For the sixth time this spring, Iowa men’s basketball takes a transfer from Drake

This would normally be a short news item, but let’s give it some room to breathe.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Iowa men’s basketball program announced 6-foot-9, 215-pound forward Joey Matteoni is transferring from Drake to the Hawkeyes.

Joey Matteoni. That’s a name. No matter how Ben McCollum’s first Iowa team turns out, you can’t say his team doesn’t have good names.

Cam Manyawu. Alvaro Folgueiras. Bennett Stirtz. Tate Sage. And now, Joey Matteoni.

OK, a little bio on Matteoni: He was McCollum’s first high school signee at Drake last year after McCollum got there from Northwest Missouri State. Matteoni is from Overland Park, Kan., in the Kansas City area.

Matteoni red-shirted last season. He originally signed a national letter of intent with Northwest Missouri State when McCollum was the coach there.

“Joey can do a variety things — he can trigger your offense, finish and shoot,” said McCollum in a press release. “He will be a great addition to help us with our depth in the post.”

Matteoni was a first-team all-state player at Blue Valley Northwest High in Overland Park, averaging 19.1 points and 8.9 rebounds as a senior for the state’s Class 6A state-champion.

While Matteoni committed to Northwest Missouri State while in high school, he had Division I offers from Army and Navy.

That makes six players who have followed McCollum from Drake to Iowa. Matteoni is the 12th player overall to commit to the Hawkeyes’ roster, with nine of them transfers. Which is kind of essential, since only one scholarship player has returned to Iowa.

That’s redshirt freshman Cooper Koch, who also has a great name. In fact, there is an actor named Cooper Koch, who portrayed Erik Melendez in the series “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Melendez Series.”

If Joey Matteoni becomes as well-known as Joey Ramone or Joey Tribbiani, the Hawkeyes will have something.

I don’t have a feel for how you Hawkeye fans are responding to all the former Drake players filling up your roster. Not too many years ago, that would have “sky is falling” stuff. But now, with a half-dozen players coming over from a 31-4 team that clipped Missouri in the NCAA tournament?

Seems pretty good.

Before McCollum, Iowa last dipped into the Missouri Valley Conference in 2023 to get first-team All-MVC forward Ben Krikke of Valparaiso, and he averaged 13.8 points.

Krikke just finished his first season with Club Ourense Baloncesto in Spain, where he averaged 11.5 points.

Other first-team All-MVC players two years ago included Tucker DeVries of Drake, Marcus Domask of Southern Illinois and Rienk Mast of Bradley. DeVries will play at Indiana and Mast at Nebraska next season, while Domask averaged 15.9 points at Illinois in 2023-24 before playing pro ball in the NBA G-League and Germany.

So, the MVC transfers aren’t too shabby. As of Sunday, 72 players from the 2024-25 MVC had entered the NCAA transfer portal. It’s a 12-team league.

Speaking of transfers, other Big Ten teams have filled needs by via the portal, too. Who’d a thunk it? As a result, Gary Parrish of CBSsports.com has eight Big Ten teams in his “way-too-early Top 25 And 1.”

None of the eight are Iowa. Then again, Drake was picked fifth in the Missouri Valley preseason poll of 49 league coaches, communications directors and media members. None picked the Bulldogs to win the conference, which they did.

If Hawkeye fans can get excited about a quarterback from South Dakota State, six dudes from Drake ought to make a little stir hoops-wise.

Comments: (319) 398-8440; mike.hlas@thegazette.com