Season No. 13 under Fran McCaffery starts on Monday against Bethune-Cookman
By Pat Harty
IOWA CITY, Iowa – For the second year in a row, Iowa men’s basketball coach Fran McCaffery has to replace a consensus All-American, and he has a team that isn’t expected to be a Big Ten contender, largely because of that circumstance.
Iowa was picked by the media to finish seventh in the Big Ten Conference, which sometimes, is enough to make the NCAA Tournament.
So, it’s not that Iowa is being picked to struggle in Fran McCaffery’s 13th season as head coach.
It seems more a case in which prognosticators are saying that Iowa is destined to be average for a Big Ten team this season because being ranked seventh among 14 conference teams is the definition of average.
Iowa was ranked below Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue and Ohio State on the media ballot, but was also one of five teams that received at least one first-place vote.
So, again, the prognosticators aren’t predicting that Iowa is headed for a serious decline now that All-America forward Keegan Murray has moved on to the NBA, and now that multi-year starting point guard and stat-sheet stuffer Jordan Bohannon has finally exhausted his eligibility.
They just see Iowa as a middle-of-the-pack team in the Big Ten, and only time and results will determine if they’re right.
McCaffery’s 13th season as head coach will start on Monday when Iowa faces Bethune-Cookman at Carver-Hawkeye Arena as part of a doubleheader with the fourth-ranked Iowa women’s basketball team.
The men will play first at 6 p.m. followed by the women’s game against Southern University at approximately 8:30 p.m.
The doubleheader continues a tradition in which the Iowa men’s and women’s team play back-to-back games.
“We’ve been playing doubleheaders for year,” Fran McCaffery said. “We have a great relationship with them. Anytime you go to our games, they’re there. Anytime you go to their games, we’re there.
“And that’s the way it has to be.”

Even without Keegan Murray and Bohannon, Iowa returns a wealth of experience and productivity starting with Keegan Murray’s twin brother Kris Murray, a 6-foot-8 junior forward who scored 24 points in the 117-73 exhibition victory over Truman State last Monday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Kris Murray will help to fill the void left by his twin brother, but they have different playing styles and different personalities.
“If you’re around these two guys, they’re different,” Fran McCaffery said of the Murray twins. “Their games are different. Their personalities are different. Kris is really a confident guy. Kris is probably more verbal than Keegan was.”
Kris Murray also has a plenty of help from a veteran cast of players that include fifth-year senior forward Filip Rebraca, sixth-year senior guard Connor McCaffery, fourth-year forward Patrick McCaffery, junior guards Tony Perkins and Ahron Ulis, and sophomore forward Payton Sandfort.
Incoming freshmen guards Dasonte Bowen and Josh Dix also had their moments in the exhibition game, while centers Josh Ogundele and Riley Mulvey both are trying to earn a spot in the rotation.
But that won’t be easy.
Iowa is coming off a season in which it won the Big Ten Tournament and 26 games overall.
However, Iowa was defeated by Richmond in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, so what was otherwise a successful season ended horribly.
The players will try to use that as motivation for this season.
Iowa also hasn’t won a Big Ten regular-season title since 1979.
“I’m still upset with how last season ended,” said Connor McCaffery, who is Fran McCaffery’s son. “I still think about it. It pushes me to work even harder.”
Ulis was suspended for the exhibition game after being charged with disorderly conduct, but he will play in Monday’s season opener, and Fran McCaffery has high expectations for his point guard.
“He’s been playing really well, so I would expect him to play like a veteran,” Fran McCaffery said of Ulis. “He’s really good at both ends of the floor. He’s really good in our system with his speed and athleticism. So, I’m excited for him.”

Fran McCaffery was pleased for the most part with how his team executed in the exhibition game, although, he felt the defense could’ve been better against Division II Truman State, whose head coach is former Iowa point guard Jeff Horner.
“There were some defensive breakdowns and there were sometimes when we were real good defensively,” Fran McCaffery. “But I don’t think we were as consistent as we could have been. Jeff runs really good stuff, and that’s why I thought that was a really good game for us, and that’s why I wanted play them as opposed to maybe some other teams that wouldn’t be as disciplined or as concentrate don execution against us. They were really trying to run their stuff. And sometimes we really dd a good job, and sometimes we didn’t.”
Bethune-Cookman’s head coach is former college and NBA star Reggie Theus.
“He was a terrific player as we all know,” Fran McCaffery said. “I enjoyed watching him play.”
With this being his 13th season, Fran McCaffery will match Tom Davis in coaching longevity at Iowa.
The program was in serious decline when McCaffery was hired in 2010, but Iowa has finished in the upper division of the Big Ten in each of the past four seasons, and has won 20 games and led the Big Ten in scoring in each of the past four seasons.
“We have a solid foundation and a terrific enviroment to work with as we look to build on our program’s rich history,” Fran McCaffery said in a letter that Iowa released on media day. “We embrace the Hawkeye tradition and are motivated for the challenges ahead.”
Bethune-Cookman vs. Iowa
When: Monday, 6:01 p.m.
Where: Carver-Hawkeye Arena
TV: ESPNU
Radio: Iowa Radio Network