By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – In less than two months, the Iowa men’s basketball team has had three players leave the program and an assistant coach resign.

That would be a lot of attrition for two off-seasons, let alone for barely six weeks.

Senior-to-be guard Isaiah Moss is the latest player to announce that he is leaving Iowa. The news broke on Thursday that the 6-foot-5 Moss had put his name in the NCAA transfer portal and would play next season for another school as a graduate student.

Moss started all 35 games this past season at shooting guard and averaged 9.7 points per game. The Chicago native also started all 33 games as a sophomore and 28 games as a redshirt freshman.

Forward Tyler Cook also announced shortly after the season that he planned to enter the 2019 NBA Draft and had no intention of returning to Iowa, while junior guard Maishe Dailey will transfer from Iowa to Akron after the spring semester.

The 6-7 Dailey is from the Cleveland suburb of Beechwood, Ohio, which is only about 30 miles from the Akron campus.

Cook’s decision to leave for what he hopes is an NBA career came as no surprise because he tried to do the same thing last spring.

Moss also tested the NBA Draft process last spring, so he apparently has been restless, too, despite being a multi-year starter.

Dailey’s situation is different in that he played limited minutes off the bench throughout his career, and he likely would have had the same role next season if he had stayed at Iowa.

But to lose two starters, including your leading scorer and rebounder, as is the case with the 6-9 Cook, has to be a concern and makes you wonder if there are issues within the program, or maybe these are just individual circumstances.

Moss started every game last season, but he also sat for long stretches in games due to his inconsistency, with guard Connor McCaffery often getting his minutes as a redshirt freshman.

Connor McCaffery is the son of  Iowa coach Fran McCaffery, so maybe Moss just doesn't want to deal with that family dynamic anymore.

It isn’t cause for panic, but to say with certainty that Iowa will be better next season with addition by subtraction seems rather presumptuous, dismissive and a little naïve.

It has been suggested to me that 6-11 sophomore Jack Nunge has more upside than Cook, and is more suited to play power forward.

That might be true, but you also knew what you were getting from Cook, which was about 15 to 20 points and five to 10 rebounds per game, whereas the jury still is out on Nunge, who was redshirted this past season.

Cook certainly had his deficiencies on both offense and defense, but he also made second-team All-Big Ten this past season and was a three-year starter.

He will be missed.

The loss of Moss and Dailey will provide more opportunities for redshirt freshman guard C.J. Fredrick and for incoming freshman forward Patrick McCaffery, who is also the son of Fran McCaffery, and for incoming freshman point guard Joe Toussaint. It is reasonable to think that one or two of them will be in Iowa’s rotation next season.

Iowa is coming off a season in which it finished 23-12 and won a game in the NCAA Tournament. So there is positive energy, unlike a year ago when Iowa was trying to bounce back from a 14-19 record.

But now only three starters will return instead of all five, and it’s always significant when you lose your leading scorer and rebounder.

Fran McCaffery also has to find a replacement for assistant coach Andrew Francis, who recently resigned after nine seasons on the staff to accept an assistant coaching position with California.

Iowa video coordinator Courtney Eldridge is considered one of the leading candidates to replace Francis.

None of these transfers will matter if Iowa has success next season, with success being another trip to the NCAA Tournament and an upper-division finish in the Big Ten.

But if Iowa should struggle following an offseason with heavy attrition, that will cause some to wonder if the program is moving in the wrong direction.

Iowa is among two finalists to land Notre Dame transfer D.J. Harvey, along with Vanderbilt. However, the 6-6 Harvey would have to sit out next season.

The same with brothers Sam and Joey Hauser, who are transferring from Marquette. They reportedly will choose between Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan State and Virginia, but would also have to sit out next season under NCAA transfer rules.

Winning cures everything, but losing three players and an assistant coach in barely six weeks is rather unusual and makes you wonder why there has been so many changes.

It also reminds you that college basketball, despite being a team sport, is more about individuals doing what they feel is in their best interest.

The launching of the transfer portal has just made it easier for players to do that.