Oglesby rather would have met Jordan

No offense, Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore. But Josh Oglesby would much rather have gotten the Harrison Barnes treatment.

The Ames native and North Carolina freshman got to meet Michael Jordan, among others, on a visit to Chapel Hill last fall. Oglesby's brush with the famous was the highly publicized meeting with the Hollywood power couple during a recruiting visit to Iowa this fall.

"I mean, I'd rather meet Michael Jordan than Ashton Kutcher, you know?" the Cedar Rapids Washington senior basketball shooter said with a smile after signing his official letter of intent Wednesday to play college basketball for the Hawkeyes. "Michael Jordan might make my decision to go (to school) there. I don't think Ashton would."

Oglesby reiterated he has always loved Iowa, and that's the big reason he committed. He said he also felt an immediate connection with first-year head coach Fran McCaffery.

Iowa turned itself into the NCAA recently for a minor recruiting rules violation when Oglesby, Linn-Mar junior guard Marcus Paige and Sioux City East junior center Adam Woodbury met with Kutcher - who attended the school and is a big Hawkeye fan - in the Kinnick Stadium press box during an Iowa football game. Oglesby and members of his family said the entire incident was blown out of proportion.

"Way too much was made out of it," Oglesby said. "I talked to the coaches at Iowa, my AAU coaches, (Washington) Coach (Brad) Metzger. They all said it was just something to laugh about. They knew there wasn't going to be any trouble. We didn't break any (rules)."

Oglesby said he, Paige and Woodbury were ushered to the press box at halftime, where they bumped into Kutcher.

"They happened to have Ashton Kutcher come out of one of the (suites) while we were walking around the press box," Oglesby said. "I mean, Adam Woodbury is 7-foot, you know? I don't know why they didn't have his name (included on all the media reports). Ashton Kutcher saw him, and said 'Well, you must be on the basketball team' or something like that.

"We kind of started talking, and that was basically it. It's not like we planned to be there. It was probably four or five minutes. It wasn't long at all."

But all that's behind Oglesby now as he prepares for his senior season at Wash. He's officially a Hawkeye.

"Just to be able to sign the papers and know deep down that I'm going to Iowa is a big (thing) for me, as well as my family," Oglesby said. "I'm thankful for it."

Also signing letters of intent to D-I schools Wednesday were Cedar Rapids Jefferson forward Jarrod Uthoff (Wisconsin), Linn-Mar guard Matt Bohannon (Northern Iowa) and Linn-Mar forward-guard Shane Benton (North Dakota).