Iowa State has ZERO native Iowans; Iowa has 7; Northern Iowa has 10

[Franisdaman]

IOWA (5-5) vs. NORTHERN IOWA (5-4)

When: 3:30 p.m. Saturday

Where: Wells Fargo Arena, Des Moines

TV/online: ESPN3

Homegrown players for Iowa

*Peter Jok, West Des Moines

Dale Jones, Waterloo

Nicholas Baer, Bettendorf

*Jordan Bohannon, Marion

Ryan Kriener, Spirit Lake

*Cordell Pemsl, Dubuque

Riley Till, Dubuque


Homegrown players for Northern Iowa

Jordan Ashton, Mount Pleasant

*Jeremy Morgan, Coralville

Klint Carlson, Waverly

*Ted Friedman, Ankeny

Wyatt Lohaus, North Liberty

Adam McDermott, Cedar Rapids

Lincoln Conrey, Waterloo

Luke McDonnell, Dubuque

*Spencer Haldeman, Peosta

Tanner Lohaus, North Liberty

*-Probable starter

 

[anon_i8nzeu2gbf0ba]

Good post, OP. To me, as a native Iowan and U of I alum, this is a big deal. No, it's a HUGE deal. State schools, IMHO, are obligated to scour Iowa for players first. What cannot be found in Iowa, then go elsewhere, but even with the Hawkeyes--especially in football--it seems kids from Pennsylvania or New Jersey or Maryland or wherever are too often over-valued and Iowa kids are undervalued, especially at skill positions.

Anyway, your point is well taken. ISU should be ashamed of itself. No Iowa kids on the roster? Maybe those brilliant minds on the regents should get involved again and force ISU to recruit a few Iowa athletes.

 

[SDHawkDoc]

While the elite talent continues to go to the blue blood programs out of state(e.g. Marcus Paige and Harrison Barnes), Iowa has continued to get some of the best after that.
I don't know how much Hoiberg put into recruiting within the state, but it certainly paled in comparison to his results in getting transfers from other programs.
Will be interesting to see what approach Prohm takes over the next few years.
While I like to see native Iowa kids do well, I wouldn't care one bit if the Hawks had a Final Four team and there were no Iowans on the roster.

 

[David1979]

Good post, OP. To me, as a native Iowan and U of I alum, this is a big deal. No, it's a HUGE deal. State schools, IMHO, are obligated to scour Iowa for players first. What cannot be found in Iowa, then go elsewhere, but even with the Hawkeyes--especially in football--it seems kids from Pennsylvania or New Jersey or Maryland or wherever are too often over-valued and Iowa kids are undervalued, especially at skill positions.

Anyway, your point is well taken. ISU should be ashamed of itself. No Iowa kids on the roster? Maybe those brilliant minds on the regents should get involved again and force ISU to recruit a few Iowa athletes.

This is a very weird position to have. Why should the schools be obligated to scour Iowa for players before the look elsewhere? This makes no sense

 

[SSG T]

While the elite talent continues to go to the blue blood programs out of state(e.g. Marcus Paige and Harrison Barnes), Iowa has continued to get some of the best after that.
I don't know how much Hoiberg put into recruiting within the state, but it certainly paled in comparison to his results in getting transfers from other programs.
Will be interesting to see what approach Prohm takes over the next few years.
While I like to see native Iowa kids do well, I wouldn't care one bit if the Hawks had a Final Four team and there were no Iowans on the roster.

Agreed.

I would love to see Iowa field a top level, Final Four caliber team stocked with native Iowans. That said, if my choice was a good Iowa team that tops out in the 2nd or 3rd round of the NCAA tourney with a team full of Iowans or a FF team with no native Iowans, I'm taking the FF team any day of the week.

I want them to be great. If it takes getting good quality, good character kids from out of state to do that, so be it. The native Iowan thing is something I'd love to see, but I don't place a big amount of importance on it.

Full disclosure, I say all of this as someone who grew up as an Iowa fan, Iowa basketball in particular, but not a native Iowan.

 

[EZ2BJZ]

You know, what's funny to me is I remember vividly the main criticism of Dr. Tom at the end of his tenure: his recruiting relied too heavily on the state of Iowa. Oh, and he whiffed on Raef--about the only Iowa recruit he did miss out on.

So, posts like these just seem ironic to me.

When Tom Davis first took over the Iowa basketball program in 86-87, the last Iowa team to sniff the Final Four, there was what..Al Lorenzen on the team (who correct me if I'm wrong was a McD's AA)? Other than that, I believe everyone else was from out of state.

