Iowa Basketball Recruiting: In-State Big Man Xavier Foster Trims List to 5, Including Hawkeyes

News on the basketball recruiting front has been a bit slow this summer. That’s due in large part to the new calendar for AAU basketball and the events at which coaches can evaluate players. In short, there are fewer opportunities for players to showcase themselves to coaches, but the ones where they can, they get exposure to more coaches at a time.

With the calendar now turned to August and the school year quickly approaching, things are about to ramp up. A number of prospects have begun trimming their lists to prepare for fall visits and potentially some decisions.

That’s exactly the path Oskaloosa big man Xavier Foster is headed down. Today, he releases his trimmed down list and Hawkeye fans can breathe a sigh of relief as they made the cut.

Foster is widely considered a major priority for Fran McCaffery in the class of 2020. Not only is he an extremely talented big man at 6’10” and an ability to knock it down from outside, but he’s also an in-state player. McCaffery has long made it a focus to lock down the border and in 2020 that means securing Foster.

Doing so would be a tremendous start to the class, which figures to have at least three members as Iowa will lose graduate transfer Bakari Evelyn to graduation this year, as well as senior big Ryan Kriener. If Jordan Bohannon can get healthy enough to contribute this season, that would make three graduates. But the Hawkeyes are already one scholarship under the limit so even if Bohannon opts for a redshirt season, McCaffery would have three scholarship to hand out. He could also always use the scholarship given to Riley Till this offseason for a fourth member if things were to really pick up. And with the current college basketball environment, it’s always possible Iowa loses at least one player to transfer.

As for Foster, look for him take visits to each of his finalists this fall before making a final decision. McCaffery will continue working for options to put along side Foster and potential replacements should things turn sideways.