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Iowa needs a replacement for CJ Fredrick. Here are some available transfers.
Capable shooting guards are still on the open market

Apr. 26, 2021 10:15 am
Wisconsin guard Brad Davison (34) is defended by Iowa guard CJ Fredrick during the Hawkeyes’ 62-57 win over the Badgers in the Big Ten tournament quarerfinals in Indianapolis on March 12. (Michael Conroy/Associated Press)
So now I’ve got to find the Iowa men’s basketball team a plug-and-play shooting guard. My work is never done.
It’s not easy, seeking the right transfer on a moment’s notice, but the Hawkeyes are faced with a big hole after this week’s news that starting guard CJ Fredrick is entering the NCAA’s transfer portal.
Here’s where I may want to mention Iowa might not have a scholarship for a guard if Jordan Bohannon returns for a sixth season. But why let that spoil a premise?
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It’s April 21 and a lot of transfers have already found new homes. However, many free agents remain. I’m going to list some, though they could be snapped up by the time this gets published and many and perhaps all of them may have 0 percent interest in Iowa or vice versa.
Read that last sentence again before proceeding. I’m just trying to illustrate that there are good guards out there who are getting re-recruited.
By the way, I did this for centers on March 31, and Fran McCaffery is still trying to lock one in for 2021-22. He may bolt one down soon. As for the shooting guards who are out there across our basketball nation …
Bryce Thompson, 6-foot-5 sophomore-to-be, most recently at Kansas:
He is a former McDonald’s All-American. He averaged 4.7 points last season. It may be likely he’ll return to his Oklahoma home state, but this post is for dreamers more than realists.
Bryce Hamilton, 6-4 senior, UNLV:
Let’s stick with the Bryces. This one is a two-time All-Mountain West Conference player who averaged 17.9 points and 6 rebounds last season. He doesn’t shoot 3-pointers with anything close to Fredrick’s accuracy, hitting 31.3 percent last season.
He’s a scorer, though, UNLV’s leader the last two seasons. A long list of major programs have reached out to him.
Daejon Davis, 6-3 senior, Stanford
This is another pipe dream, granted, but I’m doing this for fun and to illustrate the kind of talent that still remains nationwide. Davis is a four-year vet with 97 career starts and career averages of 10.2 points and 4.1 points.
He’s from Seattle. Maybe Gonzaga will snap up the home state kid. The Zags are snapping everyone else up, it seems. The No. 1 prep prospect in America, big Chet Holmgren, is headed there.
Desi Sills, 6-1 senior, Arkansas: (UPDATE: Transferred to Auburn)
He averaged 7.5 points last season, and played 31 minutes for the Razorbacks in their NCAA Elite Eight loss to Baylor. His role was reduced from his sophomore season, though, and his 3-point shooting dropped from 46 percent as a freshman to 31.8 percent last season as a junior.
He’s an Arkansas native, with no more major-conference options in that state.
Hey, how about dipping into the Big Ten? It’s not taboo to take transfers from within the conference. Maybe it once was, but Ohio State has welcomed Jamari Wheeler from Penn State and Joey Brunk from Indiana, and the Hoosiers just got Miller Kopp from Northwestern. So why not …
Adam Miller, Illinois: He started all 28 games as a freshman for the Illini last season, averaging 8.3 points. Yet, he wants something more.
He shot almost 35 percent from 3-point distance. He’ll go to a big program. He’s from Peoria, so maybe he wants to get farther from home. Iowa City is twice as far from Peoria as where he was.
Rocket Watts, Michigan State: He had a tough sophomore year, moving to point guard in a season that never quite worked for him or his team.
You don’t want to be the guy who replaces Cassius Winston. You want to be the guy who replaces the guy who replaced Winston.
But he averaged 9 points as a freshman, and has all sorts of major programs interested.
Now, for two players I would pursue sight unseen simply because of their names:
Adonis Arms, 6-6 senior, Winthrop: (UPDATE: TRANSFERRED TO TEXAS TECH) Averaged 10.5 points last season. He’s from Milwaukee.
Kobe Elvis, 6-2 sophomore, DePaul: He’s from Ontario, not Los Angeles or Memphis. He’s a point guard, and Iowa’s not looking for one of those, but c’mon. It’s Kobe Elvis.
Comments: (319) 398-8440; mike.hlas@thegazette.com