Did anyone care back then? Nope. The team raced out to like 20-0 (or something like that) and a #1 ranking.

Sure, it's nice to take care of your own backyard. I would have loved to have seen Marcus Paige, Nick Collison, etc. in Iowa uniforms. But truth be told, there are just not many Top 100 recruits in Iowa on a year to year basis. So, if you want to try to build a Top 25 team, you're going to have to go out of state a lot. It's just that simple.

And for the record, this team of no homegrown Iowa kids (of course I speak of Iowa State) had been rated in the Top 25 for how many consecutive weeks (before running into a buzz saw in Iowa City)?

Just saying...

 

[Lone Clone]

What bothers me is when the top kids leave the state, which has happened far too frequently. I mean, Harrison Barnes and Doug McDermott went to Ames Freaking High School.

As for having a lot of Iowans on the team, sure, it's nice. And if you're going to have a mediocre team, you'd better have some Iowans on it. But the better the team, the less important the issue becomes.

 

[DodgerHawki]

Good post, OP. To me, as a native Iowan and U of I alum, this is a big deal. No, it's a HUGE deal. State schools, IMHO, are obligated to scour Iowa for players first. What cannot be found in Iowa, then go elsewhere, but even with the Hawkeyes--especially in football--it seems kids from Pennsylvania or New Jersey or Maryland or wherever are too often over-valued and Iowa kids are undervalued, especially at skill positions.

Anyway, your point is well taken. ISU should be ashamed of itself. No Iowa kids on the roster? Maybe those brilliant minds on the regents should get involved again and force ISU to recruit a few Iowa athletes.

What Iowa high school skill players have been undervalued? I guess one could throw out Kurt Warner, but UNI undervalued him too as he sat on the bench until late in his career. The Ertz kid that plays QB at K-State? Nice player but is he better than Beathard? Iowa tried to get guys like Lazard, Arrington (Michigan), Darboh (Michigan) but they chose elsewhere.
Wadley, Daniels, McNutt, DJK, Greene, Albert Young, Fred Russell, Brad Banks, Drew Tate, Hinkel, Solomon, Mo Brown, CJ Jones, Tevaun Smith, Stanzi. All out-of-state and Iowa doesn't win without them. Yes, there are plenty of good Iowa skill position players in KF's tenure as well (Wegher, A. Robinson) but the Iowa guys are not under-valued at skill positions. There just aren't enough of them to field a good B1G team consistently.

 

[David1979]

It is interesting how much timing has had to do with top kids leaving the state. Both Collison and Hinrich would probably have stayed in state if coaching changes hadn't happened. Same with McDermott. And I think had Hoiberg been the coach at ISU when Barnes declared there is a good chance he would have stayed too. Lafrentz was gone regardless.

 

[SSG T]

What bothers me is when the top kids leave the state, which has happened far too frequently. I mean, Harrison Barnes and Doug McDermott went to Ames Freaking High School.

As for having a lot of Iowans on the team, sure, it's nice. And if you're going to have a mediocre team, you'd better have some Iowans on it. But the better the team, the less important the issue becomes.

I get what you're saying, but there were extenuating circumstances with McDermott. Had his dad's job situation been more solid, I'm sure he'd have ended up at either UNI where he had signed, or ISU. However, you are absolutely right with regards to Barnes, LaFrentz, Collison and the like.

 

[Lone Clone]

I get what you're saying, but there were extenuating circumstances with McDermott. Had his dad's job situation been more solid, I'm sure he'd have ended up at either UNI where he had signed, or ISU. However, you are absolutely right with regards to Barnes, LaFrentz, Collison and the like.

Actually, McDermott's father didn't think he was good enough to play at Iowa State. He said so. Hinrich had committed to ISU, but when Floyd left, he switched to Kansas.

I remember a game between ISU and Iowa when both were pretty good teams and at one point, I think 9 of the 10 players on the court were Iowans. Cyclones had Fred, Loren Meyer, Hurl Beechum, and either Morgan Wheat or Brian Pearson. Hawks had Acie Earl, for sure, don't recall if Chris Street was in that game or not.

 

[Herkmeister]

Good thread...........
Excellent posts.

Thanks!!

 

[ScoutRefugee]

The quality of basketball in the state of Iowa isn't very good compared to our surrounding states (nebraska not included). Part of that is population size. Part of that is the AAU programs. The state of Iowa is late to the party on that front. We're catching up a little. But it's a dirty game in the larger states and I'm not sure Iowa will ever go to those depths.

