Iowa Media Day Quotebook: Pemsl Still Out Of Team Activities, But Is Expected To Return

Forward has been out since arrest for DUI.

IOWA CITY — Iowa forward Cordell Pemsl wasn't at the Hawkeyes' media day on Wednesday, still suspended from team activities after his September arrest for drunken driving.

But coach Fran McCaffery expects Pemsl to be back soon.

"He took care of his legal part of his issues," McCaffery said. "He's got some other things he's got to work out. If he stays on top of things, maybe by next week we could have him back at practice."

Pemsl, who missed almost all of last season after undergoing surgery on his leg, was arrested on Sept. 20 in downtown Iowa City. He has been suspended since then.

Pemsl has played in 68 games in his career, averaging 7.2 points and 4.7 rebounds.

Patrick McCaffery expected to play

McCaffery said his son, Patrick, is in the Hawkeyes' plans for this season.

Patrick, a 6-foot-9 freshman guard, was a possible redshirt candidate, given the Hawkeyes' depth.

"Right now the plan is for him to play," Fran McCaffery said. "You know, he's been playing really well in practice. He's gotten stronger. He's been consistently performing at a high level. The thing about Patrick is he can score. He moves without the ball."

Patrick weighs just 190 pounds, so despite his height, he will be more of a wing player.

"He's been a double-figure scorer in practice on limited shot attempts, shooting the ball well from three, gives you some length," Fran McCaffery said. "If we're going against a team that decides they want to go with a non-traditional lineup, maybe with a four-guard set, we could play he and Joe (Wieskamp) at the '4' position and still have tall, long, athletic guys because maybe we have to take one post player out, and we would prefer to play with two traditional posts.

"So it gives us a lot of flexibility, so we'll see where that goes and make a decision later. But the plan is for him to play."

Looking ahead to March

The Hawkeyes made it to the NCAA Tournament last season with a 23-12 record, losing to Tennessee in overtime in the second round.

Iowa lost forwards Nicholas Baer and Tyler Cook and guards Isaiah Moss and Maishe Dailey off that team, but Fran McCaffery thinks there is plenty of potential with this team, even with a 20-game Big Ten schedule and a nonconference schedule that includes road games against Iowa State and Syracuse as well as neutral-court games against Texas Tech and Cincinnati.

"The thing that you look at in terms of that is the quality of our league top to bottom, and I said this before, and I'll say it again, it's without question the best this league has been, and this is my 10th year," he said. "Not even close. We had some great teams, some great players, but our league expanded in the time that I've been here, and everybody is really good. And so, can you stay healthy? Can you win some close games? Can you develop some confidence early?

"But we have the makeup of a team that can contend in this league and contend on a national level."