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It’s national signing day across college basketball and in Iowa City, the Hawkeyes are looking to ink a total of five commitments today. This comes after we learned Fran McCaffery and staff were adding 3-star center Josh Ogundele to the class earlier this morning.
Now, the signings are beginning to roll in. The first national letter of intent comes from Indianapolis SG Tony Perkins.
It's official. Welcome to the Hawkeye family @Saucy___T! pic.twitter.com/u76bDZDNpy
— Iowa Basketball (@IowaHoops) November 13, 2019
Perkins is one of two guards expected to sign today with the other being Chicago PG Ahron Ulis.
It’s been a quick turn of events for Perkins as the Indianapolis guard received his offer from Iowa roughly a month ago. Shortly thereafter, he made a visit to Iowa City and committed before the end of the month. Here’s what we had to say at the time of his commitment:
At 6’4” and 185 pounds, Perkins has good length for a SG. That’s coupled with a pretty solid shot from outside, though it is a bit unorthodox. It’s enough to keep defenders honest and allow him to get into the lane. Once there, Perkins is a great finisher in the paint.
The ability to get into the lane and finish will be a nice addition for Iowa. As we’ve seen early, getting into the paint and stopping opponents from doing the same is critical. The Hawkeyes have shooters and forcing the defense to collapse leads to great things. We saw the inverse of that on Monday night as DePaul lit the nets on fire off of drive and kick action.
While Perkins was relatively under the radar throughout the recruiting process, he does come in with a 3-star rating from both Rivals and 247 Sports. His combination of shooting and penetrating ability helped him lead all scorers in last year’s Indiana-Kentucky all-star matchup that featured a slew of high major prospects and former Iowa targets. Perkins dropped 22, including some monster dunks.
Look for Fran and staff to emphasize that part of his game to pair with players like CJ Fredrick on the outside.
Perkins chose Iowa over offers from Ball State, Bradley, IPFW and Miami (OH). He’s joined in the class of 2020 by the aforementioned Ulis and Ogundele, as well as Cedar Rapids natives Keegan and Kris Murray. All commits are expected to sign today.