He took an official visit to Iowa and the Hawkeyes were in his final five schools, along with Duke, UNC, Virginia and Boston College.
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Iowa offered 6'8 PF T.J. Power on Aug 27, 2020.
According to Rivals, Iowa was the first school he visited.
He visited Iowa City 2 times:
* He officially visited the weekend of Oct 8, 2021.
* He unofficially visited June 10, 2022.
He then committed to Duke on Sep 7, 2022.
TJ is from Shrewsbury, Massachusetts.
Massachusetts Connections: TJ (2023), Dasonte Bowen (2022), Josh Ogundele (2020) & Iowa Assistant Coach Courtney Eldridge (1998) are all part of BABC (Boston Amateur Basketball Club).
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I try and track who Fran watches in AAU every summer. And let me tell you, I don't think there is a single prospect he's watched more since I've been doing it. Hell, Fran was even flying out to watch TJ's baseball games that summer. He put so much damn time into that recruitment that I would be stunned if Iowa wasn't one of the first ones to reach out to him. Never seen Fran want a recruit so badly; and to be honest, it was very easy to see why if you watched Power at all in high school/aau. Kid is a perfect fit for Iowa's system.
Ha good one. But no, he's a very good defender at the 4.
5'10 PG; Class of 2024; former Rhode Island commit.
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Wow. Fran must really not have much faith in Brock Harding.
Keeps chasing after PG/LGs.
Gimme me more of White Cocoa. He has spunk
Keeps chasing after PG/LGs.
Gimme me more of White Cocoa. He has spunk
We need guard depth currently we only have 3 on the roster.
Hammond has incredible quickness. Not sure how he would fit with Harding, but I have always thought that a team needs 3 guards who can play point on the roster, and Thelwell is only here one year. As long as the PGs have scoring ability, I like having more than one on the floor together, although two really small guys can create some mismatches on the defensive end...
We lost two point guards in Perkins and Bowen, so I just see it as refilling our depth. I’d much rather have too many PGs instead of too many centers and power forwards. I would also like to see us move to more of a 3 guard offense. Play Dix as the third. He has a lot of flexibility in his offensive and defensive games. He can guard a lot of different players that are bigger or smaller.
Isn’t he old for his eligibility. Not that it hurt the Murray’s any. Did he have an injury or simply couldn’t get any playing time because of all of the talent at Duke.
Boston kid. Played for BABC. Courtney Eldridge is his lead recruiter as you can imagine.
Matt Cross is listed as a 6' 7", 230 lb. forward from Beverly, MA.
For the Class of 2020, Rivals had him as the #99 overall prospect and a 4 star.
2024-2025 will be his 5th college season. He's played for 3 schools already; so this will make it 4 schools in 5 seasons.
2020-2021: Miami (FL)
2021-2022: Louisville
2022-2023: UMass
2023-2024: UMass
2024-2025: ???
In 28 games played last season at UMass, Matt's averages: 30.1 min, 15.3 pts, 8.3 rebs, 3.0 assists and 1.5 steals. He shot 32.9% from 3 and 54% overall. He made 79.8% of his FTs.
Wrong skin color, however.
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3 schools in 4 years ...your typical merc for hire
Matt Cross Biography - ESPN
View the biography of SMU Mustangs Forward Matt Cross on ESPN. Includes career history and teams played for.
I know it’s a joke, but let’s not do this. It’s just a really weird vibe.Wrong skin color, however.
Looks like someone who won't get pushed around near the basket, even if he isn't that tall.
Iowa isn't exactly the place to make money.3 schools in 4 years ...your typical merc for hire
Matt Cross Biography - ESPN
View the biography of SMU Mustangs Forward Matt Cross on ESPN. Includes career history and teams played for.www.espn.com
Trying to add a 6th big on scholarship with only 3 guards makes perfect ****ing sense.
Well considering 2 of the Bigs are just a warm body.. It makes sense to get another one on the roster.
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It only makes sense if you're replacing them not adding to them.
If Payton Sandfort stays in the draft and they don’t add a forward, the starting lineup looks something like this:
Harding
Thelwell
Dix
Dembele
Freeman
That lineup would struggle to make the NIT. It absolutely makes sense at this point to be adding another forward with some size who can score.
Having 3 total guards on the roster makes far less sense than having 6 bigs.
If Fran wants to add a 3rd big to this class the obvious move is to get rid of Mulvey.
Cross has nothing to do with Mulvey. Cross is a forward. Mulvey is a center.
I agree that they need depth at guard, but if they don’t get more scoring in the front court, depth in the backcourt isn’t going to make much difference.
I agree that they need depth at guard, but if they don’t get more scoring in the front court, depth in the backcourt isn’t going to make much difference.
I'm not worried about FM's ability to get optimal scoring out of his roster, regardless of whether it's the frontcourt or backcourt doing the heavy lifting. Would rather have an overabundance of guards with quicks who can both score and defend, instead of forwards who can put the ball in the basket but are stiffs on defense.
I have a feeling after we add the Forward they are concentrating on at the current moment a guard will be the last priority added. There was a kid who de commited from Rhode Islanjd as a guard who Iowa is in on.
My guess is that they prefer a guard who is coming out of high school as opposed to another transfer. Better balance for the classes. Absent a knock-out transfer, I think that wise. I also like the idea of another 6’6” or 6’7” guy who can handle the ball, defend and rebound. We’ve 3 bigs in Freeman, Dembele and Tadjo, more than enough. And I think Brauns or Riley will be able to give back up minutes at the 5 if needed. I think people are underestimating Brauns, he’s physical and athletic.
Yeah Brauns is a year removed from being an every game starter for a 20 win Belmont team that finished just a game behind Drake in the Valley. I honestly was surprised by how little he could get on the court last season, but there's certainly potential for him to be a decent player for Iowa next year in the backup role.
I agree with this that is why I think Ben Hammond is a good option who just re opened his recruitment and he is going to be a freshman this fall.
I still think Riley will see more time on the court then most on here think, either as a backup to Owen or along side Owen. Makes no sense to redshirt Riley just to play him as little as Brauns played last year.
Fran is a developer of players and Riley has had 3 years to improve his game and body. At 7 foot and with long arms you just can't replicate that with no one else on Iowa's roster, he's long, runs well, rebounds, sets screen, is good at shooting free throws and is effective away from the basket.
Yes, I know he hasn't seen much playing time in the his first two years, but If I'm the only one that believes that there's a productive player inside Riley, so be it,
I'll (or we'll) find out whether it's a wasted scholarship or not this coming fall.
It's just another mystery that needs to unfold, can't wait!
Your evaluation of Brauns is much different than mine. He was a foul waiting to happen. Not quick enough for the BIG.
And guys never improve or get better during an offseason. My bad, forgot guys were always stagnant.
I agree that he wasn't good enough to play last year. Didn't say he was. But he started 30 games on a damn good Belmont team in the MVC the year prior and had great rebounding and block numbers. No idea if the light turns on for him to be a Big Ten player, but that's why I wrote the potential is certainly there if it does.
From my vantage point quickness had nothing to do with it. He was way too physical and too aggressive in trying to stop his man from scoring.
Its pretty simple, when you get very infrequent PT and you're only reason for getting any PT is defense the last thing you want to do is let someone score on you.
Owen suffered from some of the same thing, so did Kris Murray his first year of real pt.
The only way to get through that is playing more but a player with no offensive game will likely never see pt with Fran.
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