Tyler Cook, Nicholas Baer top Prime Time League draft picks

IOWA CITY — It might've been slightly leaner than years past, but the Prime Time League Draft was held Wednesday night in Iowa City, splitting up the rosters of the Iowa and Northern Iowa men's basketball teams, as well as other local talent.

Six teams drafted 49 players, with Iowa's Tyler Cook, Nicholas Baer and Jordan Bohannon the top three picks, and UNI's Wyatt Lohaus going as the fourth overall selection.

The league — run by Iowa City's Randy Larson — was and still is looking for more players, a sign, Larson said, that unattached players in the area are less connected to the league than they used to be, for a variety of reasons.

'We were shorter than usual this year,' Larson said. 'For 31 years, I've tried not to ask anyone to play, because my feeling is if you're not knocking on the door begging to play, I don't want you anyway. We want the truly (committed) basketball player willing to do anything to get better. But the world changes.

'It's a sign that there are fewer players that are knowledgeable about it. We used to have 1,000 people who applied to play. But if you apply four times and don't get picked, you don't apply anymore. So naturally it's gone down.'

With Iowa and UNI's rosters almost completely returning for the 2017-18 season — only Peter Jok, Dale Jones, Jeremy Morgan and Jordan Ashton graduated, and Ashton is playing in the PTL — that left fewer slots with playing time for players not from the Hawkeyes or Panthers.

Iowa's Cordell Pemsl and Austin Phyfe and Miles Wentzien from UNI won't participate in the PTL while dealing with injuries.

Larson said there initially were going to be seven teams this season — the schedule on the PTL website reflected that before the draft — but the decision was made to go back to six teams like last season to increase the quality of play across the board.

With fewer players in general as well, it worked out.

'These coaches now want all the players to play if they can,' Larson said. 'It's gotten so competitive with two players (from Iowa and UNI) per team, that the whole starting lineup is awfully, awfully good. If you're a good pickup player who played small college basketball and now are 30 years old, you usually don't want to get embarrassed and don't think you're good enough. There are a lot who are good enough, but there's just not very many anymore that do it.'

The shift in how Larson has had to promote the league has forced a change in attitude, in a way.

Larson cited the rise of AAU tournaments and that culture as another big reason the unattached or high school players were choosing other avenues for their summer basketball.

Still, with 49 players drafted, Larson expects there will be a handful more reach out to him or other coaches in the league to jump onto a roster before the opening games on Sunday at the North Liberty Rec Center. Larson said he's looking for the pickup players who are willing to come in and play a few minutes and contribute so the teams can remain even while getting to nine or 10 players per team.

'I had the attitude for many years that if you're not crazy about basketball, I don't care if you play or not, because if you're crazy about basketball you hear about (the PTL),' Larson said. 'But kids aren't that way anymore. They don't believe basketball exists without a manager, sponsor or AAU something, and so it's harder to find players.

'I think a big part of it is the change and dominance of AAU basketball. … The world has changed and that means something to some people.'

PRIME TIME LEAGUE ROSTERS

Team 1: Marion Iron Company (Coach: Kevin Sanders)

Tyler Cook, Iowa

Dom Uhl, Iowa

Juwan McCloud, Northern Iowa

Hunter Rhodes, Northern Iowa

Niko Gosnell, Lone TreeHS/Kirkwood CC

Tra'von Fagan, Cedar Falls HS/Tyler CC

Trevon Montgomery, ex-Pleasant Valley HS

Aaron Lyons, ex-Buena Vista

Matt Coiner, ex-Bettendorf HS

Team 2: Culver's (Coach: Ron Nove)

Nicholas Baer, Iowa

Isaiah Moss, Iowa

Bennett Koch, Northern Iowa

Tywhon Pickford, Northern Iowa

A.J. Green, Cedar Falls HS

Joshua Carter, Dubuque Wahlert HS/Highland CC

Tim Loan, ex-Briar Cliff

Dadrian Hoambrecker, Iowa City West HS

Team 3: L.L. Pelling (Coach: Jordan O'Neil)