 

[iowalawhawk]

It's interesting that for the last 10+ years, Iowa and Iowa State don't really compete for recruits. Sure, there are Niangs and Mosses that have both offers, but ISU tends to look in different places than we do. I don't really get it.

 

[Rustys Dad]

Just as I do

Good post, OP. To me, as a native Iowan and U of I alum, this is a big deal. No, it's a HUGE deal. State schools, IMHO, are obligated to scour Iowa for players first. What cannot be found in Iowa, then go elsewhere, but even with the Hawkeyes--especially in football--it seems kids from Pennsylvania or New Jersey or Maryland or wherever are too often over-valued and Iowa kids are undervalued, especially at skill positions.

Anyway, your point is well taken. ISU should be ashamed of itself. No Iowa kids on the roster? Maybe those brilliant minds on the regents should get involved again and force ISU to recruit a few Iowa athletes.

I don't see why ISU should be ashamed of itself and why on Earth would it be required to recruit a few Iowa kids? The purpose of athletics teams is to win ballgames. If an Iowa kid is talented enough to play on the big stage, absolutely would like to see him in Black and Gold. Kids come from all over the world to attend major colleges. Would you be upset if the "Journalism Law 401" class at Iowa only had non-native Iowans in it? I want to see the best available players in Black and Gold. Whether they come from Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Chicago, Los Angeles - doesn't matter.

 

[BondHawk]

I don't see why ISU should be ashamed of itself and why on Earth would it be required to recruit a few Iowa kids? The purpose of athletics teams is to win ballgames. If an Iowa kid is talented enough to play on the big stage, absolutely would like to see him in Black and Gold. Kids come from all over the world to attend major colleges. Would you be upset if the "Journalism Law 401" class at Iowa only had non-native Iowans in it? I want to see the best available players in Black and Gold. Whether they come from Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Chicago, Los Angeles - doesn't matter.

I wouldn't, but apparently the Board of Regents disagrees.

 

[kceasthawk]

You know, what's funny to me is I remember vividly the main criticism of Dr. Tom at the end of his tenure: his recruiting relied too heavily on the state of Iowa. Oh, and he whiffed on Raef--about the only Iowa recruit he did miss out on.

So, posts like these just seem ironic to me.

When Tom Davis first took over the Iowa basketball program in 86-87, the last Iowa team to sniff the Final Four, there was what..Al Lorenzen on the team (who correct me if I'm wrong was a McD's AA)? Other than that, I believe everyone else was from out of state.

Did anyone care back then? Nope. The team raced out to like 20-0 (or something like that) and a #1 ranking.

Sure, it's nice to take care of your own backyard. I would have loved to have seen Marcus Paige, Nick Collison, etc. in Iowa uniforms. But truth be told, there are just not many Top 100 recruits in Iowa on a year to year basis. So, if you want to try to build a Top 25 team, you're going to have to go out of state a lot. It's just that simple.

And for the record, this team of no homegrown Iowa kids (of course I speak of Iowa State) had been rated in the Top 25 for how many consecutive weeks (before running into a buzz saw in Iowa City)?

Just saying...

I think thats changing. The quality of Iowa AAU ball seems to have picked up a lot in the last five to ten years. Recently from this group we have gleaned Pemsyl, Bohanon, and Kreiner who were teamates. Pemsyl was a top 100 prospect I believe before his injury. Coming in we have the Mcaferrys, and Weiskamp who are all top 25 to 75 ranked in their respective classes. Of course Fran started his tenure at Iowa, by signing Woody who was a top 50 or 60 player as well. Fran has done an excellent job of building solid relationships with these programs. I think going forward we can glean about half of our roster from the states quality AAU programs, and supplement the other half with top 50 to 150 players like Cook, Garza, and Nunge.

 

[IamHawkeye]

Good post, OP. To me, as a native Iowan and U of I alum, this is a big deal. No, it's a HUGE deal. State schools, IMHO, are obligated to scour Iowa for players first. What cannot be found in Iowa, then go elsewhere, but even with the Hawkeyes--especially in football--it seems kids from Pennsylvania or New Jersey or Maryland or wherever are too often over-valued and Iowa kids are undervalued, especially at skill positions.

Anyway, your point is well taken. ISU should be ashamed of itself. No Iowa kids on the roster? Maybe those brilliant minds on the regents should get involved again and force ISU to recruit a few Iowa athletes.

ISU usually has a token walk-on from Iowa who plays mop-up, if he plays . None this year?

