Iowa basketball lands 2018 Muscatine prep

IOWA CITY - Muscatine guard Joe Wieskamp held scholarship offers from Iowa's three Iowa public D-I basketball programs, but in the end, the incoming sophomore picked the one closest to home.

Wieskamp became Iowa's first basketball commitment for the 2018 class, he announced Tuesday on Twitter. Standing 6-foot-4, Wieskamp posted impressive numbers for the 7-15 Muskies last year. As a freshman, Wieskamp started 21 games, averaged 18.6 points and hit 40 of 100 3-pointers. He knocked down 47.1 percent of his shots and 78.8 percent from the free-throw line. He also grabbed a team-best 6.4 rebounds and a team-high 1.2 steals a game in the Class 4A Mississippi Athletic Conference.

'After getting the offer about a month ago, I thought about it a lot,” Wieskamp told Hawkeye Report. 'I thought about wanting to play for the Hawkeyes, and I felt like it was the right fit for me. I think the style of play is a great fit for me, and I really like Coach (Fran) McCaffery and he has watched me a lot. Being close to home really helped, too. This way my parents can come see me play all my home games and that was important to me.”

Wieskamp competes for the AAU Iowa Barnstormers and guided his squad to the 15-and-under Spiece Run ‘N Slam championship last month. In a weekend where the Barnstormers finished 8-0, Wieskamp scored 21 points in a 55-48 championship game win against Nike Mean Streets. Last week he attended the Super Soph Camp in Atlanta and in mid-May, Wieskamp was a co-MVP at the KC Classic.

Iowa now has commitments in each of the next three classes. Incoming senior Dubuque Wahlert forward Cordell Pemsl (6-foot-7) has committed for next season. Iowa City West junior guard Connor McCaffery (6-5) - son of Coach McCaffery - is a 2017 commitment.

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