Iowa Basketball Interested in Brock Harding
Hawkeyes Evaluating '23 Moline PG
IOWA CITY, Iowa – At six-feet, 160 pounds, some people doubt Brock Harding as a basketball player. Detractors remain even when he delivers on the court.
The Class of 2023 Moline (IL) High and Midwest Pro Academy point guard takes the criticism in stride these days. While others question him, he doesn’t doubt himself.
“Size is something that always gets brought up, and it’s something that I’m just used to at this point,” he told HF. “I used to use it to prove people wrong. But it didn’t matter how much I proved them wrong, they still say it.
“Nowadays, I’m not trying to prove things to anybody. I know who I am and what I do. I find so many other ways to affect the game that it doesn’t matter. I just let them believe what they want.”
College coaches have become believers. He reported scholarship offers from Loyola, St. Louis and Illinois State in April. He already reported opportunities from Drake, Appalachian State, Bradley, Southern Illinois, Illinois-Chicago, Colorado State, Southeast Missouri State, Eastern Illinois, Purdue-Fort Wayne, Radford and Western Illinois before last month’s surge.
High majors are sniffing around during a solid spring. Iowa Basketball is among the big schools showing him interest.
“I’ve talked to them a decent amount. They say they really like my game and I’m one of their top point guards on their board. They were at a lot of the games in the spring, at least two of the days each live weekend,” he said.
Living an hour east of the Iowa campus, Harding is familiar with the Hawkeyes. He sees a fit.
“I like the program a lot. They let their guys play and create for themselves and each other. They got five guys on the court who can shoot and score and that opens up everything else,” he said.
“I think I’m at my best creating for myself and others with some freedom, and they give that to their guys.”
Harding is confident he’s put his best foot forward for college coaches.
“I don’t think there are many more areas to show, personally. I’ve showed who I am and what I do,” he said.
“I worked to build my body up to not get bodied by bigger guards. I used to be an average shooter early in high school. I worked to get rid of that narrative and have worked to build myself into one of the better shooters on the court.”
As a junior, Harding knocked down 37 treys in conference play and shot 56.0 percent on two-pointers. He connected on 82.0 percent of his free throws and registered 93 steals. He earned first-team all-state honors in Class 4A from the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association.
“I wouldn’t say that I model my game after one person. I try to take things from a bunch of different guards like me. I really watch Trae young, CP3 (Chris Paul), Sharife Cooper and Darius Garland and just try to take different things from different people,” he said.
Harding plans on officially visiting Colorado State (end of July) and Loyola this summer. He wants to see St. Louis as well and could end up checking out more campuses.
“If some high majors get involved, I may visit some of those as well,” he said.
Iowa, Butler and Oregon State are the high majors he’s hearing from the most, he said.