Pryce has good potential. The kid was only a freshman last season. I could see him being every bit as good as Payton.
Drew Thelwell visiting April 15 (6'3 guard; ONE Year Eligibility)
- Thread starter Franisdaman
- Start date
He might be fine on offense, but most are concerned with what he can contribute on defense. Payton didn’t do much here either, but Pryor has much smaller frame.
He didn't seem much worse than Payton on defense to me. I know that isn't a high bar. I'm hoping his 3 point shooting can counteract the bad defense like Payton. He'll need to rebound well like Payton, too.
He is ranging on defense and trys to stay connected to his asignment
Tries
I think Brauns is a big strong defender we need in the post
BirdistheWord
HB Legend
Wouldn’t it be hilarious if CurtisJ was a motivational speaker by day and bitter Iowa fan by night 🤣
I try to be not as outspoken as him, but damn if I don't share more than a few of CurtisJ's sentiments about Iowa MBB (& FB).
BirdistheWord
HB Legend
Even if Thelwell is good, its still a transfer from Morehead St, of the OVC.
Meh, there's tons of great portal transfers that come out of small schools/ conferences and do really well
For some reason I feel Brauns and Mulvey can both give Hawks some good minutes up front. I know Mulvey is everybody's whipping boy, but I am hoping he surprises everyone.
If he ends up being good, why does it matter where he comes from?Even if Thelwell is good, its still a transfer from Morehead St, of the OVC.
There were All Big Ten first teamers from the MVC, MAAC, CUSA, and Patriot the last couple of years. The idea that guys from lower leagues don't translate when they move up has thoroughly been debunked the last couple of years.
Hell, the runner up to Edey for NPOTY played 2 years of JUCO and then played at freaking Northern Colorado before he transferred to a power conference. This narrative is just not rooted in reality at this point.
It would be GREAT if he surprised us.....but I am not even thinking about him playing. Seems like a good kid but man, this far into it with his size and your role is a "good teammate"? Would rather have the scholly somewhere else.
agreed.
how many times has Iowa had "buy games" where we wished we had some of the opposing guards because of their speed, athleticism and ability to defend?
remember when Gary Dolphin got in trouble when he said on a hot mic that he wished we had an opposing player on our team? IIRC, it was an indirect slam against Maishe Dailey, who then ended up transferring in March, 2019
By the video's I've seen of Drew he seems serviceable, some think he's more of a point guard but what I've seen of him he's more a combo guard that can do a little of both.
He sometimes tends to gamble on defense that buts him out of position to stick with the player he's guarding and he's not flashy by any means but it is what it is.
As I've said before Fran is not going to go out and recruit players that will take away playing time of his HS recruits and I doubt he will beat out Harding for the starting point guard spot whether you agree with me or not.
I believe Iowa cancelled his visit once Thelwell committed.
I hope Fran has not stopped looking for portal help. Three guards is pretty thin, and the depth on the interior seems pretty limited.the transfer portal potty is wild, to say the least....
If it were anyone else but Fran I'd be shocked but it doesn't even surprise me that he's just going to roll with 3 guards on a roster.
Wouldn't want to use up precious tweener forward space.
They are also targeting more true 2s/bigger guards--they've reportedly contacted Jaden Schutt and John Tonje just in the last 24 hours. I think they view Hunter as more of an on-ball guard and they didn't feel the need to bring in another true point to take away more developmental minutes from Harding.
I think they are also looking at some late 2024 guards. I guess we'll see if they can pull it off, but I think the hope is to bring in a bigger guy who can be a 4/5 and then a shooter to hopefully backup Dix.
have to admit, I am surprised Mulvey hasn't entered the transfer portal to free up another scholarship.
Guessing this is our 9 man rotation as of now:
Senior, 6'3 PG Drew Thelwell
Junior, 6'5" SG Josh Dix
Freshman, 6'7" F Cooper Koch
Senior, 6'7" F Payton Sandfort
Soph, 6'10" C Owen Freeman
..................
Soph, 6'0" PG Brock Harding
Soph, 6'7" F Pryce Sandfort
Soph, 6'8" PF Ladji Dembele
Fresh, 6'8" PF Chris Tadjo
..................
Other:
Senior, 6'9" F/C Even Brauns
Junior, 6'11" C Riley Mulvey
I think Ladji will start ahead of Koch. He's more physical & probably better rebounder. Unless Fran uses him as backup for Freeman.
BirdistheWord
HB Legend
3 G’s will get heavy minutes
Freeman and Payton heavy
Wildcards will be Dembele, Tadjo and Koch
We need more athleticism at F plus rebounding and defense to help Freeman so he doesn’t get in foul trouble. Dembele has an advantage, and is most likely to get nice mi utes.
Pryce will get decent minutes
Don't know. I ain't ruling it out and maybe Iowa's waiting on how he did with his grades, but then again, when he left, the ship may have sailed with him. I still think he is a very athletic guard that could have helped Iowa down the road. Oh well.....moving on!
I hope Brauns makes the leap next season to be a reliable backup 5.
The whole lineup seems dependent on if Payton starts at the 3 or the 4. If Payton is at the 3 then Ladji would probably start and if Payton is at the 4 then it's a toss between Koch and Tadjo I'd imagine. But who knows, maybe Fran wants Ladji backing up Freeman.
This would be a very potent offensive starting line up, but it would be extremely weak defensively on the interior and on the boards. Koch is probably going to be a really good player for Iowa, but I'll be surprised if Ladji isn't starting to provide more of an interior presence.
It will be interesting to see how the rotation develops. I hope Thelwell is good enough to start, because it will mean he was a really good addition. I still want to see Harding getting major minutes off the bench.
If Ladji is backing up the 5 spot with Brauns and Mulvey on scholarship it would be infuriating.
You can't keep people on scholarship who aren't going to contribute anymore. That's not how this works.
You can't keep people on scholarship who aren't going to contribute anymore. That's not how this works.
I'll be really surprised if Thelwell beats out Harding for the starting point guard spot. Granted there's 3 inches difference in height, but Harding is a better point guard, plus he's knows the offense better then Thelwell. Well see, Harding has all the attributes you want in a point guard, fast, quick, knows where everyone is on the court, great passer, great body control, smart, is a better shooter then what he showed this past season, and best of all, he's a magician with the basketball, and plays better defense then Bohannan did.
Iowa has never had a point guard as well rounded as Brock and that includes every point guard that has played for Iowa since Ronnie Lester.
Brock will get stronger and more refined as he gains more experience playing the college game. Height is not everything.
Fans will come back just to see him play as he leads Iowa back to the NCAA tournament and hopefully past the first week.
If you think I'm speaking nonsense, You'll see next season that it's all true. By prepared to be amazed....
The level of insanity it requires to post something like this is breath taking.