Jordan Bohannon, Iowa

Isaiah Brown, Northern Iowa

Ryan Kriener, Iowa

Ted Friedman, Northern Iowa

Seybian Sims, Iowa City West HS

Jake Hughes, ex-Upper Iowa

Harley Shear, ex-Anoka Ramsey CC

Jonny Dahl, ex-John Wood CC

Team 4: Westport Touchless Autowash (Coach: Ray Swetalla)

Wyatt Lohaus, Northern Iowa

Maishe Dailey, Iowa

Luka Garza, Iowa

Luke McDonnell, Northern Iowa

Matt Mims, Cedar Rapids Xavier HS

Bryan Forbes, ex-Briar Cliff

Michael Baer, ex-Bettendorf HS

Jason Capper, St. Ambrose

Team 5: Vinton Merchants (Coach: Randy Larson)

Jack Nunge, Iowa

Klint Carlson Northern Iowa

Brady Ellingson, Iowa

Adam McDermott, Northern Iowa

Jake Timm, ex-Coe

Kingsley Botchway, ex- D.W. Daniel HS, S Carolina

Ross Westemeyer, ex-Regina HS

Brant DeMeulenaere, Kirkwood

Team 6: The Jill Armstrong Team Skogman Realty (Coach: Dan Ahrens)

Ahmad Wagner, Iowa

Christian Williams, Iowa

Spencer Haldeman, Northern Iowa

Kendall Jacks, Wayne State

Jordan Ashton, ex-Northern Iowa

Tanner Lohaus, Northern Iowa

Zach Schlabaugh, Coe

Amel Kuljuhovik, Lakeland CC

PRIME TIME LEAGUE SCHEDULE

Sun., June 18; North Liberty

Marion Iron Company (1) vs. Culver's (2), 3 p.m.

L.L. Pelling (3) vs. Jill Armstrong Team Skogman Realty (6), 3 p.m.

Westport Touchless Auto Wash (4) vs. Vinton Merchants (5), 4:30 p.m.

Thurs., June 22; Waterloo

L.L. Pelling (3) vs. Westport Touchless Auto Wash (4), 6 p.m.

Marion Iron Works (1) vs. Jill Armstrong Team Skogman Realty (6), 6 p.m.

Culver's (2) vs. Vinton Merchants (6), 7:30 p.m.

Sun., June 25; North Liberty

Westport Touchless Auto Wash (4) vs. Jill Armstrong Team Skogman Realty (6), 3 p.m.

Culver's (2) vs. L.L. Pelling (3), 3 p.m.

Marion Iron Works (1) vs. Vinton Merchants (5), 4:30 p.m.

Thurs., June 29; Waterloo

Marion Iron Works (1) vs. Westport Touchless Auto Wash (4), 6 p.m.

L.L. Pelling (3) vs. Vinton Merchants (5), 6 p.m.

Culver's (2) vs. Jill Armstrong Team Skogman Realty (6), 7:30 p.m.

Sun.; July 9; North Liberty

Vinton Merchants (5) vs. Jill Armstrong Team Skogman Realty (6), 3 p.m.

Marion Iron Works (1) vs. L.L. Pelling (3), 3 p.m.

Culver's (2) vs. Westport Touchless Auto Wash (4), 4:30 p.m.

Thurs., July 13; North Liberty

Marion Iron Works (1) vs. Culver's (2), 6 p.m.

L.L. Pelling (3) vs. Jill Armstrong Team Skogman Realty (6), 6 p.m.

Westport Touchless Auto Wash (4) vs. Vinton Merchants (5), 7:30 p.m.

Sun., July 16; North Liberty

First Round of Playoffs

4th place vs. 5th place, 6 p.m.

3rd place vs. 6th place, 7:30 p.m.

Thurs., July 20; Waterloo

Semifinals

First game 3 p.m.

Second game 4:30 p.m.

Sun., July 23; North Liberty

Championship, 3 p.m.

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