 

[HawkAssassin]

I want to have kids that play hard for the black and gold jersey. I think there are Iowa kids on this team that take that seriously. There are out of state kids with the same mentality. Guys like Aaron White represented our university just as well as guys like Uthoff, Woody, etc.

 

[SSG T]

ISU usually has a token walk-on from Iowa who plays mop-up, if he plays . None this year?

Not sure if he has ever been in a game, but Wes Greder from Gilbert is in his 2nd year at ISU. He was a HS teammate of Jack Hoiberg (a couple of years older). He wasn't a bad HS basketball player, but honestly, even being a walk on at a power 5 school is a stretch for him. Definitely a DIII to DII with a decent chance at a low major DI. Fantastic athlete, but there were quite a few better ballplayers in his conference (Heart of Iowa) when he was in HS and as far as I know, none of them play DI ball. Well, one plays DI...football.

 

[kceasthawk]

I want to have kids that play hard for the black and gold jersey. I think there are Iowa kids on this team that take that seriously. There are out of state kids with the same mentality. Guys like Aaron White represented our university just as well as guys like Uthoff, Woody, etc.

I enjoyed Whites time at Iowa very much. I do think the kids who grow up here have a deeper feeling for the CY/HAWK rivalry, and the thorn UNI has been for us in basketball. Lots of things motivate players when they get to college, hopefully. Aaron White used the lack of interest shown him by BIG schools as motivation early on. Then as his career blossemed he was saw himself with a shot to play pro ball, and used that to fuel him. Whatever it takes to get the most out of each player.

 

[David1979]

I only want pure breed Iowans on the roster! And must be at least 3rd generation.

 

[SDHawkDoc]

I only want pure breed Iowans on the roster! And must be at least 3rd generation.

Isn't it just awful that we've had to put with players like Andre Woolridge and Larry Station who are native (gasp!) nebraskans!

 

[kceasthawk]

Isn't it just awful that we've had to put with players like Andre Woolridge and Larry Station who are native (gasp!) nebraskans!

Two great Hawks! Andre got royally screwed his senior year. First BIG player in history I believe to lead the conference in scoring and assists in the same year, and did not make first team all conference. Jackson from Minny was a really good player as well, but Dre should have been League MVP with that accomplishment.

 

[Georgia_Hawk]

The quality of basketball in the state of Iowa isn't very good compared to our surrounding states (nebraska not included).

Very true on a numbers basis, but generally the top 3-5 kids each year are high-major players. It's not critical to grab an Iowa kid every year, but when someone really special comes along (like Barnes), it has to be a little bit of an advantage if your team has recruited the state well and your coaches have good relationships with the HS/AAU coaches.

 

[General Tso]

Their obligation is to win games. If they can do that with Iowans great.

 

[EZ2BJZ]

Actually, McDermott's father didn't think he was good enough to play at Iowa State. He said so. Hinrich had committed to ISU, but when Floyd left, he switched to Kansas.

I remember a game between ISU and Iowa when both were pretty good teams and at one point, I think 9 of the 10 players on the court were Iowans. Cyclones had Fred, Loren Meyer, Hurl Beechum, and either Morgan Wheat or Brian Pearson. Hawks had Acie Earl, for sure, don't recall if Chris Street was in that game or not.

Are you counting Acie Earl as an Iowan?

 

[Lone Clone]

Are you counting Acie Earl as an Iowan?

Yeah, I was, and after I wrote that, it occurred to me that he was from the wrong side of the Quad Cities, nyet?

 

[The Sleeping Dog]

Think about it; don't the Iowa natives already know why the nickname "Lames" applies to ISU.

 

[kceasthawk]

Yeah, I was, and after I wrote that, it occurred to me that he was from the wrong side of the Quad Cities, nyet?

Yes AC played at Moline I believe. When I went to school at Dav West in the late 70's we played in the Quad city metro conference. Solid league especially in football. West, Central, Assumption, Moline, East Moline, Rock Island, and Rock Island Alleman. I can't remember if Bettendorf was in the conf. but we used to play them as well. A lot of local talent then as well. Michael Payne played at Quincy, and Ed Horton and Kevin Gamble at Springfield Lamphier.

 

[IamHawkeye]

Yeah, I was, and after I wrote that, it occurred to me that he was from the wrong side of the Quad Cities, nyet?

Moline, pretty sure. They say Acie has a daughter that plays, but not sure what town or school.

 

[EZ2BJZ]

Yeah, I was, and after I wrote that, it occurred to me that he was from the wrong side of the Quad Cities, nyet?

Yeah, as others mentioned, he's technically from Illinois.

