Iowa Basketball Recruiting: Illinois PG Brock Harding Commits to Hawkeyes

We’re on the verge of one of the biggest recruiting weekends in years for the Iowa football program with a slew of uncommitted prospects, including a generational 5-star in-state tackle, and nearly every current commit in the class of 2023 slated to be in Iowa City on official visits. But before we get to the weekend, Iowa hoops takes center stage as Fran McCaffery and staff played host to a trio of unofficial visitors on Wednesday.

One such visitor was Moline, Illinois point guard Brock Harding, who McCaffery extended an offer to on Monday. Harding wasted little time scheduling the short trip west to Iowa City and wasted even less time seeing all he needed to see as the 2023 prospect announced his commitment to the Hawkeyes on Thursday evening, joining 2024 prospect Cooper Koch who committed earlier in the day.

Harding is an intriguing prospect who is sure to become a lightning rod among Hawkeye fans. For starters, he’s semi-local growing up within an hour of campus. That lends to a familiarity among fans that typically only exists for in state prospects. But Harding is from across the border and did not grow up rooting for Iowa.

Beyond the fish bow that comes with being local, Harding is also on the smaller side for a power 5 point guard. He’s listed at 6’ tall and in the ballpark of 160 pounds. That should sound familiar as Iowa fans just watched another local product listed at 6’ and 170 pounds as a prep for the last six seasons.

Now, Harding is not Jordan Bohannon and we’re not likely to see a shooter of that caliber again in our lifetimes. But what he is is a relentless worker who has spent a lifetime finding ways to make up for his physical shortcomings. As WQAD sports reporter Matt Randazzo detailed last winter, Harding starts each day by getting 1000 shots up, rain or shine, before going about his business.

That’s turned him into a very good, if not Bohannon level, shooter from beyond the arc. That’s more than good enough to keep defenders honest and off balance as Harding uses a plethora of moves to penetrate into the lane. He’s got above average quickness for the position, much more so than Bohannon or any Iowa PG over the last several seasons save Joe Toussaint, to go with excellent ball handling, very good vision and high end creativity.

On film, Harding consistently beats his man off the dribble and penetrates see into the lane where he’s capable of finishing over and around bigger defenders or creates east baskets for crashing teammates. He plays calm, collected and in complete control of the offense in a way that does resemble Bohannon a bit.

Despite those qualities, the lack of size has remained a hang up for many college coaches as well as the recruiting services. While McCaffery was the first high major coach to extend an offer, Harding did hold other offers from Drake, Bradley, Colorado State, Loyola, UIC, St. Louis, Rice, Western Illinois and Illinois State. He’s a 3-star prospect according to 247 Sports but is as of yet unranked by Rivals.

Harding becomes Iowa’s second commitment in the class of 2023, joining Illinois big man Owen Freeman. Coincidentally, Freeman is an AAU teammate of Harding’s at Mid-Pro Academy and will reportedly be joining him at Moline this winter. Recent Iowa football commit, Cannon Leonard who has reportedly heard from Wisconsin, Michigan and Penn State since his announcement, was also a Mid-Pro teammate of Harding and Freeman.

Welcome aboard Brock Harding!

Brock Harding, PG
Ht: 6’0”
Wt: 160 lbs
Hometown: Moline, Illinois (Moline)
Stars: 247 Sports - 3; Rivals - NR