By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – This could be a news-filled week in Hawkeye sports.

Monday already had the Iowa baseball team fail to make the NCAA Tournament despite finishing 36-19 overall and 20-9 against Big Ten competition, and despite not losing back-to-back games since mid-March.

Iowa advanced to the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament this past weekend and won three of five games overall in the eight-team tournament.

Kris Murray also has until 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday to decide whether to stay in the NBA draft or return to Iowa for his junior season.

My hunch is that Kris will announce on Wednesday that he will return to Iowa where he is expected to be one of Fran McCaffery’s key players next season as a versatile 6-foot-8 junior forward.

Now again, this is just a hunch after having considered both of Kris Murray’s options.

Kris doesn’t project as a first-round pick like his twin brother, Keegan Murray, does, but Kris is a star on the rise at Iowa where one more season could do wonders for his NBA aspirations.

Iowa also needs for Kris Murray to return, especially after failing so far to land a post player from the transfer portal.

The thought of Iowa being without both of the Murray twins next season is sort of depressing.

Kris Murray will ultimately make the decision that he feels is in his best interest. He is fortunate to have a strong support system led by his parents because they also have his best interest as their top priority.

My other prediction is that former Iowa All-Big Ten shooting guard and Iowa City native Matt Gatens will be hired as the new assistant coach for men’s basketball, and that it could happen as soon as this week or next week.

Yes, this is another hunch, or gut feeling or whatever you want to call it.

Kirk Speraw’s decision to retire from coaching after having spent the past 12 seasons on the Iowa staff has left Fran McCaffery without a former Iowa player as an assistant coach.

Speraw was far from being a star at Iowa as a seldom-used walk-on guard in the late 1970s, but he was a former Hawkeye, and was from instate, which helps to build recruiting connections.

Matt Gatens, in addition to being a former Hawkeye standout, played his final two seasons at Iowa under Fran McCaffery.

Gatens helped lay the foundation under McCaffery, and he helped lead the breakthrough as a senior by leading Iowa to the National Invitation Tournament following four consecutive losing seasons, three of which occurred under previous head coach Todd Lickliter.

Gatens has spent the past three seasons on the Drake men’s basketball coaching staff, with last season being his first as an assistant coach.

He spent the previous two seasons as the Bulldogs’ director of operations and helped guide the team to the 2018-19 Missouri Valley Conference title and back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time since 1971 and third time in program history.

Prior to joining the Bulldogs, Gatens was on staff at Auburn, where he assisted in travel, development, scouting, video and camps for the Southeastern Conference Champions under former Iowa assistant Bruce Pearl.

What the 32-year old Gatens might lack in experience he makes up for by being a former Hawkeye star that has a personal connection to Fran McCaffery.

Iowa also has plenty of coaching experience on the staff with Fran McCaffery and with veteran assistant coach Sherman Dillard, who twice has been a head coach at the college level.

Recently promoted assistant coach Courtney Eldridge is entering his sixth season on the Iowa staff after having previously served as the Director of Recruiting/Player Development, and as the video coordinator for the two seasons before that.

Eldridge was Fran McCaffery’s starting point guard at North Carolina-Greensboro where Eldridge played from 1998 to 2002.

Fran McCaffery has made it very apparent that he would prefer to hire assistant coaches that he knows personally, especially former players that have helped him ascend as a head coach.

It seems to be his way of being loyal and paying back.

Selfishly, as a Drake graduate part of me would like to see Gatens stay in Des Moines.

But I also understand how much he would be sacrificing with Iowa his beloved alma mater and a Power Five program, and with a chance to move back home and make more money.

This week also might be when Iowa finally goes public with the specifics of its NIL collective, which is long overdue.

Iowa Athletic Director Gary Barta already has provided a hint of what to expect when he recently told members of the media that Iowa’s NIL collective could be tied to academic performance and to charities.

And while that is a noble cause, Iowa isn’t supposed to have any connection to NIL, so Barta’s comments seemed a little odd and counterproductive.