It’s been a low-key busy couple of weeks with the basketball team so let’s take a look through those goings-on.

Wiesy Does It

A few weeks ago, Mark Emmert and Mike Hlas wrote articles talking about the expanded role Joe Wieskamp will have to take as a result of the offseason departures and uncertainty of Jordan Bohannon. Perhaps most notable from the pieces were Fran McCaffery’s thoughts on the soft skills Wieskamp can utilize if he follows in the footsteps of Peter Jok and Tyler Cook. From Hlas, the expectations are high:

Pete and Tyler were both a lot better in terms of their leadership,” McCaffery said. “I thought Pete’s senior year when he led the Big Ten in scoring, he was an unbelievable leader for a very young team.

I thought Tyler was a completely different player last year, though the year before his numbers were still good. But from a leadership standpoint, from a confidence standpoint, he was substantially better. I expect the same from Joe.

He also talked about that area of his game in the pieces above but went really deep with The Athletic ($) in their “My First Year” series. It’s well worth your time but I think my favorite quote was the jump in nerves he had from high school to college, even when nobody was watching:

Before that closed scrimmage against Missouri, were you nervous the night before? Or did it just kind of hit you on the floor?

We always travel the night before, stay in a hotel, watch a lot of film, do scouting reports, do pregame quizzes to have us ready for the game so we know the personnel. I was definitely very nervous before that game. In high school, I didn’t get too nervous before big games. But when you’re playing for a new coach, a new team, you feel like you have to earn that spot.

Redshirted but not forgotten (okay maybe a little bit forgotten)

Cordell Pemsl and C.J. Fredrick met with the media last week and frankly, got me excited for next year. My biggest takeaway is the grittiness these guys have in addition to their ability to score. Somehow it was three years ago when Pemsl was Iowa’s fourth leading scorer as a freshman. Fredrick can also fill it up and Hlas dug up his highlight reel (story here) from the Kentucky state tournament, where his team won the state’s single-class title:

Emmert noted that Pemsl is back to being thicc at 245, which is where Pemsl feels most comfortable. Pemsl was thankful for the year off, which gave him time to get right. Oh, and he has his dog, Lucy, in Iowa City this summer.

Air Lucy coming to a cinema near you:

Megan’s Minute

After being released by the Dallas Wings and a brief dalliance with the state of Iowa’s TBT team, Megan Gustafson has been BACK after injuries across the Wings’ frontline. Though her role is limited, she’s maintained the efficiency which propelled her to awards in college (5.8 points/game on 64% shooting in 10 minutes). The Wings are also 3-2 after starting 0-5.

The past couple days were particularly noteworthy as she went into the stands for a picture with a young fan and announced her plans for the rest of 2019:

Join the I-Club in cheering Gustafson and the Wings on for their game against the Chicago Sky on July 14th at 3pm.

Ryan Kriener doing Ryan Kriener things

He wrote a blog after going 3-0 against some Greek basketball teams (he averaged 4.7 points, 6.0 boards, and 2.3 blocks per game). Rick Pitino was involved!

Anyways, the real reason to have this section is because no one loves a camera more than Kriener and nobody loves his love of cameras more than me:

Get it Big Kat.

Oh no

It’s been a rough 2019 for Connor McCaffery - let’s hope it turns around in time for basketball season.