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Not all the additional year of eligibility news is bad for Iowa this year. Dale Jones, a JUCO transfer who got injured early in the 2015-16 season, was awarded a sixth year of eligibility by the NCAA.
Dale Jones news: pic.twitter.com/YFLR96nSsA
— marcmorehouse (@marcmorehouse) July 21, 2016
This means that Jones will be eligible to play for Iowa in both 2016-17 (as a junior) and 2017-18 (as a senior). Before this ruling, Jones would have been listed as a senior in 2016-17 and had just one more year of eligibility.
Jones played in just six games last year, averaging 13 minutes per game, 5.5 points per game (on 40% shooting, 45% from 3-point range), 3.0 rebounds per game, 0.5 assists per game, and 0.3 blocks per game. His best performance came against Coppin State in Iowa's second game of the year, when he scored 16 points on 6/9 shooting (4/6 from deep) and had 7 rebounds in 22 minutes. Jones suffered a knee injury in early December and missed the remainder of Iowa's season. He seems to be making a full recovery, though, and is expected to be ready for the start of Iowa's season in November:
"I feel great! I give thanks to Dr. Wolf for getting me healthy, and back up and running." -- Dale Jones #Hawkeyes
— Iowa Basketball (@IowaHoops) July 22, 2016
Jones will provide valuable depth for Iowa's front court for the next two seasons and -- hopefully -- some additional shooting touch from outside. He shot 45% from 3-point range as a sophomore at Tyler Junior College in 2014-15. He should see time as a stretch-4 in Iowa's offense, although given Iowa's general lack of height, he'll still be expected to work in the paint as well. He averaged 8.3 rebounds per game at Tyler Junior College as a sophomore, so hopefully he's able to translate some of that rebounding prowess to Iowa as well.
The additional year of eligibility for Jones does mean that Iowa now longer has any scholarships remaining for the 2017-18 season.
Scholarship Breakdown
| 2016-17 (0 open) | 2017-18 (0 open) | 2018-19 (1 open) | 2019-20 (4 open) | |
| 1 | Peter Jok | Dominique Uhl | Brady Ellingson* | Isaiah Moss* |
| 2 | Dale Jones | Dale Jones* | Ahmad Wagner | Cordell Pemsl |
| 3 | Dominique Uhl | Brady Ellingson* | Christian Williams | Ryan Kriener |
| 4 | Brady Ellingson* | Ahmad Wagner | Nicholas Baer* | Jordan Bohannon |
| 5 | Ahmad Wagner | Christian Williams | Isaiah Moss* | Tyler Cook |
| 6 | Christian Williams | Nicholas Baer* | Cordell Pemsl | Maishe Dailey |
| 7 | Nicholas Baer* | Isaiah Moss* | Ryan Kriener | Connor McCaffery |
| 8 | Isaiah Moss* | Cordell Pemsl | Jordan Bohannon | Joe Wieskamp |
| 9 | Cordell Pemsl | Ryan Kriener | Tyler Cook | Patrick McCaffery |
| 10 | Ryan Kriener | Jordan Bohannon | Maishe Dailey | |
| 11 | Jordan Bohannon | Tyler Cook | Connor McCaffery | |
| 12 | Tyler Cook | Maishe Dailey | Joe Wieskamp | |
| 13 | Maishe Dailey | Connor McCaffery | ||
| Legend: | ||||
| Senior | Junior | Sophomore | Freshman | |
| * used redshirt |
All thirteen scholarships for the 2017-18 class are presently accounted for with Jones getting an extra year of eligibility. That said, there's a lot of time between now and the start of the 2017-18 season. Transfers are a way of life in college basketball these days -- we saw two players (Andrew Fleming and Brandon Hutton) leave Iowa after last season -- so it would hardly be much of a surprise if there was more movement after this season. If that happens, then Iowa will have a scholarship available for 2017-18.
In any event, congrats to Dale Jones -- we're excited to see what he can do for Iowa this year (and next year).