A lot of people considered Mike G. from Iowa even though he was technically from Nebraska. Same kind of deal.

 

[skydog0784]

Some of my favorite players ever to wear the Iowa Hawkeye uniform are Ronnie Lester, Chad Calabria Freddie Brown, John Johnson, BJ Armstrong, Both Marbles, Sam Williams, Glenn Vindovic, and so many more to mention...

I'd take an entire roster of "out-of-state Iowan" of that caliber... Just saying...

 

[Legend12]

Two great Hawks! Andre got royally screwed his senior year. First BIG player in history I believe to lead the conference in scoring and assists in the same year, and did not make first team all conference. Jackson from Minny was a really good player as well, but Dre should have been League MVP with that accomplishment.

Andre was 1st team in 1996 and 1997

 

[Crazy Hawk]

Not sure if he has ever been in a game, but Wes Greder from Gilbert is in his 2nd year at ISU. He was a HS teammate of Jack Hoiberg (a couple of years older). He wasn't a bad HS basketball player, but honestly, even being a walk on at a power 5 school is a stretch for him. Definitely a DIII to DII with a decent chance at a low major DI. Fantastic athlete, but there were quite a few better ballplayers in his conference (Heart of Iowa) when he was in HS and as far as I know, none of them play DI ball. Well, one plays DI...football.

A walkon with low D1 possibilities would be a quality walkon imo. Also would be one that would be seen as a homerun recruit by any DIII and DII coaching staff.

 

[SSG T]

A walkon with low D1 possibilities would be a quality walkon imo. Also would be one that would be seen as a homerun recruit by any DIII and DII coaching staff.

I was talking more as walk on at LM DI, not a scholarship player. There were better players in his conference that haven't seen time in DIII into their 2nd year. He had a former teammate that was a better player not make varsity at Central until his Sr yr.

 

[Legend12]

Very true on a numbers basis, but generally the top 3-5 kids each year are high-major players. It's not critical to grab an Iowa kid every year, but when someone really special comes along (like Barnes), it has to be a little bit of an advantage if your team has recruited the state well and your coaches have good relationships with the HS/AAU coaches.

This is laughably inaccurate.

According to ESPN (Rivals' database was taking forever to respond), in the last 5 years just 9 Iowa preps were signed directly to a Power 5 conference school.

2016
Pemsl (IA)
Kriener (IA)
Bohannon (IA)

2015
Jacobson (NE)
Ernst (ISU)

2014

2013
Jok (IA)

2012
Paige (UNC)
Woodbury (IA)
Abrahamson (NU)

 

[SSG T]

This is laughably inaccurate.

According to ESPN (Rivals' database was taking forever to respond), in the last 5 years just 9 Iowa preps went directly to a Power 5 conference school.

2016
Pemsl (IA)
Kriener (IA)
Bohannon (IA)

2015
Jacobson (NE)
Ernst (ISU)

2014

2013
Jok (IA)

2012
Paige (UNC)
Woodbury (IA)
Abrahamson (NU)

And didn't a couple of them transfer to Mid to Low Majors after a year or two? I know Abrahamson is now at Drake.

 

[DodgerHawki]

This is laughably inaccurate.

According to ESPN (Rivals' database was taking forever to respond), in the last 5 years just 9 Iowa preps were signed directly to a Power 5 conference school.

2016
Pemsl (IA)
Kriener (IA)
Bohannon (IA)

2015
Jacobson (NE)
Ernst (ISU)

2014

2013
Jok (IA)

2012
Paige (UNC)
Woodbury (IA)
Abrahamson (NU)

Thanks for the research Legend. Just by point of comparison, for just the year 2012 there were 23 players from Indiana high schools who signed with P5 conferences. 23! Over 70 total signed Division 1 scholarships (at least those in the ESPN database). And the 23 doesn't include a guy like RJ Hunter, who went to play for his Dad at Georgia State.

In the same year (2012) state of Ohio produced 78 Division I signees, Michigan 52, heck even Wisconsin 39 Division I signees. State of Iowa in 2012 produced 8 Division I signees (and the 3 Power 5 signees as you pointed out).

This is the reality that must be dealt with if trying to win at Iowa or Nebraska.

 

[kceasthawk]

Andre was 1st team in 1996 and 1997

My bad, I guess my memory is failing me on the specifics. I remember him being passed over by Jackson for some award, even though he had that historic season. Maybe it was overall player of the year in the BIG. But then Jackson also got drafted, and I don't think Dre did. Does anyone remember what happened with Andre after he graduated?