Looks pretty athletic to me for 7'3"!
*****Andrew McKeever commits to IOWA*****
- Thread starter Franisdaman
- Start date
Looks pretty athletic to me for 7'3"!
That’s what I told my wife
You may find some comfort in knowing he shot 71% from the floor off the roll - a corner stone of Ben’s offense…
Acie Earl was 6’10”. 7‘1” with the flat top.
Awesome get, but dude, we'd have won the natty with this guy on last years team. Why do the stars never align for Iowa!
Whiners can never be satisfied. It's just who they are. The "ignore" feature is massively underrated.
I’m really focused on Jirak to see how he developes over the summer he will be an important piece going forward. My surprise player next year. We know he has the will to improve, question how fast. It’ll be fast “book it”
The big thing I want to point out is that it seems like, for the most part, Ben has identified and landed his top priorities in the portal this year. I could be wrong, but reading between the lines a bit, it seems like Iowa’s top 3 targets in the portal were Drew McKeever, Kyan Evans, and Ty’reek Coleman. Those are the only guys who have visited, to my knowledge. And we secured commitments from 2 of the 3, and were reportedly very close on the third.
In the weeks to come, there will no doubt be more and more rankings of how teams did in the portal this year. We may or may not be rated particularly high. But it doesn’t matter, because we got the guys we wanted.
If we trust Ben McCollum — if we believe he knows what he’s talking about when he says he’s looking for a certain type of player — we’ve got to be incredibly happy with this class, and very optimistic about the future of Hawkeye basketball.
I know most folks are feeling good about this class tonight, but when the dust settles, there’s going to be folks coming out of the woodwork to poke holes in our portal class and our roster in general. Ultimately, we won’t know anything until the games are played. But we should always remember this: Ben got the guys he wanted.
EDIT: Schnarnowski also visited. s/o to @doughuddl2_rivals for the catch.
In the weeks to come, there will no doubt be more and more rankings of how teams did in the portal this year. We may or may not be rated particularly high. But it doesn’t matter, because we got the guys we wanted.
If we trust Ben McCollum — if we believe he knows what he’s talking about when he says he’s looking for a certain type of player — we’ve got to be incredibly happy with this class, and very optimistic about the future of Hawkeye basketball.
I know most folks are feeling good about this class tonight, but when the dust settles, there’s going to be folks coming out of the woodwork to poke holes in our portal class and our roster in general. Ultimately, we won’t know anything until the games are played. But we should always remember this: Ben got the guys he wanted.
EDIT: Schnarnowski also visited. s/o to @doughuddl2_rivals for the catch.
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I’d be surprised if Coleman was their top guard. He looks like a good prospect but I’m not sure he’s a lead guard yet.
It is amusing that Alvaro Folgueris is ranked #62 in portal vs McKeever at #106
That 3 against Florida is doing a lot of heavy lifting. I'm not saying he's a bad player in the slightest, but if that shot does what most big shots for Iowa seem to do and doinks....he's likely much further down the rankings.
After watching highlights, he seems to favor finishing with his left hand. However, he can also finish well with his right hand. Just his presence in the paint alone should help us tremendously. He also moves his feet well on defense around the basket. Doesn't shoot 3's, but who knows? Maybe a developmental possibility?
This is my memory as well. More specifically, I remember when he was touted as the program’s first 7-footer.
However, his Wikipedia page, as well as Sports-Reference.com list his height as 6-11.
And you can't teach 7'0."
Yeah, who cares what we are ranked in the 2026 portal season.
And, really, who cares that we finished in 9th place in the B1G.
What matters, for better or for worse, is how you do in the NCAA Tournament. Think of the memories that have been made from that Elite 8 run.
Yeah, Drew does appear to be left handed but, like you said, can finish with both hands.
With that size, even if he doesn't block the shot, he can alter it.
It is interesting that he was 0-0 from three last season.
To see the Hawks have players on the fall that tall, and hopefully talented enough, to "pick and roll" protect the rim, rebound etc. will be pretty neat to see in Carver. Been a long time to have seen that kind of size. Potentially looks like a very good team.
In case people forgot, this Instagram post was from 5 days ago.
It will be interesting to see where Scharnowski now ends up.
How many shots does he alter? That's the key. A guy that size provides a presence in the paint.....
Lot of talk about mckeevers offense in here. Ben didn’t go after him for his offense, rebounding and defense will be his main contributions. He’s like a 7’3 manyawu with maybe a little more offense due to his size
That main 11 will probably all play. The bottom half will likely be similar averages throughout the season, but vary widely from each other game to game. We saw a lot of it this year. Outside of Stirtz, McCollum pretty much has no need to play any particular player. He plays different guys based on matchups and lets it ride when a guy gets on a heater.
Agreed, but I question if he will be able to move like that against Big Ten teams. It's refreshing to see games from small conferences where agility and technique is rewarded vs bulk and strength. But I'll be excited to find out. Purdue wanted him and they're in the big man business so that's good enough for me.
How can you guys forget about 7'2 Antonio Ramos...???
The biggest donor by far to the wrestling program is firmly in Tom’s corner. Tom will continue at Iowa until that donor decides he wants a change.
One podcaster said McKeever is expected to fetch between 2 - 4 million dollars. Crazy. I get that must be where the market is at, but still ...crazy!!!
Anyway, I think I read that he's also been considered as high as the no. 2 big in the portal. As a portal dummy I'm wondering how these numbers comport with an overall ranking of only 106?
The guy who hasn’t played a game yet? Maybe wait and see a little bit my man.
All correct and in the Elite 8 game we saw the very often conflict of score and game time play out. Iowa had several close in shots at the rim that did not go in and no fouls called that would have kept them within one score. And all of a sudden Iowa or any other team finds themselves going from a 1 point lead to being behind by 3+ possessions. Iowa not being a fast action offense was thrown into chucking up fast shots. When you have to foul and hope for misses it is tough.Historically, you need a top 21 offense and a top 31 defense entering the NCAA Tournament to win a national championship. Fran's teams, at best, were in the 70's defensively.
This year:
Michigan was #8 offensively, and #1 defensively.
IOWA was #31 offensively, #30 defensively.
In the Elite 8, we needed a true center to battle the Illinois bigs. Nevertheless, with 7:27 to go and a Final Four berth on the line, IOWA was leading Illinois 51-50. Unfortunately, we ran out of gas & got outscored 21-8 the rest of the way.
One of these 9 Teams will be your National Champion. You need a Top 21 Offense AND a Top 31 Defense to win a National Championship
We all want to get back to a Sweet 16 (27 years) and a Final 4 (46 years) some day. Florida beat Houston in the 2025 Men's basketball championship (Duke & Auburn were the other Final 4 teams). Some interesting excerpts from the March 17, 2025 linked article: When it comes to winning the NCAA...www.on3.com
Maybe with some extra height and muscle around the rim Iowa can battle better against the tall teams
This gives Jirak another year to get ready. He’s got a long ways to go athletically. Huge get.
Hoping Howard takes a significant step this year. He’s got the athleticism and 2 years in the system. I got the feeling he didn’t trust himself this year on the court.