Fran McCaffery unfazed by preseason media poll ranking Iowa 11th in Big Ten
By John Bohnenkamp
ROSEMONT, Illinois – The preseason polls aren’t giving Iowa much of a chance to get in front of what is expected to be a season-long traffic jam in the Big Ten men’s basketball standings.
The preseason media poll had the Hawkeyes 11th in the 18-team conference. Other rankings had them as low as 16th, which would keep them out of the conference tournament, which will have a 15-team field now that the league has expanded.
Those numbers didn’t even elicit a shrug from coach Fran McCaffery during Thursday’s Big Ten basketball media days.
“I really, and I know you expect to say I never pay attention to it, but I really never did,” McCaffery said. “We’ve got a really good team. I’m also aware that there’s a lot of other really good teams in this league and in the country. So we’ll figure it out later. We’ll play the games, and we’ll be ready.”
It’s hard to put such rankings together because a.) how the four new teams — Oregon, Washington, UCLA and USC fit is still unclear and b.) there’s been roster turnover throughout the conference.
Purdue was the favorite in the preseason poll, but not a clear-cut one. The Boilermakers got 20 first-place votes, with five other teams getting at least one.
So where the Hawkeyes fit could be anywhere, but McCaffery thinks his team is equipped to be in the mix somewhere in the upper level of the conference.
Guard Payton Sandfort, who is back for his final season after testing the NBA draft process, was a preseason All-Big Ten pick. He’ll be joined by Owen Freeman, the Big Ten’s freshman of the year last season.
Those two were at the beginning of the checklist McCaffery went through as he described this team as one of the deepest he’s had in his coaching career.
“You look at Payton, and it’s his team,” McCaffery said. “He’s the leader, and that’s what he came back to do. Owen, he was just a freshman (last season), and he was playing really well. He got in foul trouble a little bit, but he grew, and he learned. He’s an incredibly hard worker. He’s changed his body a little bit. He’s stronger. He’s doing more off the bounce, shooting the ball outside more. I’m seeing a much more complete player, and that’s by design. That’s what he wanted to do. That’s what we wanted for him.”
McCaffery raved about the progress of Josh Dix last season.
“I thought last year he really established himself as one of the better players in our league,” McCaffery said. “Led the league in offensive efficiency, which is not easy to do in this league. Incredible player. Plays both ends. So we’re counting on him to do a lot of things as well.”
Sophomore point guard Brock Harding will be joined by veteran Drew Thelwell, a transfer from Morehead State, in running the team. Pryce Sandfort, McCaffery said, has gotten stronger in the offseason.
The frontcourt will have Ladji Dembele back after a strong finish to his freshman season, and transfer Seydou Traore has impressed McCaffery since arriving from Manhattan. Freshmen Chris Tadjo and Cooper Koch are battling for time in the frontcourt as well.
Throw in veteran frontcourt players Riley Mulvey and Even Brauns, along with guard Carter Kingsbury, who was given a scholarship before the season started, and McCaffery figures he has plenty of choices.
How that all fits, though, is a question.
“What you have to be able to do is develop confidence in the guys that are your key guys, you know, in the top six or seven,” McCaffery said. “But you can’t get by in this league with six or seven. You’ve got to be nine or 10. The difficult thing will be, if I feel like 11, 12, 13 should be playing, I like to give those guys some opportunities, but it may not happen. But we’ve got a solid core of versatile guys that can play multiple positions and bring different things
to the table.”