Hawkeye hoopers pouring into portal, an expected side effect of coaching-change

It’s not every year when two prominent Iowa men’s basketball players enter the NCAA transfer portal on the same day.

Of course, it isn’t every year when a high-profile Hawkeyes coaching position is truly open. Jan Jensen was as good as a done-deal for the Iowa women’s basketball job the moment Lisa Bluder chose to retire. Before that, the last big Hawkeye coaching-change was Fran McCaffery replacing Todd Lickliter 15 years ago.

Brock Harding and Pryce Sandfort joined sophomore classmate Owen Freeman in the portal Monday. Freeman jumped in on the first full day he was eligible, Saturday.

Freeman and Harding are gone. Sandfort said he hasn’t ruled out staying, depending on how the coaching-change goes. He probably has already learned he has a lot of value to other coaches. He’s a really nice player with an inside/outside game and two fine college seasons left in him.

If McCaffery’s successor is West Virginia’s Darian DeVries, it would seem there would be at least a decent chance of Sandfort staying at Iowa.

DeVries’ son, Tucker DeVries, was a high school teammate of the Sandfort brothers at Waukee High in 2021 while Darian DeVries was Drake’s head coach. Tucker, by the way, was the 2-time Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year at Drake, and will get a medical redshirt for a sixth season after moving with his father from Drake to West Virginia.

While West Virginia being excluded from the NCAA tourney because North Carolina somehow got an at-large berth was hard to swallow for Mountaineers. It did, leave DeVries freer to, you know, answer phone calls this week.

Before looking at teams that are actually in the NCAA tournament, let’s get to one more piece of transfer news.

West Virginia 6-foot-6 freshman Jonathan Powell of Centerville, Ohio, also hopped into the portal Monday. A good question would be why he’d do that if he thought DeVries was staying put.

DeVries played Powell 30 minutes a game this season, with the rookie averaging 8.3 points and making 64 3-pointers. He was the Division I Ohio High School Basketball Coaches Association Player of the Year in 2023-24.

I’m not sayin’. I’m just sayin’.

Powell moved into the Mountaineers’ starting lineup after Tucker DeVries’ season ended after eight games because of an upper-body injury.

Oh, let’s keep portalin’ along for a little while longer. Would someone with an Iowa/Omaha background like DeVries be what it takes to keep junior Hawkeye guard Josh Dix in Iowa City.? Dix, as of the moment this was published, was not in the portal. But he’d make a pretty penny if he chose to move along.

Something that wouldn’t be shocking: Dix enters the portal and transfers to Creighton, right across the Missouri River from his Council Bluffs home.

Something that would be shocking, but actually is conceivable: Dix enters the portal and Iowa State makes a play for him. He seems built to play for T.J. Otzelberger. Dix is a coach’s dream when it comes to taking on challenges and putting in the work without a peep, and the way he played hurt all season and still performed at a high level isn’t a trait all players have.

If Iowa’s next coach keeps Dix and Pryce Sandfort, he’ll be off to a great start. Just keeping one would be a plus.

Now, about the NCAA tourneys: They’re going to happen.

Can the Iowa women beat Oklahoma at Oklahoma if the Hawkeyes beat Murray State Saturday? Sure. Is an Oklahoma team that beat five ranked teams and was 11-5 in the SEC really good? Absolutely.

Can the Iowa State get to its third Sweet 16 in four years by beating Lipscomb and then either Ole Miss, North Carolina or San Diego State? Of course.

Can the Cyclones then beat Michigan State for an Elite Eight meeting with Auburn if the chalk holds? Why not? If Tamin Lipsey is healthy.

And, can Drake’s men take down Missouri and then Texas Tech in the first two rounds? Probably not, but since I don’t cover the Bulldogs, I feel I can safely say this:

It would be divine.

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