By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Iowa men’s basketball coach Ben McCollum is nearly halfway through with building his roster for next season, but now comes the interesting and probably the most challenging part of the build.

Nothing against the six players that already have committed to play for Iowa next season, but they were all to be expected as five of them are following McCollum from Drake, and the sixth, freshman forward Cooper Koch, is a Hawkeye legacy and is coming off a season in which he only played in 10 game due to a medical condition.

The five players coming with McCollum from Drake all had significant roles in the Bulldogs finishing 31-4 this season and advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1971.

Point guard Bennett Stirtz is the most celebrated of the five Drake players that are transferring to Iowa as he was named the Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year this season.

The 6-foot-4 Stirtz gives McCollum a star point guard to build around, and that is huge when rebuilding a roster almost from scratch.

But now comes what could be the hardest part of this roster rebuild, which is filling out the second half of the roster because there are no more players from Drake to fill spots, and because former Iowa players Josh Dix and Pryce Sandfort have moved on, committing to Creighton and Nebraska, respectively.

McCollum had made it known publicly that he wanted both Dix and Pryce Sandfort to stay as Hawkeyes, but the two Iowa natives both have chosen to play elsewhere.

It’s a setback, but setbacks are to be expected when you’re faced with building an entire roster.

Prior to his one season as the Drake head coach, McCollum was the head coach for Northwest Missouri State for 15 seasons. He won four Division II national titles at Northwest Missouri State,. He then took four starters from Northwest Missouri State, including Stirtz, to Drake and that decision would pay huge dividends.

Drake’s success showed that the gap separating the highest level of Division II from mid-level Division I competition wasn’t as wide as perhaps many had thought.

Stirtz showed this season that he could play exceptionally well against Division I competition.

He averaged 19.2 points, 5.7 assists and 4.3 rebounds per game. His 39.4 minutes per game were also the most among all NCAA Division I players.

But as good as Stirtz is as a do-everything point guard, and even with four of his Drake teammates now onboard, including Missouri Valley Conference Sixth-Man of the Year, forward Tavion Banks, McCollum still faces a daunting task in making Iowa’s 2025-26 roster competitive by Big Ten standards.

McCollum still needs to add more size on the frontline and a team can never have enough perimeter shooters.

Roster additions seven through 10 or 11 could go a long way in determining Iowa’s level of success next season.

Much has been written and said about Iowa’s supposed lack of NIL resources.

But McCollum wouldn’t have taken the job if he felt that Iowa’s NIL resources would prevent him from achieving his goals.

He must believe in what Iowa Athletic Director Beth Goetz said during the interview process, because even though McCollum grew up in Storm Lake idolizing Iowa basketball players, he probably wouldn’t have taken even what might be considered his dream job if he felt he was destined to fail.

Fans need to have realistic expectations for next season.

And while it would be terrific if McCollum could pick up at Iowa where he left off at Drake from a winning standpoint.

It might not be realistic since the Big Ten is a different beast than the Missouri Valley Conference, just from having more of everything, including size, speed, quickness and depth.

Ben McCollum has been a winner throughout his career.

His teams are known for being fundamentally sound on both ends of the court, and for being unselfish and connected on offense and for being relentless and connected on defense.

His teams rarely beat themselves and they always play hard.

But hustle, fundamentals and coaching only go far.

A team also needs enough talent and depth to carry out its mission, and in the case of the 2025-26 Iowa roster, there still is work to do, and probably the hardest work.