, you still have some needs. We need a little bit of size. But the one thing you're able to do is evaluate your own team as you then legitimately understand what your needs are. You think you know, but you never really know until you get in there. Sometimes you recruit two classes before you ever coach a game.

“This gives us an opportunity to take our other two scholarships and really make an impact on who does what this year.”