Tom Kakert column

This column is written by HawkeyeReport.com publisher Tom Kakert

Fran McCaffery's second season at the helm of the Iowa basketball program is still a few months away, but that doesn't mean he is sitting back and relaxing.

Fall offers college hoops coaches the opportunity to receive official and unofficial visits from potential recruits, most often on home football game weekends. You can expect that McCaffery will be busy each and every Saturday that Kinnick Stadium is filled with 70,000 Hawkeye fans.

Iowa currently has six open scholarships available in the Class of 2012 and McCaffery has already received three verbal commitments to fill those spots.

Already on board for 2012 are 6-foot-9 forward Kyle Meyer from Alpharetta, Ga., 6-foot point guard Mike Gesell from South Sioux City, Neb., and 6-foot-3 wing guard Patrick Ingram from Indianapolis, Ind.

McCaffery is off to a good start with this class by adding all three players who will sign with the Hawkeyes during the early signing period in November. Meyer is a skilled forward who can step out and shoot from the outside. Ingram is a physically tough wing guard who plays great defense and Gesell is a scoring point guard with a high basketball IQ.

But, McCaffery is certainly not done and this fall he hopes to add at least two more names to his list of future Hawkeye players. This fall will go a long way to determining the future of Iowa basketball and the official visits being made will be critical.

For those who are not well versed in the world of recruiting, an official visit is one that can be made by senior prospects and it is paid for by the school hosting them on the visit. An unofficial is generally done by underclassmen and the travel is paid for by the prospect's family.

The biggest visitor scheduled to be on campus this fall, both literally and figuratively, is Adam Woodbury from Sioux City East High School. The 7-footer saw his stock soar this spring and summer on the AAU and camp circuit, including earning MVP honors at the prestigious NBA Players Association Camp in June. The camp hosted the Top 100 prospects in high school basketball, so earning the MVP honors is quite an accomplishment.

Woodbury, who grew up a Hawkeye fan, has been a priority for McCaffery since the day he took the head coaching position in Iowa City. While the Hawkeyes remain in good shape with Woodbury, who is currently ranked by Rivals.com as the No. 42 prospect in the Class of 2012, there are several major college programs that have picked up their recruitment of him.

Leading that list is state of Iowa nemesis Roy Williams and North Carolina. You don't have to remind Iowa and even Iowa State fans about the recruiting damage that Williams has done in the state of Iowa over the years, including landing a verbal commitment from Linn Mar prep standout Marcus Paige, who will sign with the Tar Heels in November.

Also offering Woodbury this summer were Wisconsin and Ohio State to go along with earlier offers from Stanford, Minnesota, California, Nebraska, Virginia, and Xavier. He is also still hearing from Duke and Kansas, who have yet to extend a scholarship offer.

One of the interesting tug of wars in the battle to land Woodbury will be between his AAU teammates on the Martin Brothers/All Iowa Attack team, Mike Gesell and Marcus Paige. The three have played spring and summer basketball together the past four years and are very close friends. Now his two guards will be trying to persuade their big man to join them next fall in Iowa City or Chapel Hill.

Woodbury and his family will host Coach Williams for an in-home visit on September 12 and then later that week he will make an official visit to Iowa the weekend of September 17. Woodbury has said he will sign in November, but he has not set a specific date.

Landing Woodbury would be a huge shot in the arm for McCaffery in several respects. First, he is a Top 50 prospect and that alone would be reason to celebrate. Second, it sends the message that McCaffery is going to start closing down the borders from being raided. Lastly, Roy Williams finally misses on an Iowa prospect.

How the rest of the class rounds out will be interesting to watch. The Hawkeyes were supposed to host 6-foot-7 forward Gavin Thurman this weekend, but that trip was abruptly postponed on Wednesday. Thurman, who is from Wichita, Kan., says he would still like to visit Iowa at a later date, but felt like the trip was being rushed and wants to take his time. He still plans on making a trip to Colorado State next weekend, followed by a visit to Wichita State, and then Missouri State. While Thurman says he still plans on making the trip to Iowa, he's also hinting at perhaps waiting until the spring to make a decision and that might not be the same sort of timeline that Coach McCaffery had in mind.

New names are certain to surface this fall as official visitors, but based on the roster that will return and the current commits projected positions, Coach McCaffery hopes to sign a big man (Woodbury), another skilled wing with some size, and then there is a good chance he will hold open the last scholarship for the spring and perhaps look for help in the backcourt with a ball handling guard.