Iowa hoops: Prime Time League primer

Given how the Iowa men's basketball team finished its 2016-17 season, the optimism and potential surrounding the Hawkeyes is very high. Losing only Peter Jok as a significant contributor after a 19-15, NIT-berth season while bringing back so much youth means the chance for fun also is pretty high.

The Prime Time League is a chance to see some of that fun, especially considering the relative lack of defense that accompanies its games.

Let's look at what to watch for in the 2017 Prime Time League — with Clint Eastwood movie references, just because:

1. 'Ever notice how you come across somebody once in a while you shouldn't have messed with? That's me.'

In Gran Torino, Eastwood's character was talking about himself, when defending his neighbors from a local gang. In the Prime Time League, that's Tyler Cook.

Last year, everyone got their first glimpse at Cook and, well, if the hype train hadn't already started, it picked up a significant amount of steam. Cook's athleticism and versatility offensively got a chance to flourish then, and with a year of college basketball under his belt, there's every reason to expect he'll look far better this time around.

His 12.3 points and 5.3 rebounds per game for the Hawkeyes last season also came with improvements in using space well, low-post scoring and defensive positioning. The latter on that list won't be as big of a deal this summer, but this is a chance for him to see how far he's come in his offensive efficiency.

And, let's be honest, we should see some ferocious dunks.

2. 'You've gotta ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk?'

The PTL draft was Wednesday night, and the rules stipulate that of all the Iowa and Northern Iowa players available — Cordell Pemsl won't play while recovering from sports hernia surgery, for example — only two are allowed per team.

Iowa's pairs per team: Cook and Dom Uhl, Nicholas Baer and Isaiah Moss, Jordan Bohannon and Ryan Kriener, Maishe Dailey and Luka Garza, Jack Nunge and Brady Ellingson and Ahmad Wagner and Christian Williams.

Dirty Harry was asking a decidedly unlucky gentleman how many bullets he had left in his gun. The PTL won't have any guns, but it will have some interesting matchups — and in a certain way it's the luck of the draw for the players. Cook and Uhl both likely will want to work outside in, with Uhl especially having offensive aspects to improve. Baer and Moss worked well in transition, and their being able to consistently shoot and score will be important. Bohannon (hold that thought) has a chance to improve at improvising, and Kriener too has a chance to work on his midrange and beyond. Wagner and Williams offer the best inside-outside pairing, and Williams needs reps running the show.

Each pair should be able to push the floor and run, save for maybe Garza and Dailey, but only because that's not yet Garza's game — that we know of anyway.

3. 'Go ahead, make my day'

Changing the context away from a hostage situation in 'Sudden Impact,' the fourth Dirty Harry movie, it's going to make plenty of Hawkeye fans' days to see Garza and Nunge for the first time.

Both come to Iowa with their fair share of hype, not dissimilar to Cook coming in last year.

Garza is a four-star recruit who picked Iowa over the likes of Notre Dame, Indiana, Louisville, Maryland and Virginia, among others, and ranked 98th in his class by ESPN. He led the Maret School to a 26-5 record in his senior year and averaged 24.6 points and 11.7 rebounds per game — all of which earned him Gatorade Player of the Year in Washington, D.C.

Nunge is a less-hyped but fellow four-star recruit whose offers may not have been as flashy — Nebraska, Vanderbilt and Georgia Tech offered while Stanford and Wisconsin showed interest — his game certainly is. Indiana's runner-up Mr. Basketball last season finished with 22.8 points and 11.6 rebounds per game while shooting 63 percent from the field and 37 percent from 3-point range.

How they'll fit exactly remains to be seen, but going up against Cook and Wagner, for example, will test their hoops IQ on how to best use their mass and height to score in different ways.

4. 'It's a hell of a thing, killin' a man. You take away everything he's got, and all he's ever gonna have.'

OK so let's amend this 'Unforgiven' quote to be not-so-murderous: It's a hell of a thing to kill a man's dreams of winning a game. Gun lingo gets thrown around a lot when referring to outside shooters, so this is where we get to talk about Jordan Bohannon and his shooting.

Bohannon shot 38.8 percent overall and 41.6 percent from 3-point range last season, but it was late in the year where those shots started carrying a ton of weight. He buried Wisconsin at Kohl Center with a game-winner. He shot 8 of 10 from 3 at Maryland. And despite losing to Indiana in the Big Ten Tournament and the season-ending loss to TCU, Bohannon shot 59.3 percent from deep and averaged 22.7 points in the Hawkeyes' final three games of the season.

That's a high bar to set for himself after a freshman season. We'll see if he's picked up where he left off this summer.

5. 'If you want a guarantee, buy a toaster.'

This final quote is from The Rookie — no, not the Dennis Quaid baseball movie — the Clint Eastwood/Charlie Sheen movie from 1990, and the context we'll apply it to here is injuries.

Cordell Pemsl won't play in the PTL thanks to sports hernia surgery. While that's not the end of the world, it's also not ideal — given he didn't play in the PTL last year, either. The lack of a guarantee here is that they're all playing live games. Injuries happen in live games.

Everyone knows the PTL isn't exactly cutthroat, but again, that's no guarantee. Staying healthy is more important than any other goal or objective for the players in these games.

Prime Time League: Complete rosters and schedule

l Comments: (319) 368-8884; jeremiah.davis@thegazette.com