Hawkeyes' Lineup Will Be One Of The Most Experienced In The Nation
Fran McCaffery knows the summer practice schedule may be limited, if there are any workouts at all.
McCaffery, Iowa’s men’s basketball coach, knows with five newcomers on next season’s roster, any lost practice time will hurt in their development.
But he also knows he has one of the most experienced starting lineups in the nation.
If center Luka Garza withdraws his name from the NBA draft process as expected, the Hawkeyes will have a starting lineup that has accumulated 311 starts, the most of any of the Big Ten teams that are considered NCAA Tournament contenders.
Iowa's lineup has also 10,162 minutes, second-most in the Big Ten behind Wisconsin’s probable starting lineup of 10,587 minutes.
A look at Iowa’s probable starting lineup
- Luka Garza (96 games, 87 starts, 2,462 minutes)
- Jordan Bohannon (112 games, 102 starts, 3,392 minutes)
- Joe Wieskamp (66 games, 66 starts, 1,977 minutes)
- CJ Fredrick (25 games, 25 starts, 714 minutes)
- Connor McCaffery (69 games, 31 starts, 1,617 minutes)
Iowa has eight returners from last season's team that went 20-11. Adding in forward Jack Nunge, guard Joe Toussaint (who started 20 games as a freshman last season) and forward Patrick McCaffery, the Hawkeyes' roster has 439 games of experience, with 350 starts and 11,347 minutes.
Still, Fran McCaffery said two weeks ago in a video conference with the media, Iowa would miss the summer workout time. The Hawkeyes have five incoming players — guards Ahron Ulis and Tony Perkins, center Josh Ogundele, and forwards Keegan and Kris Murray.
"It won't change the expectations," McCaffery said. "I think the unfortunate thing is not so much for the older guys, because they know our stuff. It's the incoming freshmen that will not benefit from that experience. However, they won't be behind any other freshmen, obviously, because they'll in the same situation.
"When you have a veteran group (summer practice) it's important, but it's not as important, because they know our offense, they know our terminology, they know our defensive schemes. They know how we train."
A look at how Iowa's starting lineup compares to other projected starting lineups around the Big Ten:
• Wisconsin (D'Mitrik Trice, Brad Davison, Aleem Ford, Nate Reuvers and Micah Potter) — 418 games, 304 starts, 10,587 minutes
• Indiana (Rob Phinisee, Al Durham, Justin Smith, Trayce Jackson-Davis and Joey Brunk) — 378 games, 265 starts, 8,545 minutes.
• Michigan State (Rocket Watts, Josh Langford, Aaron Henry, Malik Hill and Xavier Tillman) — 315 games, 196 starts, 7,116 minutes
• Illinois (Trent Frazier, Da'Monte Williams, Giorgi Bezhanishvili, Kofi Cockburn, Adam Miller) — 285 games, 208 starts, 7,108 minutes
• Michigan (Mike Smith, Eli Brook, Isaiah Livers, Franz Wagner and Hunter Dickinson) — 221 games, 115 starts, 4,635 minutes
• Ohio State (C.J. Walker, Duane Washington, Seth Towns, E.J. Liddell, Kyle Young) — 243 games, 147 starts, 5,475 minutes
• Rutgers (Geo Baker, Montez Mathis, Caleb McConnell, Ron Harper Jr., Myles Johnson) — 340 games, 228 starts, 8,295 minutes
Iowa's lineup also has more experience than teams considered to be among the top 10 in the nation in the early preseason rankings.
A look at probable top-10 teams and what their starting lineups might look like:
• Villanova (Collin Gillespie, Justin Moore, Caleb Daniels, Jermaine Samuels, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl) — 310 games, 197 starts, 7,881 minutes
• Baylor (Jared Butler, MaCio Teague, Davion Mitchell, Mark Vital, Tristan Clark) — 287 games, 234 starts, 7,554 minutes
• Gonzaga (Jalen Suggs, Joel Ayayi, Corey Kispert, Drew Timme, Filip Petrusev) — 259 games, 136 starts, 5,727 minutes
• Virginia (Kihei Clark, Casey Marshall, Tomas Woldetensae, Sam Hauser, Jay Huff) — 304 games, 199 starts, 7,835 minutes
• Houston (Marcus Sasser, Caleb Mills, Quentin Grimes, Nate Hinton, Fabian White) — 257 games, 129 starts, 5,797 minutes
• Texas Tech (Kyler Edwards, Davide Moretti, Nimari Burnett, Terrance Shannon Jr., Marcus Santos-Silva) — 301 games, 186 starts, 7006 minutes
• Kansas (Marcus Garrett, Bryce Thompson, Ochai Agbaji, Tristan Enaruna, David McCormick) — 246 games, 129 starts, 5,292 minutes
