Iowa Basketball Recruiting: 3-Star SG Josh Dix Officially Visits Hawkeyes

The buzz around college basketball (and football, for that matter) recruiting is really starting to heat up. We’re now a full week into the NCAA opening things up for on-campus visits and the Hawkeyes are set to have their second official visitor from the class of 2022 in the last three days.

Last weekend, Iowa got the ball rolling with their first official visit from top PG priority Dasonte Bowen. The 4-star Massachussetts native apparently enjoyed his time in Iowa City, speaking very highly of Iowa and the Hawkeyes to both Rivals and 247 Sports following his weekend visit.

Now Iowa looks a bit closer to home for their second official visit of the first week since able to host recruits. This time it’s Council Bluffs native Josh Dix. The 6’5” shooting guard is rated as the second-best player in the state of Iowa by the Des Moines Register (behind only Ames PG Tamin Lipsey). He’s seen his recruitment really take off over the last month or two.

Back in late April, the Hawkeyes entered the mix with an offer for Dix. That came on the heels of an offer from Purdue a day earlier. Wake Forest was his first high major offer a week earlier (he Demon Deacons are coached by Lone Tree, Iowa native Steve Forbes). Beyond the offers, Dix is also hearing from Oklahoma, Iowa State, Creighton and others.

While Iowa wasn’t the first to offer Dix, it will be his first official visit. The Abraham Lincoln product is set to be on campus today and tomorrow. He’ll then head to Purdue for an official June 18-19 with Wake Forest set to get an official toward the end of the month. Drake and Nebraska are both expected to get unofficial visits at some point during the month of June as well.

So what has a slew of power five programs interested in Dix all of a sudden? Put simply, talent. At 6’5”, Dix has great length for the shooting guard spot. He isn’t a freak athlete and won’t necessarily be the guy who blows past his man off the dribble, but he is a capable ballhandler who can slide to the point in a pinch and has plenty of athleticism and quickness for his potential role.

His strengths are more around his shooting ability and a craftiness with the ball in his hands. As a junior at Lincoln, Dix averaged 19.4 points, 7.4 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game while shooting nearly 38% from beyond the arc and 55% from the field overall.

His game will likely remind Hawkeye fans of a Joe Wieskamp-lite or some sort of Wieskamp-Fredrick hybrid. He doesn’t have the overall talent of Wieskamp (few do - he was a top-50 recruit as you’ll recall), but a similar skillset. Fredrick is a better pure shooter at this point and Wieskamp has more length and appears a bit more athletic, but you can see the similarities when you turn on the film.

How does he fit in Fran’s system at Iowa? Here’s what Dix told HawkeyeNation after he was offered in April.

I think my game would work well at Iowa because I feel like I can space the floor and also be able to create for others when needed, too. I like the way they play. It’s pretty free with a lot of shooting and making plays.

His high school coach, Jason Issacson, had similar thoughts in his conversation with HawkeyReport last month.

He’s an extremely complete player. He can shoot it really well, he’s a good passer, and he has the ability to make plays for others. I don’t think he has a whole lot of real weaknesses in his game.

Dix hopes to make a decision on his college destination before his senior season starts this fall. However, given the restrictions over the last year, he’s been unable to take visits until this month. Look for him to gather information on his three scheduled visits and potentially a few more as the AAU season brings new offers.

As noted in our preview of the Bowen visit last week, Iowa has three scholarships set to be open in the class of 2022. That number is likely to drift higher with the transfer market trending the way it has over the last few years. Look for Iowa to grab a PG, SG and at least one post player in the class.

Getting Bowen and/or Dix on board would be an excellent first step. But Fran and company won’t be done there even if they are able to land both of their first two visitors. The Hawkeyes are set to host 4-star PF Kyle Filipowski June 17th-18th. The following week, Iowa is scheduled to have a pair of visitors as 3-star SG Jaden Schutt is slated to make an unofficial on June 21st before 4-star SF Aidan Shaw makes an official on June 22nd. The Hawkeyes are also working to line up visits from 3-star SG AJ Storr and 4-star PG Richard Isaacs yet this month.